Analysis

AI Land Use Fights Are Just Getting Started In Mass.

By Chris Villani

Some Massachusetts cities and towns are scrambling to update their zoning rules amid rising tensions over artificial intelligence data centers, with disputes expected to play out in the courts and on Beacon Hill in coming years.

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Divided 5th Circ. Backs Toss Of Jackson Water Suit

By Tom Lotshaw

A split en banc Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit Jackson, Mississippi, residents filed over lead in city drinking water, with the majority holding that the residents asserted rights to uncontaminated water and accurate information from public officials that the U.S. Constitution doesn't grant.

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9th Circ. Restores Idaho Abortion Ban Enforcement, For Now

By Gianna Ferrarin

The Ninth Circuit will allow Idaho to fully enforce its abortion ban while the state briefs its request for emergency relief from an order that blocked the ban's application in certain health-related circumstances and declared a fundamental right to some abortions under the U.S. Constitution.

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Feds Can't Force NJ To Assist ICE Efforts, Judge Says

By Lauren Berg

A New Jersey federal judge Friday tossed the Trump administration's suit challenging Gov. Mikie Sherrill's February executive order limiting immigration officials' access to state property without a warrant, saying the federal government cannot commandeer state resources.

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Judge Again Blocks USPS Mail Ballot Rule

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge late Friday again blocked the U.S. Postal Service from implementing a new rule that would allow it to refuse delivery of mailed ballots in this November's midterm elections.

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Full 2nd Circ. To Rehear Student's Speech Removal Case

By Britain Eakin

The en banc Second Circuit will rehear a panel decision holding that a Vermont federal judge lacked authority to order immigration officials to release Palestinian green-card holder Mohsen Mahdawi, who contends the Trump administration wants to deport him over his political speech.

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DOJ Ordered To Turn Over 'Weaponization' Fund Discovery

By Jared Foretek

A Virginia federal magistrate judge ordered the Trump administration Friday to move quickly in turning over documents connected to its proposed "Anti-Weaponization Fund," including the names of those who structured it before the idea was shot down in several federal courts and withdrawn by the U.S. Department of Justice.

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NY Judge Won't Block HHS Sharing Of Aid Recipients' Info

By Tom Lotshaw

A New York federal judge refused to block a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services plan to share aid recipients' information with other agencies, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, ruling that nonprofits challenging it failed to show recipients faced irreparable harm.

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Fla. Judge Retires, Avoids Sanctions For Political Donations

By Carolina Bolado

A judge in Orlando, Florida, stepped off the bench on Friday rather than face discipline for violating a judicial ethics rule by making nearly $30,000 in political donations.

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Conn. AG, DOJ Rebuked For Bad Citations, Misquote In Filings

By Tom Lotshaw

A Connecticut federal judge has cautioned attorneys at the U.S. Department of Justice and the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General to clean up their work after they submitted notices fixing bad case citations and a misquotation in their litigation over a state law.

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Lawmakers Say DOD To Divert NIH Funds For Defense Budget

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Department of Defense is looking to "siphon" billions of dollars from the National Institutes of Health intended for biomedical research to supplement the agency's budget, according to top Democrats on the House and Senate Appropriations Committees.

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USPS Asks High Court To Allow 'Modest' Mail Ballot Rules

By Katie Buehler

The Trump administration has once again asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift a Massachusetts federal judge's order barring the U.S. Postal Service from enforcing new mail-in ballot regulations ahead of this year's midterms, arguing the "modest" changes are well within USPS' authority and don't affect election administration. 

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Missouri Asks Justices To Prevent Election 'Disaster'

By Katie Buehler

Missouri has implored the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the state high court's ruling prohibiting the use of a new congressional map drawn to help Republicans in this year's midterms and requiring the map be submitted for voter approval, claiming the decision will create an unconstitutional "disaster." 

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Mich. High Court Won't Force Citizenship Measure Onto Ballot

By Melanie Dorsey

The Michigan Supreme Court has refused to order election officials to place on the November ballot a proposed constitutional amendment requiring proof of citizenship to vote, with some justices calling for changes in the state's rules for validating petition signatures.

