Anthropic Judge Rejects Trump's Nat'l Security 'Blank Check'

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Department of Defense's designation of Anthropic PBC as a supply chain risk to national security was not based on a credible threat, but rather was retaliation for the company's public criticism of the Trump administration's position in contract negotiations, a California federal judge ruled Thursday.

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Mass. Judge Halts USPS Mail Ballot Rule Before Midterms

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge late Thursday temporarily blocked the U.S. Postal Service from implementing a new rule allowing it to deny delivery of mail-in ballots from voters whose names are not on citizenship lists the Trump administration is compiling ahead of November's midterms.

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6th Circ. Rules Mich. Doesn't Own Unclaimed Accounts

By Melanie Dorsey

The Sixth Circuit revived proposed class claims accusing Michigan officials of violating property owners' due process rights by keeping interest earned on unclaimed financial accounts, holding that the state takes custody of abandoned property but does not take ownership of it. 

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AG Says Florida Won't Take Part In Meta's 'Weak' $17B Deal

By Jonathan Capriel

Florida will take no part in Meta's $17 billion social media addiction settlement, according to state Attorney General James Uthmeier, who has slammed the sum as "weak" and said the Sunshine State will not be bought off for "pennies on the dollar."

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Data Brokers Can't Pause Judicial Privacy Law Fight

By Carla Baranauckas

A federal judge has denied a bid to pause dozens of lawsuits brought under the state's judicial privacy law, rejecting data brokers' request to stay the litigation while the Third Circuit weighs the statute's constitutionality.

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Feds Fight 'Premature' Attempt To Block New Birthright Order

By Ganesh Setty

The Trump administration has defended its new executive order targeting birthright citizenship after losing at the U.S. Supreme Court in June, urging a Maryland federal court not to block the new order from being implemented.

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Officer Assaults Not Always Violent Crimes, 8th Circ. Says

By Brandon Lowrey

An Eighth Circuit panel has ruled that assault against a federal employee is not categorically a crime of violence, saying U.S. Supreme Court precedent demands proof of more physical force than a conviction under the federal statute requires.  

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Flint Council Candidate's Ballot Misconduct Claims Tossed

By Melanie Dorsey

A former Flint City Council candidate cannot pursue a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the results of a 2025 special election she claimed was tainted by absentee-ballot misconduct, a Michigan federal judge ruled Thursday, finding the candidate lacked standing and waited too long to challenge the certified results.

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Dems Say DOJ Opinion Aims To Foil Oversight Of White House

By Courtney Bublé

With midterm elections right around the corner, Senate Democrats are worried the new legal opinion from the U.S. Department of Justice could let the Trump Administration obstruct congressional oversight of the White House.

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OCC, FDIC Raise Bar For Examiners To Criticize Banks

By Jon Hill

Federal banking regulators moved Thursday to rein in their use of supervisory warnings and enforcement actions, rolling out new standards that they said will focus examiner attention on material financial risks rather than process and documentation concerns.

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Colo. AG Accuses EarnIn Of Making Illegal Payday Loans

By Katryna Perera

Colorado's attorney general has accused the financial firm EarnIn of illegally providing "predatory" payday loans to tens of thousands of Coloradans through its earned wage access product, charging annual percentage rates of 1,000% or more.

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DC Circ. Says Challenges To Pa. Power Plant Orders Can Wait

By Tom Lotshaw

A D.C. Circuit panel granted the Trump administration's push to pause consolidated cases challenging orders that blocked a Pennsylvania power plant from retiring while litigation over similar orders involving a Michigan power plant play out.

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Enviro Groups Seek More Time To Fight Roadless Rule Repeal

By Joyce Hanson

Environmental groups have asked the U.S. Forest Service to extend a public comment period for its proposal to scrap a 25-year-old "Roadless Rule" that bars logging and road construction on tens of millions of acres of national forest around the country.

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Ex-West Point Prof Says Climate Science Stand Cost Him Job

By Tom Lotshaw

A former West Point professor is alleging in New York federal court that the military academy violated his First Amendment rights when it forced him out after he voiced opposition to a directive to stop teaching cadets about human contributions to climate change.

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States' Suit Says HHS Terms Threaten Family Planning Dollars

By Rachel Riley

Twenty-three states launched a lawsuit in Maryland federal court Thursday challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' new conditions on federal funding for family planning services that they say would require recipients end support for "gender ideology," abandon diversity programming and drive patients toward parenthood and marriage.

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Albright Cuts $9M IP Verdict Against GlobalFoundries To $1M

By Elliot Weld

A Texas federal judge has reduced a $9.2 million jury verdict against semiconductor-maker GlobalFoundries Inc. for patent infringement to $1 million, faulting several aspects of Katana Silicon Technologies LLC's damages theory.

