Public Policy

  • February 19, 2026

    Constitution Condemns Immigration Bond Ruling, Judge Says

    A California federal judge has vacated a Board of Immigration Appeals precedential decision that stripped immigration judges of the authority to grant or hear bond requests from detained immigrants, excoriating the Trump administration for openly defying a federal court.

  • February 19, 2026

    Delta, Aeromexico Urge 11th Circ. To Void DOT Split Order

    Delta Air Lines and Aeromexico urged the Eleventh Circuit to void a U.S. Department of Transportation order directing them to dismantle their joint venture, saying the agency had offered contrived reasoning and scant evidence for purported anticompetitive effects.

  • February 19, 2026

    Squires Accepts 8 PTAB Cases, Walks Back 7 Merits Referrals

    A bulk summary order from U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires granted eight petitions for America Invents Act patent challenges while denying 14 others, including seven that he had previously accepted for merits-based review.

  • February 19, 2026

    Texas Panel Unsure Midwife Can Escape Abortion Order

    A Texas appellate court pushed back on a midwife's assertion that a court order blocking her from providing abortions flouted the state's rules of civil procedure, saying Thursday she wasn't facing the lawsuit "for doing appendectomies."

  • February 19, 2026

    Native Villages Drop $70M Alaskan Broadband Grant Fight

    After almost two years of battling it out in Alaska federal court, two Native Alaskan villages have come to terms with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to end their fight with the agency over $70 million in broadband funds.

  • February 19, 2026

    French Court Approves Budget With Corporate Tax Hikes

    France's government can proceed with enacting its budget, which includes taxes targeted at corporations and wealthy individuals, after it largely passed muster before the country's constitutional court Thursday.

  • February 19, 2026

    Feds Look To Revive Sex Abuse Ruling Over Native Status

    The U.S. is asking the Tenth Circuit for an en banc rehearing on its decision to vacate the 30-year prison sentence of a New Mexico man convicted of sexually abusing an Indigenous girl, telling the court that its error is one of exceptional importance.

  • February 19, 2026

    Property Co. Denies Connection To Hawaii Temple Access Suit

    A property management company is looking to escape a challenge by a group of Native Hawaiians over access to an ancient Indigenous temple, arguing its alleged wrongful conduct is not called out with any specificity in the complaint.

  • February 19, 2026

    Commerce Orders Duties On Paper Folders From Cambodia

    Paper file folders imported into the U.S. from Cambodia will be subject to a countervailing duty order following affirmative determinations by the U.S. Department of Commerce that these imports are benefiting from harmful subsidies and damaging U.S. domestic industry, Commerce said Thursday.

  • February 19, 2026

    Warren Seeks Treasury, Fed Pledge Of No Bitcoin Bailout

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is asking the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve to provide a written pledge not to bail out cryptocurrency markets in the face of sliding bitcoin prices, saying such a move would disproportionately benefit billionaires.

  • February 19, 2026

    Electronics Cos. Fight 'Heavy-Handed' Next-Gen TV Mandate

    As the Federal Communications Commission looks to coax the broadcast industry into adopting next-generation TV on a wider scale, a key electronics industry group has re-upped concerns that officials might move too fast.

  • February 19, 2026

    DOJ Ends Oversight Of Cleveland Police After 11 Years

    The U.S. Department of Justice and the city of Cleveland provided notice on Thursday to an Ohio federal judge that the two agencies intend to end a binding agreement signed over a decade ago to provide federal oversight to the city's police department.

  • February 19, 2026

    Ex-LA Atty Faces Possible Suspension Over Billing Scandal

    A California Bar Court said that former Los Angeles chief deputy city attorney James Patrick Clark should be suspended from practicing law for at least two years due to his role in a high-profile customer billing scandal.

  • February 19, 2026

    NY Judge Rejects 1st Amendment Challenge In FARA Case

    A New York federal court refused to toss an indictment accusing an ex-Central Intelligence Agency analyst of aiding the South Korean government without proper registration, rejecting her position that criminal enforcement under the Foreign Agents Registration Act chills protected speech.

