Public Policy

  • August 31, 2026

    Oregon Says Lifeline Integrity 'Robust' As FCC Probe Ensues

    Oregon told the Federal Communications Commission that its Lifeline phone subsidy program has shown low error rates as the FCC probes state programs that have opted out of a federal system to verify enrollees.

  • August 31, 2026

    High Court Allows Trump To Continue Ballroom Construction

    A split U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that President Donald Trump can continue construction of a new White House ballroom while litigation over the project's legality continues. 

  • August 31, 2026

    ChatGPT, Reddit, Roblox ID'd For Extra EU Digital Safeguards

    The European Commission labeled ChatGPT, Reddit and Roblox on Monday as large enough to warrant extra rules for policing illegal content and other mandates, bringing the number of companies hit with Digital Services Act labels up to 28.

  • August 31, 2026

    FCC Names New Enforcement Bureau Chief

    The Federal Communications Commission has named Hunter Deeley as its new Enforcement Bureau chief.

  • August 31, 2026

    Holland & Knight Adds Duo From McDermott Lobbying Arm

    Holland & Knight LLP has grown its federal government affairs practice in the nation's capital with the addition of an attorney and senior director from McDermott+, the now-closed consulting and lobbying affiliate of McDermott Will & Schulte, the firm said Monday.

  • August 31, 2026

    Erie Bus Dispatchers Aren't Union-Exempt Supervisors

    Seven dispatchers at the Metropolitan Transit Authority for Erie, Pennsylvania, are not "supervisors" exempt from membership in the authority's labor union, since their roles in scheduling overtime or reporting rule infractions were constrained by their contract and only occasionally crossed the line into supervision, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled Monday.

  • August 31, 2026

    New Report Rings Alarm On Threats To Judicial Independence

    Verbal attacks on judges, disinformation about the courts and the defiance of court orders are undermining the independence of the federal judiciary and significantly affecting individual judges' ability to do their jobs, a report out Monday says.

  • August 31, 2026

    9th Circ. Faults Notice Errors In Jamaican's Deportation Case

    A Jamaican citizen's due process rights were violated when the federal government failed to properly notify him about its appeals of decisions granting him withholding of removal, the Ninth Circuit ruled, noting that he's been in immigration detention since 2021.

  • August 31, 2026

    Trump Opening 1st Round Of Tariff-Free Ground Beef Tuesday

    The first 100,000 of a total 300,000 metric tons of ground beef that can be imported into the U.S. without an added tariff can enter into the country starting Sept. 1, according to a proclamation published Monday.

  • August 31, 2026

    DOGE Data-Privacy Suit Survives Reconsideration Bid

    A D.C. federal judge declined Friday to reconsider his March decision allowing a proposed class action accusing the Trump administration of unlawfully sharing federal employees' sensitive personal information with Department of Government Efficiency staffers to proceed, ruling that an "oversight" in his prior opinion wouldn't alter the result.

  • August 31, 2026

    NLRB Atty OKs Microsoft's Gaza Protest Firings

    Microsoft did not violate federal labor law by firing two workers who organized a protest of the war in Gaza at the company's Washington headquarters because the event didn't have a clear enough tie to their work, a National Labor Relations Board attorney said in a newly released advice memo.

  • August 31, 2026

    NY, Okla. Tribes Decry Trump Renaming Lake Ontario

    Tribal nation leaders have called for President Donald Trump to rescind his executive order to rename Lake Ontario, saying he can't assert ownership over Indigenous culture or "erase it through irresponsible political action."

  • August 31, 2026

    Feds Say New USPS Mail-In Ballot Rule Isn't A 'Takeover'

    A new U.S. Postal Service rule compelling states to submit voters' names to the federal government and redesign envelopes in order to have mail-in ballots delivered in November imposes "modest" requirements and is not a "federal takeover of elections," the Trump administration told a Massachusetts federal judge in a weekend filing.

  • August 31, 2026

    Mass. Board Cites Comparable Sales, Cuts Home Valuation

    A Massachusetts home was overvalued, but not by as much as the owners argued, the state Appellate Tax Board said in a decision released Monday.

