Analysis

Trump Admin May Be Overpromising WOTUS Clarity

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

The Trump administration says its proposal to shrink the Clean Water Act's reach would reduce regulatory burdens and provide clarity to farmers, homebuilders and other businesses, but it could face court challenges and potential reworking by future administrations.

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Trump Can't Revive $475M Libel Suit Against CNN At 11th Circ.

By Dorothy Atkins

The Eleventh Circuit upheld a ruling Tuesday tossing President Donald Trump's $475 million lawsuit alleging CNN defamed him by repeatedly calling Trump's 2020 presidential election fraud claims a "Big Lie," agreeing with the lower court that Trump failed to adequately allege CNN's "subjective" statements about Trump's conduct were false.

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Texas Redistricting Blocked Over Racial Gerrymandering

By Jared Foretek

A Texas federal judge on Tuesday struck down Texas' newly redrawn congressional map, ruling that the state likely engaged in unconstitutional racial gerrymandering and ordering the state to revert to its 2021 map for next year's midterm elections.

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Judge Punts FTC Suit Over Meta's Instagram, WhatsApp Buys

By Bryan Koenig

A federal antitrust campaign against major technology platforms suffered a significant blow Tuesday with a D.C. federal judge's rejection of a Federal Trade Commission suit accusing Meta Platforms of illegally monopolizing social media through its purchases of WhatsApp and Instagram.

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9th Circ. Halts 1 Of 2 Calif. Corporate Climate Disclosure Laws

By Rachel Riley

The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday blocked a new California law requiring large companies to publicly disclose financial risks tied to climate change, barring enforcement as an appeal by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups challenging the policy unfolds in federal appellate court.

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Judge Upholds NY Law Blocking ICE Courthouse Arrests

By Andrea Keckley

New York beat back a federal lawsuit challenging the state's policy barring immigration officials from arresting people near its courthouses, after a federal judge rejected the U.S. Department of Justice's preemption claims.

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Over-Detentions Are Jail's 'Worst-Kept Secret,' Judge Told

By Danielle Ferguson

An attorney for people who allege they were unlawfully kept at a county jail for days after a court ordered their release told a Michigan federal judge Tuesday not to dismiss their due process claims, saying that release delays were the "worst-kept secret."

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NY AG James Blasts 'Outrageous Conduct' Behind Indictment

By Adrian Cruz

New York Attorney General Letitia A. James has told a Virginia federal court to dismiss the U.S. government's indictment of her, calling it "patently unconstitutional" and "outrageous conduct."

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9th Circ. Doubts Suit Over Seattle's Response To BLM Protest

By Rachel Riley

The Ninth Circuit appeared skeptical Tuesday about reviving claims that the city of Seattle violated the constitutional rights of two businesses by abandoning several city blocks during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, with one judge questioning whether city officials put them in a "more dangerous situation" than others in the neighborhood.

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Republican Senators Seek Judge Boasberg's Suspension

By Courtney Bublé

Six Republican senators, three of whom sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, are asking that Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of the District of Columbia be administratively suspended while Congress considers his impeachment.

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Federal Watchdog Funds Released After Bipartisan Pushback

By Courtney Bublé

The independent agency for federal watchdogs has been brought back to life with the White House budget office restoring its funding.

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Judge Details Reasons For Goldstein's Pretrial Motion Losses

By Jake Maher

A Maryland federal judge explained in further detail Tuesday her decision against SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein on several motions seeking to trim his tax evasion case as it heads to trial next year.

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Brief

Missouri Federal Judge To Take Senior Status

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. District Judge Douglas Harpool of the Western District of Missouri has given notice he will take senior status upon the confirmation of state Judge Megan Benton, whose nomination to the federal bench President Donald Trump announced Friday.

