Public Policy

  • April 17, 2026

    American Airlines Shuts Down United Merger Rumors

    American Airlines on Friday shut down speculation of a potential combination with United Airlines, saying it's not currently engaged in any merger talks with the Chicago-based carrier.

  • April 17, 2026

    DC Judge Doubts Standing Of Cannabis Shops Alliance

    A D.C. federal judge told lawyers for an association of marijuana "gifting" shops either to drop their lawsuit challenging the district's new dispensary enforcement scheme or have their members join as parties, after the attorneys conceded that the association had only been formed to bring the litigation.

  • April 17, 2026

    States Seek Win To Restore DOE's Diversity Grant Cuts

    Eight states have asked a Massachusetts federal judge to restore $160 million to federal programs providing professional development to new teachers cut by the U.S. Department of Education last year, which the states said were unlawfully targeted by the Trump administration as diversity initiatives.

  • April 17, 2026

    Federal Judge Blocks DOJ's DEI, Citizenship Grant Conditions

    A Rhode Island federal judge has temporarily blocked the U.S. Department of Justice from imposing new conditions related to diversity, equity and inclusion activities and immigration status on domestic violence assistance grants, finding a nonprofit coalition likely to succeed in a legal challenge.

  • April 17, 2026

    RI Pot Regulators Sees No Easy Fix For License Injunction

    Rhode Island's Cannabis Control Commission said Friday it's looking at every possible option to undo a federal court's order that has stopped it from awarding recreational cannabis licenses, telling concerned industry leaders that the "extremely volatile and constantly evolving legal landscape" means there is no easy fix.

  • April 17, 2026

    PTAB Petitions Continue To Plummet As Reexams Surge

    The number of America Invents Act petitions continued to crater as the volume of reexamination requests skyrocketed in the first quarter of 2026 as policies by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires settled in, according to a new report from Unified Patents.

  • April 17, 2026

    Plea Change Hearing Set For Former Conn. Budget Official

    A change of plea hearing has been scheduled for Monday afternoon for Konstantinos M. Diamantis, a former Connecticut budget official, elected politician and attorney facing an impending federal corruption trial for allegedly pocketing bribes while helping end a state Medicaid audit of an optometry practice operated by his friend's fiancée.

  • April 17, 2026

    4 Firms Lead Kraken's $550M Buy Of Crypto Derivatives Biz

    Four firms including Haynes Boone and Jones Day guided Kraken's $550 million acquisition of regulated crypto derivatives exchange Bitnomial, according to a Friday announcement from Kraken.

  • April 17, 2026

    DOJ's NFL Probe May Reshape Sports Broadcasting Law

    Though antitrust charges are in play in the U.S. Department of Justice's investigation into the NFL's deals with services like Amazon Prime and Netflix, experts say they don't see a strong federal case against the league's broadcasting practices, as focus may shift to updating a decades-old law governing how sports leagues negotiate television deals.

  • April 17, 2026

    CFPB Could Soon Issue Overhauled Small-Biz Loan Data Rule

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is awaiting White House clearance to publish a final rule that would complete its revamp of small-business lender reporting requirements issued during the Biden administration, according to a new regulatory notice.

  • April 17, 2026

    Groups Say EPA Used Faulty Math In GHG Finding Repeal

    Sixteen health and environmental groups said this week that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must reconsider its February repeal of the scientific finding allowing the agency to regulate greenhouse gases, because the final rule relied on error-filled technical analyses that weren't included in the proposed version.

  • April 17, 2026

    California Is Latest Battleground In Defining Access To Justice

    A pair of dueling California ballot initiatives both purport to increase consumers' access to justice — a righteous cause, most would say. If only the initiatives' backers agreed on what that means.

  • April 17, 2026

    Too Mentally Ill To Stand In Court, Texas Inmate Fights On

    A Texas death row prisoner who gouged out both of his eyes and suffers from schizoaffective disorder is fighting efforts to move forward with his execution, arguing that his severe psychosis leaves him unable to rationally understand why the state wants to kill him. His case highlights a broader debate over whether the Constitution should bar the execution of people with severe mental illness, even when they technically know they are on death row.

