Public Policy

  • January 08, 2026

    Organ Procurer Says CMS Rule Will Toss Industry Into Chaos

    A North Carolina-based organ procurement organization wants a federal court to toss aside a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rule taking effect this year that will alter how organ procurers are certified, arguing the rule pits them against one another in a "Hunger-Games-style" competition.

  • January 08, 2026

    4 Executive Pay Trends Attorneys Will Be Watching In 2026

    A potentially sweeping overhaul simplifying the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's disclosure regime for public company executive compensation will be top of mind for executive pay practitioners as they look for new developments in the coming year. Here's a look at this and three other areas they'll be keeping an eye on.

  • January 08, 2026

    Miami Dade College Seeks Judge DQ In Trump Library Case

    Miami Dade College said a Florida state judge should be disqualified from presiding over a dispute concerning its transfer of land to the state for the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library, arguing that the judge thanked and hugged the retired Florida International University professor challenging the transfer and discussed facts that weren't in court documents.

  • January 08, 2026

    La. Judge Is Senate's 1st Judicial Confirmation Of 2026

    The Senate voted 53-40 on Thursday to confirm former acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook to be a district judge in the Western District of Louisiana.

  • January 08, 2026

    EPA's Water Rule Dispute Paused Amid Legal Uncertainty

    A North Dakota federal judge is holding in abeyance seven states' challenge to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rule revision that considers tribal rights in addressing water quality standards until the agency determines if it wants to defend the final law or start a new rulemaking process.

  • January 08, 2026

    Sen. Ag Committee To Hold Crypto Markup Next Week

    The Senate Agriculture Committee intends to hold its own markup of a bill to regulate crypto markets the same day as its Banking Committee counterparts, a spokesperson confirmed Thursday.

  • January 08, 2026

    Trump Admin Says Climate Grant Class Suit Is Moot

    The Trump administration has told the D.C. Circuit that a proposed class action accusing it of illegally terminating a $3 billion environmental justice block grant program is moot because Congress has rescinded the funds that green groups and local governments are seeking to recover.

  • January 08, 2026

    Audits Get Final Word On Economic Substance, IRS Atty Says

    IRS attorneys provide legal guidance during audits on whether a transaction lacks economic substance, but examiners make the ultimate determination, an agency associate chief counsel said Thursday while explaining how the agency applies a powerful anti-abuse tool in audits.

  • January 08, 2026

    Trump Seeks $6.2M In Legal Fees In Ga. Election Case

    President Donald Trump asked a state judge Wednesday to award him more than $6.2 million in legal fees from his Georgia election interference case, invoking a recent state law allowing defendants to recoup their expenses from public coffers if their prosecutors are disqualified for misconduct.

  • January 08, 2026

    Trump Admin Can't Undo Block On Drug Rebate Program

    A First Circuit panel has refused to lift a district judge's block on a Trump administration plan to pilot a rebate model for a federal drug discount program that benefits low-income patients, saying the federal government is unlikely to win its appeal.

  • January 08, 2026

    Legal Services Atty Named Top NYC Human Rights Enforcer

    New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has tapped a lawyer from a group that provides free legal services to low-income clients to spearhead the city's human rights enforcement body.

  • January 08, 2026

    IRS Floats Changes To Third-Party Settlement Payments

    The Internal Revenue Service floated changes Thursday to withholding rules for organizations such as PayPal and Venmo that make payments to settle third-party network transactions, saying the move would align regulations with an increase to the threshold for tax reporting.

  • January 08, 2026

    US Atty In NY Northern District Serving Unlawfully, Judge Says

    A Manhattan federal judge on Thursday held that the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York is unlawfully serving in his position, the latest in a string of rulings disqualifying prosecutors appointed by President Donald Trump.

  • January 07, 2026

    Trump Bars 'Underperforming' Defense Contractors' Buybacks

    President Donald Trump said Wednesday that defense contractors are barred from buying back their own stocks or paying shareholder dividends if they are underperforming on their U.S. government contracts, ordering a review and potential "remediation plan" for contractors found slacking.

