Public Policy

  • October 14, 2025

    Calif. Passes New Laws On Children's Use Of Social Media, AI

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed into law several bills aimed at protecting children from threats associated with social media and emerging technologies, including by requiring age verification, limiting liability defenses for artificial intelligence developers and users and having companion chatbots remind minors to take breaks.

  • October 14, 2025

    DC Circ. Upholds SEC's Cap On Exchange Fees

    The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday rejected a call to overturn a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regulation capping the fees that exchanges can charge investors, ruling that the agency has "broad regulatory authority" to police the space.

  • October 14, 2025

    Calif. City Wins Cannabis Lab Permit Suit Over RICO Claims

    A cannabis entrepreneur's lawsuit accusing the mayor of a Los Angeles suburb of soliciting a $350,000 bribe in exchange for a permit has been thrown out by a California state judge, who ruled that because no money was actually paid, the businessman's racketeering claims couldn't survive.

  • October 14, 2025

    As Shutdown Drags On, Judiciary To Face Belt-Tightening

    With no end in sight to the government shutdown, the situation for the federal judiciary will get worse after Friday.

  • October 14, 2025

    Biden's Alaska Land Plan Faces Repeal After Senate Vote

    The U.S. Senate approved the repeal of a Biden-era resource management plan for millions of acres of public land in central and northern Alaska, which the state's congressional delegation said unnecessarily restricted energy and other resource development.

  • October 14, 2025

    Judge Won't Block $4.7B Ex-Im Bank Loan For LNG Project

    A D.C. federal judge refused to temporarily block $4.7 billion in financing that the Export-Import Bank of the United States approved for a TotalEnergies SE liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique, a setback for environmental groups challenging the deal.

  • October 14, 2025

    Concrete Co. Can't Challenge $2M Seattle Wage Theft Fine

    A Washington state appellate panel on Monday rejected a concrete subcontractor's appeal of more than $2 million in penalties for wage violations at Seattle construction sites, supporting a city hearing examiner's conclusion that the company was also on the hook alongside the primary contractor.  

  • October 14, 2025

    NYC Mayor Creates Crypto Office Ahead Of Departure

    New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday issued an executive order to establish a mayoral office focused on attracting crypto talent and economic opportunities to the city, an announcement that comes weeks before the city is set to elect a new mayor.

  • October 14, 2025

    Governor Won't Testify In Conn. Official's Corruption Case

    Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont won't be called to testify in the bribery and extortion trial of former school construction official Kosta Diamantis after a judge agreed with prosecutors on Tuesday that additional testimony about Diamantis' character and demeanor would be irrelevant to the charges against him.

  • October 14, 2025

    Split 3rd Circ. Won't Redo Order To Count Undated Ballots

    The Third Circuit on Tuesday narrowly rejected a request to take another look at its ruling that Pennsylvania's counties can not discard mail-in ballots with misdated or absent dates on their outer envelopes, with six of the 14 circuit judges, including new-Trump appointee Judge Emil Bove, voting to reconsider its ruling in light of emerging election law in the state.

  • October 14, 2025

    Rural Phone Co. Asks FCC To Revisit $3M Subsidy Clawback

    A rural phone carrier has urged the full Federal Communications Commission to review a decision to claw back $3 million in universal service aid, claiming the move ran counter to an executive order and federal law.

  • October 14, 2025

    Wash. To Launch Portal For Entities Applying To Practice Law

    Applications for businesses and nonprofits to provide legal services in Washington state will go live next week, the Washington State Bar Association announced Tuesday, a major milestone in a state Supreme Court-approved plan to expand who can practice law.

  • October 14, 2025

    Meet HHS General Counsel Michael Stuart

    Michael Stuart, a former chief federal prosecutor for West Virginia, has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as general counsel for the Department of Health and Human Services, where he has promised to make healthcare fraud enforcement a priority. 

