Public Policy

  • August 12, 2025

    CenturyLink Can't Duck $1.3M Wash. 911 Outage Fine

    CenturyLink isn't going to be able to get out from under a $1.3 million penalty that Washington state slapped the telecom with after an outage in 2018 left people across the entire state unable to call 911 for two days, a state appeals court ruled.

  • August 12, 2025

    DOJ Asks Judge To Block Ill. E-Verify Restrictions

    The U.S. Department of Justice urged an Illinois federal judge on Tuesday to block provisions of a recent state law restricting the use of electronic employment verification systems on prospective hires, saying Illinois is unlawfully trying to regulate a federal government procedure.

  • August 12, 2025

    Bank Groups Call For Closing Stablecoin Law's 'Loopholes'

    The American Bankers Association and more than 50 state counterparts on Tuesday urged Senate lawmakers to close several "loopholes" in a recently enacted federal law to regulate stablecoins with recommended additions to a separate proposal to regulate crypto markets.

  • August 12, 2025

    Terraform Founder Cops To $40B Crypto Fraud Scheme

    The founder and former CEO of Terraform Labs on Tuesday admitted to perpetrating a multibillion-dollar fraud by deceiving investors about its decentralized finance-based ecosystem of crypto products, a scheme that wiped out $40 billion in market value when it collapsed.

  • August 12, 2025

    Delta, Aeromexico Defend Partnership From Antitrust Scrutiny

    Delta and Aeromexico are pushing back against the federal government's move to strip their joint venture of its antitrust immunity, saying the move would only punish Delta and American consumers, not the Mexican government for restricting access to Mexico City International Airport.

  • August 12, 2025

    9th Circ. Doubts Contractor Stance On ICE Facility Access

    A Ninth Circuit judge appeared skeptical on Tuesday of government contractor GEO Group's stance on federal authorities' role in denying Washington health inspectors access to an immigrant detention facility, while also suggesting the company had "potentially" raised a defense sufficient to keep an underlying dispute in federal court.

  • August 12, 2025

    Daimler, Volvo Sue Calif. To Block Emission Regulations

    Daimler, Volvo and other heavy-duty truck manufacturers sued California on Monday aiming to block the state from forcing them to comply with emission regulations, following moves by the Trump administration and Congress to revoke the state's authority to impose them.

  • August 12, 2025

    Pa. Marina Can't Cite 1849 Law To Reopen Railroad Crossing

    A Pennsylvania federal judge on Tuesday rejected an attempt by the owner of a bar and marina south of Pittsburgh to claim an 1849 law in seeking to force railroad company CSX Transportation to reopen a rail crossing providing the only public access to the business.

  • August 12, 2025

    Biden Coastal Drilling Ban Fight Is Moot, Enviro Groups Say

    Environmentalists say President Donald Trump's rescission of Biden-era memos closing off additional waters to oil and gas drilling moots a lawsuit brought by red states and industry groups that includes arguments that presidential withdrawal authority is unconstitutional or otherwise limited.

  • August 12, 2025

    Airbnb Wants Conservative Shareholder Proposal Suit Tossed

    Airbnb has asked a Delaware federal court to toss a suit alleging the vacation rental company wrongfully excluded conservative shareholders' proposals from its 2025 proxy materials, arguing they haven't alleged anyone at the company knew about the proposals at all.

  • August 12, 2025

    Fla. Apartment, Worker Escape Airman's Wrongful Death Suit

    A Florida federal judge dismissed a lawsuit over the police shooting death of a U.S. Air Force airman against an apartment complex and an employee who dialed 911, saying that the complaint "sends the wrong message to the public."

  • August 12, 2025

    Trump Admin Sued Again Over Parole Program's End

    The Trump administration has been hit with another challenge to its April mass cancellation of humanitarian parole in a proposed class action brought on behalf of more than 900,000 people who used a government app to set up appointments for admission to the United States.

