Public Policy

  • June 26, 2025

    Wireless Cos. Ask FCC To Overturn Subsidy Rulings

    Two wireless companies have asked the Federal Communications Commission to reverse the Universal Service Administrative Co.'s decisions denying some of the federal subsidies the companies received for providing low-income households with broadband discounts.

  • June 26, 2025

    Md. Judge Won't Rush Abrego Garcia's Bid To Avoid Removal

    A federal judge declined Thursday to rule immediately on Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia's emergency request to bar the government from quickly deporting him once he's released from detention in his criminal case in Tennessee, expressing concern about her jurisdiction.

  • June 26, 2025

    GOP Sens. Aim To Finalize Crypto Market Bill By Sept. 30

    Republican senators pledged Thursday to finish their digital asset market structure legislation by the end of September, stressing the urgency of delivering on President Donald Trump's aim to make the U.S. the cryptocurrency capital of the world.

  • June 26, 2025

    10 Years Later: Obergefell Attorneys, In Their Own Words

    Marking the decade anniversary of the Obergefell opinion, Law360 asked the attorneys who argued the case at the Supreme Court what it was like being at the center of such a monumental case, how a ruling favoring same-sex marriage changed the legal landscape over the past decade, and the remaining legal appetite to overturn it.

  • June 26, 2025

    No Work Needed For Military Leave Pay, Wash. Justices Say

    Washington state public employees are entitled to paid military leave even if they are not scheduled to work because they are on active duty during an extended military leave of absence, the state's Supreme Court ruled Thursday, saying the state's paid military leave statute is unambiguous.

  • June 26, 2025

    DOJ Puts U. Of California Diversity Plans Under Microscope

    The U.S. Department of Justice's civil rights arm said Thursday it's launching an investigation into whether a University of California strategic plan prompted its campuses to discriminate against job applicants and employees based on their race and gender.

  • June 26, 2025

    Lawmakers Object To USPTO Reneging On Atlanta Hub Plan

    A group of federal lawmakers from Georgia has written to the acting director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to ask why it no longer plans to launch an outreach office in Atlanta and instead plans to open one at its current headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.

  • June 26, 2025

    Conn. Pushes For Emergency Halt To Tribal Land Trust Plan

    Connecticut is looking to halt the U.S. Interior Department's transfer of 80 acres into trust for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, arguing that without intervention, the federal government will interfere with the state's sovereign right to control its territory and its ability to enforce its laws.

  • June 26, 2025

    Trump Admin. Moves To Fast-Track Immigration Fines

    The U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Homeland Security released an interim final rule on Thursday aimed at making it easier to impose civil monetary penalties on noncitizens who enter the country without authorization or fail to voluntarily depart.

  • June 26, 2025

    Key DOL Nominees Clear US Senate Committee

    U.S. Department of Labor nominees cleared a U.S. Senate committee Thursday and are set to head to a vote in the full chamber, moving the agency closer to having a complete leadership team that is likely to proceed with policy changes.

  • June 26, 2025

    Seattle Jan. 6 Cops Again Ask Justices To Shield Identities

    Four current and former Seattle police officers who attended the Jan. 6, 2021, "Stop the Steal" insurrection have again asked the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency stay to prevent the public release of their names after an initial denial from the high court, saying the justices have two days to act.  

  • June 26, 2025

    Solar Co. Meyer Burger Can Tap $10M DIP To Fund Ch. 11 Sale

    Swiss solar panel maker Meyer Burger's U.S. unit secured a Delaware bankruptcy judge's interim approval Thursday for a $10 million debtor-in-possession loan as it looks to sell two manufacturing sites in Chapter 11.

  • June 26, 2025

    FERC Chair Aims To Stay Beyond His Term's End

    As his potential replacement awaits a U.S. Senate confirmation hearing, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Mark Christie said Thursday that he plans to oversee the agency's next monthly open meeting in July, but otherwise remained tight-lipped about his impending departure.

