Analysis

Top Enviro Policy Developments From The First Half Of 2026

By Gautama Mehta

The first half of 2026 saw the repeal of a key rule underlying federal climate regulation, the rollback of pollution limits on industrial chemicals like ethylene oxide, and a blanket exemption from species protections for Gulf oil drillers. Here, Law360 takes a look at the top five developments in environmental policy and regulation so far this year.

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NY Gov. Signs Data Center Moratorium Executive Order

By Isaac Monterose

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed an executive order that blocks any new hyperscale data center projects from being built in her state by temporarily pausing environmental permits for those types of projects, the governor's office announced Tuesday.

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Mich. Says DOJ Is Mischaracterizing Climate Antitrust Suit

By Melanie Dorsey

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has asked a federal judge for permission to respond to the U.S. Department of Justice's statement of interest supporting dismissal of key portions of the state's antitrust lawsuit against some of the world's largest oil companies, arguing the federal government's filing mischaracterizes the case and conflicts with its own public statements on antitrust enforcement. 

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US Trade Fraud Task Force Recovers Over $1B In 10 Months

By Dylan Moroses

In just under a year, the U.S. has recovered over $1 billion as a result of enforcement efforts led by the cross-agency Trade Fraud Task Force, and the U.S. Department of Justice will establish a new legal section to prosecute trade crimes, a department official said Tuesday. 

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Key Witness In Halkbank Exec's Sanctions Trial Avoids Prison

By Stewart Bishop

A Turkish-Iranian businessman-turned-linchpin cooperator in the trial of a Halkbank executive has been spared further incarceration over his role in an alleged $20 billion scheme to evade U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil and gas proceeds through bribery and illicit transactions that laundered payments to Iran's government.

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5th Circ. Undoes BP Retirees' Pension Info Suit Win

By Kellie Mejdrich

The Fifth Circuit unraveled a Texas court's judgment against BP that held the oil giant was liable to company retirees for miscommunicating their pension benefits' value following a plan conversion, holding on Tuesday that the lower court didn't perform a rigorous enough standing analysis.

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Brief

NJ Supreme Court To Review Environmental Justice Rules

By Tom Lotshaw

The New Jersey Supreme Court on Tuesday granted certification petitions filed by industry and labor groups that have challenged environmental justice rules that Garden State regulators enacted.

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Mass. Justices Say Town's Solar Permit Denial Unjustified

By Julie Manganis

A single zoning board member's objection to tree clearing cannot be the basis for a small Massachusetts town to deny a permit for a solar array, the state's highest court ruled Tuesday.

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EV Maker, CEO Settle SEC Action Over Debt Offering Claims

By Katryna Perera

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has reached a $709,000 settlement with an Ohio-based electric- and gas-powered vehicle manufacturer and its CEO to resolve claims that they made misleading statements portraying the company as being more successful than it actually was in connection with a $112 million convertible debt offering.

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Lessons On Contingency Planning From OFAC's Iran Reversal

The Office of Foreign Assets Control‘s abrupt revocation of a recent license easing sanctions on Iranian oil products shows commercial dealings relying on OFAC licenses or with higher sanctions risks should expressly address what happens if a policy change makes performance prohibited, says Michelle Roberts at Berliner Corcoran.

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Reviving Prize Law Would Reshape Maritime Seizure Risks

Recent U.S. maritime interdictions of sanctioned tankers and shadow fleet vessels raise urgent questions about whether civil forfeiture or prize law — a framework that has not been meaningfully tested since the Spanish-American War — governs and the potential impacts on vessel owners, charterers and insurers, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

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Blanche Called Anti-Weaponization Fund 'Mistake,' Per Durbin

By Courtney Bublé

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Tuesday the anti-weaponization fund created as part of the president's settlement with the IRS was "a mistake," according to Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., after his meeting with Blanche.

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Justices Seek More Funds Over Increased Threats, Talk Ethics

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan made rare Capitol Hill appearances Tuesday, discussing the court's budget request for fiscal 2027, the "shadow docket" and ethics issues.

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Quinn Emanuel, Spiro Ousted From CoStar Copyright Fight

By Elliot Weld

A California federal judge has disqualified Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP and its attorney Alex Spiro from representing a commercial real estate platform in a copyright infringement suit brought by CoStar, agreeing that the firm's representation of CoStar in a different case should result in its removal from this one.

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Bronx Defenders Union OKs Strike 1 Year After Last Walkout

By Andrea Keckley

The Bronx Defenders has become the third New York City-based legal aid organization to authorize a strike this month, which comes just one year after the group's most recent walkout.

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Trump Lawyer Matthew Schwartz Confirmed To 2nd Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 50-45, along party lines, on Tuesday to confirm Matthew Schwartz, one of President Donald Trump's personal attorneys and a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

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Ky. Law Prof Wants Court To Block Judge For Dean Pick

By Hailey Konnath

A University of Kentucky law professor asked a federal court to block U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove from becoming the next law school dean, claiming that the appointment has "stripped the faculty" of their credibility on the basis of peer review.

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Calif. Bar Settles With Administrators Of 'Disastrous' Bar Exam

By Andrea Keckley

The State Bar of California has reached a settlement with the administrators of its "disastrous" February 2025 bar exam, whose array of highly publicized technical glitches prevented hundreds of aspiring lawyers from completing the test.

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