Public Policy

  • June 04, 2026

    Trump Era Worse Than McCarthy For Speech, Law Dean Says

    The dean of UC Berkeley's law school told an audience of lawyers and artists on Thursday that America is experiencing "an unprecedented assault on the Constitution, on the First Amendment, and on freedom of speech," comparing the country under President Donald Trump unfavorably to the McCarthy era.

  • June 04, 2026

    Draft House Bill Aims To Set Federal AI Regulatory Standard

    A bipartisan pair of House members Thursday released a draft proposal to create a federal framework for AI governance that would require large developers to take steps to address and disclose "catastrophic" risks while prohibiting states from crafting or enforcing laws "targeting the development of AI models" for three years.

  • June 04, 2026

    5th Circ. Unblocks Texas App Age-Check Law During Appeal

    The Fifth Circuit on Thursday paused an injunction halting a Texas law that requires app store owners to verify users' ages and block minors from downloading apps or making in-app purchases without parental consent, saying the state will likely succeed in showing the district court erred in blocking the law.

  • June 04, 2026

    Fla. High Court Backs Accounting Methods In Utility Rate Hike

    The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the state Public Service Commission's order approving accounting mechanisms used by a natural gas company in a rate increase plan, ruling that the regulator wasn't inconsistent with internal policy and within its discretion to approve the measures.

  • June 04, 2026

    Deepfake Mocks Judge Spearheading Judiciary Deepfake Rule

    The New York federal judge developing policies for phony audiovisual materials revealed Thursday firsthand experience with the subject: an artificial intelligence video on social media that depicts him as a maniacal Nazi who recently sentenced a private equity executive to prison "for being a Republican."

  • June 04, 2026

    USA Fencing Seeks Fees For 'Meritless' Trans Athlete Suit

    USA Fencing Association asked a judge to award it and its fellow defendants $92,000 in fees and costs after a suit accusing it of discriminating against women fencers by allowing transgender women to compete was dismissed, arguing the case was "meritless" and meant to harass.

  • June 04, 2026

    Generics Cos. Get More Freedom In High Court Patent Ruling

    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision Thursday shutting down a patent case involving a generic heart drug that uses a so-called skinny label establishes a road map for generics companies to avoid such suits and creates hurdles for branded companies pursuing infringement litigation, attorneys say.

  • June 04, 2026

    Atkore Inks Additional $50M Deal In PVC Pipe Antitrust Row

    Atkore Inc. has reached another settlement in litigation claiming it conspired with other polyvinyl chloride pipe producers to fix prices, this time agreeing to pay $50 million to a class of end-user plaintiffs, according to a motion for preliminary approval of the deal filed Thursday in Illinois federal court.

  • June 04, 2026

    Jersey City Drops Suit Over Cops' Off-Duty Pot Use

    Jersey City dropped its federal lawsuit that sought to terminate police officers who used recreational marijuana while off duty after a New Jersey appeals court affirmed the officers' reinstatement, ruling that there was no conflict between federal firearm restrictions for drug users and state law.

  • June 04, 2026

    9th Circ. Backs FMCSA Block On Calif. Bus Driver Break Rules

    A Ninth Circuit panel on Thursday validated the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's conclusion that national hours-of-service regulations trump California's meal and rest break rules for bus drivers, saying the agency was justified in finding that the Golden State rules strain interstate commerce.

  • June 04, 2026

    OCC's Gould Defends Trump EO On Immigrant Bank Scrutiny

    Republican tensions over President Donald Trump's recent order for greater immigration-related customer scrutiny at banks were on view Thursday in the U.S. House of Representatives as one top regulator told a GOP lawmaker that her concerns about its industry impact were "overblown."

  • June 04, 2026

    Ex-FirstEnergy Execs Face New Bribery Charges After Mistrial

    An Ohio grand jury hit two former FirstEnergy executives Wednesday with a fresh round of corruption charges alleging they bribed a utility regulator to secure a controversial $1.3 billion bailout for two FirstEnergy nuclear plants, beefing up accusations against the executives after a jury deadlocked on the initial charges.

  • June 04, 2026

    DOJ Says Meta And Others Froze $3.8M Tied To Crypto Fraud

    The U.S. Department of Justice announced that private sector corporations, including Meta Platforms Inc. and Google LLC, voluntarily froze over $3.8 million in stolen cryptocurrency during an event known as "Disruption Week."

