Maryland Judge Keeps Kids' Privacy Law Challenge

By Jared Foretek

NetChoice's challenge to Maryland's "Kids Code" law regulating online privacy protections for children survived the state's motion to dismiss, after a Maryland federal judge Monday said the trade association had made sufficient claims that the law burdens protected speech.

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Oil Giants Sued Over Climate-Linked Rise In Insurance Costs

By Ben Adlin

The fossil fuel industry spent decades pushing a coordinated disinformation campaign to conceal its central role in climate change, saddling homeowners with a multibillion-dollar increase in insurance costs as disasters grew more frequent and severe, according to a proposed class action filed Tuesday in Washington federal court.

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Democrats Seek Documents On Emil Bove's DOJ Tenure

By Courtney Bublé

Senate Democrats are turning to public records requests to learn more about the controversial tenure of U.S. Circuit Judge Emil Bove while he served at the U.S. Department of Justice, claiming that they're being "stonewalled" by the department.

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'Gross Abuse Of Power': Rep. Swalwell Sues Housing Official

By Hailey Konnath

U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell on Tuesday sued Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, claiming Pulte abused his position by accessing private mortgage records to target the political opponents of President Donald Trump, including Swalwell, calling it "a gross abuse of power that violated the law."

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Judges Decline Invites To Senate Hearing On Impeachment

By Courtney Bublé

Two federal judges, both of whom Republicans are looking to impeach, declined to testify before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing next week on the impeachment of "rogue" judges, a source familiar with the situation told Law360 on Tuesday.

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Goldstein Asks 4th Circ. To Undo Pretrial Rulings

By Jared Foretek

SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein is appealing a series of rulings from a Maryland federal judge denying his bid to toss five of the 22 federal tax charges he's slated to stand trial for next year.

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Mass. Justices Clarify Access To Sealed Records For Appeals

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts law intended to give defendants acquitted of criminal charges a fresh start by automatically sealing a court's record does not prevent them or their attorneys from accessing the files, the state's high court ruled on Tuesday.

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Feds Support Hawaii Open Carry Advocates In Supreme Court

By Emilie Ruscoe

Open carry proponents on Monday were backed up by the U.S. solicitor general and just over half of the nation's states in their U.S. Supreme Court case seeking to overturn Hawaii's law barring carrying a gun on private property without explicit permission from the property's owner.

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DC Federal Judge Pauses Local Jury Indictment For Appeal

By Parker Quinlan

A federal judge in the District of Columbia has paused an order allowing prosecutors to bring indictments from local grand juries into federal court until next week to give a defendant time to file an appeal with the D.C. Circuit.

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Calif. Justices Asked To Review Prosecutors' Alleged AI Errors

By Dorothy Atkins

Nearly two dozen law professors have urged the California Supreme Court to help determine whether county prosecutors should be sanctioned for "apparent serial submission" of artificial intelligence-generated briefs with nonexistent legal citations in multiple criminal proceedings, arguing the alleged misconduct could have "grave consequences for the rule of law."

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Fla. Law Student Expelled For Antisemitic Post To Be Reenrolled

By David Minsky

A Florida federal judge has ordered the reinstatement of a law school student who was expelled after he was investigated over antisemitic posts on social media, saying the university didn't prove his speech "constituted a true threat." 

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Order Blocking Redistricting 'Too Late In The Day,' Texas Says

By Spencer Brewer

Texas told the nation's high court that an order blocking the state's redistricting efforts came "too late in the day," telling the court Tuesday that the legal principle barring courts from meddling with election rules too close to election day bars the order at hand.

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Black Voters Ask NC Court To Block Unconstitutional Voting Map

By Abigail Harrison

A collection of voting and civil rights groups have asked a North Carolina federal court to immediately stop the use of a recently redrawn congressional map, arguing it will impose an extreme racial gerrymander and dismantle Black political power.

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Judge Hands SEC Win In Pharma Co.'s CBD Investor Fraud Case

By Katryna Perera

A California federal judge has granted the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission an early win in its suit against Vivera Pharmaceuticals, its CEO and affiliate Sentar Pharmaceuticals, finding they misled investors about the company's rights to key cannabinoid drug-delivery technology and about how investor money would be spent.

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ISS Updates Policy For Climate Change, Diversity Proxy Bids

By Sarah Jarvis

Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. indicated Tuesday it has updated its policies for backing controversial shareholder proposals on corporate proxy ballots, opting to endorse diversity and climate change-related proposals on a case-by-case basis starting next year.

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DOL Seeks To End 5th Circ. Fiduciary Rule Battle

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Department of Labor asked the Fifth Circuit to dismiss two appeals defending a package of Biden-era investment advice regulations that had expanded the definition of a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which two Texas courts had blocked in 2024.

