Public Policy

  • July 20, 2026

    Colo. Corrections Dept. Settles OT Pay Suit

    A Colorado state corrections agency and a group of criminal investigators who accused it of failing to pay them for time spent on call have reached a settlement in principle in federal court, ending a lawsuit that was headed toward trial.

  • July 20, 2026

    Top Gov't Contracting Cases To Watch In The 2nd Half Of 2026

    Federal courts in the latter half of 2026 are expected to decide if the Trump administration overstepped by designating Anthropic a supply chain risk to national security and whether the False Claims Act's qui tam provisions pass constitutional muster, potentially affecting the government's ability to tackle fraud.

  • July 20, 2026

    Meet The Attys Vying For Position 1 On The Wash. High Court

    A civil rights litigator who left a top role at the Washington state attorney general's office last fall to step in for a retiring state Supreme Court justice is vying this election season to retain the seat for the next two years, drawing opposition from a Ballard Spahr LLP tax attorney and a longtime family law practitioner.

  • July 17, 2026

    Full 3rd Circ. Wipes Out New Jersey Assault Weapons Ban

    The full Third Circuit on Friday held that New Jersey's decades-long ban on semi-automatic firearms and high-capacity magazines is unconstitutional, though some judges said the way the weapons are now being used as well as recent technological advances couldn't have been foreseen by the Constitution's framers.

  • July 17, 2026

    Ruger Asked To Pay $90M To Settle Mass Shooting Claims

    The families of the victims of a 2021 mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado, have proposed that gunmaker Sturm Ruger & Co. Inc. pay $90 million to resolve a pair of suits, according to a global offer of compromise filed in Connecticut state court.

  • July 17, 2026

    Reexams Reach Record High As PTAB Reviews Hit Low

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's second quarter saw the agency receiving more requests for ex parte reexamination and fewer petitions for America Invents Act reviews than any quarter before, according to a new Unified Patents report.

  • July 17, 2026

    Calif. Air District Can Be Sued Under Clean Air Act, Judge Says

    A federal judge ruled Friday that the Clean Air Act allows a coalition of environmental groups to sue an agency that controls air pollution in the San Joaquin Valley even though it is a government regulator.

  • July 17, 2026

    Judge Says OMB Can't Change Grant Terms After Award

    A Massachusetts federal judge said Friday the Trump administration cannot rely on a shift in policy to retroactively change the terms of already awarded grants in order to justify canceling them.

  • July 17, 2026

    Pipeline Worker Engaged In Interstate Commerce, Court Says

    A Texas appeals court ruled that Energy Transfer LP cannot compel the family of a man who died in a pipeline explosion to arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act, finding Thursday that the FAA did not apply to his employment contract because he engaged in interstate commerce.

  • July 17, 2026

    Reexam Denial On Ex-BlackBerry Patent Cites Pre-Order Filing

    Pointing to a paper filed by patent owner Malikie Innovations Ltd. under a new policy put in place this spring, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected Unified Patents LLC's request for reexamination of a video coding patent originally issued to BlackBerry Ltd.

  • July 17, 2026

    Ex-Ga. Deputies Seek Immunity In 2017 Stun Gun Death Suit

    Three former Washington County, Georgia, sheriff's deputies asked a federal court to free them from a lawsuit filed by the sister of a man who died after being shot with a stun gun in a widely publicized July 2017 confrontation with police, citing qualified immunity.

  • July 17, 2026

    New Public Charge Rule Leaves Immigration Attys Guessing

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's new public charge rule will give immigration officers wide discretion to decide who will become dependent on government assistance, replacing clearly defined guidelines with a system attorneys say has no guardrails or objective standards.

  • July 17, 2026

    Mass. Court Tosses Evidence After Bodycams Show Coercion

    Massachusetts' highest court on Friday said a gun and drugs found in a car after police repeatedly searched and pressured the driver for the key must be thrown out as evidence in a case that one of the justices, in a concurrence, says highlights the value of police-worn body cameras.

  • July 17, 2026

    Generative AI Patents Booming Globally, World IP Org. Reports

    The number of patent families for generative artificial intelligence inventions more than doubled between 2024 and 2025, with mostly Chinese companies leading the pack, according to a report from a United Nations intellectual property agency.