  • June 26, 2025

    Fair Housing Groups Argue HUD Wrongly Withheld Grants

    A pair of advocacy groups have sued the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in D.C. federal court over the Trump administration's purported move to withhold grants meant to help private nonprofits enforce housing laws.

  • June 26, 2025

    Ex-FDA Regulator Joins ArentFox Schiff's Pharma Practice

    ArentFox Schiff LLP has hired a career U.S. Food and Drug Administration compliance professional, whose oversight focused on ensuring pharmaceutical industry participants' compliance with drug supply chain rules and other governing regulations, as counsel in the firm's food, drug, medical device and cosmetic practice in Washington.

  • June 26, 2025

    ICE Agents Could Testify Anonymously In 1st Am. Trial

    A Massachusetts federal judge suggested Thursday he is open to allowing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to testify anonymously at an upcoming bench trial in a suit brought by academic groups challenging the detention of noncitizen students and faculty who express pro-Palestinian views.

  • June 26, 2025

    New FCC Republican Names Key Legal Staff

    Commissioner Olivia Trusty, who was sworn in this week as the newest member of the Federal Communications Commission, announced the hiring of several top aides Thursday.

  • June 26, 2025

    Trans Passport Applicants Say Gov't Flouting Court Order

    Members of two recently certified classes of transgender and nonbinary people seeking passports that reflect their gender identity accused the Trump administration of "slow-walking compliance" with a Massachusetts federal judge's order requiring the U.S. Department of State to resume issuing passports with the requested designations.

  • June 26, 2025

    Trump 2.0's First Group Of Judicial Noms Goes To Full Senate

    The first batch of judicial nominations from President Donald Trump's second term were sent to the Senate floor on Thursday, as they were voted out of committee along party lines.

  • June 26, 2025

    Maine To Hike Sales Tax On Cannabis, Add Streaming To Base

    Maine will raise its sales tax rate on adult-use cannabis and lower its excise tax rate on cannabis flower and add streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu to the sales tax base under budget legislation signed by the governor.

  • June 26, 2025

    Justices Say DHS Orders Final In Withholding-Removal Cases

    The U.S. Supreme Court held Thursday that the 30-day statutory deadline for challenging deportation orders in withholding of removal cases starts when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issues a final administrative review order, not when Board of Immigration Appeals proceedings conclude.

  • June 26, 2025

    Justices Allow Texas Death Row Inmate's DNA Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday said a Texas death row inmate can sue state officials in federal court to try to obtain post-conviction DNA testing, a decision that could open the door to broader challenges to how Texas provides access to forensic evidence after conviction.

  • June 26, 2025

    Justices Say SC Medicaid Patient Can't Sue To Pick Provider

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a patient can't challenge South Carolina's decision to kick Planned Parenthood from the state Medicaid program because it includes abortions among its services.

  • June 25, 2025

    Fed Rolls Out Plan To Relax Leverage Rule For Biggest Banks

    The Federal Reserve on Wednesday kicked off an effort to ease a key leverage requirement for the biggest U.S. banks, advancing a highly anticipated proposal that officials said could free up bank balance-sheet capacity to bolster the U.S. Treasury market. 

  • June 25, 2025

    Trump's DOL Blocked From Slashing Job Corps Program

    A New York federal judge Wednesday issued a nationwide preliminary injunction prohibiting the U.S. Department of Labor from "suspending" most of the Job Corps program, ruling that Congress created the program and funded it, and the "DOL is not free to do as it pleases."

Expert Analysis

  • Only Certainty About FAR Reform Order Is Its Uncertainty

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    The president’s recent order overhauling the Federal Acquisition Regulation, which both contractors and agencies rely on to ensure predictability and consistency in federal procurement, lacks key details about its implementation, which will likely eliminate many safeguards that ensure contractors are treated fairly and that procurements are awarded in a reasonable manner, say attorneys at Miles & Stockbridge.