  • August 12, 2025

    Senate, House Bills Look To Curb Counterfeit Imports

    A bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced a bill in both chambers of Congress aiming to combat counterfeit and pirated imports by allowing customs agents to share suspected counterfeit packaging and shipping information with intellectual property holders, e-commerce companies and goods transporters.

  • August 12, 2025

    Calif. Fantasy Sports Losses Not Economic Injury, DraftKings Says

    DraftKings has asked a California federal court to toss a lawsuit accusing the sportsbook of skirting state gambling laws, arguing the plaintiffs have failed to show they suffered a legitimate injury or that the company provided them goods and services.

  • August 12, 2025

    Amazon's 'Dark Patterns' Expert Nixed From FTC Prime Suit

    Amazon.com Inc. is down a key expert witness after a Washington federal judge ruled that an engineering consultant has offered nothing but his expertise and experience to argue the Federal Trade Commission wrongly accuses the retail giant of using "dark patterns" to trick users into Prime subscriptions.

  • August 12, 2025

    4th Circ. Lifts Block On DOGE's Data Access At 3 Agencies

    A split Fourth Circuit panel vacated a block Tuesday on the Department of Government Efficiency's access to personal information held by three federal agencies, prescribing an exacting appraisal of the challenging unions' chances of winning all aspects of the case.

  • August 12, 2025

    Groups Urge IRS To Resist Pressure To Share Taxpayer Info

    Advocacy groups urged the Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday to keep resisting presidential pressure to share confidential tax-return information with immigration enforcement authorities, saying the abrupt departure of the agency's new commissioner highlights the need for oversight.

  • August 12, 2025

    Trump Nominates 5 To Mississippi, Alabama Federal Courts

    President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday five judicial nominees for federal courts in Mississippi and Alabama, one of whom Trump tried to put on the bench in his first term.

  • August 12, 2025

    NM School Board Sues Feds Over Native American Bias Probe

    A New Mexico school board is suing the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and acting Chair Andrea Lucas, arguing they overstepped their authority by lodging an "overly broad and vague" Native American discrimination charge and probe against it.

  • August 12, 2025

    Forge Ahead On Cellphone Hearing Aid Rules, FCC Told

    Federal rules need to be updated as soon as possible to align with an upcoming standard for hearing aid compatibility with cellphones, advocates for consumers with hearing loss said.

  • August 12, 2025

    DOL Yanks 2021 Guidance On Private Equity 401(k) Risks

    The U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits arm on Tuesday rescinded guidance from 2021 that warned 401(k) plan managers about the risks of investing in private equity, which comes after an executive order last week that called for expanding access to alternative asset classes in defined-contribution retirement plan investing.

  • August 12, 2025

    2nd Circ. Rules Dormant Commerce Clause Covers Marijuana

    A split Second Circuit panel on Tuesday ruled that, despite marijuana's federal illegality, the U.S. Constitution prohibits states from privileging their own residents when awarding licenses to cannabis businesses.

  • August 12, 2025

    FTC Skeptical Of 'Partial' Sale For GTCR Merger Fix

    The Federal Trade Commission told an Illinois federal court that enforcers are reviewing an offer by private equity firm GTCR BC Holding to sell parts of a medical device coatings company in order to fix concerns raised by the company's planned purchase of Surmodics, but said a full sale is preferable.

  • August 12, 2025

    FCC Urged To Ramp Up Mobile High-Cost Support

    The Federal Communications Commission needs to reform its mobile support rules for subsidizing carriers in largely rural areas, a wireless trade group told the agency.

  • August 12, 2025

    Md. Judges Say DOJ Habeas Suit Wreaks 'Havoc' On Judiciary

    The Maryland federal bench again moved to throw out the Trump administration's "disruptive affront" challenging a standing order that temporarily paused the removal of noncitizen detainees who filed habeas petitions, arguing Monday that the executive branch's suit fails to state a claim and "wreaks unprecedented havoc on the Judiciary."

