Public Policy

  • March 25, 2026

    Judge Upholds Texas Gun Ban In Bars As Historically Sound

    A Texas federal judge has tossed a challenge to the constitutionality of state laws barring people from carrying guns in places like bars and at sporting events, saying the Texas public's right to limit firearm access in sensitive locations does not violate the Second Amendment.

  • March 25, 2026

    Ulta Seeks Quick Appeal To Challenge Wash. Antispam Statute

    Beauty retailer Ulta asked a Washington federal judge this week for permission to immediately appeal a February ruling that upheld the validity of a state law barring commercial emails with false or misleading subject lines, a move that could have sweeping implications for dozens of pending lawsuits brought under the statute.

  • March 25, 2026

    Starbucks Roasts Consumers' Suit Doubting Ethical Sourcing

    Starbucks is urging a Seattle federal judge to throw out a proposed class action accusing the java giant of playing up its "ethical sourcing" commitment despite supply chain labor violations, saying customers cannot sue based on mere disappointment with the company's coffee farm certification standards.

  • March 25, 2026

    Truck Makers Say Calif. Can't Ditch 'Clean Trucks' Pact Suit

    Heavy-duty truck manufacturers have told a California federal judge that state officials cannot be allowed to circumvent federal law and saddle manufacturers with stringent emissions standards and stiff penalties for noncompliance, saying the Golden State's regulations are unequivocally preempted.

  • March 25, 2026

    Lawmakers Aim To Advance Bills Bolstering Patent Rights

    A bipartisan pair of lawmakers said at a conference Wednesday that they plan to make a push to pass legislation aimed at establishing stronger patent rights in the coming year, including bills limiting patent challenges and setting rules on which inventions are eligible for patents.

  • March 25, 2026

    Mich. County Beats Class Claims Over Jail Release Delays

    People alleging they were detained too long at a county jail in Detroit saw their suit against Wayne County and its employees dismissed Wednesday by a Michigan federal judge who found their constitutional rights weren't violated, since there wasn't a right to be released in any particular time frame.

  • March 25, 2026

    House Panel Advances Bill To Re-Up FirstNet Until 2037

    U.S. House committee lawmakers voted unanimously Wednesday to reauthorize the First Responder Network Authority for more than a decade past its current sunset next February while adding two seats to the board for public safety experts.

  • March 25, 2026

    NJ Gov. Sherrill Signs Trio Of Bills To Protect Immigrants

    New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed on Wednesday three bills intended to limit state cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, strengthen privacy protections and require law enforcement officers — including federal agents — to identify themselves during public interactions.

  • March 25, 2026

    Warren Grills Fed's Ex-BigLaw Supervision Chief On Conflicts

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., on Wednesday asked former Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP veteran Randall Guynn, a recent addition to the Federal Reserve, to explain how he is dealing with potential conflicts of interest stemming from his previous role chairing the BigLaw firm's financial institutions group.

  • March 25, 2026

    Okla. High Court Says Fed Suit Will Decide Tribal Hunting Row

    The Oklahoma Supreme Court denied a bid by the governor to overturn a formal opinion by Attorney General Gentner Drummond that says U.S. law prohibits the state from citing tribal members for hunting and fishing on reservation lands, saying a federal lawsuit in the dispute will settle its legality.

  • March 25, 2026

    PBMs Say Mich. Price-Fixing Suit Lacks Specifics

    For the second time, pharmacy benefit managers Express Scripts Inc. and Prime Therapeutics LLC asked a Michigan federal judge on Monday to toss a price-fixing suit filed by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, arguing that the state has no standing to file the suit.

  • March 25, 2026

    Judge Backs USPTO's Ax Of Art Project Patent App

    A Virginia federal judge has tossed a challenge to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's decision to terminate a patent application from an art kit company after the agency found its filings had been signed by an attorney without her authorization or permission.

  • March 25, 2026

    8th Circ. Backs No-Bond Detention For Unauthorized Migrants

    A split Eighth Circuit panel on Wednesday sided with the Trump administration's position that it can detain noncitizens who crossed the border without authorization, no matter how long they've been in the U.S., without bond.

