The U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division has announced that it is resuming a more targeted Hart-Scott-Rodino merger review process, an important procedural shift for companies navigating premerger notification in 2026. Although this is not a court filing or enforcement complaint, it is still a meaningful legal development: it tells dealmakers and their counsel how one of the government’s primary…
Continue Reading DOJ Revives Targeted HSR Merger Review, Signaling Faster but Focused Antitrust Scrutiny

The Justice Department’s proposed settlement with Willow Bridge Property Company LLC marks another important step in the government’s expanding antitrust challenge to rent-setting tools and shared market data in multifamily housing. The case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, fits into a broader enforcement push targeting allegations that landlords used common pricing software…
Continue Reading DOJ’s Willow Bridge Deal Signals More Aggressive Antitrust Review of Rental Pricing Software

The Tenth Circuit’s August 4, 2026 order in appeal No. 26-6021 appears to be a procedural disposition rather than a published merits opinion, and that matters for how practitioners should read it. Based on the docket entry, the panel—Judges Bacharach, McHugh, and Eid—issued a final order, but the available case detail does not indicate a precedential published opinion or a…
Continue Reading Tenth Circuit Order Flags Procedural Stakes in Appeal No. 26-6021

The Justice Department said on August 6 that Duke University School of Law intentionally discriminated on the basis of race in admissions for its 2023, 2024, and 2025 entering classes, concluding that the school’s practices violated Title VI and the Supreme Court’s ban on race-based admissions in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College et …
Continue Reading DOJ Finds Duke Law’s Admissions Practices Violated Title VI

The Justice Department has announced a $400 million settlement to cover healthcare costs for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, marking one of the larger recent federal settlements and an important development at the intersection of tribal healthcare, federal funding obligations, and government-liability litigation.

For legal professionals, the size of the resolution is only part of the story. Settlements of…
Continue Reading DOJ’s $400 Million Alaska Native Tribal Health Settlement Signals Major Exposure in Federal Tribal Healthcare Disputes

The Ninth Circuit’s August 4, 2026 opinion in No. 61 OPINION (Milan D), Docket No. 26-1444, is worth watching for practitioners handling federal appeals in the circuit. Based on the available case information, the decision appears to address issues significant enough to merit a published opinion, which usually signals the panel intended to provide guidance beyond the immediate parties.

Although…
Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Flags Key Appellate Issues in No. 61 Opinion

The Justice Department has announced a $36.4 million settlement with Access DX Laboratory, its former CEO Michael Stewart, and Florida businessman Harold Shatz to resolve allegations that the defendants participated in a kickback-driven scheme involving medically unnecessary genetic testing billed to Medicare and Medicaid. The case is the latest sign that federal healthcare-fraud enforcement remains sharply focused on laboratory testing…
Continue Reading DOJ’s $36.4 Million Access DX Settlement Puts Genetic-Testing FCA Risk Back in Focus

The Department of Justice on Tuesday announced a fresh enforcement push against senior leaders of the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, pairing new criminal charges with reward offers in a coordinated action involving DOJ, DEA, FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, IRS-CI, CBP, and other agencies. For legal observers, the move stands out as one of the day’s most significant developments in…
Continue Reading DOJ Escalates CJNG Crackdown With New Charges and Rewards

In a July 29, 2026 final written decision, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board held that the petitioner failed to prove any challenged claim unpatentable in IPR2025-00574. The judgment, issued under 35 U.S.C. § 318(a), is a complete defense win for the patent owner: none of the instituted challenges succeeded.

At a high level, that means the Board was not…
Continue Reading PTAB Upholds All Challenged Claims in IPR2025-00574

The Third Circuit’s July 30, 2026 decision in Opinion, No. 25-1116, is a useful reminder that appellate outcomes often turn as much on procedure as on merits. Although the case title released on the docket is generic, the court’s ruling appears to focus on whether the appeal was properly before the court and what qualifies as a reviewable order under…
Continue Reading Third Circuit Clarifies Appellate Jurisdiction and Finality in Opinion at No. 25-1116

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has concluded that Department of Homeland Security and ICE guidance failed to comply with an earlier court order restricting warrantless immigration arrests in the District. The ruling, from Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, marks an unusually direct judicial rebuke: not just disagreement over policy, but a…
Continue Reading Judge Finds DHS Guidance Defied D.C. Order on Warrantless ICE Arrests

Google LLC has filed a new inter partes review petition at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in IPR2026-00429, opening another closely watched front in the company’s broader patent defense strategy. The proceeding, filed on July 29, 2026, is captioned simply Google LLC, but as with any PTAB matter, the key questions for patent practitioners will be which patent claims…
Continue Reading Google Targets Patent in Newly Filed PTAB Review IPR2026-00429

The Justice Department has secured a major sentence against one of the legal profession’s most recognizable figures: prominent appellate advocate Thomas C. Goldstein was sentenced to 72 months in prison for tax crimes and mortgage fraud, and his bond was revoked. The case stands out not only because of the sentence, but because Goldstein argued more than 40 cases before…
Continue Reading Thomas Goldstein Sentenced to 72 Months in High-Profile DOJ Tax and Fraud Case