Public Policy

  • August 15, 2025

    La. Eyes Pause On Suit While Congress Mulls Future Of Hemp

    Louisiana officials on Thursday asked a federal judge to pause a lawsuit challenging the state's hemp law while Congress considers the future of federal hemp policy.

  • August 15, 2025

    Thoreau Stomping Grounds Still Public, Mass. Justices Rule

    Massachusetts' highest court on Friday said the public is entitled to use a section of an 18th century road once deemed "a paradise for walkers" by Henry David Thoreau, rejecting claims by Harvard University and other adjacent property owners that the road was made private decades ago.

  • August 15, 2025

    DC Circ. Paves Way For Trump Admin To Resume CFPB Cuts

    A D.C. Circuit panel on Friday tentatively cleared President Donald Trump's administration to carry out mass layoffs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, rejecting a lower-court hold on those efforts but giving time for groups representing consumers and agency workers to request an appeal.

  • August 15, 2025

    DC Sues Trump Over Police Takeover, Sanctuary Policies

    The District of Columbia sued President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday to halt the federal takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department, saying the executive branch lacks authority to exert operational control over the city's law enforcement.

  • August 14, 2025

    Ed. Dept. Effort To Bar School Diversity Programs Blocked

    A Maryland federal judge on Thursday held that the U.S. Department of Education violated the constitution and Administrative Procedure Act when it issued guidance that took aim at school diversity programs, ruling that the "law does not countenance the government's hasty and summary treatment of these significant issues."

  • August 14, 2025

    Banks Ask To Halt 'Unfair' Clock On CFPB Open Banking Rule

    Bank trade groups are asking a Kentucky federal judge to freeze looming compliance deadlines for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's contested open banking rule as the agency revamps the measure, while opposing fintech groups called on the White House to block banks from charging them fees for the kind of data-sharing the rule mandates.

  • August 14, 2025

    Fla. Judge Won't Require Snap To Heed Teen Social Media Law

    A Florida federal judge has rejected the state attorney general's bid to force Snap Inc. to comply with a new law that would limit the ability of teens to access the platform, holding that the state's challenge was unlikely to succeed in light of his prior ruling in a related case finding the measure to likely be unconstitutional. 

  • August 14, 2025

    NYC Fires Back At Co.'s Migrant Busing Suit

    New York City is coming out swinging against a lawsuit brought by a charter company that helped Texas bus thousands of migrants into the city and leave them there, saying that Roadrunner Charters wasn't injured by the city enforcing its own laws.

  • August 14, 2025

    Fla. Judge Warns Of Split Claims In Detention Center Suit

    A Florida federal judge on Thursday warned parties in a proposed class action over attorney access for individuals confined at the Everglades immigrant detention center that some claims in the lawsuit appear to belong in a neighboring district, saying that he could issue a ruling reflecting this determination. 

  • August 14, 2025

    ATF Says Ban On Buying Handguns Out Of State Is Valid

    The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives asked a Texas federal judge to shoot down a bid from a gun store to overturn the federal ban on citizens purchasing handguns outside their state of residence, saying the law has historic backing.

  • August 14, 2025

    Colo. Sex Offender Can't Nix Registry Over Expunged Record

    A Colorado Court of Appeals panel held Thursday in a matter of first impression that an expunged juvenile sex offense can be a factor in determining lifetime registration as a sex offender, rejecting a defendant's arguments that it violates the ex post facto clause and the Eighth Amendment.

  • August 14, 2025

    9th Circ. OKs Returning Calif. Farm Wage Suit To State Court

    A California farmworker's wage and hour suit against Sunsweet Growers Inc. can proceed in state court, a Ninth Circuit panel ruled Thursday, rejecting the company's argument that the suit belongs in federal court and should be dismissed.

  • August 14, 2025

    Austin Asks Justices To Toss Abortion Travel Decision

    The city of Austin, Texas, threw its weight behind San Antonio in the latter's fight against a state appeals court finding that barred San Antonio from funding out-of-state abortion travel, telling the Texas Supreme Court the ruling allows the state to thwart Texas cities' legislative process.