  • July 17, 2026

    Judge Open To TRO Blocking Paramount-Warner Bros. Deal

    A California federal judge appeared open Friday to granting a group of states' bid for a temporary restraining order blocking Paramount Skydance's $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, saying it appears the tie-up's anticipated market share presumptively violates the Clayton Act under U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

  • July 17, 2026

    9th Circ. Rekindles Idaho Logging Review Dispute

    The Ninth Circuit revived a conservation group's suit against the U.S. Forest Service over an environmental review of an Idaho logging project, ruling that the group should have been allowed to raise an argument it had not raised during an earlier administrative process.

  • July 17, 2026

    Md. Judge Stays Reforms Set To Shrink ACA Coverage Pool

    A Maryland federal judge stayed a set of Affordable Care Act marketplace reforms that were set to take effect Monday, finding several cities and groups representing doctors and small businesses were likely to succeed in their Administrative Procedure Act challenge against them.

  • July 17, 2026

    Drug Buyers' $62M Generic-Pricing Deal Gets Final OK

    A federal judge granted final approval to wholesalers on settlements worth a total of at least $62 million with Glenmark Pharmaceutical Inc., Pfizer Inc. and Pfizer subsidiary Greenstone LLC over claims the companies colluded with others to keep generic drug prices high, according to court orders.

  • July 17, 2026

    Conn. Says Reach Of Law Can't Stop $7.7M Ghost Gun Penalty

    Connecticut is again asking a state court to issue a $7.7 million civil penalty against an out-of-state seller of "ghost guns," arguing that the court needn't consider the geographical scope of Connecticut's unfair trade practices law, but that even if it does, the state can reach the seller, and the penalty is appropriate.

  • July 17, 2026

    Eye On ERISA: Jerry Schlichter Talks 401(k) Litigation, Theory

    Plaintiff-side litigation veteran Jerry Schlichter, founding and co-managing partner of Schlichter Bogard LLP, told Law360 that highlights among the firm's recent legal victories include a reported settlement to end 401(k) investment litigation against ADP, as well as a $150 million settlement in a toxic lead emissions case.

  • July 17, 2026

    6th Circ. Won't Rehear Mark Cuban-Backed FINRA Challenge

    A Sixth Circuit panel has declined to grant a full rehearing of a constitutional challenge of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's in-house disciplinary proceedings brought by the owner of a financial consulting company that had support from billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban.

  • July 17, 2026

    Conn. Justices Bar Town From Killing Errant Forest Tax Break

    A Connecticut municipal assessor did not have the authority to terminate a property tax break for forest use that was erroneously granted, the state Supreme Court said Friday, suggesting that state lawmakers could clarify the law on the matter.

  • July 17, 2026

    Ex-FDIC, CFPB Chiefs Back Colo. In 10th Circ. Rate Law Case

    Two former members of the FDIC's board of directors, one of whom also led the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, filed an amicus brief urging the Tenth Circuit to uphold a panel's ruling reinstating a Colorado law intended to curb high-cost lending in the state that a lower court initially shot down.

  • July 17, 2026

    States Ask To Join Fight Against DOD Wind Project Blockage

    Nearly 20 states have told an Oregon federal judge they want in on a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's decision to block land-based wind projects in the U.S. from moving forward.

  • July 17, 2026

    FCC's Subsidy Reform Plan Could Cut USAC Board By Third

    Change is on the way for the Universal Service Administrative Co., which manages the Federal Communications Commission's multibillion-dollar subsidy fund, with the agency signaling its plans to consider slashing the company's board by more than a third.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    Agentic AI And Securities Law: Steps Congress Should Take

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    Agentic artificial intelligence technology doesn't fit comfortably into the existing securities regulatory landscape, so Congress should avoid repeating the mistakes that led to the legal uncertainty crypto companies and investors have faced over the past decade-plus by providing a legislative framework before AI fully matures, says Joseph A. Hall at Davis Polk.

  • Weighing Trade-Offs Of SEC's Semiannual Reporting Proposal

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    Though public companies could benefit from a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposal that would allow them to file earnings reports just twice a year, widespread adoption could also increase market volatility, complicate capital raising and fragment disclosure standards to the detriment of issuers and investors, say attorneys at Seward & Kissel.

