Remembering Richard Posner: A Prolific Jurist

Judge Richard Posner died Tuesday at age 87, leaving a legacy as one of the most influential members of the judiciary who never served on the U.S. Supreme Court. Here, Law360 revisits its coverage over the years of the prolific retired Seventh Circuit judge, including interviews with him about his pragmatic approach to the law, his belief that the courts mistreat pro se litigants and his love of felines.

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Posner Remembered For Wide Influence, Pragmatic Approach

By Ryan Boysen

The iconoclastic, prolific and hugely influential U.S. Circuit Court Judge Richard A. Posner is being remembered for a lifetime of relentless advocacy for a more pragmatic approach to the law and a legacy that will ripple through American jurisprudence for decades to come.

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Ky. Federal Judicial Nominee Faces Misconduct Proceedings

By Courtney Bublé

A nominee for a Kentucky federal judgeship is facing misconduct proceedings for his reprimanding of an attorney who made a TikTok video in his courtroom.

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Senate Confirms First Judge Of Lame-Duck Period

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. Senate confirmed Alabama Supreme Court Justice Gregory Cook to the Northern District of Alabama on Thursday, marking the first judicial confirmation of the lame-duck period.

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DOJ Exodus Leaves Trump Facing Confirmation Crunch

By Courtney Bublé

Since the Democrats' sweeping victories on Election Day, there has been an exodus of top officials at the U.S. Department of Justice and prospects for confirming permanent replacement are slim.

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Top Dems Launch Probe Into Trump Admin's Nvidia Dealings

By Dylan Moroses

The top Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees launched an investigation Thursday into the Trump administration's recent dealings with Nvidia following the resignation of its CEO, Jensen Huang.

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6th Circ. Revives Prisoner's Claims, Flags Litigation Loophole

By Melanie Dorsey

A Sixth Circuit panel has revived a Michigan prisoner's constitutional lawsuit, finding that two previously dismissed lawsuits did not count as strikes under a federal law restricting inmates' ability to file cases without paying court fees, while one judge urged Congress to close loopholes that allow prisoners to repeatedly bring meritless claims.

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6th Circ. Revives Mom's Free Speech Claim Over C&D Letter

By Susan Smiley

A Sixth Circuit panel has partially revived a Michigan mother's First Amendment claims against Lowell Area Schools and several of its employees, saying a cease-and-desist letter she received from a school principal possibly crossed the line from permissible persuasion to a prior restraint and speech ban.

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Jan. 6 Rioters Say They Were Unfairly Prosecuted

By Nadia Dreid

Ten men who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection over the 2020 presidential election results that culminated in the attack on the U.S. Capitol are suing the federal government for malicious prosecution, saying they were in Washington, D.C., that day to "connect with like-minded patriots."

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Former CFTC Commissioner Among Trump's Picks For SEC

By Hailey Konnath

President Donald Trump on Thursday unveiled his picks for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, notably nominating former CFTC Commissioner Kristin Johnson for a Democratic seat on the SEC.

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CFPB Says Anti-Bias Rule Rollback Tracks Fair Lending Law

By Katryna Perera

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is urging a D.C. federal judge to uphold the recent rollback of fair lending regulations, arguing that consumer advocates' legal challenge largely boils down to policy disagreements that are insufficient to support claims of invalid rulemaking.

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Merchants Sue OCC Over Push To Preempt Ill. Swipe-Fee Law

By Jon Hill

Merchant trade groups sued the government Thursday in D.C. federal court to overturn recent rules from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency that seek to shield banks from Illinois state limits on swipe fees, arguing the "slapdash" preemption effort exceeded the agency's authority.

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DC Circ. To Decide If EPA Needs Stricter Incineration Rules

By Nadia Dreid

The D.C. Circuit will decide whether the Environmental Protection Agency has been violating the Clean Air Act by declining to set standards for all types of incinerators, something two environmental groups say the law intended but the agency has refused to do for 25 years.

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Trump Admin Sued Over Revival Of Arctic Drilling Leases

By Gina Kim

The Center for Biological Diversity and Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic sued the Trump administration in D.C. federal court Thursday over its reinstatement of Hilcorp Alaska's expired offshore oil and gas drilling leases in the Arctic, arguing that the decision failed to consider oil spill risks and environmental harms. 

