Public Policy

  • April 29, 2026

    FCC Looks To Update How It Collects Broadband Map Data

    The Federal Communications Commission has its eye on the National Broadband Map, with plans to vote next month on launching a proceeding to explore how to cut red tape from the data collection process while also increasing the accuracy of the data being collected.

  • April 29, 2026

    5th Circ. Skeptical Of Immigrants' Bond Eligibility Claim

    A Fifth Circuit panel pressed counsel for multiple detained immigrants to explain why people who crossed the border unlawfully should get access to a bond hearing, saying Wednesday that the law clearly states that an allegedly unauthorized immigrant "shall be detained pending removal proceedings."

  • April 29, 2026

    Hanes Must Face Email Suit After State Law Declared Legal

    Hanes can't get out of a lawsuit accusing it of sending marketing emails that make untrue claims by arguing that a Washington state law banning commercial emails with false or misleading subject lines is unconstitutional, a Washington federal judge has found.

  • April 29, 2026

    Mich. Justices Adopt Rule Banning ICE Civil Arrests In Court

    The Michigan Supreme Court Wednesday adopted a rule prohibiting civil arrests of those attending court proceedings or those who have legal business at the courthouse, which drew strong rebuke in a dissent describing the amendment as "a political statement as a solution in search of a problem."

  • April 29, 2026

    Feds Say Lack Of Injury Dooms Gold Card Program Challenge

    The Trump administration said a suit challenging the gold card visa program's legality must be thrown out because the immigrants and academic professionals union that filed it can't show the program hurts their chances at getting visas.

  • April 29, 2026

    High Court Seeks Path To Limited Ruling On 'Skinny Labels'

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared reluctant to craft new standards for deciding whether makers of generic drugs that use so-called skinny labels have encouraged others to infringe patents, with several justices saying existing law is sufficient to make a decision.

  • April 29, 2026

    FCC Pushed To Scale Back Radio Ownership Regs

    A broadcast company that helped persuade the Eighth Circuit to toss federal limits on local media ownership last year is now urging the Federal Communications Commission to pare back radio station limits.

  • April 29, 2026

    Feds Can't Hide Records Of FEMA Cuts, Judge Says

    The Trump administration tried to shield too many documents from public view in a lawsuit challenging its cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies, a California federal judge ruled, siding with a labor-led coalition in a dispute over the administration's motion for a protective order.

  • April 29, 2026

    Kennedy Center Director Says Safety Perils Warrant Overhaul

    The Kennedy Center's new director said he was "dumbfounded" when he first saw the true condition of the cultural hub's facilities, telling a D.C. federal court weighing whether to stop the center's planned two-year closure that now is the right time to catch up on a growing backlog of work.

  • April 29, 2026

    Burgum, Senate Dems Spar Over Energy Permitting Moves

    U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum on Wednesday blasted a federal court's recent pause of policies that imposed stricter reviews on wind and solar projects as Senate Democrats said such moves could kill the chances for significant permitting reform legislation.

  • April 29, 2026

    Consultant Says Venezuela Work Didn't Require FARA Filing

    The government did not prove that political consultant Esther Nuhfer was operating in bad faith when she worked with former Florida congressman David Rivera under a $50 million contract with a unit of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, Nuhfer's attorney said Wednesday in his final pitch to jurors.

  • April 29, 2026

    Comey Indictment Built On Bad Legal Foundation, Experts Say

    The criminal indictment of former FBI Director James B. Comey over an alleged threat against President Donald Trump by way of a social media post of seashells appears to be based on either an outdated or flawed understanding of the legal standard required to prove the charges in the case, which could sink the prosecution, according to experts.

  • April 29, 2026

    Squires Snubs 10 IPRs While 4 Pass Muster In Latest Order

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires rejected 10 petitions for America Invents Act patent reviews and granted four challenges in an order marking the roughly half-year mark since he took over the duty of making institution decisions.

  • April 29, 2026

    US Lawmakers Back Bid To Win Trump Park Pass Suit

    A coalition of Democratic congressional lawmakers are looking to back a conservation group's summary judgment bid in its challenge to the U.S. Department of Interior's decision to put President Donald Trump's image on this year's America the Beautiful Annual Pass.

