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U.S.Court order

Supreme Court lacks quorum in BMG v. Vetter after four justices with Penguin Random House book deals sit out

The U.S. Supreme Court on October 19, 2026, affirmed by default a Fifth Circuit ruling that songwriter Cyril Vetter's U.S. copyright termination recaptured worldwide rights to "Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love)." Justices Sotomayor, Gorsuch, Barrett and Jackson took no part, leaving five justices, short of the six-justice quorum. BMG's parent, Bertelsmann, also owns Penguin Random House, which has published books by all four.

Order (Supreme Court of the United States) → · Bloomberg Law, Courthouse News Service, ABA Journal
U.S.Court order

Supreme Court declines Hastings descendants' challenge to UC Law San Francisco renaming

The U.S. Supreme Court on October 19, 2026, denied review in Hastings College Conservation Committee v. California, No. 25-1231, leaving in place California's 2023 law removing Serranus C. Hastings' name from the San Francisco law school. Six descendants and a group of alumni argued that the 1878 founding statute was a binding contract, but California courts held it was an ordinary law the Legislature could repeal.

Order (Supreme Court of the United States) → · San Francisco Chronicle, ABA Journal
U.S.Court order

Supreme Court agrees to decide whether 1868 federal ban on home distilling is constitutional

The U.S. Supreme Court on October 19, 2026, granted the federal government's petition in Department of Justice v. McNutt, agreeing to decide whether an 1868 law banning the production of distilled spirits at home is a valid exercise of Congress's taxing power. The Fifth Circuit struck the ban down in a suit by the Hobby Distillers Association, while the Sixth Circuit upheld it in a separate case.

Order (Supreme Court of the United States) → · CBS News, SCOTUSblog
U.S.Court order

Supreme Court turns away 9/11 defendants' bid to revive scrapped plea deals

The Supreme Court on October 19, 2026, declined to hear appeals from Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, Walid bin 'Atash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi seeking to enforce 2024 plea agreements that would have spared them the death penalty in exchange for life sentences. The denial leaves in place a D.C. Circuit ruling that then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin validly withdrew the deals. Justice Brett Kavanaugh did not participate in Mohammad's case.

Order (Supreme Court of the United States) → · NBC News, CBS News, SCOTUSblog
U.S.Court order

Supreme Court turns away fired NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox, leaving at-will removal ruling in place

The U.S. Supreme Court on October 19, 2026, declined to hear Wilcox v. Trump, the challenge by former National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox to President Trump's decision to fire her in early 2025. The denial leaves in place a December 2025 D.C. Circuit ruling that the statute letting presidents remove board members only for neglect of duty or malfeasance violates the separation of powers.

Order (Supreme Court of the United States) → · Bloomberg Law, SCOTUSblog
U.S. FEDRegulation

DHS bars DeepSeek AI products from federal civilian agency systems and purchases

The Department of Homeland Security has ordered federal civilian agencies to remove products from Chinese AI developer Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Co. and its affiliates from their IT systems and barred agencies from buying them, under a notice made public October 19, 2026, and published in the Federal Register on October 20. The order, dated July 24, also covers third-party products built on DeepSeek.

Text (Federal Register (Public Inspection)) → · CNBC, Bloomberg Law
U.S. FEDProduct launches

Legora adds Blue J tax research to its platform through MCP integration

Legora and Toronto-based tax research company Blue J on October 19, 2026, launched an integration that lets customers who subscribe to both products query Blue J from inside Legora and get answers with inline citations to Blue J sources. Built on the Model Context Protocol, it opens first to selected joint customers in early access, with general availability planned for November. Legora said it is not moving into tax.

Announcement (Artificial Lawyer) → · LawSites

Rulings this week

All court orders

SINGAPOREPeople moves

Gibson Dunn hires Freshfields' Nicholas Lingard as international arbitration co-chair in Singapore

Gibson Dunn on October 19, 2026, said Nicholas Lingard will join as co-chair of its international arbitration practice, based in Singapore. Lingard led Freshfields' arbitration group in Asia and was managing partner of its Singapore office. Gibson Dunn says the hire anchors its push to expand arbitration and disputes work in Asia, where it is rebuilding after Singapore partner departures in 2024.

Announcement (Gibson Dunn) → · Legal Business, The Global Legal Post
UK · EWHCCourt order

High Court rules London black cab drivers' conspiracy claims against Uber are time-barred

The High Court in London on October 19, 2026, held that unlawful means conspiracy claims by nearly 13,300 London black cab drivers, and by the assignee of two dissolved private hire operators, against Uber are time-barred. Mr Justice Birt, deciding a preliminary limitation issue in White v Uber London Ltd, found the claimants could with reasonable diligence have discovered the alleged fraud and concealment before June 2018, more than six years before they sued.

