Public Policy

  • August 15, 2025

    Mass. Nonprofit To Pay $1M To Settle FCA Allegations

    A Massachusetts nonprofit will pay $1 million to settle allegations it violated the False Claims Act by securing a pandemic relief loan that it was never eligible for and was later forgiven, federal prosecutors said Friday.

  • August 15, 2025

    US Eyeing Tariffs, Port Levies Over Shipping Emissions Plan

    The U.S. government is considering tariffs, visa restrictions or port levies — and potentially a combination of those measures — in response to an intergovernmental plan to push the global shipping industry toward achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, a U.S. Department of State spokesperson told Law360.

  • August 15, 2025

    Madigan Ally Seeks Release Pending Bribery Appeal

    A lobbyist for Commonwealth Edison asked an Illinois federal judge to let him remain free on bond while he appeals a jury's finding that he and others conspired to bribe former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, saying the Seventh Circuit will consider multiple questions of law that could warrant a reversal, new trial or reduced sentence.

  • August 15, 2025

    AT&T Seeks Approval To Halt Copper Service After Thefts

    AT&T is asking the Federal Communications Commission for emergency authorization to suspend its copper-based phone legacy service for 22 customers outside Dallas, claiming that service outages were caused by a series of copper thefts from its facilities in June.

  • August 15, 2025

    'Creative' $2.5B DuPont Deal In NJ Is PFAS Road Map For AGs

    After six years of litigation between New Jersey and E.I. du Pont de Nemours, including a series of bench trials, the chemical manufacturer agreed to a deal that committed more than $2 billion to cleaning up the Garden State from "forever chemical" contamination at four of its facilities, in the largest environmental settlement ever achieved by a single state.

  • August 15, 2025

    NLRB Top Cop Says States Can't Act As Agency Stand-In

    The National Labor Relations Board's acting general counsel opined Friday that federal law blocks pending state proposals to take on the agency's labor relations oversight even when the board can't perform certain functions because it lacks a quorum.

  • August 15, 2025

    3rd Circ. Won't Rehear Pa. County's Dominion Contract Suit

    The Third Circuit has declined to revisit a ruling that a Pennsylvania county's commissioners lacked standing to sue Dominion Voting Systems over alleged security flaws during the 2020 election.

  • August 15, 2025

    Interim US Atty In NM Named To Acting Role, Sens. Protest

    The interim U.S. attorney for the District of New Mexico has been designated acting U.S. attorney — the latest in the Trump administration's efforts to bypass the Senate confirmation process and install the president's picks.

  • August 15, 2025

    FCC Warns Of Possible $2.4M Pirate Radio Fines In Ill., Conn.

    Someone is operating an illegal radio station on a residential street in Springfield, Illinois, and the Federal Communications Commission says it can and will fine the person responsible more than $2.4 million if they don't cut it out — and it's not the only one.

  • August 15, 2025

    Town Says TV Reporter Bypassing Own Blame For Broken Leg

    A television news reporter can't shirk the blame for his broken leg after he allegedly failed to exercise reasonable care while walking in a parking lot and got run over by a town worker, the town told North Carolina's highest court in seeking to undo a jury verdict favoring the reporter.

  • August 15, 2025

    Md.'s Digital Ad Tax Violates 1st Amendment, 4th Circ. Says

    A provision in Maryland's digital advertising tax that prevents tech companies from directly passing the tax on to customers is unconstitutional, the Fourth Circuit said Friday, ruling that it unfairly suppresses companies' ability to explain the tax to consumers.

  • August 15, 2025

    Judge Questions How New Jersey US Atty Ascended To Role

    A federal judge tasked with deciding if acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba was legitimately serving as New Jersey's top federal prosecutor was curious about how she ascended to the role in the first place, suggesting at one point during a hearing Friday that the government proposed a game of "musical chairs" designed to "shoehorn" her into the position.

