U.S. Supreme Court · April sitting · April 22, 2026
The justices handed down a 6-3 judgment in Hencely v. Fluor Corporation on when military contractors can invoke federal preemption of state tort suits — the headline act in a week that also brought a unanimous removal-deadline ruling in Enbridge Energy, LP v. Nessel, a seven-justice per curiam in District of Columbia v. R.W., a closely watched FCC forfeiture argument after SEC v. Jarkesy, and a burst of fraud-enforcement filings from the Justice Department’s new National Fraud Enforcement Division.
October Term 2025 · No. 24-924 · April 22, 2026
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for six justices that the Fourth Circuit erred in treating Winston Hencely’s state tort claims as preempted when the federal government neither ordered nor authorized Fluor Corporation’s challenged conduct arising from a 2016 suicide bombing at Bagram Airfield. The majority contrasted Boyle v. United Technologies Corp. — where liability would punish a contractor for building what the government specified — with negligence theories premised on departing from military instructions.
Thomas writes that state law is not preempted “in vacuo, without a constitutional text or a federal statute.”via SCOTUSblog, Ronald Mann, Apr. 23, 2026 (quoting majority opinion)
Sources: Supreme Court slip opinion PDF, No. 24-924 · SCOTUSblog case file (vote line) · SCOTUSblog — Ronald Mann, Apr. 23, 2026
Per curiam · No. 25-248 · April 20, 2026
In District of Columbia v. R.W., the Supreme Court reversed the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in a seven-justice per curiam disposition holding that the officer here clearly had reasonable suspicion to stop R.W. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented; Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted that she would have denied the petition.
Summary dispositions move quickly — practitioners tracking Fourth Amendment street-stop doctrine will read the per curiam alongside D.C. appellate fact patterns on flight and officer observations.
Sources: Supreme Court slip opinion PDF, No. 25-248 · SCOTUSblog case file
Civil procedure · No. 24-783 · April 22, 2026
Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s unanimous opinion in Enbridge Energy, LP v. Nessel held that 28 U.S.C. § 1446(b)(1) is structurally incompatible with equitable tolling — so Enbridge’s removal after the statutory window was untimely. The ruling is a clean win for Michigan’s attorney general in the pipeline-siting litigation posture below.
Sources: Supreme Court slip opinion PDF, No. 24-783 · SCOTUSblog case file
Telecommunications Act · CPNI forfeitures · Apr. 21, 2026
The Court heard roughly 80 minutes of argument in consolidated cases testing whether FCC civil forfeiture orders against AT&T and Verizon — tied to location-data safeguards — violate the Seventh Amendment absent a jury. The government emphasized that carriers can refuse to pay and receive a district-court enforcement suit where a jury sits; carriers countered that orders still operate as binding penalties in practice.
A decision is expected by late June or early July — SCOTUSblog’s argument recap (Apr. 21, 2026).
Sources: SCOTUSblog — Amy Howe, argument analysis · Supreme Court transcript PDF, consolidated argument
Department of Justice · N.D. Ala. grand jury · Apr. 21, 2026
The Justice Department announced a grand jury indictment charging the Southern Poverty Law Center and related defendants with wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering. The public filing is a charging instrument; defendants are presumed innocent.
The case sits at the intersection of charitable governance, banking representations, and federal fraud statutes — regardless of how the merits resolve, compliance counsel for nonprofits are revisiting donor communications and intermediary payment structures.
National Fraud Enforcement Division · Apr. 22–24, 2026
The department published a notice of funding opportunity for roughly $300 million to embed state, local, Tribal, and territorial prosecutors as Special Attorneys with the National Fraud Enforcement Division, Criminal Division, or as Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys. A separate Apr. 24 roundup tied the grant announcement to a week of indictments, guilty pleas, and sentences across CARES Act fraud, SNAP theft, PPP loans, and cross-border scam-center work.
Sources: DOJ — funding opportunity (Apr. 22, 2026) · DOJ — NFED week-one roundup (Apr. 24, 2026)
Securities and Exchange Commission · Litigation Release No. LR-26536
The Commission announced a Colorado federal court default judgment against AI Investment Education Foundation Ltd. after prior charges alleging misstatements in a June 2024 Form ADV — including claims about Denver office space, assets under management, and reporting by a separate RIA. The judgment includes a seven-figure civil penalty and injunctive relief.
