Trump Admin's 'Irrational' Block On Wind Project Lifted

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge on Tuesday lifted a Trump administration freeze on the nearly complete Vineyard Wind offshore energy project, saying the government had likely flouted federal law by failing to explain a "disconnect" between its stated concerns about national security and its willingness to allow completed turbines to continue operating.

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8th Circ. Won't Reinstate ICE Injunction In Minneapolis

By Tom Lotshaw

An Eighth Circuit panel has refused to reinstate a lower court's injunction barring federal immigration agents from retaliating against peaceful protesters in Minneapolis, ruling that it is unlikely to survive an appeal from the Trump administration.

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Reporting Duty Doesn't Nix Whistleblower Status, Court Finds

By Chris Villani

Massachusetts' top appellate court ruled Tuesday that a former employee of a Boston community college was entitled to whistleblower protections for reporting that the college had not told the U.S. Department of Education about an alleged sexual assault, even though he shared in the reporting responsibility.

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NTSB Torches FAA In DCA Midair Collision Probe

By Linda Chiem

The Federal Aviation Administration for years ignored repeated warnings of close calls and mismanaged high-volume helicopter and commercial jet traffic at one of Washington, D.C.'s busiest airports, as the National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday flagged "systemic failures" that led to January 2025's midair collision.

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BigLaw Firms Seek Partial Exec Order Appeal Consolidation

By Emily Sawicki

The four BigLaw firms that sued the White House and Justice Department over executive orders against them related to the clients they represent have asked the D.C. Circuit that the cases be "partially consolidated" amid the government's appeals of its losses, while maintaining the ability to file individual response briefs.

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Judiciary Panel Gets Earful On Legal Financing, Subpoenas

By Jeff Overley

Plans to overhaul federal rules involving recusal and subpoenas fueled spirited debate Tuesday before a judiciary panel, as prominent lawyers outlined forceful views on transparency in third-party litigation funding as well as relaxed policies for serving court documents and obtaining trial testimony.

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EPA Says Enviro Groups Lack Standing To Fight Review Rule

By Jared Foretek

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said the environmental groups challenging the agency's "project accounting" method for triggering air pollution review at industrial facilities lack the standing to pursue their fight, claiming that the challengers identified no harm at all from the agency's denial of their reconsideration bid.

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Consumers Energy Seeks $42M For DOE Order Compliance

By Keith Goldberg

Michigan utility Consumers Energy Co. has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to let it recoup nearly $42 million in costs to comply with a controversial U.S. Department of Energy emergency order to keep a coal-fired power plant running.

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Nuke Discharge Law Isn't Preempted, NY Tells 2nd Circ.

By Keith Goldberg

New York has told the Second Circuit that a federal judge wrongly concluded that a state law barring the release of radioactive materials into the Hudson River was federally preempted.

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Texas AG Says Nurse Practitioner Is Shipping Abortion Drugs

By Spencer Brewer

The Texas attorney general told a state court that a Delaware-based nurse practitioner and the organization she operates have shipped abortion pills to Texas, saying Tuesday that the defendants have publicly acknowledged that they send abortion pills to the Lone Star State.

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Squires Cements Deshpande's Role As Top PTAB Judge

By Dani Kass

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires has named Kalyan Deshpande to serve as the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's chief judge.

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Fed. Circ. Snubs Google's 'Settled Expectations' Challenge

By Theresa Schliep

The Federal Circuit on Tuesday turned down Google's challenge to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's policy of denying patent reviews based on the owner's "settled expectations," marking the latest failed case disputing the agency's changes to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

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White House Pushed To Back PTAB Rule Change Proposal

By Adam Lidgett

Two groups representing inventors and startups have thrown their support behind the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's proposal to limit America Invents Act patent reviews, saying it will give patent owners certainty and also protect against foreign challenges to domestic patents.

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Churchill Downs Seeks To Void Maine Online Gaming Law

By Crystal Owens

Churchill Downs Inc. and its subsidiaries are asking a federal court to block the state of Maine from enforcing a law that will allow its four tribal governments to operate online gaming, arguing that the statute is race-based and deals "a gut-wrenching" blow to the state's other businesses and citizens.