  • August 15, 2025

    Truck Co. Asks Justices To Review Denial Of $268M Tax Break

    A Tennessee truck company seeking $268 million in excise tax exemptions for its refurbished tractors has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Sixth Circuit decision finding the company's tractors might not qualify because they may have previously been sold to tax-exempt buyers.

  • August 15, 2025

    Vape Cos. Urge 4th Circ. To Halt NC E-Cigarette Law

    A coalition of vaping interests is urging the Fourth Circuit to find that a North Carolina law prohibiting the sale of e-cigarettes not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is blocked by federal policy.

  • August 15, 2025

    Exec Snared In Now-Dismissed Eric Adams Case Avoids Jail

    A wealthy construction executive who admitted illegally funneling over $12,000 into the 2021 campaign of New York City Mayor Eric Adams avoided prison on Friday at a sentencing that followed the government's decision not to proceed against the mayor himself.

  • August 15, 2025

    La. Eyes Pause On Suit While Congress Mulls Future Of Hemp

    Louisiana officials on Thursday asked a federal judge to pause a lawsuit challenging the state's hemp law while Congress considers the future of federal hemp policy.

  • August 15, 2025

    Thoreau Stomping Grounds Still Public, Mass. Justices Rule

    Massachusetts' highest court on Friday said the public is entitled to use a section of an 18th century road once deemed "a paradise for walkers" by Henry David Thoreau, rejecting claims by Harvard University and other adjacent property owners that the road was made private decades ago.

  • August 15, 2025

    DC Circ. Paves Way For Trump Admin To Resume CFPB Cuts

    A D.C. Circuit panel on Friday tentatively cleared President Donald Trump's administration to carry out mass layoffs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, rejecting a lower-court hold on those efforts but giving time for groups representing consumers and agency workers to request an appeal.

  • August 15, 2025

    DC Sues Trump Over Police Takeover, Sanctuary Policies

    The District of Columbia sued President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday to halt the federal takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department, saying the executive branch lacks authority to exert operational control over the city's law enforcement.

  • August 14, 2025

    Ed. Dept. Effort To Bar School Diversity Programs Blocked

    A Maryland federal judge on Thursday held that the U.S. Department of Education violated the constitution and Administrative Procedure Act when it issued guidance that took aim at school diversity programs, ruling that the "law does not countenance the government's hasty and summary treatment of these significant issues."

  • August 14, 2025

    Banks Ask To Halt 'Unfair' Clock On CFPB Open Banking Rule

    Bank trade groups are asking a Kentucky federal judge to freeze looming compliance deadlines for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's contested open banking rule as the agency revamps the measure, while opposing fintech groups called on the White House to block banks from charging them fees for the kind of data-sharing the rule mandates.

  • August 14, 2025

    Fla. Judge Won't Require Snap To Heed Teen Social Media Law

    A Florida federal judge has rejected the state attorney general's bid to force Snap Inc. to comply with a new law that would limit the ability of teens to access the platform, holding that the state's challenge was unlikely to succeed in light of his prior ruling in a related case finding the measure to likely be unconstitutional. 

  • August 14, 2025

    NYC Fires Back At Co.'s Migrant Busing Suit

    New York City is coming out swinging against a lawsuit brought by a charter company that helped Texas bus thousands of migrants into the city and leave them there, saying that Roadrunner Charters wasn't injured by the city enforcing its own laws.

  • August 14, 2025

    Fla. Judge Warns Of Split Claims In Detention Center Suit

    A Florida federal judge on Thursday warned parties in a proposed class action over attorney access for individuals confined at the Everglades immigrant detention center that some claims in the lawsuit appear to belong in a neighboring district, saying that he could issue a ruling reflecting this determination. 

  • August 14, 2025

    ATF Says Ban On Buying Handguns Out Of State Is Valid

    The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives asked a Texas federal judge to shoot down a bid from a gun store to overturn the federal ban on citizens purchasing handguns outside their state of residence, saying the law has historic backing.