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Colo. Enviro Group Says Herbicide Threatens Protected Mice

By Rachel Konieczny

An environmental nonprofit urged a Colorado federal judge to block Boulder County from using drones to spray herbicides across 2,400 acres north of Boulder, alleging the "indiscriminate" spraying will kill and otherwise harm a threatened mouse species native to the area.

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Brief

Colo. Appeals Court Won't Rehear Emissions Rule Challenge

By Rachel Konieczny

The Colorado Court of Appeals said Thursday that it would not rehear environmental advocacy groups' challenge to a state agency rule on emissions monitoring, leaving intact a panel's October ruling that determined the rule "heightens, increases or raises" criteria for pollution permits beyond those already in place.

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Squires Grants Another 5 PTAB Petitions, Denies 2

By Dani Kass

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires has instituted five new patent challenges, largely in the pharmaceutical industry, in one of his final mass orders.

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Judge Newman's Former Atty Has Moved From DOJ To USPTO

By Adam Lidgett

An attorney who had represented U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman of the Federal Circuit for part of an ongoing legal battle over her suspension has moved to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office after serving about a year at the U.S. Department of Justice, according to the patent agency.

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Novig Can't Block NY From Enforcing Sports Betting Rules

By Katryna Perera

A New York federal judge has declined to block the state from enforcing gambling restrictions against prediction market Novig, finding that the platform's sports-related event contracts are not swaps under the Commodity Exchange Act and therefore can be regulated by the state.

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Anthropic, OpenAI Face Suit To Halt 'Insane' AI Development

By Dorothy Atkins

Nonprofits sued Anthropic, Google, Meta Platforms, OpenAI and SpaceXSI in California state court Thursday seeking to freeze the "insane" and "dangerous" development of advanced artificial intelligence that can escape human control, arguing the companies have no realistic way to stop the "catastrophic" events their own executives predict could occur.

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NYC, LA, Other Cities Seek To Halt Latest HUD Grant Terms

By Rachel Riley

New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and dozens of other cities across the country that have challenged the Trump administration's grant restrictions are asking a Washington federal judge to block a new round of funding conditions from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

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7th Circ. Wary Of Reviving Bid To Block DEI Grant Cuts

By Celeste Bott

Seventh Circuit judges appeared skeptical Thursday of an Illinois nonprofit's bid to block the Trump administration's cuts to its education grants, questioning whether the organization had ruled out future spending on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and whether the funding cuts amounted to viewpoint discrimination under the First Amendment.

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Ex-Kean Law Prof Can't Challenge NJ Policy, 3rd Circ. Says

By Lauren Berg

A former Kean University adjunct law professor doesn't have standing to challenge the constitutionality of a workplace discrimination policy for New Jersey employees, the Third Circuit ruled Thursday, saying she hasn't shown what actual or imminent harm she faces now that she is no longer subject to the policy.

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NLRB Rejects Stanford's Student Union Challenge

By Braden Campbell

The National Labor Relations Board on Thursday denied Stanford University's call to rethink precedent empowering certain college student workers to unionize, noting a group of resident assistants withdrew the representation petition the challenge was based on.

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EU High Court Adviser Backs Bulk Of €1.5B Google Fine

By Bryan Koenig

A European Court of Justice advocate general said Thursday that the European Union's top court should upend a lower court decision scrapping a €1.49 billion fine imposed over Google's past restrictions against rival search engines on third-party websites using its advertising tools.

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Mich. AG Targets Ferry Operator Over Ferry, Parking Monopoly

By Melanie Dorsey

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel sued the Hoffmann Family of Cos. on Thursday, accusing the private equity firm of illegally monopolizing passenger ferry service to Mackinac Island and nearby parking facilities through acquisitions that eliminated competition, drove up prices and left residents and visitors dependent on a single operator.

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FEMA Subcontractor Defends No-Poach, Wage-Fixing Suit

By Matthew Perlman

A disaster response worker is defending a proposed class action accusing Fluor Federal Services Inc. and several subcontractors of fixing wages and agreeing not to hire each other's workers, arguing that one of the companies identified members of the conspiracy in writing.

