Public Policy

  • August 11, 2026

    Feds Say Snapper Suit Moot After Permits Were Nixed

    A lawsuit challenging expanded recreational red snapper fishing permits the National Marine Fisheries Service issued to four states is "dead in the water" now that the permits have been canceled, the U.S. Department of Commerce told a D.C. federal judge.

  • August 11, 2026

    Virginia Says Hemp Cos. Can't Block New THC Limits

    The day before a court hearing on a motion for a temporary restraining order, Virginia officials are urging a federal judge not to halt enforcement of the state's new THC potency caps, saying the hemp businesses' request to do so "rests on a distorted premise."

  • August 11, 2026

    DOJ Says Executive Privilege May Apply To Private Advisers

    The president's communications with outside advisers may be shielded by executive privilege, so long as they are confidential and relate to official decision-making, the U.S. Department of Justice said in its latest advisory opinion.

  • August 11, 2026

    911 Providers Push FCC For Uniform Next-Gen Framework

    Emergency response organizations are urging the FCC to let 911 authorities drive interoperability between state systems rather than impose stand-alone federal testing mandates.

  • August 11, 2026

    Ohio Justices Advance Possible Ashville Data Center Vote

    An emergency resolution the village of Ashville passed to support a data center project failed to spell out any actual emergency justification for the measure, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled, clearing a path for a possible voter referendum.

  • August 11, 2026

    Blue States Say OCC Overstepped On Escrow Interest Rules

    An Oregon-led coalition of nearly a dozen states sued Tuesday to overturn the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's recent rules that exempt national banks from state laws requiring the payment of interest on homeowners' escrow account funds.

  • August 11, 2026

    Hemp Co. Vireo Aims To Toss Ownership Contract Claims

    Hemp and THC beverage maker Vireo Growth Inc. and its affiliates are asking a Minnesota federal court to toss the bulk of a suit alleging that Vireo failed to deliver on a partnership and interest contract, saying the plaintiffs' claims are largely based on a contract that was never signed or executed.

  • August 11, 2026

    Trump's Capital One Suit Tests Vast Debanking Powers

    President Donald Trump's lawsuit against Capital One NA is a high-profile test of a bank's broad powers to unilaterally close accounts, an issue that has been "devastating" for companies, law firms and others booted from banks based on opaque compliance concerns, experts say.

  • August 11, 2026

    Ga. Justices Revive Personal Injury Suit Against City

    Georgia's justices revived a woman's trip-and-fall suit against the city of Savannah on Tuesday, saying an intermediate appellate court misapplied the test for determining whether a property owner is immune from liability under the state's Recreational Property Act and must reconsider the case.

  • August 10, 2026

    Spa Fights 9th Circ.'s 'Swinging Dicks' Order At High Court

    The Ninth Circuit's rejection of a spa's religious objections to serving transgender customers is incompatible with several major precedents, according to a U.S. Supreme Court petition filed Monday in litigation that soared in prominence when dozens of circuit judges decried a salacious dissent.

  • August 10, 2026

    HHS Denies Existence Of $150M Deal With Texas Firm To Rep Migrant Kids

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Monday that a small law firm in Houston had not yet been tapped for a sole-source grant worth up to $150 million to provide legal services to unaccompanied migrant children in government custody.

  • August 10, 2026

    Calif. Unveils Novel AI Cyber Defense Plan For Critical Assets

    California's governor on Monday rolled out a first-of-its-kind initiative to help state agencies, local governments and critical infrastructure providers use artificial intelligence to detect and respond to increasingly sophisticated cyberthreats and be better prepared for incidents fueled by emerging AI technologies.

  • August 10, 2026

    DOJ Says Revealing Epstein Survivor IDs Wasn't Intentional

    The U.S. Department of Justice, Google and xAI have all urged a California federal court to throw out claims the Justice Department published the identifying information of more than 100 survivors of Jeffrey Epstein, information that continues to be republished by Google and xAI, arguing that disclosure wasn't willful.

  • August 10, 2026

    Mass. Data Center's Expansion Paused For Now

    A Massachusetts state judge temporarily blocked a data center's expansion plans in Lowell on Monday, finding opponents of the project may be poised to succeed on the basis that they weren't given a full opportunity to be heard.