  • April 17, 2026

    Judge Says USCIS Can't Keep Delaying Iranians' Work Permits

    A California federal judge ordered U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to unfreeze its processing of work permit applications for several dozen Iranians and a Sudanese national, finding the agency likely violated federal administrative law by indefinitely delaying decisions.

  • April 17, 2026

    Up Next At High Court: SEC And FCC Enforcement Authority

    The U.S. Supreme Court's final argument session of this term kicks off Monday, when the justices will consider the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's authority to seek disgorgement orders against alleged wrongdoers without proving investors were harmed. Here, Law360 breaks down the week's oral arguments.

  • April 17, 2026

    DOT Immigrant License Crackdown's Effects On Trucking

    New lawsuits and a tricky compliance landscape have besieged a trucking industry navigating the Trump administration's aggressive enforcement of restrictions on immigrant commercial truck drivers, as motor carriers, freight brokers and other ground-based shippers worry about escalating rates, driver turnover and service disruptions.

  • April 17, 2026

    Exxon Rips Mass. AG For Greenwash 'Fishing Expedition'

    ExxonMobil said Massachusetts' attorney general is proposing a "massive fishing expedition" in the state's long-pending "greenwashing" lawsuit by seeking to question witnesses about hundreds of topics, some dating back nearly 50 years, in a motion seeking to limit the scope of upcoming depositions.

  • April 17, 2026

    Texas Justices Back Enviro Agency In Deadline Dispute

    The Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that Texas' environmental regulator timely requested input from the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton before having to potentially disclose thousands of documents sought by the Sierra Club, finding its 10-business-day deadline didn't lapse.

  • April 17, 2026

    3 Key Questions On Trump's Pharma Tariffs

    President Donald Trump recently announced 100% tariffs on certain imported pharmaceutical products, with opportunities for drug companies to lower their tariff rates to zero, but questions remain about the requirements for preferential treatment and abilities to administer the regime. Here, Law360 examines three open questions surrounding pharmaceutical tariffs' implementation.

  • April 17, 2026

    Workers At 3 NJ Colleges Eligible For Union As Non-Managers

    A New Jersey state appeals court on Friday upheld a state labor agency's finding that dozens of employees at three public colleges are eligible for union membership, rejecting the state's argument that the workers fall within a statutory carveout for managers.

  • April 17, 2026

    EEOC Says Halting Penn Subpoena Would Compromise Probe

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission argued in a federal court filing Friday that allowing the University of Pennsylvania to freeze the agency's subpoena for information on the school's Jewish employees would undercut its investigation into antisemitism on campus.

  • April 17, 2026

    Ex-FERC Chair Backs Pa. AG's Intervention In Grid Fight

    Former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission chairman Mark Christie voiced support for Pennsylvania's efforts to block a power grid project along its southern border in a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court Friday, asking the high court to allow the state's attorney general to challenge an appellate ruling that held federal law governed the project.

  • April 17, 2026

    Penn State Beats Claims In Ex-Trustee's Suit Over His Ousting

    A federal judge threw out most of a former Pennsylvania State University trustee's lawsuit against the university and its board Friday, but let his First Amendment claims continue so that the court could consider whether he was acting as a public employee, a private citizen or an elected official.

  • April 17, 2026

    Bill Floated To Nix Medical Residency Antitrust Exemption

    U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has introduced legislation to repeal an antitrust exemption given to the medical residency matching program by Congress two decades ago, over concerns about wages and a bottleneck of medical school graduates.

  • April 17, 2026

    Aramark Joins NJ Insulin Pricing Suits Against PBMs

    Aramark Services Inc. joined multidistrict litigation accusing CVS and pharmacy benefit managers of colluding to inflate the price of insulin.

