Judge Newman Gets Suspension Fight Moved To 11th Circ.

By Dani Kass

Chief Justice John Roberts has transferred the Federal Circuit's investigation of suspended U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman to the Eleventh Circuit, the latter court said Tuesday.

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Analysis

EPA's Climate Retreat Sidelined As Justices Weigh State Torts

By Keith Goldberg

The Trump administration's recent moves renouncing its authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions appear unlikely to sway the U.S. Supreme Court in deciding whether state and local governments can pursue climate change lawsuits against fossil fuel companies, attorneys say.

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Ábrego García Deportation Hearing Abruptly Scrapped

By Jared Foretek

A hearing on the Trump administration's monthslong bid to deport Kilmar Ábrego García to Liberia was abruptly scrapped Tuesday afternoon, and attorneys on both sides declined to say why.

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10th Circ. Revives Prosecution Of Utah Psilocybin Church

By Sam Reisman

The Tenth Circuit has revived a state court prosecution against a Utah church that uses the psychedelic psilocybin as a sacrament, saying the enforcement action did not violate religious freedoms and a lower district judge erred by halting it.

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3rd Circ. Backs Hybrid Test For Categorizing Sex Offenders

By Parker Quinlan

The Third Circuit on Tuesday joined its sister circuits and adopted a "hybrid" framework to determine a sex offender's appropriate category under a federal registry law by looking at the text of state laws used to charge an offender, and weighing facts from the case.

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Ex-FBI Analyst Says Bove Ordered Illegal Protester Probe

By Courtney Bublé

A former FBI agent has come forward with a claim that when U.S. Circuit Judge Emil Bove was at the U.S. Department of Justice, he directed the Los Angeles field office to illegally investigate protesters.

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3rd Circ. Judge Faces Ethics Complaint For Managing PR Firm

By Adrian Cruz

A pair of U.S. senators from Delaware have filed an ethics complaint with the Third Circuit raising concerns over U.S. Circuit Judge Jennifer Mascott's purported operation of a public affairs agency, months after she was officially confirmed to the appellate court.

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Texas Justices Leery Of Banning AI Deposition Transcripts

By Spencer Brewer

Texas Supreme Court justices seemed hesitant to bar attorneys outright from using artificial intelligence voice transcription software during depositions, pointing out Tuesday that multiple safeguards exist to ensure accuracy.

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Fed To Realign Bank Supervision Into 5 State-Based Regions

By Jon Hill

The Federal Reserve's top regulatory official said Tuesday that the central bank is overhauling how it manages its nationwide supervision operations, laying out plans for a reorganization aimed at streamlining the chain of command for its bank examination work.

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FDIC's Hill Says Supervision Rule Won't Tie Examiner Hands

By Jon Hill

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Travis Hill on Tuesday defended a new rule that narrows what regulators can call out for supervisory criticism and potential enforcement at banks, saying the change is intended to focus their oversight, not water it down.

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CFTC Eases Conversion Of Certain Contracts To Perpetuals

By Aislinn Keely

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission took another step toward widening the field of perpetual contracts by easing the way for platforms to convert certain existing contracts tracking security indices into true perpetual futures.

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1st Circ. Sees Gaps In Order Halting RFK's Vaccine Advisers

By Carolyn Muyskens

A First Circuit panel on Tuesday puzzled over aspects of a lower court's order staying Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s appointments to a vaccine policy committee, with one judge saying he can't tell what authority the order was based on.

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UVA Law Prof Takes On Role Of USPTO General Counsel

By Elliot Weld

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said University of Virginia School of Law professor John F. Duffy has joined the agency as its general counsel and acting solicitor.

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FCC Threats Loom Like 'Guillotine,' ABC Tells Court

By Christopher Cole

ABC argued during intense questioning from a D.C. federal judge Tuesday that a Federal Communications Commission probe of eight network-owned TV stations needs to end, because the agency's threats hang like a "guillotine" that could be cut loose at any time.

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DC Circ. Probes NewsGuard Over Harm From FTC Orders

By Matthew Perlman

A D.C. Circuit panel probed an attorney for NewsGuard on Tuesday about the kind of harm a Federal Trade Commission investigation and merger settlement in the advertising industry caused the news ratings group.

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DC Circ. Tells FCC To Respond In Fox Philly License Case

By Christopher Cole

The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday ordered the Federal Communications Commission to respond to an advocacy group's petition for court action to compel full commission review of a staff order that tossed a challenge to Fox TV's Philadelphia broadcast license.

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Trump Allows Dyed Fuel In Highway Use, Defers Excise Taxes

By Zak Kostro

President Donald Trump signed an executive order to temporarily allow road vehicles to use dyed diesel fuel that is typically used by off-road vehicles and to defer applicable federal excise taxes, the White House said.

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Calif. Tribe Says Kalshi Evades Tribal Sports Betting Bans

By Elaine Briseño

A Southern California tribe warned the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday that a recent Third Circuit decision blocking New Jersey from enforcing its gambling laws against Kalshi could threaten tribes' exclusive rights to regulate gambling on their reservations.

