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Top 5 Supreme Court Cases To Watch This Fall

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear several cases in its October 2024 term that could further refine the new administrative law landscape, establish constitutional rights to gender-affirming care for transgender minors and affect how the federal government regulates water, air and weapons. Here, Law360 looks at five of the most important cases on the Supreme Court's docket so far.
October 25, 2024
5th Circ. Punts Musk Tweet Lawfulness, But Axes NLRB Order

An en banc Fifth Circuit majority on Friday overturned a National Labor Relations Board decision that a tweet Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent during a United Auto Workers unionization campaign violated federal labor law, while the court's dissenting members criticized the majority's decision as "logically incoherent."
October 25, 2024
Entergy Struggles To Challenge FERC Decision At DC Circ.

The D.C. Circuit is set to decide whether or not utility giant Entergy will be allowed to challenge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's rejection of a plan that would change capacity market rules, after finding that it would give Entergy too much market power.
October 25, 2024
NEPA Rail Ruling Backers Flood Justices With Amicus Briefs

Former federal officials, states, Colorado cities, two law schools and 30 members of Congress are all urging the U.S. Supreme Court to affirm a ruling overturning federal approval for a rail project to haul crude oil out of Utah, rather than reinvent the National Environmental Policy Act as project supporters propose.
October 25, 2024
Va. Takes Block Of Voter Purge Program Straight To 4th Circ.

The state of Virginia lodged an immediate appeal at the Fourth Circuit on Friday after a federal judge said the state can't continue a voter removal program so close to Election Day and must re-register those already purged.
October 25, 2024
2nd Circ. Denies BNP Quick Appeal In Sudan Refugee Suit

The Second Circuit rejected BNP Paribas SA's attempt to immediately appeal a New York federal judge's May ruling certifying a class of Sudanese refugee plaintiffs in litigation accusing the bank of funding the former Sudan government's human rights violations.
October 25, 2024
Apple-Google Pact Plaintiff Stuck With 9th Circ. Appeal

A Ninth Circuit panel has refused to let a training school send its case accusing Google of paying Apple to refrain from developing its own search engine back to district court in light of a recent D.C. federal judge's decision that Google monopolizes the search market.
October 25, 2024
9th Circ. Backs 7-Year Sentence Over Chip Exports To China

The Ninth Circuit on Friday upheld the seven-year prison sentence imposed on a former University of California, Los Angeles, electrical engineering professor convicted of illegally exporting high-powered semiconductor chips to China, saying the district court did not err in holding that the conduct amounted to an evasion of national security controls.
October 25, 2024
Fla. Bar Seeks 2-Year License Suspension Against Klayman

The Florida Bar is asking the state's high court for a two-year license suspension of conservative activist attorney Larry Klayman due to alleged ethical violations in another jurisdiction, saying a more than reciprocal term of punishment is needed in the Sunshine State because Klayman continues to dispute the findings.
October 25, 2024
DC Circ. Could Nix OK Of $8M Equatorial Guinea Award

The D.C. Circuit on Friday appeared willing to consider nixing enforcement of an $8 million arbitral award against Equatorial Guinea issued in a dispute over an ill-fated hospital operating contract, even as the panel spent much of a hearing focusing on the impact of a decade-old U.S. Supreme Court decision.
October 25, 2024
Shoplifter's Probation Pot Ban Upheld By Mich. Appeals Court

A Michigan appeals court on Thursday ruled that, notwithstanding the state's legalization of recreational cannabis, a woman who pled guilty to shoplifting violated the terms of her probation by smoking marijuana while it remains federally illegal.
October 25, 2024
Yale, Travelers Beat Conn. Age Bias Appeals

A Connecticut appeals court on Friday declined to revive claims that Yale University and Travelers Indemnity Co. committed age discrimination with job postings seeking "recent" college graduates, reasoning that the court that threw out the cases properly interpreted state high court precedent.
October 25, 2024
AT&T Unit Continues To Argue FCA Does Not Apply To E-Rate

Congress could have designed the E-rate program to be distributed by the government using its own money, but it didn't, and that's why reimbursements under the program don't qualify as claims under the False Claims Act, an AT&T subsidiary has told the U.S. Supreme Court.
October 25, 2024
'Open AI' TM Owner Asks 9th Circ. To Nix Injunction

A man accused by OpenAI of preventing the ChatGPT-maker from registering its name as a trademark urged the Ninth Circuit on Friday to vacate an injunction blocking him from using the "Open AI" mark while his case is pending, arguing he's the mark's senior holder and calling the injunction "extraordinary and unprecedented."
October 25, 2024
VLSI Urges Fed. Circ. To Punish OpenSky After Vidal Didn't

