Public Policy

  • October 29, 2026

    1st Circ. Seeks Mass. Justices' Input On USAA Rate Row

    The First Circuit asked Massachusetts' highest court to weigh in on a suit by service members alleging USAA improperly considered their military pay grade when issuing auto insurance policies, finding the dispute implicates questions of state law.

  • October 29, 2026

    Gov't Urges 11th Circ. To Lift Sanctions Over Trump-IRS Deal

    A federal judge's order barring President Donald Trump, the IRS and the U.S. Treasury Department from citing the agreement made to settle his $10 billion suit against the tax agency is unsupportable and should be reversed, the government told the Eleventh Circuit.

  • October 29, 2026

    Ex-ComEd CEO, Lobbyist Signal Plea Deal Over Retrial

    Attorneys for Commonwealth Edison's former CEO and a longtime lobbyist told an Illinois federal judge on Thursday that they are in talks with the government about plea deals rather than an anticipated retrial next year on charges that they conspired to win former Illinois Speaker Michael Madigan's legislative favor in exchange for do-nothing jobs for his allies.

  • October 29, 2026

    NLRB Urges 7th Circ. To Ponder Injunction Harm Burden

    The National Labor Relations Board urged the full Seventh Circuit to rethink a ruling that raised the bar for the agency to win injunctions, saying the panel's merits conclusions and its take on what constitutes irreparable harm to workers' labor rights conflict with U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

  • October 29, 2026

    Judge Rejects Extra Hurdle For Medicaid Frailty Exemption

    A Trump administration bid to create additional barriers to Medicaid eligibility was rejected Thursday by a Massachusetts federal judge, who ruled that Congress did not delegate to the executive branch the task of deciding who is too medically frail to meet work requirements.

  • October 29, 2026

    Split 4th Circ. Stays Man's Removal Over Competency Issue

    The Fourth Circuit has extended a stay preventing the removal of a self-represented noncitizen detainee who said his "mental condition" prevented him from fully arguing his case to an immigration judge, finding that the full administrative record is needed.

  • October 29, 2026

    Pa. Court OKs Unemployment Comp Despite Off-Duty Lie

    A Pennsylvania nurse didn't commit "willful misconduct" by refusing to answer questions about a coworker visiting her while he was on duty and she was off duty, so the nurse remained eligible to collect unemployment benefits after she was fired, a state appellate court ruled Wednesday.

  • October 29, 2026

    CFPB Faces 2nd Suit Over Bid To 'Erase' Fair Lending Rules

    One of the nation's oldest civil rights groups Thursday sued to overturn the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent rollback of longstanding federal protections against lending discrimination, widening the ongoing legal battle against the controversial rule change.

  • October 29, 2026

    EU Pushes China For More Fair Trade Commitments

    The European Parliament's Committee on International Trade spent a three-day trip to China pushing for an expansion of a trade framework beyond a recently reached mutual understanding on hybrid vehicles, among other concerns, the committee said Thursday.

  • October 29, 2026

    9th Circ. Ruling Dooms Sports Betting Suit, Washington Says

    Prediction market operator Underdog's contention that its sports-based event contracts are not subject to Washington state gambling laws is doomed under a recent Ninth Circuit ruling holding otherwise, the Evergreen State told a Washington federal judge.

  • October 29, 2026

    China Slams US Ban On 3 Biotech Cos. Over Forced Labor

    The Chinese government Thursday condemned the U.S.' recent addition of three new entities in the biotechnology sector to its blacklist of companies from which goods are banned from entering the U.S. due to their presumed use of forced labor.

  • October 29, 2026

    EU Head Affirms Ties With Canada As Member Talks Open

    European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday reaffirmed the European Union's commitment to strengthening its ties with Canada at the opening of a summit to consider whether to adopt Canada as the EU's first-ever associate member.

  • October 29, 2026

    Trump Admin Appeals Block Of DC Golf Course Work

    The Trump administration is appealing a D.C. federal judge's order that stopped further tree removals at East Potomac Golf Course and required advance notice before irreparable changes are made to the facility.

