Judge Blocks Trump's Birthright Citizenship Order Nationwide

By Britain Eakin

A New Hampshire federal judge on Thursday issued a nationwide block of President Donald Trump's executive order limiting birthright citizenship, and granted certification to a nationwide class that will cover all affected children born in the U.S.

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Trump Says 50% Copper Tariff Will Begin Aug. 1

By Natalie Olivo

President Donald Trump said his new 50% tariff on copper imports will take effect Aug. 1, citing national security concerns.

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Senate Tees Up 6th Circ. Nom Vote As 1st Of 2nd Trump Term

By Courtney Bublé

The first judicial confirmation of the second Trump administration was readied on Thursday, with the U.S. Senate voting 51-43 to end debate on the nomination of Whitney Hermandorfer to the Sixth Circuit.

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Dems Say 3rd Circ. Nominee Urged DOJ To Ignore Courts

By Courtney Bublé

Senate Democrats on the Judiciary Committee on Thursday unveiled 150 pages of documents, which they say substantiate whistleblower allegations against Third Circuit nominee Emil Bove and raise concerns about his conduct during his tenure at the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Trump Taps Holland & Hart Partner For Montana Bench

By Lauren Berg

President Donald Trump announced on social media Thursday he has chosen a Holland & Hart LLP partner and veteran government attorney to serve on the federal bench in Montana.

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Judge Mulls 48-Hour Hold To Protect Abrego Garcia's Rights

By Jared Foretek

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement official testified Thursday that Kilmar Abrego Garcia would be taken into custody as soon as he's released from U.S. Marshals Service custody in Tennessee, but that no determinations had yet been made about where the government might seek to deport him then.

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Analysis

5 Employee Benefits Takeaways On The GOP Tax Bill

By Kellie Mejdrich

Congressional Republicans' sweeping tax and policy bill, which President Donald Trump sought and then signed, contains multiple provisions that caught the attention of employee benefits and executive compensation attorneys, including new changes to high-deductible health plans and an employer-side deduction limit affecting highly compensated employees. Here are five takeaways from employee benefits and executive compensation attorneys on what's in — and out of — the GOP megabill.

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Fla. Can't Enforce Residency Rule On Some Canvassers

By Mike Curley

A Florida federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction blocking state officials from enforcing residency and citizenship requirements for paid canvassers aligned with some sponsors and supporters of ballot initiatives, finding the blanket ban violates the First Amendment.

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Senate Confirms Gould As OCC Head

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed Jones Day partner Jonathan Gould as Comptroller of the Currency in a 50-45 vote along party lines, marking his return to the agency where he spent more than two years as chief counsel.

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Fed Floats Revision Of Large Bank Rating Framework

By Aislinn Keely

The Federal Reserve on Thursday floated a proposed revision to its supervisory rating framework that would allow large bank holding companies to retain a certain stamp of regulatory approval even if they receive a low rating in one area of assessment.

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SEC's Peirce Says Tokenized Security Issuers Must Heed Law

By Tom Zanki

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Hester Peirce is cautioning market participants that issuers of digital versions of securities, often described as tokenized securities, must comply with federal laws even as they pursue innovation.

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4th Circ. Pauses Air Quality Suit As EPA Rethinks W.Va. Plan

By Abigail Harrison

The Fourth Circuit on Thursday granted a request to pause West Virginia's ozone regulation lawsuit so the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can reconsider the state's air quality compliance plan.

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Groups Ask 9th Circ. To Sink EPA Pesticide Seed Exemption

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

Green groups on Wednesday asked the Ninth Circuit to revive their lawsuit alleging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is violating federal law by failing to regulate pesticide-coated crop seeds.

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HHS Narrows Health Benefits Available To Noncitizens

By Gianna Ferrarin

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday announced that immigrants living in the country without legal authorization and other noncitizens will no longer be eligible for benefits under Head Start and a host of other federal healthcare programs, based on the agency's reinterpretation of a 1996 social welfare law.

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Tegna To Pay $222K To Resolve FCC Probe Into Obscene Video

By Nadia Dreid

Broadcast giant Tegna has agreed to pay more than $222,000 to put an end to an inquiry that began almost four years ago when an unknown party played a 13-second pornographic video clip during an evening weather report on a Spokane, Washington, news station.

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Navigation Co. Says Study 'Validates' GPS Backup Plan

By Tom Lotshaw

Geolocation company NextNav Inc. told the Federal Communications Commission in a letter Wednesday that detractors of its proposal to use the lower 900 MHz spectrum to deploy an Earth-based backstop for the Global Positioning System have raised unfounded concerns and mischaracterized an engineering study supporting its proposal.

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​​​​​​​DOJ Says Calif. Animal Welfare 'Red Tape' Inflates Egg Prices

By Bonnie Eslinger

The U.S. Department of Justice sued California and state officials over several animal welfare laws passed in the Golden State that the federal government claims has contributed to the "historic rise in egg prices by imposing unnecessary red tape on the production of eggs."