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Wrestler Asks Justices To Shield Her From Trans Opponents

By Ganesh Setty

A high school wrestler asked the U.S. Supreme Court for emergency relief protecting her from competing against female-identifying students who are biologically male, after she said one such opponent sexually assaulted her during a match.

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Brief

Farmers Strike Deal With Insurer To End Crop Loss Dispute

By Hayley Fowler

Two tobacco farmers in North Carolina have settled their suit seeking to recoup the cost of arbitration proceedings and other damages from a crop insurance provider accused of trying to halve their recovery for crop-related losses, federal court records show.

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Colo. Developer Says Town Reversed Course On Sewer Taps

By Zach Dupont

The developer of a tiny home community just outside a Colorado mountain town has told a federal judge that the town refuses to process the community's wastewater and won't issue new tap permits to new properties despite approving more than a dozen prior to the dispute.

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DOL Cancels Proposal To Nix Wage-Hour Guidance

By Max Kutner

The U.S. Department of Labor on Tuesday said it is withdrawing a proposal to remove interpretive rules and policy statements regarding the Fair Labor Standards Act that had not gone through notice-and-comment rulemaking.

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Flock, Colo. Towns Violated Residents' Privacy, Suit Says

By Rachel Konieczny

Flock's mass surveillance system and two Colorado towns invaded individuals' constitutional right to privacy by tracking their movements without consent and failing to employ safeguards for law enforcement using the technology, alleges a proposed class action filed in Colorado federal court.

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Chicago Woman Sues Over Shooting By Border Patrol Agent

By Celeste Bott

A Chicago woman who was shot five times by a U.S. Border Patrol agent during an immigration enforcement operation last year sued the federal government Monday, alleging that the agent deliberately struck her car and shot her without justification while she was alerting her neighbors to the officers' presence.

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Brief

DOD Seeks 1st Circ. Relief Over Fee Award In Grant Cap Case

By Ganesh Setty

The U.S. Department of Defense is appealing a Massachusetts federal court's decision awarding attorney fees to an academic organization that helped successfully argue that the department's cap on reimbursing indirect costs from universities' grant-funded research was unlawful.

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WTO General Council Meeting Concludes Without Decisions

By Jack McLoone

A two-day meeting of the World Trade Organization General Council did not produce any concrete decisions on proposed reforms or other matters, including the currently lapsed moratorium on e-commerce duties, a spokesperson said Tuesday.

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Cos. Say Trade Court Can Issue Nationwide Tariff Refunds

By Dylan Moroses

The U.S. Court of International Trade has nationwide jurisdiction over matters involving trade laws, which should give it authority to order tariff refunds for importers that paid the unlawful duties whether or not they filed their own challenge at the trade court, businesses told the Federal Circuit.

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Brief

USTR Keeps China Tariffs After Industry Push For Extension

By Jack McLoone

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Tuesday announced the continuation of tariffs on some $50 billion worth of Chinese goods installed during President Donald Trump's first term after domestic businesses requested they be extended.

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10th Circ. Says Courts Can Review Refugee Terminations

By MJ Koo

A divided Tenth Circuit panel ruled that federal courts can review the government's finding that a refugee did not qualify for that status at the time of admission, finding that the threshold decision is nondiscretionary and thus not barred by a federal law restricting review of discretionary immigration decisions.

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Judge Backs Va. Tuition Pathway For Unauthorized Students

By Jared Foretek

A federal judge in Richmond rejected the Trump administration's bid to strike down Virginia laws allowing students who are unauthorized to be in the U.S. to pay in-state tuition at public universities, breaking with a Fifth Circuit ruling on Texas tuition rules and ruling that federal law doesn't preempt the state statutes.

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1st Circ. Questions Need To Rule On Expired Harvard Visa Ban

By Julie Manganis

The First Circuit grappled Tuesday with what to do with an injunction blocking the Trump administration's long-suspended ban on foreign students from attending Harvard University, more than 10 months after the president's proclamation expired.

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DC Circ. Not Sure Challenge To Border Wall Halt Still Has Legs

By Nadia Dreid

The D.C. Circuit didn't seem convinced Monday morning it should breathe new life into a suit claiming that the Biden administration caused people legal injury and broke the law by not considering the environmental effects of reversing the Trump administration's border policies.

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Ariz. Tribe Seeks Emergency Stop To Border Wall In DC Circ.

By Crystal Owens

The Tohono O'odham Nation is asking the D.C. Circuit for an emergency injunction pending appeal to block construction of a border wall on its Arizona reservation, telling the appellate court that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security intends to start construction as early as Monday.

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EB-5 Center Says USCIS Delay Jeopardizes $82M Project

By Carolina Bolado

An immigrant investor regional center in Florida and a company seeking to raise funds for a planned medical school in Naples, Florida, sued U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, claiming a delay in approval from the government is jeopardizing funding for the $82 million project.

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Higher-Ed Groups Say DHS Upended Student Internship Rules

By Tom Lotshaw

Higher-education organizations have accused the Trump administration of abruptly and unlawfully imposing new restrictions on experiential learning opportunities for international students, and couching its regulatory shift as "reminders" that threatened schools and officials with sanctions and prosecutions for noncompliance.

