Public Policy

  • August 14, 2025

    Trump Picks Ex-Scalia, Kavanaugh Clerk For 7th Circ.

    President Donald Trump announced on Thursday evening he would be nominating Rebecca Taibleson, an assistant U.S. attorney in Wisconsin, to the Seventh Circuit.

  • August 14, 2025

    Trump's Brazil Tariffs Raise Questions About Legal Limits

    Higher tariffs imposed last week on Brazilian imports may prove especially vulnerable to legal challenges, but stakeholders expect the U.S.-Brazil trading relationship to nevertheless remain in limbo for the immediate future.

  • August 14, 2025

    Bid To Block Alabama's Anti-DEI Law Rejected

    An Alabama federal judge has rejected a bid to block a state law banning certain diversity, equity and inclusion-related activities at state schools and college campuses, finding the Alabama NAACP and the students and professors who filed suit didn't show that the law is unconstitutionally vague.

  • August 14, 2025

    Calif. Justices Say No Arb. For Nursing Home Death Claim

    The California Supreme Court on Thursday reversed a decision sending to arbitration a wrongful death claim by parents who allege their son was neglected at the 24-hour skilled nursing facility he was admitted to.

  • August 14, 2025

    SpaceX Calls Va. Broadband Funding Plan 'Wasteful'

    SpaceX criticized Virginia over its spending plan for the $1.48 billion in broadband funding it's set to receive from the BEAD program, saying the state "has put its heavy thumb on the scale in favor of expensive, slow-to-build fiber bias" over satellite.

  • August 14, 2025

    Red States Back Feds' Push To End Trump Energy Orders Suit

    Republican-led states on Thursday threw their support behind the federal government's bid to dismiss a lawsuit by youths alleging that President Donald Trump's energy policy directives harm their future by exacerbating climate change, saying there are no grounds to sustain the suit.

  • August 14, 2025

    AGs Urge Meta To 'Prioritize Safety' With Location Feature

    A bipartisan coalition of more than three dozen state attorneys general is calling on Meta Platforms Inc. to strengthen the privacy and security safeguards for a new location tracking feature that recently debuted on Instagram, arguing that the social media giant has a duty "to prioritize user safety over product novelty."

  • August 14, 2025

    Okla. City Fights Creek Nation Over Tribal Court Authority

    An Oklahoma city is looking to dismiss a challenge by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation that looks to block the municipality from prosecuting Native Americans for crimes committed on tribal lands, arguing that a 2022 Supreme Court ruling gives it concurrent jurisdiction with the federally recognized tribe.

  • August 14, 2025

    PTAB Petitions To Get More Scrutiny Under New Policy

    A new Patent Trial and Appeal Board policy limiting the ability of the challengers to argue that "general knowledge" indicates that a patent is invalid will heighten scrutiny of petitions and could lead to more of them being denied if they don't comply with the rule, attorneys say.

  • August 14, 2025

    Wyden, Warren Ask Lutnick's Son About Firm's Tariff Bets

    Senate Democratic ranking members sent a letter published Thursday to Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. CEO Brandon Lutnick raising concerns about potential insider trading and conflicts of interest associated with a financial product hedging the legality of tariffs that his father, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, has been involved in.

  • August 14, 2025

    11th Circ. Looks For Immunity Line In $40M Taser Case

    An Eleventh Circuit panel appeared conflicted Thursday over whether to toss a $40 million verdict against the city of Atlanta and a cop who left a man a quadriplegic after shocking him with a Taser over suspicions of panhandling, struggling with whether the officer should have foreseen the injuries he caused.

  • August 14, 2025

    Mich. Mayor Gets 2 Years For $100K Bribery Scheme

    A federal judge sentenced a Detroit suburb's former mayor to two years in prison Thursday after he admitted to accepting bribes in exchange for a promise to secure a land deal.

