Analysis

ICE Quietly Changes I-9 Offenses, Raising Employer Fine Risk

By Britain Eakin

Employers are staring down bigger fines for I-9 violations after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement quietly redefined substantive violations to include common administrative errors that were previously correctable without penalty.

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Analysis

Tech's AI Coding Boom On Collision Course With Copyright

By Ivan Moreno

Tech companies embracing generative tools to write their software code — and boasting about it — may be running into a gap in copyright protection: the more they rely on them, the harder it may be to claim exclusive rights when that code is copied or leaked.

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Fed. Circ. Appears Skeptical Of Steel Co.'s Duty Challenge

By Jack McLoone

In over two hours of oral arguments across three cases on Friday, a Federal Circuit panel scrutinized a Turkish company's attempts to challenge a duty order against Turkish steel, raising concerns ranging from its failure to file a protectionary appeal to overall issues with protestations over calculations.

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4th Circ. Won't Revive Boy's Child Sex Image Confession Suit

By Mike Curley

The Fourth Circuit has declined to reinstate a suit from a minor student against the assistant principal at his school and a school resource officer alleging they violated his constitutional rights by investigating whether he had nude photos of another student, finding that the evidence doesn't show that his confession was coerced or that the search of his phone was unreasonable.

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DC Circ. Scraps Foley's Atty Fee Win In 13-Year IRS Saga

By Emily Sawicki

A D.C. Circuit panel on Friday vacated a district court ruling giving Foley & Lardner LLP first dibs on nearly $800,000 in fees for representing a conservative nonprofit in a 13-year-old suit against the Internal Revenue Service, giving Bopp Law Firm a chance to argue for a larger cut of the pie.

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Trump Taps Personal Atty For 2nd Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced on Friday evening he's tapping Matthew Schwartz, his attorney in the New York hush money case, for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. 

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Roundup

Pa. Top Court Snapshot: Juvenile Sentences, Cleanup Costs

By Matthew Santoni

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will weigh the constitutionality of a "de facto" life sentence for a juvenile offender and consider the impact of a rescinded contract on its arbitration provision when it convenes for its spring session.

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Suit Seeks DOJ Records Of Activities On Voter Data, Elections

By Adrian Cruz

A D.C.-based nonprofit sued the U.S. Department of Justice under the Freedom of Information Act on Friday, seeking records regarding Civil Rights Division activities it alleges have been undermining the right to vote.

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FDIC Scraps Biden-Era Bank Guidance On Multiple NSF Fees

By Jon Hill

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Friday rescinded Biden-era supervisory guidance that cautioned banks against stacking multiple penalty fees on a declined transaction, a policy that was previously the subject of an unsuccessful banking industry legal challenge.

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Big Banks Say They Were Victims Of Tricolor Fraud Scheme

By Katryna Perera

JPMorgan, Barclays and Fifth Third have urged a New York federal judge to toss an investor suit claiming the banks ignored flaring red flags and helped conceal a sprawling subprime auto loan fraud by Tricolor Holdings, arguing that they were also victims of the fraud and not aware of the scheme despite being sophisticated financial institutions.

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SEC To Craft Exemption For Foreign Bail-In Transactions

By Aislinn Keely

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins said Friday that he has directed staff to draft an exemption for securities offered and sold as part of certain foreign bail-in processes, announcing the plans as the agency said it won't take action over bail-in transactions directed by the Bank of England.

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CFTC Taps Latham, Sidley Attys For Innovation Task Force

By Emilie Ruscoe

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has tapped alumni of Latham & Watkins LLP, Sidley Austin LLP and advisory firm Patomak Global Partners LLC for its task force developing regulatory framework for cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence and prediction markets.

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Interior Says National Parks Signage Suit Is A Political Dispute

By Crystal Owens

The U.S. Department of the Interior is asking a federal court to deny conservation groups' bid to block an order instructing U.S. National Park Service staff to remove signs containing information about slavery, Indigenous nations and climate change, saying their challenge is an "invitation to the political thicket."

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Trump Administration Wants Suit Over DC Golf Course Tossed

By Chris Villani

The Trump administration on Friday asked a D.C. federal judge to toss a suit looking to stop renovations on a local municipal golf course, arguing the preservation group and local golfers who brought the case are trying to become de-facto project superintendents.

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Sens. Urge CFTC To Probe 'Unusual' Oil Trading Patterns

By Rae Ann Varona

U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., called on the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to investigate "unusual trading patterns" in oil futures that took place right before President Donald Trump announced talks with Iran, including the recently announced ceasefire.