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NextEra Says Avangrid Wants To Show Dems 'Parroted' Claims

By Bryan Koenig

NextEra Energy Inc. sparred with developer Avangrid Inc. in dueling Massachusetts federal court briefs over the latter's bid to restart discovery, which NextEra cast as an attempt solely to show that Democratic state attorneys general and senators have "parroted" Avangrid's allegations of blocked competition.

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Meta Says DC Fed. Court Has Oversight Of FTC Settlement

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

A lawyer for Meta told a D.C. federal judge Thursday that his court has exclusive jurisdiction over a $5 billion privacy settlement from 2020, not the Federal Trade Commission.

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NYC Becomes 2nd City To Ban Data-Driven Pricing

By Lauren Berg

The New York City Council on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a measure to ban companies from using personal data to offer different prices to different customers for the same goods and services, becoming the second city to prohibit the increasingly prevalent practice known as surveillance pricing.

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11th Circ. Upholds $2.75M Award In Gag Clause Breach

By Carolina Bolado

The Eleventh Circuit has affirmed a $2.75 million judgment against a woman for breaching a confidential agreement with a former intimate partner she claims sexually assaulted her, rejecting her arguments that the agreement was invalid and violated her First Amendment rights.

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11th Circ. Revives Fla. Small Biz Qui Tam After Key Ruling

By David Minsky

The Eleventh Circuit on Thursday remanded a long-running False Claims Act lawsuit alleging the owners of a construction company defrauded a program for disadvantaged small businesses, finding that an appellate panel sent a similar case back to a lower court after ruling the Constitution wasn't violated.

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Feds, SpaceX Say Groups Can't Show Land Swap Injury

By Spencer Brewer

SpaceX and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service renewed their call for a Texas federal judge to toss a lawsuit challenging their South Texas land swap deal, saying that the groups that sued cannot base their alleged damages on theoretical future development by SpaceX.

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Senate OKs Bill Letting CBP Share Counterfeit Shipment Data

By Adam Lidgett

The U.S. Senate has passed legislation that would give U.S. Customs and Border Protection the ability to provide detailed shipment information about suspected counterfeit imports to brands, online marketplaces and logistics companies.

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Importers Sharpen Class Definition In Tariff Refund Suit

By Dylan Moroses

Representatives for the approved class of importers that paid illegal duties filed a proposed order authorizing U.S. Customs and Border Protection to refund the entirety of tariffs paid that were installed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, according to a submission filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade.

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Ore. Vacant Parcel Owner's Plea For Value Reduction Denied

By Sanjay Talwani

The owner of an undeveloped Oregon property did not show it was overvalued, the state tax court said, rejecting his reliance on data from the local tax rolls on other properties in his arguments.

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CPA Group Seeks IRS Guidance On Gambling Reporting Regs

By Zak Kostro

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants asked the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the IRS to clarify proposed regulations to increase the threshold for gambling businesses to report payouts to the government, saying they fail to address key issues for reporting wagering gains and losses.

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Judge Cites Alito Dissent In Trump Birthright Order Fight

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. federal judge weighing whether to block the Trump administration's latest birthright citizenship executive order suggested on Thursday that the government's interpretation of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent citizenship ruling was contradicted even by Justice Samuel Alito's dissent in the case.

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ICE Seeks Reprieve From 3-Day Delay To Transfer Detainees

By Carolyn Muyskens

The U.S. government told a Massachusetts federal judge on Thursday that a three-day notice period before immigrant detainees may be moved to another circuit is straining detention operations, citing a lack of beds for women and children as a reason to lift the order.

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DC Judge Denies Bid To Remove DHS Asylum Info Posts

By Britain Eakin

A D.C. federal judge has said she is "deeply troubled" that the Trump administration publicly disclosed a Malian asylum-seeker's confidential information, including his sexual orientation, on social media, but said she lacked enough information to say definitively the disclosure wasn't authorized.

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Colorado Says Sanctuary Law Appeal Hinges On Distortions

By Tom Lotshaw

Colorado asked the 10th Circuit to affirm a district court ruling dismissing the Trump administration's challenge of laws limiting immigration enforcement assistance, arguing that an administration appeal relies on distortions to try to require the state to provide assistance Congress made voluntary.