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Colo. High Court Weighs Test For Political Donor Disclosures

By Rachel Konieczny

Colorado Supreme Court justices pushed attorneys Tuesday on how the court should measure a political organization's spending and efforts on ballot measures in determining whether a conservative political group fined for not disclosing donors after spending millions on state ballot questions in Colorado's 2020 election qualifies as an "issue committee" that must disclose its donors.

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OCC Clears Banks To Hold Crypto For Blockchain Fees

By Aislinn Keely

Banks may hold digital assets required to pay crypto transaction fees and test new crypto platforms, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency confirmed in a Tuesday interpretive letter.

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Fed Pushes To Shift Oversight Focus In Examiner Guidance

By Jon Hill

The Federal Reserve shared new internal guidance Tuesday that directs its examiners to concentrate on material financial risks to banks and not get "distracted" by process concerns, deepening a policy shift that is drawing sharp rebuke from Fed Gov. Michael Barr.

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FDIC Says Capital One Is 'Turning Back Time' With Fee Fight

By Katryna Perera

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has accused Capital One of trying to "turn back time" by retroactively distributing $56 billion and claiming it was erroneously included in the FDIC's fee calculations, in order to dodge roughly $99 million in special assessments tied to the 2023 regional bank crisis.

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Judge Says Texas, Toronto Exchange Logos Seem Dissimilar

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas federal judge expressed skepticism that the Toronto Stock Exchange has much of a leg to stand on in its attempt to get the Texas Stock Exchange to change its logo, saying during a hearing Tuesday that the logos look dissimilar enough for most people to tell the difference.

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Delaware Chancery Atty Fee Awards Under Fire In New Report

By Jeff Montgomery

Attorney fees in Delaware's Court of Chancery lack "consistent benchmarks" and, for big awards, may fail to reflect "risk or performance," according to a report Tuesday that potentially ratchets up pressure on state lawmakers wary of jeopardizing Delaware's standing as the national hub for corporate law disputes.

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Colo. Justices Unsure On Limits For Borrowing Claims Rule

By Zach Dupont

Colorado Supreme Court justices on Tuesday grappled with when an attorney has satisfied their requirements under Colorado law to conduct a "reasonable inquiry" when including pleadings from other litigation during oral arguments in CenturyLink's petition to have a securities class action dismissed for including anonymous claims from a different lawsuit.

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Groups Seek More Time To Comment On SEC's RMBS Plan

By Jessica Corso

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association is among those calling for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to grant more time to provide feedback on a plan that could change how the agency regulates residential mortgage-backed securities, citing the recent government shutdown as a reason for extending the deadline. 

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Judge Questions If Trump's Say-So Makes Wind Edict Legal

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge on Tuesday lamented a lack of clear guidance from higher courts as she considered whether wind farm permits can be put on hold indefinitely based solely on a directive from the president.

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Ill. Justices Mull If Permits Override Pollution Exclusions

By Celeste Bott

Counsel for a sterilization company and its former parent seeking defense costs for hundreds of lawsuits over ethylene oxide emissions at a suburban Chicago facility urged the Illinois Supreme Court on Tuesday to find a pollution exclusion in their insurance policy doesn't apply to emissions allowed under a state permit, insisting the policyholders are not polluters under Illinois law or "in the general sense of the word."

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NJ Township Seeks To Revise $2.5B DuPont PFAS Settlement

By Mike Curley

Carneys Point Township, New Jersey, is aiming to intervene in the state's federal suit against E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. and others over PFAS contamination, saying a settlement of more than $2.5 billion interferes with its own claims against the company.

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Lower Costs No Cause For VA To Shirk Trade Act, Judge Says

By Tom Lotshaw

A federal judge said the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs can't use the lower cost of drugs from countries not designated under the Trade Agreements Act to reject the higher prices of companies that propose to source them from compliant countries.

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Severe SC Abortion Bill Falters in Committee

By Hannah Albarazi

A South Carolina bill that would have further criminalized abortion and subjected patients and doctors to up to 30 years in prison failed to advance out of a Senate committee on Tuesday, with antiabortion committee members raising concerns that the bill went too far.

