Public Policy

  • July 03, 2025

    High Court To Hear Street Preacher's First Amendment Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Thursday to hear a challenge to an ordinance in Brandon, Mississippi, that redirects demonstrations to a designated protest area, teeing up an examination of whether case law prevents someone who has been convicted from bringing a civil rights suit.

  • July 03, 2025

    Spectrum, Border, Injunction Changes Included In Mega Bill

    The House voted 218-214, almost along party lines, on Thursday on the reconciliation budget package, which includes a range of policy provisions on nationwide injunctions, spectrum and immigration and now goes to President Donald Trump's desk ahead of the decided Fourth of July deadline.

  • July 03, 2025

    Pacific Seafood Faces CWA Suit For Alleged Permit Violations

    The Center for Food Safety and Wild Fish Conservancy hit Pacific Seafood Aquaculture LLC with a Clean Water Act citizen suit alleging it has failed to comply with permit terms for three Columbia River net pen facilities, each producing more than 20,000 pounds of rainbow trout annually.

  • July 03, 2025

    Biggest Decisions Of Mich. Supreme Court So Far This Year

    The Michigan Supreme Court so far this year has handed down a number of decisions marking important changes to criminal law, including reshaping how late adolescents are sentenced for serious crimes and declaring that the smell of marijuana alone cannot justify a warrantless vehicle search.

  • July 03, 2025

    Ex-Treasury Official Joins Covington's Nat'l Security Practice

    Covington & Burling LLP has boosted its national security practice with the hire of the former head of the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence under former President Barack Obama's administration as of counsel.

  • July 03, 2025

    DHS Aims To Implement Biometric Tracking For Noncitizens

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is planning to revive a policy proposal from the first Trump administration to implement facial recognition technology as part of a comprehensive biometric system to track the entry and exit of noncitizens.

  • July 03, 2025

    Free-Speech Suit Will Be Early Trial Court Test Of Trump Admin

    A Massachusetts federal judge will begin hearing testimony Monday in a challenge by academic organizations to the Trump administration's visa revocations and removals of noncitizen faculty and students who have expressed pro-Palestinian views, in one of the first trials over the president's second-term policies.

  • July 03, 2025

    High Court Passes On Mont. Abortion, Parental Consent Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined Thursday to hear a case focused on parental consent and abortion in Montana, as two conservative justices said the decision shouldn't be seen as a rejection by the justices of the parental-rights question itself.

  • July 03, 2025

    NC Gov. Vetoes Bill Stamping Out Carbon Reduction Target

    North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein has rejected a piece of legislation that would have eliminated the state's 2030 goal to cut carbon emissions by 70%, saying it would cost ratepayers in the long run and keep the Tar Heel State too beholden to natural gas.

  • July 03, 2025

    HHS Ordered To Restore Data Axed Under 'Gender Ideology' EO

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services must restore a swath of webpages and datasets it took down following a Trump administration executive order seeking to root out references to so-called gender ideology, a D.C. federal judge ruled.

  • July 03, 2025

    DHS Says Feds Aren't Funding Everglades Detention Center

    The federal government is distancing itself from the new migrant detention center in the Everglades, saying in a court filing Thursday that it has not "implemented, authorized, directed or funded" the "Alligator Alcatraz" camp.

  • July 03, 2025

    What Judges Might Ponder In Judicial Safety Law Challenge

    A Third Circuit panel set to examine the constitutionality of a judicial safety law born out of the murder of a New Jersey federal judge's son is tasked with what experts are viewing as a lesser-of-two-evils choice: chilling free speech or chilling public service.

  • July 03, 2025

    FCC Waives Lifeline Voice, Mobile Changes For 1 Year

    The Federal Communications Commission has once again postponed two changes to its Lifeline subsidy program, delaying the phase-out of support for voice-only services that were originally meant to push users toward broadband and keeping minimum broadband data standards at 4.5 gigabytes per month for at least an extra year.

