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Public Policy
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June 27, 2025
Justices Say Md. Must Allow LGBTQ Storybook Opt-Out
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday that a Maryland school district burdened parents' religious rights when it declined to provide opt-outs from a policy that introduced LGBTQ-themed storybooks into its K-12 English curriculum.
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June 27, 2025
Justices Salvage FCC Subsidy Fees, Reversing 5th Circ.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld the funding mechanism for the Federal Communications Commission's $9 billion Universal Service Fund used to subsidize low-income phone service, rural broadband, and school, library and healthcare telecommunications connectivity.
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June 27, 2025
Justices Back Task Force That Sets ACA Care Requirements
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' secretary had authority over a preventive care task force, rejecting a constitutional challenge to an Affordable Care Act clause that requires health insurers to cover certain treatments at no cost to patients.
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June 27, 2025
Justices Limit Universal Injunctions But Defer On Citizenship
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday that President Donald Trump can partially implement his executive order aimed at limiting birthright citizenship, in a ruling that significantly limits the ability of federal district court judges to issue nationally applicable orders against presidential edicts and policy initiatives.
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June 26, 2025
Trump DOJ Eyes Algorithmic Collusion, Welcomes 'Little Tech'
Tackling algorithmic pricing collusion in the healthcare and housing markets and welcoming pro-competitive mergers of "Little Tech" are among the U.S. Department of Justice's plans for protecting consumers in today's digital markets, the top deputy for the DOJ's antitrust division told privacy professionals on Thursday.
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June 26, 2025
Stewart Clarifies Settled Expectations In Denying Intel IPRs
Leaders at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office discretionarily denied 13 more petitions for inter partes review on Thursday, where the acting director offered more guidance on how she's deciding when a patent owner can rest on settled expectations that its patent wouldn't be challenged.
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June 26, 2025
FTC OKs $1.6B Gas Station Deal, With Divestiture Of 35 Stores
The Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday an agreement resolving antitrust concerns regarding Alimentation Couche-Tard's proposed $1.57 billion acquisition of 270 fuel stations from grocery chain Giant Eagle, requiring the Canadian convenience store company to divest 35 gas stations.
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June 26, 2025
Phillip Morris Moves To Arbitrate Rivals' Tobacco Deal Suit
Philip Morris USA is urging a Washington state judge to force arbitration in a dispute with R.J. Reynolds and other tobacco companies over deals delineating billions of dollars in annual payments owed to states under Big Tobacco's 1998 master settlement agreement.
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June 26, 2025
DHS Releases Grant Funds After Chicago Suit Targets 'Pause'
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has released at least some of the counterterrorism grant fund reimbursements it had recently suspended for Chicago and certain other cities, but Chicago officials say the move isn't enough to end a lawsuit it launched over the allegedly unconstitutional pause.
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June 26, 2025
Ex-NY Gov. Aide Hit With New PPE Fraud Scheme Charges
A federal grand jury Wednesday tacked on charges against a former top aide to two New York governors in a case accusing her of secretly acting as a Chinese government agent, alleging she illegally steered government contracts during the COVID-19 pandemic to businesses she was secretly connected to.
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June 26, 2025
NY Court Suppresses Evidence Due To Cannabis Law Change
A man's guilty plea to possessing cocaine was vacated Thursday after a New York appeals court allowed suppression of evidence gleaned from a police search prompted by a cannabis smell, because the state barred this exact practice days after his indictment.
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June 26, 2025
Calif. FAIR Plan Fire Policy Is Unlawful, Court Rules
Fire insurance offered by California's insurer of last resort does not meet the minimum coverage standards laid out in the state insurance code, a California state court ruled, finding the policy's definition of "direct physical loss" and its smoke damage provision to be unlawfully restrictive.
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June 26, 2025
Judge Questions DOJ's Justification For $820M Grant Cuts
A D.C. federal judge on Thursday expressed frustration with the U.S. Department of Justice's scant explanation for canceling more than $820 million in public safety grants disbursed through the agency's Office of Justice Programs.
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June 26, 2025
NY Looks To Snuff Out Pot Shop's Labor Peace Law Spat
New York cannabis regulators fought a dispensary operator's challenge to a state law making companies sign on to labor peace agreements with unions to have a license, telling a federal judge Thursday that the business can't show harm from the pact because it doesn't have employees.
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June 26, 2025
EPA Illegally Ended Environmental Justice Grants, Groups Say
Environmental groups, a Native American village and other local governments have alleged in a proposed class action in D.C. federal court that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency unlawfully stopped a $3 billion climate grant program created by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
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June 26, 2025
Cable Biz Wants Notice Before FCC Waives Top-4 Rule
The cable industry criticized the Federal Communications Commission's handling of a recent waiver of its rule blocking broadcasters from owning more than one top-four TV station in a single market, telling FCC officials they should ask for the public's views before making any exceptions.
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June 26, 2025
CSBS Issues Money Transmitter Guidance on Virtual Currency
The Conference of State Bank Supervisors on Thursday released advisory guidance on how to consider virtual currency when calculating a licensee's tangible net worth under the Money Transmission Modernization Act, the first set of recommendations to be published under the CSBS board of directors' newly established process for issuing nonbinding, advisory guidance.
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June 26, 2025
Immigrants Tell 1st Circ. DHS Can't Justify Parole Program Ax
A class of nearly 500,000 immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela told the First Circuit on Wednesday that the Trump administration can't show that a Massachusetts federal judge abused her discretion in blocking the government's rescission of temporary Biden-era removal protections.
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June 26, 2025
Ex-Trump Atty Chesebro Disbarred In NY For Fake Elector Plot
President Donald Trump's former attorney Kenneth Chesebro, the so-called "architect" in the plot to use fake electors to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results, has been disbarred from practicing law in the state of New York, according to a unanimous decision issued on Thursday.