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ICE Seeks Early Win In ACLU's Suit Over Detainee Records

By Parker Quinlan

The federal government on Tuesday sought to end a public records lawsuit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, arguing the agency is allowed under federal law to create its own rules for when immigrant detainee information can be released.

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Tribal Jurisdiction Key To Michigan Indigenous Cases

By Melanie Dorsey

Determining who can prosecute crimes committed in Indian Country requires navigating a complicated mix of tribal, state and federal authority, a Michigan federal prosecutor told law enforcement officials and advocates Tuesday at a statewide summit focused on missing and murdered Indigenous people and human trafficking.

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DC Circ. Wary Of Hikvision Appeal Over FCC Device Denials

By Nadia Dreid

Chinese device-maker Hikvision hoped to convince the D.C. Circuit Tuesday that the Federal Communications Commission doesn't have the authority to strip a company's existing authorizations for national security reasons, but the judges did not seem persuaded.

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Cato, NRA Back Review Of Gun Ban For Nonviolent Felons

By Sam Reisman

Some four months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a gun ownership ban for drug users is unconstitutional as applied to a marijuana user, gun rights advocates are urging the high court to expand the finding to those convicted of nonviolent marijuana crimes.

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SEC's Shareholder Activism Role After The '26 Proxy Season

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently proposed eliminating its shareholder proposal rule, but this proxy season's combination of elevated campaign activity, limited formal escalation and measured voting outcomes illustrates why a targeted SEC role remains important, say attorneys at Sidley.

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Upholding Energy Efficiency Rules If DOE Eases Enforcement

Despite recent moves by the Energy Department and Congress to limit energy efficiency enforcement, companies should maintain current efficiency standards and testing procedures lest they risk state or private action, enforcement lookbacks during future administrations, truth-in-advertising complaints and more, say attorneys at HWG.

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Series

NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3

Several developments from New York financial services regulators in the third quarter reflect a common theme — regulators are increasingly seeking to apply established supervisory expectations to newer market participants and emerging financial products, say attorneys at Blank Rome.

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FCC Covered List Is Pushing Limits Of Supply Chain Scrutiny

Companies outside the traditional telecommunications sector may now need to factor the Federal Communications Commission's equipment authorization requirements into supply chain compliance as the FCC covered list continues to expand as a national security tool, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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AG Watch: Texas Takes A Lone State Stand Against Tech Cos.

A look at Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's recent actions against Meta Platforms and Amazon.com illustrates how Texas is distancing itself from multistate coordination, offering practitioners a crucial perspective on navigating individual state actions amid coordinated attorney general litigation, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.

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What Insurers Need To Know About 2 New California Laws

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two measures last week that while addressing distinct issues — catastrophe claims handling and insurers' corrective actions, respectively — reflect similar themes, including insurers' preparation before problems arise, transparency while they are being addressed, and meaningful remediation afterward, says Lucy Wang at Hinshaw.

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Opinion

PTAB Panels Should Revamp Their IPR Merits Decisions

In light of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires' recent announcement about returning merits institution determinations to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, the implementing framework should strengthen PTAB panels' responsibility for the benefit of both petitioners and patent owners, says Brandon Theiss at AddyHart.

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Contact Lens Rule's Evolution Steers FTC Guidance Program

The history of the Federal Trade Commission's Contact Lens Rule illustrates the goals of the FTC's recently announced guidance program, which aims to strengthen consumer protection and safeguard competition, say attorneys at Wilson Sonsini.

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RPC Launches First US Office In NY With Insurance Partner

By Andrea Keckley

International law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain LLP is expanding into the U.S. with a New York office led by an insurance coverage specialist formerly with Kaufman Borgeest & Ryan LLP.

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Foley Hoag Adds 3 Partners In Denver

By Christine DeRosa

Foley Hoag LLP has grown its intellectual property, emerging company and venture capital offerings in Colorado with the addition of three partners, two from Sheridan Ross PC and another from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.

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Justices' Docs Should Belong To Public, Gov't Watchdogs Say

By Jack Karp

Nearly two dozen government accountability groups are calling for Congress to enact a law that would make U.S. Supreme Court justices' papers government property that would someday be available to the public.

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Omni Bridgeway Raises $1B For New Litigation Funding

By Ryan Boysen

Litigation funder Omni Bridgeway has raised a new $1 billion fund from mostly repeat investors, with plans to deploy the money broadly across countries and case types while avoiding debt leverage.

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ABA Accreditor Leader Remembered For Passion And Intellect

By Emma Cueto

After her sudden death while leading the American Bar Association council that handles law school accreditation, Melissa Hart is being remembered as a passionate and fiercely intelligent jurist, mentor and leader who will be missed as the council navigates numerous challenges to its accreditor status.

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Mich. Tribal Officials Detail Missing Persons Plan At Summit

By Melanie Dorsey

Officials from the Bay Mills Indian Community outlined how they plan to respond to cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people at a summit in Michigan on Wednesday, explaining how the tribe will coordinate law enforcement, victim services and community resources and sharing lessons learned from previous missing persons cases. 

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