Analysis

WTO's Position In New Trump Administration Remains Unclear

By Caroline Simson

The Trump administration's aggressive imposition of tariffs has laid the groundwork for an onslaught of likely toothless claims brought against the U.S. at the World Trade Organization, even as the U.S.' stance with the international body remains guarded at best.

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Justices Temporarily Block Removals Under Wartime Law

By Britain Eakin

The U.S. Supreme Court on Saturday ordered the Trump administration to halt removals of alleged Venezuelan gang members detained in Texas under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, pending further input from the court.

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High Court's Pause Of Removals Was 'Premature,' Alito Says

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision early Saturday morning to prohibit the Trump administration from using a 1798 wartime law to remove alleged Venezuelan gang members detained in northern Texas to an El Salvadoran prison was hasty and premature, Justice Samuel Alito wrote in a dissent joined by Justice Clarence Thomas.

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CFPB Mass Layoffs Blocked Again In DC Court

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. federal judge once again halted the layoffs of more than 1,000 employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, saying at an emergency hearing Friday morning that she needed a full record to determine whether the firings complied with a D.C. Circuit order from last week.

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1st Circ. Upholds Massachusetts' Assault Weapons Ban

By Emily Field

The First Circuit on Thursday upheld a lower court's decision that a challenge to Massachusetts' 20-year-old ban on assault weapons is unlikely to succeed on the grounds that the ban comports with historical tradition.

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5th Circ. Says FCC Can't Fine AT&T $57M Without Trial

By Nadia Dreid

The Fifth Circuit has wiped out the $57 million fine that the Federal Communications Commission slapped AT&T with after it and the other major mobile carriers were found to have been selling off people's location data, saying such a penalty without a jury trial was unconstitutional.

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Up Next At High Court: Preventive HealthCare & LGBTQ Books

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in five cases this week, including disputes over the constitutionality of a task force that sets preventive healthcare coverage requirements, a school district's introduction of LGBTQ-themed storybooks and whether parties can establish standing based on harms affecting third parties. 

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WilmerHale, Feds Dispute Reach Of Trump Order Against Firm

By Jack Karp

WilmerHale and the U.S. Department of Justice traded salvos in the BigLaw firm's challenge to President Donald Trump's executive order targeting it, with the firm and the government offering "starkly different" versions of what's at stake in the dispute.

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Judiciary Faces Security Risks Amid Spending Freeze

By Courtney Bublé

The federal judiciary is warning congressional appropriators that funding shortfalls could threaten courthouse security.

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Wis. Sens. Renew Bipartisan Judicial Nomination Commission

By Courtney Bublé

The Republican and Democratic senators from Wisconsin announced Friday they are renewing their bipartisan commission to recommend U.S. attorney and judicial nominees to the president.

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NC Can't Appeal Bias Ruling In Death Row Case, Justices Told

By Hayley Fowler

A Black man who won a seminal case proving racial bias tainted the jury selection process in his capital murder trial is fighting prosecutors' efforts to undo the ruling, telling North Carolina's highest court the state has no statutory right to appeal.

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Analysis

5 Takeaways From Texas Stock Exchange's SEC Filing

By Tom Zanki

The newly formed Texas Stock Exchange LLC is proposing rules that largely resemble those of the New York heavyweights it seeks to challenge, along with some notable differences, leaving questions on how the exchange will distinguish itself. Here are five takeaways from TXSE's securities filing.

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FDIC Eases Big Banks' 'Living Will' Requirements

By Jon Hill

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. moved Friday to spare large banks from certain requirements for what should go into the next version of their so-called living wills, saying it wants to put more emphasis on planning for quicker, potentially weekend sales of failing banks.

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Capital One's Discover Deal Gets Bank Regulators' Approval

By Jon Hill

Capital One on Friday received the last regulatory sign-offs needed for its $35 billion purchase of Discover, putting the megadeal on track to close for the former while also clearing the decks of a more than $1 billion enforcement matter for the latter.

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CFTC Details Violation Materiality After Cooperation Guidance

By Sarah Jarvis

Divisions of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission have offered details on their materiality standards for assessing supervision and noncompliance issues, following February guidance on how much money regulated entities can expect to save for cooperating with agency investigations.

