Public Policy

  • July 03, 2025

    CFPB Funding Cut Could Alter Injunction Calculus At DC Circ.

    The steep funding cut that Republicans have passed for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could strengthen the Trump administration's position in its court fight to resume downsizing the agency, even if it doesn't directly resolve the legal questions at play.

  • July 03, 2025

    Biggest Environmental Law Decisions Of 2025: Midyear Report

    The first half of 2025 saw the U.S. Supreme Court impose limitations on water permit requirements, as well as key decisions in lower courts in climate change and environmental justice cases. Here, Law360 takes a look at some of the biggest environmental law rulings of 2025.

  • July 03, 2025

    Colo. Sales Tax Applies To Netflix Subscriptions, Court Rules

    Netflix's streaming services in Colorado are tangible personal property subject to sales tax, a state appeals court ruled, reversing a district court's finding that the subscriptions were not taxable under state law because they were not tangible physical items.

  • July 03, 2025

    G7 Deal's Details To Dictate How US Cos. Fare Under Pillar 2

    Republicans' international tax changes in their major reconciliation bill that passed Thursday raise questions about the U.S. tax system's ability to coexist with the OECD-designed Pillar Two global minimum tax regime.

  • July 03, 2025

    FCC Aims To Advance Fast-Track Process For Removing Regs

    The Federal Communications Commission plans to vote this month on whether to employ a fast-track procedure to remove regulations that are deemed obsolete without having to go through the typical process of first issuing a public notice and soliciting comment.

  • July 03, 2025

    Ga. Sheriff's Conviction Wins Civil Rights Claim For Detainee

    A Georgia federal judge handed an early win Wednesday to a man who said he was one of several detainees tortured by former Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill, ruling that the "conditions are all met" to decide the civil rights claims based on Hill's criminal convictions.

  • July 03, 2025

    Navajo Nation's Bid To Block Lease Ban Put On 90-Day Hold

    The Navajo Nation's bid to block a Biden administration order that withdrew U.S. land from new mineral leasing and development near a historic site has been paused after the parties said a recent presidential executive order could moot the dispute, a New Mexico federal judge said.

  • July 03, 2025

    4 Things To Watch At DOL In 2025's 2nd Half

    Management-side attorneys are expecting a shakeup at the U.S. Department of Labor if President Donald Trump's pick to lead the agency's employee benefits arm wins Senate confirmation. Here, Law360 looks at four issues that employee benefits experts say they'll be monitoring at the DOL in the latter half of the year.

  • July 03, 2025

    Labor Official's Firing Stands After DC Circ. Steps In

    A D.C. Circuit panel stayed an order Thursday reinstating a fired member of a panel that decides federal agencies' union disputes in line with a U.S. Supreme Court order freezing out two fired leaders of other labor agencies.

  • July 03, 2025

    Circuit-By-Circuit Recap: Justices Send Message To Outliers

    It was a tough term at the U.S. Supreme Court for two very different circuits — one solidly liberal, one solidly conservative — that had their rulings overturned in eye-popping numbers. But it was another impressive year for a relatively moderate circuit that appears increasingly simpatico with the high court.

  • July 03, 2025

    Justices Extend Due Process Pause To South Sudan Removals

    The U.S. Supreme Court clarified Thursday that its recent order allowing the Trump administration to send noncitizens to countries they have no connection to with little notice or chance to object extends to a group of men the government plans to send to South Sudan.

  • July 03, 2025

    States Still Oppose Florida's Generic Drug Deal With Sandoz

    States accusing generic-drug makers of fixing prices are continuing to object to a $10 million settlement struck between Florida and Sandoz, arguing that it limits their ability to negotiate deals while letting the Sunshine State benefit without participating in the litigation.

  • July 03, 2025

    The Moments That Shaped The Universal Injunction Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court voted along ideological lines when it hindered the ability of federal district court judges to issue nationwide pauses on presidential policies, but that outcome didn't seem like a foregone conclusion during oral arguments earlier this year. What do the colloquies suggest about the justices' thinking? Here are some moments that may have swayed them.

