Law & Court Decisions — 2026-05-20

Supreme Court & Federal Courts

Major Cases Pending Before Final Term — U.S. Supreme Court

• Holding: The Supreme Court has not yet decided its biggest remaining cases of the 2026 term; the term is set to end around late June with rulings still outstanding on birthright citizenship, transgender athlete bans, and gun rights.
• Vote / posture: Cases pending decision; oral arguments concluded, opinions forthcoming.
• Why it matters: These rulings will touch millions of lives — from citizenship status of children born to undocumented immigrants, to the future of gender-based sports policies, to the scope of Second Amendment protections. Legal experts describe this slate as among the most consequential term-ending decisions in recent years.

Divided 11th Circuit Rules Against Trump's Mandatory Immigration Detention Policy — 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

• Holding: The Eleventh Circuit ruled against the Trump administration's mandatory immigration detention policy, finding it does not comport with federal immigration law.
• Vote / posture: Divided panel; adds to an existing split among federal appeals courts on this issue.
• Why it matters: The circuit split makes Supreme Court review virtually inevitable. The ruling has immediate implications for thousands of detained immigrants who may now be entitled to bond hearings — and for the administration's broader immigration enforcement strategy.

Starbucks Wins Fifth Circuit Appeal of NLRB Subpoena Ruling — 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

• Holding: The Fifth Circuit ruled that the National Labor Relations Board was wrong to find Starbucks violated federal labor law with overly broad subpoenas issued during an unfair labor practice case that the company ultimately won.
• Vote / posture: Appeals court reversal of NLRB ruling; decided April 17, 2026.
• Why it matters: The decision narrows the NLRB's authority to use subpoenas against employers in labor disputes and represents another blow to the agency's enforcement posture during a period of heightened labor-management litigation. Employers in ongoing union disputes will cite this ruling to limit discovery burdens.

Tech Antitrust & Regulatory Battles

Amazon & Microsoft vs. EU Regulators — European Commission (DMA Investigation)

• What happened this week: The European Commission announced it is investigating whether Amazon and Microsoft should be designated as "gatekeepers" for their cloud computing services under the Digital Markets Act — a potential extension of the law beyond its original social-media and search focus.
• Stakes: If labeled gatekeepers, both companies could face strict obligations on interoperability, data portability, and fair access — plus fines up to 10% of global annual revenue for non-compliance. Regulators also signaled the DMA may be used to tackle anticompetitive practices in AI.
• Status: Investigation launched; no formal gatekeeper designation yet. Outcome could take 12 months or more.

Apple & Meta vs. EU — DMA Enforcement Actions (Recent Context)

• What happened this week: A Reuters overview from late April confirmed Apple was fined €500 million and Meta €200 million under the DMA in April 2025 — the first major penalties under the landmark law. European regulators continue to expand their enforcement footprint.
• Stakes: The fines themselves were significant but symbolic; the real stakes lie in required behavioral changes. Apple faces pressure to open its App Store ecosystem; Meta must allow users to "unlink" personal data across its services.
• Status: Both companies have appealed their respective fines to the EU General Court. Appeals pending.

State Attorneys General vs. Big Tech — Multi-State Antitrust Enforcement

• What happened this week: A Reuters legal analysis published May 7 documented that state AGs are dramatically ramping up antitrust and consumer protection enforcement against Big Tech, increasingly acting independently when federal priorities shift.
• Stakes: State enforcement can result in separate injunctions, fines, and structural remedies — and states proved their independence in the Live Nation case, where co-plaintiff states continued litigating and won even after DOJ settled. Big Tech companies now face a 50-front legal war.
• Status: Multiple ongoing state investigations; coordination with DOJ and FTC continues on select matters.

Other Notable Rulings & Enforcement

• Fired Immigration Judges Appeal MSPB Loss to Federal Circuit: Two Department of Justice immigration judges fired by the Trump administration have appealed to the Federal Circuit after losing before the Merit Systems Protection Board. They argue the terminations violate over a century of Supreme Court precedent on the independence of quasi-judicial officers. The appeal has significant implications for the independence of administrative law judges government-wide and may ultimately require Supreme Court resolution.