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Ore. AG Sues Coinbase In Bid To Fill 'Enforcement Vacuum'

By Aislinn Keely

Oregon's attorney general on Friday sued crypto exchange Coinbase and called on states to fill the "enforcement vacuum left by federal regulators" like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which have dropped cases under the Trump administration.

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KKR Blasts 'Draconian' DOJ Suit Over Alleged Filing Errors

By Al Barbarino

In a motion to dismiss a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit that could carry $650 million in penalties, private equity giant KKR accused the government of pursuing "draconian, unconstitutional and unprecedented penalties" over what it called "immaterial ... purported errors" in routine merger filings.

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Brief

DOJ To Move Ahead In SafeMoon Case Despite Crypto Memo

By Elliot Weld

Prosecutors told a federal judge in Brooklyn on Friday that they plan to proceed with an investor fraud case against the CEO of crypto firm SafeMoon, having reviewed a Justice Department directive not to pursue certain charges related to digital assets.

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Trump Admin Pushes Ahead With New Offshore Oil Leases

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

The U.S. Department of the Interior on Friday said it's "unlocking the full potential" of offshore oil and gas lease sales on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, a rebuke to the Biden administration's conservative approach to development.

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Ill. Justices To Weigh Scope Of Standard Pollution Exclusions

By Ganesh Setty

The Illinois Supreme Court will consider whether pollution exclusions in standard-form commercial general liability policies apply to industrial emissions allowed under a regulatory permit, the court said Thursday, agreeing to take up a question certified by the Seventh Circuit.

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Enviro Groups Tell 10th Circ. Denver's Dam Appeal Ill-Timed

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

Environmental groups have asked the Tenth Circuit to preserve a lower court's order halting construction on a Denver dam, saying a stay requested by the city was filed prematurely.

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PBMs Press 8th Circ. Bid To Pause FTC Case

By Jared Foretek

The nation's "Big Three" pharmacy benefit managers are asking the Eighth Circuit to pause the Federal Trade Commission's in-house insulin price-fixing case against them, saying that their constitutional challenge to the commission's administrative proceeding process should be fully heard before the in-house case moves forward.

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Lilly Blasts Compounders' 'Scattershot' Bid To Reverse FDA

By Bonnie Eslinger

Eli Lilly urged a Texas federal judge to deny a request from pharmacies that produce copycat doses of its popular weight loss drug to have the court reverse an FDA decision taking the drug off a national shortage list, saying the bid was filled with unreliable "scattershot" arguments.

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Off The Bench

Off The Bench: Maine Sued Over Trans Ban, NIL Deal Tweaked

By David Steele

In this week's Off The Bench, the Trump administration takes aim at Maine's policy on transgender athletes, the NCAA's settlement with athletes stands firm on a contentious clause, and a university that displayed a controversial quiz question at a football game settles with the quiz's creator.

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Boeing Bashed For 'Stonewalling' Discovery In 737 Fraud Suit

By Rachel Riley

Norwegian Air subsidiaries accusing Boeing of fraud in connection with jet purchase deals have urged a Washington federal judge to force the aerospace giant to hand over documents in the case, citing Boeing's apparent "playbook of repeated delay, resistance and obfuscation."

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Ore. Realtors Urge Panel To Reject Fees On Vacant Homes

By Sanjay Talwani

Proposed legislation to allow local governments to impose fees on certain vacant homes would violate fundamental principles of property rights, Oregon Realtors told a state Senate panel.

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Analysis

High Court's Cornell Ruling Eases Path For ERISA Suits

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Supreme Court's revival of Cornell University workers' class action alleging excessive retirement plan fees will likely spur a rise in lawsuits zeroing in on employers' arrangements with recordkeepers and other service providers, and could make those cases tougher to knock out of court, attorneys say.

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Trump Moves For More Power To Hire, Fire Federal Workers

By Lauren Berg

The Office of Personnel Management on Friday proposed a rule that would give President Donald Trump's administration the power to hire and fire some 50,000 career federal employees, a move that federal worker unions say will allow the president "to replace qualified public servants with political cronies."