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Feds Advance Plans To Dial Back Leverage Capital Rules

By Jon Hill

Federal regulators on Tuesday signed off on changes that will ease a key capital backstop for the biggest banks and unveiled a separate proposal to relax a simplified, optional capital standard for smaller banks.

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Brief

US, Mexico And Canada Environmental Panel To Meet

By Dylan Moroses

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced that the environmental committee organized under the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement will meet in December, according to a notice published Tuesday. 

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EPA Tells DC Circ. Biden-Era Soot Rule Is Fatally Flawed

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has told the D.C. Circuit that its 2024 rule tightening soot pollution standards, which the EPA has been defending in litigation, is legally and scientifically flawed and must be vacated.

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FERC Stays Out Of Ill. Grid Project Policy Fight

By Keith Goldberg

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has refused to declare that incumbent utilities in Illinois have a right of first refusal to build new, regionally planned transmission projects in the state, saying it's a matter for state courts to decide.

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Chem Group Rips Colo. Planned Recycling Accounting Ban

By Zach Dupont

A chemistry trade association told a Colorado state court that state health officials' plan to ban certain accounting practices related to chemistry recycling is unlawful and not backed by science.

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Feds Argue No Urgent Harm In Wash. Lake Cleanup Project

By Joyce Hanson

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration asked a D.C. federal court to pause an open government advocate's bid for a preliminary injunction in his lawsuit against a lake and estuary restoration project near his residence in Washington state.

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NRDC Tells 9th Circ. EPA Would 'Neuter' Public TSCA Rights

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

The Natural Resources Defense Council has asked the Ninth Circuit to reject the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's narrow reading of citizen enforcement rights under the Toxic Substances Control Act, saying it would unfairly restrict challenges to agency inaction.

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11th Circ. Lets Fla. Enforce Social Media Law Amid Appeal

By Hailey Konnath

A split Eleventh Circuit panel on Tuesday allowed Florida to enforce its law banning children 13 and under from social media while the Sunshine State appeals a lower court's injunction, ruling that Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is likely to succeed in his argument that the law is constitutional.

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DOJ Probing SeaWorld, Busch Gardens For ADA Violations

By Carolina Bolado

The U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday it has opened an investigation into the owner of SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and other theme parks to determine whether bans on certain types of walkers at the parks violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.

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FTC, Ticket Resellers Look To Toss Dueling BOTS Act Cases

By Matthew Perlman

Ticket brokers have asked to toss the Federal Trade Commission's case accusing them of bypassing Ticketmaster limits to buy and resell hundreds of thousands of concert tickets, while the commission asked to nix a preemptive case seeking to block the enforcement action.

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Former Fox Exec Says Philly Station Complaint Still Valid

By Christopher Cole

A former Fox media executive has called on the Federal Communications Commission to revive the Media and Democracy Project's complaint against Fox TV's Philadelphia station, saying it differs from recently debated "news distortion" complaints against major networks.

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Cruz Says Biden DOT Pressured Airports To House Migrants

By Britain Eakin

A new report spearheaded by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, concluded that the Biden administration pressured several airports to house migrants and let poorly vetted migrants board domestic flights, despite security risks associated with doing so.

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2nd Circ. Won't Revive NYC Income Source Ban Challenge

By Nate Beck

A Second Circuit panel has sided with the City of New York and a housing nonprofit in tossing arguments from a landlord that a law to prevent discrimination against the use of housing vouchers is unconstitutional.

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Tenn. Judge OKs $141M In RealPage Landlord Settlements

By Isaac Monterose

A Tennessee federal judge has preliminarily approved $141.8 million worth of class settlements for antitrust claims lodged against landlords that allegedly used RealPage Inc.'s revenue management software to fix rent prices for residential properties.

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HUD Housing Aid Limits Will Drive Homelessness, States Say

By Rachel Riley

Washington and 19 other states launched a lawsuit Tuesday against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Rhode Island federal court, seeking to stop abrupt policy changes they claim will result in tens of thousands of formerly homeless people being ousted from publicly subsidized housing and onto the streets.

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Legal Challenge To EEOC Disparate Impact Pivot Tossed Out

By Vin Gurrieri

A D.C. federal judge on Tuesday threw out a suit from a former Amazon delivery driver who accused the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission of unlawfully refusing to investigate charges premised on a disparate impact theory, finding the worker didn't have standing to bring the case. 

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DOJ Official Sues Over Firing For Epstein Talk On Hinge 'Date'

By Alison Knezevich

A longtime official at the U.S. Department of Justice who was fired after he was secretly recorded discussing the Epstein files has sued the agency and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in D.C. federal court.