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Work Shutdown In Sight For $16B NY-NJ Rail Tunnel Project

By Nate Beck

Officials leading construction of the $16 billion Gateway Tunnel project connecting New York and New Jersey said Tuesday that they are preparing to shut down construction next week unless the Trump administration restores funding.

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Colo. Labor Official Defends Public Union Law Constitutionality

By Tim Ryan

A Colorado labor official and Gov. Jared Polis urged a federal judge Monday to toss a county's lawsuit challenging a state law expanding organizing rights for county employees, saying the law does not infringe on the First Amendment or on the federal regulation of private sector labor rights.

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Ex-GOP Aide's Work Never Changed, Bias Suit Judge Told 

By Aaron Keller

The Connecticut General Assembly's House Republican Office on Tuesday urged a state court judge to issue quick wins on a former Republican press secretary's discrimination and retaliation claims, saying neither an adverse employment action nor discipline occurred before the aide took an approved medical leave and resigned.

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AGs' HPE-Juniper Hold Too Broad, Too Late, Judge Says

By Bryan Koenig

A California federal judge explained his reasoning for refusing to block further integration between Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Juniper Networks, while Democratic attorneys general challenge the Justice Department's controversial settlement permitting the merger.

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Adhesive Cos. Push Back On FTC Merger Concerns

By Matthew Perlman

The makers of Loctite and Liquid Nails told a New York federal court that the Federal Trade Commission will be unable to show their planned $725 million merger will hurt competition for construction adhesives.

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Investors Say Teva Can't Get Early Win In Price-Fixing Suit

By Matthew Santoni

Investors guided by Highfields Capital told a Connecticut federal court that Teva Pharmaceuticals can't escape their claims that its alleged collusion with other drugmakers to artificially inflate the price of generic drugs also inflated stock prices, reasoning that Teva executives falsely attributed the company's performance to factors other than the alleged price-fixing.

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6th Circ. Says Ky. Social Media Law Needs Closer Look

By Melanie Dorsey

The Sixth Circuit on Monday determined that a trial court should not have blocked a Kentucky law requiring sex offenders to use their legal names on social media, ruling a lawsuit alleging the law amounts to a violation of freedom of speech needs a more "demanding, comprehensive" review.

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Jersey Shore Motels Fight Prom Season Rental Limits

By George Woolston

Jersey Shore motel owners told a Garden State appellate panel on Tuesday that it should apply strict scrutiny to their argument that a municipal ordinance prohibiting anyone under the age of 21 from booking a motel room during prom season is unconstitutional.

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Family Members Of Boat Strike Victims Sue Trump Admin

By Carolyn Muyskens

The family members of two Trinidadian men killed in a U.S. boat strike in the Caribbean Sea sued the federal government in Massachusetts federal court Tuesday, claiming the attack was an unlawful extrajudicial killing.

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Sen. Kelly Bashes DOD's 'Alarming' Attempt At Punishment

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a retired U.S. Navy captain, says the U.S. Department of Defense is seeking to impose an "unprecedented" and "radical" view of military veterans' First Amendment rights in order to punish him for telling members of the military they don't have to follow unlawful orders.

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Analysis

Trump's Greenland Tariff Threats Could Backfire On US

By Josh White

The brief turmoil over President Donald Trump's sweeping tariff threats involving Greenland has abated for Europe and the global financial markets, but European governments may be more likely to retaliate with their own tariffs on the U.S. in the future, experts said.

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EU, India Reach Major Free Trade Agreement

By Dylan Moroses

The European Union and India have struck a deal on a free trade agreement including major tariff removals and reductions, culminating decades' worth of negotiations between the second- and fourth-largest economies in the world, the governments announced Tuesday.

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Korean Lawmakers Duel Over Trump Tariff Threat Response

By Jack McLoone

President Donald Trump's threat of a tariff hike on South Korea for "not living up to" its trade deal with the U.S. had South Korea's two major parties warring Tuesday over the pact's approval process.

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7th Circ. Probes Firm's Oral Agreement To Fees From Fund

By Celeste Bott

Two Seventh Circuit judges on Tuesday pressed a Ballard Spahr LLP attorney to address why his firm didn't secure in writing that an investment fund would foot the legal bills of one of its officers, as the law firm is arguing to the appellate court that it has a valid claim to legal fees in the fund's bankruptcy proceedings based on an oral agreement.