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NJ Law Prof Given Chance To Amend Tossed Free Speech Suit

By Emily Sawicki

A New Jersey federal judge has declined a law professor's request to revive her free speech suit against Kean University over alleged controversial statements made in class, finding she failed to show errors in law in his dismissal, but left the door open for her to amend her complaint.

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Analysis

Google May See Some Light In The Ad Tech Ruling

By Matthew Perlman

The ruling this week in the U.S. Department of Justice's ad tech monopolization case against Google was a major victory but not a total win for the government, and it raises questions about what the fix should be, especially with a trial looming over remedies in a separate case over search.

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FTC's Southern Glazer's Pricing Case Preserved

By Bryan Koenig

A California federal judge refused to toss the Federal Trade Commission's price discrimination lawsuit against Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits LLC, concluding the alcohol distribution giant moves liquor around enough to trigger interstate commerce and that the FTC has adequately alleged unfair treatment of mom-and-pop stores relative to big box retailers.

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Democratic AGs Say Trump Illegally Fired FTC Commissioners

By Craig Clough

Attorneys general from 20 states and the District of Columbia filed an amicus brief Friday in D.C. federal court backing two fired Democratic Federal Trade Commission members, writing that President Donald Trump's actions violate federal law prohibiting their removal except for cause. 

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Cybersecurity Ruling Misconstrues Law, FCC Told

By Jared Foretek

Rural broadband companies are voicing opposition to a recent Federal Communications Commission decision requiring them to combat cybersecurity threats, saying the commission failed to consider the regulatory burden the new rules would impose on carriers.

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Judge Sides With Wash. In NY Distillery's Sales Reg Challenge

By Rachel Riley

A federal judge has rejected a New York whiskey maker's challenge to a Washington rule that distilleries must have a physical in-state location to sell to Evergreen State consumers online, saying the regulation isn't discriminatory because it "applies evenhandedly" regardless of the producer's home state.

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AG Paxton Sues Dallas Over Firearms Ban At Arts Facilities

By Catherine Marfin

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has accused the city of Dallas in two lawsuits of violating the state's government code by prohibiting license to carry holders from having firearms on city properties.

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Analysis

Tariff Suits Could Benefit From Eroding Executive Deference

By Dylan Moroses

Lawsuits challenging President Donald Trump's emergency tariff actions taken under a law never before used for such purposes could benefit from court rulings that have eroded judicial deference for the executive branch, but it remains unclear if injunctive relief is within reach.

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JPMorgan, BofA Face GOP Pressure Over Chinese Co.'s IPO

By Sarah Jarvis

The chair of a China-focused U.S. House committee has urged Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase & Co. not to underwrite a Hong Kong initial public offering of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. over concerns the Chinese electric car battery maker is affiliated with the Chinese military.

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Trump Ousts New IRS Acting Chief Days After Appointment

By Kat Lucero

The White House said Friday that President Donald Trump will appoint the U.S. Treasury Department's deputy secretary to be the acting IRS commissioner to replace a former special agent who was appointed to the role days before.

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Del. House Bill Would Exempt Overtime Pay From Income Tax

By Zak Kostro

Delaware would exempt eligible workers' overtime pay from state income tax under a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives.

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Analysis

Student Visa Crackdown Sparks Fears Of Talent Shortage

By Britain Eakin

The Trump administration's aggressive push to revoke student visas and terminate their records in a government database that tracks international students is rattling employers that rely on a pipeline of foreign students to fill key high-skilled labor needs.

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Judge Blocks 'Third Country' Removals Without Due Process

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge on Friday ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to provide due process protections for immigrants facing deportation to countries where they have no prior ties, saying they must receive written notice and a meaningful opportunity to raise concerns about their safety.

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Judge Nixes Feds' DQ Bid In Migrant Kids Legal Funding Case

By Ryan Boysen

A California federal judge has denied the Trump administration's bid to remove her from a lawsuit challenging funding cuts that prevent attorneys from representing child migrants, ruling her employment at one of the plaintiffs nearly seven years ago doesn't undermine her impartiality.

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DHS Ordered To Restore Visa Status For Student From China

By Greg Lamm

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security must restore the student visa status of a doctoral student from China and refrain from trying to deport him, a Washington federal judge has ordered, saying the agency actions based on a DUI arrest appear unlawful and likely to cause irreparable harm.

