Public Policy

  • September 02, 2026

    GOP Bill Would Alter CFPB Funding, Curb Enforcement

    Two high-ranking Republican U.S. representatives have formally introduced legislation that would put the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau through the regular congressional appropriations process and establish a dedicated inspector general, among other changes.

  • September 02, 2026

    VLSI Presses Court For Full Anonymous Report In Intel Row

    VLSI has urged a D.C. federal court to force the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to release an unredacted version of a report alleging a connection between Intel and a company that successfully challenged a VLSI patent at issue in a multibillion-dollar infringement case.

  • September 02, 2026

    Online Embedders May Like 5th Circ.'s Pivot On Server Test

    The Fifth Circuit last week rejected a 2007 copyright test that publishers have long criticized, but attorneys say the court's replacement may still leave news aggregators and apps that embed third-party content in a strong position while putting more pressure on rights holders to restrict content they don't want embedded elsewhere.

  • September 02, 2026

    FCC Backs Alaska Telecom GCI's Plan To Serve 10K More

    Improvements in broadband infrastructure mean that Alaskan telecom GCI Holdings will be able to provide hybrid fiber-cellular service to 10,000 more people in the state, the telecom has told the Federal Communications Commission.

  • September 02, 2026

    Public Access Gets Win In Ex-Fla. GOP Chair's Records Case

    A Florida appellate court ruled Wednesday in favor of public access to investigative records involving the former chairman of the Sunshine State's Republican Party, finding that only legislators can create exemptions under the state's Public Records Act. 

  • September 02, 2026

    NOAA Fisheries Lays Out Priorities For Trump Seafood Order

    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries division announced several dozen priorities to boost the U.S. seafood industry Wednesday, prompting one environmental group to call it a "depraved laundry list" of ways the Trump administration is willing to sacrifice ocean life.

  • September 02, 2026

    FCC Staff Are Making Big Decisions, But The Tactic Isn't New

    When an arm of the Federal Communications Commission that deals with broadcast competition waived one of the country's signature media ownership rules without a full FCC vote this year, it wasn't the first time agency staff had been entrusted with a major decision by the FCC's politically appointed chair.

  • September 02, 2026

    House Rejects Amendment To Fix Court At 9 Justices

    The House failed to pass a proposed constitutional amendment on Wednesday that would keep the number of U.S. Supreme Court justices at nine.

  • September 02, 2026

    Migrant Advocates Can't Revive El Salvador Deal Challenge

    A D.C. federal judge once again shot down a challenge to the Trump administration's agreement with El Salvador that sent hundreds of detained noncitizens to the CECOT terror prison, ruling that the immigrant advocates challenging the deal had failed to show how their requested relief could redress the alleged harms.

  • September 02, 2026

    States Sue To Block Medicaid Ban On Youth Gender Care

    Twenty state attorneys general on Wednesday challenged the Trump administration's plan to halt Medicaid funding for minors' gender-affirming care, alleging the move would violate federal law and usurp congressional power over government spending.

  • September 02, 2026

    DOJ Backs OpenAI, Microsoft Fair Use Defense In NYT IP Case

    The federal government is weighing in on the sprawling copyright litigation against OpenAI Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in New York federal court brought by The New York Times and others, telling the judge that using copyrighted texts to train generative tools shouldn't expose developers to broad infringement liability.

  • September 02, 2026

    AT&T Asks To Cut Copper-Based VoIP Service In 20 States

    AT&T is continuing with its plans to end its legacy copper-line telephone service across the United States, asking the Federal Communications Commission for permission to cut services that rely on copper wires in certain areas in 20 states.

  • September 02, 2026

    Trump Foreign Equipment Order Perplexes Power Cos.

    The U.S. power industry is scrambling to make sense of President Donald Trump's sweeping executive order restricting imports of equipment used for the electricity grid, and attorneys say complying with the directive could ultimately make projects more expensive and take them longer to build.

  • September 02, 2026

    Colo. Says Semiautomatic Gun Law Is Constitutional

    Colorado officials urged a federal judge to not block the enforcement of a new state law restricting ownership of certain semiautomatic firearms, contending the law is constitutional and complies with recent Supreme Court precedent.

