Judge Wary Of DOD Rationale For Anthropic Risk Label

By Madeline Lyskawa

A California federal judge appeared unconvinced Thursday by the government's claim that its designation of Anthropic PBC as a supply chain risk to national security was based on a credible threat and not retaliation for publicly criticizing the Trump administration.

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Trump May Renominate Blanche If GOP Holdouts Block Vote

By Courtney Bublé

With Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., still on the fence about acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's confirmation to be attorney general, President Donald Trump said Thursday he might renominate Blanche next year when the two senators are no longer serving in the Senate.

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DA Says Trump's NY Hush Money Conviction Must Stand

By Frank G. Runyeon

New York prosecutors told a state appellate court that President Donald Trump's 34-count felony conviction for falsifying business records is "unaffected" by the U.S. Supreme Court's watershed presidential immunity decision and should be upheld.

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DOL Chief Nom Sonderling To Get Full Senate Vote

By Irene Spezzamonte

The U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted Thursday in favor of sending acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling's nomination to the full Senate for a confirmation vote despite Democrats' concerns during a recent hearing about the department's proposed wage and hour rules.

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Dem Bill Would End Forced Arbitration In Workplace Disputes

By Anne Cullen

Democratic lawmakers reintroduced a bill Thursday that would eliminate mandatory arbitration agreements in employment contracts and enhance workers' ability to band together to challenge unlawful employment practices.

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Judiciary's Bid To Control Courthouses Gets Senate Push

By Courtney Bublé

A bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill on Thursday that would create a pilot program for the federal judiciary to obtain direct authority to maintain its buildings, which the judiciary says is desperately needed.

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11th Circ. Revives Nonprofit's Bias Suit Over COVID Grants

By Carolina Bolado

The Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday revived part of a Florida nonprofit's suit challenging the denial of two COVID-19 relief grants, finding that the group had sufficiently alleged it was discriminated against because of racial bias and its association with a pan-African movement.

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OCC, FDIC Say Ore. Opt-Out Law Threatens Interstate Lending

By Jon Hill

Top federal banking regulators have lined up behind the banking industry in a challenge to a new Oregon law aimed at capping interest rates on loans from out-of-state banks, warning in federal court filings that it threatens "confusion" and disruption for interstate lending.

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NC, Green Groups Call EPA-Chemours PFAS Deal Too Lenient

By Gautama Mehta

North Carolina state leaders and environmental organizations asked the federal government to walk back a proposed settlement with Chemours over so-called forever chemical pollution from three factories, saying the deal amounted to a slap on the wrist.

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Colo. Recycling Law Unconstitutional, Trade Association Says

By MJ Koo

A national trade association representing wholesale distributors sued Colorado's top environmental regulator Thursday to block enforcement of the state's extended producer responsibility recycling law, arguing the program unconstitutionally delegates regulatory power to a private organization controlled by the state's largest corporations.

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4th Circ. Urged To Keep Trump Trans Health Orders Blocked

By Gianna Ferrarin

A group of transgender individuals and advocacy groups urged the Fourth Circuit to uphold a nationwide injunction they won against Trump administration executive orders banning federal funding of gender-affirming care for individuals under the age of 19.

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Judge Keeps New Medicaid 'Frailty' Proof Rule In Place

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge late Wednesday declined to block the government from requiring medically frail Medicaid recipients to prove they are significantly impaired to avoid a new requirement that they engage in 80 hours of work or volunteering per month or attend school part-time.

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Planned Parenthood Sues Feds For Politicized Grant Priorities

By Gina Kim

Planned Parenthood has sued the Trump administration in D.C. federal court over changes to Title X grant funding rules related to family planning, arguing applicants are forced to "align" with the administration's political priorities disfavoring contraceptives and targeting transgender patients when regulations require offering services in a nondiscriminatory fashion.

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Squires Grants 6 Patent Petitions, Denies 4 In New Order

By Ryan Davis

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires has granted six requests for America Invents Act patent reviews and rejected four in his latest batch of decisions.

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Ex-Greenberg Traurig Atty Named Acting Patent Commish

By Hailey Konnath

A former principal shareholder at Greenberg Traurig LLP has been promoted to acting commissioner for patents at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, according to his LinkedIn profile.