  • February 19, 2026

    8th Circ. Pick Joins List Of Personal Attys Elevated By Trump

    President Donald Trump's latest appellate pick has served as the president's personal attorney and bills himself as "an attorney and strategist who fights for conservative values" on his LinkedIn profile.

  • February 19, 2026

    Disqualification Bids Mount For Trio Leading NJ US Atty Office

    A New Jersey criminal defendant who previously challenged the legality of former interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba's appointment has now moved to disqualify the three assistant U.S. attorneys overseeing the office, aligning himself with a growing bloc of defendants saying the leadership structure violates federal appointment laws.

  • February 19, 2026

    Harvard Docs Get Censored Articles Permanently Restored

    The Trump administration agreed to maintain the court-ordered restoration of articles penned by Harvard Medical School researchers that contained references to the LGBTQ+ community after they had previously been scrubbed from a government-hosted website.

  • February 19, 2026

    Md. Senate OKs Service Station Conversion Tax Break

    Maryland's political jurisdictions would be allowed to grant property tax credits for service stations converting to other uses under a bill passed unanimously by the state Senate.

  • February 19, 2026

    NM Lawmakers OK Longer Redevelopment Property Tax Break

    New Mexico would extend a property tax exemption period for eligible redevelopment projects under a bill approved by state lawmakers and headed to the governor.

  • February 19, 2026

    Barnes & Thornburg Adds 35 Ballard Spahr Attys, 3 Offices

    Barnes & Thornburg LLP announced Thursday that it has added all 35 public finance lawyers from Ballard Spahr LLP to its government services and finance department in multiple locations around the country, including three new markets in Baltimore, Denver and Phoenix.

  • February 18, 2026

    Duke Energy's $17M Fuel Cost Recovery Improper, Panel Says

    The North Carolina Utilities Commission was wrong to let Duke Energy recover over $17 million in fuel costs two years after they were incurred, a North Carolina appeals court panel ruled Wednesday, finding that a statute permits utilities to recover only the fuel costs incurred during a one-year "lookback period."

  • February 18, 2026

    Blue Shield Of Calif. Says 'Ghost Network' Action Falls Flat

    Trouble finding a mental health care therapist is unfortunate but not something that an entire class action can be based on, argued Blue Shield of California, urging a federal judge to dismiss a suit accusing the company of maintaining a "ghost network" directory of providers who don't exist or don't accept new patients.

  • February 18, 2026

    Robinhood Clears Fla. AG Probe Of Crypto Platform Marketing

    Robinhood Markets Inc. told investors on Wednesday that Florida's attorney general has closed an investigation into the marketing practices of its crypto trading arm, ending a probe that had scrutinized whether the company misled customers about trading costs.

  • February 18, 2026

    Government Drops Case Over Referrals-For-Kickback Scheme

    A Texas federal judge tossed an indictment accusing about a dozen physicians and pharmacists of running a sprawling patient referral scheme, ending allegations that the pharmacists gave the doctors kickbacks in exchange for expensive prescriptions fillable at specific pharmacies.

  • February 18, 2026

    Live Nation Antitrust Claims Heading To Trial

    A New York federal judge on Wednesday refused a bid from Live Nation Entertainment Inc. to avoid a looming trial in a case from the U.S. Department of Justice and state enforcers accusing it of monopolizing the live entertainment industry.

Expert Analysis

  • Next Steps For Fair Housing Enforcement As HUD Backs Out

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    A soon-to-be-finalized U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development rule, which would hand responsibility for determining disparate impact liability under the Fair Housing Act to the courts, reinforces the Trump administration’s wider rollback of fair lending enforcement, yet there are reasons to expect litigation challenging this change, say attorneys at Spencer Fane.

  • Malpractice Claim Assignability Continues To Divide Courts

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    Recent decisions from courts across the country demonstrate how different jurisdictions balance competing policy interests in determining whether legal malpractice claims can be assigned, providing a framework to identify when and how to challenge any attempted assignment, says Christopher Blazejewski at Sherin & Lodgen.