  • July 03, 2025

    High Court To Hear Street Preacher's First Amendment Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Thursday to hear a challenge to an ordinance in Brandon, Mississippi, that redirects demonstrations to a designated protest area, teeing up an examination of whether case law prevents someone who has been convicted from bringing a civil rights suit.

  • July 03, 2025

    Spectrum, Border, Injunction Changes Included In Mega Bill

    The House voted 218-214, almost along party lines, on Thursday on the reconciliation budget package, which includes a range of policy provisions on nationwide injunctions, spectrum and immigration and now goes to President Donald Trump's desk ahead of the decided Fourth of July deadline.

  • July 03, 2025

    Pacific Seafood Faces CWA Suit For Alleged Permit Violations

    The Center for Food Safety and Wild Fish Conservancy hit Pacific Seafood Aquaculture LLC with a Clean Water Act citizen suit alleging it has failed to comply with permit terms for three Columbia River net pen facilities, each producing more than 20,000 pounds of rainbow trout annually.

  • July 03, 2025

    Biggest Decisions Of Mich. Supreme Court So Far This Year

    The Michigan Supreme Court so far this year has handed down a number of decisions marking important changes to criminal law, including reshaping how late adolescents are sentenced for serious crimes and declaring that the smell of marijuana alone cannot justify a warrantless vehicle search.

  • July 03, 2025

    Ex-Treasury Official Joins Covington's Nat'l Security Practice

    Covington & Burling LLP has boosted its national security practice with the hire of the former head of the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence under former President Barack Obama's administration as of counsel.

  • July 03, 2025

    DHS Aims To Implement Biometric Tracking For Noncitizens

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is planning to revive a policy proposal from the first Trump administration to implement facial recognition technology as part of a comprehensive biometric system to track the entry and exit of noncitizens.

  • July 03, 2025

    Free-Speech Suit Will Be Early Trial Court Test Of Trump Admin

    A Massachusetts federal judge will begin hearing testimony Monday in a challenge by academic organizations to the Trump administration's visa revocations and removals of noncitizen faculty and students who have expressed pro-Palestinian views, in one of the first trials over the president's second-term policies.

  • July 03, 2025

    High Court Passes On Mont. Abortion, Parental Consent Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined Thursday to hear a case focused on parental consent and abortion in Montana, as two conservative justices said the decision shouldn't be seen as a rejection by the justices of the parental-rights question itself.

  • July 03, 2025

    NC Gov. Vetoes Bill Stamping Out Carbon Reduction Target

    North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein has rejected a piece of legislation that would have eliminated the state's 2030 goal to cut carbon emissions by 70%, saying it would cost ratepayers in the long run and keep the Tar Heel State too beholden to natural gas.

  • July 03, 2025

    HHS Ordered To Restore Data Axed Under 'Gender Ideology' EO

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services must restore a swath of webpages and datasets it took down following a Trump administration executive order seeking to root out references to so-called gender ideology, a D.C. federal judge ruled.

  • July 03, 2025

    DHS Says Feds Aren't Funding Everglades Detention Center

    The federal government is distancing itself from the new migrant detention center in the Everglades, saying in a court filing Thursday that it has not "implemented, authorized, directed or funded" the "Alligator Alcatraz" camp.

  • July 03, 2025

    What Judges Might Ponder In Judicial Safety Law Challenge

    A Third Circuit panel set to examine the constitutionality of a judicial safety law born out of the murder of a New Jersey federal judge's son is tasked with what experts are viewing as a lesser-of-two-evils choice: chilling free speech or chilling public service.

Expert Analysis

  • Ore. Coinbase Case Charts New Path For State Crypto Suits

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    Oregon's recent lawsuit against Coinbase serves as a reminder for the crypto industry that not all states will simply defer to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's evolving stance on crypto-assets, highlighting why stakeholders should proactively assess the risks posed by state-level litigation and develop strategies to address distinct challenges, say attorneys at Steptoe.

  • AGs Take Up Consumer Protection Mantle Amid CFPB Cuts

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    State attorneys general are stepping up to fill the enforcement gap as the Trump administration restructures the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, creating a new regulatory dynamic that companies must closely monitor as oversight shifts toward states, say attorneys at Cozen O’Connor.

