4th Circ. Combines DOJ Appeals Of Comey, James Dismissals

By Jack Karp

The Fourth Circuit has granted the Trump administration's request to combine its previously separate appeals of the dismissals of prosecutions against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

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No Jury Yet In Goldstein Trial, But Celeb Witnesses Possible

By Jared Foretek

Day two of jury selection in Tom Goldstein's tax and mortgage fraud case wrapped without a jury being seated Tuesday, but did reveal that the government could call celebrities Tobey Maguire and Kevin Hart to the stand.

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Halligan Blasts Court's 'Inquisition' Over US Atty Status

By Ryan Boysen

Lindsey Halligan said Tuesday that she is still the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia despite a recent ruling to the contrary, dismissing a federal judge's questions about why she's still using the title as an "inquisition" and a "gross abuse of power."

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CEO Of Auto Mat Maker WeatherTech Tapped For FTC Spot

By Craig Clough

The founder and CEO of automobile accessories-maker WeatherTech, David MacNeil, was nominated to a seat on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission by President Donald Trump, the White House announced Tuesday. 

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Jack Smith To Testify Publicly Next Week

By Courtney Bublé

Former special counsel Jack Smith is slated to testify publicly before the House Judiciary Committee on Jan. 22 after, according to his attorney, having been "ready and willing" to do so for a while.

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Approach The Bench: Judge Bough On Ethics

Years of experience as a plaintiff's attorney influenced U.S. District Judge Stephen Bough's disclosure rules for litigators appearing in his court.

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Sen. Whitehouse Presses AG On Boasberg Complaint Results

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., ranking member of the courts panel on the Senate Judiciary Committee, is calling for Attorney General Pam Bondi to release the results of the disciplinary complaint she filed against Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg of the District of Columbia when the investigation wraps up.

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DOJ Again Demands That Pa. Turn Over Voter Data

By Elizabeth Daley

The U.S. Department of Justice again demanded that Pennsylvania turn over voters' driver's license numbers and partial Social Security numbers, saying in Pennsylvania federal court that the information is required to be delivered under Title III of the Civil Rights Act, the Help America Vote Act and the National Voter Registration Act.

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Expert Says Fla. Electoral Maps Are Racially Designed

By Carolina Bolado

An expert witness in a trial over claims that Florida's electoral maps are racially gerrymandered told a three-judge district court panel Tuesday that she found a uniform concentration of Hispanic voters across three congressional districts that was not explained by regional demographics.

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NJ Gov. Says Ex-Elections Chief's Admission Fatal To Case

By Adrian Cruz

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy told a state court judge that a suit by former elections chief Jeffrey Brindle should be completely dismissed because his decision to write a satirical article in his official capacity invalidates his First Amendment claim as it applies to his continued employment in the role.

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Trump Codefendants Seek Legal Fees In Ga. Election Case

By Kelcey Caulder

A dozen defendants targeted in the state of Georgia's case alleging unlawful interference in the 2020 presidential election have followed President Donald J. Trump in demanding millions of dollars in legal fees for their efforts fighting the now-dropped charges.   

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SEC's Atkins Launches Review Of Corporate Disclosures Reg

By Sarah Jarvis

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins said Tuesday he has directed the Division of Corporation Finance to review the agency's broad regulation covering what qualitative information public companies should disclose in regulatory filings.

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Analysis

Sen. Crypto Bill Tees Up DeFi, Stablecoin Yield For Key Hearing

By Aislinn Keely

The Senate Banking Committee's latest proposal to regulate crypto markets takes on issues like decentralized finance, stablecoin interest and customer protections not addressed in previous versions, but experts said the text is far from final and much is to be hammered out at a key hearing this week.

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Credit-Card Fight Heats Up As Trump Backs Swipe Fee Bill

By Jon Hill

Bankers moved swiftly Tuesday to push back on President Donald Trump's late-night endorsement of legislation that he said will stop "out of control" credit-card swipe fees, his latest broadside against the credit card industry that has lenders on the defensive over costs.