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Squires Erases PTAB Ax Of Dermatology IP Upheld At ITC

By Adam Lidgett

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires has thrown out the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's finding that Biofrontera Inc. had shown that all the challenged claims of a Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc. patent on a photodynamic dermatology device are invalid as obvious.

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Analysis

CH Robinson's $604M Verdict Tests Freight Broker Defenses

By Linda Chiem

A Dallas County jury's $604 million verdict against C.H. Robinson over a fatal 2021 accident marks one of the first major tests of freight brokers' legal strategies since the U.S. Supreme Court reshaped their liability exposure, creating monumental stakes for the trucking industry's middlemen on how to navigate unpredictable duty-of-care standards and volatile verdicts.

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Europe Soccer Group To Boycott FIFA Over Investor Sale Plan

By David Steele

The soccer federation representing 55 European countries announced Thursday that it will boycott World Cup competition in protest of FIFA's plan to sell billions of dollars in shares of the sport's premier international tournament to private investors.

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Feature

The Top Property Insurance Rulings Of The First Half Of 2026

By Eli Flesch

A California ruling boosting policyholders' prospects in water leak suits and a Texas Supreme Court decision compelling appraisal in a commercial property loss are among the biggest property insurance decisions of the year so far. Law360 has a midyear look at the top property insurance decisions.

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Renters Seek $120M Fee Award In RealPage Rent-Fixing MDL

By Craig Clough

Renters in sprawling multidistrict litigation that reached nearly $360 million in preliminary settlements with building owners over their alleged use of RealPage's software to inflate rents asked a Tennessee federal judge to approve $119.9 million in attorney fees, saying they've expended over 100,000 hours on the case.

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Judge Questions TPS Work Permit Rule's Scope

By Chris Villani

A Massachusetts federal judge on Thursday questioned whether the Trump administration was in bounds in enforcing a retroactive cap on work authorization that may impact thousands of immigrant workers, suggesting during a hearing that the directive may have been imposed without adequate notice.

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Denver Worker Didn't Show Firing Over Mayoral Race Support

By MJ Koo

A Denver city employee who alleged that she was laid off in retaliation for supporting a mayoral candidate has lost her bid to keep her job, after a federal judge found she failed to show that her political affiliations or her lawsuit played a meaningful role in the layoff decision.

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DOJ Wants Rethink On Apple's Peek Into Feds' Phone-Buying

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Department of Justice has asked a special master to rethink his New Jersey federal court mandate giving Apple a look into how the Pentagon, CIA, State Department and other federal agencies purchase smartphones, arguing that the retired federal judge applied the wrong legal standard in the antitrust case.

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Minn. Social Media Mandate Muzzles Sites, Says Tech Group

By Jonathan Capriel

Tech trade group NetChoice is urging a federal court to reject Minnesota's bid to keep alive its new law requiring social media companies to display mental health warning labels at the login page, arguing the statute forces these companies to become "mouthpieces" for the state, violating the First Amendment.

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Instagram Could Easily Disrupt User Permascrolling, Jury Told

By Cara Salvatore

A Silicon Valley tech guru and theorist testified on Thursday in Tennessee's trial against Meta that, for him, it took "less than 10 lines of code" to create a time delay that broke the grip of a hard-to-resist design feature he released to the world in 2006, infinite scroll.

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Polymarket Says Hidden Sports Bets Suit Must Be Arbitrated

By Hailey Konnath

Polymarket is urging a New York federal court to send to arbitration users' claims that the prediction market company disguises its sports gambling offers as sports event contracts to get around regulations, arguing that its terms of use include an arbitration provision.

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Wash. Justices Say University Owed Duty In Hazing Death Suit

By Rachel Riley

The Washington State Supreme Court said in a 5-4 ruling Thursday that Washington State University had a duty to protect a student who died of alcohol poisoning following a hazing ritual at an off-campus party, including by taking steps to ensure fraternities were following rules against alcohol misuse and hazing.

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FAA Proposes Waiving Regs To Get Faster Space Approvals

By Tom Lotshaw

The Trump administration said it's proposing a rule to allow the Federal Aviation Administration to waive "unnecessary environmental laws and regulations" for commercial space licenses and permits in a push to accelerate a critical industry.

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USDA Sued By Nonprofits Over Anti-DEI Grant Conditions

By Ben Adlin

Five food nonprofits sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday over allegedly unlawful restrictions on grant funding meant to target what the Trump administration has called "radical left ideology," including on issues around diversity, gender identity and immigration.

