Public Policy

  • October 21, 2026

    Snap Financial Reaches $664M Settlement With Red States

    Consumer financial services company Snap Financial on Wednesday agreed to pay $664 million to 17 Republican-led states to end claims that it used misleading disclosures about its leasing arrangements.

  • October 21, 2026

    Colo. Graduated Tax Measure To Stay On Ballot, Judge Rules

    A Colorado ballot initiative to raise taxes on the state's wealthiest residents will be on the ballot this November after a state court judge Wednesday tossed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate signatures gathered by improperly registered circulators of the initiative.

  • October 21, 2026

    Feds' Latest Wind Permit Move May 'Blow Up' Permitting Deal

    The Trump administration has again asked a federal court to let it reevaluate a permit issued for a proposed offshore wind project, a move that a co-architect of U.S. Senate permitting legislation said could derail the bipartisan bill.

  • October 21, 2026

    Utah Defends Approval Process For Northern Corridor Hwy

    A Utah county and a state agency said the law that designated a Mojave Desert national conservation area didn't prohibit a highway through it, as environmental groups alleged, but rather expressly called for a "transportation route" to be identified.

  • October 21, 2026

    States Rip OCC's 'Beltway-Centric' Bid To Move Escrow Suit

    An Oregon-led coalition of states is pushing back on a U.S. banking regulator's bid to throw out or transfer the coalition's lawsuit over the regulator's new rules that block their interest-on-escrow laws, arguing its "Beltway-centric view of the world" doesn't mean they were wrong to sue in Portland.

  • October 21, 2026

    SEC Crypto Offering Plan Draws State Outcry, Industry Ideas

    States and watchdog groups told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to withdraw what they deemed a dangerous plan to exempt certain crypto offerings from registration requirements, while the crypto industry backed the proposal in comment letters that urged the agency to let exempted issuers raise even more from investors.

  • October 21, 2026

    Ill. Judge Questions Bid To Block 340B Drug Discount Law

    An Illinois federal judge seemed hesitant Wednesday to halt a state law barring drugmakers from trying to impose restrictions on pharmacies under contract with a federal drug pricing discount program, saying the state seems to be maximizing public health in an area the statute doesn't address.

  • October 21, 2026

    DHS Seeks High Court OK To Restart Big Bend Wall Project

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to let the agency restart construction of the Big Bend border wall, saying the district court lacked jurisdiction to pause the project.

  • October 21, 2026

    FCC Member Sees Satellite Spectrum Policy Advancing Fast

    A member of the Federal Communications Commission told a global gathering of telecom leaders that the U.S. will pursue policies on multiple fronts to make sure the booming satellite industry has abundant spectrum.

  • October 21, 2026

    Wind Groups Say DOD Continues To Freeze Project Reviews

    Renewable energy backers asked an Oregon federal judge to enforce an injunction that blocked the U.S. Department of Defense from suspending reviews of proposed wind energy projects, arguing it has continued to miss deadlines and maintain an unlawful freeze on project reviews.

  • October 21, 2026

    EEOC's Federal Sector Overhaul Nears Finish Line

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is poised to overhaul how federal employees' bias complaints are handled, sending the proposed regulation to the White House for approval just weeks after the public comment period closed.

  • October 21, 2026

    FCC OKs Relinquished Carrier Status For Carolina West

    The Federal Communications Commission approved the request of Carolina West Wireless Inc. to turn in its designations as an eligible telecommunications carrier following Verizon's purchase of the North Carolina telecom.

  • October 21, 2026

    House Bill Looks To Ease Copyright Process For Visual Artists

    Visual artists like photographers would have a more streamlined and cheaper copyright registration process under a bill that has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, matching a similar bill floated last year in the U.S. Senate.

  • October 21, 2026

    Trucking Group Tells DC Circ. Fee System Doesn't Deliver

    A trucking trade group is challenging the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's interstate motor carrier fees for 2027, claiming in a new D.C. Circuit petition that the agency never lawfully established the fee-setting system by regulation.

