Public Policy

  • August 01, 2025

    Senate Dem Pitches Way To Keep TikTok Online Without Sale

    U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., is floating a proposal that would require TikTok to be transparent about how it displays content and limit foreign access to user data in order to allow the app to escape a legislative mandate to cut ties with its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or face a nationwide ban.

  • August 01, 2025

    Texas Bill Seeks Permanent Limit For Property Tax Increases

    Texas would establish a permanent cap on increases in the appraised value of real property other than residence homesteads for property tax purposes if voters approve a proposed constitutional amendment authorizing the cap, as part of legislation filed in the state House of Representatives.

  • August 01, 2025

    Judge Says NJ Comptroller Can Subpoena Bistate Agency

    A New Jersey federal judge tossed the Delaware River Port Authority's suit claiming that the Garden State's comptroller unlawfully attempted to force it to comply with two investigative subpoenas, ruling that there is nothing to bar the comptroller from unilaterally issuing subpoenas to the New Jersey-Pennsylvania bistate transit agency.

  • August 01, 2025

    ECJ Strikes Down Italy's Tax On Cross-Border Dividends

    The Italian government breached the European Union's double-taxation protections for an Italian bank by taxing the bank's cross-border dividends via two separate levies, the EU's top court ruled Friday.

  • August 01, 2025

    Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

    The U.S. Department of Justice abandoned its challenge of a corporate travel management deal, while lawmakers are calling for scrutiny of the agency's recent decision to settle a different case, and the Federal Trade Commission agreed to nix the requirements placed on a pair of oil and gas deals.

  • August 01, 2025

    Feds Won't Retry Madigan Co-Defendant After Mistrial

    Prosecutors asked an Illinois federal judge on Friday to dismiss charges against ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan's longtime confidant Michael McClain after a jury was unable to reach a decision on the counts against McClain when the pair were tried together.

  • August 01, 2025

    FCC Lets Univ. Use CBRS For Salt Lake City Research Tool

    The University of Utah has received special dispensation to use spectrum set aside for the Citizens Broadband Radio Service for its "valuable, innovative research," the Federal Communications Commission revealed.

  • August 01, 2025

    6th Circ. Upholds Michigan Ban On Drone-Assisted Hunting

    The Sixth Circuit upheld a Michigan law that prohibits the use of drones for hunting, finding the state has a compelling reason to manage wildlife hunts despite the free speech objections lodged by the plaintiffs.

  • August 01, 2025

    FCC Asked To Narrow Undersea Cable Rule's License DQs

    The Federal Communications Commission might have been "excessively, and perhaps unintentionally, stringent" when it was drafting the new rules for undersea cables, a trade group told the agency, particularly when it comes to character disqualifications.

  • August 01, 2025

    EPA Beats Coolant Cos.' Challenge To HFC Regs

    The D.C. Circuit on Friday rejected refrigerant companies' challenges to a law requiring the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to phase down the use of hydrofluorocarbons and said the cap-and-trade program implementing the law was based on sound methodology.

  • August 01, 2025

    NY Law Mandating Judicial Fine Declared Unconstitutional

    A New York state appeals court has declared unconstitutional a statute that mandates a judge forfeit $1,000 to a plaintiff if the judge refuses to issue a writ of habeas corpus.

  • August 01, 2025

    Mich. Judge Tosses MSU Students' $99 Class Fee Complaint

    A Michigan federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by two students claiming their Michigan State University professor should be liable for charging them a $99 course fee that she used to fund her political activism, saying the students were given a refund and the fee was not "compelled speech."

  • August 01, 2025

    Ex-Copyright Chief Appeals Denial Of Reinstatement Bid

    The former head of the U.S. Copyright Office will appeal a D.C. federal judge's denial of her request to be immediately reinstated to her former position after she was fired by President Donald Trump while her suit remains pending.

  • August 01, 2025

    Politics And Privacy Laws Collide 5 Years After Salas Shooting

    Five years after a disgruntled litigant killed a New Jersey federal judge's son at their home, experts and judges disagree over whether the judicial privacy laws enacted following the shooting are doing much to protect jurists, while political leaders' heated rhetoric makes for an even more dangerous landscape for judges.

