Key Senator Backs Blanche, Likely Securing AG Confirmation

By Courtney Bublé

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appears to have locked down the votes needed for his bid to be attorney general after Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said Friday that he would support the nomination.

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Senate Confirms Todd Blanche To Be AG

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. Senate voted 50-49 in the early hours of Saturday to confirm Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to the permanent position.

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Trump Renews Bid To Oust Fed's Cook Over Mortgage Claims

By Rae Ann Varona and Jon Hill

The White House has notified Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook that President Donald Trump is "considering" moving again to oust her from the central bank, setting up another potential legal battle after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked her removal in June.

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Trump Needs Congress' OK To Build Ballroom, DC Circ. Says

By Bonnie Eslinger

A split D.C. Circuit on Friday backed a district judge's block on President Donald Trump's construction of a new White House ballroom, saying Congress had not "ceded unfettered authority to the executive branch to dramatically redesign, reshape and reconstruct the White House — the People's House — to fit a particular president's desires."

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Judge Says Park Signage Suit Will Continue During Appeal

By Crystal Owens

A Massachusetts judge won't pause a district court's deadlines pending the outcome of a First Circuit appeal in a dispute over a decision to remove information about climate change, slavery and Indigenous history from National Park Service sites, saying the harm to the plaintiffs outweighs any harm to the defendants.

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DC Courts Add 8 Judges, But Funding Crunch Persists

By Courtney Bublé

Eight judges for local Washington, D.C., courts were confirmed Friday, significantly easing the courts' vacancy crisis. Nevertheless, a top court official says funding is still a problem.

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Fla. Justices Say They Can't Force Gov.'s Judge Picks

By David Minsky

The Florida Supreme Court on Friday ruled that a former state appellate judge's petition to appoint a successor is moot because the vacancy was filled while the case was pending, adding that only the governor has the power to pick replacements. 

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Brief

Senator Considers Ethics Complaint Against 3rd Circ. Judge

By Emily Sawicki

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., has indicated he is weighing whether to pursue ethics charges against U.S. Circuit Judge Jennifer Mascott of the Third Circuit in the wake of a news report stating she operated a public affairs agency from the bench.

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Florida Map Challenge Fails As Panel Rejects Race Bias Claim

By David Minsky

A Florida federal panel of judges upheld several reformed state legislative districts approved by lawmakers after the 2020 census, ruling that the civic groups that alleged illegal gerrymandering didn't prove race was a predominant factor in redrawing the challenged districts. 

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Judge Irked By Trump Admin's Bid To Delay Mail Ballot Ruling

By Carolyn Muyskens

A Massachusetts federal judge appeared frustrated Friday by the Trump administration's argument that a mail ballot executive order is not ripe for judicial review, saying she and other voters are already being asked to decide if they will vote by mail in the midterm elections.

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Del. Senator Sues To Stop Permanent Absentee Voting System

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

A Delaware state senator has sued the state's election commissioner and the Department of Elections in the Delaware Chancery Court to strike down the state's permanent absentee voting system as unconstitutional.

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OCC Denies EU Fintech's Charter Bid Over 'Significant' Gaps

By Jon Hill

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has denied European digital bank Bunq's application to charter a U.S. bank, citing "significant" concerns around the financial resources, business plan and managerial competence of the proposed offshoot.

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US Bancorp Is Latest To Flag Debanking Scrutiny From Feds

By Jon Hill

U.S. Bancorp has become the latest big bank to formally disclose to investors that multiple federal authorities are scrutinizing it in connection with President Donald Trump's push to crack down on so-called debanking, or account closures perceived as politically biased.

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18 State AGs Urge Feds To Block OppFi's BNC Bank Acquisition

By Corey Rothauser

A coalition of 18 state attorneys general led by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul urged federal regulators to block Opportunity Financial's proposed acquisition of BNC National Bank, saying the deal would allow the online lender to sidestep state interest rate limits and expand its high-cost lending nationwide.

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Senators Push Back Crypto Bill Vote To September

By Aislinn Keely

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has confirmed that the Clarity Act to regulate cryptocurrency markets won't get a vote until the chamber returns from its August recess, but lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have committed to continued negotiations.

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1st Circ. Agrees Feds Can't Block Climate, Infrastructure Funds

By Lauren Berg

The First Circuit on Friday endorsed a Rhode Island federal court's decision requiring the Trump administration to unfreeze congressionally approved funding for infrastructure, agriculture, climate and other initiatives, saying conservation nonprofits are likely to succeed on their claim that the funding cuts were unlawful.

