Public Policy

  • July 28, 2026

    Houston's Race-Conscious Contracting Program Struck Down

    A Texas federal judge on Tuesday ruled that Houston's program awarding public contracts on a race-conscious basis violated the Fourteenth Amendment in the first federal challenge to such a program following the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 decision striking down affirmative action admissions policies.

  • July 28, 2026

    FCC Pulls Major Provider From Lifeline, Citing Violations

    The Federal Communications Commission says it has banned one of the nation's biggest Lifeline providers from participating in the subsidy program after uncovering widespread violations of the program's rules, including a practice of transferring people back after they switched their service to another provider.

  • July 28, 2026

    DHS Can't Undo Order Halting TSA Union Deal Cancellation

    A federal judge in Seattle denied the Trump administration's bid on Tuesday to lift a court order blocking the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from canceling a collective bargaining agreement covering thousands of Transportation Security Administration workers, saying the government failed to debunk two independent grounds for the injunction.

  • July 28, 2026

    Ed Dept. Can't Cancel K–12 Mental Health Grants Worth $1B

    A Washington federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration on Tuesday from terminating nearly $1 billion in K–12 mental health grants serving 15 states, finding that the plaintiff states are likely to prove the U.S. Education Department bypassed federal procedures when attempting to cut off the funds.

  • July 28, 2026

    Texas Judge Calls Late Bid To Disqualify Atty 'Dilatory Tactic'

    A Texas federal judge on Tuesday denied a request to disqualify an attorney representing the former chief executive of a real estate company related to the late mogul Gene Phillips, saying the attempt to knock out the attorney came way too late in the game.

  • July 28, 2026

    NJ Nursing Home On Hook For Hypothermia Death Verdict

    A New Jersey appellate panel on Tuesday affirmed a $450,000 jury verdict against a nursing home accused of negligently keeping a resident's room like an "icebox," which caused her death from hypothermia, saying the verdict was supported by sufficient evidence.

  • July 28, 2026

    Amazon To Pay $2M To End Suit Over Rest Breaks In Wash.

    Amazon will pay $2 million to resolve Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go store workers' accusations that the e-commerce giant failed to provide them with meal and rest breaks required under Washington state law, according to a settlement given final approval by a Pierce County judge.

  • July 28, 2026

    1st Circ. Asked To Save Mayer Brown $21M Fee Bid In RI Suit

    The American Trucking Associations told the First Circuit that its attorneys at Mayer Brown LLP reasonably justified their request for $21 million in fees and costs after securing "substantial" wins in long-running litigation over Rhode Island's truck tolling program, disputing a district court's determination that the trucking trade group wasn't actually a "prevailing party."

  • July 28, 2026

    FCC Says Starlink Routers Exempt From Nat'l Security Ban

    The Federal Communications Commission has banned virtually all foreign-made routers from the United States, citing national security concerns, but it isn't worried about ones made by billionaire Elon Musk's satellite internet company Starlink.

  • July 28, 2026

    Wash. AG's Income Tax Repeal Ballot Language Challenged

    Political action committee Let's Go Washington on Monday launched a legal challenge to the Evergreen State attorney general's wording of a November ballot measure that would repeal a recently passed 9.9% tax on annual income above $1 million, claiming the summary is inaccurate and slanted in favor of the tax.

  • July 28, 2026

    Senate Confirms Jay Clayton As National Intelligence Chief

    The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to confirm Jay Clayton as director of national intelligence, two weeks after Clayton, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, refused to answer who he thought won the 2020 election during his confirmation hearing.

  • July 28, 2026

    States Back Guam Group In High Court Disposal Permit Fight

    A coalition of states has told the U.S. Supreme Court that the U.S. Air Force must comply with separate, complementary environmental laws over its permit renewal application to detonate expired munitions in Guam, arguing the laws have distinct aims.

  • July 28, 2026

    Colo. Panel Questions If Concert Easement Appeal Is Moot

    A Colorado Court of Appeals panel Tuesday largely sidestepped the underlying statutory questions in a mountain town's appeal over the dismissal of its case seeking condemnation of an easement over a concert series, instead pondering why they were being asked to rule on the appeal at all.