  • October 14, 2025

    Calif. Seeks To Dismiss Feds' Suit Challenging Emission Regs

    California is asking a federal court to dismiss the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's lawsuit challenging the state's emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks.

  • October 14, 2025

    Humana's 2025 Medicare Ratings Sound, Judge Says

    A Texas federal judge on Tuesday upheld the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' 2025 star ratings for some of Humana Inc.'s Medicare Advantage plans, saying the agency had the right to hand down a poor rating to the insurer.

  • October 14, 2025

    Mich. Urges Judge Not To Empower A 'Hall Monitor' DOJ

    The state of Michigan has implored a federal judge not to give the U.S. Department of Justice any leash to preemptively challenge states' anticipated policy moves, saying "there would be no stopping point" to the federal government's interference.

  • October 14, 2025

    Calif. Gov. Vetoes 'Well-Intentioned' Bill Targeting PFAS

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected a bill that would require manufacturers to phase out their use of so-called forever chemicals in children's products, cookware, dental floss and other items, saying he agrees with the bill's health and environmental protection goals but that it could lead to higher costs for Californians.

  • October 14, 2025

    Voting Rights Case Could Further Chief's 'Central Project'

    As a 20-something special assistant in President Ronald Reagan's Department of Justice, John G. Roberts Jr. argued a test focused on the discriminatory effects of legislative redistricting on minority voters would be unconstitutional. Now, four decades later and as chief justice of the United States, he has a chance to make that view the law of the land.

  • October 14, 2025

    DC Circ. Questions Nonprofits' Standing In Funding Cuts Case

    A D.C. Circuit panel expressed skepticism Tuesday that nonprofits challenging the Justice Department's termination of immigration court assistance funding could simultaneously have standing to bring their case while also keeping it out of the Court of Federal Claims, where a district judge effectively sent it in July. 

  • October 14, 2025

    Justices Won't Take Up Bid To Ax Spousal Work Permits

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to review a D.C. Circuit decision holding that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had authority to grant work permits to some spouses of highly skilled foreign workers.

  • October 14, 2025

    Don't Raise Power Levels In Shared Band, Advocates Say

    It would be a bad idea to allow devices to operate at higher power levels in the Citizens Broadband Radio Service, as some in the wireless industry want, an advocacy group said, telling the Federal Communications Commission the move might cause "needless disruption" to the shared airwaves.

  • October 14, 2025

    Has The 9th Circ.'s Rightward Shift Ended Bids To Split It?

    Republican lawmakers have long dreamed of breaking up the nation's largest appellate court. But that fervor has diminished as the Ninth Circuit's balance of Democratic and Republican appointees has evened out in recent years, upending the circuit's status as a culture war lightning rod.

  • October 14, 2025

    Delta Urges Court Not To Certify Class In Greenwashing Suit

    Delta Air Lines Inc. is asking a California judge to deny a motion to certify a proposed class action accusing it of overstating its emissions progress and falsely touting itself as the "first carbon-neutral" airline.

  • October 14, 2025

    Calif. Bar Won't Tweak Scores Despite Accommodation Errors

    The committee in charge of overseeing the California bar exam has announced it will not be seeking further score adjustments for test-takers whose approved accommodations were not provided in the fraught February 2025 exam.

  • October 14, 2025

    Justices Seek SG Input In 'Lightning Rod' Health Ministry Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday asked for the U.S. solicitor general to weigh in on a "lightning rod" of a case involving the regulation of nonprofit healthcare-sharing ministries that provide cheap, Christian-friendly health insurance options but aren't legally bound to pay for medical care.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    Congress Must Resolve PSLRA Issue For Section 11 Litigants

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    By establishing a uniform judgment reduction credit for all defendants in cases involving Section 11 of the Securities Act, Congress could remove unnecessary statutory ambiguity from the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act and enable litigants to price potential settlements with greater certainty, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Stablecoin Committee Promotes Uniformity But May Fall Short

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    While the Genius Act's establishment of the Stablecoin Certification Review Committee will provide private stablecoin issuers with more consistent standards, fragmentation remains due to the disparate regulatory approaches taken by different states, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • FTC's Reseller Suit Highlights Larger Ticket Platform Issues

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    Taken together, the recent Federal Trade Commission lawsuit and Ticketmaster's recent antitrust woes demonstrate that federal enforcers are testing the resilience of antitrust and consumer-protection frameworks in an evolving, tech-driven marketplace, says Thomas Stratmann at George Mason University.