  • August 31, 2026

    Feds' Crackdown Targets Commercial Trucking Fraud

    The Trump administration said Monday it is immediately shutting down 110 commercial driver's license schools for certifying truck drivers who can't read or speak English, and pledged to aggressively prosecute accused "fraudsters" who knowingly put untrained or unskilled truck drivers on American roads.

  • August 31, 2026

    Mass. Panel OKs Home Value Despite Contamination Claim

    A Massachusetts homeowner claiming environmental contamination did not show that it diminished the property's taxable value, a state board said in a decision released Monday.

  • August 31, 2026

    SC Panel Waives Scrutiny On Kirkland-Guided Data Center

    South Carolina regulators have decided not to apply a law requiring construction approval to a 450-megawatt, natural gas-powered project proposed by a Kirkland & Ellis LLP-advised data center builder, despite calls from an environmental group for more scrutiny of the development.

  • August 31, 2026

    Fiber, Labor Shortages Spur Call To Delay Rural Connections

    Broadband providers have reiterated their call for a one-year extension of the Federal Communications Commission's deadline to complete projects under a rural funding program, citing increasing fiber scarcity and the ongoing skilled labor shortage.

  • August 31, 2026

    EU Sets Evidence Standard For Steel Duty Anti-Evasion Rule

    The European Commission on Monday established the types of evidence that those that import steel into the bloc will need to provide to satisfy new rules requiring clearer information about the country of origin for such products.

  • August 31, 2026

    Judge, Citing COVID Impacts, Cuts SC Mall Tax Value By $17M

    A South Carolina judge cut $17 million from the tax value of a shopping mall, favoring the owner's income analysis and agreeing that the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the viability of malls nationwide.

  • August 31, 2026

    Commerce Probing Indian Polymer For Possible Duties

    The U.S. Department of Commerce said Monday that it is investigating whether Indian imports of a type of polymer used to handle dangerous chemicals are being sold in the U.S. at unfair prices.

  • August 31, 2026

    Thai Spray Foam Imports Face US Circumvention Probe

    The U.S. Department of Commerce said Monday it will determine whether spray foam systems assembled in Thailand with Chinese components are circumventing U.S. duties placed on a foam-making chemical, a month after a similar investigation was opened into Canadian systems.

  • August 31, 2026

    Paul Hastings Hires Longtime FTC Mergers Atty In DC

    An attorney from the Federal Trade Commission, who worked with the agency for nearly 20 years and was most recently deputy assistant director in the Mergers I Division, has joined Paul Hastings LLP, the firm announced Monday.

  • August 28, 2026

    Meta's $17B Child Safety Deal Puts Heat On Congress To Act

    Meta's landmark $17.1 billion settlement of states' claims that it purposely addicted kids to social media mandates many of the safeguards increasingly being required by a growing patchwork of largely contested state child safety laws, boosting not only the profile of these measures but also the push for Congress to enact a more comprehensive fix.

  • August 28, 2026

    Judge Temporarily Nixes 'Arbitrary' Pauses On Diversity Visas

    A California federal judge Friday certified classes of diversity immigrant visa applicants affected by three Trump administration policies that froze immigrant visas and temporarily vacated the policies, agreeing with a Washington, D.C., federal judge who days ago found the policies arbitrary and capricious.

Expert Analysis

  • How Home Infusion Providers Can Adapt To Enrollment Pause

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    Recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services moratoria on new enrollments of home health agencies, medical equipment companies and hospices make home infusion providers' compliance obligations more complex and ambiguous, requiring new careful consideration of specific enrollment requirements and limitations, say attorneys at Quarles & Brady.

  • Opinion

    Birthright Citizenship Dissents Belie Originalist Interpretation

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    The three dissents in the U.S. Supreme Court's recent birthright citizenship decision clashed with originalist readings of the Constitution, applying the 14th Amendment more narrowly than its drafters, and by applying contemporary and living document approaches to constitutional interpretation, says Ediberto Roman at Florida International University.