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Unions Say More Info Is Needed In DOGE Data Access Dispute

By Emily Brill

A union coalition urged a New York federal judge Monday to order the federal government to disclose how much access to federal workers' personal information it gave the Department of Government Efficiency and what the White House unit formerly headed by Elon Musk did with that information.

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DOJ Fights Bid To Nix Agri Stats Antitrust Case Ahead Of Trial

By Matthew Perlman

The U.S. Department of Justice told a Minnesota federal court that Agri Stats has been helping chicken, pork and turkey producers exchange sensitive information for decades, as government enforcers opposed the company's bid to end their information-sharing case ahead of trial.

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Mich. Schools Gain Chance To Opt Out Of Aid Privacy Waiver

By Carolyn Muyskens

Michigan schools have reached an agreement with the state for more time to make what the schools call an "impossible choice" to waive legal privileges to receive critical funding, while court challenges to the waiver play out.

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Texas Woman Says Business Group CEO Assaulted Her

By Mike Curley

The founder of a Texas business advocacy group is suing the state's largest business association and its CEO, saying he maneuvered his way to head her group and used his leverage to try to coerce her into a sexual relationship, then assaulted her.

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Commerce Reviewing Info Gathering For Auto Tariff Rebate

By Kevin Pinner

The U.S. Department of Commerce is seeking comments on requirements for automakers to submit documentation to qualify for a rebate of U.S. tariffs, it said Tuesday.

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Texas Court Asks How Far IRS Deal With Churches Would Go

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas federal judge on Tuesday prodded multiple churches and Christian advocacy groups that are trying to use a proposed deal with the IRS to endorse political candidates, questioning whether churches that are not part of the deal would assert similar rights.

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Colo. Judge Halts Warrantless ICE Arrests Without Flight Risk

By Lauren Berg

A Colorado federal judge Tuesday preliminarily blocked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from conducting warrantless arrests in the state without determining probable cause.

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Feds Say Judge's Review Of Third Party Removals Is Barred

By Tom Lotshaw

The Trump administration has called on a Massachusetts federal judge to toss a class action challenging a policy to deport noncitizens to countries they don't have ties to, arguing the suit is "barred multiple times over" under federal statutes.

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Feds Run Table In Housing Bribery Case With 70th Conviction

By Pete Brush

A former public housing superintendent from Brooklyn admitted accepting bribes in exchange for handing out no-bid work contracts Tuesday, as federal prosecutors secured the convictions of all 70 New York City Housing Authority workers arrested last year in an anticorruption sweep.

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11th Circ. Backs City In Suit Over Unpaid Garbage Fee Jailings

By David Minsky

The Eleventh Circuit upheld the dismissal Tuesday of a proposed class action brought by Alabama residents who alleged they were wrongfully prosecuted for unpaid garbage collection fees, saying their complaint didn't allege a racketeering conspiracy between a city and its contractor led to criminal charges. 

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FBI 'Surge' Tackles Violent Crime, Missing Indigenous Cases

By Crystal Owens

The U.S. Justice Department says a six-month "surge" of FBI assets in Indian Country to address crimes relating to missing or slain Indigenous people has yielded hundreds of criminal charges and arrests and provided services to nearly 2,000 victims and their family members.

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Court Rejects Cherokee Entity's Push To End Bias Dispute

By Crystal Owens

A Missouri federal court judge won't reconsider an order that denied a bid by a Cherokee Nation entity to dismiss a discrimination claim lodged last year by a former employee, saying it failed to show why a second chance is warranted.

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Va. Jails Warn Site Commission Ban Could Curtail Services

By Christopher Cole

Regional jails in Virginia are concerned that a renewed plan to prohibit site commissions from prison phone call providers will eat into the facilities' revenue stream and lead to a reduction in services for incarcerated people.

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1st Circ. Revives Constitutional Challenges To RI Pot Scheme

By Sam Reisman

The First Circuit on Tuesday said a federal judge erred in dismissing a pair of constitutional challenges to Rhode Island's cannabis licensure program, and ordered the lower court to promptly weigh the merits of the cases before regulators award retail marijuana licenses.

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Mamdani Transition Team Includes Dozens Of Attorneys

By Anna Sanders

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani appointed dozens of nonprofit leaders, BigLaw attorneys, law professors and other lawyers to transition committees that will help advise the incoming administration.

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How Marsy's Law Has Been Applied In Unexpected Ways

Since Marsy’s Law was first passed in California 17 years ago, 12 states have passed similar laws to protect crime victims’ rights, but recent developments show that it’s being applied in ways that its original proponents may never have anticipated — with implications for all legal practitioners, says Tom Jones at Berk Brettler.