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DOJ Defends 'Common Sense' Memo On ICE Church Arrests

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Department of Justice urged a Maryland federal judge to throw out the challenge from a number of religious groups to the government's rollback of limits on immigration enforcement activities near places of worship, saying the policy change doesn't constitute a final agency action.

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Mich. Judge Rejects Students' Plea To Restore SEVIS Records

By Danielle Ferguson

A Michigan federal judge said he wouldn't order the government to restore four international students' Student and Exchange Visitor Information System records, finding the students couldn't prove the record termination automatically revoked their F-1 status and that they were at risk of imminently being removed from the country.

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Fla.'s Take On Order Over Migrant Law 'Astounded' Judge

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida federal judge was incredulous Friday at the state's argument that her temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of a law criminalizing the entry of unauthorized migrants did not extend to law enforcement officers because they were not parties to the lawsuit challenging the statute.

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Tufts Student's ICE Detention Fight To Proceed In Vermont

By Rae Ann Varona

A Vermont federal judge ruled Friday that Tufts University graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk can fight her U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention in the state and not the Trump administration's choice of Louisiana, ordering the federal government to bring her back to Vermont no later than May 1.

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Trump Admin: Colo. Migrants Not Held Under Enemy Act

By Thy Vo

The Trump administration has told a Colorado federal court that two Venezuelan men accused of being Tren de Aragua members who are challenging their removal under an Alien Enemies Act proclamation aren't being held under that law, meaning the court lacks jurisdiction over their case.

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'Bizarre' Santos Posts Show He's Still 'Unrepentant,' Feds Say

By Elliot Weld

Prosecutors told a Brooklyn federal judge that former U.S. Rep. George Santos' social media activity shows that he's "unrepentant" for his admitted crimes, reiterating their request for a prison sentence of more than seven years.

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Ex-CFO Says He's 'Extremely Remorseful' Of $44M Fraud

By Danielle Ferguson

The former chief financial officer of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy said he is "extremely remorseful" and "ashamed" of his decade-long scheme of defrauding the nonprofit of more than $44 million, asking the court to consider other factors beyond "sensationalism" when sentencing him this month.

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Apache Ask High Court For Quick Ruling In Oak Flat Land Row

By Crystal Owens

An Apache nonprofit behind the effort to save an ancient worship site from destruction in Arizona is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to quickly rule on its petition after the federal government announced it is moving forward with plans to transfer the site to Resolution Copper for mining.

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Tribal 'Window' For New Spectrum Licenses Defended At FCC

By Christopher Cole

A pair of public interest groups asked Democrats on the Federal Communications Commission to support a tribal "window" allowing Native American bidders a chance to reserve licenses in a commercial spectrum band that's poised for FCC auction.

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Colo. Says Telecom Fiber Installer Sued Too Soon

By Nadia Dreid

Whatever beef a telecom contractor has with the Colorado Department of Transportation, the venue for dealing with it is the dispute process the pair agreed on when the agency inked a deal for the company to carry out a fiber-optic installation for it, that agency told a state court.

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FCC Rejects Changes To 'Silkwave-2' Satellite Plan

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission has said no to a satellite operator's request to launch a new satellite after it promised that satellite would be space-bound before it retired a previous one but it didn't happen.

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Telecom Says Jarkesy Ruling Dashes FCC's $4.5M Fine

By Christopher Cole

An Austin, Texas-based telecom sought Friday to shake a nearly $4.5 million fine by the Federal Communications Commission after the Fifth Circuit tossed an unrelated $57 million penalty against AT&T based on last year's high court ruling in SEC v. Jarkesy curtailing agency fines.

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Federal Cannabis Law Reform Eyed In Bipartisan Push

By Mike Curley

A bipartisan group of representatives has introduced legislation to reconcile the conflicts between the federal prohibition on cannabis and state laws that legalize it, and to prepare the country for federal legalization.