  • August 14, 2025

    DC Judge Halts Some USDA Climate Grant Terminations

    A D.C. federal judge on Thursday halted the U.S. Department of Agriculture's termination of certain climate-focused grants awarded to five nonprofits, saying the terminations were likely arbitrary and capricious but stopping short of blocking the administration's broader grant termination policy.

  • August 14, 2025

    DOJ Says No Habeas Exception In Georgetown Scholar's Case

    The Trump administration has told the Fourth Circuit that district court orders barring the removal and ordering the release of Indian Georgetown academic Badar Khan Suri, who was detained on foreign policy grounds, flout longstanding limits on courts' authority over habeas petitions.

  • August 14, 2025

    Trump Picks Ex-Scalia, Kavanaugh Clerk For 7th Circ.

    President Donald Trump announced on Thursday evening he would be nominating Rebecca Taibleson, an assistant U.S. attorney in Wisconsin, to the Seventh Circuit.

  • August 14, 2025

    Trump's Brazil Tariffs Raise Questions About Legal Limits

    Higher tariffs imposed last week on Brazilian imports may prove especially vulnerable to legal challenges, but stakeholders expect the U.S.-Brazil trading relationship to nevertheless remain in limbo for the immediate future.

  • August 14, 2025

    Bid To Block Alabama's Anti-DEI Law Rejected

    An Alabama federal judge has rejected a bid to block a state law banning certain diversity, equity and inclusion-related activities at state schools and college campuses, finding the Alabama NAACP and the students and professors who filed suit didn't show that the law is unconstitutionally vague.

  • August 14, 2025

    Calif. Justices Say No Arb. For Nursing Home Death Claim

    The California Supreme Court on Thursday reversed a decision sending to arbitration a wrongful death claim by parents who allege their son was neglected at the 24-hour skilled nursing facility he was admitted to.

  • August 14, 2025

    SpaceX Calls Va. Broadband Funding Plan 'Wasteful'

    SpaceX criticized Virginia over its spending plan for the $1.48 billion in broadband funding it's set to receive from the BEAD program, saying the state "has put its heavy thumb on the scale in favor of expensive, slow-to-build fiber bias" over satellite.

  • August 14, 2025

    Red States Back Feds' Push To End Trump Energy Orders Suit

    Republican-led states on Thursday threw their support behind the federal government's bid to dismiss a lawsuit by youths alleging that President Donald Trump's energy policy directives harm their future by exacerbating climate change, saying there are no grounds to sustain the suit.

  • August 14, 2025

    AGs Urge Meta To 'Prioritize Safety' With Location Feature

    A bipartisan coalition of more than three dozen state attorneys general is calling on Meta Platforms Inc. to strengthen the privacy and security safeguards for a new location tracking feature that recently debuted on Instagram, arguing that the social media giant has a duty "to prioritize user safety over product novelty."

  • August 14, 2025

    Okla. City Fights Creek Nation Over Tribal Court Authority

    An Oklahoma city is looking to dismiss a challenge by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation that looks to block the municipality from prosecuting Native Americans for crimes committed on tribal lands, arguing that a 2022 Supreme Court ruling gives it concurrent jurisdiction with the federally recognized tribe.

  • August 14, 2025

    PTAB Petitions To Get More Scrutiny Under New Policy

    A new Patent Trial and Appeal Board policy limiting the ability of the challengers to argue that "general knowledge" indicates that a patent is invalid will heighten scrutiny of petitions and could lead to more of them being denied if they don't comply with the rule, attorneys say.

  • August 14, 2025

    Wyden, Warren Ask Lutnick's Son About Firm's Tariff Bets

    Senate Democratic ranking members sent a letter published Thursday to Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. CEO Brandon Lutnick raising concerns about potential insider trading and conflicts of interest associated with a financial product hedging the legality of tariffs that his father, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, has been involved in.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    FCPA Shift Is A Good Start, But There's More DOJ Should Do

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s new Foreign Corrupt Practices Act guidelines bring a needed course correction amid overexpansive enforcement, but there’s more the DOJ can do to provide additional clarity and predictability for global companies, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • Opinion

    IRS Should Work With Industry On Microcaptive Regs

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    The IRS should engage with microcaptive insurance owners to develop better regulations on these arrangements or risk the emergence of common law guidance as taxpayers with legitimate programs seek relief in the federal courts, says Dustin Carlson at SRA 831(b) Admin.

