Public Policy

  • April 10, 2026

    Sens. Urge CFTC To Probe 'Unusual' Oil Trading Patterns

    U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., called on the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to investigate "unusual trading patterns" in oil futures that took place right before President Donald Trump announced talks with Iran, including the recently announced ceasefire.

  • April 10, 2026

    Ariz. Prediction Markets Regulation, Kalshi Charges Halted

    A Phoenix federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked Arizona from enforcing its gambling laws against federally regulated prediction markets, saying the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission are likely to succeed on their claims that Arizona's laws are preempted by federal law.

  • April 10, 2026

    ​​​​​​​Apple Asks To Keep Stay In Epic Case During High Court Bid

    Apple has asked the Ninth Circuit not to undo its order staying a decision in Epic Games Inc.'s favor while Apple petitions the U.S. Supreme Court to review the ruling that largely affirmed an injunction barring Apple from charging developers "prohibitive" commissions on iPhone app purchases.

  • April 10, 2026

    Texas Justices Say Telecom Contracts Must Follow The Law

    When the Texas Legislature changes the laws that govern how much public utilities can charge telecommunications companies to attach things to their poles, contracts that are already in effect have to fall in line, the state supreme court declared Friday in resolving a decades' long dispute involving San Antonio.

  • April 10, 2026

    Big Banks Say They Were Victims Of Tricolor Fraud Scheme

    JPMorgan, Barclays and Fifth Third have urged a New York federal judge to toss an investor suit claiming the banks ignored flaring red flags and helped conceal a sprawling subprime auto loan fraud by Tricolor Holdings, arguing that they were also victims of the fraud and not aware of the scheme despite being sophisticated financial institutions.

  • April 10, 2026

    Chest Binders Become Latest Front In Anti-Trans Litigation

    Chest binders — medical devices that can be used by individuals experiencing gender dysphoria or who want a more gender-neutral alternative to bras — have emerged as the newest target in an unfolding regulatory and legal climate that transgender advocates describe as an overtly partisan political attack against a type of product that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has deemed the least risky.

  • April 10, 2026

    SEC To Craft Exemption For Foreign Bail-In Transactions

    U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins said Friday that he has directed staff to draft an exemption for securities offered and sold as part of certain foreign bail-in processes, announcing the plans as the agency said it won't take action over bail-in transactions directed by the Bank of England.

  • April 10, 2026

    FCC Says Current 'Audible Crawl' Rule Doesn't Work

    The Federal Communications Commission is thinking about ditching a requirement that video service providers ensure that nontext emergency information that pops up during a TV broadcast comes with an auditory translation for the visually impaired.

  • April 10, 2026

    Texas Judge Blocks State From Enforcing New Hemp Rules

    A Texas state court on Friday blocked state agencies from enforcing new rules restricting the sale of certain hemp products, after hemp industry groups sued the agencies over claims they illegally went past what the legislature allowed them to ban.

  • April 10, 2026

    2nd Circ. Says Skipped Appeal Dooms Deportation Challenge

    An Ecuadorian facing felony criminal charges for reentering the United States after being deported following a conviction for reckless assault cannot challenge his original deportation order because he didn't originally appeal it, the Second Circuit said Thursday.

  • April 10, 2026

    CFTC Taps Latham, Sidley Attys For Innovation Task Force

    The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has tapped alumni of Latham & Watkins LLP, Sidley Austin LLP and advisory firm Patomak Global Partners LLC for its task force developing regulatory framework for cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence and prediction markets.

  • April 10, 2026

    ICE Quietly Changes I-9 Offenses, Raising Employer Fine Risk

    Employers are staring down bigger fines for I-9 violations after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement quietly redefined substantive violations to include common administrative errors that were previously correctable without penalty.

  • April 10, 2026

    Colo. Governor Claims Immunity In Tribe's Park Access Suit

    Colorado's governor has claimed sovereign immunity in a federal lawsuit by the Ute Indian Tribe, which alleged it is being discriminated against due to its exclusion from a state law that gives members of its sister tribes free entrance to state parks on ancestral lands.

  • April 10, 2026

    DC Circ. Scraps Foley's Atty Fee Win In 13-Year IRS Saga

    A D.C. Circuit panel on Friday vacated a district court ruling giving Foley & Lardner LLP first dibs on nearly $800,000 in fees for representing a conservative nonprofit in a 13-year-old suit against the Internal Revenue Service, giving Bopp Law Firm a chance to argue for a larger cut of the pie.