  • August 10, 2026

    Trump Revives Push To Reduce Kids' Vaccine Schedule

    Responding to a legal setback, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday recommending fewer vaccines for most children and calling on parents and doctors to space out the vaccines they do give.

  • August 10, 2026

    9th Circ. Won't Revisit Kids' Suit Over Trump's Energy EOs

    The full Ninth Circuit on Monday declined to rehear a group of youths' legal challenge of President Donald Trump's executive orders spurring the use of fossil fuels to meet the country's energy needs.

  • August 10, 2026

    9th Circ. Backs City Of Tacoma In Pension Liability Rate Fight

    A Ninth Circuit panel sided with the city of Tacoma, Washington, in a pension fund dispute Monday, holding that a lower court correctly upheld an arbitrator's reassessment of the city's liability after it withdrew from the Western Metal Industry Pension Fund following the expiration of underlying collective bargaining agreements.

  • August 10, 2026

    OCC Takes Swipe At BofA In Post-Jan. 6 Data Sharing Suit

    A top U.S. banking regulator has waded into a proposed class action accusing Bank of America NA of unlawfully sharing customer information with law enforcement after the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack, arguing the bank can't use a key regulatory safe harbor to exit the case.

  • August 10, 2026

    Trump Pick Confirmed To NCUA As Hauptman Joins PCAOB

    The National Credit Union Administration is poised for new leadership after senators on Friday confirmed Trump nominee John Crews to its board, whose acting Chairman Kyle Hauptman has departed for a seat on the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

  • August 10, 2026

    Clinics' Suit Over Fund Use Ballot Measure Gets Tossed

    A California federal judge tossed a suit that federally designated community health clinics filed to block the placement of an expenditure transparency reporting initiative on the November ballot, saying the clinics' claims aren't ripe for court review.

  • August 10, 2026

    AbbVie, Novartis Seek To Block Ill. 340B Drug Discount Law

    AbbVie Inc. and Novartis Pharmaceuticals are urging an Illinois federal court to block a state law that took effect Friday barring pharmaceutical manufacturers from trying to impose restrictions on 340B contract pharmacy arrangements, arguing in a pair of suits that the law is unconstitutional.

  • August 10, 2026

    Conn. Town Wins Cop's Medical Marijuana, Discrimination Suit

    A Connecticut town has prevailed against a former police officer's discrimination claims tied to a training injury, comments by colleagues, a pension application and subsequent medical marijuana use, with a state judge issuing wins as a matter of law to the municipality and its officials on all four counts alleged.

  • August 10, 2026

    FCC Urged To Tighten 'Covered List' Regs

    A foreign policy think tank has asked the Federal Communications Commission to adopt a more comprehensive set of regulations to bar devices containing parts that are made by entities on the agency's Covered List, which identifies equipment and services deemed national security risks.

  • August 10, 2026

    Michel, Startups Back Injunction Bid In Samsung Patent Case

    Former Chief Federal Circuit Judge Paul Michel, patent law professors and a group of startup companies on Monday backed Collision Communications Inc.'s bid for a permanent injunction on Samsung products found to infringe its patents, saying courts have misread U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

  • August 10, 2026

    Team Telecom Probing T-Mobile's Plan To Buy Fiber Co. Stake

    T-Mobile has a $2 billion plan to acquire a 50% stake in a joint venture that seeks to combine two fiber companies, but the FCC won't say yea or nay to the deal until Team Telecom — a multiagency group that vets transactions involving foreign individuals and U.S. telecom companies — finishes looking into the matter.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    Justices' Parole Ruling Degrades Green Card Holders' Rights

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Blanche v. Lau, holding that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers can parole a returning lawful permanent resident without clear and convincing evidence of a crime, weakens the statutory and practical protections Congress intended, say attorneys at Cyrus D. Mehta & Partners.

  • NEPA Reforms Can Fix Permitting Without Weakening Review

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    Recent National Environmental Policy Act reforms, in tandem with a Senate bill proposing faster permitting reviews and greater agency coordination, mark a long overdue move toward more efficient energy and infrastructure permitting that does not sacrifice environmental assessment, say attorneys at GableGotwals.

