Public Policy

  • October 30, 2026

    Feds Want 5 Years For John Bolton In Classified Info Case

    Federal prosecutors say former National Security Adviser John Bolton should be sentenced to five years in prison after he pled guilty to charges he illegally retained classified national defense information, while Bolton says he should only be sentenced to probation, according to dueling memos filed Friday in Maryland federal court.

  • October 30, 2026

    OCC Has 'Serious' Concerns On Calif. Climate-Disclosure Law

    The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is lobbying California environmental regulators for a national bank carveout from their anticipated state climate-related disclosure rules, signaling it could otherwise seek to shield banks with its federal preemption powers.

  • October 30, 2026

    Binance's $6.3B Crypto Hack Puts Customer Trust To The Test

    The record $6.3 billion hack of Binance is likely to test customers' faith in the cryptocurrency giant, with its ability to repay losses and willingness to take steps to strengthen its cyber defenses poised to shape whether investors stick with the platform.

  • October 30, 2026

    Conn. Seeks $1.46M From Ex-Inmate Under Pay-To-Stay Law

    The State of Connecticut has sued a man who spent 18 years in prison, seeking $1.46 million under the state's "pay-to-stay" law.

  • October 30, 2026

    Split 9th Circ. Won't Let Feds Set Aside 20K Calif. Ballots

    A split Ninth Circuit panel on Friday denied the Trump administration's request for an order requiring California to set aside some 20,000 mail-in ballots it claims were sent to suspected noncitizens, saying the government hadn't shown that "such extraordinary relief, during an ongoing election, is clearly required by law."

  • October 30, 2026

    Chicago DOJ Faces Rare, Tough Moment In Misconduct Probe

    A federal judge's probe of misrepresentations surrounding the failed conspiracy prosecution of six protestors marks a rare, disappointing moment for Chicago's U.S. attorney's office, which reflects the office's politicization and a tough path to chart forward, experts told Law360.

  • October 30, 2026

    Custodia Urges High Court To Curb Fed 'Tyranny'

    Custodia Bank again urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Tenth Circuit ruling allowing regional Federal Reserve banks to deny eligible banks master accounts, saying only the high court can "put an end to the Fed's tyranny over financial innovation."

  • October 30, 2026

    Cruz Counsel Returns To FCC As Space Bureau Chief

    The Federal Communications Commission has named a former employee with experience in both the public and private sectors to head the agency's Space Bureau, after a stint as chief telecommunications counsel to the Senate Commerce Committee.

  • October 30, 2026

    6th Circ. Backs Gun Ban For Mentally Incompetent People

    A man who law enforcement believes was planning an attack on Fort Knox, Kentucky, can be disarmed without violating his Second Amendment rights, because there is a historical tradition of not allowing people with a mental illness to own firearms, the Sixth Circuit has ruled.

  • October 30, 2026

    CFTC Seeks To Block Utah Prediction Market Actions

    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is asking a Utah federal judge to temporarily block the state from pursuing enforcement actions against prediction market platforms, including Utah's active civil and criminal cases against Kalshi.

  • October 30, 2026

    Underdog Seeks To Halt Wash. Prediction Market Enforcement

    Prediction market Underdog urged a Washington federal judge Thursday to stop state authorities from enforcing gambling laws against the company until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on whether prediction markets are subject to state regulation or fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

  • October 30, 2026

    What To Know About The North Carolina Supreme Court Race

    The race for one seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court pits a Democratic incumbent looking to safeguard the party's dwindling faction on the court against a former Republican state representative who could increase the GOP's stronghold on the Tar Heel State's often contentious highest bench.

  • October 30, 2026

    FCC Mulls Order Overriding Calif. Carrier Rules

    The Federal Communications Commission is thinking about preempting California's carrier of last resort regulations to allow AT&T to continue with its copper landline retirement in the Golden State, something California regulators have refused to sign off on.

  • October 30, 2026

    Mich. High Court OKs Counting Ballots With Stub Errors

    With Election Day less than a week away, the Michigan Supreme Court denied a bid by the Republican National Committee to review a state appellate court opinion signing off on the state's procedure for counting absentee ballots with missing tabs or with numbers that do not match the number on their secrecy sleeves.