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Texas Gov. Freezes New H-1B Hiring By Agencies, Colleges

By José Luis Martínez

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed certain state agencies and public colleges Tuesday to stop sponsoring new nonimmigrant workers under the federal H-1B visa program until mid-2027, unless they have explicit permission from the state's employment agency.

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Language Access Bill Targets Trump's English-Only Order

By Joyce Hanson

Four members of Congress have introduced a bill that would protect language access at federal agencies for millions of people in the United States with limited English, saying an executive order by President Donald Trump declaring English as the official U.S. language wrongly minimizes multilingual services.

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Rwanda Sues UK Over Payments In Failed Migrant Deal

By Joyce Hanson

The Republic of Rwanda has launched international arbitration proceedings against the United Kingdom as the African nation tries to secure payment for a scrapped migrant agreement, alleging the U.K. refused to disburse remaining payments to it when the controversial deal got called off.

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Feds Urge 1st Circ. To Nix 3rd-Country Removals Injunction

By Tom Lotshaw

The Trump administration told the First Circuit a Massachusetts federal judge overstepped by granting a "sweeping injunction" that required it to provide due process to a certified class of noncitizens facing removal to third countries they have no ties to.

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CBP's Medical Care Oversight Needs Improvement, GAO Says

By Elaine Briseño

A report issued by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that U.S. Customs and Border Protection sometimes failed to provide proper medical oversight for certain people in its custody, violating its own policies and guidance for medical care.

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Sen. Bennet Seeks To Limit ICE Powers

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., announced on Tuesday that he's working on a bill to impose more guardrails on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after two individuals were fatally shot by immigration enforcement agents over the last month in Minneapolis.

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Brief

Minn. Judge Summons ICE Head For Contempt Hearing

By Ganesh Setty

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's acting director Todd Lyons must personally appear in Minnesota federal district court to face a contempt hearing, a judge ruled, after ICE failed to release a detained Ecuadorian citizen.

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NY Schools Say Federal Threat Over Native Mascot Imminent

By Crystal Owens

A Long Island school district is asking a federal district court to alter its judgment dismissing a challenge to New York's ban on the use of Indigenous imagery, saying the district faces an "imminent and actual threat" of federal Civil Rights Act enforcement if it complies with the state law.

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Wis. Homeowners Challenge Tribal Tax Ruling At 7th Circ.

By Maria Koklanaris

A group of Wisconsin homeowners is asking the Seventh Circuit to revive its claims that local political jurisdictions of the Menominee Indian Tribe joined forces to increase the homeowners' tax burden, arguing a lower court was wrong to dismiss the case.

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Brief

FCC Asks Carriers To Keep Spanish In Emergency Alerts

By Corey Rothauser

The Federal Communications Commission's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau on Monday reminded wireless providers that they must properly transmit and display Wireless Emergency Alerts that include Spanish-language characters, warning that altering or deleting those characters violates federal rules.

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Iowa Church Says DEA Has Delayed Ayahuasca Application

By Sam Reisman

An Iowa church seeking approval for the religious use of a psychedelic has told the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration continues to drag its feet on the organization's application for a religious exemption to the Controlled Substances Act.

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Kalshi Taps Ex-Amazon State Policy Pro For New DC Shop

By Aislinn Keely

Trading platform Kalshi is expanding its policy efforts amid battles with state gambling regulators and tribes with a new office in Washington, D.C., staffed by government relations specialists, including a former Amazon executive who spent close to a decade with the Mississippi Attorney General's Office.

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Judge Taps Ex-CIA, Corrections Pro To Clean Up NYC's Rikers

By Elizabeth Daley

 A Manhattan federal judge on Tuesday named a former Vermont corrections commissioner and ex-CIA officer to take the reins of New York City's troubled Rikers Island jail system as a "remediation manager," after yearslong efforts to clamp down on incidents of excessive force against the jail population.

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Challenging Restitution Orders After Supreme Court Decision

The U.S. Supreme Court’s Ellingburg v. U.S. decision from last week, holding that mandatory restitution is a criminal punishment subject to the Sixth Amendment, means that all challenges to restitution are now fair game if the amount is not alleged in the indictment, say Mark Allenbaugh at SentencingStats.com and Doug Passon at Doug Passon Law.