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USPTO Sets Radiation Monitoring Patent Order As Informative

By Adam Lidgett

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has added weight to a Patent Trial and Appeal Board order from earlier this year that undid a decision rejecting an RNA patent application.

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MARTA, Atlanta Reach $52M Deal In Lengthy Tax Dispute

By David Aaro

The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority and the city of Atlanta announced a $52 million settlement Thursday to end their yearslong dispute over the amount of sales tax proceeds allocated for its enhanced bus service.

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Mass. Judge Nixes HUD's Changes To Fair Housing Grants

By Isaac Monterose

A Massachusetts federal judge has sided with two fair housing groups that sued the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development over grant funding changes to HUD's Fair Housing Initiatives Program, ruling that the planned revisions for fiscal year 2025 must be vacated, in part, because the federal government failed to justify them.

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Developer Says Mass. City Can't Tie Permits To Rent Caps

By Julie Manganis

A developer seeking to build a mixed-use mid-rise in Cambridge, Massachusetts, says the city is unlawfully withholding its building permit unless the developer meets affordable-housing requirements and pays a $450,000 permit fee under an inclusionary housing ordinance, according to a complaint filed Thursday in state court.

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NLRB Seeks To Permanently Block Calif. Fill-In Law

By Katherine Smith

The National Labor Relations Board urged a California federal court to bar a state law allowing the state labor board to perform certain duties if the national board cannot, arguing that recent decisions in other cases "confirmed" the court should find the law is preempted.

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Disabled Adults Fight Connecticut's IQ Cutoff For Services

By Brian Steele

A group of young adults who say they have intellectual disabilities alleged in a new lawsuit that Connecticut's "strict intelligence quotient cutoff" for receiving state agency services is unconstitutional and ignores shifts in the medical and legal landscapes.

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DOJ Can't Get Rethink On Apple Peek Into Fed Phone-Buying

By Bryan Koenig

A special master has refused to reconsider his New Jersey federal court mandate giving Apple a look into how the Pentagon, CIA, State Department and other agencies purchase smartphones, criticizing the Justice Department for trying to "split hairs" in contending the agencies aren't "party" to the monopolization lawsuit.

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Chamber Says FTC's Meta Appeal Trying To 'Rewrite' Law

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other amicus filers urged the D.C. Circuit not to revive the Federal Trade Commission monopolization lawsuit targeting Meta's purchases of WhatsApp and Instagram, taking issue Thursday with how the FTC characterizes social media competition, consumer behavior and the law allowing it to sue.

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Dems Want DOJ, FTC To Look At Sysco's $29B Jetro Buy

By Gina Kim

Two Democratic lawmakers called on the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday to closely inspect Sysco Corp.'s plans to buy competitor Restaurant Depot LLC aka Jetro Restaurant Depot at a total enterprise value of $29.1 billion, warning in a letter the transaction could hurt independent restaurants, farmers and Americans who "are already facing an affordability crisis."

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OpenAI Leads Corporate Push To Bolster Cyber Defense

By Craig Clough

OpenAI and more than 100 other companies and organizations signed an open letter Thursday calling for a global surge in cyber defense, warning that artificial intelligence will make cyberattacks "more widespread and sophisticated" in the coming months.

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SpaceX Seeks Green Light On Gen3 System

By Nadia Dreid

Since the FCC is already in the middle of overhauling its satellite licensing framework to presume applications are in the public interest if they follow certain rules, SpaceX wants the agency to apply that presumption to the 100,000-satellite constellation it has proposed.

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Ukrainians Still Can't Tie Cos. To Russian Missiles, TI Says

By Spencer Brewer

Several semiconductor manufacturers, including Mouser Electronics Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc., asked a Texas federal court to throw out claims brought by Ukrainian civilians alleging the companies' parts ended up in Russian missiles, saying the civilians failed to cure defects in their pleadings.

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Mexico Growers Say US Erred In Not Revoking Tomato Duty

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. International Trade Commission based its determination not to revoke an antidumping duty on Mexican fresh tomatoes on faulty reasoning, a group of Mexican farm associations told the U.S. Court of International Trade, seeking a redo.

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DOJ Targets 4 More States Over Immigrant Tuition Benefits

By Britain Eakin

The U.S. Department of Justice sued Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington on Thursday over their laws allowing unauthorized immigrants to pay in-state tuition, arguing the measures amount to unconstitutional discrimination against U.S. citizens.

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'We Are Not Afraid To Try This Case,' Says Rep. McIver's Atty

By Courtney Bublé

Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., and her legal team Thursday outlined her options following the appeals court decision affirming that charges against her arising from her oversight visit to an immigration detention facility can move forward.