U.S. Patent Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal vowed to sanction OpenSky Industries "to the fullest extent of [her] power" for filing a bad faith patent challenge, but then imposed sanctions that, if anything, rewarded the misconduct, VLSI Technology has told the Federal Circuit.
October 25, 2024
Split Mich. Panel Won't Revive Janitor's Burn Injury Suit

A divided Michigan appellate panel has declined to revive a former manufacturing plant janitor's lawsuit over a workplace explosion that left him severely injured, with the majority saying the case is time-barred by a statute of limitations clause in his employment agreement.
October 25, 2024
Premera Rejection Seems Sparse, 9th Circ. Judges Say

A Ninth Circuit judge pressed Premera Blue Cross on Friday to defend refusing coverage for a Washington teen's lengthy mental health residential treatment, questioning if the insurer engaged in a meaningful dialogue as required with the youth's family in letters explaining why the treatment was medically unnecessary.
October 25, 2024
Gloves Come Off In Wash. High Court Race As Election Nears

A high-powered civil litigator vying for an open seat on the Washington State Supreme Court says his municipal judge opponents' expertise is primarily relegated to traffic tickets, as that judge decries the critique as legal snobbery symptomatic of a greater disconnect in the judiciary.
October 25, 2024
State AGs Back Mich.'s Immunity From Enbridge Pipeline Suit

Nine states and the District of Columbia have told the Sixth Circuit they back Michigan state officials' arguments of sovereign immunity from a lawsuit Enbridge Energy LP filed over the state's revocation of an easement for a segment of the company's Line 5 pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac.
October 25, 2024
SEC's Crypto Mining Case Belongs In 10th Circ., Court Hears

A Utah man accused of defrauding crypto mining investors out of $18 million is hoping for an opportunity to have his case heard before the Tenth Circuit, arguing that the mining equipment is not a security and that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission should be forced to drop the suit.
October 25, 2024
2nd Circ. Says Man Can't Challenge Removal Over Atty Failure

The Second Circuit on Friday denied a man's bid to reopen removal proceedings based on his former attorney's failure to submit important documents, saying the man should have provided evidence supporting his claim of ineffective assistance of counsel earlier.
October 25, 2024
Off The Bench: Toss-Up For Ohtani Ball, UFC Fighters' Payday

In this week's Off The Bench, the three claimants to a historic baseball now know how much is at stake for the winner, a long fight against wage suppression for mixed martial arts fighters is a step closer to ending, and WNBA players want a bigger piece of a growing revenue pie.
October 25, 2024
Mass. Panel Flips Teacher's Tenure Denial Over Family Leave

Massachusetts' intermediate-level appeals court on Friday invalidated an arbitrator's denial of tenure to a teacher who took maternity leave during one of her first three years of teaching, ruling that the decision had wrongly penalized her for taking the protected time away from work.
October 25, 2024
5th Circ. Says Immigration Board Defied Haitian's Due Process

The Fifth Circuit has revived a bid by a Haitian man with a history of mental illness for removal protection, saying the Board of Immigration Appeals violated his due process rights when it ordered unnecessary fact-finding, flouting its own regulations.
October 25, 2024
9th Circ. Dubious Of Tesla Investors' Appeal Of $12B Trial Loss

Ninth Circuit judges appeared skeptical Friday of Tesla investors' argument that an erroneous trial instruction improperly led a jury to reject their $12 billion claim over Elon Musk's 2018 tweets that he had "funding secured" to take the electric car giant private.
October 25, 2024
High Court Bar's Future: Mitchell Law's Jonathan F. Mitchell

The pantheon of U.S. solicitors general doesn't include many lawyers who've openly challenged the U.S. Supreme Court's authority or sought to undermine its landmark precedents. But there aren't many lawyers like Jonathan F. Mitchell, a crusading conservative who rescued former President Donald Trump's reelection run — and in the process positioned himself to become the government's top oral advocate.

Editor's Picks

12 Lawyers Who Are The Future Of The Supreme Court Bar

One attorney hasn't lost a single U.S. Supreme Court case she's argued, or even a single justice's vote. One attorney is perhaps "the preeminent SCOTUS advocate." And one may soon become U.S. solicitor general, despite acknowledging there are "judges out there who don't like me." All three are among a dozen lawyers in the vanguard of the Supreme Court bar's next generation, poised to follow in the footsteps of the bar's current icons.
How Reshaped Circuit Courts Are Faring At The High Court

Seminal rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court's latest term will reshape many facets of American society in the coming years. Already, however, the rulings offer glimpses of how the justices view specific circuit courts, which have themselves been reshaped by an abundance of new judges.
Law360's Guide To Biden's Judicial Picks

UPDATED October 24, 2024 | President Joe Biden is shaping the federal judiciary by adding to the courts' professional and demographic diversity — a sharp break from former President Donald Trump, who made the judiciary more homogeneous as the judges confirmed under him were 84% white and 76% male.

