Public Policy

  • January 15, 2026

    Nvidia Sued In Del. For US 'Tax' On Chip Deal With China

    Alleging possible company conflicts of interest and unlawful agreements involving the White House and Commerce Department, two NVIDIA Corp. stockholders sued the company late Wednesday for records involving company agreements to pay the U.S. Department of Commerce percentages of high-end graphics processing chip sales to buyers in China.

  • January 15, 2026

    EU Should Use Tax Transparency For Public Bids, Report Says

    The European Union should require large companies to submit country-by-country tax reports to authorities when bidding for public contracts, a tax transparency group and EU public-sector union said ahead of the bloc revising its public procurement laws.

  • January 15, 2026

    Colo. Bill Would Allow Taxes On Vacant Residential Property

    Colorado would authorize local governments to impose taxes on vacant residential properties under a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives.

  • January 15, 2026

    Utah Urges Decision In Fight With Tribe Over Split Estate Lands

    The state of Utah and three of its counties are asking a federal district court to declare that split estate lands within the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation are not Indian Country for the purpose of determining criminal and civil jurisdiction, arguing that appellate and Supreme Court precedent settles the dispute.

  • January 15, 2026

    NJ Requires Update Of Requirements For Ag Land Taxation

    New Jersey will require a state committee to periodically adjust gross sales and income requirements for land to be deemed devoted to agricultural and horticultural use for assessment and tax purposes under a bill signed by Gov. Phil Murphy.

  • January 15, 2026

    Ga. Election Board Disputes $435K Cost For County Records

    Georgia's State Election Board has challenged the estimated $435,000 that Fulton County's elections director said it would have to pay to obtain the county's 2020 presidential election records.

  • January 15, 2026

    RJ Reynolds Asks ITC To Probe Vape Restriction Violations

    R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. is pushing the U.S. International Trade Commission to open an investigation into China-based competitors' alleged skirting of vape restrictions in order to illicitly grow their market share.

  • January 15, 2026

    Civil Rights Groups Fight Relaxed Media Ownership Regs

    Groups representing Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders urged the Federal Communications Commission not to allow media companies to further expand their ownership of local broadcasters, citing the need to protect viewpoint diversity and consumers.

  • January 15, 2026

    Calif. Justices Order Prosecutors To Explain Alleged AI Errors

    The California Supreme Court has ordered Nevada County prosecutors to explain to a lower court why they shouldn't be sanctioned for "apparent serial submission" of artificial intelligence-generated briefs with nonexistent legal citations in multiple criminal proceedings.

  • January 15, 2026

    IT Worker Fired For Flagging Pantsless Mayor Video, Suit Says

    A former town employee in North Carolina was fired after reporting security footage of the mayor walking around pantsless in town hall afterhours with a female consultant, according to a federal lawsuit claiming he was retaliated against and wrongfully discharged.

  • January 15, 2026

    Georgia Governor Pitches Income Tax Rate Cut, Rebates

    Georgia would cut its corporate and personal income tax rate and provide $1 billion in rebates for taxpayers under a plan pitched Thursday by Gov. Brian Kemp.

  • January 15, 2026

    Trump US Atty Pick In NM Bumped To First Assistant

    A New Mexico federal judge has ruled the Trump-appointed interim U.S. Attorney for New Mexico is not validly serving in the role but declined to disqualify the prosecutor from a slate of cases pending in the district, instead determining the lawyer may continue to work in the federal prosecutor's office as first assistant.

  • January 15, 2026

    Murphy's Legacy: Tackling Some Of NJ's 'Intractable' Issues

    When New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy took office, he had his pick of policy challenges that had plagued the Garden State for years. The state's pension fund had been underfunded for decades, municipalities had been locked in litigation over their affordable housing obligations, and the state's public transit system needed a major overhaul.

  • January 15, 2026

    5th Circ. Rejects Challenge To Texas LNG Construction Delay

    The Fifth Circuit greenlighted work on a liquefied natural gas terminal in the Port of Brownsville, Texas, saying state regulators followed the correct rule when granting a third construction deadline extension for the project.

