Democratic Senate Flip Reshapes Trump's Judicial Outlook

By Courtney Bublé

Democrats winning control of the U.S. Senate on Tuesday leaves the Trump administration a narrow window to fill dozens of judicial vacancies under a Republican majority, with key GOP lawmakers saying they will use the lame-duck session to confirm as many conservative judges as possible.

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Approach The Bench: Judge Wilson On Trial By Zoom

By Cara Bayles and Kelley Marcano

Before she became a state court judge in Washington, Judge Coreen Wilson worked as a trial attorney litigating hundreds of cases, including the country's first binding virtual civil jury trial during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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DA Willis Pushes For Role In Trump Election Case Fee Fight

By Emily Johnson

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has urged the Georgia Court of Appeals to overturn an order blocking her from intervening in a $16 million legal fee bid from President Donald Trump and other former defendants in a dismissed election interference case, arguing that the trial court abused its discretion.

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DOJ Says Trump Adviser Needn't Answer ABA Subpoenas Yet

By Jared Foretek

The U.S. Department of Justice is arguing that Trump attorney Boris Epshteyn shouldn't have to respond to subpoenas from the American Bar Association in its challenge to the Trump administration's campaign against law firms until the presiding judge rules on the administration's preexisting motion to quash them.

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En Banc 9th Circ. Kiboshes Election Threat Order Against DOJ

By Bonnie Eslinger

New litigation brought by unions and civil rights groups seeking to stop the U.S. Department of Justice from threatening election workers whipsawed through the Ninth Circuit at lightning speed Tuesday, with a split en banc Ninth Circuit panel eventually finding that the DOJ's actions don't merit a temporary restraining order.

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Judge Questions Federal Role In Ed Martin Ethics Case

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. federal judge struggled Tuesday to see how he could preside over a state attorney ethics proceeding if U.S. pardon attorney Ed Martin gets his way and keeps the case in federal court, as the city's ethics board fought to have it sent back to state court.

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Ga. Adopts Farming Tax Break, Mich. Limits Utility Donations

By Gautama Mehta

Voters in seven states were set to decide closely watched environmental ballot measures, including whether California should speed up environmental reviews, if Colorado should codify a "right to natural gas," and if Michigan should tighten campaign finance restrictions on the utility industry.

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Ohio Voters Lead Data Center Pushback In Ballot Questions

By Nate Beck

Voters on ballot questions across the country Tuesday broadly opposed building new data center projects, with Ohio voters enacting roadblocks to projects pitched by Amazon, Meta and others, in an electoral test for the buildout of artificial intelligence infrastructure.

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Sports And Betting On The Ballot: A Midterms Roundup

By Alex Lawson

Tuesday's midterm elections saw voters weigh in on a bevy of closely watched sports initiatives, with four states on track to approve new restrictions on transgender athletes and Nebraska voters rejecting two proposals to expand sports betting there.

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Mich. Voters Approve Limits On Utility Campaign Donations

By Melanie Dorsey

Michigan voters approved a statewide ballot proposal Tuesday restricting campaign contributions from certain regulated utilities and government contractors,while Ann Arbor voters opposed a separate measure establishing a municipal electric utility that could eventually replace DTE Energy as the city's electricity provider.

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Va., Mo. Voters Deliver Wins For Abortion Rights

By Dan McKay

Supporters of abortion access won key victories Tuesday in Virginia and Missouri as voters across the country took up healthcare measures that will shape state laws on reproductive and gender-affirming care, according to partial, unofficial returns.

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Mich. Voters Reject Constitutional Convention

By Melanie Dorsey

Michigan voters rejected a ballot proposal Tuesday to convene the state's first constitutional convention in more than six decades, closing the door to a sweeping review of the state's governing document that could have reshaped laws on taxation, elections, education and reproductive rights. 

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Kathy Jennings Wins 3rd Term As Delaware Attorney General

By Jarek Rutz and Hilary Russ

Delaware voters gave Democratic Attorney General Kathy Jennings a third consecutive four-year term Tuesday, deciding who will lead an office responsible for prosecuting criminals, protecting consumers and policing corporate misconduct in the nation's leading state for business incorporation.

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Democrat Nathan Johnson Wins Race For Texas AG

By Spencer Brewer

Democratic candidate Nathan Johnson beat his Republican opponent in the race for Texas attorney general on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. 

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Fla. AG Uthmeier Defeats Rodriguez To Win Full Term

By David Minsky and Lauraann Wood

Florida Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier won a full term in office on Tuesday, beating Democratic challenger Jose Javier Rodriguez to remain the state's top prosecutor.

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NY AG Letitia James Defeats Holtzman Vogel Partner

By Cara Salvatore

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday won a third term by defeating Holtzman Vogel partner Saritha Komatireddy.