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Asst. Gets New Try At Religious Bias Suit Over Wash. Vax Rule

By Ben Adlin

A divided Washington state appeals court panel said Tuesday a lower court was wrong to dismiss a legal assistant's lawsuit accusing the Washington State Attorney General's Office of wrongfully refusing her request for a religious accommodation to the state's COVID-19 vaccine mandate, reopening the suit.

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Polaris Hits Back At 'Settled Expectations' Fed. Circ. Fight

By Adam Lidgett

Polaris PowerLED says Sandisk Technologies Inc.'s Federal Circuit challenge to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's denial of patent reviews based on a patent owner's "settled expectations" is not any different from similar cases that have been rejected by the circuit court.

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Brief

USPTO Petitioners Can Detail How They Found Prior Art

By Adam Lidgett

The head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has told all users of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that there will be a new option for patent challengers to explain how they found prior art they allege renders a patent invalid.

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NPR Wins $36M Grant As CPB Backs Off Plan To Cut Funds

By Jared Foretek

National Public Radio and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting have reached a settlement to keep nearly $36 million in public radio satellite interconnection funds with NPR, as CPB agreed not to implement an executive order requiring it to cut off NPR funding unless ordered to do so by a court.

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NTSB Flags Vessel's Loose Wire In Key Bridge Collapse Probe

By Linda Chiem

A single loose wire triggered a power failure aboard the container carrier that slammed into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge last year, and the absence of an effective warning system didn't give construction workers enough time to clear the collapsing bridge, the National Transportation Safety Board determined Tuesday.

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4th Circ. Restores Trade Secrets Suit Against Insurance Execs

By Elliot Weld

The Fourth Circuit on Tuesday revived insurer Sherbrooke Corp.'s claims of trade secrets theft against three former executives, disagreeing with a district judge who found that the company had not made enough of an effort to guard the software in question.

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Insurer Needn't Cover LA Zoo Org. In City Contract Dispute

By Hope Patti

An insurer doesn't owe coverage to the Los Angeles Zoo's nonprofit arm in a contractual dispute brought by the city, a California federal court has ruled, finding that all claims are excluded under the association's nonprofit asset protection policy.

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NJ Justices Asked How 'Beneficial Use' Should Affect Zoning

By George Woolston

A Garden State town urged the New Jersey Supreme Court on Tuesday to provide a blueprint for how municipal zoning boards should evaluate variance applications under a nearly three-decade-old amendment to the state's land use law, arguing that a lower court did not give the update proper consideration when it overturned the town's denial of a senior living facility.

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Flagstar Urges 9th Circ. Redo For Escrow Interest Ruling

By Isaac Monterose

Flagstar Bank pushed the entire Ninth Circuit to reconsider its prior ruling in a putative class action that accused the bank of violating a California law that requires banks to make interest payments for escrow accounts connected to certain types of residential mortgage loans, arguing that the court deciding that the state law is not preempted by the National Bank Act clashes with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in a similar case.

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San Francisco Nurses Can't Challenge FLSA OT Exemption

By Irene Spezzamonte

Nurses who claim that the city of San Francisco failed to pay them the proper overtime rates fall under a Fair Labor Standards Act exemption, a California federal judge ruled, finding summary judgment necessary following a sanctions order limiting the nurses' evidence.

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Noem Says US Security Behind Job Denial, Not Religious Tea

By Elaine Briseño

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem countered a job applicant's lawsuit alleging religious discrimination, telling a Florida federal court that the judiciary system lacks the authority to scrutinize the department's national security decisions.

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States Can Intervene Over DOJ's HPE Merger Deal

By Matthew Perlman

A California federal court granted a request on Tuesday from state enforcers asking to participate in a review of the U.S. Department of Justice's controversial settlement allowing Hewlett Packard Enterprise to move ahead with its $14 billion purchase of Juniper Networks.