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Nat'l Science Org. To Review Judiciary's Nixed Climate Chapter

By Jack Karp

The National Academy of Sciences will review the process used to develop a controversial chapter on climate science that has been removed from the federal judiciary's guide to scientific evidence, according to a Friday announcement.

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Judge Approves NJ's $3B PFAS Deals With 3M, DuPont

By George Woolston

A New Jersey federal judge on Friday gave her final approval to deals worth a combined $3 billion between the Garden State, 3M Co. and various DuPont entities to resolve the state's claims over contamination caused by the manufacture and discharge of forever chemicals.

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Hanford Site Caused Delivery Driver's Cancer, Son Claims

By Tom Lotshaw

The son of a delivery driver who died of cancer hit the U.S. government with a $10 million suit claiming it negligently failed to protect his father from radiation and toxic substance exposures at the Hanford nuclear site in Washington.

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Del. High Court Won't Toss Newsom Defamation Suit

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

The Delaware Supreme Court has denied Fox News' call for a mid-case review of an April ruling that allowed California Gov. Gavin Newsom's $787 million defamation suit to proceed.

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Don Lemon Seeks To Toss 'Vindictive Prosecution' By Gov't

By Bonnie Eslinger

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon asked a federal court on Friday to throw out civil rights charges against him in connection with an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a Minnesota church service, saying he's being punished for his First Amendment protected reporting.

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Shippers, Rivals Want UP, Norfolk Southern Deal Rejected

By Matthew Perlman

Rival railroads and several associations of major freight customers are urging the Surface Transportation Board to reject the planned $85 billion merger between Union Pacific Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp., saying the rail giants have failed to show the deal is in the public interest.

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CFTC Warns Gambling-Style Prices Mislead Contracts Traders

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Friday told prediction markets under its supervision that they must display clear pricing information for event contracts, warning such entities that they cannot list prices in ways that look like gambling odds.

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Coinbase Can't Dodge Michigan Rules On Sports Contracts

By Susan Smiley

Federal law does not preempt Michigan's authority to regulate sports-based derivatives, a Michigan federal judge said in a Thursday order denying Coinbase Financial Markets' request for a preliminary injunction against Michigan state officials.

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Novig Says NY, Mass. Laws Threaten CFTC-Regulated Trades

By Sydney Price

Sports betting app Novig, which is suing Massachusetts and New York over their gambling and sports wagering laws, says emergency relief is needed for the company to continue carrying out its operations in New York.

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Kalshi Wants Utah Gambling Law Blocked Pending Appeal

By Tom Lotshaw

Kalshi has urged a federal judge to issue an injunction barring Utah from enforcing its anti-gambling laws against the company's prediction markets while it appeals a ruling holding the state could do so.

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NYC Homeowners Say City Flubbed 2nd Home Tax Launch

By Hailey Konnath

A trio of New York City homeowners sued over the city's implementation of the "pied-à-terre" tax on certain second NYC homes, claiming the city shouldn't have made their names and addresses public, and also wrongly "foisted onto" residents the burden of proving they're not subject to the tax.

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Confirmations To Labor Board Set Up Policy Shift

By Braden Campbell

The National Labor Relations Board is set to begin rethinking a pile of union-friendly precedents set under former President Joe Biden after the U.S. Senate on Friday confirmed two nominees, including a third Republican member.

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FTC Abandons Disparate Impact For Discrimination Cases

By Bryan Koenig

The Federal Trade Commission became the latest Trump administration agency Friday to swear off pursuing discrimination cases grounded in "disparate impact" on particular groups, arguing that alleging discrimination without specific discriminatory intent exceeds the FTC's authority and effectively requires companies to make decisions based on race.

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Glenmark's $29.6M Generics Price-Fixing Deal Gets 1st OK

By Susan Smiley

A Connecticut federal court on Thursday gave a preliminary OK to a settlement between a coalition of 48 states and territories and drugmaker Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. that would pay out more than $29.6 million in restitution to eligible consumers and the coalition.

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Bipartisan Sens. Float Bill On Small Biz Cybersecurity Tools

By Rae Ann Varona

A bipartisan bill Senate lawmakers introduced Friday aimed at protecting small businesses from threats to their networks would require the U.S. Government Accountability Office to develop a report informing small business owners what federal cybersecurity tools and programs are available to them.