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AG Watch: Ohio's Prediction Market Preemption Battle

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is playing a significant part in two cases involving Kalshi before the Third Circuit and the Southern District of Ohio, the latest in a growing string of court battles regarding which regulations govern prediction markets that will have notable consequences on sports gambling nationwide, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

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What Developers Must Know About PJM Grid Connection Plan

As PJM Interconnection, the nation's largest grid operator, reforms its interconnection process in an effort to accelerate capacity expansion amid surging demand, developers interested in PJM's new expedited track should anticipate significant up-front costs, and plan carefully to minimize delays that could jeopardize project completion, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

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How Banks Can Pilot Token Services As Fed Mulls Reforms

While the Federal Reserve explores streamlined payment accounts and other reforms aimed at digital asset infrastructure, banks and payment companies seeking to launch stablecoin services must apply the same rigor they use for cards or automated clearinghouse, says Christopher Boone at Venable.

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Considerations When Invoking The Common-Interest Privilege

To successfully leverage the common-interest doctrine in a multiparty transaction or complex litigation, practitioners should be able to demonstrate that the parties intended for it to apply, that an underlying privilege like attorney-client has attached, and guard against disclosures that could waive privilege and defeat its purpose, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

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Bonus Spotlight

Magic Circle Firms Enchant Associates With Top-Tier Bonuses

By Tracey Read

U.S. associates at Linklaters LLP and Clifford Chance LLP have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season, as the Magic Circle firms Wednesday became the latest to match the BigLaw standard for this year's associate bonuses.

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Analysis

After Big Win For 2 Trump Foes, A Third Faces 'Tougher Job'

By Phillip Bantz

The recent dismissal of federal criminal charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI director James Comey does little to help President Donald Trump's ex-national security adviser John Bolton, whose defense in a classified-materials case presents a thornier set of legal and factual issues, experts say.

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Roundup

Up Next At High Court: ISP Liability & State Subpoena Suits

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will return Monday for the first week of its December oral argument session, during which the justices will consider whether internet service providers can be held liable for contributing to their customers' infringing activity online and whether the subjects of state subpoenas are required to first challenge them in state court. 

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Interview

For Covington's Adrian Perry, Music Is A Family Affair

By Theresa Schliep

Despite having a famous rock star dad, Covington & Burling LLP partner Adrian J. Perry wasn't all that interested in being a musician as a young child, but he knew as early as 6 years old that he wanted to be a lawyer.

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Analysis

Calif. Privacy Agency Gaining Steam Ahead Of 5th Anniversary

By Allison Grande

California's data privacy regulator has taken several notable steps in recent months, including handing down its first penalty upward of $1 million dollars and finalizing long-awaited rules on topics such as cybersecurity audits and technologies that use artificial intelligence, and the groundbreaking agency shows no signs of slowing down as its fifth anniversary approaches. 

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Split 6th Circ. Shields Baker Donelson, Not City Councilman

By Matt Perez

In a published opinion, the Sixth Circuit has found that Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC is shielded by qualified immunity as outside counsel for the city of Nashville in litigation over the law firm's firing of a city election commission chair and member of the firm.

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Foley & Lardner Hit With Malpractice Suit Over Chancery Loss

By Rose Krebs

Foley & Lardner LLP has been sued in Delaware Superior Court by three officers of a now-defunct food recycling company who say the firm was negligent when representing them in a Chancery Court case that led to a $1.6 million judgment against them and another officer.

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DOJ Asks Court If It Can Release Epstein Files Under New Law

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking a New York federal court's permission to publicly release the files related to the investigation of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, clarifying Wednesday that it wants to release search warrant results, travel and financial records, police reports, and other materials.

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Keesal Young Poaching Suit Against Stradley Ronon Trimmed

By Madison Arnold

A California state judge cleared Keesal Young & Logan to pursue most of its lawsuit alleging Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young crossed the line when it recruited 10 former Keesal Young attorneys, finding that claims such as inducing breach of contract could move forward, in part, because of conversations among the attorneys.

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DOJ Says Ex-Employees Can't Challenge Firings In Fed. Court

By Rose Krebs

The government says a D.C. federal court lacks jurisdiction to adjudicate a lawsuit filed by a former assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted defendants charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and two other ex-Department of Justice employees, alleging they were unlawfully fired.

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Hub Hires: Todd & Weld, Freshfields, Shipman

By Julie Manganis

It was a busy November in Boston's legal community as another firm expanded into the market, and a longtime judge traded his gavel for the ability to address his growing concerns about the Trump administration.

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