Public Policy

  • November 02, 2026

    More Amicus Briefs Flood NYT, OpenAI Copyright Case

    Actors, writers groups, advocacy organizations, law professors and current and former political leaders weighed in on the OpenAI copyright multidistrict litigation in New York federal court, with some arguing that fair use does not protect the artificial intelligence developer, while others contended that training models on copyrighted works was all above board.

  • November 02, 2026

    HHS Says Wash. Has No Stake In Noncitizen Medicaid Fight

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is fighting Washington state's bid to join a legal challenge to the Trump administration's attempts to withdraw federal Medicaid funding for certain noncitizens receiving supplemental security income, arguing Friday the state has pointed to "speculative downstream effects" of the targeted policy.

  • November 02, 2026

    AI Agents Raise Stakes For Banks As Legal Fights Loom

    As major banks move to keep artificial intelligence agents from accessing customer accounts, financial services attorneys say the growing use of these tools in financial transactions could test the limits of existing consumer protection laws and set the stage for litigation.

  • November 02, 2026

    Justices Probe Late Defense In Ex-Aide's Pregnancy Bias Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday closely scrutinized the procedures governing late-raised legal defenses amid a former political aide's fight to reinstate her pregnancy discrimination lawsuit, with some justices hinting that the case should be sent back down for review under a different federal rule set.

  • November 02, 2026

    Maine's Canada Trade Exemption May Ride On Midterms

    The fate of Maine's relief from the trade war between the U.S. and Canada may lie in the balance of Tuesday's midterm election results, a dynamic that shows how trade policy can be influenced by the political winds, experts said.

  • November 02, 2026

    Ferry Cos. Say Mackinac Island Hid Rate-Freeze Facts

    Two Michigan ferry operators asked a federal judge on Friday to compel city of Mackinac Island officials to submit to depositions, accusing the city of blocking access to historical ferry rate data and key interpretations of a franchise agreement.

  • November 02, 2026

    Split Full 9th Circ. Backs Block On ICE Voter Fraud Probe

    A Ninth Circuit majority kept in place Friday a panel's recent ruling refusing to pause an injunction blocking U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from carrying out a "surge initiative" to question individuals in nine states about their voter status, while seven judges criticized the panel's opinion in dissent.

  • November 02, 2026

    Carroll Asks High Court To Skip Trump Defamation Appeal

    Writer E. Jean Carroll has asked the U.S. Supreme Court not to hear President Donald Trump's appeal of an $83.3 million jury verdict finding that he defamed her after she accused him of sexual assault, saying Trump waived his presidential immunity argument.

  • November 02, 2026

    FCC Stops Broadcasters' Workforce Diversity Data Collection

    The Federal Communications Commission will once again stop collecting workforce diversity data from the broadcast industry.

  • November 02, 2026

    Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

    The Federal Trade Commission caused a pair of playground equipment makers to abandon their planned merger, Canadian enforcers upended a deal for the Green Giant brand in the country and state attorneys general reached settlements for several regional deals.

  • November 02, 2026

    4 Mass. Rulings You May Have Missed In October

    A nonprofit municipal insurance group is responsible for a portion of a settlement with a man who spent 37 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit, and a biotech startup can continue to pursue trade secrets and breach of contract claims against two former employees and a rival they joined last year, Massachusetts Superior Court judges said in rulings last month. 

  • November 02, 2026

    FCC Grants 1st Router Security Waiver Aimed At Onshoring

    The Federal Communications Commission's staff has granted a partial waiver from its rules restricting the sale of foreign routers in the U.S., saying it's the first exemption for routers based on onshoring jobs as one of the public interest benefits.

  • November 02, 2026

    Groups Urge Justices To Take Up Capital Group ERISA Fight

    Several employee benefits trade groups urged the U.S. Supreme Court Monday to review a Ninth Circuit ruling that refused to force arbitration of a retirement plan dispute against an investment management company, arguing the case could resolve a circuit split on the scope of relief under federal benefits law.