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Texas Panel Says State Can Pursue Block Of Pot Amnesty Law

By Mike Curley

A Texas appeals panel has found the state can pursue an injunction blocking the enforcement of a city of San Marcos ordinance that prohibits enforcement of some cannabis laws, saying the city is not immune to claims that the ordinance is in violation of state law.

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Ban On Reputation Risk May Help Bank Enforcement Defense

The Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s recent commitment to stop examining banks for reputation risk could help defendants in enforcement actions challenge unfavorable assessments and support defendants' arguments for lower civil money penalties, says Brendan Clegg at Luse Gorman.

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Traversing The Shifting Sands Of ESG Reporting Compliance

Multinational corporations have increasingly found themselves between a rock and a hard place attempting to comply with EU and California ESG requirements while not running afoul of expanding U.S. anti-ESG regimes, but focusing on what is material to shareholder value and establishing strong governance can help, say attorneys at MoFo.

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End May Be In Sight For Small Biz Set-Aside Programs

A Jan. 21 executive order largely disarming the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, along with recent court rulings, suggests that the administration may soon attempt to eliminate set-asides intended to level the award playing field for small business contractors that qualify under socioeconomic programs, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

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Reviving A Dormant Criminal Statute In Antitrust Prosecution

The U.S. Department of Justice is poised to revive a dormant misdemeanor statute to resolve bid-rigging charges against a foreign national, providing important context to a recent effort to entice foreign defendants to take responsibility for pending charges or face the risk of extradition, say attorneys at Axinn.

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An Unrestrained, Bright-Eyed View Of Legal AI's Future

Todd Itami at Covington offers a bright-eyed, laughing-all-the-way, skydive look at what the legal industry could look like after an artificial intelligence revolution, which he believes may happen much sooner and more dramatically than we expect.

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Ex-Katten Partner Hits Firm With $67M Age Bias Suit

By Lauren Berg

A former Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP partner launched a $67 million discrimination lawsuit against his one-time firm in New York federal court, alleging he was pushed out of the aircraft-finance practice group, pressured to resign and then fired because of the firm CEO's "stereotyped views of lawyers in their 60s."

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Joel Katz, Music Law's Longtime Power Broker, Dies At 80

By Chart Riggall

Joel Katz, the powerful music industry lawyer who co-founded Greenberg Traurig LLP's media and entertainment practice and helped bring the firm to the Atlanta market, has died at the age of 80, Law360 confirmed Friday.

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Sunoco Accused Of Age Bias By Ex-Chief Counsel

By Gina Kim

A former chief counsel for Sunoco LP sued her ex-employer in Texas state court Wednesday, alleging she was denied promotional opportunities and later terminated due to her age, while also accusing the company of replacing attorneys older than 50 with significantly younger attorneys with less experience.

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How They Won It

How Manatt Beat A Crypto Trader's 'Code As Law' Defense

By Aislinn Keely

After a crypto user exploited a software bug to create millions of dollars' worth of new tokens from a blockchain network, a Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP team defeated his claim to the tokens — and won an award worth millions — by showing that faulty code can't stand in for rule of law.

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Ex-DOJ Atty Convicted In 1MDB Case Ordered Disbarred In NY

By Craig Clough

A New York appellate court ordered Wednesday that a former U.S. Department of Justice attorney be disbarred due to his felony conviction as part of a sprawling, billion-dollar fraud scandal connected to 1Malaysia Development Berhad and Fugees founder Pras Michél.

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PTAB Judge Heads To Boutique, Citing Return-To-Office Order

By Andrew Karpan

An outgoing Patent Trial and Appeal Board judge based in Austin, Texas, tells Law360 that President Donald Trump's return-to-office order was a "significant factor" in her decision to return to private practice, joining boutique patent firm Smith Baluch LLP as a partner.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Google and its chief legal officer have now lost two major antitrust cases to DOJ prosecutors after a federal judge ruled Thursday the search engine monopolized markets and servers related to display advertising. Meanwhile, a new study shows companies are disclosing their business risks, and how they are trying to mitigate those risks, amid changing tariffs and the uncertainty of the U.S.-China trade war. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Schlichter Bogard LLC and the University of Virginia School of Law Supreme Court Litigation Clinic lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court revived a class action from Cornell University workers who said their retirement plans were saddled with excessive fees.

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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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