  • How Providers Can Brace For Drug Pricing Policy Changes

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    Though it's uncertain which provisions of the Trump administration's executive order aimed at addressing prescription drug costs will eventually be implemented, stakeholders can reduce potential negative outcomes by understanding pathways that could be used to effectuate the order's directives, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Comparing New Neural Data Privacy Laws In 4 States

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    Although no federal law yet addresses neural privacy comprehensively, the combined effect of recent state laws in Colorado, California, Montana and Connecticut is already shaping the regulatory future, but a multistate compliance strategy has quickly become a gating item for those experimenting with neuro-enabled workplace tools, says Kristen Mathews at Cooley.

  • 2025's First Half Brings Regulatory Detours For Fintechs

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    The first half of the year has resulted in a bifurcated regulatory environment for fintechs, featuring narrowed enforcement in some areas, heightened scrutiny in others and a policy window that, with proper compliance, offers meaningful opportunities for innovation, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Debunking 4 Misconceptions Around Texas' IV Therapy Law

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    Despite industry confusion, an IV therapy law enacted in Texas last week may actually be the most business-friendly regulatory development the medical spa industry has seen in recent years, says Keith Lefkowitz at Hendershot Cowart.

  • A Pattern Emerges In Justices' Evaluation Of Veteran Statute

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    The recent Soto v. U.S. decision that the statute of limitations for certain military-related claims does not apply to combat-related special compensation exemplifies the U.S. Supreme Court's view, emerging in two other recent opinions, that it is a reviewing court's obligation to determine the best interpretation of the language used by Congress, says attorney Kenneth Carpenter.

  • Opinion

    Senate's 41% Litigation Finance Tax Would Hurt Legal System

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    The Senate’s latest version of the Big Beautiful Bill Act would impose a 41% tax on the litigation finance industry, but the tax is totally disconnected from the concerns it purports to address, and it would set the country back to a time when small plaintiffs had little recourse against big defendants, says Anthony Sebok at Cardozo School of Law.

  • Psychedelic Treatment Regs May Be At A Tipping Point

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    Recent scientific and public attention suggest that development of psychedelics as treatment for some conditions may be at a tipping point, which could bring on more rapid change and opportunities for stakeholders who may in the future benefit from greater access to safe and effective psychedelic medicines, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • In NRC Ruling, Justices Affirm Hearing Process Still Matters

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas safeguards the fairness, clarity and predictability of the regulatory system by affirming that to challenge an agency's decision in court, litigants must first meaningfully participate in the hearing process that Congress and the agency have established, says Jonathan Rund at the Nuclear Energy Institute.

  • Comparing Stablecoin Bills From UK, EU, US And Hong Kong

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    For multinational stablecoin issuers, navigating the differences and similarities among regimes in the U.K., EU, Hong Kong and U.S., which are currently unfolding in several key ways, is critical to achieving scalable, compliant operations, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • What Baseball Can Teach Criminal Attys About Rule Of Lenity

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    Judges tend to assess ambiguous criminal laws not unlike how baseball umpires approach checked swings, so defense attorneys should consider how to best frame their arguments to maximize courts' willingness to invoke the rule of lenity, wherein a tie goes to the defendant, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • Series

    Performing As A Clown Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    To say that being a clown in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has changed my legal career would truly be an understatement — by creating an opening to converse on a unique topic, it has allowed me to connect with clients, counsel and even judges on a deeper level, says Charles Tatelbaum at Tripp Scott.

  • Focusing On Fluoride: From FDA To Class Action

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    A class action filed two days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced plans to remove ingestible fluoride prescription drug products for children from the market may be the tip of the iceberg in terms of the connection between government pronouncements on safety and their immediate use as evidence in lawsuits, says Rachel Turow at Skadden.

  • How Energy Cos. Can Prepare For Potential Tax Credit Cuts

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    The Senate Finance Committee's version of the One Big Beautiful Bill act would create a steep phaseout of renewable energy tax credits, which should prompt companies to take several actions, including conduct a project review to discern which could begin construction before the end of the year, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

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