  • Va.'s Altered Surcharge Law Poses Constitutional Questions

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    Virginia's recently amended consumer protection law requiring sellers to display the total price rather than expressly prohibiting surcharges follows New York's recent revision of its antisurcharge statute and may raise similar First Amendment questions, says attorneys at Stinson.

  • Philly Law Initiates New Era Of Worker Protections

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    A new worker protection law in Philadelphia includes, among other measures, a private right of action and recordkeeping requirements that may amount to a lower evidentiary standard, introducing a new level of accountability and additional noncompliance risks for employers, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Series

    Volunteering At Schools Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Speaking to elementary school students about the importance of college and other opportunities after high school — especially students who may not see those paths reflected in their daily lives — not only taught me the importance of giving back, but also helped to sharpen several skills essential to a successful legal practice, says Guillermo Escobedo at Constangy.

  • 5 Open Questions About FDA's AI-Assisted Review Plans

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently touted the completion of a generative artificial intelligence program for scientific reviewers and plans for agencywide deployment to speed up reviews of premarket applications, but there is considerable uncertainty surrounding the tools' ability to protect trade secrets, avoid bias and more, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • Bid Protest Spotlight: Jurisdiction, Price Range, Late-Is-Late

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    In this month's bid protest roundup, Thomas Lee at MoFo examines three May decisions from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims examining the court’s jurisdiction to rescind an executive order, the impact of agency error in establishing a competitive price range and application of the late-is-late rule to an electronic filing.

  • How Trump Administration's Antitrust Agenda Is Playing Out

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    Under the current antitrust agency leadership, the latest course in merger enforcement, regulatory approach and key sectors shows a marked shift from Biden-era practices and includes a return to remedies and the commitment to remain focused on the bounds of U.S. law, say attorneys at Wilson Sonsini.

  • Justices' Ruling Lowers Bar For Reverse Discrimination Suits

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous opinion in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, lowering the evidentiary burden for plaintiffs bringing so-called reverse discrimination claims, may lead to more claims brought by majority group employees — and open the door to legal challenges to employer diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, say attorneys at Ice Miller.

  • Fed's Crypto Guidance Yank Could Drive Innovation

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    The Federal Reserve Board's recent withdrawal of guidance letters brings regulatory consistency and broadens banks' ability to innovate in the crypto-asset space, but key distinctions remain between the Fed's policy on crypto liquidity and that of the other banking regulators, says Dan Hartman at Nutter.

  • DOE Grant Recipients Facing Termination Have Legal Options

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    Federal grant recipients whose awards have recently been rescinded by the U.S. Deparment of Energy have options for successfully challenging those terminations through litigation, say attorneys at Bracewell.

  • Attacks On Judicial Independence Tend To Manifest In 3 Ways

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    Attacks on judicial independence now run the gamut from gross (bald-faced interference) to systemic (structural changes) to insidious (efforts to undermine public trust), so lawyers, judges and the public must recognize the fateful moment in which we live and defend the rule of law every day, says Jim Moliterno at Washington and Lee University.

  • Loophole To Budget Bill's AI Rule May Complicate Tech Regs

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    An exception in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that could allow state and local governments to develop ostensibly technology-neutral laws that nonetheless circumvent the bill’s ban on state artificial intelligence regulation could unintentionally create a more complex regulatory environment for technologies beyond AI, says Pooya Shoghi at Lee & Hayes.

  • A Look At Texas Corp. Law Changes Aimed At Dethroning Del.

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    Seeking to displace Delaware as the preferred locale for incorporation, Texas recently significantly amended its business code, including changes like codifying the business judgment rule, restricting books and records demands, and giving greater protections for officers and directors in interested transactions, say attorneys at Fenwick.

  • Prior Art Ruling Highlights Importance Of Detailed Elaboration

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    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's recent decision in Ecto World v. RAI Strategic Holdings shows that when there is a possibility for discretionary denial, and the examiner has potentially overlooked prior art, patent owners should elaborate on as many of the denial factors as possible, says Frank Bernstein at Squire Patton.

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