Public Policy

  • September 16, 2025

    Order Halting Ørsted Wind Project Is Valid, Trump Admin Says

    The Trump administration has told a D.C. federal judge that its challenged decision to halt work on an approved and nearly completed offshore wind farm in New England stands on firm legal ground and should not be overturned.

  • September 16, 2025

    ​​​​​​​8th Circ. Questions Minn. Contractor Law's Vagueness

    The Eighth Circuit on Tuesday questioned trade groups challenging a Minnesota independent contractor misclassification law about the level of scrutiny to apply to the statute and seemed unconvinced that the law is unconstitutionally vague.

  • September 16, 2025

    Mass. Board Reduces Tax Value Of Educational Property

    A multiuse educational facility was overvalued by a local assessor, the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board said in a decision released Tuesday, cutting its valuation by about $400,000.

  • September 16, 2025

    Environmental Groups Say Gov't Won't Share Climate Docs

    Environmental groups have told a Massachusetts federal judge that the Trump administration isn't following his suggestion that it turn over materials related to the work of an advisory panel recommending reversal of the government's position that greenhouse gases are dangerous.

  • September 16, 2025

    Ga. Justices Won't Reinstate DA Willis To Trump Election Case

    The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to review a lower court's ruling disqualifying Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the 2020 Georgia election interference case against President Donald Trump and his co-defendants.

  • September 15, 2025

    FTC Dem Urges Justices Not To Disturb Her Reinstatement

    U.S. Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court not to block her reinstatement, arguing lower courts were correct in finding that President Donald Trump violated the law when he removed the Democrat from her post without cause.

  • September 15, 2025

    W.Va., Idaho Tell Justices Trans Sports Bans Based On Science

    West Virginia and Idaho urged the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that courts should not use subjective preferences when analyzing whether laws that ban transgender athletes from competing on sports teams different from their sex assigned at birth violate the Constitution.

  • September 15, 2025

    Rocket Mortgage Can't Defeat DOJ's Racial Bias Suit

    A Colorado federal judge has declined to toss the federal government's race discrimination suit against Rocket Mortgage, an appraisal management company and an appraiser, finding, among other things, that Rocket could have requested correction of the appraisal at the heart of the suit.

  • September 15, 2025

    FAA, SpaceX Get Early Win In Starship Enviro Review Suit

    A D.C. federal judge Monday handed a win to the Federal Aviation Administration and SpaceX in litigation alleging they failed to complete an adequate environmental review for SpaceX's Starship rocket launch program, ruling that the analysis was "perhaps imperfect" but ultimately well reasoned.

  • September 15, 2025

    California Judge Denies Smoke Shops' Bid To Halt Fresno Law

    The California city of Fresno can enforce its new restrictions on smoke shops, including limiting their number and banning them from selling flavored tobacco and cannabis products, a California federal judge has ruled, rejecting arguments for a preliminary injunction after determining that the controls are probably constitutional.

  • September 15, 2025

    Ousted Public Defender's Bias Suit Meets Skeptical Judge

    A Connecticut judge on Monday seemed skeptical of a former chief state public defender's challenge to her ouster, questioning whether the lawyer could support her claim that the Public Defender Services Commission should have called live witnesses to testify during an administrative hearing that led to her termination.

  • September 15, 2025

    FTC Commissioner Says Antitrust Moment Has Been Building

    Federal Trade Commissioner Mark R. Meador said Monday the current interest in antitrust enforcement has been building for the last several decades as corporate boardrooms increasingly take control over the economic lives of Americans.

  • September 15, 2025

    Chancery OKs Public Access To Some SpaceX Suit Docs

    Nonprofit news organization ProPublica won a limited Delaware Court of Chancery order Monday for the contested release of some documents and video kept under seal in a Chinese company's suit against a private equity firm over a muffed deal to line up a $50 million investment in SpaceX.

  • September 15, 2025

    Mich. Says HHS Can't Justify $195M Medicaid Clawback

    The state of Michigan urged a federal judge to find that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services cannot catch a payday for its yearslong delay in affirming a decision to disallow $195 million in Medicaid payments to two state-operated psychiatric hospitals, arguing that the delay runs afoul of federal law and the department's own policies.

