Following a Texas federal district court’s order vacating the FTC’s new HSR rules, the Fifth Circuit has extended a temporary stay on the order until further notice.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on February 12, 2026, issued summary judgment for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups suing to overturn the first major overhaul of the HSR Act’s notification and report form in the Act’s 50 year history. The FTC adopted the new rules by a 5-0 bipartisan vote in October 2024, and the ruling came almost exactly one year after the rules took effect.
In issuing its order, the Texas district court found that the FTC had failed to properly weigh the imposition of additional burdens on filing parties against the claimed benefits when adopting the new HSR rules. Concluding that the new HSR rules are “arbitrary and capricious” under the Administrative Procedures Act, the court found that the FTC’s claimed benefits were “illusory or, at least, unsubstantiated,” and were not “necessary and appropriate” under the HSR Act. Accordingly, the district court vacated and set aside the rulemaking but provided a one-week stay of the order to allow the FTC to appeal to the Fifth Circuit.
The FTC filed an emergency motion for stay with the district court on February 17, which the district court denied on February 18. That same day, the FTC filed an emergency motion for stay pending appeal with the Fifth Circuit, which a three-judge panel granted “until further order of [the] court.” Briefing on the underlying motion will be complete no later than February 26.