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Feature

Chest Binders Become Latest Front In Anti-Trans Litigation

By Emily Field

Chest binders — medical devices that can be used by individuals experiencing gender dysphoria or who want a more gender-neutral alternative to bras — have emerged as the newest target in an unfolding regulatory and legal climate that transgender advocates describe as an overtly partisan political attack against a type of product that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has deemed the least risky.

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Drugmakers Can Intervene In Texas, Fla. Abortion Drug Suit

By Gianna Ferrarin

A federal judge Friday allowed abortion medication manufacturers GenBioPro Inc. and Danco Laboratories to intervene in litigation brought by the states of Texas and Florida seeking to undo a slew of federal regulations concerning the abortion drug mifepristone.

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Philip Morris Urges 11th Circ. To Affirm FDA Rule Toss

By Kelcey Caulder

Philip Morris urged the Eleventh Circuit to affirm a decision that struck down a U.S. Food and Drug Administration rule calling for graphic warnings on cigarette packaging, arguing a district court rightly found the FDA had not followed proper procedure when crafting the regulations.

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Ariz. Prediction Markets Regulation, Kalshi Charges Halted

By Lauren Berg

A Phoenix federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked Arizona from enforcing its gambling laws against federally regulated prediction markets, saying the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission are likely to succeed on their claims that Arizona's laws are preempted by federal law.

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Brief

USPTO Launches Pilot Aimed At Reducing Exam Backlog

By Elliot Weld

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said it will launch a pilot program requiring some applicants at the national stage to request examination of their patent applications.

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Colo. Appeals Court Bars Upfront Fees For Police Footage

By Benjamin Morse

Law enforcement agencies cannot require upfront payment before handing over body camera and other recordings tied to police misconduct complaints when disclosure is mandated by state law, the Colorado Court of Appeals found, affirming a win for a local publication against the city of Boulder.

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Kansas City Open To Talking To Royals About $1.9B Ballpark

By David Steele

Officials in Kansas City, Mo., have begun the process of talking with Major League Baseball's Royals about building a new $1.9 billion downtown ballpark, two years after voters rejected a tax hike for a stadium project.

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$68M Colony Ridge Deal To Proceed Without Court's Blessing

By José Luis Martínez

The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday said it will move forward with a $68 million settlement reached with land developer Colony Ridge Development LLC without seeking court oversight after a Texas federal judge raised concerns about the deal.

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Texas REIT Discloses $53M RealPage Settlement With Renters

By Isaac Monterose

A Texas-based real estate investment trust has reached a $53 million class action settlement for multidistrict litigation in Tenneseee federal court that accused the REIT and multiple landlords of using property management software company RealPage Inc.'s revenue management software for rent price-fixing.

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Agri Stats Atty 'More Optimistic' About Settling DOJ Case

By Bryan Koenig

An attorney for Agri Stats Inc. told a Minnesota federal judge Friday that a settlement resolving the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust case could be on the horizon ahead of an early May trial accusing the company of helping major chicken, turkey and pork producers hike prices.

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​​​​​​​Apple Asks To Keep Stay In Epic Case During High Court Bid

By Craig Clough

Apple has asked the Ninth Circuit not to undo its order staying a decision in Epic Games Inc.'s favor while Apple petitions the U.S. Supreme Court to review the ruling that largely affirmed an injunction barring Apple from charging developers "prohibitive" commissions on iPhone app purchases.

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Ed. Dept. Urges Judge Not To Broaden Admissions Data Block

By Carolyn Muyskens

The Trump administration is urging a Massachusetts federal judge not to expand his order blocking the U.S. Department of Education's collection of detailed college admissions data for several states' public institutions to cover additional schools, including private colleges.

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Forced Headdress Removal In Colo. Violates Rights, Suit Says

By MJ Koo

A Muslim woman forced to remove her hijab in front of male officers during booking at an Aurora detention facility has hit the city with a proposed class action in Colorado federal court, alleging its policy requiring women to remove religious head coverings for booking photographs violates the U.S. Constitution.

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Trade Court Mulls Economic Basis For Trump's Global Tariffs

By Dylan Moroses

U.S. Court of International Trade judges heard oral arguments Friday on President Donald Trump's order imposing temporary global tariffs under the Trade Act, pressing attorneys for both sides on whether the White House can invoke the economic conditions specified by the law.

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First Phase Of Tariff Refund System To Launch April 20

By Anna Scott Farrell

The first phase of an electronic system allowing U.S. importers to claim refunds for tariffs paid under the global regime struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court will launch April 20, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Friday.