  • August 14, 2025

    20 States Win Injunction Against ICE's Use Of Medicaid Data

    A California federal judge has blocked the federal government from using Medicaid information from 20 states for immigration enforcement purposes, marking a partial victory for the coalition of states challenging a new data-sharing arrangement between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security.   

  • August 14, 2025

    FCC Member Sees Special Authority As Key To Defense Tech

    The Federal Communications Commission could increasingly use its legal authority to temporarily authorize radio licenses as a way to test new wireless networks that bolster national security, an agency member said.

  • August 14, 2025

    5th Circ. Tosses Challenge To Texas Gas Terminal Permit

    The Fifth Circuit has dismissed an environmental group's petition challenging a permit issued by Texas regulators for a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal, finding that a previous permit for another project, which stipulated a lower emissions rate, has no bearing on the permit at issue here.

  • August 14, 2025

    US Targets Russia-Linked Crypto Exchanges Over Illicit Flows

    The Trump administration on Thursday renewed sanctions on Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex and moved against its successor, Grinex, accusing the platforms of helping launder illicit transactions and shifting business to dodge earlier penalties.

  • August 14, 2025

    HHS Relaunches Childhood Vaccine Panel After Lawsuit

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said on Thursday it is restarting a 1980s-era childhood vaccine task force that aims to improve safety and oversight, months after an anti-vaccine group previously headed by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sued the agency to reinstate the panel. 

  • August 14, 2025

    Minn. Telecom Officials Decry Push For Fed Preemption

    Minnesota's telecommunications regulators have told the Federal Communications Commission that local officials are tired of being punching bags for industry groups looking to speed up broadband infrastructure deployment, saying the industry's push for federal rules overriding local authority have been based on "unsubstantiated or vague" attacks on local guidelines.

  • August 14, 2025

    Mich. Panel Greenlights 911 Dispatcher's Whistleblower Suit

    A Michigan appellate panel said Wednesday that a former 911 operator may be protected by a whistleblower law for criticizing a supervisor's handling of a 911 call, clearing the way for his lawsuit to move forward.

  • August 14, 2025

    FCC Urged To Tackle Health, Enviro Impacts From Cellphones

    An environmental group called on the Federal Communications Commission to address what it sees as the agency's failure to meet a D.C. Circuit order from four years ago to back up the reasoning for its radiofrequency exposure limits.

  • August 14, 2025

    Rutgers Escapes Suit Over Visitor's Halloween Night Assault

    A lawsuit against Rutgers University brought by a guest who was assaulted by an undergraduate on a night of Halloween partying in 2017 was dismissed by a New Jersey state judge who ruled that the institution had no obligation to protect the visitor.

  • August 14, 2025

    Fla. Bar Fights Demand For Bondi Ethics Probe

    The Florida Bar has again pushed back on a request to investigate U.S. Attorney Pam Bondi for alleged unethical conduct, telling the Supreme Court of Florida that a group of complainants can't bulldoze past its policy of not investigating sitting government officials.

  • August 14, 2025

    AP Says DOJ Can't Turn Info Sharing Into Views Suppression

    The Associated Press, The Washington Post, Reuters and the BBC hit back Wednesday on Justice Department efforts to back a lawsuit from the anti-vaccine group once tied to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., alleging they colluded with social media platforms to censor rivals.

  • August 14, 2025

    Senate Democrats Urge 'Robust' Funding For US Defenders

    Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday implored congressional appropriators to ensure that the federal public defender program has adequate funding for fiscal year 2026 after budget shortfalls. 

  • August 14, 2025

    US Says It Can't Be Sued Over NM Burns Linked To Wildfire

    The U.S. government is looking to dismiss a challenge to a prescribed burn plan that a tribe, electric cooperatives and several property owners claim led to the destruction of nearly 46,000 acres in New Mexico's Jemez Mountains, saying the decision is barred under the Federal Tort Claims Act.