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Analysis

4 Texas Supreme Court Oil & Gas Cases To Watch This Term

By Keith Goldberg

The new term of the Texas Supreme Court initially appears light on oil and gas litigation, but Lone Star State attorneys told Law360 there are still a handful of cases that could have broad implications for the industry.

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Exclusion Extinguishes PPE Maker's PFAS Coverage Bid

By Hope Patti

A commercial general liability insurer owes no coverage to a personal protective equipment manufacturer sued by firefighters who said the company's gear exposed them to forever chemicals, an Ohio federal court ruled, finding that the claimed injuries fall under an occupational disease exclusion.

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Wash. AG Opposes PacifiCorp $1.9B Sale Of State Assets

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

The Washington Attorney General's Office has asked the state's Utilities and Transportation Commission to reject Pacific Power and Light Co.'s $1.9 billion sale of its Washington service area to Portland General Electric, saying the deal would raise costs and cut customers off from one of the state's clean energy sources.

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Roundup

3rd Circ. Preview: Penn State TM Row, NFL Agent Poaching Suit

By P.J. D'Annunzio

The Third Circuit in September is set to decide whether a print-on-demand company's collegiate apparel counts as counterfeit Penn State merchandise and if two former Philadelphia detectives can escape a $16 million judgment for a wrongfully convicted murder suspect.

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Justices Let FCC's New Campaign Ad Rates Take Effect

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday cleared the way for the Federal Communications Commission to extend discounted television and radio advertising rates previously reserved for political candidates to political parties and joint fundraising committees that buy spots in coordination with candidates.

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Musk's XAI Can't Block Minn. Ban On Image 'Nudification'

By Gina Kim

Elon Musk's xAI can't stop Minnesota's ban on image "nudification" technology, after a federal judge said Friday he found "without hesitation that the balance of equities weighs heavily in favor of the state," which has an interest in shielding the public from harm caused by the dissemination of sexualized images.

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Passengers Say State Laws Offer No Immunity In Lyft MDL

By Mike Curley

Lyft Inc. passengers are urging a California federal court to reject the company's bid to throw out their claims in multidistrict litigation that it failed to protect them from sexual assault, saying no Texas or California law or regulation offers the immunity Lyft seeks.

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Ex-NBA Player Sues Chicago Sky Over WNBA Game Ejection

By Celeste Bott

Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom has sued the Chicago Sky, the city of Chicago and the owner of Wintrust Arena in Illinois federal court, alleging they violated his free speech rights by ejecting him from an August WNBA game and indefinitely banning him from the arena because of his views on transgender participation in women's sports.

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Ohio Justices Tee Up Data Center Vote In Another City

By Isaac Monterose

The Ohio Supreme Court will allow the residents of Trenton, Ohio, to vote in a special election for a proposed city charter amendment that will ban the construction of data centers in the city, which is similar to a recent Ohio high court decision that set up a potential data center vote.

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11th Circ. Rules Fla. Worker Immune From Inmate Injury Suit

By Carolina Bolado

The Eleventh Circuit rejected a prisoner's suit against a St. Lucie County, Florida, employee over an injury the employee caused on a worksite, finding that there was no Eighth Amendment violation and the employee is entitled to qualified immunity.

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Concrete Giants Duck Price-Fixing MDL Again, For Good

By Bryan Koenig

The globe's three dominant producers of admixtures for concrete, cement and mortar are permanently free of price-fixing claims after a New York federal judge held that U.S. concrete distributors and construction companies still haven't adequately alleged a conspiracy or synchronized price increases in the country.

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Roundup

Injury Law Roundup: Meta's Social Media Addiction Deal

By Y. Peter Kang

A $17.1 billion social media addiction settlement between Meta and 29 states and Johnson & Johnson's $5.5 billion ovarian cancer deal over its talc products lead Law360's Injury Law Roundup.

