Public Policy

  • March 16, 2026

    1st Circ. Affirms Block Of Trump's 'Unprecedented' Aid Freeze

    The First Circuit on Monday mostly upheld a lower court's order blocking the Trump administration from enacting a "sweeping and unprecedented categorical 'freeze' of federal financial assistance," ruling that the states involved in the suit will likely successfully show that the federal government acted arbitrarily and capriciously.

  • March 16, 2026

    DC Circ. Judge Skeptical Of DOJ's Quick Removal Argument

    A D.C. circuit judge didn't appear to be buying the Trump administration's argument as to why advocacy groups should not be allowed to challenge three U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement policies related to the deportation and expedited removal of noncitizens.

  • March 16, 2026

    NJ Panel Presses AG On Withheld Police Discipline Data

    A New Jersey appellate panel grilled a deputy attorney general Monday over the attorney general office's refusal to release Essex County's police misconduct data to the Office of the Public Defender, questioning whether confidentiality claims justify withholding information the OPD calls essential to transparency and criminal defense.

  • March 16, 2026

    OCC Calls For Preemption Of Ill. Swipe-Fee Law At 7th Circ.

    A top U.S. banking regulator is seconding the banking industry's call for the Seventh Circuit to block Illinois' tax and tip swipe-fee ban, arguing a lower-court judge missed the "forest for the trees" in ruling the state-law restrictions are enforceable against banks it oversees.

  • March 16, 2026

    Live Nation Trial Resumes, Exec Says Competition Is Up

    The antitrust trial of Live Nation picked back up Monday after a weeklong hiatus with a coalition of states in the driver's seat, after the U.S. Department of Justice settled its case against the live entertainment giant, with one of its executives testifying that competition in the concert promotion business has grown in recent years.

  • March 16, 2026

    Amazon Prime Parallels Threaten Doxo's Bid To Beat FTC Suit

    Online bill pay platform Doxo fought uphill at a hearing Monday in Washington federal court to beat the Federal Trade Commission's claims it misleads consumers, with the judge noting that Amazon.com Inc. had made some of the same arguments in the FTC's lawsuit targeting its Prime subscription program and lost.

  • March 16, 2026

    Trump Taps Vance For Fraud Task Force, Bashing Blue States

    President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order creating a task force chaired by Vice President JD Vance that aims to curb "fraud, waste and abuse" in federal housing, food and other benefit programs, with the president alleging "staggering fraud and waste" in Minnesota and other Democratic-led states.

  • March 16, 2026

    Manufacturing Factor Adds More New Twists To AIA Cases

    An announcement that the U.S. manufacturing activities of parties in America Invents Act patent challenges will be considered in institution decisions could make it more difficult for some foreign companies to secure reviews and make proceedings more complex, attorneys say.

  • March 16, 2026

    Apparel Co., Crypto Backer Drop SEC Suit Over 'Airdrops'

    An apparel company and its cryptocurrency industry group backer preemptively suing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission have dropped their case over digital asset transactions being securities, saying the SEC's recent policy pivot "suggest[s] a change in the commission's position regarding free airdrops."

  • March 16, 2026

    Boris Epshteyn Targeted Over Trump Bid To 'Coerce' BigLaw

    Lawyers, law professors and retired judges led by two nonprofits urged the New York state courts' ethics committee on Monday to investigate Boris Epshteyn's involvement in President Donald Trump's efforts to "intimidate and coerce" BigLaw firms into pro bono agreements with the administration.

  • March 16, 2026

    Feds, ACLU Clash Over Gitmo Immigrant Detentions

    Just three noncitizens were being detained at Guantánamo Bay facilities earlier this month, the Trump administration told a federal judge, but the American Civil Liberties Union disputed its assertions about how long people have been held there and their ability to correspond with attorneys.

  • March 16, 2026

    Trump Admin Wants Student Loan Forgiveness Suits Tossed

    The Trump administration on Monday asked a Massachusetts federal judge to toss a pair of lawsuits challenging a change to eligibility requirements for student loan forgiveness, calling the potential repercussions from the new rule "speculative."