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Brief

Chinese Truck Beds' Covers Face Possible Triple-Digit Duties

By Jack McLoone

Chinese truck bed covers manufactured by certain exporters could be hit with triple-digit countervailing duties when exported to the U.S. after the U.S. Department of Commerce found Thursday that the products are subsidized.

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OECD To Publish Comments On Services Draft In August

By Molly Moses

The OECD plans to publish at the end of August the comments it received on draft revisions to transfer pricing guidelines dealing with intragroup services, an official said at a conference Thursday.

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2 More Circuits Reject No-Bond Rule For Interior ICE Arrests

By Britain Eakin

Split Seventh Circuit and Ninth Circuit panels ruled Thursday that noncitizens arrested in the interior U.S. cannot be detained without bond, joining four other circuits that have rejected the Trump administration's policy of subjecting these noncitizens to mandatory detention.

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DOJ Debuts Terrorist Removal Court In Afghan Mother's Case

By Jared Foretek

An Afghan national with legal permanent resident status was accused of plotting an ISIS-inspired mass shooting on Election Day in 2024 in the first ever hearing Thursday morning at U.S. Alien Terrorist Removal Court, a court that has been unused since it was created in 1996.

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Enbridge Loses 7th Circ. Wis. Trespass Row, Gets $5.2M Redo

By Crystal Owens

The Seventh Circuit upheld a decision holding that Enbridge Energy is trespassing on Wisconsin tribal lands, but vacated and remanded a $5.2 million restitution order and timeline for a portion of the Line 5 pipeline's removal, saying the company needs a "reasonable opportunity" to complete the proposed reroute.

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Army Asks 4th Circ. To Rethink Boarding School Burial Ruling

By Crystal Owens

The U.S. Army wants the Fourth Circuit to rethink a decision that says it must return the remains of two Indigenous children from a former Indian boarding school cemetery to a Nebraska tribe, arguing that if not reversed, it will cause confusion, likely spur more litigation and slow repatriation.

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Resolution Copper Creates $54M Trust For Ariz., NM Tribes

By Crystal Owens

Resolution Copper Co. said it established a $54 million trust that will provide annual funding to 11 Indigenous nations that have cultural and ancestral ties to a sacred Arizona worship site that's facing destruction to make way for a multibillion-dollar mining operation.

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Ease Broadband Buildout To Fuel AI Boom, Lawmakers Urged

By Christopher Cole

Lawmakers must put an end to delays in broadband deployment and renew a federal cybersecurity statute if they hope to feed the artificial intelligence boom while curtailing safety concerns, U.S. senators heard Thursday.

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FCC Says EchoStar Can't Use Trust Fund To Pay Itself

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission is not pleased that EchoStar is trying to convince a bankruptcy court to let it use a trust fund created to pay contractors to build its now-abandoned 5G network to instead pay a loan one EchoStar subsidiary made to another.

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Consider 4.4GHz Band To Expand 5G, 6G, Report Says

By Nadia Dreid

As the federal government eyes a pair of bands for the expansion of 5G and 6G, a spectrum researcher has released a report saying that the 4.4 gigahertz band is the best option.

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AT&T's Copper Network Retirement Needs Review, FCC Told

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

The Communications Workers of America, rural counties in California and a consumer advocacy group for affordable utilities urged the Federal Communications Commission to reverse its automatic approval of AT&T's request to retire copper-line networks in California, saying that significant public interest concerns have to be addressed first.

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Brief

FCC Official Calls E-Rate Review 'Long Overdue'

By Christopher Cole

A top official at the Federal Communications Commission said the agency's review of the E-Rate fund for schools and libraries will be a much-needed reexamination of a 30-year-old telecom program.

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Split 4th Circ. Says NC Vape Sale Limits Pass Preemption Test

By Lauren Berg

A divided Fourth Circuit on Thursday refused to block a new North Carolina law that regulates and prohibits the sale of certain e-cigarette or "vape" products, saying a coalition of vape retailers and manufacturers are not likely to prevail on their theory that the statute is preempted by federal law.

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8th Circ. Revives Iowa Vape Restrictions Law

By Sam Reisman

Iowa can start enforcing a state law that restricts the sale of some e-cigarettes, after the Eighth Circuit on Thursday determined that the policy was not preempted by federal tobacco law and overturned a lower court's ruling that blocked officials from implementing it.