  • Maintaining Legal Compliance For GenAI In Life Sciences

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    As companies continue to implement generative artificial intelligence to enhance all phases of drug discovery, they must remain mindful of legal, regulatory and practical considerations as best practices in this space emerge and evolve, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • Assessing Jurisdictional Issues In 2nd Circ. Bank Audi Case

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    The Second Circuit's reasoning last month in Raad v. Bank Audi that the exercise of personal jurisdiction must be based on conduct taking place within the jurisdiction reminds foreign financial institutions to continually monitor how plaintiffs are advocating for an expansive view of personal jurisdiction in the U.S., say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • Series

    Teaching Business Law Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Teaching business law to college students has rekindled my sense of purpose as a lawyer — I am more mindful of the importance of the rule of law and the benefits of our common law system, which helps me maintain a clearer perspective on work, says David Feldman at Feldman Legal Advisors.

  • Enviro Justice Efforts After Trump's Disparate Impact Order

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    The Trump administration's recent executive order directing the U.S. Department of Justice to unwind disparate impact regulations may end some Biden-era environmental justice initiatives — but it will not end all efforts, whether by state or federal regulators or private litigants, to address issues in environmentally overburdened communities, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • What Disparate Impact Order Means For Insurers' AI Use

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    A recent executive order seeking to bar disparate impact theory conveys a meaningful policy shift, but does not alter the legal status of federal antidiscrimination law or enforceability of state laws, such as those holding insurers accountable for using artificial intelligence in a nondiscriminatory matter, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • Choosing A Road To Autonomous Vehicle Compliance

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    As autonomous vehicle manufacturers navigate the complex U.S. regulatory landscape, they may opt for different approaches to following federal, state and local rules and laws, as they balance the tradeoffs between innovation, compliance and speed of deployment, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Navigating The Expanding Frontier Of Premerger Notice Laws

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    Washington's newly enacted law requiring premerger notification to state enforcers builds upon a growing trend of state scrutiny into transactions in the healthcare sector and beyond, and may inspire other states to enact similar legislation, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Evolving Federal Rules Pose Further Obstacles To NY LLC Act

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    Following the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's recent changes to beneficial ownership information reporting under the federal Corporate Transparency Act — dramatically reducing the number of companies required to make disclosures — the utility of New York's LLC Transparency Act becomes less apparent, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • The Risks Of Trump's Plan To Fast-Track Deregulation

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    A recent memorandum issued by President Donald Trump directing the repeal of so-called unlawful regulations, and instructing that agencies invoke the good cause exception under the Administrative Procedure Act, signals a potentially far-reaching deregulatory strategy under the guise of legal compliance, say attorneys at GableGotwals.

  • Deregulation Memo Presents Risks, Opportunities For Cos.

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    A recent Trump administration memo providing direction to agencies tasked with rescinding regulations under an earlier executive order — without undergoing the typical notice-and-review process — will likely create much uncertainty for businesses, though they may be able to engage with agencies to shape the regulatory agenda, say attorneys at Blank Rome.

  • Action Steps To Prepare For Ramped-Up Export Enforcement

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    In light of recent Bureau of Industry and Security actions and comments, companies, particularly those with any connection to China, should consider four concrete steps to shore up their compliance programs given the administration's increasingly aggressive approach to export enforcement, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Mastering Discovery

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    The discovery process and the rules that govern it are often absent from law school curricula, but developing a solid grasp of the particulars can give any new attorney a leg up in their practice, says Jordan Davies at Knowles Gallant.

  • DOJ Signals Major Shift In White Collar Enforcement Priorities

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    In a speech on Monday, an official outlined key revisions to the U.S. Department of Justice’s voluntary self-disclosure, corporate monitorship and whistleblower program policies, marking a meaningful change in the white collar enforcement landscape, and offering companies clearer incentives and guardrails, say attorneys at McGuireWoods.

  • Understanding Compliance Concerns With NY Severance Bill

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    New York's No Severance Ultimatums Act, if enacted, could overhaul how employers manage employee separations, but employers should be mindful that the bill's language introduces ambiguities and raises compliance concerns, say attorneys at Norris McLaughlin.

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