Public Policy

  • August 13, 2025

    USPTO Caps Briefs At 20 Pages For Discretionary Reviews

    Patent owners and challengers will be limited to 20-page briefs when arguing over whether a Patent Trial and Appeal Board petition should be discretionarily denied, board leaders announced Wednesday in a webinar.

  • August 13, 2025

    Judge Blocks Trump Restrictions For $12B In Federal Grants

    A Washington federal judge temporarily blocked restrictions imposed by the Trump administration, such as an anti-gender ideology restriction, on access to more than $12 billion worth of federal grants, ruling in part that the federal government exceeded its authority.

  • August 13, 2025

    FCC Pushes Back Prison Call Fee Reports After Rule Delay

    The Federal Communications Commission is giving prison phone companies more time to file annual reports and certifications, saying that the companies would not have otherwise had "sufficient time for a fulsome response."

  • August 13, 2025

    Pa. Judge Ends Employers' Expanded Birth Control Exemptions

    A Pennsylvania federal judge on Wednesday struck down rules set by the first Trump administration enabling employers to refuse coverage of employees' contraceptives on moral and religious grounds, holding that the government failed to provide a good reason for the broadening of exemptions.

  • August 13, 2025

    High Court May Take Up Ban On Under-21 Handgun Purchases

    The U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to decide whether Congress is violating the Constitution by banning the sale of handguns to people under 21 years old, and it has given the government extra time to give its thoughts on what the justices should do.

  • August 13, 2025

    Media Matters Judge 'Troubled' By FTC Subpoena Args

    A D.C. federal judge reacted with incredulity Wednesday to Federal Trade Commission arguments that Media Matters can't challenge a subpoena unless the agency itself sues to enforce it, adding during a hearing that the FTC can't ignore its current leadership's recent history of targeting progressives.

  • August 13, 2025

    Settlement Win Protects In-Home Care For 280,000 NYers

    The New York State Health Department has resolved a class action filed by a group of chronically ill Medicaid recipients who accused the state of violating their due process rights by failing to provide enough time to register their home care workers through a new system, attorneys said on Wednesday.

  • August 13, 2025

    Mich. Tribe Can't Get $1.5M In Legal Fees In Recognition Fight

    A D.C. federal court judge on Wednesday denied a Michigan tribe's bid to recoup $1.5 million in legal fees from the U.S. Department of the Interior over the tribe's challenge to a federal recognition status denial, saying the motion is untimely because a decision to remand the dispute is final.

  • August 13, 2025

    Cloud Services Co. Asks FCC To Grant Numbering Access

    OXIO Inc. is seeking to bring its cloud-based telecom services to the U.S. market, but needs the Federal Communications Commission to authorize the mobile numbers its customers would use.

  • August 13, 2025

    USPTO Officially Ends Expedited Exams For Design Patents

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will terminate a program that allowed for faster examinations of design patents, saying there had been a 560% increase in requests for expedited reviews as a result of fraudulent applications.

  • August 13, 2025

    2nd Circ. Asked To Review Bid To Bar NYC Congestion Pricing

    The Second Circuit should review a federal court's decision to grant the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority's bid to dismiss a pair of lawsuits alleging Manhattan's congestion pricing tolls are discriminatory and trample on motorists' right to travel, a New York county argued Tuesday.

  • August 13, 2025

    NJ US Atty Defends Status, Says She Is 'Validly Serving'

    Acting New Jersey U.S. Attorney Alina Habba has hit back against criminal defendants who claim her contentious appointment violates the U.S. Constitution, saying everything is above board and a "lengthy period of acting service is not unusual."

  • August 13, 2025

    Kellogg's Will Nix Artificial Cereal Dyes, Texas AG Says

    WK Kellogg Co. has agreed to stop using artificial food coloring in its cereals within the next couple of years, the Texas Attorney General's Office announced Wednesday.

  • August 13, 2025

    NY Civil Rights Advocates Want ICE Holding Space Shut Down

    New York City immigrant rights advocates are calling for the closure of what appears to be an unofficial detention center for noncitizens hosted in a federal building in Lower Manhattan following a federal court injunction Tuesday that ordered U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement to "meet baseline conditions" inside the facility.

  • August 13, 2025

    Convicted ComEd CEO Seeks Bond Pending 7th Circ. Appeal

    Former Commonwealth Edison and Exelon Utilities CEO Anne Pramaggiore has requested to stay out of jail while she appeals her criminal conviction and two-year prison sentence, saying her case was "far from ordinary" and that bond would keep her from serving a substantial portion of her sentence unnecessarily if the Seventh Circuit finds in her favor.