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Senate Dem Slams FCC's Carr Over Cybersecurity Plan

By Christopher Cole

A top Senate Democrat on telecom issues blasted Brendan Carr, head of the Federal Communications Commission, on Tuesday for seeking to roll back an FCC cybersecurity ruling issued late in the Biden administration responding to the Salt Typhoon cyberattack.

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CFPB's Gradler Takes Deputy Post Amid Agency Uncertainty

By Jon Hill

Geof Gradler, a former industry lobbyist who recently joined the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's front office, said that he is taking over as the agency's deputy director, a job that positions him as a potential successor to acting director Russell Vought.

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6th Circ. Revives Deadly Force Suit Against Mich. Police

By Carolyn Muyskens

A divided Sixth Circuit panel found Tuesday that a pair of Lansing, Michigan, police officers are not entitled to qualified immunity for shooting and killing a man outside his home, reviving an excessive force claim against the officers.

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Ind. Tax Court Nixes 'Less Egregious' Assessment For Kohl's

By Sanjay Talwani

An Indiana tax board erred when it relied on flawed appraisals of a Kohl's department store prepared by experts and chose the "somewhat less egregious" arguments of the company in lowering the valuations by nearly half, the state tax court said.

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DHS Unlikely To Exit Suit Over Protected Status Terminations

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge Tuesday tentatively denied the government's request to dismiss a class action challenging Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's termination of temporary protection status for immigrants from three countries, expressing disbelief at the government's assertion during the hearing that Noem's discretion is "unfettered" and "unreviewable."

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Feds Tell DC Circ. Congress OK'd Quick Removal Of Parolees

By Britain Eakin

The Trump administration urged the D.C. Circuit to undo a federal judge's order placing limits on expedited removals, arguing that its hands are being tied in lawful efforts to deport noncitizens who were paroled into the country.

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Court Says Keeping Tribe's Suit Alive Respects Federal Law

By Crystal Owens

An Oklahoma city can't dodge a jurisdictional challenge by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, a federal judge determined Tuesday, saying, "The boundary between state authority and tribal sovereignty in Indian Country was marked long before the dispute arose, and nothing in the record suggests Congress has moved it."

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New York Disputes Magistrate's Report In Tribal Thruway Row

By Crystal Owens

New York is opposing a recommendation that would give a win to the Seneca Nation and force negotiations over a portion of a thruway that runs through the tribe's reservation, arguing that the report relies on a narrow interpretation of Sherrill laches in contrast to Second Circuit characterization.

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FCC's Carr Backing Universal Service Reform After Court Win

By Christopher Cole

Federal Communications Commission chief Brendan Carr told rural network providers Tuesday that he's working closely with lawmakers on long-term fixes for the Universal Service Fund, which supports connectivity across the country.

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Broadband Permit Reforms Survive House Subcommittee

By Nadia Dreid

The House Communications and Technology Subcommittee had a productive morning Tuesday, consolidating 28 bills largely related to broadband permitting into seven and passing them along to the full committee for review.

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What Shutdown's End Means For Worker Safety Enforcement

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Mine Safety and Health Administration may emerge from the government shutdown struggling to juggle complaint backlogs, litigation delays and newly enacted policies with a reduced and demoralized workforce, so employers should stay alert, say attorneys at Conn Maciel.

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SEC's Dual Share Class Approval Signals New Era For ETFs

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent approval of the dual share class structure marks a landmark moment for the U.S. fund industry, opening the door for asset managers to benefit from combining mutual fund and exchange-traded fund share classes under a single portfolio, say Ilan Guedj at Bates White and Brian Henderson at George Washington University.

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Calif. Species Protections Will Increase Compliance Burdens

California's recently enacted A.B. 1319 automatically protects species when the federal government rolls back its own protections — which could mean an onslaught of state-level compliance mandates for the regulated community that come with no advance notice or public hearings, says attorney David Smith.