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Calif. AG Rob Bonta Wins 2nd Term Over Michael Gates

By Bonnie Eslinger

California voters on Tuesday handed state Attorney General Rob Bonta a decisive reelection win over an Orange County city administrator who briefly served as a U.S. Department of Justice deputy assistant attorney general during the current Trump administration.

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New Calif. Governor Promises Litigation-Heavy Agenda

By Hailey Konnath

Former state attorney general and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra's projected win in the California governor's race Tuesday night tees up fresh legal battles with the Trump administration and puts immigration, insurance and artificial intelligence policy at the top of lawyers' watch lists.

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3 Wash. Supreme Court Justices Poised To Keep Seats

By Rachel Riley

Three incumbent Washington State Supreme Court justices held off challengers in Tuesday's election, and King County Superior Court judges emerged as front-runners for two other open spots on the state high court, according to preliminary results.

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Raoul Remains Illinois' Attorney General

By Lauraann Wood

Illinois voters allowed Attorney General Kwame Raoul to remain the state's top legal officer on Tuesday, reelecting the Democrat to serve his third term in the post.

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Justice Earls Keeps NC Supreme Court Seat In Win For Dems

By Hayley Fowler and Hilary Russ

Incumbent Justice Anita Earls preserved her seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court on Tuesday, delivering Democrats a key victory in their effort to reclaim a majority on the state's highest court.

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Georgia AG's Office Goes Blue As Miller Beats Strickland

By Kelcey Caulder

Democratic state Rep. Tanya Miller won Georgia's attorney general race Tuesday, defeating Republican state Sen. Brian Strickland in the contest for an office the GOP had held since 2011.

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Dems Win Control Of Georgia Public Service Commission

By Gautama Mehta

Voters in Georgia flipped Republican control of the state's Public Service Commission, which regulates investor-owned utilities, in a pair of races that attracted unusually high political spending amid rising electricity prices and a massive data center buildout.

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Okla. Voters Reject Property Tax Assessment Limit

By Michael Nunes

Oklahoma voters rejected a ballot measure that would have reduced the maximum percentage by which political jurisdictions are allowed to increase tax assessments on real property from one year to the next.

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Fla. Voters Approve Homestead Exemption Increase

By Paul Williams

Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment Tuesday that will hike the state's homestead exemption and is estimated to reduce property tax revenue by billions of dollars annually.

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NC Voters OK Limiting Property Tax Increases

By Maria Koklanaris

North Carolina will amend its constitution to allow the state to impose restrictions on the ability of local governments to raise property tax rates, according to the preliminary results of a Tuesday vote.

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Analysis

BofA's $1.2B AML Fine Shows Perils Of Tech Overreliance

By Sarah Jarvis

Bank of America's $1.2 billion deal with the U.S. Treasury Department over anti-money-laundering failures has put compliance officers at financial institutions on alert about the perils they could face if they don't have empowered in-house investigators and proper oversight of technological systems for transaction monitoring.

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Group Wants DC Golf Course Work Halt To Remain In Place

By Elaine Briseño

A preservation group on Tuesday urged a D.C. federal court to maintain an order blocking further tree removals at the East Potomac Golf Course, arguing the government failed to identify any error the judge made when issuing the directive.

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Youth File Fresh Appeal In Colo. Hospital Gender Care Suit

By Rachel Konieczny

Transgender youth patients of Children's Hospital Colorado have brought yet another challenge to a judge's discharge of their contempt citation against the hospital for not resuming providing them medical gender-affirming care, this time asking the Colorado Court of Appeals to weigh in on whether the hospital complied with an injunction.

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Squires Grants 4 IPRs, Denies 6 Before Handing Over Power

By Dani Kass

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires on Tuesday instituted four inter partes reviews in what could be the final petitions for which he reviews the merits.

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Judge Delays Kennedy Center Ruling Until Friday Briefing

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

A federal judge Tuesday said he was not inclined to rule just yet on a motion to compel documents and other discovery material related to the closure and attempted renaming of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, citing an impending briefing from the government due Friday.

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Mass. Board Matches Condo's Tax Value To Nearby Home's

By Sanjay Talwani

A ranch-style condo unit with an unobstructed water view was overvalued, the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board said, lowering its valuation to that of a similar home on a slightly larger property farther from the water.

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Mass. Board Drops Tax Value Of Development Facing Delays

By Sanjay Talwani

A cluster of unimproved properties with plans for development but facing permitting delays that hindered their marketability was overvalued by a local assessor, the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board said.

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Pa. Gov.'s Property Battle With Neighbors Gets Paused

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A Pennsylvania federal judge on Tuesday stayed a property dispute in which Gov. Josh Shapiro and his Montgomery County neighbors are fighting over the ownership of a strip of land between their homes.