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DOL Urges 9th Circ. To OK Toss Of HP 401(k) Forfeiture Suit

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Department of Labor urged the Ninth Circuit to reject HP Inc. workers' bid to revive a proposed class action alleging forfeited employee 401(k) plan contributions were mismanaged, arguing a lower court properly tossed the case for failure to state a claim for violating federal benefits law.

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Texas Judge Partially Voids DOL's ERISA Rollover Rule

By Patrick Hoff

A Texas federal judge partially invalidated an investment advice regulation from President Donald Trump's first administration involving employee retirement savings and rollover transactions, ruling the U.S. Department of Labor exceeded its authority when it handed down a new interpretation of federal benefits law.

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Ga. Sheriff Fired Deputy For Supporting Rival, Suit Says

By Kelcey Caulder

Fulton County, Georgia, its sheriff's office and its sheriff have been sued in federal court by a former sheriff's office employee who alleged he was fired because he supported the sheriff's political opponent in the 2024 election.

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Uber, Instacart Fight Seattle's Driver Rights Law At 9th Circ.

By Rachel Riley

A Ninth Circuit panel appeared split on Thursday while hearing Uber and Instacart's challenge to a Seattle city ordinance regulating deactivation of app-based worker accounts, with the judges seemingly at odds on whether the law forced commercial speech while still unconvinced of a First Amendment violation.

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Nonprofit Calls For Halt To Portland's Labor Peace Policy

By Beverly Banks

A nonprofit providing janitorial services to the city of Portland urged an Oregon federal judge to block the city's enforcement of a requirement for the contractor to execute a labor peace agreement with a union, arguing the mandate infringes on the First Amendment by making employers stay neutral.

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'Admonition' But No More Amazon Penalty For Hidden Docs

By Bryan Koenig

A federal judge in Washington state took Amazon.com to task Thursday for "bad faith" material review that labeled tens of thousands of documents as covered by attorney-client privilege despite involving no legal advice, but the judge, who is presiding over the Federal Trade Commission's Prime subscriptions case against the company, opted against further punishment.

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Student Loan Lender Settles AI Bias, Fair Lending Claims

By Sydney Price

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell on Thursday said her office has reached a $2.5 million deal with a Delaware-based student loan company to settle allegations that it utilized artificial intelligence models that could disproportionately harm Black and Hispanic applicants.

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Ga. Atty Avoids Sanctions In Suit Over Fatal Police Shooting

By Emily Johnson

A Georgia federal judge has rejected Savannah officials' bid to sanction attorneys suing for civil rights violations in the 2022 shooting death of a Black man by a police officer who's facing murder charges, finding Wednesday that an attorney's comments to the media weren't made in bad faith — but warned counsel to "tread carefully."

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Brief

Pa. High Court Takes Up Appeal Over Criminal Gun Rights

By Parker Quinlan

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal of a man who is accused of attempted murder and weapons charges and consider whether the weapons charges are at odds with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen.

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IRS Leaker Fairly Sentenced To 5 Years, Gov't Tells DC Circ.

By Anna Scott Farrell

The judge who sentenced an IRS contractor for leaking thousands of wealthy people's tax returns to the media, including those of President Donald Trump, kept an open mind when she decided to deliver the maximum five-year prison term, the government told the D.C. Circuit, arguing the sentence was fair.

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Island Community Gets NJ High Court Ruling To Switch Towns

By Carla Baranauckas

A barrier island community has met all legal requirements to formally separate from a Garden State township and join a neighboring borough, the New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday, ending a decade-long legal battle over local governance, geography and fairness in public services.

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9th Circ. Sides With Civil Aid Attys In H-2A Farm Docs Dispute

By Rachel Riley

A Ninth Circuit panel said Thursday that a lower court overstepped its authority by restricting a civil legal aid organization from using for advocacy purposes information that was gathered during discovery in a class of seasonal farmworkers' now-settled forced labor case against a Washington fruit grower.

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DHS Official Walks Back Testimony On Deportation Leads

By Julie Manganis

A U.S. Department of Homeland Security official testified in Massachusetts federal court on Thursday that he was only "speculating" when he said during a deposition last month that the offices of border czar Tom Homan and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem were behind a decision to use pro-Israel websites to source leads on potential deportation targets.

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Fla. Lawmakers Sue DeSantis Over Detention Center Access

By Carolina Bolado

Democratic state lawmakers in Florida sued Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday to demand access to the new immigrant detention center in the Everglades the lawmakers say they were blocked from visiting last week.

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NJ Developer Charged With Fraud, Bribing Local Official

By Katryna Perera

A New Jersey real estate investor and developer has been indicted on a raft of charges for allegedly running a Ponzi-like investment fraud scheme, conspiring to launder drug proceeds, laundering money represented to be drug proceeds as part of a sting operation and bribing a New Jersey politician.