  • July 03, 2025

    What To Watch In Mass. Courts In The Second Half Of 2025

    Massachusetts courts should be busy through the second half of 2025, with litigation against the Trump administration playing a starring role at both the state and federal level. Here are some of the key cases and issues that attorneys are monitoring.

  • July 03, 2025

    Cannabis Co. Nectar Sues Chicago Atty For $500K

    A Chicago attorney and his business partner are accused of defrauding Oregon-based cannabis company Nectar in a federal lawsuit that claims they promised to secure an Illinois license for the company but instead walked away with hundreds of thousands of dollars.

  • July 03, 2025

    The Firms That Won Big At The Supreme Court

    The number of law firms juggling three or more arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court this past term nearly doubled from the number of firms that could make that claim last term.

  • July 03, 2025

    Residents Urge Judge To Redo Ruling Backing Alaska Casino

    A group of Anchorage, Alaska, residents opposed to a plan to build a casino urged a federal judge to reconsider a ruling finding the Native Village of Eklutna has sovereign immunity and can't face a lawsuit seeking to block the development plan.

  • July 03, 2025

    Breaking Down The Vote: The High Court Term In Review

    The U.S. Supreme Court once again waited until the term's closing weeks — and even hours — to issue some of its most anticipated and divided decisions.

  • July 03, 2025

    Judge Pauses DOJ's Sanctuary City Suit Against Rochester

    A New York federal judge on Thursday agreed to halt the U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuit against the city of Rochester over its sanctuary city policies until the court rules on a request by religious groups to intervene in the case. 

  • July 03, 2025

    Capital Markets Upturn Sets Stage For Second-Half Rebound

    Deals attorneys are approaching the second half of 2025 increasingly confident that capital markets' activity will accelerate despite potential headwinds stemming from higher tariffs, interest rate uncertainties and geopolitical turmoil.

  • July 03, 2025

    The Biggest Rulings From Mass. High Court So Far In 2025

    Massachusetts' top court has tackled a controversial housing initiative, the thorny issue of qualified immunity for public employees and even a high-profile murder case in the first six months of 2025.

  • July 03, 2025

    Mid-Year M&A Deal Flow Suffers Amid Global Instability

    More than six months into a new Donald Trump administration, the mergers and acquisitions boom that many market observers anticipated has failed to materialize. In part one of this two-part M&A review, industry attorneys discussed market activity so far this year, how geopolitical factors are impacting the dealmaking environment, and their outlook for the remainder of 2025.

  • July 03, 2025

    Justices To Probe NJ Transit Cases Over Sovereign Immunity

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to consider whether New Jersey Transit Corp. is entitled to sovereign immunity from private lawsuits, taking an opportunity to smooth out conflicting state court rulings concerning the scope of the public transportation operator's liability for accidents.

  • July 03, 2025

    Justices Clarify Question Underlying Withdrawal Liability Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court clarified the question presented in a case it recently agreed to take up over the methodology for calculating businesses' liability for pulling out of multiemployer pension plans.

  • July 03, 2025

    Supreme Court Takes Up Transgender Sports Bans

    The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Thursday to hear challenges to West Virginia and Idaho laws barring transgender athletes from competing on sports teams consistent with their gender identity, putting yet more anti-trans legislation to the test after upholding Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors this term. 

Expert Analysis

  • Balancing Deep-Sea Mining Executive Order, Int'l Agreements

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    President Donald Trump's recent executive order directing exploration and exploitation of deep-sea mineral resources appears to conflict with the evolving international framework regulating such activities, so companies and investors should proceed with care and keep possible future legal challenges in mind, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • CFTC Memos Clarify When 'Sorry' Still Gets You Subpoenaed

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    A pair of Commodity Futures Trading Commission advisories released in February and April open a new path to self-reporting but emphasize that serious breaches still warrant a trip to the penalty box, prompting firms to weigh whether — and how — to disclose potential violations in the future, say attorneys at Pryor Cashman.