  • June 04, 2026

    Feds Tout Medicaid Fraud Crackdown In Ohio, Slam Hawaii

    The Trump administration on Thursday praised Ohio's fight against Medicaid fraud and said Hawaii was doing too little, as federal officials pushed states to ramp up anti-fraud prosecutions or risk the loss of federal funding.

  • June 04, 2026

    Bolton To Plead Guilty In Classified Info Case

    Former National Security Advisor John Bolton will plead guilty to charges that he illegally retained classified national defense information.

  • June 04, 2026

    Interior Dept. Must Face Suit Over National Park Sign Removal

    Conservation groups have standing to challenge the removal of information about climate change, slavery and Indigenous history from national park sites and can proceed with their lawsuit, a Massachusetts federal judge said Thursday.

  • June 04, 2026

    Legislative Update: Cannabis And Psychedelics Bill Roundup

    New York lawmakers gave final approval to legislation designed to curb the flow of illicit product into the state's cannabis market; Iowa's governor signed into law a bill to double the number of licensed medical cannabis dispensaries; and Louisiana legislation allowing terminally ill patients to access medical marijuana became law. Here are the major moves in cannabis and psychedelics legislation from the past week.

  • June 04, 2026

    USPTO Mulling Certain Patent Apps After 'Atypical' Case

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is asking why it should keep reviewing patent applications that would not end up giving their owners rights to assert against alleged infringers, following a Federal Circuit decision in what the appellate court called an "atypical" appeal.

  • June 04, 2026

    NTIA Chief Presses To Close 'Gap' In Gov't Spectrum Fund

    The head of the U.S. Department of Commerce agency that manages federal spectrum pushed Thursday to change a legal provision that could delay the transfer of government-held airwaves to the private sector.

  • June 04, 2026

    NC Justices Launch Commission To Tackle Legal Deserts

    Forty-eight of North Carolina's 100 counties are classified as legal deserts, and a commission established by the state's supreme court will aim to address this dearth of attorneys at a meeting Friday, the North Carolina Judicial Branch said.

  • June 04, 2026

    5th Circ. Prods Feds On Controversy In Texas Dream Act Suit

    A Fifth Circuit panel pressed Texas and the federal government to explain where the controversy existed in a suit seeking to end a state law allowing in-state tuition for unauthorized immigrants, saying Thursday the parties "desired the same result."

  • June 04, 2026

    Compass Under Antitrust Probe After $1.6B Anywhere Deal

    New York state has launched an antitrust investigation into Compass Inc. after the country's biggest real estate brokerage announced last year that it would acquire Anywhere Real Estate, the second-largest brokerage, in a $1.6 billion deal.

  • June 04, 2026

    Ex-Newark Deputy Mayor Gets Prison In Bribery Scheme

    A former Newark deputy mayor was sentenced to just over a year in prison in New Jersey federal court for accepting cash and luxury gifts from two real estate developers involved in redevelopment projects for city-owned properties.

  • June 04, 2026

    Calif. And Santa Barbara Beat Land Use Challenge, For Now

    A California federal judge dismissed, for now, a lawsuit by a developer seeking to build a multifamily housing project near Santa Barbara's Old Mission over a new state law that allegedly singled out the project for additional environmental review, while acknowledging Tuesday there are "serious constitutional questions raised here."

  • June 04, 2026

    Cities, Doctors' Group Seek Bar On ACA Marketplace Reforms

    Several cities and groups representing doctors and small businesses urged a Maryland federal court to strike down recently finalized Affordable Care Act marketplace reforms, arguing they will strain community resources by increasing the population of underinsured and uninsured Americans.

Expert Analysis

  • NY Tax Talk: Calculating Tiered Partnership Income

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    Attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland discuss how the potential impact recent New York City Tax Appeals Tribunal decision in Matter of Cantor Fitzgerald holding that the entity approach should be used by tiered partnerships to compute unincorporated business tax liability, why the issue of the proper approach remains unsettled and the broader implications for federal conformity and administrative agency deference.