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June 26, 2025
Alaska Foster Kids Win Class Status In Child Welfare Suit
An Alaskan federal judge has ruled that foster children as a class can sue the director of the state's Department of Family and Community Services in her official capacity, finding merit in their claims that statewide practices put all kids in custody at serious risk of harm.
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June 26, 2025
Mass. Court Lets Man Try Again To Escape Ankle Monitor
A convicted rapist in Massachusetts who spent nearly 16 years in prison will get a second shot at challenging how long he must wear a GPS monitor now that he's been released, after a state appellate court on Thursday ruled a lower court did not properly weigh his constitutional rights.
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June 26, 2025
Wash. High Court Says State CBAs Are Private Until Funded
The agency that negotiates Washington state employees' union contracts can reject public records requests for bargaining-related documents until the contracts are finalized and funded, the Washington Supreme Court held in an 8-1 vote Thursday, upholding a Washington Court of Appeals decision.
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June 26, 2025
Judge 'Cannot Justify' Ga.'s Social Media Age Limit Law
A federal judge on Thursday declared unconstitutional Georgia's new restrictions on minors' use of social media, halting enforcement of the measures on First Amendment grounds just weeks before they were to take effect.
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June 26, 2025
5th Circ. Revives Biz Records Law, Citing Review Safeguard
The Fifth Circuit on Thursday tossed a permanent injunction blocking a Texas statute requiring businesses to immediately comply with the state's demand to examine business records, saying the Texas Supreme Court recently "harmonized" the law in a way that addresses Spirit AeroSystems Inc.'s constitutional challenge.
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June 26, 2025
FCC Votes To Slash Rules At June Meeting
Most of what the Federal Communications Commission did at its monthly meeting Thursday was vote away rules that it no longer deems useful to keeping the agency and the various telecommunications sectors under its purview running smoothly.
Expert Analysis
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Addressing PFAS Risks In Public Company Disclosures
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.
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Crisis Management Lessons From The Parenting Playbook
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.
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High Court's Ruling May Not Stop Ghost Gun Makers
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.
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CFPB Vacatur Bid Sheds Light On Agency Decision-Making
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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4 Legislative Proposals Reflect Growing Scrutiny Of Pharma IP
Bipartisan legislative momentum in Congress, including a recent package of bills targeting exclusivity strategies that delay generic and biosimilar competition, signals growing scrutiny of life sciences intellectual property strategies, so biologics companies and investors must pay attention to new strategic, compliance and litigation risks, says Olga Berson at Thompson Coburn.
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Wash. Justices' Moonlight Ruling Should Caution Employers
The Washington Supreme Court's recent decision in David v. Freedom Vans, which limited when employers can restrict low-wage workers from moonlighting, underscores the need for employers to narrowly tailor restrictive covenants, ensuring that they are reasonable and allow for workforce mobility, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.
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The Potential Efficiencies, Risks Of Folding PCAOB Into SEC
Integrating the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board into the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission offers the potential for regulatory efficiencies, as well as a more streamlined and consistent enforcement approach, but it also presents constitutional and operational uncertainties, say attorneys at Hilgers Graben.
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What To Watch For As High Court Mulls NRC's Powers
If successful, Texas’ challenges to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s authority — recently heard by the U.S. Supreme Court and currently pending before a Texas federal court — may have serious adverse consequences for aspiring NRC licensees, including potential nuclear power plant operators, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.
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Tips For Companies Crafting Tariff Surcharge Disclosures
As the Trump administration imposes tariffs on imports, retail businesses considering itemizing tariff-related costs separately for consumers must ensure that any disclosures are both accurate and defensible to avoid regulatory enforcement or private suits, says Christopher Cole at Katten.
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Series
Adapting To Private Practice: From NY Fed To BigLaw
While the move to private practice brings a learning curve, it also brings chances to learn new skills and grow your network, requiring a clear understanding of how your skills can complement and contribute to a firm's existing practice, and where you can add new value, says Meghann Donahue at Covington.
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Reviewing Trump Admin's Rapid Pro-Crypto Regulatory Pivot
The digital asset industry has received a boost from the explicitly pro-crypto Trump administration, which in its first few months reversed Biden-era rules and installed industry proponents at regulatory agencies, marking one of the biggest regulatory about-faces by a government in recent memory, says Robert Appleton at Olshan Frome.
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Cos. Face Enviro Justice Tug-Of-War Between States, Feds
The second Trump administration's sweeping elimination of environmental justice policies, programs and funding, and targeting of state-level EJ initiatives, creates difficult questions for companies on how best to avoid friction with federal policy, navigate state compliance obligations and maintain important stakeholder relationships with communities, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
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Top 3 Litigation Finance Deal-Killers, And How To Avoid Them
Like all transactions, litigation finance deals can sometimes collapse, but understanding the most common reasons for failure, including a lack of trust or a misunderstanding of deal terms, can help both parties avoid problems, say Rebecca Berrebi at Avenue 33 and Boris Ziser at Schulte Roth.
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A 2-Step System For Choosing A Digital Asset Reporting Path
Under the Internal Revenue Service's new digital asset reporting regulation, each type of asset may have three potential reporting destinations, so a detailed testing framework can help to determine the appropriate path, says Keval Sonecha at Sonecha & Amlani.
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NEPA Repeal Could Slow Down Environmental Review
As the Trump administration has rescinded the Council on Environmental Quality's long-standing National Environmental Policy Act regulations, projects that require NEPA review may be bogged down by significant regulatory uncertainty and litigation risks, potentially undermining the administration's intent to streamline the permitting process, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.