Expert Analysis

The Strategic Advantages Of Appointing A Law Firm CEO

The impact on law firms of the recent CrowdStrike outage underscores that the business of law is no longer merely about providing supplemental support for legal practice — and helps explain why some law firms are appointing dedicated, full-time CEOs to navigate the challenges of the modern legal landscape, says Jennifer Johnson at Calibrate Strategies.
Fed. Circ. Ruling May Signal Software Patent Landscape Shift

The Federal Circuit's recent ruling in Broadband iTV, despite similarities to past decisions, chose to rely on prior cases finding patent-ineligible claims directed to receiving and displaying information, which may undermine one of the few areas of perceived predictability in the patent eligibility landscape, say attorneys at King & Wood.
Series

After Chevron: The Future Of OSHA Enforcement Litigation

The U.S. Supreme Court's opinion in Loper Bright provides a blueprint for overruling the judicial obligation to defer to an agency's interpretation of its own regulations established by Auer, an outcome that would profoundly change the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s litigation and rulemaking landscape, say attorneys at Ogletree.
What Hawaii High Court Got Right And Wrong In AIG Ruling

Though the Hawaii Supreme Court in its recent Aloha Petroleum v. National Union Fire Insurance decision correctly adopted the majority rule that recklessly caused harm is an accident for coverage purposes, it erred in its interpretation of the pollution exclusion by characterizing climate change as "traditional environmental pollution," say attorneys at Haynes Boone.
Series

Beekeeping Makes Me A Better Lawyer

The practice of patent law and beekeeping are not typically associated, but taking care of honeybees has enriched my legal practice by highlighting the importance of hands-on experience, continuous learning, mentorship and more, says David Longo at Oblon McClelland.
Amazon Holiday Pay Case Underscores Overtime Challenges

The recent Hamilton v. Amazon.com Services LLC decision in the Colorado Supreme Court underscores why employers must always consult applicable state law and regulations — in addition to federal law — when determining how to properly pay employees who work more than 40 hours in a workweek, says James Looby at Vedder Price.
Opinion

It's Time To Sound The Alarm About Lost Labor Rights

In the Fifth Circuit, recent rulings from judges appointed by former President Donald Trump have dismantled workers’ core labor rights, a troubling trend that we cannot risk extending under another Trump administration, say Sharon Block and Raj Nayak at the Center for Labor and a Just Economy.
Anticipating Jarkesy's Effect On Bank Agency Enforcement

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy, federal courts may eventually issue decisions on banking law principles and processes that could fundamentally alter the agencies' enforcement action framework, and the relationship between banks and examiners, says Brendan Clegg at Luse Gorman.
Opinion

Legal Institutions Must Warn Against Phony Election Suits

With two weeks until the election, bar associations and courts have an urgent responsibility to warn lawyers about the consequences of filing unsubstantiated lawsuits claiming election fraud, says Elise Bean at the Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy.
Peeling Back The Layers Of SEC's Equity Trading Reforms

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently adopted amendments lowering the tick sizes for stock trading and reducing access fee caps will benefit investors and necessitate broad systems changes — if they can first survive judicial challenges, say attorneys at Sidley.
5th Circ. DOL Tip Decision May Trigger Final 80/20 Rule Fight

A recent Fifth Circuit decision concerning a Labor Department rule that limits how often tipped employees can be assigned non-tip-producing duties could be challenged in either historically rule-friendly circuits or the Supreme Court, but either way it could shape the future of tipped work, says Kevin Johnson at Johnson Jackson.
Strategies To Avoid Patent Issues In AI Drug Discovery

Artificial intelligence has the potential to improve drug discovery and design, but companies should consider a variety of factors when patenting drugs created using AI systems, including guidance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and methods for protecting patent eligibility, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
What Being An 'Insider' Means In Ch. 11, And Why It Matters

As borrowers grapple with approaching near-term maturities on corporate debt, lenders should be proactive in mitigating the risks of being classified as an insider in potential bankruptcies, including heightened scrutiny, preference risk, plan voting and more, say David Hillman and Steve Ma at Proskauer.
How Cos. Can Build A Strong In-House Pro Bono Program

During this year’s pro bono celebration week, companies should consider some key pointers to grow and maintain a vibrant in-house program for attorneys to provide free legal services for the public good, says Mary Benton at Alston & Bird.
Series

Home Canning Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Making my own pickles and jams requires seeing a process through from start to finish, as does representing clients from the start of a dispute at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board through any appeals to the Federal Circuit, says attorney Kevin McNish.