  • March 16, 2026

    Enviro Groups, Industry Sue EPA Over NOx Emission Standards

    The Sierra Club challenged new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules on gas-fired power plant emissions, alleging Monday the amended regulations are "woefully inadequate" because they do little to protect the public from dangerous pollution, while an industry group sued separately over new source performance standards for turbines.

  • March 16, 2026

    FCC Urges 5th Circ. To Nix Latest Challenge To Telecom Fund

    The Federal Communications Commission urged the Fifth Circuit to toss a conservative group's latest challenge to the Universal Service Fund, calling the suit "no more persuasive" than the last attempt to overturn the fund, which was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • March 16, 2026

    SEIU Sues To Revive EPA Climate Endangerment Finding

    One of the largest labor unions in the nation is asking the D.C. Circuit to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's move last month to rescind its landmark 2009 finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health, which allowed the agency to regulate vehicle emissions.

  • March 16, 2026

    Capital One's $5B Brex Purchase Must Be Blocked, Judge Told

    A group of consumers wants a California federal judge to bar Capital One's proposed $5.15 billion acquisition of fintech company Brex, arguing it violates antitrust laws, after the group's first bid to halt the bank's purchase of Discover Financial Services failed. 

  • March 16, 2026

    Dems Slam FCC Broadcast License Threat Over Iran Coverage

    U.S. Senate Democrats have called on Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr to resign for warning the FCC could pull broadcast licenses over news organizations' coverage of the Iran war, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calling the agency chief's comment "vindictive, fascist stuff."

  • March 16, 2026

    States Sue Over Trump Cuts To Housing Bias Programs

    A group of 15 states and the District of Columbia claimed on Monday that the Trump administration is undermining their enforcement of fair housing laws by threatening to cut off funding from local government programs that enforce fair housing protections for people who are discriminated against for traits such as their sexual orientation.

  • March 16, 2026

    6th Circ. Revives FedEx, Kellogg Mortality Table Suits

    The Sixth Circuit on Monday revived suits against Kellogg and FedEx from retirees who alleged their former employers' outdated actuarial assumptions shortchanged their joint-and-survivor pension benefits, holding federal benefits law required employers to use reasonably up-to-date mortality tables when converting from a single-life annuity form.

  • March 16, 2026

    US Won't Alter Stance After Interior Restores Riverbed Opinion

    Federal attorneys told the D.C. federal court that the U.S. Department of the Interior has reinstated a prior legal opinion concluding that North Dakota, not the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, owns mineral rights beneath a portion of the Missouri River flowing through the Fort Berthold Reservation.

  • March 16, 2026

    Migrants' Names Shielded In Martha's Vineyard Flight Suit

    A Massachusetts federal court issued an order Monday shielding the names of three Venezuelan asylum seekers in a proposed class action alleging Florida officials lured them onto flights to Martha's Vineyard, finding good cause exists to protect them from public scrutiny. 

  • March 16, 2026

    DOD-Anthropic Fallout Sends Warning Signal To Contractors

    The Trump administration's recent designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk to national security sends a message to government contractors that they must either fall in line with the government's demands or face the consequences.

  • March 16, 2026

    Environmental Groups Fight EPA's $3B Grant Cut In Court

    Environmental advocacy groups and localities seeking to revive their suit accusing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of illegally stripping $3 billion from a congressionally created program told the D.C. Circuit on Monday that the government's own documentation indicated that the funding should have remained in place when Congress axed "unobligated" funding.

  • March 16, 2026

    FERC OKs Grid Operator Bid To Streamline Planning Process

    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved regional grid operator Southwest Power Pool's plan to combine its planning and power plant hookup processes, a move that a pair of FERC commissioners hope will be replicated across the U.S.

  • March 16, 2026

    Enviros, Ariz. Tribes Continue Push To Halt SunZia Power Line

    A coalition of tribes and conservation groups has asked an Arizona district court to vacate an Interior Department decision that allowed construction of a 520-mile power line route to proceed, arguing the federal agency treated cultural property "as an afterthought" and ignored the effects on the San Pedro Valley.

Expert Analysis

  • Del. Justices' Upholding Of SB 21 Gives Cos. Needed Clarity

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    The Delaware Supreme Court's recent unanimous decision in Rutledge v. Clearway Energy — upholding 2025 corporate law amendments enacted through S.B. 21, which clarified safe harbor protections and key terms — may help stem the DExit movement, whose proponents have claimed unpredictability in Delaware courts, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.