Penalty entered
$0
The litigation release states the court ordered a $1,182,254 civil penalty alongside permanent injunctions under the Investment Advisers Act.
Practice note
Exempt reporting adviser elections now draw tighter documentary scrutiny when office addresses, AUM figures, and cross-filer dependencies do not line up with CRD/IAPD data.
Sources: SEC.gov — Litigation Release 26536 (Apr. 23, 2026) · SEC — final judgment PDF
April 20, 2026 order list · Summary disposition
The Supreme Court’s Monday order list included a grant-and-vacate disposition in Smith, Kyle, et al. v. Scott, Rochelle, et al., No. 24-1099, sending the case back to the Ninth Circuit for reconsideration in light of Zorn v. Linton. GVR orders are narrow instruments — they signal the justices want the court of appeals to reevaluate a fresh controlling precedent without issuing merits briefing here.
No. 24-1099 — petition granted; judgment vacated; remanded to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (see order list PDF for precise disposition language).
Source: Supreme Court — Order List (608 U.S.), Monday, Apr. 20, 2026 (PDF)
Federal Register · Apr. 23, 2026 issue
The Environmental Protection Agency published a direct-final rule package on Michigan’s 2015 ozone moderate nonattainment area reasonably available control technology — the sort of SIP action that sets up Clean Air Act administrative challenges when industry groups disagree with control assumptions.
The Federal Communications Commission released a notice of proposed rulemaking titled “Improving Customer Service and Protecting Consumers through Onshoring,” teeing up comment cycles on overseas call-center and customer-service practices for covered carriers.
Sources: Federal Register — EPA, Doc. 2026-07905 · Federal Register — FCC NPRM, Doc. 2026-07960
Treasury · Office of Foreign Assets Control
OFAC’s Apr. 23, 2026 notice of sanctions actions is the kind of entry banks and exchanges calendar immediately — compliance teams map new identifiers against wire-filtering typologies and correspondent-banking questionnaires.
Cross-border payments counsel treat each sanctions publication as a hard compliance event: update SDN screening, refresh beneficial-owner escalations, and re-run transaction monitoring models where geography tags shift.
Criminal Division · USAO-D.C. · Apr. 23, 2026
Federal prosecutors in Washington announced coordinated strike-force actions against overseas scam-center organizations, including charges against two Chinese nationals and the judicial restraint of a large cryptocurrency figure reported in the department’s press materials. The announcement illustrates how DOJ pairs criminal cases with asset-restraint tools in cross-border fraud.
Wire-fraud theories tied to overseas “scam center” call operations, as summarized in the USAO press release.
Public filings referenced in DOJ’s announcement describe a nine-figure cryptocurrency restraint order in aid of forfeiture.
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Columbia — Apr. 23, 2026 press release
U.S. House of Representatives · 119th Congress
GovInfo’s compilation of House calendars for Apr. 22, 2026 is the neutral place to verify which measures were listed for consideration — a procedural anchor when tracking votes against the backdrop of national-security and appropriations debates later in the spring.
Legislative counsel pair the published calendar with the same-day Congressional Record entries to confirm rule adoptions, suspension packages, and any recorded vote tallies that may not yet be mirrored on third-party trackers.
Forward calendar
The April sitting continues with orders lists and arguments while agencies open comment clocks on telecommunications and environmental proposals.
SCOTUSblog’s calendar listings include opinion sessions during the April sitting; verify the Court’s same-day calendar before filing cert-stage letters.
Consolidated argument remains scheduled in the Syria and Haiti protected-status cases — see SCOTUSblog’s case pages for live-blog timing.
Comment deadlines will appear on the docket once the FCC establishes the official comment period for Doc. 2026-07960.
SCOTUSblog’s argument recap projects a merits decision alongside other late-term telecommunications and administrative-law opinions.
Counsel should expect motion practice, discovery protective orders, and potential parallel civil regulatory inquiries typical of high-profile nonprofit indictments.
Sources: SCOTUSblog — TPS argument calendar background · SCOTUSblog — FCC case decision timing note · Federal Register — FCC NPRM anchor