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Lockheed To Pay $29.5M Over Alleged DEI Bias Practices

By Craig Clough

Lockheed Martin Corp. agreed to pay $29.5 million under two settlements announced Monday by the U.S. Department of Justice over allegations that the defense contractor considered race or sex in some pay, hiring and promotion decisions while certifying compliance with federal antidiscrimination requirements

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Indiana Targeted Unionized Teachers' Speech, 7th Circ. Says

By Katherine Smith

The Seventh Circuit upheld a federal judge's decision to block two Indiana state laws changing how teachers authorize unions to receive a portion of their wages, finding that the laws violated the First Amendment by specifically targeting teachers who wanted to join a union and pay dues.

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Analysis

Past Losses Haunt Colo.'s Universal Preschool Law Defense

By Katie Buehler

For eight years, Colorado has repeatedly met a skeptical U.S. Supreme Court when defending antidiscrimination laws against religious objectors. Now, that poor track record seems likely to doom the state's latest attempt to protect its universal preschool program's equal opportunity mandate from Catholic challengers.

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PBM Says Fla. Collusion Suit Belongs In Federal Court

By Carolina Bolado

A pharmacy benefit manager accused by Florida's attorney general of colluding with a competitor to fix prescription drug reimbursement rates for pharmacies removed the state's suit to federal court, citing its work for federal and military employees.

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Fla. State Atty Beats Ex-GOP Chair's Suit Over Seized Data

By David Minsky

A Florida federal judge dismissed a state attorney from a lawsuit alleging he's unlawfully in possession of data seized from a former Republican Party chair and his wife following a sexual assault investigation that was later dropped, finding that the complaint could interfere with ongoing state court proceedings. 

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Ga. Power Can't Apply New Tort Law In Exposure Suit

By Kelcey Caulder

A Georgia appellate panel on Tuesday rejected Georgia Power Co.'s bid to apportion fault to companies that settled out of an asbestos exposure lawsuit as well as its bid to escape the case, finding that disputes over the utility's knowledge of asbestos hazards prevent it from obtaining summary judgment.

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Mass. Judge Nixes Feds' Bid To Stay Grant Termination Ruling

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge on Tuesday rejected the Trump administration's request to stay her judgment that it cannot terminate already-awarded federal grants based solely on the president's current priorities, and chided the government for intentionally slow-walking the case.

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Nonprofits Say Pentagon Group Flouts Transparency Law

By Tom Lotshaw

Watchdog organizations have urged a D.C. federal judge to nix a "future of warfare" committee that U.S. Department of Defense officials created, accusing them of violating a sunshine and transparency law by stacking it with conflicted government contractors and others who share their views about the military.

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Troops Urge Justices To Delay Review Of Military Trans Ban

By Katie Buehler

A group of transgender servicemembers have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decline to review the Trump administration's ban on transgender individuals serving in the military for now, saying the government's current appeal of a narrow circuit court ruling against the policy is premature and incomplete.

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Trade Court Finds US Solar Coalition's Duty Challenge Moot

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. Court of International Trade dismissed as moot a suit brought by U.S. solar manufacturers challenging U.S. International Trade Commission determinations regarding harm caused by Cambodian and Thai solar cell imports because the at-issue entries have already been processed. 

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Brief

China, Peru Modernize Free Trade Agreement

By Jack McLoone

China and Peru have updated their bilateral trade treaty to both update existing provisions and add new ones aimed at addressing changes in commerce and global trade since the deal was first reached in 2009, the two countries said.

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EU Tax Reporting Break Would Send 'Worst Signal,' Panel Told

By Kevin Pinner

Multinational companies shouldn't get a free pass on reporting potentially harmful cross-border tax arrangements to European Union countries because they're within the scope of the 15% global minimum tax, an EU lawmaker leading committee discussions on the proposal said Tuesday.

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IRS Asks 11th Circ. To Back Denial Of $27M Easement Claim

By Zak Kostro

The U.S. Tax Court properly dismissed a partnership's bid to challenge the IRS' denial of a $27 million tax deduction for a Georgia conservation easement donation, the agency told the Eleventh Circuit, saying the partnership's petitions were filed late and the statutory deadline isn't flexible.

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NY Judge Bars Afghan Removals To Pakistan, For Now

By Britain Eakin

A New York federal judge on Tuesday temporarily barred the Trump administration from deporting Afghan nationals to Pakistan, cementing the government's assurances that it has no removal flights planned this week in a temporary restraining order.

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9th Circ. Backtracks On Venezuela TPS Reinstatement

By Britain Eakin

The Ninth Circuit reversed course Tuesday, granting the Trump administration's request for an administrative stay temporarily pausing a district court order that reinstated Temporary Protected Status for Venezuela, after originally denying the government's request.