  • October 30, 2026

    States Say Trump Can't Limit Funding Freeze Injunction

    A coalition of 23 states and the District of Columbia urged a Rhode Island federal court Friday to let them continue challenging a now-rescinded Trump administration directive to "temporarily" withhold their federal funding, arguing a permanent injunction should still be on the table.

  • October 30, 2026

    Alaska US Attorney Escalates Probe Of Senate Race

    The U.S. attorney for Alaska said on Friday that new reporting claiming Mary Peltola's campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee were involved in recruiting a second Dan Sullivan to run for Senate prompted them to intensify an ongoing criminal investigation.

  • October 30, 2026

    Massachusetts And Idaho To Vote On Restricting Cannabis

    On Tuesday, voters in Massachusetts and Idaho will consider ballot measures that would roll back or restrict marijuana legalization, marking the first time that all statewide ballot questions on the issue of cannabis are geared toward fighting reform.

  • October 30, 2026

    Colo. Justices Keep Graduated Income Tax Measure On Ballot

    The Colorado Supreme Court Friday affirmed the dismissal of a man's complaint seeking to have an initiative to raise taxes on the state's wealthiest residents removed from the ballot due to some petition entities not registering their circulators properly with the state.

  • October 30, 2026

    Mich. AG Challenges Google Data Center Power Deal Approval

    Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel asked a state utility regulator Friday to reconsider its recent approval of DTE Electric Co.'s application to service a 1-gigawatt Google data center near Detroit, asserting that it should impose stronger ratepayer protections or vote the deal down.

  • October 30, 2026

    DEA Begins Registering Hundreds Of Marijuana Dispensaries

    The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration began registration of more than 900 state-licensed medical marijuana dispensaries across seven states, according to an announcement on Friday by the U.S. Department of Justice, which said applications for manufacturers and distributors would likely require additional review.

  • October 30, 2026

    Raoul, Fioretti Offer Contrasting Priorities For Ill. AG's Office

    After spending much of his second term challenging the Trump administration in court, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul is asking voters for another four years in office, facing Republican Bob Fioretti, who says that as the state's top lawyer he would devote more attention to violent crime and public corruption.

  • October 30, 2026

    NY Pot Business Program Not Preempted By CSA, Court Says

    A New York state appeals court ended a lawsuit by a group of anti-cannabis activists that challenged state funding for recreational marijuana dispensary buildouts, ruling the funding doesn't conflict with federal drug law.

  • October 30, 2026

    2nd Circ. To Hear CFTC At Kalshi, Conn. Oral Arguments

    The Second Circuit on Friday said it would permit the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to share its views on prediction market regulation at upcoming oral arguments between Kalshi and Connecticut regulators.

  • October 30, 2026

    AGs Seek Final OK For $29.6M Glenmark Price-Fixing Deal

    A coalition of 48 states and territories is asking a Connecticut federal judge to give his final approval to a $29.6 million settlement with Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. that would end claims that the drugmaker conspired with competitors to inflate prices and allocate markets for generic drugs.

  • October 30, 2026

    Kalshi Taps Clement For High Court Sports Contracts Fight

    Kalshi has hired appellate heavyweight Paul D. Clement of Clement & Murphy PLLC to represent the company in its potential U.S. Supreme Court battle over whether the prediction markets platform's sports wagering is subject to state or federal oversight.

Expert Analysis

  • FinCEN Scam Alerts Push Banks To Rethink AML Monitoring

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    Recent Financial Crimes Enforcement Network guidance on digital asset scams suggests that future anti-money laundering examinations may focus less on whether institutions detect the movement of criminal proceeds and more on whether they can identify fraud schemes before victims suffer catastrophic losses, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • How AI Could Help Judges Spot Their Own Biases

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    In close cases where there’s room for discretion, artificial intelligence could challenge judges’ implicit biases by running counterfactual tests at scale — but any judicial use of such tools would need guardrails, say Arnold Peter at Peter Law and Nancy Rapoport at University of Nevada.