  • October 29, 2026

    5th Circ. Will Review Texas Content-Filtering Law Ruling

    The Fifth Circuit has granted Texas' request for an en banc rehearing of a July panel opinion that partly upheld a block on the state's new law requiring companies to filter content for underage users.

  • October 29, 2026

    Groups Drop Suit Over Trump's DEI Mandate For Contractors

    A coalition of organizations ended their challenge of an executive order from President Donald Trump that requires government contractors to disavow "racially discriminatory DEI activities," stating that while they lost their bid to freeze the order, they gained crucial clarity from the court about the directive's scope.

  • October 29, 2026

    DOL Finalizes Pharmacy Benefit Manager Fee Disclosure Rule

    The U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits arm unveiled a final rule Thursday that requires pharmacy benefit managers — which act as intermediaries between drugmakers, pharmacies and insurers — to make new disclosures on their fees and compensation to employer-sponsored group health plans.

  • October 28, 2026

    Democracy 'At Stake': Feds Can't Set Aside 20K Calif. Ballots

    A California federal judge on Wednesday rejected the Trump administration's request to require the state to set aside mail-in ballots for some 20,000 voters the federal government contends are "likely" noncitizens, saying it would "wreak havoc" on the midterm elections that are already underway.

  • October 28, 2026

    RNC Files New Suit Over FCC's Campaign Ad Rates

    The Republican National Committee, Republican Party of Texas and several Republican candidates Wednesday filed a fresh suit over the Federal Communications Commission's longtime requirement that broadcasters charge the lowest political ad rates for committees tied to candidates, calling it "a drag on First Amendment freedoms."

  • October 28, 2026

    CFTC's Selig Vows 'Grounded' Oversight Of Agentic Finance

    U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Michael Selig said Wednesday that his agency plans to take a "grounded" approach to agentic finance that's also mindful of the risks it poses and courted industry feedback on how to address the rise of artificial intelligence in derivative markets.

  • October 28, 2026

    Landlord's Suit Over Seattle Tenant Laws Revived On Appeal

    A Washington Court of Appeals panel has reinstated a real estate company's challenge to a string of Seattle landlord-tenant laws, finding the firm has adequately detailed how the contested ordinances stunted its property rights as the owner of a downtown affordable housing development.

  • October 28, 2026

    Product Liability's Regulatory & Legislative Recap So Far

    Over the summer and early fall, lawmakers proposed measures aimed at putting safeguards around the rapidly growing industry of artificial intelligence, as public concerns over its safety climb in tandem. The new nominee to head the U.S. Food and Drug Administration also faced sharp queries over her views on vaccines and birth control.

  • October 28, 2026

    Eagle Hunt Blocked Over NM Tribes' Religious Harm Fears

    A New Mexico federal judge has for now blocked the U.S. government from issuing special permits that would allow the Pueblo of Jemez tribe to kill one bald or golden eagle within the Valles Caldera National Preserve, ruling Wednesday that such a "taking" would burden other pueblos.

  • October 28, 2026

    TB Outbreak In Wash. Prisons Yields $52M Damages Verdict

    Washington jurors returned a $52 million verdict in favor of 23 plaintiffs who accused the state's Department of Corrections of allowing an active tuberculosis outbreak to fester and spread to hundreds of people at its prison facilities over nearly two years.

  • October 28, 2026

    PayPal's Financial Offerings Are Under Fresh FTC Scrutiny

    PayPal has disclosed that it is facing a Federal Trade Commission investigation into its financial products and services, including marketing, fees and purchase protections.

  • October 28, 2026

    CFPB Audit Flags Cybersecurity Gaps Amid Staff Departures

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has failed to promptly fix serious cyber weaknesses and consistently track data in its possession as staffing losses have hampered the agency's ability to safeguard its systems, according to a federal watchdog audit released Wednesday.