  • September 02, 2026

    14 Cos. Banned From US Networks Over Robocall Violations

    More than a dozen voice service providers have been booted from U.S. networks after failing to follow Federal Communications Commission rules aimed at staunching the barrage of robocalls that assault Americans' phones every day.

  • September 02, 2026

    FCC Floats 'Scorecard' To Deal With Robocall Deluge

    As the flood of robocalls continues, Federal Communications Commission leaders are considering a "scorecard" to let consumers rate their voice service providers as to how effectively they are blocking unwanted calls.

  • September 02, 2026

    10th Circ. Says Vape Shops Fumbled Utah Flavor Ban Appeal

    The Tenth Circuit dismissed an appeal brought by vape businesses challenging Utah's flavored e-cigarette ban, ruling that the companies picked the wrong order to bring to it on appeal.

  • September 02, 2026

    Kroger, Costco, Major Grocers Added To DOJ Beef Price Probe

    The U.S. Department of Justice expanded its investigation into potential anticompetitive conduct in the American beef industry to include The Kroger Co., Walmart, Costco Wholesale Corp. and five other major grocers.

  • September 02, 2026

    Imported Feed Additive Is An Antibiotic, Trade Court Rules

    An animal health company's imports of a powdered feed additive should have entered the U.S. as a duty-free antibiotic, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled Wednesday, undoing its previous classification as a preparation for animal feed from China that carried a 25% tariff.

  • September 02, 2026

    UMich Says Student Banned From Campus Can't Show Bias

    The University of Michigan and several of its officials on Wednesday asked a federal judge to dismiss a civil rights suit brought by a student and former university employee, saying his claims that he was barred from a campus area for expressing pro-Palestinian views fail and arguing the university was simply enforcing its standard trespass policy.

  • September 02, 2026

    11th Circ. OKs Refusal Of $1.5M Offer To End $140M Tax Debt

    The Eleventh Circuit rebuffed a software company founder's $1.5 million offer to settle his $140 million tax debt from 1999, ruling Wednesday that the IRS properly rejected the lowball offer in a case tied to sham arrangements.

  • September 02, 2026

    11th Circ. Revives Some Of Pot Co.'s License Bias Claims

    The Eleventh Circuit revived Wednesday a cannabis company's suit against Georgia regulators over a denied production license, saying the company showed it suffered an injury from the state's "pay to play" system and had the right to bring a lawsuit despite cannabis being federally illegal.

  • September 02, 2026

    Optics Co.'s £346M Sale Not Stopped By Antitrust Authorities

    Optics technology provider Gooch & Housego, advised by Burges Salmon LLP, said Wednesday that it cleared a regulatory hurdle in its proposed acquisition by Kirkland & Ellis LLP-led private equity shop Arlington Capital, as the antitrust waiting period for the £346 million ($470 million) deal has expired.

  • September 02, 2026

    Mass. Woman Admits Assault On Agents Detaining Immigrants

    A Massachusetts woman pled guilty in federal court on Wednesday to assaulting and threatening to kill federal agents outside a courthouse where they were attempting to detain immigrants, prosecutors said.

  • September 02, 2026

    Crypto Mine Noise Suit Belongs In State Court, Neighbors Say

    Residents of a North Carolina town suing over allegedly excessive noise coming from a nearby cryptocurrency mining and AI data center want their lawsuit bumped back down to state court, arguing the damages they're seeking fall short of the threshold required for federal jurisdiction.

Expert Analysis

  • Fed Report Underscores Focus On Nonbank, CRE Risks

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    The Federal Reserve Board's latest supervision and regulation report highlights that broad systemic stability will not insulate individual institutions from rigorous supervisory challenges regarding concentrated commercial real estate portfolios and nonbank partnerships, says Daniel Meade at Hogan Lovells.

  • 3 Upcoming Deadlines That EB-5 Investors Should Consider

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    Potential EB-5 regional center investors should weigh three approaching deadlines, the most immediate of which is Sept. 30, that may affect their filing strategy, required capital commitment and ability to participate even if Congress fails to reauthorize the program, says Michael Ashoori at Ashoori Law.

