Public Policy

  • February 19, 2026

    Red State AGs Back La. Bid To Halt Eased Abortion Pill Rules

    A coalition of 21 Republican state attorneys general, led by Nebraska, urged a federal judge to grant Louisiana's bid to block the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's 2023 rules easing access to the abortion drug mifepristone, arguing that the policy undermines states' authority to enforce their own abortion laws and imposes a "pocketbook injury" on states.

  • February 19, 2026

    NYC Pension Funds Sue AT&T Over Proxy Proposal Exclusion

    Several New York City pension funds have sued AT&T over what they say is the illegal exclusion of their shareholder proposal requesting a corporate diversity report from the telecom giant's corporate ballot, following an indication that regulators would allow the exclusion.

  • February 19, 2026

    Ex-ComEd VP Turned Fed Witness Gets Probation For Bribery

    An Illinois federal judge Thursday sentenced a former Commonwealth Edison executive to probation for his role in the utility's scheme to bribe ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, saying a noncustodial sentence was justified as his undercover recordings and testimony helped win corruption convictions against Madigan and his former colleagues.

  • February 19, 2026

    Coalition Asks Court To Back Probe Into IRS-ICE Data Sharing

    More discovery is needed into the IRS' data-sharing agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in light of the tax authority recently admitting to breaching its terms, a coalition challenging the agreement told a D.C. federal court in seeking a remand.

  • February 19, 2026

    Constitution Condemns Immigration Bond Ruling, Judge Says

    A California federal judge has vacated a Board of Immigration Appeals precedential decision that stripped immigration judges of the authority to grant or hear bond requests from detained immigrants, excoriating the Trump administration for openly defying a federal court.

  • February 19, 2026

    Delta, Aeromexico Urge 11th Circ. To Void DOT Split Order

    Delta Air Lines and Aeromexico urged the Eleventh Circuit to void a U.S. Department of Transportation order directing them to dismantle their joint venture, saying the agency had offered contrived reasoning and scant evidence for purported anticompetitive effects.

  • February 19, 2026

    Squires Accepts 8 PTAB Cases, Walks Back 7 Merits Referrals

    A bulk summary order from U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires granted eight petitions for America Invents Act patent challenges while denying 14 others, including seven that he had previously accepted for merits-based review.

  • February 19, 2026

    Texas Panel Unsure Midwife Can Escape Abortion Order

    A Texas appellate court pushed back on a midwife's assertion that a court order blocking her from providing abortions flouted the state's rules of civil procedure, saying Thursday she wasn't facing the lawsuit "for doing appendectomies."

  • February 19, 2026

    Native Villages Drop $70M Alaskan Broadband Grant Fight

    After almost two years of battling it out in Alaska federal court, two Native Alaskan villages have come to terms with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to end their fight with the agency over $70 million in broadband funds.

  • February 19, 2026

    French Court Approves Budget With Corporate Tax Hikes

    France's government can proceed with enacting its budget, which includes taxes targeted at corporations and wealthy individuals, after it largely passed muster before the country's constitutional court Thursday.

  • February 19, 2026

    Feds Look To Revive Sex Abuse Ruling Over Native Status

    The U.S. is asking the Tenth Circuit for an en banc rehearing on its decision to vacate the 30-year prison sentence of a New Mexico man convicted of sexually abusing an Indigenous girl, telling the court that its error is one of exceptional importance.

  • February 19, 2026

    Property Co. Denies Connection To Hawaii Temple Access Suit

    A property management company is looking to escape a challenge by a group of Native Hawaiians over access to an ancient Indigenous temple, arguing its alleged wrongful conduct is not called out with any specificity in the complaint.

  • February 19, 2026

    Commerce Orders Duties On Paper Folders From Cambodia

    Paper file folders imported into the U.S. from Cambodia will be subject to a countervailing duty order following affirmative determinations by the U.S. Department of Commerce that these imports are benefiting from harmful subsidies and damaging U.S. domestic industry, Commerce said Thursday.

  • February 19, 2026

    Warren Seeks Treasury, Fed Pledge Of No Bitcoin Bailout

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is asking the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve to provide a written pledge not to bail out cryptocurrency markets in the face of sliding bitcoin prices, saying such a move would disproportionately benefit billionaires.