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How New FinCEN FAQs Simplify Suspicious Activity Reporting

New guidance from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and federal banking agencies that gives financial institutions more flexibility in meeting suspicious activity reporting obligations indicates the administration is following through on its promise to streamline the U.S. anti-money laundering regime, say attorneys at Davis Polk.

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Ill. State Farm Suit Tests State Insurance Data Demand Limits

The Illinois Department of Insurance's recently filed suit against State Farm, seeking nationwide data on its homeowners insurance, raises important issues as to the breadth, and possible overreach, of a state's regulatory authority, says Stephanie Pierce at Kutak Rock.

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Surveying The Healthcare Policy Landscape Post-Shutdown

With last week's agreement to reopen the federal government, at least through the end of January, key healthcare legislation that has been in limbo since a December 2024 spending bill fell apart may recapture the attention of Congress, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

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Litigation Funding Could Create Ethics Issues For Attorneys

A litigation investor’s recent complaint claiming a New York mass torts lawyer effectively ran a Ponzi scheme illustrates how litigation funding arrangements can subject attorneys to legal ethics dilemmas and potential liability, so engagement letters must have very clear terms, says Matthew Feinberg at Goldberg Segalla.

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Bonus Spotlight

BigLaw Begins To Fall In Line With Cravath Bonuses

By Aebra Coe

Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson, McDermott Will & Schulte LLP and Dechert LLP are among the law firms following the lead of Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP on year-end associate bonuses this week, with at least five large firms matching the market leader within a day of Cravath's Tuesday announcement.

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Troutman Owes $3.7M In Atty Fees After $1M Malpractice Loss

By Jake Maher

Troutman Pepper Locke LLP must pay $3.7 million in attorney fees to a healthcare tech company that won on malpractice claims against the firm in 2024 after six years of litigation and an eight-day bench trial, a New Jersey state judge has ordered.

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Dissent Accuses Redistrict Ruling Of 'Judicial Misbehavior'

By Spencer Brewer

A Fifth Circuit judge denounced the judge who penned a federal court order blocking Texas' newly redrawn congressional map, saying in a Wednesday opinion the order blocking the redistricting amounts to the "most blatant exercise of judicial activism" he had ever seen.

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Halligan Says Grand Jury Never Saw Final Comey Indictment

By Jared Foretek

U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan acknowledged Wednesday that the full grand jury in the James Comey case never saw or voted on the final version of the indictment that was handed up to the court in the case. An attorney for Comey said the clarification was grounds for dismissal.

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Alaska Senator Pushes For Better Vetting After Judge Scandal

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said on Wednesday that after a federal judge in his state resigned in disgrace last year, he decided he had to revamp his selection process for judicial nominees.

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Pillsbury Asks 2nd Circ. To Guard $4M Client Fee From SEC

By Aaron Keller

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP on Wednesday urged the Second Circuit to allow it to keep a $4 million advance payment retainer from the since-convicted former CEO of a bankrupt cybersecurity company, but the law firm conceded it should have clarified its rights after the government sought an asset freeze.

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Latham DQ'd From Sleep Apnea Device Co.'s Patent Fight

By Madison Arnold

A Delaware federal court has disqualified Latham & Watkins LLP from representing the creator of a sleep apnea implant in its patent dispute after the firm served as counsel to the rival's underwriters, saying the "appearance of impropriety is glaring."

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The House's Plan B For Repealing Provision On DOJ Lawsuits

By Courtney Bublé

If the Senate does not take up a bill to repeal a provision in the government funding package allowing senators investigated by former special counsel Jack Smith to sue for damages, a Republican House member is already making contingency plans.

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Justices Told Presidential Firing Limits Is An 'Originalist' Idea

By Katie Buehler

A bipartisan collection of current and former government officials has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a 90-year-old ruling that empowers Congress to prohibit the president from firing certain agency officials at will, claiming the precedent has roots that date back to the country's founding and reflects key separation of powers principles.

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