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Brief

Conn. Bans Most In-Cell Restraints To Settle Prison Lawsuit

By Aaron Keller

Connecticut's prisons on Sept. 1 will stop using separate restraints on inmates locked in holding cells, the state's corrections commissioner announced Thursday, settling a lawsuit by disability rights advocates who said the state was inappropriately using shackles to deal with mental illness symptoms.

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HSR Deals Proceed More Steadily Than Narratives Suggest

The most recent Hart-Scott-Rodino Act data show that transaction volume remained relatively stable, transaction values continued to increase and enforcement activity remained low, suggesting that enforcement rates have been relatively consistent across presidential administrations despite widely differing public rhetoric regarding merger enforcement, says Amanda Wait at Michael Best.

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Key Post-Proposal Shifts Likely In CFPB Loss Mitigation Rule

Mortgage servicers, borrowers and consumer advocates should prepare for a likely narrowed version of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's loss mitigation rule, which is likely to permit sequential reviews, defer to investor guidelines, extend compliance timelines and preempt conflicting state standards, say attorneys at Goodwin.

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Opinion

States Should Reconsider Forced PBM Divestiture Laws

State legislatures are attempting to enact policies intended to force pharmacy benefit managers to divest from pharmacies, but these laws would have the practical effect of reducing patient access and competition, potentially violating the U.S. Constitution in the process, says former Utah Attorney General John Swallow.

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Assessing The Benefits Of Fla.'s Newest Business Structure

As of July 1, Florida business owners can create protected series LLCs to shield assets from liability while avoiding increased costs and wasted time, but burdensome recordkeeping obligations are crucial to maintaining the very protection that makes them attractive in the first place, says Gregory Ritter at Moritt Hock.

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At The Intersection Of Right-To-Repair Laws And IP Rights

Right-to-repair legislation passing through Congress highlights a broad tension between manufacturers' security measures and consumer autonomy, with important repercussions for the automotive industry's intellectual property rights, says Keith Noe at Lando & Anastasi. 

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3 Ways Tokenization Is Moving To Traditional Finance

Recent initiatives reflect efforts to integrate distributed ledger technology into existing regulatory frameworks for securities, banking and payments settlements while preserving the underlying rights and obligations of market participants, say attorneys at Hughes Hubbard.

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Series

Teaching SEC Investigations Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Instructing a law school course on U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigations has made me a more thoughtful, deliberate practitioner because it requires me to continually reassess and challenge what I know about securities law enforcement, how I know it and how best to explain it, says David Chase at Miami Law.

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Advocacy Group Says Law Firm Fellowship Program Biased

By Patrick Hoff

A legal advocacy group said Thursday it had lodged U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charges against a nonprofit and law firms including Jones Day, White & Case and Morgan Lewis, claiming Muslim and Middle Eastern students were getting unlawful preference in a fellowship program.

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ABA Eyes Nixing School DEI Standards To Sway Trump Admin

By Emma Cueto

The American Bar Association is poised next week to eliminate the first of multiple diversity-related law school standards, a controversial move that it hopes will allow it to remain an accreditor despite an uncertain outcome in the face of a Trump administration increasingly wary of the association's role in legal education.

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WilmerHale Sued Over Accidental Client Data Disclosure

By Andrea Keckley

A proposed federal class action filed Wednesday accuses WilmerHale of failing to protect clients' personal information after an employee allegedly disclosed sensitive data, including Social Security numbers, to an unauthorized person who misrepresented their identity back in May.

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2 Traders Admit Guilt In Stolen BigLaw Info Scheme

By Chris Villani

Two men pled guilty Thursday in Massachusetts federal court to their roles in a sweeping scheme to trade on inside information stolen from huge corporate law firms about upcoming deals.

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Ill. Atty Sanctioned For AI Slop In Starbucks Bias Suit

By Adrian Cruz

A unanimous Illinois appeals court sanctioned an attorney representing a former Starbucks employee in a workplace discrimination suit after determining that he submitted briefs using false citations and quotations hallucinated by artificial intelligence software.

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Bronx Legal Aid Organization's Union Rejects New Pay Offer

By Andrea Keckley

The Bronx Defenders' executive director said on Thursday that the union representing the organization's over 300 attorneys and staff has rejected an updated offer on wages, with both sides still at odds over the prospect of separate salary scales for lawyers and social workers.

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