Order (The National Archives (Find Case Law)) → · Law360, The Lawyer, Solicitors Journal
JAPANProduct launches

LegalOn opens beta of Agent Builder to automate in-house legal intake tasks

Tokyo-based LegalOn Technologies on October 19, 2026, began offering a beta of Agent Builder, a task-automation feature in its LegalOn legal AI platform. A legal-specific AI agent carries out a chain of routine steps once a matter meets conditions the legal team sets, starting with legal consultations and matter assignment, without fresh prompts or manual handoffs. LegalOn plans to extend it to automated first-pass contract review.

Announcement (LegalOn Technologies) → · Impress AI Watch
N.Y.Regulation

New York raises volunteer firefighter and ambulance worker tax credit to $800, $1,600 for joint filers

New York enacted A.6790-A/S.6233-A on October 17, 2026, amending Tax Law section 606 to raise the personal income tax credit for active volunteer firefighters and volunteer ambulance workers from $200 to $800, and from $400 to $1,600 for spouses filing jointly who both qualify. The bill text applies the higher credit to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and the act takes effect April 1, 2027.

Enrolled text (New York State Senate) → · EIN Presswire, Orleans Hub, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
MASS. SUPER. CT.Litigation

Boston jury awards ex-MIT scientist David Sabatini $6 million in defamation case against accuser

A Suffolk County jury on October 16, 2026, ordered biologist Kristin Knouse to pay former Whitehead Institute scientist David Sabatini $6 million plus interest, finding she defamed him and interfered with his ability to make a living. Sabatini was removed from his Whitehead lab in 2021 after an investigation. The jury also rejected Knouse's counterclaims, including that their relationship was coercive, Fox News reported. Her lawyer said she intends to appeal.

Filing (The Boston Globe) → · Fox News
D.D.C.Litigation

Justice Department moves to disqualify Judge Ana Reyes from East Potomac golf course case

Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. on October 16, 2026, asked U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes to recuse herself from the D.C. Preservation League's challenge to the administration's East Potomac golf course work, alleging hostility toward the government. The motion came days after Reyes issued a restraining order halting tree removal and sharply criticized government lawyers for failing to give promised notice.

Filing (The Washington Post) → · Bloomberg Law, The Washington Sun
U.S. FEDRegulation

Executive order waives Graham Act sanctions, restrictions and duties on Russia before October 18 start

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on October 16, 2026 implementing the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 and waiving its duties, sanctions and restrictions. The order stated duty increases of 500 percent on Russian goods and 100 percent on goods from top importers of Russian oil and gas and top sanctions-evasion facilitators, then waived those duties under section 115 after certifying the waiver was in the national interests of the United States.

Text (The White House) → · Okay News, New Kerala
D.D.C.Court order

Judge rejects DOJ bid to disqualify Susman Godfrey as ABA counsel in law firm executive order suit

Judge Amir H. Ali of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on October 16, 2026, denied the Justice Department's motion to disqualify Susman Godfrey from representing the American Bar Association in its suit challenging the administration's executive orders against law firms. The government called the firm a central player, but conceded it could not identify any Susman lawyer likely to be a necessary witness at trial.

Order (Bloomberg Law) → · U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (CourtListener RECAP)
DEL. CH.Court order

Delaware Chancery blocks Cloudflare founder-control recapitalization in major test of Section 144 safe harbor

Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster on October 16, 2026, preliminarily enjoined Cloudflare's recapitalization, which would have preserved co-founders Matthew Prince and Michelle Zatlyn's voting control through new preferred and nonvoting shares. The court sided with defendants on every question under the 2025 DGCL Section 144 safe harbors but found stockholders reasonably likely to prove the special committee failed to act in good faith, and ordered a prompt trial.

Opinion (Delaware Court of Chancery) → · Bloomberg Law, Law360
CANADA · S.C.C.Court order

SCC: rape-shield limits do not categorically bar sex-work history in trafficking and sexual-services trials

The Supreme Court of Canada unanimously held on October 16, 2026, in R. v. A.M., that Criminal Code section 276 does not categorically apply to human-trafficking and sexual-services offenses, so commercial evidence of a complainant's prior sex work may be admissible. The Court dismissed the Crown appeal and upheld new trials on the sexual-services counts, Canadian Lawyer reported.

Order (Canadian Lawyer) → · Supreme Court of Canada
4TH CIR.Court order

Fourth Circuit rules Catholic Relief Services violated Title VII by ending same-sex spouse's coverage

A divided Fourth Circuit on October 16, 2026, affirmed that Catholic Relief Services violated Title VII and Maryland law by terminating a gay employee's husband's health coverage. The 2-1 panel held Title VII's religious-organization exemption covers only religion-based employment decisions, not sex discrimination motivated by religious belief, and rejected the group's RFRA, church autonomy and Free Exercise defenses.

Order (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit) → · Bloomberg Law, Law360 Employment Authority