Expert Analysis

  • A Look At Trump Admin's Shifting Strategies To Curtail CFPB

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    The Trump administration has so far carried out its goal of minimizing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's authority and footprint via an individualized approach comprising rule rollbacks, litigation moves and administrative tools, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Evading DOJ Crosshairs As Data Security Open Season Starts

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    As the U.S. Department of Justice begins enforcing its new data security program — aimed at preventing foreign adversaries from accessing government-related and personal sensitive data — U.S. companies will need to understand the program’s contours and potential pitfalls to avoid potential civil liability or criminal scrutiny, say attorneys at Cohen & Gresser.

  • How Trump's Trade Policies Are Shaping Foreign Investment

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    Five months into the Trump administration, investors are beginning to see the concrete effects of the president’s America First Investment Policy as it presents new opportunities for clearing transactions more quickly, while sustaining risk aversion related to Chinese trade and potentially creating different political risks, say attorneys at Covington.

  • How Trump Admin Treasury Policies Are Reaching Banks

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    The Treasury Department has emerged as an important facilitator of the Trump administration's financial policies affecting banks, which are now facing deregulation domestically and the use of international economic authorities in cross-border trade and investment, say attorneys at Davis Polk.

  • Series

    My Opera And Baseball Careers Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Though participating in opera and the world of professional baseball often pulls me away from the office, my avocations improve my legal career by helping me perform under scrutiny, prioritize team success, and maintain joy and perspective at work, says Adam Unger at Herrick Feinstein.

  • FTC Focus: Enforcers Study AI Innovation And Entrenchment

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    The Federal Trade Commission and other regulators setting their sights on the burgeoning artificial intelligence ecosystem are considering how the government should approach innovation in tech markets that tend, almost inevitably, toward concentration, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • High Court ACA Ruling May Harm Preventative Care

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Kennedy v. Braidwood last week, ruling that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary has authority over an Affordable Care Act preventive care task force, risks harming the credibility of the task force and could open the door to politicians dictating clinical recommendations, says Michael Kolber at Manatt.

  • Policy Shifts Bring New Anti-Money Laundering Challenges

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    In the second half of 2025, the U.S. anti-money laundering regulatory landscape is poised for decisive shifts in enforcement priorities, compliance expectations and legislative developments — so investment advisers and other financial institutions should take steps to prepare for potential new obligations and areas of risk, say attorneys at Linklaters.

  • 8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work

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    Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.

  • Kousisis Concurrence Maps FCA Defense To Anti-DEI Suits

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    Justice Clarence Thomas' recent concurrence in Kousisis v. U.S. lays out how federal funding recipients could use the high standard for materiality in government fraud cases to fight the U.S. Justice Department’s threatened False Claims Act suits against payees deviating from the administration’s anti-DEI policies, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.

  • Despite Dark Clouds, Outlook For US Solar Has Bright Spots

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    While tariff, tax policy and bankruptcy news seemingly portends unending challenges for the U.S. solar energy industry, signs of continued growth in solar generating capacity and domestic solar manufacturing suggest that there is a path forward, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • Assessing New Changes To Texas Officer Exculpation Law

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    Consistent with Texas' recent modernization of its corporate law, the recently passed S.B. 2411 allows officer exculpation, streamlines certificate of formation amendments, authorizes representatives to act on shareholders' behalf in mergers and makes other changes aimed toward companies seeking a more codified, statutory model of corporate governance, say attorneys at Bracewell.

  • How Ending OFCCP Will Affect Affirmative Action Obligations

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    As President Donald Trump's administration plans to eliminate the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, which enforces federal contractor antidiscrimination compliance and affirmative action program obligations, contractors should consider the best compliance approaches available to them, especially given the False Claims Act implications, say attorneys at Ogletree.

  • Rising Enforcement Stakes For Pharma Telehealth Platforms

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    Two pieces of legislation recently introduced in Congress could transform the structure and promotion of telehealth arrangements as legislators increasingly scrutinize direct-to-consumer advertising platforms, potentially paving the way for a new U.S. Food and Drug Administration policy with bipartisan support, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients

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    Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.

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