  • Parsing The SEC's New Increased Co-Investment Flexibility

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new co-investment exemptive orders simplify processes and reduce barriers for regulated funds — and rulemaking may evolve further to allow investors access to additional investment opportunities and increase available capital for issuers seeking to raise money from fund complexes, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Cos. Must Assess And Prepare For Cartel-Related FCPA Risks

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    Given the Trump administration’s strong signaling that it will focus on drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations when it resumes Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement, global businesses should refresh their risk assessments and conduct enhanced due diligence to account for these shifting priorities, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • State AGs Shape Regulatory Dynamic In Trump's 1st 100 Days

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    With President Donald Trump's promised rollback of long-standing federal regulations and enforcement actions just beginning, alongside a flurry of executive orders, what state attorneys general do now will influence the complex state-federal regulatory landscape for years to come, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Opinion

    New Hospice Regulations Should Enforce Core Principles

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    As the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General prepares to research and expand on oversight of Medicare hospice care, the OIG should keep in mind certain core principles, such as an emphasis on preventing the entry of hospices that raise red flags, says Bill Dombi at Arnall Golden.

  • AT&T Decision May Establish Framework To Block FCC Fines

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    The Fifth Circuit's recent decision in AT&T v. FCC upends the commission's authority to impose certain civil penalties, reinforcing constitutional safeguards against administrative overreach, and opening avenues for telecommunications and technology providers to challenge forfeiture orders, say attorneys at HWG.

  • Opinion

    Int'l Athletes' Wages Should Be On-Campus Employment

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    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security should recognize participation in college athletics by international student-athletes as on-campus employment to prevent the potentially disastrous ripple effects on teams, schools and their surrounding communities, says Catherine Haight at Haight Law Group.

  • What Banks Should Note As Regulators Plan To Nix CRA Rule

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    While federal bank regulators’ recently announced intent to rescind a Biden-era Community Reinvestment Act final rule will loosen the framework for evaluating banks’ lending, service and investing activities, the decision means industry innovations and changes will remain unaddressed, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • Series

    Playing Guitar Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Being a lawyer not only requires logic and hard work, but also belief, emotion, situational awareness and lots of natural energy — playing guitar enhances all of these qualities, increasing my capacity to do my best work, says Kosta Stojilkovic at Wilkinson Stekloff.

  • Adapting To PTAB's Reembracing Of Discretionary Denials

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    Recent guidance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office marks a swing back toward procedural discretion in Patent Trial and Appeal Board trial institution decisions, bringing unpredictability but also opportunities for drafting petitions, and making and responding to discretionary denial arguments, says Taylor Stemler at Merchant & Gould.

  • Addressing PFAS Risks In Public Company Disclosures

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    As individual lawsuits and class actions over PFAS risks spanning multiple sectors and products increase, and rapidly evolving and often unclear regulatory initiatives on both the federal and state levels proliferate, it's more important than ever for companies to know how and when to complete PFAS-related disclosures, say attorneys at Venable.

  • Crisis Management Lessons From The Parenting Playbook

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    The parenting skills we use to help our kids through challenges — like rehearsing for stressful situations, modeling confidence and taking time to reset our emotions — can also teach us the fundamentals of leading clients through a corporate crisis, say Deborah Solmor at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and Cara Peterman at Alston & Bird.

  • High Court's Ruling May Not Stop Ghost Gun Makers

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    In Bondi v. VanDerStok, a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Gun Control Act applies to untraceable "ghost gun" kits under certain circumstances — but companies that produce these kits may still be able to use creative regulatory workarounds to evade government oversight, says Samuel Bassett at Minton Bassett.

  • CFPB Vacatur Bid Sheds Light On Agency Decision-Making

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    While the CFPB's joint motion to vacate the settlement it reached with Townstone Financial last year won't affect precedent on the Equal Credit Opportunity Act's scope, it serves as a road map to CFPB decisional processes and provides insight into how other regulators make similar decisions, says Jason McElroy at Saul Ewing.

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