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Ill. Judge Sets Chicago DOJ Testimony Despite Bid For Clarity

By Lauraann Wood

The Illinois federal judge probing potential falsehoods and undue influence behind a push to prosecute six U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters solidified an early December date to hear U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros and others' testimony on the matter, after blasting the government's "immaterial" bid for more pre-proceeding clarity.

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DraftKings Says Seminole Tribe Suit Threatens Fed. Markets

By Crystal Owens

DraftKings Inc. is seeking to remove a challenge from the Seminole Tribe of Florida to a federal district court, alleging the lawsuit is the Indigenous nation's latest effort to expand its gaming monopoly because it is "dissatisfied with the billions" it brings in from its tribal casinos.

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FCC To Allow Router Changes For AT&T Supplier

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission's staff has granted an AT&T gateway supplier a one-year exemption from a security restriction so that it can make hardware upgrades.

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Cruz Sets Up Confirmation Vote For 3rd FCC Republican

By Christopher Cole

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, will push ahead with a committee vote on Nov. 18 to confirm Danielle Thumann Severs to the Federal Communications Commission.

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Hemp Industry Eyes Lame-Duck Effort To Thwart Product Ban

By Sam Reisman

With one month left to go before virtually all hemp products become federally illegal, a member of Congress told Kentucky hemp interests Thursday night that he and his colleagues will propose numerous amendments to upcoming must-pass bills in order to avert what many in the hemp industry have described as an existential threat.

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SEC's History Undercuts Its 'Back To Basics' Rationale

The current U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement recalibration prioritizing fraud over technical violations has led to a drastic decline in enforcement activity, but the philosophy deviates from decades of enforcement that has always promoted compliance with its prophylactic requirements, says Gerald Hodgkins at Covington.

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Are You Happy With Your In-House Role? Take Our Survey

Is your company giving you everything you need to succeed? What are some misconceptions about working in-house? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Satisfaction Survey.

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Crowell & Moring Finance Litigation Head Joins Norton Rose

By Andrea Keckley

Norton Rose Fulbright has welcomed the New York-based head of financial services litigation at Crowell & Moring LLP as a partner, saying his hire will bolster its services to corporations, financial institutions and private capital clients.

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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 Olympic gold medalist Daley Thompson target gym chain Hybrid Fitness for an alleged breach of contract, investor claims continue to mount against building materials giant Kingspan, and real estate magnate Mike Kohan be sued by property lender Decama Finance.

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Longtime DC Steptoe Partner Joins Potomac Law Group

By Jack Rodgers

An attorney who spent more than 28 years as of counsel for Steptoe LLP's complex commercial litigation team has moved to Potomac Law Group's office in Washington, D.C., the firm announced Friday.

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Memories Of Weil: From Childbirth To The Lehman Bankruptcy

By Aebra Coe

Those who worked within the walls of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP over its 95-year history have built up countless personal and professional memories. Here, six former attorneys and staff share some of their top memories.

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Analysis

How AI Became The 'Backseat Driver' In Settlement Talks

By Chris Villani

Attorneys say the ubiquitous use of artificial intelligence by clients has put up barriers to resolving cases by giving litigants unrealistic expectations about their claims, introducing inaccurate or irrelevant case law, and making them second-guess their hired legal counsel more often.

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Hall Booth Beats Appeal Over Failed DQ Bid In Med Mal Suit

By George Woolston

A New Jersey appellate panel rejected a bid to disqualify Hall Booth Smith PC from representing a hospital and healthcare company in a medical malpractice suit, finding that the firm's prior representation of another defendant in the case is not materially adverse to the interests of its current clients.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

DLA Piper and Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a Massachusetts federal judge said she would reduce an $88 million verdict awarded to an Alabama couple in the first bellwether hernia mesh trial against Medtronic subsidiary Covidien LP.

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Kasowitz Denies Columbia Students' Deal Overcharge Claims

By Adrian Cruz

Kasowitz LLP asked a New York state judge Friday to dismiss a suit by a group of Columbia University students accusing it of wrongfully taking more than $6 million from a 2025 settlement in a suit over alleged antisemitism on campus, calling the complaint a "publicity stunt" that fails to prove the firm engaged in malpractice.