  • August 01, 2025

    Banking TCPA Rule Changes Go Too Far, Consumer Org. Says

    Consumer advocates urged the Federal Communications Commission to reject changes floated by banking groups to rules for revoking consumer consent to receive calls and texts, saying they would cause confusion and make it harder to block unwanted contacts.

  • August 01, 2025

    US Prices Set To Rise With 18.3% Average Tariff, Report Says

    Prices of food, vehicles, computers and clothing are expected to rise significantly in the coming years as the median household's income takes a $2,200 hit under the latest assortment of U.S. tariffs, which bring the average rate to 18.3%, a Yale research center said Friday.

  • August 01, 2025

    Developer Group Wants Pittsburgh Inclusionary Zoning On Ice

    A Pittsburgh trade group has asked a Pennsylvania federal court to temporarily bar enforcement of a zoning ordinance mandating that large multifamily developments include affordable units, after the city's planning department demanded that a member comply with the ordinance.

  • August 01, 2025

    NC Legislation Highlights Of The 1st Half Of 2025

    The North Carolina General Assembly has pushed through another round of hurricane relief aid to help the western swath of the state while lawmakers remain in talks to repeal a long-standing healthcare law that critics say hampers competition. Here are five North Carolina bills from the year's first half that saw the governor's stamp of approval or remain up for debate.

  • August 01, 2025

    Hyundai, Kia Can't Get Rehearing On Cities' Car Theft MDL

    The Ninth Circuit won't hold an en banc rehearing on an appeal from Hyundai Motors America Inc. and Kia America Inc. seeking to dismiss negligence claims by cities in three of seven states in multidistrict litigation over their alleged failure to install anti-theft technology in millions of vehicles.

  • July 31, 2025

    White House Unveils New Tariffs On Dozens Of Countries

    President Donald Trump on Thursday announced a slew of new tariffs on nearly 70 countries that range from roughly 10% to 40%, unveiling the tariffs a day before his pause on worldwide "reciprocal" tariffs was set to expire Friday.

  • July 31, 2025

    3 DOJ Attys Face Bar Complaints Over CFPB Representation

    A legal watchdog group Thursday lodged bar complaints against a trio of U.S. Department of Justice lawyers, accusing them of making misleading and false statements in court filings while defending the Trump administration in litigation over its attempt to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

  • July 31, 2025

    Justices Told State Med Mal Laws Fly In Federal Court

    A Delaware federal court must apply a state statute requiring an expert affidavit in all medical malpractice suits, a hospital defendant told the U.S. Supreme Court, as key aspects of the Delaware law and similar statutes in 28 other states "should not be checked at the federal courthouse doors."

  • July 31, 2025

    CBD Store Sues DC Officials Over Cannabinoid Policy

    A D.C. hemp retailer whose shop was raided and padlocked by city law enforcement is seeking to overturn a local statute that it says conflates illicit marijuana with hemp made legal under the 2018 Farm Bill, saying in its federal complaint that the district has violated the dormant commerce clause.

  • July 31, 2025

    11th Circ. Says 'Urban Cowboy' Can Amend Taken Horses Suit

    A divided Eleventh Circuit on Thursday granted a Georgia man whose horses were seized by Atlanta-area authorities a fresh shot at amending a lawsuit over the seizure, with the majority saying the lower court wrongly found that amending the suit was futile under the Fifth Amendment's takings clause.

  • July 31, 2025

    SEC's Atkins Launches 'Project Crypto' To Overhaul Policy

    U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins said Thursday that he's mobilized staff across the agency to craft rules and exemptions for digital assets, a plan aimed at bringing the crypto industry back onshore with a recent set of White House recommendations serving as the "blueprint."

Expert Analysis

  • Justices' NRC Ruling Raises New Regulatory Questions

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    In Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court avoided ruling on the NRC's authority to license private, temporary nuclear waste storage facilities — and this failure to reach the merits question creates new regulatory uncertainty where none had existed for decades, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • 3 Judicial Approaches To Applying Loper Bright, 1 Year Later

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    In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in its Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, a few patterns have emerged in lower courts’ application of the precedent to determine whether agency actions are lawful, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

  • Navigating Antitrust Risks When Responding To Tariffs

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    Companies should assess competitive perils, implement compliance safeguards and document independent decision-making as they consider their responses to recent tariff pressures, say attorneys at White & Case.