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House Dems Push To Halt Russian Oil Sales, Adopt Sanctions

By Elaine Briseño

Two U.S. Democratic representatives have introduced a bill to reverse the Trump administration's decision to authorize the sale of Russian oil, arguing Russia will use the proceeds to fund its war against Ukraine.

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IRS Floats Excise Tax Regs On Overseas Money Transfers

By Kat Lucero

Individuals who send funds to people abroad via a remittance transfer provider using cash, money orders, cashier's checks, traveler's checks and similar financial instruments would trigger a new 1% excise tax on the total amount remitted under proposed regulations the IRS unveiled Friday.

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Australia Seeks Tighter Gains Tax On Foreign Residents

By Kevin Pinner

Australia is looking to tighten its capital gains tax on taxpayers who reside abroad by expanding the base with regard to real property, the country's Treasury Department said in a consultation.

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2nd Circ. Says Skipped Appeal Dooms Deportation Challenge

By Elaine Briseño

An Ecuadorian facing felony criminal charges for reentering the United States after being deported following a conviction for reckless assault cannot challenge his original deportation order because he didn't originally appeal it, the Second Circuit said Thursday.

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Judge Refuses To Halt Decision In South Sudan TPS Fight

By Ganesh Setty

A Massachusetts federal judge denied the Trump administration a stay as it appeals her decision postponing its revocation of deportation protections for South Sudanese nationals, saying a database it now invokes doesn't alter her conclusion of a likely pretextual revocation.

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Judge Presses DOJ On Immigrant Bond Denials After Report

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge on Friday said she was "concerned" by a published report suggesting that immigration judges are being instructed to deny all bond requests regardless of merit, after she and other judges ordered that detainees be given hearings.

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Judge Won't Halt 'Fast-Track' Deportation Of Somalis

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. federal judge declined to halt what Minnesota immigrant advocates have called a "rocket docket" for deportations of Somalis there, ruling Friday that the plaintiffs — an immigration attorney and human rights group — likely lacked standing to bring the challenge because their proposed remedy may not be available.

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Immigration Appeals Rule Challenge Put On Hold

By Jared Foretek

Legal services groups challenging changes that would speed up deportation order appeals have agreed with the Trump administration to stay upcoming deadlines in the litigation and allow for a revised rulemaking process after a D.C. federal judge vacated the changes last month.

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DOJ Sues Michigan's Washtenaw County Over ICE Policies

By Susan Smiley

The Department of Justice has sued Michigan's Washtenaw County in federal court, alleging that county officials are obstructing federal immigration enforcement in violation of the U.S. Constitution's supremacy clause.

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Colo. Governor Claims Immunity In Tribe's Park Access Suit

By Rachel Konieczny

Colorado's governor has claimed sovereign immunity in a federal lawsuit by the Ute Indian Tribe, which alleged it is being discriminated against due to its exclusion from a state law that gives members of its sister tribes free entrance to state parks on ancestral lands.

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FCC Fines Are Just Paper, But 'Still Tigers,' High Court Told

By Christopher Cole

AT&T and Verizon told the U.S. Supreme Court that no matter how the Federal Communications Commission portrays its fines, they amount to binding orders that run afoul of the Seventh Amendment because there's no clear path to challenge them in court.

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FCC Says Current 'Audible Crawl' Rule Doesn't Work

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission is thinking about ditching a requirement that video service providers ensure that nontext emergency information that pops up during a TV broadcast comes with an auditory translation for the visually impaired.

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Texas Justices Say Telecom Contracts Must Follow The Law

By Nadia Dreid

When the Texas Legislature changes the laws that govern how much public utilities can charge telecommunications companies to attach things to their poles, contracts that are already in effect have to fall in line, the state supreme court declared Friday in resolving a decades' long dispute involving San Antonio.

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Feds Renew Push Against 'Bad Labs' In Equipment Test Rules

By Christopher Cole

A new draft proposal from the Federal Communications Commission would make it even harder for foreign adversaries to take part in electronic device testing if they are located in a country that lacks reciprocal testing agreements with the U.S.

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Feds Say Pot Opponents Lack Injury In CMS Hemp Suit

By Sam Reisman

Federal health regulators have urged a D.C. federal judge to toss a bid by anti-cannabis activists to block a program to ease access for Medicare beneficiaries to federally legal hemp products that have small amounts of THC.

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Texas Judge Blocks State From Enforcing New Hemp Rules

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas state court on Friday blocked state agencies from enforcing new rules restricting the sale of certain hemp products, after hemp industry groups sued the agencies over claims they illegally went past what the legislature allowed them to ban.