  • January 07, 2026

    Bulk Of SDNY Attys Are Tasked With Reviewing Epstein Docs

    Over half of the more than 220 assistant U.S. attorneys at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York have been tasked with sifting through documents related to the investigation of the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to a Justice Department disclosure filed in federal court.

  • January 07, 2026

    10th Circ. Halts Kan. Bank's $20M FDIC Appeal For Settlement

    The Tenth Circuit will hold off on hearing a small Kansas bank's push to challenge a $20 million anti-money laundering enforcement proceeding from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. after the two sides said Wednesday that they have reached a settlement.

  • January 07, 2026

    House Talks Market Share Regarding Netflix-WB Merger

    Rapid consolidation in the streaming market was on the minds of members of the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on antitrust when they met Wednesday, with Democrats questioning if competition was being threatened and if the president was exerting too much influence on merger reviews.

  • January 07, 2026

    Trump Exits Climate Pact, UN Orgs. He Says 'Conflict' With US

    President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he is withdrawing the United States from a decades-old international agreement that brings the world's countries together to take action against climate change, as well as 65 other international organizations and treaties that are "contrary to the interests" of the U.S.

  • January 07, 2026

    DOJ To Appeal Reinstatement Of Clearance For Mark Zaid

    The Trump administration told a D.C. federal judge on Wednesday that it will obey his injunction to reinstate attorney Mark Zaid's security clearance as it appeals the ruling in the D.C. Circuit, but left open the possibility that government intelligence agencies could try to revoke it again for new reasons.

  • January 07, 2026

    Trump Family-Tied Stablecoin Co. Seeks Bank Charter

    The Trump family-tied crypto company World Liberty Financial said Wednesday that it's filed an application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to become a national trust bank as it looks to expand its stablecoin business, drawing the ire of one lawmaker, who called the application a conflict of interest.

  • January 07, 2026

    2 European Fintechs Seek OCC Bank Charters

    Two European fintechs are seeking sign-offs from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to set up U.S. banks, including a firm planning to issue its own stablecoin.

  • January 07, 2026

    Mich. Again Falls Short In Bid To Ax Challenge To 24% Pot Tax

    A Michigan federal judge is standing firm in her decision to allow industry members to proceed with a portion of their challenge to the state's excise tax on wholesale marijuana sales, finding that the state hasn't identified a "palpable error" that would justify disposing of the sole remaining dispute over the law's intent. 

  • January 07, 2026

    Mich. AG Says State Lawmakers Can't Ax $645M In Spending

    Michigan's attorney general said a state House committee acted unlawfully when it blocked $645 million in previously approved funds from rolling over to the next fiscal year, issuing a formal opinion Wednesday deeming the move unconstitutional.

  • January 07, 2026

    Feds Cut $160M From Calif. Over Truck Driver Licenses

    The U.S. Department of Transportation said Wednesday that California will lose out on nearly $160 million in federal highway funds for failing to revoke thousands of commercial driver's licenses that were issued to ineligible foreign drivers, as the Trump administration cracks down on immigrant truck drivers.

  • January 07, 2026

    ISS Asks Judge Not To Stall Ruling On Texas ESG Law

    Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. is pushing back on Texas' request to delay a ruling on the constitutionality of a law requiring proxy advisory firms to disclose when voting recommendations are based on environmental, social or governance factors, arguing that the state hasn't shown how additional discovery "will make any difference" to the case.

Expert Analysis

  • What To Watch As NY LLC Transparency Act Is Stuck In Limbo

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    Just about a month before it's set to take effect, the status of the New York LLC Transparency Act remains murky because of a pending amendment and the lack of recent regulatory attention in New York, but business owners should at least prepare for the possibility of having to comply, says Jonathan Wilson at Buchalter.