  • February 19, 2026

    Electronics Cos. Fight 'Heavy-Handed' Next-Gen TV Mandate

    As the Federal Communications Commission looks to coax the broadcast industry into adopting next-generation TV on a wider scale, a key electronics industry group has re-upped concerns that officials might move too fast.

  • February 19, 2026

    DOJ Ends Oversight Of Cleveland Police After 11 Years

    The U.S. Department of Justice and the city of Cleveland provided notice on Thursday to an Ohio federal judge that the two agencies intend to end a binding agreement signed over a decade ago to provide federal oversight to the city's police department.

  • February 19, 2026

    Ex-LA Atty Faces Possible Suspension Over Billing Scandal

    A California Bar Court said that former Los Angeles chief deputy city attorney James Patrick Clark should be suspended from practicing law for at least two years due to his role in a high-profile customer billing scandal.

  • February 19, 2026

    NY Judge Rejects 1st Amendment Challenge In FARA Case

    A New York federal court refused to toss an indictment accusing an ex-Central Intelligence Agency analyst of aiding the South Korean government without proper registration, rejecting her position that criminal enforcement under the Foreign Agents Registration Act chills protected speech.

  • February 19, 2026

    8th Circ. Pick Joins List Of Personal Attys Elevated By Trump

    President Donald Trump's latest appellate pick has served as the president's personal attorney and bills himself as "an attorney and strategist who fights for conservative values" on his LinkedIn profile.

  • February 19, 2026

    Disqualification Bids Mount For Trio Leading NJ US Atty Office

    A New Jersey criminal defendant who previously challenged the legality of former interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba's appointment has now moved to disqualify the three assistant U.S. attorneys overseeing the office, aligning himself with a growing bloc of defendants saying the leadership structure violates federal appointment laws.

  • February 19, 2026

    Harvard Docs Get Censored Articles Permanently Restored

    The Trump administration agreed to maintain the court-ordered restoration of articles penned by Harvard Medical School researchers that contained references to the LGBTQ+ community after they had previously been scrubbed from a government-hosted website.

  • February 19, 2026

    Md. Senate OKs Service Station Conversion Tax Break

    Maryland's political jurisdictions would be allowed to grant property tax credits for service stations converting to other uses under a bill passed unanimously by the state Senate.

  • February 19, 2026

    NM Lawmakers OK Longer Redevelopment Property Tax Break

    New Mexico would extend a property tax exemption period for eligible redevelopment projects under a bill approved by state lawmakers and headed to the governor.

  • February 19, 2026

    Barnes & Thornburg Adds 35 Ballard Spahr Attys, 3 Offices

    Barnes & Thornburg LLP announced Thursday that it has added all 35 public finance lawyers from Ballard Spahr LLP to its government services and finance department in multiple locations around the country, including three new markets in Baltimore, Denver and Phoenix.

  • February 18, 2026

    Duke Energy's $17M Fuel Cost Recovery Improper, Panel Says

    The North Carolina Utilities Commission was wrong to let Duke Energy recover over $17 million in fuel costs two years after they were incurred, a North Carolina appeals court panel ruled Wednesday, finding that a statute permits utilities to recover only the fuel costs incurred during a one-year "lookback period."

Expert Analysis

  • Assessing Factors Behind Biosimilar Uptake And Competition

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    As biosimilar uptake remains uneven and questions linger over whether the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act can deliver robust competition between biologics and biosimilars, a case study of Humira and its biosimilars illustrates how many factors, including payor reimbursement and formulary strategy, collectively shape competitive dynamics, say analysts at Analysis Group.

  • State Of Insurance: Q4 Notes From Illinois

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    In 2025's last quarter, Illinois’ appellate courts weighed in on overlapping homeowners coverages for water-related damages, contractual suit limitation provisions in uninsured motorist policies, and protections for genetic health information in life insurance underwriting, while the Department of Insurance sought nationwide homeowners' insurance data from State Farm, says Matthew Fortin at BatesCarey.