  • October 21, 2026

    Lumos Urges FCC To Preempt Local Project Reviews

    Lumos Fiber says there are counties in Ohio that have so much red tape they're keeping competitive broadband from being deployed there, and it wants the Federal Communications Commission to step in and preempt those rules so it can continue with its planned projects.

  • October 21, 2026

    PBM Fee Disclosure Rule Clears White House Review

    A White House budget office has completed review of a rule from the U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits arm that would require new fee disclosures from pharmacy benefit managers, which act as intermediaries between drugmakers, pharmacies and insurers.

  • October 21, 2026

    AT&T Asks To Be Freed From California Landline Obligations

    AT&T says it only needs a "modest extension" of the permission the Federal Communications Commission has already given the telecom titan in order to drop its remaining copper line services in California, something state regulators have refused to give the company permission to do.

  • October 21, 2026

    Chicago Mayor Pitches Return Of $25-Per-Worker Corp. Tax

    The mayor of Chicago released a $17.6 billion budget plan Wednesday that includes the return of a tax on corporations for every employee at large firms, as well as increasing tax rates on sports betting and leased property.

  • October 21, 2026

    Feds Say High Court Ruling Forecloses Haiti TPS Challenge

    The Trump administration asked a D.C. federal judge on Tuesday to end a suit challenging the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's termination of Temporary Protected Status for Haiti, suggesting there is nothing left to litigate following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case.

  • October 21, 2026

    Ex-Arizona Recorder Urges High Court To Drop Voter ID Case

    A former recorder for Maricopa County, Arizona, says the Supreme Court should dismiss the Republican National Committee's challenge to two state voting laws as improvidently granted, telling the justices that the case is an improper vehicle for deciding provisions of the National Voter Registration Act.

  • October 21, 2026

    Allegheny County Passes 12-Week Paid Parental Leave

    Pennsylvania's second-most populous county approved what worker advocates said was the first county-mandated paid parental leave policies in the U.S.

  • October 21, 2026

    6th Circ. Weighs First Amendment Right To Court Videos

    Modern technology necessitates updated court-access rules, a representative for a University of Michigan professor told a Sixth Circuit panel Wednesday, saying that citizens should have access to audio and video recordings of public court proceedings in addition to written transcripts.

  • October 21, 2026

    Prison Union Fights BOP's Emergency Bid To Ax Labor Deal

    The Bureau of Prisons' push to immediately terminate its collective bargaining agreement does not constitute an emergency, a prison guards union argued Wednesday, urging a Connecticut federal judge to reject the agency's request to fast-track its bid to end the contract.

  • October 21, 2026

    Squire Patton Lands Akerman's Public Finance Co-Leader

    Squire Patton Boggs LLP announced Wednesday that it has added the co-chair of Akerman LLP's public finance group to bolster its capacity to handle public finance, healthcare finance and other matters.

  • October 21, 2026

    Forced Labor Tariff Lacks Justification, Biz Group Tells Court

    Near-worldwide tariffs deployed by the U.S. government to address imports produced with forced labor should be considered unlawful given that the underlying report for those measures fails to meet statutory requirements, a coalition of small businesses told the U.S. Court of International Trade.

Expert Analysis

  • The Deep Split Over Mandatory Detention, And What's Next

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    The government’s mandatory detention policy for noncitizens who entered the U.S. without inspection has led to a spate of decisions this year, with nine circuits rejecting the government's reading of the Immigration and Nationality Act against two that have accepted it, making the issue ripe for U.S. Supreme Court review, says attorney Kemal Hepsen.