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Tribe Says Closure Of Everglades ICE Site Doesn't Moot Suit

By Joyce Hanson

The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida has urged a federal judge not to throw out its suit over a detention unit in Everglades National Park even though the facility designed to hold unauthorized immigrants detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has closed.

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FCC Evaluating Plan To Boost Drones In 3 Spectrum Bands

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

The Federal Communications Commission is evaluating a draft plan to update rules for three spectrum bands to make it easier to deploy drones as well as expand broadband connectivity in aviation.

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Calif. OK With Broadband Rules, But Not Net Neutrality Limits

By Nadia Dreid

California has told the National Telecommunications and Information Administration that it will accept the $1.8 billion it has been allocated under the federal broadband access program, but it doesn't believe that it has to stop enforcing its state consumer protection laws, including the ones related to net neutrality.

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Challengers Urge FCC To Zero Out Subsidy Fund Fees

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

A conservative litigation group challenging the Universal Service Fund asked the Federal Communications Commission Tuesday to zero out the fees supporting the fund next quarter.

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Low-Power Stations Resist Sinclair Call For ATSC Mandate

By Christopher Cole

Low-power stations told the Federal Communications Commission they would stand behind a decision by full-power broadcasters to adopt the next-generation TV transmission standard, but urged the agency not to apply a federal sunset of the older standard to LPTV.

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Brief

Cruz Tees Up Hearing For 3rd FCC Republican

By Christopher Cole

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Tuesday announced a confirmation hearing next week for a third Republican nominee to the Federal Communications Commission.

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Mass., Idaho Voters Defeat Anti-Cannabis Ballot Measures

By Sam Reisman

Voters in Massachusetts and Idaho on Tuesday rejected efforts to repeal or restrict marijuana legalization, dealing a blow to anti-cannabis activists and lawmakers who sought to turn Election Day into a referendum on voter-led efforts to reform drug laws.

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FDA Classification Setback Bodes Well For Wound Care Cos.

A Georgia federal court's recent decision in MiMedx v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration constrains the FDA's analytical framework for classifying certain wound care products as biological products, carrying important ramifications for manufacturers seeking to avoid heightened regulatory requirements, say attorneys at Hyman Phelps.

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How Cos. Using AI Agents Can Avoid Protected Data Incidents

For businesses whose deployed artificial intelligence agents could enter other companies' systems and steal protected data, deployers can take several steps before an incident to test the configured agent, such as limiting it to approved systems and destinations and requiring human escalation when tasks stall, says Steven Carlson at von Briesen & Roper.

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Consistency Is Key In Pipeline Incident Investigations

A pipeline release that causes worker injury does not trigger one investigation, but five or more, running on different timetables, under different statutes, and new federal procedures may soon add more complexity — but companies must maintain one centralized record to ensure consistency throughout, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

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Brownstein Hyatt Faces Suit Over Flawed Cannabis Co. Deal

By Rachel Konieczny

A Colorado real estate developer and his company alleged that Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP negligently drafted their settlement agreement in a dispute with members of cannabis dispensary chain Native Roots over a sale of the chain's entities, resulting in a roughly $100 million arbitration award against the developer's company.

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Texas Atty Seeks Release In Cyberstalking Case

By Lynn LaRowe

A Texas lawyer who is expected to plead guilty in a cyberstalking case involving BigLaw firm attorneys is asking a federal court to free her, saying circumstances are "materially different" because of mental health treatment she has received while behind bars.

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Adult Daycare Pushes To Revive Suit Against Fox Rothschild

By Rose Krebs

An adult daycare company is asking a New Jersey state court to undo the toss of its suit against Fox Rothschild LLP and one of its attorneys, saying the dismissal was in error because the business had sought more time to respond to a dismissal motion.

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Volunteer Exits Malicious Prosecution Suit Naming DLA Piper

By Craig Clough

A Los Angeles judge on Tuesday tossed a malicious prosecution claim against a former volunteer for Breaking Code Silence on free speech grounds, even as he called the broader case against DLA Piper and the nonprofit "stronger than most."

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Ashurst Perkins ICap Suit Stayed Amid Bankruptcy Fight

By Ben Adlin

A Washington state judge has agreed to freeze a lawsuit accusing law firm Ashurst Perkins Coie of aiding and abetting a nearly $230 million Ponzi scheme, ordering the King County Superior Court litigation be put on hold pending an outcome in a related bankruptcy dispute.

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Roundup

The Top In-House Hires Of October

By Michele Gorman

Legal department hires during the past month included high-profile appointments at Fox, Dell and LinkedIn. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from October.

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