  • Breaking Down Part 3 Of The Copyright Office's AI Report

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    On May 9, the U.S. Copyright Office published a prepublication version of the third and final part of its three-part report on artificial intelligence, offering key insights on the unauthorized use of copyrighted material by AI systems, says Courtney Sarnow at CM Law.

  • 8 Insurer Takeaways From Sweeping Georgia Tort Reform

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    Insurers should take note of several critical components of Georgia's tort litigation overhaul — including limitations on damages anchoring, procedural rules governing dismissals, and liability standards in negligent security cases — and adapt claims-handling strategies to reduce litigation risk, says Lucy Aquino at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Bill Leaves Renewable Cos. In Dark On Farmland Reporting

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    A U.S. Senate bill to update disclosure requirements for foreign control of U.S. farmland does not provide much-needed guidance on how to report renewable energy development on agricultural property, leaving significant compliance risks for project developers, say attorneys at Hodgson Russ.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From US Rep. To Boutique Firm

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    My transition from serving as a member of Congress to becoming a partner at a boutique firm has been remarkably smooth, in part because I never stopped exercising my legal muscles, maintained relationships with my former colleagues and set the right tone at the outset, says Mondaire Jones at Friedman Kaplan.

  • Opinion

    FCPA Shift Is A Good Start, But There's More DOJ Should Do

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s new Foreign Corrupt Practices Act guidelines bring a needed course correction amid overexpansive enforcement, but there’s more the DOJ can do to provide additional clarity and predictability for global companies, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • Opinion

    IRS Should Work With Industry On Microcaptive Regs

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    The IRS should engage with microcaptive insurance owners to develop better regulations on these arrangements or risk the emergence of common law guidance as taxpayers with legitimate programs seek relief in the federal courts, says Dustin Carlson at SRA 831(b) Admin.

  • How Providers Can Brace For Drug Pricing Policy Changes

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    Though it's uncertain which provisions of the Trump administration's executive order aimed at addressing prescription drug costs will eventually be implemented, stakeholders can reduce potential negative outcomes by understanding pathways that could be used to effectuate the order's directives, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Comparing New Neural Data Privacy Laws In 4 States

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    Although no federal law yet addresses neural privacy comprehensively, the combined effect of recent state laws in Colorado, California, Montana and Connecticut is already shaping the regulatory future, but a multistate compliance strategy has quickly become a gating item for those experimenting with neuro-enabled workplace tools, says Kristen Mathews at Cooley.

  • 2025's First Half Brings Regulatory Detours For Fintechs

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    The first half of the year has resulted in a bifurcated regulatory environment for fintechs, featuring narrowed enforcement in some areas, heightened scrutiny in others and a policy window that, with proper compliance, offers meaningful opportunities for innovation, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Debunking 4 Misconceptions Around Texas' IV Therapy Law

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    Despite industry confusion, an IV therapy law enacted in Texas last week may actually be the most business-friendly regulatory development the medical spa industry has seen in recent years, says Keith Lefkowitz at Hendershot Cowart.

  • A Pattern Emerges In Justices' Evaluation Of Veteran Statute

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    The recent Soto v. U.S. decision that the statute of limitations for certain military-related claims does not apply to combat-related special compensation exemplifies the U.S. Supreme Court's view, emerging in two other recent opinions, that it is a reviewing court's obligation to determine the best interpretation of the language used by Congress, says attorney Kenneth Carpenter.

  • Opinion

    Senate's 41% Litigation Finance Tax Would Hurt Legal System

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    The Senate’s latest version of the Big Beautiful Bill Act would impose a 41% tax on the litigation finance industry, but the tax is totally disconnected from the concerns it purports to address, and it would set the country back to a time when small plaintiffs had little recourse against big defendants, says Anthony Sebok at Cardozo School of Law.

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