Expert Analysis

  • The Int'l Compliance View: Everything Everywhere All At Once

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    Changes to the enforcement landscape in the U.S. and abroad shift the risks and incentives for global compliance programs, creating a race against the clock for companies to deploy investigative resources across worldwide operations, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • Opinion

    Calif. Must Amend Trade Secret Civil Procedure

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    A California procedural law that effectively shields trade secret defendants from having to return company materials until the plaintiff can craft detailed requests must be amended to recognize that property recovery and trade secret analysis are distinct issues, says Matthew Miller at Hanson Bridgett.

  • Previewing State Efforts To Regulate Mental Health Chatbots

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    New York, Nevada and Utah have all recently enacted laws regulating the use of artificial intelligence to deliver mental health services, offering early insights into how other states may regulate this area, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • 6 Questions We Should Ask About The Trump Trade Deals

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    Whenever the text becomes available, certain questions will help determine whether the Trump administration’s trade deals with U.S. trading partners have been crafted to form durable economic relationships, or ephemeral ties likely to break upon interpretive disagreement or a change in political will, says Ted Posner at Baker Botts.

  • 'Pig Butchering' Seizure Is A Milestone In Crypto Crime Fight

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    The U.S.' recent seizure of $225 million in crypto funds in a massive "pig butchering" scheme highlights the transformative impact of blockchain analysis in law enforcement, and the increasing necessity of collaboration between law enforcement agencies, cryptocurrency exchanges and stablecoin issuers, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.

  • Justices' Age Verification Ruling May Lead To More State Laws

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton ruling, permitting a Texas law requiring certain websites to verify users’ ages, significantly expands states' ability to regulate minors’ social media access, further complicating the patchwork of internet privacy laws, say attorneys at Troutman.

  • The Pros, Cons Of A Single Commissioner Leading The CFTC

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    While a single-member U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission may require fewer resources and be more efficient, its internal decision-making process would be less transparent to those outside the agency, reflect less compromise between competing viewpoints and provide the public with less predictability, says former CFTC Commissioner Dan Berkovitz.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Relevance Redactions

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    In recent cases addressing redactions that parties sought to apply based on the relevance of information — as opposed to considerations of privilege — courts have generally limited a party’s ability to withhold nonresponsive or irrelevant material, providing a few lessons for discovery strategy, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • How DOJ's New Data Security Rules Leave HIPAA In The Dust

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recently effective data security requirements carry profound implications for how healthcare providers collect, store, share and use data — and approach vendor oversight — that go far beyond the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.

  • Opinion

    Section 1983 Has Promise After End Of Nationwide Injunctions

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down the practice of nationwide injunctions in Trump v. Casa, Section 1983 civil rights suits can provide a better pathway to hold the government accountable — but this will require reforms to qualified immunity, says Marc Levin at the Council on Criminal Justice.

  • Courts Redefining Software As Product Generates New Risks

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    A recent wave of litigation against social media platforms, chatbot developers and ride-hailing companies has some courts straying from the traditional view of software as a service to redefining software as a product, with significant implications for strict liability exposure, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Trump's 2nd Term Puts Merger Remedies Back On The Table

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    In contrast with the Biden administration, the second Trump administration has signaled a renewed willingness to resolve merger enforcement concerns through remedies from the outset, particularly when the proposed fix is structural, clearly addresses the harm and does not require burdensome oversight, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Why Bank Regulators' Proposed Leverage Tweak Matters

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    Banking agencies' recent proposal to modify the enhanced supplementary leverage ratio framework applicable to the largest U.S. banks shows the regulators are keen to address concerns that the regulatory capital framework is too restrictive, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Corp. Human Rights Regulatory Landscape Is Fragmented

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    Given the complexity of compliance with nations' overlapping human rights laws, multinational companies need to be cognizant of the evolving approaches to modern slavery transparency, and proposals that could reduce mandatory due diligence and reporting requirements, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • How Banks Can Harness New Customer ID Rule's Flexibility

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    Banking regulators' update to the customer identification process, allowing banks to collect some information from third parties rather than directly from customers, helps modernize anti-money laundering compliance and carries advantages for financial institutions that embrace the new approach, say attorneys at Bradley Arant.

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