  • January 15, 2026

    China, Germany Seek To Avoid Double Tax In UN Tax Treaty

    China and Germany want to insert a pledge on avoiding double taxation within the main body of the United Nations framework convention on international tax cooperation, according to letters released by the U.N. 

  • January 15, 2026

    Conn. Gov. Mandates Fast License Process Or Money Back

    Connecticut's governor on Thursday signed an executive order that mandates fee refunds to businesses and residents whose state license, certification or permit applications are not processed in a timely manner.

  • January 15, 2026

    Sheep Grazing Won't Make Solar Farm Agriculture, Court Says

    A proposed 25-acre solar facility can't be built in a Lancaster County agricultural zone because the planned inclusion of sheep grazing among the panels did not transform the whole project into a farm, a Pennsylvania appellate panel ruled Thursday.

  • January 15, 2026

    6th Circ. Rejects Kentucky Mom's Bid For Copyrighted Survey

    A Kentucky mother cannot rely on copyright's fair use doctrine to obtain a copy of a student mental-health survey because her dispute with the school district arises under the state's open records law, a panel of the Sixth Circuit has concluded.

  • January 15, 2026

    Sens. Advance Indiana Judge Nominee Grilled Over Sermons

    A federal judicial nominee for Indiana who came under scrutiny by a Republican senator for his past sermons as an ordained elder was voted out of committee Thursday alongside five other judicial nominees.

  • January 15, 2026

    Pot Shops Say NY Denied Licenses Due To Outdated Rule

    A pair of New York dispensaries are suing state cannabis regulators, saying officials wrongly denied their applications for additional licenses using a now-outdated bit of guidance that had prevented applicants from receiving multiple licenses for a time.

  • January 15, 2026

    NY Bill Criminalizes Unlicensed Cryptocurrency Businesses

    Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York State Sen. Zellnor Myrie on Thursday announced a proposed law to criminalize operating a cryptocurrency business without a license, saying crypto has become an "ideal vehicle for money laundering."

  • January 15, 2026

    House OKs Restricting ESG Investment In 401(k) Plans

    The U.S. House of Representatives greenlighted a bill Thursday that would restrict how retirement plan managers can consider environmental, social and governance issues when picking investments, codifying a 2020 U.S. Department of Labor rule requiring a sole focus on financial risk factors.

  • January 14, 2026

    Split Panel Won't Block Calif.'s New Congressional Map

    A split panel of federal judges on Wednesday refused to preliminarily block California's new, voter-approved congressional districts, ruling that the state's Republican Party and the Trump administration "failed to show that racial gerrymandering occurred."

  • January 14, 2026

    DHS Can Axe '11th Hour' Venezuelan Protections, 9th Circ. Told

    The Trump administration urged the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday to vacate its summary judgment loss so that the government can continue to unwind temporary protected status for 600,000 Venezuelans, arguing that U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had the authority to terminate the Biden administration's "eleventh hour" protections.

  • January 14, 2026

    Vox Media Sues Google, Adding To Ad Tech Antitrust Suits

    Google was hit Wednesday with yet another antitrust lawsuit over its ad tech, this time by Vox Media, which alleged in Manhattan federal court that the tech giant is unlawfully monopolizing the publisher ad server and ad exchange markets.

Expert Analysis

  • 6 Issues That May Follow The 340B Rebate Pilot Challenge

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    Though the Health Resources and Services Administration withdrew a pending case to reconsider the controversial 340B rebate pilot program, a number of crucial considerations remain, including the likelihood of a rework and questions about what that rework might look like, say attorneys at Spencer Fane.

  • Wis. Sanctions Order May Shake Up Securities Class Actions

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    A Wisconsin federal court’s recent decision to impose sanctions on a plaintiffs law firm for filing a frivolous Private Securities Litigation Reform Act complaint in Toft v. Harbor Diversified may cause both plaintiffs and defendants law firms to reconsider certain customary practices in securities class actions, says Jonathan Richman at Brown Rudnick.