  • November 02, 2026

    Tax Court Denies IRS Bid To Revisit Easement Case Ruling

    The U.S. Tax Court said Monday it won't reconsider a September opinion finding a partnership's petition was filed late because of circumstances beyond its control, saying the court has already addressed the IRS' arguments that it improperly excused the lateness of the conservation easement suit.

  • November 02, 2026

    NTSB Defeats Ex-Member's Race Bias Suit Over Removal

    A D.C. federal judge shut down a former National Transportation Safety Board member's lawsuit alleging he was unlawfully removed by President Donald Trump because he's Black, pointing to the U.S. Supreme Court's June decision concluding that presidents have unlimited authority to fire members of independent agencies.

  • November 02, 2026

    DC Circ. Questions Lack Of Carbon Plan For Gas Terminal

    Judges on the D.C. Circuit on Monday pressed attorneys for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the company behind a natural gas export terminal and pipeline in South Texas on why they walked away from a connected proposal for carbon sequestration near the project without explanation.

  • November 02, 2026

    Judge Orders Chicago US Atty To Testify In Misconduct Probe

    An Illinois federal judge has ordered Chicago's top federal prosecutor and three assistant U.S. attorneys to testify under oath about potentially false statements made to her in a now-dismissed criminal conspiracy case against anti-ICE protesters, saying Monday that the government's shifting explanations about communications with DOJ leadership suggest prosecutors misled the court about outside involvement in the prosecution.

  • November 02, 2026

    XAI Fails To Dodge Miss. NAACP Pollution Suit

    A Mississippi federal judge denied X.AI Corp.'s bid to dismiss an NAACP citizen suit alleging that the company has unlawfully installed and operated dozens of polluting natural gas-fired turbines to power its Colossus 2 data center.

  • November 02, 2026

    IRS Donor Reporting Rule Violates 1st Amendment, Court Told

    The IRS' nonprofit donor disclosure rule violates organizations' and donors' First Amendment rights, a privacy group told a D.C. federal court, saying the rule is subject to a heightened level of judicial scrutiny that the government cannot overcome.

  • November 02, 2026

    Judge Tosses DOJ's Harvard Admissions Data Suit For Now

    A federal judge Monday threw out a lawsuit alleging Harvard University is withholding admissions data from the Trump administration, finding the government failed to take certain required steps before hauling the school into court.

  • November 02, 2026

    Trump To Remove Rwanda, South Africa From Trade Deal

    President Donald Trump intends to remove Rwanda and South Africa from a trade preference program for African countries, according to a statement released by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Monday.

  • November 02, 2026

    Reform But Don't Gut FCC Subsidies, Rural Telecoms Say

    Rural telecom providers say the Universal Service Fund needs reforms to run more smoothly, but they cautioned the Federal Communications Commission against structural changes that could disrupt the program.

  • November 02, 2026

    5th Circ. Skeptical Chinese Citizens Have Right To Texas Land

    A Fifth Circuit panel wants to know if Chinese citizens who wish to purchase property in Texas are arguing that everyone in the world has a constitutional right to do so, asking Monday if people globally "have the right to be treated as U.S. citizens for purposes of purchasing property in Texas."

  • November 02, 2026

    BigLaw Attys Step Up To Help Voters In Midterm Elections

    Attorneys from several BigLaw firms are volunteering across the country to make sure voters don't run into problems casting their ballots or having those ballots counted in Tuesday's midterm elections.

  • November 02, 2026

    'Our Bad': Feds' First Step Act Argument Surprises Justices

    Some U.S. Supreme Court justices considering a First Step Act case Monday appeared caught off guard by a government lawyer's argument that the defendant's impending release from prison renders the appeal moot.

Expert Analysis

  • What's Next For Prediction Markets If States Win At High Court

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    While the Supreme Court hasn't taken up a prediction market case yet, a high court win for the states in their quest to regulate the exchanges would likely mean a wave of state legislature bills and regulatory guidance arriving on different timelines, rather than a single uniform transition, says Howard Herndon at Bradley Arant.