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Ag Bill Wording Presents Existential Threat To Hemp Industry

A proposal in the agriculture appropriations bill for fiscal year 2026, which excludes almost everything synthesized from cannabis from the legal definition of “hemp,” would have catastrophic consequences for thousands of farmers, medical researchers and businesses by banning everything from intoxicating delta-9 THC products to topical CBD creams, says Alissa "Ali" Jubelirer at Benesch.

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Justices' Med Mal Ruling May Spur Huge Shift For Litigators

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in the medical malpractice suit Berk v. Choy, holding that a Florida procedural requirement does not apply to medical malpractice claims filed in federal court, is likely to encourage eligible parties to file claims in federal court, speed the adjudicatory process and create both opportunities and challenges for litigators, says Thomas Kroeger at Colson Hicks.

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State Of Insurance: Q4 Notes From Pennsylvania

Last quarter in Pennsylvania, a Superior Court ruling underscored the centrality of careful policy drafting and judicial scrutiny of exclusionary language, and another provided practical guidance on the calculation of attorney fees and interest in bad faith cases, while a proposed bill endeavored to cover insurance gaps for homeowners, says Todd Leon at Marshall Dennehey.

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Evenflo IP Ruling Shows Evidence Is Still Key For Injunctions

Notwithstanding renewed policy and doctrinal attention to patent injunctions, the Federal Circuit's December decision in Wonderland v. Evenflo signals that the era of easily obtained patent injunctions has not yet arrived, say attorneys at King & Wood.

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ICE Violated Nearly 100 Court Orders, Minn. Judge Says

By Rae Ann Varona

The Minnesota federal court's chief judge admonished U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Wednesday for violating nearly 100 court orders concerning the Trump administration's immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota while another judge, on the same day, temporarily blocked ICE from unlawfully arresting and detaining refugees in the North Star State.

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Tobey Maguire Says He Rerouted Fee To Goldstein

By Jared Foretek

"Spider-Man" star Tobey Maguire told the jury Wednesday in Thomas Goldstein's tax fraud trial that he paid $500,000 for his legal services to another poker player the former SCOTUSblog founder owed money to, rather than Goldstein's law firm.

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Tom Goldstein Saga Could Go From Courtroom To Big Screen

By Rachel Rippetoe

As federal prosecutors are two weeks into detailing SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein's storied descent into the world of high-stakes poker during his tax fraud trial in Maryland, Hollywood producers are gearing up to tell the same story on-screen.

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Fla. Prosecutors' Detention Defense Met With Sanction Threat

By Adrian Cruz

The U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida, Gregory Kehoe, along with an assistant U.S. attorney have been threatened with sanctions by a federal judge for the methods their office used in defending the mandatory detention of noncitizens.

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Brief

Trump Announces Pick For New Assistant AG For Fraud Role

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday evening that he would be nominating Colin McDonald, associate deputy attorney general, for the newly created assistant attorney general for fraud role.

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USPTO Seeks 'Serious Sanctions' For Chinese Co.'s 19K Apps

By Rae Ann Varona

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office says the "most serious sanctions" are warranted against a China-based company for filing more than 19,000 trademark submissions using names of U.S.-licensed attorneys who did not review the applications, saying submissions were at times filed in 3-minute intervals "or less."

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Prosecutors Form New Group To Fight Federal Overreach

By Ryan Boysen

Several progressive prosecutors have launched a new group to hold accountable federal officials who "exceed their lawful authority," amid a growing backlash to the Trump administration's immigration crackdown and the recent killing of two protesters by immigration agents in Minneapolis.

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Analysis

Trade Secret Filings Hit Record High In 2025, Report Finds

By Ivan Moreno

Trade secret litigation reached an all-time high in 2025, with more than 1,500 federal cases filed for the first time ever, according to a new report by legal analytics firm Lex Machina, which also highlights trends about damages, the busiest courts and the law firms most frequently involved.

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Law360 Seeks Members For Its 2026 Editorial Boards

Law360 is looking for avid readers of our publications to serve as members of our 2026 editorial advisory boards.

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