Public Policy

  • January 13, 2026

    San Antonio Slams Tribal Church Rehearing Bid In 5th Circ.

    San Antonio is fighting an attempt by two Native American church members to win a Fifth Circuit rehearing in a case over plans to restore a municipal park, saying a panel of the appeals court broke no new ground in its December opinion that would merit another look.

  • January 13, 2026

    Expert Says Fla. Electoral Maps Are Racially Designed

    An expert witness in a trial over claims that Florida's electoral maps are racially gerrymandered told a three-judge district court panel Tuesday that she found a uniform concentration of Hispanic voters across three congressional districts that was not explained by regional demographics.

  • January 13, 2026

    SEC's Atkins Launches Review Of Corporate Disclosures Reg

    U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins said Tuesday he has directed the Division of Corporation Finance to review the agency's broad regulation covering what qualitative information public companies should disclose in regulatory filings.

  • January 13, 2026

    No Jury Yet In Goldstein Trial, But Celeb Witnesses Possible

    Day two of jury selection in Tom Goldstein's tax and mortgage fraud case wrapped without a jury being seated Tuesday, but did reveal that the government could call celebrities Tobey Maguire and Kevin Hart to the stand.

  • January 13, 2026

    Starbucks Misled Patrons On Coffee Supplier Ethics, Suit Says

    Two consumers are targeting Starbucks for touting "100% Ethical Coffee Sourcing" on product labels despite reports of forced labor and other human rights violations on supplying farms around the world, according to a proposed class action launched in Washington state federal court Tuesday.

  • January 13, 2026

    Fla. AG Sues Nat'l Org. Over Trans Swimmer Policy

    Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued U.S. Masters Swimming on Tuesday, accusing the organization of violating Florida law by allowing transgender women to compete with cisgender women in swim meets.

  • January 13, 2026

    Trump Codefendants Seek Legal Fees In Ga. Election Case

    A dozen defendants targeted in the state of Georgia's case alleging unlawful interference in the 2020 presidential election have followed President Donald J. Trump in demanding millions of dollars in legal fees for their efforts fighting the now-dropped charges.   

  • January 13, 2026

    Colo. Asks Judge To Halt USDA's SNAP Pilot Project

    Colorado asked a federal judge Monday to block the U.S. Department of Agriculture from forcing the state to comply with the USDA's new pilot project for Supplemental Nutrition Act Program recipients, contending the project is a "targeted attack" against Colorado and otherwise violates federal and state law.

  • January 13, 2026

    USPTO Launches New Pilot For SEP Development

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said Tuesday it has created a new pilot program encouraging the development of standard-essential patents by smaller entities.

  • January 13, 2026

    CEO Of Auto Mat Maker WeatherTech Tapped For FTC Spot

    The founder and CEO of automobile accessories-maker WeatherTech, David MacNeil, was nominated to a seat on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission by President Donald Trump, the White House announced Tuesday. 

  • January 13, 2026

    DOJ Again Demands That Pa. Turn Over Voter Data

    The U.S. Department of Justice again demanded that Pennsylvania turn over voters' driver's license numbers and partial Social Security numbers, saying in Pennsylvania federal court that the information is required to be delivered under Title III of the Civil Rights Act, the Help America Vote Act and the National Voter Registration Act.

  • January 13, 2026

    Atlanta Escapes Suit Alleging Ex-Cop's Sex Assault Of Teen

    The city of Atlanta won't have to face a lawsuit over allegations that a former police officer raped a teenage girl following a vehicular crash after a Georgia federal judge said Monday the victim can't allege the officer's assault was perpetrated as part of city business.

  • January 13, 2026

    Senate Backs Bill Giving Deepfake Porn Victims Right To Sue

    The U.S. Senate on Tuesday unanimously passed bipartisan legislation that would allow individuals depicted in nonconsensual, artificial intelligence-generated, sexually explicit content to sue and recover damages, backing the bill once again after it stalled in the House in 2024.

  • January 13, 2026

    Financial Aid-Fixing Antitrust Claims Heading To Trial

    An Illinois federal judge refused a bid from the remaining elite private universities accused of fixing financial aid offerings to end the case ahead of trial after accepting the students' view of the market, along with evidence suggesting they paid inflated costs.

