Welcome to the February 2026 edition of Thompson Coburn’s Higher Education Litigation Summary, your resource for timely legal updates on key rulings and ongoing cases shaping the higher education sector. Bold text indicates...more
On January 12, 2026, the US Supreme Court denied Percipient.ai, Inc.’s petition for a writ of certiorari, ending a closely watched case that tested the boundaries of bid protest standing at the Court of Federal Claims. The...more
Last week, the Supreme Court declined to review Percipient.ai, Inc. v. United States, 153 F.4th 1226 (Fed. Cir. 2025), a high‑profile Federal Circuit decision that limits who may bring a protest at the U.S. Court of Federal...more
The Administration’s dramatic cutbacks to federal funding have changed the landscape and presented new and unprecedented challenges for funding recipients across a range of industries....more
The Supreme Court issued a fractured, 4-1-4 ruling on its emergency docket in National Institutes of Health v. American Public Health Association, No. 25A103, 606 U.S. ____ (2025) (per curiam) (“NIH”) on August 21, 2025....more
The Supreme Court recently ruled for the second time that federal district courts likely lack jurisdiction under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) to hear challenges to terminations of federal grants. The first such...more
Those doing business with the government may face an ogre’s choice at the intersection of two Supreme Court decisions and longstanding Federal Circuit precedent precluding jurisdiction over non-procurement contracts....more
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed last week to permit the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to terminate hundreds of grants related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives worth approximately $800 million. The...more
Organizations challenging an agency’s termination of a grant or government contract based on an allegedly illegal government policy need to master a two-step dance, according to a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision. Under the...more
On July 24, 2025, the Trump Administration turned to the U.S. Supreme Court to block U.S. District Judge Young’s preliminary injunction prohibiting the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from cutting hundreds of grant...more
Federal grantees facing the termination of their grants by the new administration have challenged those terminations by filing suits under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in federal district courts. In about a half a...more
While not a decision on the merits, the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion on April 4, 2025, in Department of Education v. California is worth considering....more
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo upended decades of precedent that required courts to defer to agencies' interpretations of statutes. This, known as the Chevron doctrine, allowed for...more
Federal contractors are winning a safeguard against the government’s practice of moving to dismiss cases brought under the Contract Disputes Act (CDA) for lack of jurisdiction in the late stages of litigation. Recent...more
In Maine Community, the US Supreme Court found on April 27, 2020, that the Risk Corridors program created by Congress was a “money-mandating obligation” requiring the federal government to make payments under Section 1342 of...more
President Obama’s Affordable Care Act has survived yet another challenge in the federal courts. In a resounding 8-1 decision this Monday, April 27, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that health insurance companies who...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has determined that the federal government must pay over $12 billion to certain health insurers that participated in health insurance exchanges in the first three years that those exchanges were in...more
Despite Congress’ efforts to use riders to neutralize a provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA or Act), the Federal government (Government) owes certain insurers $12 billion....more
On April 27, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the federal government is on the hook for $12 billion it failed to pay insurers under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) risk-mitigation program known as the Risk Corridors Program. ...more
The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Maine Community Health Options v. United States, is a major decision affecting healthcare and resolving a significant Obamacare dispute. The Affordable Care Act famously established online...more
The Supreme Court issued a long-awaited ruling on April 27, 2020, directed at a more than $12 billion challenge related to the temporary risk corridors program established by the Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”). Challenges...more
On April 27, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Moda Health Plan, Inc. v. United States, holding that the Affordable Care Act requires the federal government to compensate insurers for significant losses their health plans...more
In a major win for health insurers, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in an 8-1 decision that the federal government owes roughly $12.3 billion to health insurers who claimed losses under the risk corridor program of the...more