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8th Circ. Won't Pause ND Tribes' Voting Rights Decision

By Crystal Owens

The Eighth Circuit on Thursday denied a bid by two North Dakota tribes to stay its decision to vacate a challenge to two of the state's voting laws while the ruling is appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Okla. Gov.'s Brother Seeks High Court Review Of Tribal Ticket

By Crystal Owens

Keith Stitt, brother of Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a decision that denied his appeal of a speeding ticket issued on tribal lands, arguing that the state never intended to accept a landmark ruling on the restoration of proper criminal jurisdiction in Indian Country.

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$4.4B T-Mobile, UScellular Deal Gets DOJ OK, With A Warning

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Department of Justice gave its all-clear Thursday to T-Mobile's plan to take over most of UScellular's wireless operations, finding that T-Mobile's commitments to bolster the flagging company outweigh, at least for now, worries over the disappearance of UScellular's underdog offerings.

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FCC Says Yes To T-Mobile's $5B Metronet Buy After Nixing DEI

By Nadia Dreid

T-Mobile has received the Federal Communications Commission's blessing to go ahead with its $4.9 billion joint venture to acquire fiber company Metronet, one day after telling the agency it would end its diversity, equity and inclusion programs in furtherance of the FCC chair's goals.

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House Dem Says FCC Must Follow Law On DEI Probes

By Christopher Cole

A House Democrat who helps oversee the Federal Communications Commission says agency chief Brendan Carr must avoid any hint of targeting companies' diversity initiatives for political reasons rather than legal rationale against discrimination.

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Broadcast Groups Want Status Quo On AM Band Licenses

By Jared Foretek

AM broadcasters urged the Federal Communications Commission to allow them to continue dual operations in both the expanded and standard AM bands, telling the commission in a new filing that it should go ahead and shut down two AM-related dockets if it means that the status quo is maintained.

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Brief

Mass. Man Agrees To $10K Fine For Pirate Radio Stations

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission slapped a $10,000 fine on a Massachusetts man in a consent decree for operating pirate radio stations from three locations, though it was a reduction from the nearly $598,000 fine the FCC initially proposed.

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Pa. Sens. Unveil Bipartisan Plan To Legalize Marijuana

By Sam Reisman

Pennsylvania lawmakers on Thursday unveiled a new bipartisan legislative proposal to legalize and regulate the sale of recreational marijuana in the Keystone State, after a previous proposal to legalize the sale of pot through state-run stores failed in the state Senate.

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How Justices' Ruling Limits Options To Challenge DHS Orders

In Riley v. Bondi, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that a 30-day deadline for challenging deportation orders begins when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issues a final administrative review order, opening the door for the government to effectively bar circuit court review in future similar cases, says Kevin Gregg at Kurzban Kurzban.

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New FCPA Guidance Creates 5 Compliance Imperatives

In light of new Foreign Corrupt Practices Act guidelines that mark a fundamental shift in enforcement priorities, companies should consider several specific steps to ensure compliance, from enhanced due diligence to robust whistleblower protections, says Andrew Wirmani at Reese Marketos.

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Capital One Deal Approval Lights Up Path For Bank M&A

The federal banking regulators' recent approval of Capital One's acquisition of Discover signals the agencies' willingness to approve large transactions and a more favorable environment generally for bank mergers under the Trump administration, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

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Examining TCPA Jurisprudence A Year After Loper Bright

One year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in Loper Bright v. Raimondo, lower court decisions demonstrate that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act will continue to evolve as long-standing interpretations of the act are analyzed with a fresh lens, says Aaron Gallardo at Kilpatrick.

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Opinion

State Bars Must Probe Misconduct Claims, Even If It's The AG

The Florida Bar’s recent refusal to look into misconduct allegations against Attorney General Pam Bondi is dangerous for the rule of law, and other lawyer disciplinary bodies must be prepared to investigate credible claims of ethical lapses against any lawyer, no matter their position, say attorneys at the New York County Lawyers Association.

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Bills' Defeat Means Brighter Outlook For Texas Renewables

The failure of a trio of bills from the recently concluded Texas legislative session that would have imposed new burdens on wind, solar and battery storage projects bodes well for a state with rapidly growing energy needs, say attorneys at Troutman.

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Harmonized Int'l Framework May Boost Advanced Aircraft

International differences in the certification process for advanced air mobility aircraft make the current framework insufficient — but U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy's recent announcement of a standards harmonization effort may help promote these innovative aviation technologies, while maintaining safety, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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Series

Playing The Violin Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Playing violin in a string quartet reminds me that flexibility, ambition, strong listening skills, thoughtful leadership and intentional collaboration are all keys to a successful legal practice, says Julie Park at MoFo.

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VC Giant Andreessen Rips Del. Courts, Plans Move To Nev.

By Rae Ann Varona

Venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz on Wednesday announced plans to reincorporate in Nevada, saying that it was no longer a "no-brainer" to launch a company and incorporate in the historically corporate-friendly state of Delaware.

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Another Atty Sanctioned For Allegedly Hallucinated Case Law

By Andrea Keckley

A Florida judge on Wednesday issued a blistering order against an attorney who became the latest of many to face sanctions over filings with case law suspected of being hallucinated by generative artificial intelligence, ordering him to take AI ethics courses and repay opposing counsel's fees.

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