Public Policy

  • October 03, 2025

    Court Limits In Congress' NEPA Reform Push Spark Debate

    Congressmembers' hopes to facilitate the faster approval of projects that require environmental reviews like pipelines and other energy infrastructure may be an uphill battle despite bipartisan support due to accompanying provisions, such as limited judicial review, that have invited opposition.

  • October 03, 2025

    Pa. Supreme Court Snapshot: Silent Witness, Corporate Veil

    When its October session launches Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will consider issues such as the time limits on long-hidden crimes and long-undiscovered construction flaws, along with witnesses who say nothing on the stand and experts who opine on manner of death.

  • October 03, 2025

    High Court Asked To Review Racial Bias In Miss. Jury Strikes

    It wasn't until after he endured six capital murder trials tainted by racial prejudice that Curtis Flowers, a Black Mississippian, was finally exonerated, had the charges against him dismissed and his name cleared.

  • October 03, 2025

    Native Groups Urge Action As Shutdown Threatens Services

    Federal lawmakers and Native American nonprofits are calling for funding to continue certain services during the U.S. government shutdown, saying they're concerned about the disproportionate harm it could have on tribal communities.

  • October 03, 2025

    Mass. Justices Say Pandemic Delay Not Speedy Trial Violation

    Massachusetts' highest court ruled Friday that pandemic-related delays in bringing a defendant to trial did not violate his right to a speedy trial under the state and U.S. constitutions.

  • October 03, 2025

    Gov. Lamont May Testify In Ex-Conn. Budget Official's Trial

    Former Connecticut budget official Konstantinos Diamantis on Friday told a panel of potential jurors that he plans to call Gov. Ned Lamont to testify in his federal corruption trial, setting up a possible courtroom showdown between Diamantis and the elected official who removed him from his post before he was indicted.

  • October 03, 2025

    DC Circ. Eyes Pre-Enforcement Standing In Gun Ban Case

    A panel of D.C. Circuit judges wrestled with where to draw the line on pre-enforcement challenges in Second Amendment cases Friday as Washington, D.C., defended its ban on firearms on Metro trains and buses from area gun-owners seeking to carry and ride.

  • October 03, 2025

    FERC Finding Friendlier Courts In Gas Project Approval Fights

    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is getting more leeway from courts in lawsuits challenging its gas project approvals following a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that curtailed federal environmental reviews, which may ultimately speed up the agency's consideration of projects.

  • October 03, 2025

    Pot Co. Urges 9th Circ. To Revive Labor Peace Law Challenge

    A cannabis retailer challenging the constitutionality of a California law that requires marijuana businesses to have labor peace agreements with unions is urging the Ninth Circuit to revive its lawsuit against the state.

  • October 03, 2025

    EEOC Can't Halt Suit Over Trans Advocacy Amid Shutdown

    A Maryland federal judge refused Friday to grant the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's bid for a stay in a suit claiming the agency violated federal law by dropping gender identity discrimination cases, despite the government's argument that the ongoing shutdown meant the case couldn't move ahead.

  • October 03, 2025

    2nd Circ. Says Exxon Must Pay Atty Fees For 'Absurd' Args

    The Second Circuit on Friday said energy giants including Exxon Mobil Corp. must pay attorney fees to New York City, which is suing them for deceptive practices around climate change, for advancing "absurd" arguments in remand proceedings.

  • October 03, 2025

    Trump Admin Hit With Suit Over $100K H-1B Fees

    Several groups sued Friday in California federal court to block the Trump administration's recent action slapping on a $100,000 fee for H-1B visas, saying the new price tag was unconstitutionally ordered and will hurt more than just America's tech industry.

  • October 03, 2025

    Miami Beats Suit Over Alleged RE Plot Involving Ex-City Atty

    A Florida state appeals court reversed the denial of the city of Miami's motion to dismiss a civil conspiracy claim brought against it by a man who accused city workers of conspiring with the former city attorney and her husband to purchase houses with multiple code violations at below-market value and sell them for a profit.