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Sen. Warren Questions SEC On Crypto In 401(k) Plans

By Kellie Mejdrich

Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in advance of a banking committee vote on cryptocurrency market structure legislation, asking how the agency will protect investors as the administration also pushes to broaden access to cryptocurrency in 401(k) retirement plans.

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Court Urged To Block Trump Admin's Anti-Wind, Solar Orders

By Keith Goldberg

Clean energy advocates have asked a Massachusetts federal judge to block a suite of Trump administration actions aimed at restricting wind and solar development, claiming there's no justification for the policies aside from the administration being anti-renewable energy.

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NJ Sues Metal Recycler Over Fires, Cites Public Nuisance

By Carla Baranauckas

New Jersey has launched a public nuisance suit against one of the nation's largest scrap metal recyclers, alleging that the company has allowed hazardous conditions at its Camden facilities to persist for years, triggering more than a dozen fires that have repeatedly blanketed nearby neighborhoods in smoke and toxic pollution.

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Energy Co. Seeks Early Win In ND Lease Cancellation Row

By Crystal Owens

A Colorado energy company is asking a North Dakota federal district court to vacate a series of Bureau of Indian Affairs decisions that determined it didn't own a legally protected interest in a decades-old 320-acre gas and oil lease on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

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Youths Urge 9th Circ. To Revive Trump Energy Orders Fight

By Elaine Briseño

A group of young people asked the Ninth Circuit to revive their lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's energy-related emergency orders, arguing the lower court erred by saying it did not have jurisdiction to rule on the matter.

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Blue States Say HHS Conditions Funding On Anti-Trans Bias

By Grace Elletson

A dozen Democratic state attorneys general sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday, claiming the agency's threat to withhold billions of dollars in funding from states that don't hew to an executive order declaring that gender is immutable conflicts with antidiscrimination law.

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Landmark To Pay $95K To End Wash.'s Patent Troll Claims

By Ben Adlin

A patent assertion entity has reached a tentative deal with Washington state to settle a high-profile lawsuit in federal court accusing the company of violating the state's Patent Troll Prevention Act by filing bad faith infringement claims against small businesses.

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Brief

USPTO Launches New Pilot For SEP Development

By Dani Kass

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said Tuesday it has created a new pilot program encouraging the development of standard-essential patents by smaller entities.

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Senate Backs Bill Giving Deepfake Porn Victims Right To Sue

By Hailey Konnath

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday unanimously passed bipartisan legislation that would allow individuals depicted in nonconsensual, artificial intelligence-generated, sexually explicit content to sue and recover damages, backing the bill once again after it stalled in the House in 2024.

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Fla. AG Sues Nat'l Org. Over Trans Swimmer Policy

By Carolina Bolado

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued U.S. Masters Swimming on Tuesday, accusing the organization of violating Florida law by allowing transgender women to compete with cisgender women in swim meets.

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Md. Bill Would Allow Separate Land, Improvement Tax Rates

By Zak Kostro

Maryland would authorize local governments to establish subclasses of real property consisting of land and improvements to land and impose separate tax rates for each subclass under legislation set to be considered by the state House of Delegates' Ways and Means Committee.

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SD Gov. Proposes Local Property Tax Alternative In Address

By Jaqueline McCool

South Dakota counties would have the option to replace the county's share of property taxes with a half-cent sales tax under a plan proposed by the governor in his State of the State address Tuesday.

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Colo. Asks Judge To Halt USDA's SNAP Pilot Project

By Rachel Konieczny

Colorado asked a federal judge Monday to block the U.S. Department of Agriculture from forcing the state to comply with the USDA's new pilot project for Supplemental Nutrition Act Program recipients, contending the project is a "targeted attack" against Colorado and otherwise violates federal and state law.