  • Why Mukherji Won't End USCIS' EB-1A Two-Step

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    A Nebraska federal court's recent decision in Mukherji v. Miller seemed to vindicate longstanding complaints about the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' controversial two-step adjudication process, declaring the framework unlawful — but Mukherji is unlikely to be the death blow that immigration practitioners have hoped for, says Jun Li at Reid & Wise.

  • Unique Issues Facing Brand-Compounder Patent Litigation

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    Recent litigation and potential enforcement action against Hims & Hers Health raise questions about how compounders and branded pharmaceuticals companies would be positioned in patent litigation as compared to generics companies, which would require strategies different from those that would be used in traditional Hatch-Waxman Act litigation, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • How Banks Can Apply FinCEN Beneficial Ownership Relief

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    A recent Financial Crimes Enforcement Unit order limiting the circumstances under which banks should identify and verify beneficial owners may allow banks to tailor their approach to verification compliance, but only after reviewing customer due diligence policies and evaluating alignment with their risk profiles, say attorneys at Cleary.

  • How CFTC Prediction Market Agenda Shifts The Playing Field

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    Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Michael Selig recently signaled that a more welcoming regulatory landscape for prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket is coming soon, but we can expect a hotly contested regulatory and legal environment with important implications for the platforms, state regulators and market participants, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • PFAS Risks In M&A Amid Litigation, Legislative Developments

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    Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances have become a significant M&A concern amid new trends in settlements and state laws, and potential buyers must find ways to evaluate potential related risks, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Opinion

    Deregulation Can Solve Labor Market Woes

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    There is broad agreement that labor law is in need of reform, owing to few unions, slow procedures and weak remedies, and while deregulation will strike many as radical, it has worked for a variety of industries and could make competition a regular feature of the market, says Alexander MacDonald at Littler.

  • Opinion

    3 Reasons We Need Digital Asset Market Structure Legislation

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    As bills to regulate the cryptocurrency industry risk stalling in Congress, policymakers and market participants must remember why a durable statutory framework, not governance by agency action, is key to unlocking the full potential of the U.S. digital asset ecosystem, say attorneys at Davis Polk.

  • Series

    Volunteering With Scouts Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Serving as an assistant scoutmaster for my son’s troop reaffirmed several skills and principles crucial to lawyering — from the importance of disconnecting to the value of morality, says Michael Warren at McManis Faulkner.

  • Compliance Takeaways Amid Subscription Practices Scrutiny

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    The Federal Trade Commission's prioritization of enforcement regarding deceptive billing and cancellation practices in recurring subscriptions, and new click-to-cancel rulemaking expected on the horizon, carry key takeaways for companies using recurring subscriptions to sell products or services, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: In Court, It's About Storytelling

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    Law school provides doctrine, cases and hypotheticals, but when lawyers step into the courtroom, they must learn the importance of clarity, credibility, memorability and preparation — in other words, how to tell simple, effective stories, say Nicholas Steverson and Danielle Trujillo at Wheeler Trigg, and Lisa DeCaro at Courtroom Performance.

  • How Leveraged Lending Pivot May Alter Bank Risk Oversight

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    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's recent withdrawal of leveraged lending guidance introduces several principles that may allow banks to better apply enterprisewide risk management programs and potentially create additional competition in the private credit loan market, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

  • Pros And Cons Of FDA's Push For Nonprescription Drugs

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recent moves to shift more prescription drugs to over-the-counter status could increase access to important medications, but also bring potential safety risks and other trade-offs for drug companies, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

  • Why SDNY May Be Dusting Off The Financial Kingpin Statute

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    The Southern District of New York’s recent fraud indictments against executives of bankrupt companies Tricolor and First Brands have seemingly revived the Continuing Financial Crimes Enterprise statute, and if the cases succeed, prosecutors across the country will have ample reason to reach for this long-dormant tool, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

  • What's Changed In Army Corps' Reissued Nationwide Permits

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    The final rule recently issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, renewing and revising nationwide permits for projects covered by Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, makes measured adjustments rather than sweeping revisions, addressing key operational and compliance concerns while maintaining the existing framework, say attorneys at Spencer Fane.

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