  • Assessing Hidden Risk Of Administrative Agency Settlements

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    Though administrative resolutions of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigations may seem preferable to settled federal court actions, the possibility that private plaintiffs may use commission orders in follow-on litigation poses an extra risk, increasing the importance of negotiating the settlement's form and language, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • State Of Insurance: Q3 Notes From Pennsylvania

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    Pennsylvania courts issued several noteworthy insurance decisions last quarter, offering practical guidance for insurers evaluating public policy coverage disputes, drafting umbrella policy language and defending litigation involving claim file discoverability, says Todd Leon at Marshall Dennehey.

  • Risk Management Tips For Cos. Deploying Open-Weight AI

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    While many enterprises building out their artificial intelligence strategies are considering open-weight models, the Open-Source AI Leadership Act and accompanying congressional oversight letters to prominent tech and consumer companies signal that opportunity and legal risk are being discovered and evaluated on the same timeline, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • West Point Prof's Suit Tests Public Employee Speech Limits

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    A recent complaint in New York federal court alleging that West Point unlawfully terminated a professor who challenged a directive banning references to human causes of climate change could illuminate how academic freedom and public employee speech protections apply at a military academy, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • Compete Act Reinforces Calif.'s Antitrust Leadership Role

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    California's recent passage of the Compete Act, which expands the state's principal antitrust statute's focus on concerted multifirm conduct to business dealings between two or more firms, underscores California's leadership in state antitrust enforcement as attorneys general move to fill perceived gaps left by reduced federal oversight, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • NHTSA Vehicle Recorder Rule Highlights Crash Data Protocols

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    An amended rule from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will soon require vehicle event data recorders to capture more information about crashes — but to turn that data into evidence, attorneys, claims professionals and fleet managers must properly obtain and preserve it after an incident occurs, says Andrew Haling at Pathway Law.

  • What Expanded CMS Authority Means For Health Compliance

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    A recent delegation gives the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services independent authority to impose permissive exclusions, creating a more active federal enforcement system with heightened risks for healthcare organizations, says Jose Vela at Clark Hill.

  • Online Presence Complicates Defamation's Public Figure Test

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    Recent defamation cases demonstrate that online presence can affect how courts distinguish between public and private figures, so litigants should consider several questions when evaluating potential claims and defenses where public figure status may affect the litigation, such as whether there is a connection between the plaintiff's public activities and the alleged defamation, say attorneys at Brown Rudnick.

  • Navigating Criminal Liability Under Calif. Worker Safety Law

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    A new California law mandates agency investigation across several types of workplace safety incidents, eliminates prior discretion and imposes unprecedented parallel criminal investigations, but employers can take steps to manage the heightened enforcement risk, say Stacey Geis at Crowell & Moring and Karen Tynan at Ogletree.

  • Midterm Elections Outlook For Financial Services

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    A change in congressional control after the upcoming midterm elections could bring about slower regulatory approvals, intensified oversight and shifting enforcement priorities for the financial services industry, say attorneys at Covington.

  • New Manhattan DA Task Force Puts Antitrust In Its Crosshairs

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    The Manhattan District Attorney's Office's new corporate crime and antitrust task force is adding local criminal enforcement to a field long led by federal authorities, meaning companies need to account for potential parallel federal and state antitrust investigations when responding to misconduct, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Tort Liability When AI Goes Rogue: Product Liability

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    The recent Hugging Face cyberattack led by artificial intelligence agents, as well as reports from AI companies themselves, suggest that sometimes there may be no reasonable way to predict or prevent harm by rogue agentic AI — but product liability law could provide a remedy in some cases, says Donald Hawthorne at Carter Ledyard.

  • Where Species And Wetlands Reg Rollbacks Leave Cos.

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    The current administration's rollbacks of regulations covering waters of the U.S. and endangered species may ease permitting burdens and shorten approval timelines, but those potential benefits are tempered by state-level protections, likely legal challenges and possible reversals by a future administration, say attorneys at White & Case.

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