  • March 25, 2026

    Herschel Walker Campaign, Media Firm Wrap Up Contract Suit

    The campaign for former NFL star Herschel Walker's losing U.S. Senate bid and a Texas-based media firm that the campaign accused of charging inflated costs for advertising buys have reached an agreement to end their legal battle in Georgia federal court. 

  • March 25, 2026

    Ramp Up Router Power Levels, Electronics Biz Tells FCC

    Consumer electronics-makers want the Federal Communications Commission to ramp up allowed power levels for routers as one way to boost Wi-Fi performance in the U.S.

  • March 25, 2026

    Conn. Atty Faces Civil Arrest Bid In $10M Trust Account Probe

    A city housing authority and its corporate development arm have asked a Connecticut Superior Court judge to order the civil arrest of an attorney accused of funneling nearly $10 million in unauthorized loan proceeds into his lawyer trust account.

  • March 25, 2026

    Nicotine Pouch Maker Sues FDA Over Rejected Application

    A nicotine pouch manufacturer is asking a D.C. federal judge to force the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to review its "Zone" pouch products, claiming it spent nearly four years in regulatory limbo before the agency said the application was incomplete.

  • March 25, 2026

    Judge Lets NY Cannabis Licensing Challenge Proceed

    Following a recent Second Circuit ruling that the dormant commerce clause applies to marijuana, a New York federal judge Wednesday rejected state cannabis regulators' bid to dismiss a constitutional challenge to their licensure program.

  • March 25, 2026

    FSOC Seeks To Rein In Too-Big-To-Fail Labels In Latest Pivot

    Federal regulators moved Wednesday to curb their authority to subject large asset managers, insurers and other nonbank firms to heightened, bank-like supervision, proposing guidelines that would reinstitute tougher standards for these too-big-to-fail designations.

  • March 25, 2026

    After Overhaul Nixed, FTC, DOJ Mull New Merger Rulemaking

    The Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice are not giving up on attempting to overhaul the "insufficient" half-century-old merger notification form after its replacement was just struck down by a Texas federal judge, with the agencies now seeking public comment as they mull "a new rulemaking process."

  • March 25, 2026

    DOE Worker Who Took Buyout Admits To Attempted Bribery

    An ex-U.S. Department of Energy employee who accepted the Trump administration's "fork in the road" deferred resignation offer last year pled guilty Wednesday to trying to bribe a former co-worker to steer contracts to his new company, federal prosecutors announced.

  • March 25, 2026

    Trade Court Nom Regrets Past Tweets Critical Of GOP Sens.

    Kara Westercamp, associate counsel to the president, who was nominated for the U.S. Court of International Trade, said Wednesday she regretted her past social media posts critical of Republican senators.

  • March 25, 2026

    FBT Gibbons Lands Public Finance Pros From BigLaw Firms

    FBT Gibbons LLP has added two public finance partners, one from Bracewell LLP in Houston and another from Barnes & Thornburg LLP in Columbus, Ohio.

  • March 25, 2026

    Mass. High Court Clarifies Anti-SLAPP Standard, Atty Fees

    The top appellate court in Massachusetts on Wednesday in separate opinions clarified the standard under which suits can be dismissed under the state's anti-strategic lawsuit against public participation or anti-SLAPP laws and reversed a lower court's decision to cut an attorney fee award in an anti-SLAPP case.

  • March 25, 2026

    Groups Say Miner, Nonprofit Forum Shop In Chuckwalla Suit

    A group of California tribes and conservation nonprofits is accusing a Michigan miner and the BlueRibbon Coalition of venue shopping in their challenge to the establishment of the Chuckwalla National Monument, arguing that the case should be transferred to a district "with an actual stake in the suit."

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Coaching Soccer Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Coaching youth soccer for my 7-year-old son's team has sharpened how I communicate with clients, prepare witnesses, work within teams and think about leadership, making me a more thoughtful and effective lawyer in many ways, says Joshua Holt at Smith Currie.

  • How Internal Reporting Could Benefit Antitrust Whistleblowing

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    As the Justice Department's new antitrust whistleblower program stands to raise questions over the interaction between rewards and corporate leniency, incentivizing internal reporting first could increase the likelihood that the Antitrust Division receives the high-quality evidence needed to successfully prosecute cartel cases, says Daniel Oakes at Axinn.