  • As Federal Enviro Justice Policy Goes Dormant, All Is Not Lost

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    Environmental justice is enduring a federal dormancy brought on by executive branch reversals and agency directives over the past year that have swept long-standing federal frameworks from the formal policy ledger, but the legal underpinnings of EJ have not vanished and remain important, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • What Clarity Act Delay Reveals About US Crypto Regulation

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    The Senate Banking Committee's decision to delay markup of the Clarity Act, which would establish a comprehensive federal framework for digital assets, illuminates the political and structural obstacles that shape U.S. crypto regulation, despite years of bipartisan calls for regulatory clarity, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.

  • Courts' Rare Quash Of DOJ Subpoenas Has Lessons For Cos.

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    In a rare move, three federal courts recently quashed or partially quashed expansive U.S. Department of Justice administrative subpoenas issued to providers of gender-affirming care, demonstrating that courts will scrutinize purpose, cabin statutory authority and acknowledge the profound privacy burdens of overbroad government demands for sensitive records, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • The Little Tucker Act's Big Class Action Moment

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    The Little Tucker Act, which allows claims against the government for illegally exacted fees, is transforming from a niche procedural mechanism into a powerful vehicle for class action litigation, with more than $500 billion in such fees — including President Donald Trump's tariffs — now ripe for challenge, says Dinis Cheian at Susman Godfrey.

  • Venezuela Legal Shifts May Create Investment Opportunities

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    Since the removal of President Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela has shown signs of economic liberalization, particularly in the oil and mining sectors, presenting unique — but still high-risk — investment opportunities for U.S. companies, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.

  • Unpacking Dormant Commerce Clause Cannabis Circuit Split

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    Federal courts have reached differing conclusions as to whether state-legal cannabis is subject to the dormant commerce clause, with four opinions across three circuit courts in the last year demonstrating the continued salience of the dormant commerce clause debate to the nation's cannabis industry, regulators and policymakers, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • Remote Patient Monitoring Is At Regulatory Inflection Point

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    With remote patient monitoring at the center of new federal pilot programs and a recent report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General examining Medicare billing for those services, it is clear that balancing innovation and risk will be a central challenge ahead for digital health stakeholders, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • How Latest Nasdaq Proposals Stand To Raise Listings Quality

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    Nasdaq's recent proposals stand to heighten both quantitative and qualitative standards for issuers, which, if approved, may bring investors stronger market integrity and access but also raise the listings bar, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • Opinion

    CFIUS Must Adapt To Current Foreign Investment Realities

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    To continue protecting the U.S.’ long-term strategic and economic interests, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States should implement practical enhancements that leverage technology, expertise and clear communication, and enable it to keep pace with evolving demands, says attorney Sohan Dasgupta.

  • Texas AG Wields Consumer Protection Law Against Tech Cos.

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    Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has targeted technology companies using the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, a broadly worded statute that gives the attorney general wide latitude to pursue claims beyond traditional consumer protection, creating unique litigation risks, say attorneys at Yetter Coleman.

  • When Bankruptcy Collides With Product Recalls

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    The recent bankruptcy filing by Rad Power Bikes on the heels of a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission warning about dangerously defective batteries sold by the company highlights how CPSC enforcement clashes with bankruptcy protections, leaving both regulators and consumer litigants with limited options, says Michael Avanesian at Avian Law Group.

  • Protecting Sensitive Data During Congressional Inquiries

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    With the 2026 midterm elections potentially set to shift control of one or both houses of Congress, entities must proactively plan for the prospect of new congressional investigations, and adopt strategic, effective and practical measures to mitigate risks related to disclosure of sensitive information, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Where PCAOB Goes Next After A Year Of Uncertainty

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    The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will likely bring fewer enforcement matters in 2026, reflecting a notable change in board priorities following the change in administrations, say Robert Cox and Nicole Byrd at Whiteford Taylor and Matthew Rogers at Bridgehaven Consulting.

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