  • January 13, 2026

    Green Card Seekers Say Suspensions Are Discriminatory

    A group of 83 immigrants subject to President Donald Trump's travel bans has asked a Maryland federal court to undo an "indefinite" hold on their permanent residency applications, saying the hold amounts to nationality-based discrimination.

  • January 13, 2026

    Astronomers Seek Upper C-Band Coordination With Wireless

    As the U.S. government moves toward an auction of upper C-band airwaves to wireless carriers, the nation's radio astronomers said the carriers should be required to coordinate with observatories to keep mobile services from disrupting their observations in space.

  • January 13, 2026

    DOJ Fights For May Trial Against Agri Stats

    Justice Department attorneys pushed a Minnesota federal judge in oral arguments Tuesday to let them go to trial in May on claims that Agri Stats' protein industry reports help major producers hike prices, arguing they're entitled to leapfrog private plaintiffs and the company cannot toss or winnow their allegations.

  • January 13, 2026

    Sen. Whitehouse Presses AG On Boasberg Complaint Results

    Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., ranking member of the courts panel on the Senate Judiciary Committee, is calling for Attorney General Pam Bondi to release the results of the disciplinary complaint she filed against Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg of the District of Columbia when the investigation wraps up.

  • January 13, 2026

    Lawmakers Eye 2-Year Delay On Hemp Ban Implementation

    A bipartisan group of Congress members led by Rep. Jim Baird, R-Ind., on Tuesday introduced a bill that would delay implementation of a national ban on most hemp products by an additional two years.

  • January 13, 2026

    Rubio Casts Doubt On Habeas For Deported Venezuelans

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a D.C. federal judge there is no realistic way to provide habeas hearings to 137 Venezuelans deported in March after the U.S. capture of Venezuelan authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro.

  • January 13, 2026

    Blue States Say HHS Conditions Funding On Anti-Trans Bias

    A dozen Democratic state attorneys general sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday, claiming the agency's threat to withhold billions of dollars in funding from states that don't hew to an executive order declaring that gender is immutable conflicts with antidiscrimination law.

  • January 13, 2026

    US Ends TPS for Somalia, Citing Improved Conditions

    The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it's ending a Temporary Protected Status designation for Somalia that has allowed Somalis to live and work in the U.S., after concluding that country is safe enough for them to return.

  • January 13, 2026

    Energy Co. Seeks Early Win In ND Lease Cancellation Row

    A Colorado energy company is asking a North Dakota federal district court to vacate a series of Bureau of Indian Affairs decisions that determined it didn't own a legally protected interest in a decades-old 320-acre gas and oil lease on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

  • January 13, 2026

    Youths Urge 9th Circ. To Revive Trump Energy Orders Fight

    A group of young people asked the Ninth Circuit to revive their lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's energy-related emergency orders, arguing the lower court erred by saying it did not have jurisdiction to rule on the matter.

  • January 13, 2026

    Halligan Blasts Court's 'Inquisition' Over US Atty Status

    Lindsey Halligan said Tuesday that she is still the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia despite a recent ruling to the contrary, dismissing a federal judge's questions about why she's still using the title as an "inquisition" and a "gross abuse of power."

Expert Analysis

  • FDA's AI Deployment Brings New Potential And Risks

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recent announcement about making agentic artificial intelligence tools available to agency employees may portend accelerated regulatory timelines and lower costs for drug companies and consumers, but potential errors and biases will necessitate additional safeguards, says Angela Silva at Lewis Brisbois.

  • 3 Key Takeaways From Planned Rescheduling Of Cannabis

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    An executive order reviving cannabis rescheduling represents a monumental change for the industry and, while the substance will remain illegal at the federal level, introduces several benefits, including improving state-legal cannabis operators' tax treatment, lowering the industry's legal risk profile, and leaving state-regulated markets largely intact, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • OFAC Sanctions Will Intensify Amid Global Tensions In 2026

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    The Office of Foreign Assets Control will ramp up its targeting of companies in the private equity, venture capital, real estate and legal markets in 2026, in keeping with the aggressive foreign policy approach embraced by the Trump administration in 2025, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • 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.

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