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Express Scripts Can't Impel FTC Atty Views On Insulin Makers

By Matthew Perlman

A Federal Trade Commission in-house judge has denied a bid from Express Scripts to force a commission attorney to sit for a deposition to discuss an investigation into insulin manufacturers as the pharmacy benefit manager defends against the agency's insulin pricing case.

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Financial Aid-Fixing Antitrust Claims Heading To Trial

By Matthew Perlman

An Illinois federal judge refused a bid from the remaining elite private universities accused of fixing financial aid offerings to end the case ahead of trial after accepting the students' view of the market, along with evidence suggesting they paid inflated costs.

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DOJ Fights For May Trial Against Agri Stats

By Bryan Koenig

Justice Department attorneys pushed a Minnesota federal judge in oral arguments Tuesday to let them go to trial in May on claims that Agri Stats' protein industry reports help major producers hike prices, arguing they're entitled to leapfrog private plaintiffs and the company cannot toss or winnow their allegations.

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Wash. Officials Challenge 9th Circ.'s X Corp. Standing Ruling

By Ben Adlin

A group of current and former Washington state officials urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to review a man's proposed class action accusing X Corp., formerly known as Twitter, of violating a state telephone privacy law, telling justices that allowing the Ninth Circuit's ruling in the case to stand would erode state sovereignty and potentially lead to a circuit split.

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Voting Rights Orgs., Ill. Voters Ask To Fight DOJ Records Suit

By Lauraann Wood

Voter and immigrant advocacy groups are seeking, alongside individual voters, to step in to fight the U.S. government's legal pursuit of unredacted voter registration records from Illinois election officials, saying they can more appropriately defend the suit given the privacy rights and interests at stake.

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Tech, AI Expert Tapped For Calif. Privacy Agency's Board

By Allison Grande

A leading expert on data privacy, surveillance and artificial intelligence who has spearheaded major initiatives at UC Law San Francisco and the American Civil Liberties Union has been selected as the latest member of the California Privacy Protection Agency's five-member board.

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Starbucks Misled Patrons On Coffee Supplier Ethics, Suit Says

By Rachel Riley

Two consumers are targeting Starbucks for touting "100% Ethical Coffee Sourcing" on product labels despite reports of forced labor and other human rights violations on supplying farms around the world, according to a proposed class action launched in Washington state federal court Tuesday.

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Atlanta Escapes Suit Alleging Ex-Cop's Sex Assault Of Teen

By Chart Riggall

The city of Atlanta won't have to face a lawsuit over allegations that a former police officer raped a teenage girl following a vehicular crash after a Georgia federal judge said Monday the victim can't allege the officer's assault was perpetrated as part of city business.

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House Clears African, Haitian Trade Agreement Extensions

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. House of Representatives late Monday overwhelmingly approved two bills that would extend regional trade agreements with African nations and Haiti for three years each, with both now headed to the U.S. Senate for approval.

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Maine Alters Excise Tax Assessment On Camper Trailers

By Jaqueline McCool

Maine will change its application and collection of excise tax on camper trailers under a law that took effect without the signature of Democratic Gov. Janet Mills.

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Rubio Casts Doubt On Habeas For Deported Venezuelans

By Britain Eakin

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a D.C. federal judge there is no realistic way to provide habeas hearings to 137 Venezuelans deported in March after the U.S. capture of Venezuelan authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro.

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Minn. Protestors Seek Bar On 'Widespread' Excessive Force

By Dorothy Atkins

Six Minnesota protesters and observers allegedly harassed by federal immigration officers urged a federal judge at a hearing Tuesday to bar officers deployed in the state from "widespread" constitutional violations, seeking prohibitions on a laundry list of offenses from pepper spraying peaceful protesters to ramming observers with vehicles.

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Harvard Seeks 1st Circ. Backing For Student Visa Program

By Carolyn Muyskens

The federal government "has no persuasive defense" of its efforts to bar international students from enrolling at Harvard University, the school told the First Circuit in asking the court to uphold an order enjoining the move.