  • July 28, 2026

    Musk's XAI Wants Minn. Ban On Image 'Nudification' Blocked

    Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI asked a federal court to shut down Minnesota's ban on image "nudification" technology, claiming the new law is an "overbroad, content-based ban on free speech" that runs afoul of the First Amendment.

  • July 28, 2026

    DC Sues Trump Administration Over HUD's Move To Virginia

    Washington, D.C., argued in a federal lawsuit Monday that the Trump administration's plan to move the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's offices to Virginia is illegal, citing congressional direction and a 1790 law.

  • July 28, 2026

    Calif. Warns SEC Against Preempting State REIT Registration

    California is urging the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission not to adopt a proposal that could free certain real estate investment trusts and business development companies from registering with the states, saying it could leave retirees and the elderly vulnerable to fraud.

  • July 28, 2026

    Judge Bars Suit Over Alaska's Approved Land Transfers

    A federal judge refused to stop the transfer of nearly 1.4 million acres of federal public lands to Alaska, ruling the state is immune to the bulk of a lawsuit seeking to restore environmental protections and prevent future mining and natural gas development.

  • July 28, 2026

    DC Circ. Backs EPA's Pollution Review Regulation Process

    A D.C. Circuit panel sided with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in its fight with environmental groups challenging rules for determining whether modifications to major pollution sources trigger new review, holding Tuesday the rule is neither inconsistent with the Clean Air Act nor arbitrary and capricious.

  • July 28, 2026

    Judge Pares Suit Challenging Empire Wind Project

    A D.C. federal judge has trimmed a lawsuit contesting federal approvals for a wind farm off the New York and New Jersey coasts while preserving claims that the government wrongly allowed the project to harm migratory bottlenose dolphin populations.

  • July 28, 2026

    Cannabis User Urges 8th Circ. To Rehear Gun Case

    A man convicted of possessing a pistol while using marijuana is urging the Eighth Circuit to rehear his case, arguing that its prior decision to uphold his guilt conflicts with the appeals court's prior ruling requiring the government to prove that a person's drug use caused their dangerous behavior.

  • July 28, 2026

    Senators Urge CFTC Rule Slowdown Over Tribal Concerns

    Leaders of the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee are urging the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to extend the public comment deadline for its proposed rule that could govern the way the agency oversees prediction markets, saying it's critical that Indigenous nations have time to evaluate its effects.

  • July 28, 2026

    Flawed NLRB Protections Can't Stop Case, Texas Judge Says

    National Labor Relations Board members' and judges' job protections are unconstitutional, but these flaws don't block the agency from prosecuting labor violations, a Texas federal judge said in a decision splitting with a recent ruling from a different district.

  • July 28, 2026

    Contempt Bid Denied In Guatemalan Kids Removal Order Case

    A D.C. federal judge rejected a bid to hold immigration officials in contempt for allegedly violating a court order prohibiting the removal of unaccompanied Guatemalan children, finding no evidence of any of the children actually being deported.

  • July 28, 2026

    8th Circ. Keeps Some Claims Alive In Jail Macing Suit

    The Eighth Circuit has partially revived a lawsuit brought by four incarcerated people in a St. Louis jail, finding that guards at the facility should not be granted complete qualified immunity from claims that they used excessive force.

  • July 28, 2026

    Trade Court OKs Canadian Lumber Duties Recalculation

    The U.S. Department of Commerce appropriately applied a new price differential test to calculate slight alterations of antidumping duties on Canadian softwood lumber exporters, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled.

Expert Analysis

  • Operational AI Washing: The Section 220 Information Strategy

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    Plaintiffs filing AI washing claims will likely use Section 220 of the Delaware General Corporation Law to obtain internal board records, but 2025 amendments have fundamentally changed the landscape of presuit shareholder document demands in ways that create both risk and opportunity for companies, say attorneys at Akerman.