  • 5 E-Discovery Predictions For 2026 And Beyond

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    2026 will likely be shaped by issues ranging from artificial intelligence regulatory turbulence to potential evidence rule changes, and e-discovery professionals will need to understand how to effectively guide the responsible and defensible adoption of emerging tools, while also ensuring effective safeguards, say attorneys at Littler.

  • Reinventing Bank Risk Mgmt. After 2025's Cartel Crackdown

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    The Trump administration's 2025 designation of certain transnational drug cartels as terrorists means that banks must adapt to a narrowing margin of error in their customer screening and transaction assessments by treating financial crime prevention as a continuous and cross-enterprise concern with national security implications, says Jack Harrington at Bradley Arant.

  • How Developers Can Harness New Texas Zoning Framework

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    A Texas law introducing a new zoning framework has the potential to unlock meaningful multifamily development opportunities, but developers and their project teams should follow four steps to help identify how affected cities are interpreting and implementing the new law, says Angela Hunt at Munsch Hardt.

  • Where States Jumped In When SEC Stepped Back In 2025

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    The state regulators that picked up the slack when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission scaled back enforcement last year should not be underestimated as they continue to aggressively police areas where the SEC has lost interest and probe industries where SEC leadership has actively declined to intervene, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • 2026 Enforcement Trends To Expect In Maritime And Int'l Trade

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    The maritime and international trade community should expect U.S. federal enforcement to ramp up in 2026, particularly via Office of Foreign Asset Control shipping sanctions, accelerating interagency investigations of trade fraud, and U.S. Coast Guard narcotics and pollution inspections, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • 2026 State AI Bills That Could Expand Liability, Insurance Risk

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    State bills legislating artificial intelligence that are expected to pass in 2026 will reshape the liability landscape for all companies incorporating AI solutions into their business operations, as any novel private rights of action authorized under AI-related statutes signal expanding exposures, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • Streamlining Product Liability MDLs With AI And Rule 16.1

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    With newly effective Rule 16.1 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure providing enhanced guidance on multidistrict litigation and the sophistication of artificial intelligence continuing to advance, parties have the opportunity to better confront the significant data challenges presented by product liability MDLs, say attorneys at Hollingsworth.

  • USCIS Asylum Pause Could Drive Federal Mandamus Filings

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    U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' recent freeze on asylum applications is likely to accelerate Administrative Procedure Act unreasonable delay and writ of mandamus filings, making it important for practitioners handling such cases to familiarize themselves with the mandamus framework and evidentiary standards, says Kemal Hepsen at Mandamus Lawyers.

  • SEC Virtu Deal Previews Risks Of Nonpublic Info In AI Models

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent settlement with Virtu Financial Inc. over alleged failures to safeguard customer data raises broader questions about how traditional enforcement frameworks may apply when material nonpublic information is embedded into artificial intelligence trading systems, says Braeden Anderson at Gesmer Updegrove.

  • How Mamdani Will Shift NYC Employment Law Enforcement

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    Under Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the New York City labor law regime is poised to become more coordinated, less forgiving and more willing to test gray areas in favor of workers, with wage and hour practices, pay equity and contractor relationships among likely areas of enforcement focus, says Scott Green at Goldberg Segalla.

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Courts Can Boost Access To Justice

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    Arizona Court of Appeals Judge Samuel A. Thumma writes that generative artificial intelligence tools offer a profound opportunity to enhance access to justice and engender public confidence in courts’ use of technology, and judges can seize this opportunity in five key ways.

  • Opinion

    DHS' Parole Termination Violates APA And Due Process

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    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s abrupt termination of family reunification parole programs violates both the Administrative Procedure Act and the due process rights of vetted beneficiaries who relied on the government's explicit invitation to wait in the U.S. for an immigrant visa to become available, says Abdoul Konare at Konare Law.

  • 2025's Most Notable State AG Activity By The Numbers

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    State attorneys general were active in 2025, working across party lines to address federal regulatory gaps in artificial intelligence, take action on consumer protection issues, continue antitrust enforcement and announce large settlements on behalf of their citizens, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

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