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Green Card Seekers Say Suspensions Are Discriminatory

By Ganesh Setty

A group of 83 immigrants subject to President Donald Trump's travel bans has asked a Maryland federal court to undo an "indefinite" hold on their permanent residency applications, saying the hold amounts to nationality-based discrimination.

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Brief

US Ends TPS for Somalia, Citing Improved Conditions

By Tom Lotshaw

The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it's ending a Temporary Protected Status designation for Somalia that has allowed Somalis to live and work in the U.S., after concluding that country is safe enough for them to return.

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Ex-CIA Analyst Says FARA Case Is Flawed, Unconstitutional

By Stewart Bishop

A former CIA analyst, White House official and foreign policy expert on Tuesday urged a Manhattan federal judge to throw out the criminal case accusing her of secretly acting as an agent of South Korea while in the United States, calling the charges defective and unconstitutional.

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Tribal Groups Weigh In On High Court Miss. Ballot Dispute

By Crystal Owens

A group of Native American organizations is backing a U.S. Supreme Court petition that looks to reverse a Fifth Circuit determination on Mississippi's law regarding late-arriving mail-in ballots, arguing that not allowing states to extend receipt deadlines will lead to further disenfranchisement of Indigenous people.

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San Antonio Slams Tribal Church Rehearing Bid In 5th Circ.

By Joyce Hanson

San Antonio is fighting an attempt by two Native American church members to win a Fifth Circuit rehearing in a case over plans to restore a municipal park, saying a panel of the appeals court broke no new ground in its December opinion that would merit another look.

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FCC Told It Lacks Legal Authority For Jail Cellphone Jamming

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission does not have the statutory power to authorize cellphone signal jamming in jails and prisons, a consumer interest group says.

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Astronomers Seek Upper C-Band Coordination With Wireless

By Christopher Cole

As the U.S. government moves toward an auction of upper C-band airwaves to wireless carriers, the nation's radio astronomers said the carriers should be required to coordinate with observatories to keep mobile services from disrupting their observations in space.

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Hemp Co. Accuses Rival Of Using Pot-Based THC, Not Hemp

By Mike Curley

Hemp-derived cannabinoid company CCT Sciences LLC is suing a competitor in Florida federal court, alleging that despite the rival's claims of using "natural" hemp-derived THC, it instead uses illegal cannabis derivatives in its products.

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NJ Gov. Signs Bill Regulating Intoxicating Hemp Products

By Mike Curley

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has signed into law a bill regulating the sale of intoxicating hemp products, closing what the bill's sponsors called a loophole that allowed them to be sold without oversight.

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Lawmakers Eye 2-Year Delay On Hemp Ban Implementation

By Sam Reisman

A bipartisan group of Congress members led by Rep. Jim Baird, R-Ind., on Tuesday introduced a bill that would delay implementation of a national ban on most hemp products by an additional two years.

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Where States Jumped In When SEC Stepped Back In 2025

The state regulators that picked up the slack when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission scaled back enforcement last year should not be underestimated as they continue to aggressively police areas where the SEC has lost interest and probe industries where SEC leadership has actively declined to intervene, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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Reinventing Bank Risk Mgmt. After 2025's Cartel Crackdown

The Trump administration's 2025 designation of certain transnational drug cartels as terrorists means that banks must adapt to a narrowing margin of error in their customer screening and transaction assessments by treating financial crime prevention as a continuous and cross-enterprise concern with national security implications, says Jack Harrington at Bradley Arant.

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OFAC Sanctions Will Intensify Amid Global Tensions In 2026

The Office of Foreign Assets Control will ramp up its targeting of companies in the private equity, venture capital, real estate and legal markets in 2026, in keeping with the aggressive foreign policy approach embraced by the Trump administration in 2025, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

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2026 Enforcement Trends To Expect In Maritime And Int'l Trade

The maritime and international trade community should expect U.S. federal enforcement to ramp up in 2026, particularly via Office of Foreign Asset Control shipping sanctions, accelerating interagency investigations of trade fraud, and U.S. Coast Guard narcotics and pollution inspections, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

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Streamlining Product Liability MDLs With AI And Rule 16.1

With newly effective Rule 16.1 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure providing enhanced guidance on multidistrict litigation and the sophistication of artificial intelligence continuing to advance, parties have the opportunity to better confront the significant data challenges presented by product liability MDLs, say attorneys at Hollingsworth.