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NRA Urges Colo. Judge To Block Denver's Open Carry Ban

By Rachel Konieczny

The National Rifle Association, Colorado's official branch of the NRA and two gun owners urged a federal judge Friday to block the enforcement of city and state laws that ban nonresidents from openly carrying firearms in Denver, calling the ban "plainly unconstitutional."

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US Extends Trade Programs With African Countries, Haiti

By Jack McLoone

The government funding bill signed by President Donald Trump this week included extensions of U.S. trade agreements with African nations and Haiti through the end of 2028, locking in duty exemptions for broad swaths of products following bipartisan support.

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Brief

Chinese Feed Additive Imports Harming US Industry, ITC Says

By Jack McLoone

Imports of animal feed-grade additive from China are being sold at unfair prices are harming domestic industry, the U.S. International Trade Commission determined Friday, setting up duty orders.

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Md. Judge Says ICE Warrantless Arrest Requires Release

By Britain Eakin

A Maryland federal judge ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Friday to immediately release a noncitizen who entered the U.S. in 2025 on a B-2 visitor visa, finding that immigration officers wrongfully arrested her without a warrant.

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Ex-Budget Official Asks To Avoid Prison In Conn. Bribery Case

By Brian Steele

Former Connecticut budget official Konstantinos Diamantis asked a federal judge Friday to spare him from a potential decade-plus prison sentence after his conviction for demanding and accepting bribes, citing factors including his advanced age and loss of his law license.

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Vertex Fertility Aid Violates Kickback Law, DC Circ. Says

By Danielle Ferguson

A D.C. Circuit panel said Friday that a Vertex Pharmaceutical program offering gene therapy patients financial support for fertility services violates the Anti-Kickback Statute, finding the initiative is an unlawful inducement to purchase a certain medical treatment.

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Prosecutors Say Trayon White Video Sought To Taint Jury

By Jared Foretek

Prosecutors are accusing D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr. of attempting to tamper with jury selection in his upcoming bribery trial, after he posted a video online showing him in front of the D.C. Superior Courthouse steps urging Black residents to respond to jury summonses.

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Tribes Urge ND Court To Keep Voting Map Claims Alive

By Joyce Hanson

The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the Spirit Lake Nation asked a federal court Friday to reject the North Dakota secretary of state's bid to throw out their claims that the state's 2021 legislative map dilutes Native American voting power.

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EPA Calls SD Tribe's Uranium Mine Challenge 'Flimsy'

By Joyce Hanson

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has asked the Eighth Circuit to throw out a challenge by the Oglala Sioux Tribe and activist groups against EPA actions letting an energy technology company conduct uranium mining in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

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Top Groups Lobbying The FCC

By Christopher Cole

Lobbying activity at the Federal Communications Commission dropped off in August, but dozens of groups still sought to affect agency policies in areas such as media ownership caps, satellite spectrum sharing, network modernization and more.

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Advocates Slam SpaceX Proposal To Cut FCC High-Cost Aid

By Nadia Dreid

SpaceX's suggestion that the Federal Communications Commission "wind down and sunset" the agency's multibillion dollar program that provides subsidies for installing broadband in high cost, hard-to-serve places, is a bad one, say rural broadband advocates.

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SpaceX Presses For Opening 3 Bands To Direct-To-Device

By Nadia Dreid

SpaceX has its eye on three bands of spectrum it wants the Federal Communications Commission to open for direct-to-device satellite services, a move it told the agency would be good for both competition and the integration of satellite and terrestrial networks.

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Brief

FCC Bans People Convicted Of Fraud From USF

By Nadia Dreid

Seven people who abused the Federal Communications Commission's E-rate program, which subsidizes the cost of internet service for schools and libraries, have been forever banned from participating in any of the agency's other internet subsidy programs.

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Brief

FCC Pays Back $3.08B 'Rip And Replace' Treasury Loan

By Christopher Cole

After completing a spectrum auction directed by federal law, the Federal Communications Commission said Friday that it has repaid a $3.08 billion loan from the U.S. Treasury that it used to fill a funding gap in the "rip and replace" network security program.