  • April 10, 2026

    FCC Fines Are Just Paper, But 'Still Tigers,' High Court Told

    AT&T and Verizon told the U.S. Supreme Court that no matter how the Federal Communications Commission portrays its fines, they amount to binding orders that run afoul of the Seventh Amendment because there's no clear path to challenge them in court.

  • April 10, 2026

    Texas REIT Discloses $53M RealPage Settlement With Renters

    A Texas-based real estate investment trust has reached a $53 million class action settlement for multidistrict litigation in Tenneseee federal court that accused the REIT and multiple landlords of using property management software company RealPage Inc.'s revenue management software for rent price-fixing.

  • April 10, 2026

    House Dems Push To Halt Russian Oil Sales, Adopt Sanctions

    Two U.S. Democratic representatives have introduced a bill to reverse the Trump administration's decision to authorize the sale of Russian oil, arguing Russia will use the proceeds to fund its war against Ukraine.

  • April 10, 2026

    Tech's AI Coding Boom On Collision Course With Copyright

    Tech companies embracing generative tools to write their software code — and boasting about it — may be running into a gap in copyright protection: the more they rely on them, the harder it may be to claim exclusive rights when that code is copied or leaked.

  • April 10, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Appears Skeptical Of Steel Co.'s Duty Challenge

    In over two hours of oral arguments across three cases on Friday, a Federal Circuit panel scrutinized a Turkish company's attempts to challenge a duty order against Turkish steel, raising concerns ranging from its failure to file a protectionary appeal to overall issues with protestations over calculations.

  • April 10, 2026

    USPTO Launches Pilot Aimed At Reducing Exam Backlog

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said it will launch a pilot program requiring some applicants at the national stage to request examination of their patent applications.

  • April 10, 2026

    Kansas City Open To Talking To Royals About $1.9B Ballpark

    Officials in Kansas City, Mo., have begun the process of talking with Major League Baseball's Royals about building a new $1.9 billion downtown ballpark, two years after voters rejected a tax hike for a stadium project.

  • April 10, 2026

    $68M Colony Ridge Deal To Proceed Without Court's Blessing

    The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday said it will move forward with a $68 million settlement reached with land developer Colony Ridge Development LLC without seeking court oversight after a Texas federal judge raised concerns about the deal.

  • April 10, 2026

    Trump Taps Personal Atty For 2nd Circ.

    President Donald Trump announced on Friday evening he's tapping Matthew Schwartz, his attorney in the New York hush money case, for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. 

  • April 10, 2026

    Immigration Appeals Rule Challenge Put On Hold

    Legal services groups challenging changes that would speed up deportation order appeals have agreed with the Trump administration to stay upcoming deadlines in the litigation and allow for a revised rulemaking process after a D.C. federal judge vacated the changes last month.

  • April 10, 2026

    First Phase Of Tariff Refund System To Launch April 20

    The first phase of an electronic system allowing U.S. importers to claim refunds for tariffs paid under the global regime struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court will launch April 20, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Friday.

Expert Analysis

  • What's At Stake In Possible Circuit Split On Medicaid Rule

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    A recent Eleventh Circuit decision, reviving Florida's lawsuit against a federal rule that reduces Medicaid funding based on agreements between hospitals, sets up a potential circuit split with the Fifth Circuit, with important ramifications for states looking to private administrators to run provider tax programs, say Liz Goodman, Karuna Seshasai and Rebecca Pitt at FTI Consulting.

  • How States Are Advancing Enviro Justice Policies

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    The federal pullback on environmental justice creates uncertainty and impedes cross‑jurisdictional coordination, but EJ diligence remains prudent risk management, with many states having developed and implemented statutes, screening tools, permitting standards and more, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • CFIUS Risk Lessons From Chips Biz Divestment Order

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    President Donald Trump's January executive order directing HieFo to unwind its 2024 acquisition of a semiconductor business with ties to China underscores that even modestly sized transactions can attract CFIUS interest if they could affect strategic areas prioritized by the U.S. government, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • What Applicants Can Expect From Calif. Crypto License Law

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    With the July effective date for California's Digital Financial Assets Law fast approaching, now is a critical time for companies to prepare for licensure, application and coverage compliance ahead of this significant regulatory milestone that will reshape how digital asset businesses operate in California, say attorneys at MoFo.

  • Elections Mean Time For Political Law Compliance Checkups

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    An active election year is the perfect time for in-house counsel to conduct a health check on their company's corporate political law compliance program to ensure it’s prepared to minimize risks related to electoral engagement, lobbying, pay-to-play laws and government ethics rules, say attorneys at Steptoe.

  • 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.

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