  • What New PFAS Rule Means For Tracking And Disclosure

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    In the wake of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's publication of its rule adding PFHxS-Na to the Toxics Release Inventory, companies should identify this substance in their facilities and supply chains, and prepare for disclosures to both regulators and the public, says Ayodeji Ayolola at Gordon Rees.

  • Ch. 11 Ruling Raises Bar For Avoiding Default Interest

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    Following a New York bankruptcy court's recent decision in 33 Mako, solvent debtors may find it significantly harder to avoid paying contractual default interest to oversecured lenders under Section 506(b) of the Bankruptcy Code, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Courts Can Survive The Tech Revolution

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    Colorado Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter and Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Lino Lipinsky de Orlov discuss how artificial intelligence has already fundamentally altered the legal system and offer tips for courts navigating deepfakes, hallucinations and a gap in access to AI tools.

  • 'Skinny Label' Arguments Spotlight Induced Infringement Risk

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    Recent oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in Hikma Pharmaceuticals v. Amarin Pharma highlight the uncertain boundary between lawful generic competition through so-called skinny labels and induced patent infringement, with potential implications for patent holders’ communication, enforcement and causation strategies across industries, says Anton Hopen at Trenam.

  • What Jury Holdouts Can Teach Trial Lawyers About Strategy

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    Though a hung jury can be a disappointment, a psychological understanding of jury holdouts can help trial lawyers shape their damages arguments and understand leadership and group composition as a function of jury selection, says Clint Townson at Townson Litigation.

  • 'Mobile' Sources For On-Site Generation May Be A Risky Bet

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    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering treating large on-site generators used at data centers as mobile rather than stationary sources under the Clean Air Act, a significant policy change that would leave developers that adopt this solution at risk of regulatory reversals, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • AI Investment Advice May Fail Investor Protection Rules

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    Based on an ongoing study of artificial intelligence platforms' investment advice given to retail investors, direct access to AI may not yield recommendations for typical households that are suitable under relevant securities rules, raising new and important issues in the regulation of financial markets, says Bruce Carlin at Rice University.

  • Startup Founder Disputes Increasingly Turn On Governance

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    Recent Delaware developments suggest that as courts place increasing emphasis on board process, independence and oversight in founder-led startups, the growing intersection of governance, technology risk and investor oversight is accelerating both the emergence and escalation of founder disputes, says mediator Frank Burke.

  • 3 AI Adoption Mistakes GCs Should Avoid

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    The pressure in-house legal teams face to quickly adopt artificial intelligence tools, combined with budget constraints and the need to evaluate a crowded market of options, sets the stage for implementation mistakes that are often difficult to undo, says former 23andMe general counsel Guy Chayoun.

  • Series

    Playing Basketball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My grandfather used to say "I wear your jersey" as shorthand for wholly committing to support someone with loyalty and integrity — ideals that have shaped my life on the basketball court and in legal practice, says Tracy Schimelfenig at Schimelfenig Legal.

  • AG Watch: Reconciling 2 Maryland Data Privacy Statutes

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    In-house counsel should map the interplay between the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act's strictly necessary standard to deliver a requested service, and the Protection From Predatory Pricing Act's exemption of consent-based pricing within loyalty programs, before the state attorney general begins enforcement on the latter in October, says Erek Barron at Mintz.

  • EPA Listing Signals New Scrutiny Of Drugs In Drinking Water

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    The recent publication of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's latest draft drinking water contaminant list highlights pharmaceuticals as a category of concern, marking the start of a process that could shape future research priorities, monitoring requirements, and federal and state actions, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • New Cuba Sanctions Raise Risks For Foreign Banks, Cos.

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    President Donald Trump's bold move leveling secondary sanctions against Cuba expands enforcement risk for foreign banks and companies with no U.S. nexus, signaling that non-U.S. businesses should reassess related transactions, counterparties and exposure as regulators test this broader authority, say attorneys at Troutman.

  • SEC Clarifies 'Baby Shelf' Restrictions For Small Cos.

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    For smaller public companies looking to access the capital markets, the so-called baby shelf requirements can be a significant limitation, but recent guidance from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission helps to alleviate the effect of subsequent baby shelf restrictions on an at-the-market facility, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

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