  • High Court's Hikma Decision Reshapes 'Skinny Label' Suits

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Hikma v. Amarin marks a significant victory for generic drug manufacturers, but rather than putting an end to so-called skinny label inducement claims, it narrows and refocuses them, say attorneys at Sterne Kessler.

  • Virginia's Cannabis Retail Veto Leaves Industry In Legal Limbo

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    Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger's recent veto of legislation that would have established a regulated retail cannabis framework halts momentum built by the General Assembly, but it also sends important signals about what a future regulatory framework must address to survive, says Charles Slemp at Cozen.

  • Opinion

    At High Court, Oil Cos.' Suncor Preemption Claims Fall Short

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    In Suncor Energy v. Boulder County, pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, oil and gas companies argue that municipalities' climate deception claims are equivalent to emissions standards for their industry — but the suit is ultimately incapable of imposing such standards, say Thomas McGarity at the University of Texas School of Law and James Goodwin at the Center for Progressive Reform.

  • What Colorado AI Law's Major Rewrite Means For Employers

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    Colorado's landmark law regulating employers' use of artificial intelligence tools was recently replaced with a narrower regime that eliminates many burdensome obligations, but still imposes a host of requirements focused on transparency and accountability, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Operational AI Washing: The Next Frontier Of Fiduciary Risk

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    While there are still no final Delaware decisions applying Caremark specifically to artificial intelligence governance failures, previous case law provides a blueprint, so the question for boards is whether their governance architectures will satisfy Caremark when the first cases are decided, say attorneys at Akerman.

  • A Look At The Court's Next Steps In Live Nation Antitrust Case

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    Following a recent jury verdict that Live Nation and Ticketmaster operated as a monopoly to fix ticket prices, a New York federal court stands to weigh Live Nation's bid for a new trial, approve the U.S. Department of Justice's March settlement with the defendants, and impose remedies that include full structural separation, say attorneys at Crowell.

  • How Crypto Firms Can Prep As Clarity Act Inches Toward Law

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    Though the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act’s road to enactment remains uncertain, the statutory framework for regulating digital commodities recently advanced by the Senate Banking Committee is now sufficiently developed that market participants can begin preparing in several areas where the complicated legislation would affect them, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.

  • Checking For AI Errors Is Now A Two-Way Street

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    A handful of recent federal and state cases demonstrate the importance of checking for errors generated by artificial intelligence not only in your own court submissions, but also your opponent's, as well as when catching opposing counsel's AI mistakes could result in an award for attorney fees, says Tamara Barago at Hollingsworth.

  • Opinion

    SEC Enforcement Reforms Must Address Post-Wells Limbo

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent changes to how it notifies companies of a potential enforcement action fail to address what happens after the Wells process is over, highlighting the need for meaningful process reform that includes a formal closure determination, says Kimble Cannon at Mahdavi Bacon.

  • Green Card Memo Warps Long-Standing Adjustment Process

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    A recent policy memorandum that treats a nonimmigrant visa holder’s decision to seek adjustment of status in the U.S., rather than at a U.S. consulate, as an adverse factor reinterprets existing discretionary frameworks, compounds risks for applicants required to apply abroad and changes practitioner approaches to application preparation, says attorney Jack Jrada.

  • Opinion

    Congress Must Bolster Wrongful Conviction Framework

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    The Trump administration's recent decision to abandon its flawed “anti-weaponization” fund should not end the conversation about compensating those wronged by the U.S. justice system, — it should open the door for Congress to build a principled system that strengthens and expands the existing framework, say Marc Levin and Khalil Cumberbatch at the Council on Criminal Justice.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Shoring Up Corporate Law In Maryland

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    Launched more than 20 years ago to improve complex corporate adjudication, Maryland's Business and Technology Case Management Program has been a solid success in some areas, but there always is room for improvement, says Bill Krulak at Miles & Stockbridge.

  • How End Of SEC 'Gag Rule' Affects Free Speech Certiorari Bid

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    The Securities and Exchange Commission's recent rescission of the so-called gag rule, which forbade defendants in settlements from denying the SEC’s allegations, may sway the outcome of a petition to the Supreme Court in a case challenging the rule on First Amendment grounds, say attorneys at Troutman.

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