  • CIPA Tech Tracking Suits Highlight Uncertain Legal Ground

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    Alexandra Samofalova at Spencer Fane discusses the state of California Invasion of Privacy Act website tracking litigation, why credible defendants choose to settle and how the businesses best positioned to face this uncertain legal landscape are the ones treating data practices as a legal compliance matter to address today.

  • AI, Prediction Markets Lead Securities Developments In 2026

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    Securities class actions tied to artificial intelligence and the battle over prediction market regulation both raise novel questions that courts are only beginning to address and that will continue to resonate throughout the second half of the year, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Why A Class Was Certified In Financial Aid Info-Sharing Case

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    The recent Illinois federal court decision in Corzo v. Brown University offers key guidance for defendants confronting class certification in antitrust matters, highlighting how typicality can be satisfied despite class members attending different universities, receiving different aid awards and being affected across different time periods, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Key Compliance Insights From Calif.'s Volvo Diesel Deal

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    While the future of California's vehicle emissions standards under the Clean Air Act is uncertain, the state's recent settlement with Volvo over diesel emissions hinges on the truthfulness of manufacturer representations to state regulators, and offers important lessons for companies on compliance and recordkeeping, says Thierry Montoya at FBT Gibbons.

  • Community Bank Order Signals Fintech Partnership Scrutiny

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    The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's recent consent order against Community Federal Savings Bank for deficiencies in its Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering compliance programs offers clear and urgent lessons for community banks pursuing revenue growth through fintech partnerships and payments services, say attorneys at Bradley.

  • House-Passed KIDS Act Spurs Child Data Practices Audit

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    Graham Dean, Brian Roper-Nelson and Will Quick at Brooks Pierce discuss the noteworthy sections of the U.S. House of Representatives' recently passed Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act, the potential revisions as the law moves through the U.S. Senate and the significant business changes that the House law would require.

  • Calif. Recycle Label Order Imperils Product Responsibility Law

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    A California federal court's injunction blocking enforcement of the state's truth-in-recycling law gives companies racing to remove chasing arrows and other recyclability labels from their packaging a reprieve — and the court's action may also hobble implementation of the state's extended producer responsibility law, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • FTC Focus: Enforcing Vertically Integrated Operating Systems

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    As digital platforms increasingly pair operating systems with commerce, advertising, content and data, antitrust scrutiny will turn on whether those integrations create private bottlenecks that foreclose rivals through access, ranking, interoperability or defaults, pushing courts and enforcement agencies to adapt traditional utility and merger frameworks more aggressively, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Challenging Detention After 5th Circ. Ends Bond Clocks

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    After the vacatur of the Fifth Circuit’s holding that the U.S. Constitution requires bond hearings for detained noncriminal noncitizens, practitioners should go back to filing habeas petitions, pending the court's en banc rehearing, says Kemal Hepsen at Mandamus Lawyers.

  • Patent Eligibility Bulletin: New USPTO Guidance And AI Risks

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    In the second quarter of 2026, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office updated its subject matter eligibility declarations in line with its increasingly permissive patent eligibility stance, while the Federal Circuit rigorously applied the Alice framework in a decision that highlighted risks facing patent claims that utilize artificial intelligence and machine learning, say attorneys at Banner Witcoff.

  • A Shift In How Policymakers Are Approaching PBM Regulation

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    Recent federal and state legislative and regulatory activity involving pharmacy benefit managers represent a change in focus from transparency to PBM compensation structures, vertical integration and competitive effects, say attorneys at Barclay Damon.

  • Workplace Menopause Laws Demand New HR Playbooks

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    A recent wave of state and local legislation that makes menopause an expressly protected condition in the workplace creates new compliance obligations amid an already ambiguous federal framework, and demands a workplace culture where employees feel safe asking for support, says Elliot Griffin at Ballard Spahr.

  • How State Actions Are Reshaping Surveillance Pricing Risk

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    Amid heightened state enforcement activity and expanding legislative action to curb surveillance pricing concerns related to transparency, fairness and discrimination, businesses should closely examine how consumer data is used in pricing decisions, say attorneys at Steptoe.

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