Federal Government

What you need to know about the court battle over Trump’s tariffs

Updated: President Donald Trump’s tariffs can continue for now, after an appeals court granted the administration’ request to temporarily stay a lower court’s order. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said Thursday afternoon that it would temporarily pause the effects of a decision from the Court of…

May 29, 2025 2:47 PM CDT

BigLaw firms defend pro bono deals with Trump as they handle influx of requests for legal help

Nine BigLaw firms defended their multimillion-dollar pro bono deals with President Donald Trump as legal and ethical in letters to lawmakers obtained by Law360 and Law.com.

May 28, 2025 2:25 PM CDT

In opinion with 26 exclamation points, judge finds order against WilmerHale is ‘staggering punishment’

An executive order with a “kitchen sink of severe sanctions” against Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr is unconstitutional, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled Tuesday.

May 28, 2025 10:32 AM CDT

Executive order against Jenner & Block is ‘doubly violative of the Constitution,’ judge says in ruling for firm

President Donald Trump’s executive order against Jenner & Block violates the First Amendment by punishing the law firm for its causes and clients and by chilling legal representation, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled Friday.

May 27, 2025 11:50 AM CDT

Majority ‘favors the president over our precedent’ in order allowing firings of independent agency leaders, Kagan says

The U.S. Supreme Court is allowing President Donald Trump to overrule precedent “by fiat,” pending later judicial review, Justice Elena Kagan said in a dissent last week when the Supreme Court temporarily allowed Trump to fire members of two independent agencies.

May 27, 2025 9:57 AM CDT

Cadwalader plans to do this to satisfy pro bono deal with Trump

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft plans to ask Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez in New York if he needs free legal help defending convictions on appeal or handling other matters.

May 22, 2025 3:07 PM CDT

‘Pugnacious legal industry website’ is ‘rage read’ for lawyers opposing BigLaw deals with Trump

If you want to know how BigLaw is responding to President Donald Trump’s punitive executive orders against disfavored law firms, the Above the Law website has it covered.

May 22, 2025 9:37 AM CDT

Can judge order US to ask El Salvador for migrant’s release? 4th Circuit says yes, return can’t be done ‘telepathically’

A federal appeals court has refused to block a federal judge’s order requiring the U.S. government to “facilitate” a 20-year-old migrant’s return to the United States from a prison in El Salvador in Central America.

May 21, 2025 3:42 PM CDT

Judge orders US to maintain custody of migrants possibly sent to Africa, says US violated his order

Updated: A federal judge in Boston said Wednesday the Trump administration "unquestionably" violated his preliminary injunction requiring meaningful notice before removals to third countries when it deported eight men to a country that the United States refused to identify.

May 21, 2025 11:11 AM CDT

Proposal to limit courts’ contempt power, part of spending bill, is ‘terrible idea,’ Chemerinsky says

A budget bill by the U.S. House of Representatives contains a “stunning” provision that would limit federal courts’ ability to hold government officials and other litigants in contempt for disobeying their orders, according to Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean at the University of California at Berkeley School of Law.

May 21, 2025 9:27 AM CDT

SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein asks judge to toss tax charges, suppress statement about $968K in cash

Retired U.S. Supreme Court litigator and SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein has filed seven motions attacking the government’s tax fraud case against him, arguing that some charges were filed too late or based on erroneous legal theories.

May 21, 2025 9:02 AM CDT

Some want to leave law firms with White House agreements, and others avoid firms that pushed back

With the legal industry under attack, law firms risk damage to their business and reputation as well as attorney recruitment and retention if they stay silent, according to some legal observers. Others aren’t so sure and say some lawyers are avoiding law firms that entered White House agreements in addition to those that are fighting back.

May 19, 2025 2:21 PM CDT

SCOTUS allows Trump administration to rescind protected status for Venezuelans

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to rescind temporary protected status for Venezuelans in the United States while a challenge to the decision continues.

May 19, 2025 1:55 PM CDT

8th Circuit blocks ‘backup theory’ for enforcing Voting Rights Act, leaving private plaintiffs without recourse

A federal appeals court in St. Louis has blocked an alternate path for private plaintiffs in seven states to sue to enforce racial-discrimination protections in Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

May 19, 2025 11:48 AM CDT

Supreme Court maintains block on Trump’s use of Alien Enemies Act for deportations

A divided Supreme Court on Friday kept a block on the Trump administration’s use of a rarely invoked wartime power to deport migrants in Northern Texas and said administration officials had not given those targeted for removal last month sufficient time to challenge their deportations.

May 16, 2025 5:18 PM CDT