  • FDA Guidance May Move Goalposts For Form 483 Responses

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    New draft guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration provides formal insight on how drug manufacturers are expected to respond to Form 483s, raising some concerns about the agency's timelines and expectations, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Understanding The SEC's Consequential Crypto Guidance

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent interpretive release — its most comprehensive statement ever on the application of the federal securities laws to crypto-assets — reimagines the Howey test to resolve long-standing questions over what is a security, but leaves many issues unresolved, say attorneys at Cahill.

  • Ohio Case Reflects States' Aggressive Criminal Antitrust Turn

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    The Ohio Attorney General's Office’s recent bid-rigging indictment of an online auctioneer is the latest signal that states, through attorneys general pursuing more kickback cases and legislators expanding the reach of antitrust laws, are shedding their historical reluctance to wield their criminal antitrust enforcement powers, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Justices' Geofence Ruling May Test 4th Amendment's Future

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    When the U.S. Supreme Court decides in Chatrie v. U.S. whether law enforcement may use geofence warrants to compel Google to disclose location history data, the ruling is likely to become an important statement about the future of Fourth Amendment law in data-driven investigations, says Duncan Levin at Levin & Associates.

  • Series

    NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1

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    In the first quarter of 2026, New York's banking developments were headlined by initiatives to expand oversight of financial institutions and strengthen consumer protection laws, including a new framework for buy now, pay later lenders, a sweeping debt collection rule and a revised corporate self-disclosure program for financial crimes, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Seeking A Policy Fix As Merger Reporting Fight Continues

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    A recently announced request by the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice for public comment on the Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger reporting requirements, as litigation challenging the commission's updated requirements continues, suggests the government's willingness to address how best to support modern merger enforcement without unduly burdening filing parties, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • What New Fla. Citizens Bill Means For Surplus Lines Insurers

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    A Florida bill recently passed by the Legislature as part of a continued effort to depopulate Citizens Property Insurance, the state's insurer of last resort, creates an additional pathway for commercial policies to be written by surplus lines insurers, but also presents concerns of unnecessary regulation, say attorneys at Troutman.

  • What Voluntary Calif. Carbon Reports Show About Compliance

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    While the enforcement of California's S.B. 261 is currently paused due to a Ninth Circuit injunction, more than 130 companies have nonetheless chosen to voluntarily publish climate-related financial risk disclosures, providing a useful snapshot of how the market is interpreting the law's requirements in practice, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • PTAB Memo Recenters Discretion On US Manufacturing

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    Read alongside recent Federal Circuit decisions, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires' memo on patent denial considerations emphasizes domestic manufacturing in a way that the International Trade Commission does not require, says Brandon Theiss at Volpe Koenig.

  • Why MDLs Slow Down — And How To Speed Them Up

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    Multidistrict litigation has become central to mass tort practice, but as MDLs grow in size and complexity, so do delays and costs — so tools like the new federal rule governing MDLs, targeted use of special masters and strategically deployed Lone Pine orders are more essential than ever, say attorneys at Ice Miller.

  • What A Court Doc Audit Reveals About Erroneous Filings

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    My audit of 1,522 court documents from last month found that over 95% contained at least one verifiable error, with fewer than 1% showing clear indicators of artificial intelligence use — highlighting above all else that lawyers may want to focus most on strengthening their review processes, says Elliott Ash at ETH Zurich.

  • Regulators' Basel Pitch May Bring Banks Capital Relief

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    The prudential banking agencies' new proposals to implement the so-called Basel III endgame rules — which would modify the approach to risk-based capital, among other notable changes — represent a fundamental directional shift in bank capital requirements aimed at increasing lending capacity, says Chen Xu at Debevoise.

  • How SEC And CFTC Are Attempting To End Their 'Turf War'

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    Through coordinated examinations and a shared aim to end duplicative regulation, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's recent memorandum of understanding could represent a significant shift in the regulatory landscape for market participants subject to the jurisdiction of both agencies, say attorneys at Jenner.

  • FTC Focus: Growing Emphasis On Competition In AI

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    The Federal Trade Commission's leadership has continued to highlight that competitive risks in artificial intelligence markets may arise at multiple levels simultaneously, considering not only who controls the resources necessary to build AI systems, but also how those systems function and yield outputs, say attorneys at Proskauer.

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