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Brief

Former NTIA Acting Chief Confirmed To Cyberspace Post

By Christopher Cole

The U.S. Senate Friday confirmed a former acting chief of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration as the U.S. Department of State's ambassador at large for cyberspace and digital policy.

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NC Judge Lets Raid Suit Claims Proceed Against Officers

By Parker Quinlan

A North Carolina federal court has ruled that police officers accused of raiding the wrong house while attempting to locate a stolen car are not immune from claims that they violated the rights of the homeowner and her fiancée and illegally destroyed their property.

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Ghost Gun Supplier Dodges $7.7M Penalty In Conn. AG Battle

By Brian Steele

The Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act only applies to trade and commerce conducted in the state, and not to entities operating websites that are merely accessible in Connecticut, a state court judge has ruled in declining to impose a $7.7 million civil penalty against a Florida-based company that sells ghost gun parts online.

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Senate Clears Russia Sanctions Bill With New Tariff Authority

By Dylan Moroses

The U.S. Senate approved legislation Friday that would enhance President Donald Trump's economic tools to pressure Russia, including new tariff authorities that raised concerns for Democratic lawmakers.

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Trump Orders Polysilicon Tariffs, Price Floor For December

By Jack McLoone

President Donald Trump has ordered a 15% ad valorem tariff on polysilicon and derivative products to start in early December, along with the implementation of minimum prices for imports of these products, which are most closely associated with semiconductors and solar power.

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Brief

Commerce Kicks Off Duty Probe Into Pipes From 3 Countries

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. Department of Commerce is investigating claims that stainless line and pressure pipes from India, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are being sold at unfair prices in the U.S., it said Friday.

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IRS, Treasury Plan To Float Regs For Retirement Matches

By Zak Kostro

The U.S. Treasury Department and IRS intend to propose regulations to implement a provision of the Secure 2.0 Act of 2022 designed to allow lower-income taxpayers who contribute to their retirement savings to receive a federal contribution of up to $1,000, the agencies said Friday.

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Wash. AG's 'Neutral' Income Tax Repeal Description Can Stand

By Ben Adlin

Washington's descriptions of a November ballot measure that would repeal a recently passed income tax on individual earnings over $1 million will remain largely unchanged despite pushback from activists, according to bench rulings Friday from two superior court judges in Olympia.

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Judge Calls Renewed Bid To Save South Sudan TPS Futile

By Britain Eakin

A Massachusetts federal judge ruled Friday that a group's renewed effort to halt the Trump administration's termination of temporary protected status for South Sudan isn't likely to succeed after the U.S. Supreme Court signed off on terminations for Haiti and Syria.

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DHS Increases Screening Fees For Larger H-1B Employers

By Britain Eakin

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced Friday that businesses with more than 50 employees, at least half of whom are H-1B or L-1 visa holders, must pay a biometric screening fee anytime they file an application to extend the workers' visas.

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Immigrant Groups Seek 1st Circ. Stay On TPS Work Limits

By Katherine Smith

A coalition of immigration advocacy groups, a union and its affiliate asked the First Circuit to step in after a Massachusetts federal judge declined to freeze a one-year work authorization cap for those with temporary protected status, arguing that its members will suffer irreparable harm without immediate relief.

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Oklahoma Tribe Wins Bid To Void Federal Drilling Approvals

By Crystal Owens

A district court judge has vacated approvals for oil and gas drilling permits on land belonging to the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, saying that, despite the U.S. Department of the Interior's claims that the licenses are moot, a live controversy still exists and the federal agency doesn't address any environmental analysis for the authorizations.

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Trump Picks FCC Lawyer As Agency's 3rd Republican

By Christopher Cole

President Donald Trump on Friday picked Danielle Thumann Severs, an in-house lawyer at the Federal Communications Commission, to fill an open seat on the regulatory board.

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FCC Demanded Fine In Misleading Way, AT&T Tells 5th Circ.

By Nadia Dreid

AT&T is hoping to convince the Fifth Circuit to help it get back the $57 million it paid the Federal Communications Commission for selling off people's location data, despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the agency had the right to issue the fine, by arguing it was tricked into paying.