  • What Texas Anti-Boycott Ruling Means For ESG Landscape

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    A Texas federal court's recent ruling in American Sustainable Business Council v. Hegar that Texas' anti-ESG law is unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds will likely embolden legal challenges to similar laws in other states that have adopted fossil fuel boycott statutes, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • How To Wield The Clarity Act As A Litigation Defense Tool

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    The Clarity Act is being discussed as a future compliance statute, but for litigators it can be used as a present-day defense tool to strengthen fair‑notice framing, argue for forward‑looking remedies rather than punitive ones and reprice settlement leverage as statutory clarity approaches, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: The Human Element

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    Law school teaches you to quickly apply intellect and logic when handling a legal issue, but every fact pattern also involves a person, making the ability to balance expertise with empathy critical to the growth of relationships with clients, colleagues and adversaries, says Rachel Adcox at Adcox Strategies.

  • As Justices Mull Suncor, Cos. Face New Climate Suit Realities

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    Following the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to hear Suncor Energy v. Boulder County — its first case analyzing the litigation impact of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rescission of its 2009 greenhouse gas endangerment finding — companies must consider new preemption questions surrounding climate lawsuits after the rescission, say attorneys at Hollingsworth.

  • 7 Steps For Gov't Contractors In Post-IEEPA Tariff Landscape

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    In response to U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to strike down tariffs issued by the Trump administration under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, there are several actions federal contractors should take to preserve their place in any refund waterfall, and to manage audit, overpayment and False Claims Act risk, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • How DExit, Mandatory Arbitration Could Alter IPO Outlook

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    As companies continue to leave Delaware and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission begins allowing companies to implement mandatory arbitration provisions, these developments could have a major impact on the initial public offering, securities class action, and directors and officers insurance landscapes, says Walker Newell at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

  • How High Court Recast State Sovereign Immunity In Galette

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous ruling in Galette v. New Jersey Transit, asserting that the state-chartered transit agency has independent corporate personhood and sole obligation to pay judgments against it, turned on substance rather than form — and its analysis should be carefully reviewed in courthouses and statehouses, say attorneys at McCarter & English.

  • Get Smart: Navigating The Genius Act's Regulatory Gaps

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    While some recent Genius Act rulemaking has covered consumer protection issues within the stablecoin market, the context is generally narrow and the final outcome remains uncertain for financial institutions or companies in the evolving landscape, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

  • Opinion

    Ga. HOA Reform Bills Risk Undermining Local Governance

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    Lawmakers considering several bills in Georgia that would centralize regulation of homeowners associations should acknowledge that effective reform needs to protect homeowners’ rights while preserving the financial and governance structures that allow communities to function, says Julie Howard at NowackHoward.

  • Why Prediction Market Regulation Is At Major Inflection Point

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    As prediction markets experience tremendous growth and rapid mainstream adoption, regulators have begun to exercise enforcement authority to ensure market integrity and protect participants, though forthcoming guidance will shed light on how aggressively the agencies will police the fast-changing landscape, say attorneys at Latham.

  • How Cos. Should Prepare For NY RAISE Act Compliance

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    With the New York Responsible AI Safety and Education Act taking effect March 19, state regulators will expect subject artificial intelligence governance policies to understand whether appropriate safeguards and protocols are in place to prevent or mitigate discriminatory or adverse outcomes by frontier models, says Michael Paulino at Gordon Rees.

  • Compliance Takeaways Amid Increased Auto Finance Scrutiny

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    Recent supervisory focus on consumer protection in auto finance by agencies such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. provides meaningful signals regarding areas of heightened regulatory scrutiny for lenders, including data accuracy, AI risk management and vendor oversight, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.

  • The Benefits Of Choosing A Niche Practice In The AI Age

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    As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly accessible, lawyers with a niche practice may stand out as clients seek specialized judgment that automation cannot replicate, but it is important to choose a niche that is durable, engaging and a good personal fit, says Daniel Borneman at Lowenstein Sandler.

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