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Opinion

Judicial Restraint Anchors Constitutional Order

Contrasting opinions in two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings — Trump v. CASA and Bost v. Illinois State Board of Elections — demonstrate how the judiciary’s constitutionally entrusted role can easily be preserved or disrupted, and invite renewed attention to the enduring importance of judicial restraint, says Ninth Circuit Judge J. Clifford Wallace.

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How Calif. Safety Worker Pension Bill Could Cost Employers

Public employers should carefully consider how pension costs and bargaining concerns could change under a California Legislature bill that would increase retirement benefits for safety employees like police and firefighters, which could erode previous efforts to fully fund the public retirement system without necessarily improving worker retention, says Michael Youril at Liebert Cassidy.

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Mortgage EO Casts Wide Net In Push To Ease Lending Rules

A recent executive order targeting mortgage credit access states an intent to promote competition among all types of lenders and is notable for its breadth, resetting regulatory expectations in a number of areas including origination, digitization and licensing, says Kara Ward at Baker Donelson.

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Trump Order Signals Tougher Benefits Fraud Probes

A recent order from President Donald Trump establishing a federal taskforce for addressing fraud in federally funded benefit programs emphasizes interagency information sharing, potentially affecting a broad range of areas including government contracts, administrative law considerations and False Claims Act cases, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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Calculating Damages In IEEPA Tariff Refund Litigation

To calculate damages in the spate of refund litigation triggered by the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision invalidating tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the central question will be how to determine where in the supply chain their economic burden ultimately came to rest, say analysts at Charles River Associates.

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Opinion

Futures Market Anonymity Now Presents A Structural Problem

Following anomalous trading on prediction markets just before major recent policy announcements from the Trump administration, many have called on Congress to act, but the problem is not primarily a statutory gap — it is a structural one, built into the self-regulatory model that governs futures exchanges, says Tamara de Silva at De Silva Law Offices.

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What Justices' Review Of Guam Case Will Mean For Permitting

In U.S. Department of the Air Force v. Prutehi Guahan, the U.S. Supreme Court will address whether a federal agency's permit application is a final decision that courts can review — a question whose answer could reshape the timing and strategy of environmental litigation across the federal permitting landscape, say attorneys at Foley Hoag.

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The Federal Circuit's Evolving View Of Trade Secrets

In recent years, the Federal Circuit's approach to defining "readily ascertainable" information and determining sufficiency of trade secret identification has shifted, trending away from other circuits and potentially presenting a higher bar for trade secrets plaintiffs, say attorneys at MoFo.

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DLA Piper Partner Rejects Pregnant Atty's Account Of Firing

By Pete Brush

The DLA Piper partner who fired a pregnant associate said she did so lawfully, telling a Manhattan federal jury her former employee was "in over her head" and disputing that the associate raised pregnancy bias concerns on a termination call.

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Calif. Atty Avoids Sanctions For Filing Bogus Citations With AI

By Matt Perez

A California attorney has avoided sanctions over his use of artificial intelligence for a filing in a civil rights case, which resulted in false citations.

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NJ Justices Won't Review Beasley Allen's DQ From Talc Cases

By George Woolston

The New Jersey Supreme Court has declined to review a lower court's order booting the Beasley Allen Law Firm from multicounty litigation in the Garden State over Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder, according to an order made public Friday.

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6th Circ. Won't Revisit EFAA Ruling Against Adams & Reese

By Patrick Hoff

The Sixth Circuit said it won't reconsider its ruling that a law barring mandatory arbitration of sexual harassment cases kept a former Adams & Reese LLP paralegal's sex harassment and disability bias suit in court, concluding that the firm's objections were already considered.

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Conn. Justices Block Agency's Bias Probe Into Atty Licensing

By Brian Steele

Because citizens blocked the legislature from reviewing court decisions when ratifying the state's 1818 constitution, a Connecticut human rights agency has no power to investigate alleged bias in attorney licensing decisions, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Friday in a unanimous opinion.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen the owner of an oil tanker stuck in the Strait of Hormuz sued by an energy company and an insurer, law firm Boodle Hatfield LLP and two Serle Court barristers sued by a group of Winston Churchill's great-grandchildren, and Welsh Water hit with a fresh class action over polluted rivers.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Other states might follow the lead of California and break with President Donald Trump's policies in implementing guardrails for state agencies to contract with AI companies. And after three individual indictments last month for selling banned tech to China, Supermicro has hired Munger Tolles & Olson LLP to conduct an independent investigation, assigned its general counsel to lead an internal compliance review, and shaken up its compliance leadership.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Andrea Keckley

Two personal injury firms in Michigan lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions for their work to secure a more than $300 million verdict against a prison health services provider and one of its doctors for refusing to approve a 34-year-old man's surgery while he was detained at a local jail.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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