Expert Analysis

  • How Leveraged Lending Pivot May Alter Bank Risk Oversight

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    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's recent withdrawal of leveraged lending guidance introduces several principles that may allow banks to better apply enterprisewide risk management programs and potentially create additional competition in the private credit loan market, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

  • Pros And Cons Of FDA's Push For Nonprescription Drugs

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recent moves to shift more prescription drugs to over-the-counter status could increase access to important medications, but also bring potential safety risks and other trade-offs for drug companies, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

  • Why SDNY May Be Dusting Off The Financial Kingpin Statute

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    The Southern District of New York’s recent fraud indictments against executives of bankrupt companies Tricolor and First Brands have seemingly revived the Continuing Financial Crimes Enterprise statute, and if the cases succeed, prosecutors across the country will have ample reason to reach for this long-dormant tool, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

  • What's Changed In Army Corps' Reissued Nationwide Permits

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    The final rule recently issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, renewing and revising nationwide permits for projects covered by Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, makes measured adjustments rather than sweeping revisions, addressing key operational and compliance concerns while maintaining the existing framework, say attorneys at Spencer Fane.

  • What Kalshi Cases Reveal About State Authority, Regulation

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    Prediction markets like Kalshi have ignited complex legal battles that get to the heart of how novel financial products intersect with traditional state enforcement authority, and courts are already beginning to divide over whether federal law preempts state enforcement authority restricting these offerings, say attorneys at Holtzman Vogel.

  • Parsing Clarifications On Foreign Entity Rules For Tax Credits

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    Recent U.S. Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department guidance answers taxpayer questions on several key foreign entity rules under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but questions remain over transactions with companies that have ties to covered nations such as Iran, say attorneys at Cleary.

  • What US Arms Sales Reforms Mean For Defense Industry

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    A recent executive order with the goal of increasing U.S. arms sales transparency, speed and government-industry collaboration carries both promise and risk for the defense industry as the government seeks to leverage the private sector and use commercial products for defense purposes, say attorneys at Fluet.

  • Prepping For The Future Of No Surprises Act Enforcement

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    This year is expected to be a transition point for the No Surprises Act framework from regulatory delay to operational enforcement, so stakeholders should use this time to stress-test systems, clean up processes and prepare for enforcement, say attorneys at Akerman.

  • A Tale Of 2 Self-Disclosure Policies: How SDNY, DOJ Differ

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    Though the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York’s recently announced corporate enforcement and voluntary self-disclosure policy shares many similarities with that of the U.S. Department of Justice, the two programs differ in meaningful ways, including subject matter scope and timeline to declination, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • Aligning Microsoft Tools With NYC Bar AI Recording Guidance

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    The New York City Bar Association’s recently issued formal opinion, providing ethical guidance on artificial intelligence-assisted recording, transcription and summarization, raises immediate questions about data governance and e-discovery for companies that use Microsoft 365 and Copilot, say Staci Kaliner, Martin Tully and John Collins at Redgrave.

  • What Employers Should Know About Calif. PAGA Proposal

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    Recently proposed regulations concerning the Private Attorneys General Act evidence an intent by California's Labor and Workforce Development Agency to play a greater role in the prosecution of PAGA actions, including more oversight over the exhaustion notices and settlement process, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

  • FTC Focus: Antitrust Spotlight On 'Acqui-Hires,' Noncompetes

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    A recent Federal Trade Commission focus on labor issues, like 'acqui-hire' deals, in which only a company's workforce is acquired, and noncompetes, shows that the agency is scrutinizing these issues on a case-by-case basis, necessitating a meaningful look at these transactions, particularly in the technology and artificial intelligence industries, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • FDA's Biosimilarity Guidance Holds Uncertain Implications

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new draft guidance aimed at simplifying the biosimilarity demonstration process may not be enough to overcome the barriers that have historically constrained biosimilar competition, and could affect biosimilar access in unexpected ways, say analysts at Analysis Group.

  • Unpacking Key Themes From NY's New Healthcare Strategy

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    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's 2026 State of the State agenda, read together with the state's fiscal year 2027 executive budget, reflect a clear framework to utilize Medicaid as the state's operating platform for healthcare reform, say attorneys at Sheppard.

  • A Single DOJ Corporate Enforcement Policy Raises Questions

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's soon-to-be-released uniform corporate criminal enforcement policy could address the challenges raised by the current decentralized approach, but it will need to answer a number of potential questions amid scant details, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

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