  • April 29, 2026

    Sauer Urges Justices To Ignore Alleged Bias In TPS Case

    U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday that courts shouldn't, as a matter of foreign policy, consider President Donald Trump's disparaging comments about Haitians in reviewing rescissions of temporary protected status for Haiti and Syria.

  • April 29, 2026

    Fla. Judge Pick Denies Conflict In Trump Defamation Case

    A judicial nominee for the Southern District of Florida on Wednesday denied there was any overlap between when he presided over a case involving President Donald Trump and when the White House let him know Trump was considering him for the federal judgeship.

  • April 29, 2026

    Squires Says Samsung's ITC Stipulation Can't Save Its IPRs

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires said he denied Samsung's challenges to a Netlist memory module patent in light of a similar legal fight at the U.S. International Trade Commission and the timing of final decisions in both forums.

  • April 29, 2026

    Powell Says He'll Stay On Fed Board After Time As Chair Ends

    Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that he won't immediately leave the central bank once his term ends next month and plans instead to remain on its board temporarily, pointing to the Trump administration's recent "legal attacks" on the institution.

  • April 29, 2026

    Sunsetting FCC High-Cost Programs Could Undergo 'Refresh'

    Federal Communications Commission leaders during their meeting next month will weigh reforms to longstanding programs that help fund broadband deployment to rural and other "high cost" areas.

  • April 29, 2026

    Fla. Judge DQ'd In Trump Library Suit Over Courtroom Hug

    A Florida state appellate panel disqualified a trial judge overseeing a suit accusing a Miami college of transferring land for a President Donald Trump library without proper notice, agreeing Wednesday that the judge's thanking and hugging the man who brought the suit was improper.

  • April 29, 2026

    FTC's BOTS Suit Survives Because Law Not Just About Bots

    A Maryland federal judge has refused to dismiss one of the Federal Trade Commission's first-ever online ticketing cases, rejecting ticket reseller arguments that their use of thousands of Ticketmaster accounts to buy concert tickets is immune because they don't use bots.

  • April 29, 2026

    Feds Sue To Block NJ Law Banning Masks For ICE Agents

    The United States sued New Jersey in federal court Wednesday, seeking to block a newly enacted law that bars masked law enforcement officers by arguing the measure unlawfully targets federal agents and violates the Constitution's supremacy clause.

  • April 29, 2026

    Colo. Judge Rules GOP Can't Ban Unaffiliated Primary Voters

    A Colorado federal judge denied the Colorado Republican Party's request for an order that would have allowed the party to ban unaffiliated voters from participating in its June primary election, ruling that doing so would create voter confusion.

  • April 29, 2026

    Lummi Nation Says Telecom Found Remains But Kept Digging

    Lummi Nation says the remains of its ancestors have been disturbed by a federally funded broadband project in what it calls a "cascading series of preventable and unlawful failures" in a lawsuit against the federal government, a telecommunications company and a county in Washington.

  • April 29, 2026

    EPA Staff Challenge Suspensions Over Critical Open Letter

    Fifteen U.S. Environmental Protection Agency employees have filed complaints with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, alleging the agency unlawfully suspended them after they signed a public "declaration of dissent" against the Trump administration's policies.

Expert Analysis

  • What New Fla. Citizens Bill Means For Surplus Lines Insurers

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    A Florida bill recently passed by the Legislature as part of a continued effort to depopulate Citizens Property Insurance, the state's insurer of last resort, creates an additional pathway for commercial policies to be written by surplus lines insurers, but also presents concerns of unnecessary regulation, say attorneys at Troutman.

  • What Voluntary Calif. Carbon Reports Show About Compliance

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    While the enforcement of California's S.B. 261 is currently paused due to a Ninth Circuit injunction, more than 130 companies have nonetheless chosen to voluntarily publish climate-related financial risk disclosures, providing a useful snapshot of how the market is interpreting the law's requirements in practice, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • PTAB Memo Recenters Discretion On US Manufacturing

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    Read alongside recent Federal Circuit decisions, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires' memo on patent denial considerations emphasizes domestic manufacturing in a way that the International Trade Commission does not require, says Brandon Theiss at Volpe Koenig.