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Hemp Drink Cos. Win Block Of New Ohio THC Regulations

By Mike Curley

An Ohio federal judge on Friday blocked the state of Ohio from enforcing a new law that classifies all products with more than a 0.3% concentration of THC as cannabis, finding that the law violates the dormant commerce clause.

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NY Court Says Town's Cannabis Zoning Rule Preempted

By Sam Reisman

A New York intermediate appellate court has found that the state's marijuana law preempts localities from enforcing more stringent location policies for marijuana stores than what is found in state law.

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Brief

VA To Test Psilocybin For Veterans With Severe Depression

By Jonathan Capriel

Former military service members in five U.S. cities will have an opportunity to treat their depression with psilocybin through a clinical trial being run by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, according to an agency announcement.

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AG Watch: Va. Auto Renewal Law Clears Enforcement Path

The most consequential aspect of recent amendments to Virginia's automatic renewal law is the enforcement authority it creates, giving the attorney general a clear statutory pathway to pursue cases involving subscription-related compliance failures under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act, says Chuck Slemp at Cozen O'Connor.

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How 'Markedly Different' Test Shapes Patent Eligibility Debate

Following last month's U.S. Senate hearing on the proposed Patent Eligibility Restoration Act, it is important to examine how courts and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office have applied the 46-year-old "markedly different characteristics" framework to determine eligibility of composition-of-matter claims, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

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Calif. OppFi Suit Outlines Key Criteria For Bank Partnerships

A California state court's recent ruling in OppFi v. Hewlett offers fintech-bank partnerships a blueprint for structuring lending programs to withstand future true lender challenges, while signaling that enforcement theories may face added scrutiny under the state's ban on underground regulations, say attorneys at Womble Bond.

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5 Antitrust Lessons On Bundled Discounts After Medtronic

The recent California federal court decision upholding a $381.7 million verdict against Medtronic offers practitioners a clearer road map for navigating bundled discount claims under Section 2 of the Sherman Act, and the practical implications are substantial, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

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How Does In-House Pay Compare? Take The Law360 Survey

How do in-house salaries vary across industries, roles, and organizational revenue? What compensation tools are companies using to lure top talent? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Compensation Survey.

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HSF Kramer, Taft Hit By Data Breaches

By Craig Clough

Herbert ‌Smith Freehills Kramer LLP and Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP recently reported data breaches to state regulators, adding to the dozens of breaches law firms in the U.S. have suffered in 2026. 

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Legal Services Hiring Is 'Firing On All Cylinders,' Recruiter Says

By Tracey Read

The legal sector saw job gains for the fourth month in a row, adding 1,000 positions in July, according to seasonally adjusted data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Financial Market Bolsters ABA Budget Amid Member Decline

By Emily Sawicki

A booming stock market has buoyed the overall net assets for the American Bar Association, keeping the organization's balance sheet in the black following the Trump administration's cancellation last year of millions of dollars in grants. 

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New AI Policy At Columbia Law Permits Use Within Guardrails

By Andrea Keckley

Columbia Law School has issued a new policy on the use of artificial intelligence, permitting its use to "support learning" and "perform specific functions" while restricting its role in generating written work or coming up with original arguments and legal analyses.

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CoStar Fights CREXi Bid To Stay Suit Over Quinn Emanuel DQ

By Rose Krebs

CoStar is urging a California federal court to reject a bid by Commercial Real Estate Exchange Inc., or CREXi, to pause a copyright suit while CREXi asks the Ninth Circuit to undo the disqualification of its Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP attorneys, arguing the stay request is "unsupported by law."

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Summer's Last NYC Public Defender Strike Ends With Deal

By Andrea Keckley

The Bronx Defenders union said it has struck a deal with the organization's management, ending the last public defender strike in New York City this summer.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said businesses with at least 50 employees, at least half of whom are H-1B or L-1 visa holders, must pay a biometric screening fee anytime they file an application to extend the workers' visas. In the meantime, a federal judge found that the former CEO of RTI Surgical Holdings misled investors by failing to disclose that the surgical implant company regularly shipped orders early to artificially inflate its quarterly revenues. These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Megan Norcott

The past week in London has seen Cleary Gottlieb sue a former client it advised on the proposed sale of a holding company and the continuation of litigation between pharma giants Merck Sharp & Dohme and Merck KGaA over rights to the Merck name in the U.K.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Motley Rice LLC leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a New Mexico judge ordered Meta Platforms to create a $567 million abatement fund and take additional measures to protect its youngest users.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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