  • Agentic AI Puts A New Twist On Attorney Ethics Obligations

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    As lawyers increasingly use autonomous artificial intelligence agents, disciplinary authorities must decide whether attorney responsibility for an AI-caused legal ethics violation is personal or supervisory, and firms must enact strong policies regarding agentic AI use and supervision, says Grace Wynn at HWG.

  • Parsing Trump Admin's First 6 Months Of SEC Enforcement

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement results for the first six months of the Trump administration show substantially fewer new enforcement actions compared to the same period under the previous administration, but indicate a clear focus on traditional fraud schemes affecting retail investors, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • HSR Compliance Remains A Priority From Biden To Trump

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    Several new enforcement actions from the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice illustrate that rigorous attention to Hart-Scott-Rodino Act compliance has become a critical component of the U.S. merger review process, even amid the political transition from the Biden to Trump administrations, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Cos. Face EU, US Regulatory Tension On Many Fronts

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    When the European Union sets stringent standards, companies seeking to operate in the international marketplace must conform to them, or else concede opportunities — but with the current U.S. administration pushing hard to roll back regulations, global companies face an increasing tension over which standards to follow, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • How EU Is Tweaking Enviro Laws After US Trade Deal

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    While a recent joint statement from the European Union and the U.S. in the wake of their trade deal does not mention special treatment for U.S. companies, the EU's ongoing commitment to streamline its sustainability legislation suggests an openness to addressing concerns raised by the U.S., say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • The Consequences Of OCC's Pivot On Disparate Impact

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    The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's recent move to stop scrutinizing facially neutral lending policies that disproportionately affect a protected group reflects the administration's ongoing shift in assessing discrimination, though this change may not be enough to dissuade claims by states or private plaintiffs, says Travis Nelson at Polsinelli.

  • FDA Transparency Plans Raise Investor Disclosure Red Flags

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s recently announced intent to publish complete response letters for unapproved drugs and devices implicates certain investor disclosure requirements under securities laws, making it necessary for life sciences and biotech companies to adopt robust controls going forward, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Rising USCIS Denials May Signal Reverse On Signature Policy

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    Increasingly, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services appears to be issuing denials and requests for evidence in cases where petitioners digitally affix handwritten signatures to paper-based petitions, upending a long-standing practice with potentially grave consequences for applicants, says Sherry Neal at Corporate Immigration.

  • Series

    Being A Professional Wrestler Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Pursuing my childhood dream of being a professional wrestler has taught me important legal career lessons about communication, adaptability, oral advocacy and professionalism, says Christopher Freiberg at Midwest Disability.

  • 2 Calif. Cases Could Reshape Future Of Trap-And-Trace Suits

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    A California federal judge's recent dismissal of two California Invasion of Privacy Act cases demonstrates an inherent contradiction in pen register and trap-and-trace claims, teeing up a Ninth Circuit appeal that could either breathe new life into such claims or put an end to them outright, says Matthew Pearson at Womble Bond.

  • How FDIC Appeals Plan Squares With Fed, OCC Processes

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    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s recent proposal to revise its appeals process merits a fresh comparison to the appeals systems of the Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and would provide institutions with greater transparency and independence, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • How GILTI Reform Affects M&A Golden Parachute Planning

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    Deal teams should evaluate the effect of a recent seemingly technical change to U.S. international tax law on the golden parachute analysis that often plays a critical part of many corporate transactions to avoid underestimating its impact on an acquirer's worldwide taxable income following a triggering transaction, say attorneys at MoFo.

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