Expert Analysis

  • How Trump Admin Treasury Policies Are Reaching Banks

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    The Treasury Department has emerged as an important facilitator of the Trump administration's financial policies affecting banks, which are now facing deregulation domestically and the use of international economic authorities in cross-border trade and investment, say attorneys at Davis Polk.

  • Series

    My Opera And Baseball Careers Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Though participating in opera and the world of professional baseball often pulls me away from the office, my avocations improve my legal career by helping me perform under scrutiny, prioritize team success, and maintain joy and perspective at work, says Adam Unger at Herrick Feinstein.

  • FTC Focus: Enforcers Study AI Innovation And Entrenchment

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    The Federal Trade Commission and other regulators setting their sights on the burgeoning artificial intelligence ecosystem are considering how the government should approach innovation in tech markets that tend, almost inevitably, toward concentration, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • High Court ACA Ruling May Harm Preventative Care

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Kennedy v. Braidwood last week, ruling that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary has authority over an Affordable Care Act preventive care task force, risks harming the credibility of the task force and could open the door to politicians dictating clinical recommendations, says Michael Kolber at Manatt.

  • Policy Shifts Bring New Anti-Money Laundering Challenges

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    In the second half of 2025, the U.S. anti-money laundering regulatory landscape is poised for decisive shifts in enforcement priorities, compliance expectations and legislative developments — so investment advisers and other financial institutions should take steps to prepare for potential new obligations and areas of risk, say attorneys at Linklaters.

  • 8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work

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    Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.

  • Kousisis Concurrence Maps FCA Defense To Anti-DEI Suits

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    Justice Clarence Thomas' recent concurrence in Kousisis v. U.S. lays out how federal funding recipients could use the high standard for materiality in government fraud cases to fight the U.S. Justice Department’s threatened False Claims Act suits against payees deviating from the administration’s anti-DEI policies, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.

  • Despite Dark Clouds, Outlook For US Solar Has Bright Spots

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    While tariff, tax policy and bankruptcy news seemingly portends unending challenges for the U.S. solar energy industry, signs of continued growth in solar generating capacity and domestic solar manufacturing suggest that there is a path forward, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • Assessing New Changes To Texas Officer Exculpation Law

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    Consistent with Texas' recent modernization of its corporate law, the recently passed S.B. 2411 allows officer exculpation, streamlines certificate of formation amendments, authorizes representatives to act on shareholders' behalf in mergers and makes other changes aimed toward companies seeking a more codified, statutory model of corporate governance, say attorneys at Bracewell.

  • How Ending OFCCP Will Affect Affirmative Action Obligations

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    As President Donald Trump's administration plans to eliminate the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, which enforces federal contractor antidiscrimination compliance and affirmative action program obligations, contractors should consider the best compliance approaches available to them, especially given the False Claims Act implications, say attorneys at Ogletree.

  • Rising Enforcement Stakes For Pharma Telehealth Platforms

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    Two pieces of legislation recently introduced in Congress could transform the structure and promotion of telehealth arrangements as legislators increasingly scrutinize direct-to-consumer advertising platforms, potentially paving the way for a new U.S. Food and Drug Administration policy with bipartisan support, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients

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    Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.

  • One Year On, Davidson Holds Lessons On 'Health Halo' Claims

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    A year after the Ninth Circuit's Davidson v. Sprout Foods decision — which raised the bar for so-called health halo claims — food and beverage companies can draw insights from its finding, subsequently expanded on by other courts, that plaintiffs must be specific when alleging fraud in healthfulness marketing, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Justices' NRC Ruling Raises New Regulatory Questions

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    In Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court avoided ruling on the NRC's authority to license private, temporary nuclear waste storage facilities — and this failure to reach the merits question creates new regulatory uncertainty where none had existed for decades, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • 3 Judicial Approaches To Applying Loper Bright, 1 Year Later

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    In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in its Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, a few patterns have emerged in lower courts’ application of the precedent to determine whether agency actions are lawful, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

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