  • October 03, 2025

    Justices To Mull Hawaii's 'Vampire Law' For Concealed Carry

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a challenge to a Hawaii law that bars pistol permit holders from bringing handguns onto private property open to the public without the owner's express permission, similar to policies in other states that critics have characterized as "vampire laws."

  • October 03, 2025

    Vanderbilt Law Grad Says Wrongful Conviction Ruined Dream

    A graduate of the prestigious Vanderbilt Law School has been shut out of the legal profession for years because Connecticut police and his own criminal defense attorneys worked to ensure that he was wrongfully convicted of assault, according to a civil rights and legal malpractice lawsuit this week removed to federal court.

  • October 03, 2025

    College Prez Loses Emergency Bid In Whistleblower Suit

    A New Jersey federal judge has rejected a motion from the president of Rowan College at Burlington County seeking an emergency restraining order to block potential termination, amid a whistleblower lawsuit he brought alleging retaliation after he opposed what he described as unlawful actions taken by the school's board and legal counsel.

  • October 03, 2025

    Feds Accuse NC Farmers Of $8.5M 'Straw Producer' Crop Plot

    The U.S. government accused a family farm of engaging in a roughly $8.5 million scheme to inflate crop insurance payouts, alleging in North Carolina federal court that its owner used family members as "straw producers" who had "no legitimate insurable interest in the crops insured."

  • October 03, 2025

    Calif. Bar Launches Randomized Client Trust Fund Audits

    Attorneys in California should be on the lookout for notifications from the state bar regarding client trust fund compliance reviews, as the organization kicks off a five-week mandatory review program during which a small cross-sample of Golden State lawyers will be asked to open their books.

  • October 03, 2025

    6th Circ. Won't Revive Religious Rehab Group's Land Use Suit

    The Sixth Circuit refused to rescue a faith-based rehabilitation operator's claims that a Tennessee county unlawfully wielded land use laws to keep it from buying a new site, finding that the group's move to a nearby county was not a substantial burden on its religious exercise.

  • October 03, 2025

    Insurer Fends Off Bad Faith Claim Over $1.8M Crash Award

    A man injured in a car crash cannot bring a bad faith action against the other driver's insurer, a Florida federal court ruled, finding that the insurer's prompt tender of its policy limits to the man means it is protected under Florida's statutory "safe harbor" provision.

  • October 03, 2025

    DC Circ. Split On Challenge To IRS-ICE Info-Sharing Deal

    D.C. Circuit judges seemed split Friday over whether an information-sharing agreement between immigration authorities and the IRS complies with taxpayer privacy protections, with one judge noting during oral arguments that the government immigration arm requesting the tax information appears unauthorized to make the requests.

  • October 03, 2025

    The Roberts Court At 20: How The Chief Is Reshaping America

    Twenty years after John Roberts became the 17th chief justice of the United States, he faces a U.S. Supreme Court term that's looking transformative for the country and its institutions. How Justice Roberts and his colleagues navigate mounting distrust in the judiciary and set the boundaries of presidential authority appear increasingly likely to define his time leading the court.

  • October 03, 2025

    Madigan Must Report To Prison As Ordered, 7th Circ. Says

    The Seventh Circuit on Friday denied former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan's request to stay his impending surrender to serve a seven-year prison sentence for bribery and wire fraud as he appeals that conviction.

  • October 03, 2025

    NC Couple Say State Bungled Replacement Home Project

    A married North Carolina couple have hit the state government and a general contractor with a Fair Housing Act and an Americans with Disabilities Act suit, alleging in North Carolina federal court that the defendants' replacement for their hurricane-damaged home is inaccessible for wheelchair use.

  • October 03, 2025

    4 Criminal Law Cases To Watch As Justices Return

    A slate of upcoming arguments will offer the U.S. Supreme Court the opportunity to weigh criminal defendants' ability to pursue claims of double jeopardy, secure sentencing relief and confer with trial counsel during overnight pauses in their testimony.

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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