  • NYDFS Swedbank Order Offers Lessons On Candor

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    The New York State Department of Financial Services' consent order with Swedbank reflects the department's broad view of its investigative authority, emphasizes transparency, and underscores the risks of intrusive investigations that can occur if a regulator believes that it was misled, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

  • 3 Rulings Show High Court's Transnational Litigation Stance

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's most recent term closed with three consequential decisions for transnational litigation that illustrate the court's readiness to enforce a Congress-created cause of action for overseas conduct and unwillingness to create this liability itself, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Managing Data Center Power Issues, Public Pushback

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    The many risks associated with data center construction include power availability, government regulations and public opinion, and contractual disputes — but these can be mitigated with careful project controls, planning and targeted contract drafting, say Randa Adra and Lily Geyer at Crowell & Moring, and Natasha Dahl at Ankura.

  • California FAIR Plan Is Outgrowing Last-Resort Role

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    With a recent rate increase, a litigation win and pending legislation to reshape operations, the California FAIR Plan is being regulated and reinforced as an apparent fixture of California's insurance market, rather than the temporary safety net originally intended, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Data Center Risks Include Schedules, Supply Chain, Labor

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    Managing the dynamic technical and legal risks related to data center development requires sophisticated strategies for dealing with compressed schedules and liquidated damages, supply chain and long-lead equipment challenges, and labor shortages and productivity issues, say Randa Adra and Lily Geyer at Crowell & Moring, and Natasha Dahl at Ankura.

  • How 'Markedly Different' Test Shapes Patent Eligibility Debate

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    Following last month's U.S. Senate hearing on the proposed Patent Eligibility Restoration Act, it is important to examine how courts and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office have applied the 46-year-old "markedly different characteristics" framework to determine eligibility of composition-of-matter claims, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • 5 Antitrust Lessons On Bundled Discounts After Medtronic

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    The recent California federal court decision upholding a $381.7 million verdict against Medtronic offers practitioners a clearer road map for navigating bundled discount claims under Section 2 of the Sherman Act, and the practical implications are substantial, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • Calif. OppFi Suit Outlines Key Criteria For Bank Partnerships

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    A California state court's recent ruling in OppFi v. Hewlett offers fintech-bank partnerships a blueprint for structuring lending programs to withstand future true lender challenges, while signaling that enforcement theories may face added scrutiny under the state's ban on underground regulations, say attorneys at Womble Bond.

  • AG Watch: Va. Auto Renewal Law Clears Enforcement Path

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    The most consequential aspect of recent amendments to Virginia's automatic renewal law is the enforcement authority it creates, giving the attorney general a clear statutory pathway to pursue cases involving subscription-related compliance failures under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act, says Chuck Slemp at Cozen O'Connor.

  • A New Era Of Scrutiny For China-Linked Pharma Deals

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    As Congress considers bipartisan legislation that would heighten regulatory scrutiny for life sciences deals involving Chinese biotech entities, companies should reassess the risks and due diligence requirements that will come with using heavily China-dependent pipelines, says Jen Maki at Ankura.

  • Justices' FTC Ruling Weakens Qui Tam's Constitutional Base

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Trump v. Slaughter, expanding presidential control over those exercising executive power, suggests that courts may be receptive to arguments challenging the constitutional foundations of the False Claims Act’s qui tam mechanism, says Daniel Passeser at Wiggin.

  • 9th Circ. Rule Block Unlikely To Deter FinCEN Cartel Focus

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    The Ninth Circuit recently blocked the Financial Crimes Enforcement Unit's border cash reporting rule, interpreting it as an impermissible use of an emergency anti-money laundering tool, but regulators are more likely to see the opinion as a road map for building a more defensible rule, say attorneys at Bradley Arant.

  • What Cos. Must Know About EPA Water Monitoring Proposal

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    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's newly proposed rule that would require public water systems to monitor for 30 unregulated drinking water contaminants does not impose new obligations on companies, but the data collected could affect future policy, investigations and litigation, says Ayodeji Ayolola at Gordon Rees.

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