  • September 15, 2025

    Mont. County Asks To Nix Or Pause Tribe's Voting Rights Suit

    An Indigenous tribe can't sue Chouteau County, Montana, under the Voting Rights Act because the act protects individual rights, not sovereign or collective rights as the tribe asserts in its lawsuit, the county tells a federal court in bids to toss or pause the suit.

  • September 15, 2025

    Mich. AG Asks To Move Argument Dates As Shutdown Looms

    The Michigan Attorney General's Office has asked for a rain check on upcoming oral arguments at the state Supreme Court in light of a possible state government shutdown at the end of the month.

  • September 15, 2025

    Wash. Justice Yu To Retire After 25 Years On State Bench

    Washington State Supreme Court Justice Mary I. Yu has announced she'll step down at the end of 2025 after a dozen years on the court and nearly a quarter-century on the state bench.

  • September 15, 2025

    Sports Betting Co. Accuses CFTC Of Blocking Its Registration

    Sports betting app Sleeper Markets LLC has accused the Commodity Futures Trading Commission of an "illegal delay" of its bid to become a registered futures commission merchant, calling on the agency's internal watchdog to investigate the status of its application and the "broader potential illegality this incident strongly suggests may be occurring."

  • September 15, 2025

    Senate Confirms Top Trump Economist To Federal Reserve

    The U.S. Senate narrowly confirmed top White House economist Stephen Miran to the Federal Reserve Board on Monday, giving President Donald Trump a close ally at the central bank as he pushes for greater control over the traditionally independent body.

  • September 15, 2025

    Stewart Says New Policies Seek Fairness For Patent Owners

    Acting U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Coke Morgan Stewart said Monday the numerous changes to patent reviews she has implemented are intended to provide "more balance and fairness" for patent owners, and bring the reviews "back to how they were originally intended."

  • September 15, 2025

    FCC Says No To Lifeline Co. Coming Under New Management

    The Federal Communications Commission is telling a Georgia-based Lifeline-only service provider that it will not be allowed to continue to participate in the federal subsidy program if it goes through with a merger that will see it picked up by Insight Mobile.

  • September 15, 2025

    NLRB Fights NY Law That Grew State Labor Agency's Power

    The National Labor Relations Board is fighting the state of New York's decision to expand its Public Employment Review Board's powers, accusing the state in a new lawsuit of trying to turn its labor agency into a miniature NLRB while the federal agency lacks a quorum.

  • September 15, 2025

    Trump Once More Floats The End Of The Quarterly Report

    President Donald Trump has again suggested that publicly traded companies be allowed to issue financial reports twice a year instead of quarterly, reigniting a debate that stalled during his prior term in office when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission did not pursue such rulemaking.

  • September 15, 2025

    Trump Admin. Defends Biden-Era Rule Limiting Asylum

    The U.S. Department of Justice has taken up the mantle of a Biden-era regulation that curtailed the availability of asylum at the southern border, telling a D.C. federal judge that the policy was well within the executive branch's authority.

  • September 15, 2025

    Brands Say X Corp. Can't Prove Ad Suit Belongs In Texas

    Several big-name brands, including Nestlé and Lego, asked a Texas federal judge to deny X Corp.'s bid to conduct jurisdictional discovery in its sprawling antitrust suit accusing advertisers of boycotting X, saying the company was merely trying to conduct a "fishing expedition."

Expert Analysis

  • State Crypto Regs Diverge As Federal Framework Dawns

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    Following the Genius Act's passage, states like California, New York and Wyoming are racing to set new standards for crypto governance, creating both opportunity and risk for digital asset firms as innovation flourishes in some jurisdictions while costly friction emerges in others, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • How 2nd Circ. Cannabis Ruling Upends NY Licensing

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    A recent Second Circuit decision in Variscite NY Four v. New York, holding that New York's extra-priority cannabis licensing preference for applicants with in-state marijuana convictions violates the dormant commerce clause, underscores that state-legal cannabis markets remain subject to the same constitutional constraints as other economic markets, say attorneys at Harris Beach.