  • 2 Microsoft Matters Could Help Shape AI Antitrust Outlook

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    A pending federal court case and investigation focusing on Microsoft's allegedly anticompetitive conduct in the deployment of artificial intelligence tools are testing whether antitrust law can distinguish ordinary competition to supply the AI ecosystem from conduct that distorts how that competition unfolds, says Kylie Kim at Massey & Gail.

  • Preparing For Next Congress With Eye On Investigation Risk

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    Rod Rosenstein, Brian Whisler and Bruce Linskens at Baker McKenzie offer advice for organizations seeking to build a proactive response plan to potential congressional oversight as the election looms.

  • Asylum Ruling Signals Larger Separation Of Powers Battle

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Mullin v. Al Otro Lado that border officials may turn away asylum-seekers without inspection is part of a broader conversation about the reach of institutional safeguards that subject governmental authority to legal constraint, says Dree Collopy at American University's Washington College of Law.

  • Solar's Momentum At Mid-2026 Will Help It Overcome Snags

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    The rapid expansion of U.S. solar development in the first half of 2026 is likely to continue its pace, even amid ongoing shifts in federal trade policy and supply chain regulations, obstacles to permitting reform, and an increasing divide between states enacting policies to encourage or stymie project development, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • The Debanking Minefield: Navigating Fair Access In 2026

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    Federal regulators' recent elimination of reputational risk from bank supervision, alongside a growing patchwork of state fair access laws, is reshaping how banks make account and service decisions and ushering in a new compliance era requiring individualized, objective and risk-based access determinations, say attorneys at Spencer Fane.

  • Carbon Health Settlement Highlights Why Evidence Is Key

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    The California Attorney General's Office's first-of-its-kind settlement with Carbon Health, imposing penalties for alleged corporate practice of medicine violations, shows that friendly professional corporation challenges usually hinge not on the parties' management services agreement, but on whether the operational record matches it, says Ben Dubin at VC Expert Services.

  • What PE Practitioners Need To Know About New Del. ABC Act

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    Delaware's new Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors statute represents a structural shift in how companies backed by private equity can be wound down and provides a more streamlined tool for managing sponsor liability without the public visibility of a bankruptcy proceeding, says Evelyn Meltzer at Troutman Pepper.

  • How To Brace For A Potential Democratic Oversight Push

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    With the possibility of a shift in congressional control after the November midterm elections, companies and their general counsel should prepare now by mapping oversight exposure, reviewing government interactions, preserving records and developing coordinated communications strategies, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

  • Opinion

    Labor Contract Bill Would Introduce Sweeping Risks For Cos.

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    The House-approved Faster Labor Contracts Act would force rapid first-contract bargaining, subject businesses to binding arbitration over key workplace terms, and create major uncertainty for nonunion companies, making it crucial for employers to assess their exposure and mitigate the risks now, say attorneys at FBT Gibbons.

  • Fed Autonomy Rests On Narrow Exception After Justices Rule

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Trump v. Cook and Trump v. Slaughter expand presidential removal power while temporarily preserving the Federal Reserve’s independence, but there is uncertainty about which of the Fed’s authorities fall within the court’s narrow monetary-policy exception, says Keith Bradley at Squire Patton.

  • Assessing New Risks After The End Of The SEC's Gag Rule

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent rescission of its long-standing no‑deny gag rule marks a transition from a regime of enforced silence to one of strategic communication, meaning the question is no longer simply whether to settle, but how to manage the narrative that follows, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.

  • New Pipeline Repair Rules Shift Burden To Engineer Judgment

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    A proposal from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to allow operators more flexibility to make analysis-informed repair choices, rather than hew to long-standing prescriptive criteria, could make documenting the engineer’s decision-making process as important to compliance as the ultimate repair performed, says Ahuva Battams at Beatty & Wozniak.

  • Series

    Being A Magician Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The skills I've developed as a lifelong magician have translated directly into tangible benefits in the courtroom because performing magic and trying cases both live at the intersection of psychology, storytelling, timing and disciplined rehearsal, says Mark Dombroff at Fox Rothschild.

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