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2026 State AI Bills That Could Expand Liability, Insurance Risk

State bills legislating artificial intelligence that are expected to pass in 2026 will reshape the liability landscape for all companies incorporating AI solutions into their business operations, as any novel private rights of action authorized under AI-related statutes signal expanding exposures, say attorneys at Wiley.

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How Developers Can Harness New Texas Zoning Framework

A Texas law introducing a new zoning framework has the potential to unlock meaningful multifamily development opportunities, but developers and their project teams should follow four steps to help identify how affected cities are interpreting and implementing the new law, says Angela Hunt at Munsch Hardt.

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6 Issues That May Follow The 340B Rebate Pilot Challenge

Though the Health Resources and Services Administration withdrew a pending case to reconsider the controversial 340B rebate pilot program, a number of crucial considerations remain, including the likelihood of a rework and questions about what that rework might look like, say attorneys at Spencer Fane.

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3 Key Takeaways From Planned Rescheduling Of Cannabis

An executive order reviving cannabis rescheduling represents a monumental change for the industry and, while the substance will remain illegal at the federal level, introduces several benefits, including improving state-legal cannabis operators' tax treatment, lowering the industry's legal risk profile, and leaving state-regulated markets largely intact, say attorneys at Dentons.

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FDA's AI Deployment Brings New Potential And Risks

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recent announcement about making agentic artificial intelligence tools available to agency employees may portend accelerated regulatory timelines and lower costs for drug companies and consumers, but potential errors and biases will necessitate additional safeguards, says Angela Silva at Lewis Brisbois.

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Wis. Sanctions Order May Shake Up Securities Class Actions

A Wisconsin federal court’s recent decision to impose sanctions on a plaintiffs law firm for filing a frivolous Private Securities Litigation Reform Act complaint in Toft v. Harbor Diversified may cause both plaintiffs and defendants law firms to reconsider certain customary practices in securities class actions, says Jonathan Richman at Brown Rudnick.

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5 E-Discovery Predictions For 2026 And Beyond

2026 will likely be shaped by issues ranging from artificial intelligence regulatory turbulence to potential evidence rule changes, and e-discovery professionals will need to understand how to effectively guide the responsible and defensible adoption of emerging tools, while also ensuring effective safeguards, say attorneys at Littler.

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Ex-Duane Morris Tax Partner Charged With Murdering Wife

By Hailey Konnath

A former tax partner at Duane Morris LLP's Chicago office has been charged with killing his wife a little more than a year ago, according to an announcement made Tuesday by Illinois prosecutors.

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Beasley Allen Talc Work Sends 'Bad Signal,' J&J Says

By George Woolston

Johnson & Johnson's talc unit told a New Jersey appeals panel on Tuesday that a lower court's ruling permitting Beasley Allen Law Firm attorneys to represent plaintiffs in multicounty litigation over its talc-based baby powder "sends a very bad signal" to the state bar.

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Ex-Atty, Others Charged In Staged New Orleans Crash Scheme

By Hope Patti

A disbarred attorney was hit with new charges claiming that he induced a witness to commit perjury and obstructed justice in the federal investigation of an insurance scam involving staged car crashes in the New Orleans area.

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DLA Piper Can't Counsel Hudson Hotel In Ch. 11, Judge Says

By Alex Wittenberg

A Delaware bankruptcy judge Tuesday rejected a bid by two bankrupt entities tied to the former Hudson Hotel to retain DLA Piper LLP as special counsel in their Chapter 11 case, saying the law firm's work for the entities' lender presented a conflict of interest.

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