  • Intersecting Investigation Risks Loom In Next Congress

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    Taken together, two July D.C. Circuit decisions and a recent U.S. Department of Justice opinion on executive privilege may affect the procedural defenses and privilege protections available to targets of oversight in the upcoming Congress, and companies should begin preparing now, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • FTC Focus: A Shift In The Pricing Disclosure Terrain

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    Recent state and Federal Trade Commission developments spotlight materially different ways in which personalized pricing might be addressed, which could result in an increasingly fragmented regulatory landscape in which businesses face differing disclosure obligations and substantive restrictions depending upon the jurisdiction, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Attorneys Using AI May Have Ethical Duty To Redact Docs

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    The trajectory of legal ethics guidance in recent years strongly suggests that as redaction technology becomes more accessible, the failure to use it when uploading highly confidential materials into artificial intelligence tools will become increasingly difficult to defend as reasonable, say attorneys at Lewis Brisbois.

  • Compliance Lessons From Agriculture Co. Mexican Bribe DPA

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    Agricultural company Scoular’s recently announced deferred prosecution agreement over alleged Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations at the U.S.-Mexico border reinforces the U.S. Department of Justice’s focus on cartels, and companies must accordingly ensure they address risks associated with the use of customs brokers, says Adam Safwat at Foley Hoag.

  • OpenAI Deal Highlights AI Hiring Risks In PERM Process

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent settlement of allegations that OpenAI discriminated against U.S. applicants for positions connected to the permanent labor certification process underscores that employers providing or using artificial intelligence must align their recruitment practices with their overlapping compliance obligations, say attorneys at Duane Morris.

  • 5 Practice Tips After DOJ's Healthcare Fraud Declination

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    In light of the U.S. Department of Justice's decision to not prosecute Campus Eye Management under the agency's new corporate enforcement and voluntary self-disclosure policy, healthcare companies should keep several considerations in mind when weighing their risk and self-disclosure strategy, including the distinctions between reporting to the DOJ versus other government agencies, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.

  • What Bulk-Power Gear Import EO Means For US Energy Cos.

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    Though President Donald Trump's recent executive order restricting imports of foreign-produced bulk-power system electrical equipment imposes no immediate obligations on private parties, stakeholders can take near-term steps to mitigate supply chain and contractual risks, as much of the order's ultimate impact will depend on implementing regulations, say attorneys at Orrick.

  • Assessing The Early Days Of Woodcock's SEC Tenure

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    Since David Woodcock took over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement four months ago, the division has pursued a scaled-back caseload centered on fraud and manipulative conduct, largely following the enforcement outlook that emerged under SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, say attorneys at Akerman.

  • AI And AML: Rulemakings Lean Into Responsible Innovation

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    Recent federal rulemaking increasingly supports deployment of artificial intelligence tools for anti-money laundering compliance purposes, and institutions that build clear use and governance frameworks will be best positioned to defend programs when AI systems err, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

  • Series

    Juggling And Unicycling Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Because I juggle (sometimes with fire) and ride the unicycle, friends and family used to joke that I should join the circus, but I pursued the practice of law instead and learned that my hobbies benefit my profession in several important ways, says Morgan Eddy at Smith Currie.

  • Unpacking Texas' New Grid Reliability Rules For Data Centers

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    The Electric Reliability Council of Texas’ recently effective technical and compliance obligations, designed to prevent data centers and other large energy customers from causing cascading outages when they go offline, will challenge facilities to develop equipment and protocols to help protect the grid, says Casey Bell at Balch & Bingham.

  • Opinion

    Md. Court Got Ad Tax Similarity Analysis Wrong

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    Decisions striking Maryland’s digital advertising tax are fundamentally flawed because the Maryland Tax Court found similarity between digital ads and other ads without considering deep market distinctions, says Darien Shanske at UC Davis School of Law.

  • Opinion

    NC Litigation Funding Ban Sets Model For Other States

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    States worried about rising liability costs and the commercialization of their courts should treat North Carolina's recently enacted litigation funding ban as a model because a prohibition adequately addresses the distortion that disclosure only documents, say attorneys at McAngus Goudelock.

  • The Future Of DOL Judge Removal Challenges After Slaughter

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Trump v. Slaughter calls into question whether U.S. Department of Labor administrative law judges exercising significant governmental authority remain insulated from presidential removal, but the answer depends on the governing statute, its severability provisions and other factors, says Mark Ishu at Conn Maciel.

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