  • 1st Trial After FCPA Pause Offers Clues On DOJ Priorities

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    After surviving a government review of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement, the U.S. v. Zaglin case reveals the U.S. Department of Justice still appears willing to prosecute individuals for conduct broadly consistent with classic priorities, despite the agency's new emphasis on foreign policy priorities, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Opinion

    Despite Deputy AG Remarks, DOJ Can't Sideline DC Bar

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    Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s recent suggestion that the D.C. Bar would be prevented from reviewing misconduct complaints about U.S. Department of Justice attorneys runs contrary to federal statutes, local rules and decades of case law, and sends the troubling message that federal prosecutors are subject to different rules, say attorneys at HWG.

  • Unique Aspects Of Texas' Approach To AI Regulation

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    The Texas Responsible AI Governance Act — which will soon be the sole comprehensive artificial intelligence law in the U.S. — pulls threads from EU and Colorado laws but introduces more targeted rules with fewer obligations on commercial entities, say attorneys at MVA Law.

  • Wells Process Reforms Serve SEC Chair's Transparency Goals

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    Enforcement policy changes U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins recently set forth will help fulfill his stated goal of making Division of Enforcement investigations more fair and transparent by changing the Wells process to provide recipients earlier consultations with SEC staff, greater evidence access and more time to file responses, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Contradictory Rulings Show Complexity Of Swaps Regulation

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    Recent divergent rulings, including two by the same Nevada judge, on whether the Commodity Exchange Act preempts state gambling laws when applied to event contracts traded on U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission-regulated markets illustrate the uncertainty regarding the legality of prediction markets, say attorneys at Akin.

  • How New Law Transforms Large-Load Power Projects In Texas

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    S.B. 6 — the new Texas law that revises state regulations for large electrical loads and related behind-the-meter projects — introduces higher up-front costs for developers and more flexible operating models for large-load customers, but should provide the certainty needed for greater investment in generation, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • How Cos. Should Prepare For Prop 65 Listing Of Bisphenols

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    California regulators are moving toward classifying all p,p'-bisphenol chemicals as causing reproductive toxicity under Proposition 65, which could require warning notices for a vast range of consumer and industrial products, and open the floodgates to private litigation — so companies should proactively review their suppy chains, says Gregory Berlin at Alston & Bird.

  • 8th Circ. Decision Shipwrecks IRS On Shoals Of Loper Bright

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    The Eighth Circuit’s recent decision invalidating transfer pricing regulations in 3M Co. v. Commissioner may be the most significant tax case implementing Loper Bright's rejection of agency deference as a judicial tool in statutory construction, says Edward Froelich at McDermott.

  • Rule Amendments Pave Path For A Privilege Claim 'Offensive'

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    Litigators should consider leveraging forthcoming amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which will require early negotiations of privilege-related discovery claims, by taking an offensive posture toward privilege logs at the outset of discovery, says David Ben-Meir at Ben-Meir Law.

  • Series

    My Miniature Livestock Farm Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Raising miniature livestock on my farm, where I am fully present with the animals, is an almost meditative time that allows me to return to work invigorated, ready to juggle numerous responsibilities and motivated to tackle hard issues in new ways, says Ted Kobus at BakerHostetler.

  • When Mortgage Data Can't Prove Discriminatory Lending

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    As plaintiffs continue to use Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data as grounds for class actions, attorneys must consider the limits of a statistics-only approach and the need for manual loan file review to confirm indications of potential discriminatory lending, say Abe Chernin, Shane Oka and Kevin Oswald at Cornerstone Research.

  • Justices' Ruling Will Ease Foreign Arbitral Award Enforcement

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization suggests that U.S. courts can constitutionally decide whether to recognize and enforce foreign arbitral awards in accordance with U.S. treaty obligations, regardless of the award debtor's connections to the U.S., says David Cinotti at Pashman Stein.

  • Surveying The Healthcare Policy Landscape Post-Shutdown

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    With last week's agreement to reopen the federal government, at least through the end of January, key healthcare legislation that has been in limbo since a December 2024 spending bill fell apart may recapture the attention of Congress, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • FDA Biosimilar Guidance Should Ease Biologics Development

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    New draft guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, indicating that the agency may no longer routinely require comparative efficacy studies when other evidence provides sufficient assurance of biosimilarity, underscores the FDA's trust in analytical technology as a driver of biologics access, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

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