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Beltway Moves: Weil, Dechert, WilmerHale

By Alison Knezevich

Washington, D.C., attorneys from Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP continued to land new roles in some of the most recent legal industry hiring developments in the nation's capital.

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Judge Says Email, Not Bias, Cost Public Defender His Job

By Kelcey Caulder

A federal magistrate judge recommended that the Georgia Public Defender Council be freed from an attorney's suit alleging he was fired for complaining about racial bias and then hit with a retaliatory bar complaint, finding that an email he sent to his colleagues was what actually led to his termination.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

The top story of the week – the spy and romance thriller at AI chipmaker Nvidia – continues to unfold in layers, as the company hired Wachtell Lipton to probe its involvement in possible national security violations, saw its CEO resign in disgrace, tried to defend its general counsel's intervening in a related China inquiry, was pulled into congressional investigations, and faced an investor's lawsuit over the mess.

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Western Va.'s Top Federal Prosecutor Latest To Face DQ Bid

By Jack Karp

The lawyer leading the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Virginia is the latest top federal prosecutor to have the legality of their appointment challenged in court, as a defendant in a gun case claims the office's leader was placed through a series of "machinations," "games" and "cynical measures."

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ABA Council Backs Law School Course, Faculty Rule Changes

By Emma Cueto

The American Bar Association council that handles law school accreditation voted Friday to relax standards related to online course credits and courses taught by full-time faculty, requirements that critics have claimed contributed to higher tuition rates.

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Fox Rothschild Fights Revival Of Malicious Prosecution Suit

By Rose Krebs

Fox Rothschild LLP is urging a New Jersey state court to deny an adult daycare company's bid to undo the toss of its malicious prosecution suit against the firm and one of its attorneys, saying the court didn't err in dismissing the complaint.

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Mich. State Police Chief Can't Shake Ex-Aide's Distress Claim

By Melanie Dorsey

A Michigan State Police director must face an emotional distress claim brought by his former executive assistant, a state Court of Claims judge has determined, finding that she sufficiently alleged Col. James Grady threatened her with a baseless internal investigation unless she accepted a demotion reducing her hourly pay by $8.

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How Nonprofits Are Adjusting To A New Pro Bono Landscape

By Alison Knezevich

Legal advocacy groups face a changed pro bono landscape during Trump's second administration. With some large firms avoiding cases against the federal government, nonprofit leaders say they are developing volunteer networks, relying on smaller shops and solo practitioners, and leaning more on their own staff attorneys to carry the pro bono load. 

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Mich. Tribal, State Courts Both Aim To Tackle Legal Deserts

By Susan Smiley

The newly named co-chairs of the Michigan Tribal State Federal Judicial Forum, Judge Carol Montavon Bealor and Judge Hannah Bobee, agree their respective court systems share one crisis: a lack of attorneys in rural areas.

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Balancing The Scales: Trans Prisoner Care, Immunity In Mich.

By Orlando Lorenzo

The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed gender transition medical services to continue to be offered in federal prisons, and the Sixth Circuit ruled that prison officials in Michigan can't claim immunity from allegations that they knew of mold contamination that led to seizures and respiratory issues among incarcerated women.

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Arizona Law Clinic Takes Legal Aid For Veterans On The Road

By Marco Poggio

Law students and their supervising attorneys drive hours from Tucson to bring free legal help to veterans in rural Arizona. On the Hopi Reservation, the University of Arizona's Veterans' Advocacy Law Clinic works with tribal partners to help veterans file disability claims and seek discharge upgrades that could open the door to benefits.

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Raskin Seeks Judiciary Gavel, High Court Ethics Curbs

By Courtney Bublé

In making his bid to be elected House Judiciary chair, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., on Friday said ethics reforms for the U.S. Supreme Court are among his top priorities.

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Goodwin Taps Simpson Thacher For Inside Trading Docs Fight

By Chris Villani

Goodwin Procter LLP has hired Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP to represent it as an alleged victim of an insider trading scheme that Massachusetts federal prosecutors say was orchestrated by a former Goodwin associate, according to a Friday filing seeking to oppose the attorney's request for records in redacted filings.

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