Expert Analysis

  • Negotiating The Scope Of The Stablecoin Customer ID Rule

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    Though comments on bank regulators’ proposed rule for stablecoin issuers under the Genius Act generally agree that oversight would help prevent illicit activity, agencies must reconcile disagreement over whether to extend customer identification requirements from issuers' primary-market relationships to secondary-markets activity, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • How To Improve Hiring Transparency Amid Ghost Job Scrutiny

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    Recent regulatory and state law scrutiny of ghost job postings for roles that don't exist or aren't being filled signals a shift toward hiring transparency, and employers that fail to adapt risk enforcement actions, consumer protection claims and financial penalties, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • FTC Push May Create Dual Origin-Claim Risks For Contractors

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    Recent Federal Trade Commission actions involving Made in USA advertising requirements offer a preview of enforcement themes that may impose dual compliance burdens on government contractors that are also subject to Federal Acquisition Regulation Buy American restrictions, says Amy Hoang at Seyfarth.

  • Series

    Playing Bid Whist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    As a child, I viewed bid whist as a family tradition and a source of friendly card game competition, but as a lawyer, I see it as a tool that has helped me cultivate skills like communication, teamwork, risk assessment and composure, says Keyonn Pope at Riley Safer.

  • FCC Robotics Restrictions Raise AI Compliance Risks

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    A recent "covered list" update from the Federal Communications Commission places restrictions on foreign-produced advanced robotic devices’ ability to obtain new authorizations, creating a framework that is poorly suited to continuous artificial intelligence updates, and raising several transactional and contractual challenges, says Kim Larsen at Stinson.

  • Navigating Employer Obligations Under NY Personnel File Law

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    In light of a New York law that will soon give private sector employees the right to review and comment on their personnel files, employers should understand where their exposure lies and be mindful of where records are stored, and for how long, among other things, says attorney Jason Tenenbaum.

  • Banks Should Stay Disciplined As OCC, FDIC Ease Oversight

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    Despite a newly issued Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. rule that narrows the range of conduct that regulators may require institutions to remediate, prudent risk management suggests banks should still document how they arrive at their risk determinations, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Tracking Trends In State-Level Regulatory Enforcement

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    State-level enforcement now increasingly involves antitrust, artificial intelligence and data privacy issues, and the key for organizations to reducing risk is having the ability to respond across governance, public affairs, discovery and remediation in multiple states simultaneously, say consultants at FTI Consulting.

  • Opinion

    The Time Is Right To Simplify Overlapping Broker-Dealer Regs

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    While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has made an important start to simplifying its rules, legislators should follow and expand on the commission's example by reexamining and removing the unnecessary overlap between SEC, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and state broker-dealer regulations, says Howard Spindel at Integrated Solutions.

  • What Cos. Must Know As Fast Energy Permitting Gains Steam

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    A recently approved geothermal project in Nevada may be the first authorized by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management under a new 14-day expedited environmental review process — but project developers may find that a more thorough environmental analysis will provide better protection against litigation challenges, says Jill Yung at Allen Matkins.

  • Opinion

    Calif. Bill Goes Too Far In Trying To Regulate Attorney AI Use

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    California’s first-in-the-nation act regulating how attorneys and arbitrators use generative artificial intelligence will likely soon become law, but read broadly, the provisions may dissuade lawyers from employing AI at all, thereby depriving them of key work tools, says Joshua Wurtzel at Schlam Stone.

  • The Preemption Gap In Prediction Market High Court Petitions

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    The Supreme Court is considering three certiorari petitions following a split in prediction market litigation between the Third and Ninth circuits, but one of the petitions would not allow the court to reach the express preemption question, which would leave the dispute half-resolved, says Jordan Garman at Withers.

  • How Data Center Projects Can Navigate Wyo. Siting Process

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    As opposition to data center development grows nationwide, the way that Wyoming is handling the issue through its industrial siting process offers a counterintuitive lesson: More process, not less, can provide both meaningful scrutiny and a clear path forward for projects, says Jeffrey Pope at Holland & Hart.

  • Tips From Apex Ruling On Handling Workers' Public Criticism

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    A National Labor Relations Board judge’s recent finding that Apex Fintech Services illegally reined in an employee’s public criticism on LinkedIn should caution employers that overbroad policies and reflexive responses may not only fail to defend the company’s reputation, but compound risks of federal labor charges, say attorneys at Krevolin Horst.

  • 4 Paths To AI Safety Coordination Amid Antitrust Debate

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    Frontier artificial intelligence companies have more room for collective safety work than the debate over an antitrust waiver suggests, with several existing avenues providing different degrees of protection and oversight, says Evan Miller at V&E.

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