• Patent Office Challenges and the Federal Circuit's Packed 2026 Docket: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which handles patent disputes, dismissed the first six challenges to Patent Trial and Appeal Board proceedings without oral argument this term, emphasizing the exceptionally high bar for mandamus relief in such cases. The dismissals signal the court's intent to limit collateral challenges that delay patent litigation — a significant development for pharmaceutical and tech companies relying on inter partes review proceedings to invalidate competitor patents.

Case of the Week — Deep Dive

EU DMA Expansion to Cloud and AI: Amazon and Microsoft in the Crosshairs

Background: The Digital Markets Act entered into force in March 2024, initially targeting "gatekeeper" platforms — companies designated by the European Commission as having entrenched market power in core platform services like search, social networking, and app distribution. Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon were among those designated, but primarily for services like the App Store, Google Search, and Facebook. The DMA has already produced the first significant fines: €500 million against Apple and €200 million against Meta in 2025. Now regulators are eyeing a dramatic expansion of the law's scope.

What the regulator said: The European Commission announced it is investigating whether cloud computing services offered by Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure qualify as "core platform services" under the DMA, which would trigger gatekeeper designation and an entirely new set of compliance obligations. Regulators explicitly stated they are also examining whether the DMA can be used to address anticompetitive practices in artificial intelligence — a frontier that the original legislation did not specifically contemplate. The key legal question is whether cloud platforms, which primarily serve businesses rather than consumers, fit the statutory definition of services with "a significant impact on the internal market" and that "serve as an important gateway for business users to reach end users."

Ripple effects: A gatekeeper designation for cloud services would be legally and economically transformative. AWS and Azure together control roughly 60% of the global cloud market. DMA obligations would require them to ensure interoperability with competitors, allow data portability for enterprise customers, and refrain from self-preferencing their own AI services over rivals. For AI specifically, the Commission's signal that DMA enforcement could reach generative AI ecosystems — where Microsoft's integration of OpenAI products into Azure and Office has drawn scrutiny — is a watershed moment. Expect Microsoft and Amazon to mount aggressive legal challenges to any designation. The investigation also puts Google Cloud in a precarious position, as it has already faced DMA compliance demands in other service categories. Finally, the move gives U.S. state AGs and DOJ's Antitrust Division political cover to pursue similar theories domestically.

What to Watch Next

• Late June 2026 — Supreme Court term-ending opinions (U.S. Supreme Court): Watch for decisions on birthright citizenship, transgender athlete bans, and gun rights. Any one of these could be the term's defining ruling. The Court typically issues its most controversial opinions in the final week of June.

• Ongoing — EU DMA cloud and AI investigation (European Commission): The Commission's investigation of Amazon and Microsoft for potential cloud gatekeeper designation is moving through formal inquiry stages. Watch for any preliminary findings or interim measures that could impose obligations before a final designation.

• Ongoing — 11th Circuit immigration detention split (U.S. Supreme Court cert watch): With a firm circuit split now established between the 11th Circuit and at least one other circuit on mandatory immigration detention, the Supreme Court is likely to receive a cert petition before its October 2026 term begins. A grant would be major news.

• Summer 2026 — State AG Big Tech enforcement actions (Multiple state courts and federal district courts): Multiple state attorneys general are expected to file new or expanded antitrust complaints against Big Tech platforms, particularly in search and AI distribution markets, following the Reuters analysis documenting their escalating enforcement posture.

Reader Takeaways

• If you run a business relying on cloud services from Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure, the EU's move to potentially designate these platforms as DMA "gatekeepers" is a business risk to monitor — designation could force changes to pricing, data portability, and interoperability that affect how you use and switch between providers. Begin auditing your cloud contracts for data portability terms now.

• If you build tech products and operate in or sell to European markets, the Commission's signal that DMA enforcement may extend to AI ecosystems means AI tools integrated into larger platforms (think OpenAI via Azure, or Gemini via Google Cloud) could face new interoperability requirements. Build your compliance roadmap to account for regulatory uncertainty in AI distribution.

• If you're a consumer, the Supreme Court's pending rulings on birthright citizenship and transgender athlete policies will directly affect real people's legal status and rights — and the 11th Circuit immigration detention ruling means thousands of detained individuals may now be entitled to individualized bond hearings they were previously denied. Follow the Court's final weeks of the term closely.