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NY, Sheriffs File Dueling Suits Over ICE Agreements

By Britain Eakin

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James sued the Rensselaer County Sheriff's Office on Thursday for failing to comply with a newly enacted state law requiring local law enforcement agencies to end agreements to assist with federal immigration enforcement.

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SD Judge Takes On Voter ID Rule Affecting Tribes

By Joyce Hanson

A South Dakota federal judge expedited briefing for a preliminary injunction bid in a League of Women Voters lawsuit against the state ahead of absentee voting that starts Sept. 18, ruling the league can hasten its challenge of a new documentary proof of citizenship requirement.

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FCC Ends Caption Reg On Public Channel Video Programmers

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission has scrapped a requirement that video programmers show they comply with closed captioning rules if they only provide content to local public, educational and governmental channels that are exempt from captioning mandates.

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FCC Urged To Hold Off On New Subsea Cable Security Regs

By Elaine Briseño

A trade association for submarine cable owners and other groups urged the Federal Communications Commission to hold off on adopting more regulations for undersea communication cable equipment until more information is available.

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Charter Schools Blast Proposal To Limit E-Rate To Rural Areas

By Christopher Cole

Public charter schools told the Federal Communications Commission that the agency cannot pare back the E-Rate subsidy program to just rural areas because Congress meant the program to serve all low-income areas, including urban neighborhoods.

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Brief

Telecoms Face FCC Call Block Over Robocall Compliance

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission has told nine different telecoms that they need to get right with their robocall mitigation database certifications or face being booted off U.S. networks.

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Kratom Group Says DEA Order Could Snare Natural Wares

By Sam Reisman

A kratom trade group has asked a D.C. federal judge to find that a recent U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration rule change targeting certain kratom-derived compounds should not apply when those compounds naturally occur in the kratom leaf.

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Discovery Into Insurers' AI Use Should Stay Proportional

As insurers increasingly use artificial intelligence to make claim decisions, plaintiffs in first-party coverage litigation should seek discovery that tracks how materially the automated system influenced the challenged decision, not whether the insurer used AI somewhere in its operations, says attorney Joe Zaid.

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NC Crypto Kiosk Law Opens Door To Stricter Fraud Regs

North Carolina's new cryptocurrency kiosk law will force operators to build fraud-screening, disclosure and compliance systems before the end of the year, while also providing an opening for more stringent city and county limits on kiosk placement and operations, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

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4 Ways‌ NY's Bivens Act Changes Civil Rights Legal Strategy

New York state's new Bivens Act creates a statutory civil rights cause of action against federal officials, changing presuit investigations, discovery and settlement leverage, and creating an opportunity to pursue more structural changes — so plaintiffs counsel will need to adjust their civil rights litigation playbooks, say attorneys at Jacob Fuchsberg Law.

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FTC IonQ Review Unearths A Divide In Vertical Merger Remedy

The Federal Trade Commission's recent split decision to close its investigation into the merger between IonQ and SkyWater Technology offers a candid window into how enforcers may approach vertical merger concerns after a string of difficult government cases, says Nicholas Cheolas at Wiley.

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Series

Taekwondo Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Taekwondo has taught me to recognize when to fight for a position and when to focus on finding a solution, and that the best outcomes are often achieved by solving problems — all of which has improved my work as a bankruptcy lawyer, mediator and Subchapter V trustee, says Amy Denton Mayer at Berger Singerman.

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Exclusive

Inside The $150M Immigration Contract That Wasn't

By Daniel Connolly

The leader of a small Houston-based law firm says she was "blindsided" by an announcement from the federal government that her 24-attorney shop had won a $150 million no-bid contract to represent thousands of immigrant children in deportation proceedings.

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ABA Faces Uphill Battle To Remain As Law School Accreditor

By Emma Cueto

The American Bar Association council responsible for accrediting law schools is fighting on multiple fronts to retain its status as a nationwide accreditor, fending off challenges at both the federal and state levels.

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Google Users' Atty Fee To Be In 'Realm' Of $147M, Judge Says

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge indicated Thursday that he won't give the full $147 million in fees sought by lawyers who won a $425 million class action verdict against Google for unlawfully collecting user information, but he said their "really excellent lawyering" deserves an amount "within that realm."

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Womble Bond Asks To Drop Dutch Software Client Over Rift

By Hayley Fowler

Womble Bond Dickinson is looking to pull its representation of a Dutch software company after five years of a bitter trademark battle, citing a "fundamental disagreement" that has allegedly made it impossible for the firm to move forward as counsel of record.

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