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Nebraska High Court Rejects Bid To Void Medical Cannabis

By Sam Reisman

The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday rejected an effort by state officials to void medical marijuana legalization measures that were approved by supermajorities of state voters, saying the lower court was right to dismiss the challenge.

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CISA Town Halls Signal Key Cyber Rule Changes Ahead

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency recently held a series of town halls to gather additional stakeholder input on the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act, offering potential insights into how the agency may address key issues in a forthcoming final rule, say attorneys at Covington.

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The State Of Prediction Market Litigation After 9th Circ. Ruling

The Ninth Circuit's recent decision in Kalshi v. Assad gives state regulators significant appellate backing to enforce state gaming laws over prediction markets, creating a direct split with the Third Circuit that will likely lead to Supreme Court review of the question, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

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Justices' Hikma Reasoning May Extend Well Beyond Pharma

The active steps framework announced by the U.S. Supreme Court in its Hikma v. Amarin decision, finding that Amarin failed to plausibly allege inducement of infringement, has the potential to reshape how courts evaluate inducement claims across patent, copyright and other doctrines, say attorneys at BCLP.

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8(a) Firms Face New Risks From Pass-Through Arrangements

​Prime contractors and subcontractors with pass-through arrangements involving the Small Business Administration's 8(a) business development program should ensure they are prepared for heightened litigation risks created by the administration’s use of False Claims Act whistleblowers to target fraud in diversity, equity and inclusion programs, say attorneys at RJO.

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Senior Lawyers Survey: Tell Us About Your Career

How are senior lawyers adapting to evolving career paths and emerging technologies? Share your perspective in this five-minute survey.

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Legal Sector Hiring Grows For 5th Month, But At Slower Pace

By Rachel Rippetoe

The legal sector saw 600 more jobs in August, growing for the fifth consecutive month, according to seasonally adjusted data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

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3rd Circ. Revives Malpractice Claim Against Kirkland Atty

By Emily Sawicki

A New Jersey divorcee may once again pursue a legal malpractice claim against a Kirkland & Ellis LLP attorney who she said lost her millions by mishandling estate documents, after the Third Circuit found it could be possible to link her alleged damages to the lawyer's work.

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Quinn Emanuel DQ'd In Defamation Case Over Stock Reports

By Lynn LaRowe

A Texas federal court on Friday booted Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP from representing a Hong Kong manufacturing company in its defamation lawsuit against investment research service Muddy Waters LLC after finding that the law firm had received relevant confidential information when it represented Muddy Waters in a related government probe.

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DC Panel's Rare Rebuke Over AI Errors Flags Rules Gap

By Andrea Keckley

A D.C. appellate court panel issued a rare sua sponte sanctions order on Thursday after finding nonexistent case citations in a brief filed by a McCabe Weisberg & Conway LLC attorney representing Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. in a foreclosure action, noting an apparent gap in the rules governing the court's sanctions authority.

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Motley Rice Founder Remembered As Titan Of Mass Tort Bar

By Adrian Cruz

Motley Rice LLC co-founder Joseph F. Rice, who died Thursday, was remembered by former colleagues and friends as a "transformational" attorney and "giant in the civil litigation bar" who spent decades working on some of the most high-profile mass torts and obtaining landmark asbestos, opioid and tobacco settlements.

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Sinema Can't Duck Suit Over Affair With Ex-Security Guard

By Y. Peter Kang

A North Carolina federal judge Friday denied former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's bid to escape the suit brought by the ex-wife of a former member of her security detail with whom she allegedly had an affair, saying the district court indeed has the authority to adjudicate the case.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Morgan Verkamp LLC and Sparacino PLLC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Eleventh Circuit held that the False Claims Act's qui tam provisions do not violate the appointments clause of the U.S. Constitution.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

Attorneys and academics differ over whether the moves by Meta's in-house lawyers ahead of its $17 billion settlement over claims its content harmed children were legal missteps or defensible efforts to manage litigation risk. And the co-founders of a partner-only law firm told Law360 Pulse how their technology reduces intake, billing and other nonbillable tasks that attorneys would normally perform. These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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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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