  • FDIC Standards Body Could Ease Bank Vendor Due Diligence

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    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s recently proposed standards body for bank vendors could streamline due diligence and onboarding, but banks and their third-party service providers alike should still monitor open questions around oversight, certification costs and governance, say attorneys at Clark Hill.

  • Navigating A Key Inflection Point In Biosimilar Sector M&A

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    As biosimilar mergers and acquisitions gain notice amid U.S. Food and Drug Administration reforms, a maturing patent framework and a looming patent cliff, companies diversifying into the higher-growth biologics space should align their regulatory, intellectual property and transactional strategies, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • AI Meeting Recaps Pose New Discovery And Privilege Risks

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    The New York City Bar Association’s recent ethics opinion, cautioning attorneys not to record nonclient conversations with artificial intelligence tools, reflects an emerging view that AI meeting recaps are now a distinct business record category, meaning counsel should set meeting-level controls and apply framework-level updates, says William Wright at Faegre Drinker.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: September Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses six recent rulings involving pecuniary loss in false price comparison advertising, privity in an insurance fee class, antitrust standing, immigration class representatives, retirement beneficiary class commonality, and Rule 23(f) appeals in Fair Labor Standards Act claims.

  • How Employers Can Navigate NLRB Rulings Ripe For Reversal

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    Given a recent National Labor Relations Board memo seeking to reverse several precedents — including on severance agreements and workplace policies — employers should prepare now to restore broader protections when the board acts, while following the law as it exists today, says Howard Lavin at Thompson Coburn.

  • What Comes Next For Digital Asset Regs After Clarity Act Flop

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    After the U.S. Senate recently blocked the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, agency rulemaking could still offer a near-term remedy, and companies meanwhile should monitor the existing framework assembled from enforcement precedent and case law in the absence of a purpose-built statute, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • FDA Bill Shows Risk Of Inexact Statute Text, Post-Loper Bright

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    A recent House bill to amend the Food and Drug Administration's drug preclusion framework reveals the increased importance of precision when drafting statutory rules in a post-Loper Bright landscape, as several minor errors in the text could lock in unintended results that will be difficult to repeal, say attorneys at Venable.

  • Species 'Harm' Definition Rollback Brings Risk For Developers

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    A rule recently adopted by federal agencies rescinds the definition of "harm" in Endangered Species Act regulations to exclude habitat destruction — but while the move is aimed at reducing regulatory burdens, it creates new uncertainty for developers, and may trigger increased environmental protections in California, say attorneys at Cox Castle.

  • $95M Nev. Case Provides Clues On Wound Care Enforcement

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    Federal prosecutors’ recent U.S. v. Dubin indictment, charging a Nevada physician with healthcare fraud over an alleged $95 million Medicare billing scheme involving amniotic wound allografts, provides a clearer picture of an increasingly data-driven enforcement strategy that follows the entire wound care transaction, say attorneys at Bass Berry.

  • DOJ Fraud Memo Highlights Trade Enforcement Playbook

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    A recent U.S. Department of Justice memo that outlines the Fraud Enforcement Division's priorities demonstrates that customs and trade fraud enforcement has entered a new and far more aggressive phase, with recent cases highlighting how the False Claims act is driving the new push, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • HPE-Juniper Settlement Teaches Key Tunney Act Lessons

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    A California federal court's recent approval of the U.S. Department of Justice's settlement with Hewlett Packard over its Juniper Networks acquisition offers legal practitioners some crucial lessons, including on unique tech-sector remedies for mergers and acquisitions and the continued viability of the Tunney Act, says Shubha Ghosh at Syracuse University College of Law.

  • What Opt-In Framework Means For Novel Space Activities

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    The U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of Space Commerce is advancing a voluntary certification framework for commercial space activities not covered by existing licenses — but it's unclear whether this approach becomes a durable mission authorization regime, and separate legal permissions from agencies may still be necessary, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • 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.

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