  • Key Insurance Coverage Considerations For AI Data Centers

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    The burgeoning artificial intelligence industry has sparked a surge in data center projects — a trend likely to be accelerated by the White House's AI Action Plan — but with these complex facilities come equally complex risks, engendering important insurance coverage considerations, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Parenting Skills That Can Help Lawyers Thrive Professionally

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    As kids head back to school, the time is ripe for lawyers who are parents to consider how they can incorporate their parenting skills to build a deep, meaningful and sustainable legal practice, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • Unpacking The New Opportunity Zone Tax Incentive Program

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    The One Big Beautiful Bill Act brought several improvements to the opportunity zone tax incentive program that should boost investments in qualified funds, including making it permanent, increasing federal income tax benefits in rural areas, redesignating the qualified zones, and requiring more in-depth reporting, says Marc Schultz at Snell & Wilmer.

  • Series

    Teaching Trial Advocacy Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    Teaching trial advocacy skills to other lawyers makes us better litigators because it makes us question our default methods, connect to young attorneys with new perspectives and focus on the needs of the real people at the heart of every trial, say Reuben Guttman, Veronica Finkelstein and Joleen Youngers.

  • What New CFPB Oversight Limits Would Mean For 4 Markets

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    As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau continues to centralize its resources, proposals to alter the definition of larger market participants in the automobile financing, international money transfer, consumer reporting and consumer debt collection markets would reduce the scope of the bureau's oversight, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • MIT Bros.' Crypto Charges Provide Fraud Test Case For Gov't

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    As U.S. v. Peraire-Bueno, involving cryptocurrency fraud charges against brothers who graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, moves forward after surviving a motion to dismiss, the case provides an early example of how the government might use the federal fraud statutes to regulate decentralized networks, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Navigating Brazil's Regulations, Incentives For Green Projects

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    Brazil's evolving environmental regulatory framework and ongoing moves to attract international capital for climate-focused projects may appeal to U.S.-based companies and investors interested in sustainable development — but taking advantage of these opportunities requires careful planning and meaningful stakeholder engagement, says Milena Angulo at Guimarães.

  • Federal AI Action Plan Marks A Shift For Health And Bio Fields

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    The Trump administration's recent artificial intelligence action plan significantly expands federal commitments across biomedical agencies, defining a pivotal moment for attorneys and others involved in research collaborations, managing regulatory compliance and AI-related intellectual property, says Mehrin Masud-Elias at Arnold & Porter.

  • Potential Paths To Modernizing The Bank Secrecy Act

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    The Bank Secrecy Act's analog design has become increasingly incompatible with today's digital financial ecosystem, but legislative reforms, coupled with regulatory adjustments including updated thresholds, feedback mechanisms and innovation sandboxes, would help adjust the act to the unique challenges of modern technology, says Matthew Biben at King & Spalding.

  • Definitions Of 'Waters Of The United States' Ebb And Flow

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    The issue of defining whether "waters of the United States" include streams and channels that sometimes have water and sometimes do not has been fraught since the U.S. Supreme Court's 2006 Rapanos decision, but a possible new rule may help property owners stay out of court, says Neal McAliley at Carlton Fields.

  • Trump Tax Law's Most Impactful Energy Changes

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    The One Big Beautiful Bill Act's deferral of begin-construction deadlines and the phaseout of certain energy tax credits will provide emerging technologies with welcome breathing room, though other changes, like the increased credit rate for sustainable aviation fuel, create challenges for developers, say attorneys at Weil.

  • Texas Property Law Complicates Financing And Development

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    A new Texas law imposing expansive state-level restrictions on properties owned by entities from designated countries creates a major obstacle for some lenders, developers and other stakeholders, as well as new diligence requirements for foreign companies, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From Texas AUSA To BigLaw

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    As I learned when I transitioned from an assistant U.S. attorney to a BigLaw partner, the move from government to private practice is not without its hurdles, but it offers immense potential for growth and the opportunity to use highly transferable skills developed in public service, says Jeffery Vaden at Bracewell.

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