  • Why MDLs Slow Down — And How To Speed Them Up

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    Multidistrict litigation has become central to mass tort practice, but as MDLs grow in size and complexity, so do delays and costs — so tools like the new federal rule governing MDLs, targeted use of special masters and strategically deployed Lone Pine orders are more essential than ever, say attorneys at Ice Miller.

  • What A Court Doc Audit Reveals About Erroneous Filings

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    My audit of 1,522 court documents from last month found that over 95% contained at least one verifiable error, with fewer than 1% showing clear indicators of artificial intelligence use — highlighting above all else that lawyers may want to focus most on strengthening their review processes, says Elliott Ash at ETH Zurich.

  • Regulators' Basel Pitch May Bring Banks Capital Relief

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    The prudential banking agencies' new proposals to implement the so-called Basel III endgame rules — which would modify the approach to risk-based capital, among other notable changes — represent a fundamental directional shift in bank capital requirements aimed at increasing lending capacity, says Chen Xu at Debevoise.

  • How SEC And CFTC Are Attempting To End Their 'Turf War'

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    Through coordinated examinations and a shared aim to end duplicative regulation, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's recent memorandum of understanding could represent a significant shift in the regulatory landscape for market participants subject to the jurisdiction of both agencies, say attorneys at Jenner.

  • FTC Focus: Growing Emphasis On Competition In AI

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    The Federal Trade Commission's leadership has continued to highlight that competitive risks in artificial intelligence markets may arise at multiple levels simultaneously, considering not only who controls the resources necessary to build AI systems, but also how those systems function and yield outputs, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • What's Missing From Latest Gov't Claims Against Harvard

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    The most interesting thing about the Trump administration’s recent civil rights enforcement efforts targeting Harvard University is its decision not to assert violations of the False Claims Act when given the opportunity, despite signals that its enforcement efforts will include use of the federal FCA, say attorneys at Bass Berry.

  • How Cos. Can Prepare For 'Made In America' Ad Scrutiny

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    The Trump administration's executive order to combat fraudulent "Made in America" claims in consumer-facing advertising, along with actions by the Federal Trade Commission, suggest a potential increased focus on consumer protection and pricing-related matters, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Opinion

    FTC Case Risks Redefining Price Discrimination

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    Federal Trade Commission v. Southern Glazer puts a spotlight on the blurry line between illegal price discrimination and ordinary competition, and could potentially set a precedent that puts nearly any manufacturer at risk of Robinson-Patman Act enforcement, says Jeremy Sandford at Econic Partners.

  • Parsing Rule 12(c) Motion Overuse In Securities Class Actions

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    Defendants in securities class actions have more frequently been filing motions for judgment on the pleadings following the denial of motions to dismiss, but courts have recently demonstrated an increasing willingness to reject these previously rare motions, finding them transparent attempts to relitigate already-decided issues, say attorneys at Labaton Keller.

  • Preparing For New Calif. Pay Data Reporting Requirements

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    California's S.B. 464 overhauls the state's pay data reporting framework by requiring employers to use job categories that are based on the Standard Occupational Classification system, increasing both the potential visibility of pay disparities and the complexity of compliance, say attorneys at Kaufman Dolowich.

  • Series

    Mich. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1

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    Michigan's financial services sector saw several significant developments in 2026's first quarter, including the state Department of Insurance and Financial Services' issuance of a bulletin on the use of artificial intelligence and the Michigan House's introduction of a bill based on the Model Money Transmission Modernization Act, say attorneys at Dykema.

  • Justices' Ruling Stresses Quick Action Against Absconders

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    Following the U.S. Supreme Court's recent holding in Rico v. U.S. that a supervised release term is not automatically extended when a defendant absconds, probation officers and prosecutors risk being unable to address later violations if they don't act promptly to secure warrants, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

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