  • How 3 CFTC Letters Overhauled Digital Asset Guidance

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    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission recently issued three letters providing guidance for the use of digital assets in derivatives markets, clarifying the applicability of CFTC regulations across numerous areas of digital asset activities and leading to the development of standards to allow market participants to post digital assets as collateral, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • NYC Bar Opinion Warns Attys On Use Of AI Recording Tools

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    Attorneys who use artificial intelligence tools to record, transcribe and summarize conversations with clients should heed the New York City Bar Association’s recent opinion addressing the legal and ethical risks posed by such tools, and follow several best practices to avoid violating the Rules of Professional Conduct, say attorneys at Smith Gambrell.

  • Ruling Helps Clarify FERC's Post-Jarkesy Enforcement Power

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    A North Carolina federal court's recent ruling in American Efficient v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission may be a step in providing clarity on FERC's enforcement authority under the Federal Power Act in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2024 decision in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Dispatches From Utah's Newest Court

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    While a robust body of law hasn't yet developed since the Utah Business and Chancery Court's founding in October 2024, the number of cases filed there has recently picked up, and its existence illustrates Utah's desire to be top of mind for businesses across the country, says Evan Strassberg at Michael Best.

  • Aerospace And Defense Law: Trends To Follow In 2026

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    Some of the key 2026 developments to watch in aerospace and defense contracting law stem from provisions of this year's National Defense Authorization Act, a push to reform procurement, executive orders that announced Trump administration priorities, the upcoming Artemis space mission and continuing efforts to deploy artificial intelligence, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • Aviation Watch: Busy Skies, Tough Market For Airlines In 2026

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    After a turbulent year in the U.S. commercial aviation sector, demand for air travel and premium service shows no signs of slackening in 2026, with airlines facing the need to compete in a saturated market, while seeking opportunities for consolidation and pursuing other avenues to profitability, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.

  • Viewing The Merger Landscape Through An HPE-Juniper Lens

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    If considerations beyond antitrust law were taken into account to determine whether Section 7 of the Clayton Act was violated in the Hewlett Packard Enterprise-Juniper Networks deal, then legal practitioners advocating deal clearance may now have to argue that deals should be justified by considerations not set forth in the merger guidelines, says Matthew Cantor of Shinder Cantor.

  • 4 Quick Emotional Resets For Lawyers With Conflict Fatigue

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    Though the emotional wear and tear of legal work can trap attorneys in conflict fatigue — leaving them unable to shake off tense interactions or return to a calm baseline — simple therapeutic techniques for resetting the nervous system can help break the cycle, says Chantel Cohen at CWC Coaching & Therapy.

  • 3 Key Ohio Financial Services Developments From 2025

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    Ohio's banking and financial services sector saw particularly notable developments in 2025, including a significant Ohio Supreme Court decision on creditor disclosure duties to guarantors in Huntington National Bank v. Schneider, and some major proposed changes to the state's Homebuyer Plus program, says Alex Durst at Durst Kerridge.

  • Patent Eligibility Faces Widening Gap Between USPTO, Courts

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    The year 2026 opened with a profoundly altered Patent Act Section 101 ecosystem — the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has pushed eligibility as far open as it can for artificial intelligence technologies, but the courts are not on the same page, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Keys To Effective Mental Health Mitigation In Sentencing

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    Instead of framing a defendant's mental health diagnoses as generalized grounds for leniency during sentencing, defense counsel should present them as objective clinical data that directly informs the risk assessment and rehabilitative questions judges are statutorily required to consider, say Joseph De Gregorio at JN Advisor and Richard Levitt at Levitt & Kaizer.

  • Key Policy Moves Are Powering Nuclear Growth

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    The past year has seen a shift toward strong federal support for new nuclear power generation, and both recent and anticipated policy developments are likely to encourage progress toward that goal — but making sure that this momentum continues may be the hard part, say attorneys at Balch & Bingham.

  • Rescheduling Cannabis Marks New Tax Era For Operators

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    As the attorney general takes steps to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act, operators and advisers should prepare by considering the significant changes this will bring from tax, state, industry and market perspectives, says Michael Harlow at CohnReznick.

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