  • August 13, 2025

    US Threatens Retaliation For 'Global Carbon Tax' On Shipping

    The U.S. government has preemptively threatened to retaliate against countries that adopt a multilateral plan to shift the global shipping industry toward achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, claiming it's "a global carbon tax" that would disfavor liquefied natural gas and biofuels.

  • August 13, 2025

    DC Circ. Won't Halt Noncitizen Registration Rule For Appeal

    The D.C. Circuit denied a request by immigrant rights groups to halt a policy requiring noncitizens to register with the federal government or face prosecution, while denying the Trump administration's bid to dismiss the groups' appeal.

  • August 13, 2025

    Delaware Bill Seeks Separate Tax Rates For Property Types

    Delaware would authorize school districts to set different tax rates for residential and nonresidential property under a bill introduced in the state House for consideration in a special legislative session.

  • August 12, 2025

    Mich. Judge Says Racism Pervades Ethics Probe Into Bike Row

    A Michigan state judge facing allegations she escalated an interaction with a bike shop owner at a judicial conference and lied about the exchange urged a special master overseeing her case to dismiss the claims, while disciplinary counsel said the judge must be held accountable for her "abuse of authority."

  • August 12, 2025

    Loper Bright Neutered In 6th Circ., Tenn. Tells Supreme Court

    There is "growing confusion among the circuits" regarding the U.S. Supreme Court's rejection of judicial deference to regulators, as evidenced by a Sixth Circuit ruling that negates much of the high court's Loper Bright ruling, Tennessee told the justices in a new petition.

  • August 12, 2025

    DOE Used Secret Group To Undermine GHG Finding: Suit

    The Trump administration secretly got together a group of client skeptics to figure out how to misrepresent the data to "manufacture a basis" to knock out the "overwhelming scientific consensus" that greenhouse gases endanger people's health, two environmental groups say in a new lawsuit.

  • August 12, 2025

    Feds Appeal Expedited Removal Pause At DC Circ.

    The Trump administration has appealed a D.C. federal judge's order pausing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's ability to subject noncitizens who were paroled into the country to expedited removal proceedings. 

  • August 12, 2025

    Tribes, Enviros Want In On Chuckwalla Monument Fight

    Environmental groups and five Native American tribes are asking a Michigan federal court to intervene in a challenge by a miner and the BlueRibbon Coalition to the establishment of the Chuckwalla National Monument, saying it's unclear if the federal government still shares their interests in its protection.

  • August 12, 2025

    Justices Urged To Maintain Limits On Calif. Immigration Stops

    Immigration rights groups and individuals challenging recent federal immigration operations in Los Angeles urged the U.S. Supreme Court not to pause an order that temporarily prohibits the government from conducting indiscriminate immigration stops, saying the order bars only what is unlawful.

  • August 12, 2025

    Trump Wants To 'Strike Fear' With Troops In Calif., Judge Told

    A lawyer for California argued during a San Francisco bench trial Tuesday that President Donald Trump's military deployment in the state is unlawful and aims to "strike fear into the hearts" of residents, while a Justice Department lawyer said the soldiers stayed within legal boundaries by not carrying out law enforcement activities.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Self-Care

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    Law schools don’t teach the mental, physical and emotional health maintenance tools necessary to deal with the profession's many demands, but practicing self-care is an important key to success that can help to improve focus, manage stress and reduce burnout, says Rachel Leonard​​​​​​​ at MG+M.

  • New Laws Show How States Are Checking AI Developers

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    Recent state consumer protection legislation shows Utah, Colorado and Texas are primed to impose controls on artificial intelligence, and exemplifies the states' unwillingness to accord strong deference to developers and deployers of AI tools, say attorneys at Polsinelli.

  • Nev. Steps Up Efforts To Attract Incorporations With New Law

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    Recent amendments to Nevada corporate law, which will narrow controlling stockholders’ liability, streamline mergers and allow companies to opt out of jury trials, show the interstate competition to attract new and reincorporating companies is still heating up, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Birthright Opinions Reveal Views On Rule 23(b)(2) Relief

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    The justices' multiple opinions in the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 27 decision in the birthright citizenship case, Trump v. CASA, shed light on whether Rule 23(b)(2) could fill the void created by the court's decision to restrict nationwide injunctions, says Benjamin Johns at Shub Johns.

  • ABA Opinion Makes It A Bit Easier To Drop A 'Hot Potato'

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    The American Bar Association's recent ethics opinion clarifies when attorneys may terminate clients without good cause, though courts may still disqualify a lawyer who drops a client like a hot potato, so sending a closeout letter is always a best practice, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • Plan For Increased HSR Info Sharing With Wash. Antitrust Law

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    Washington's merger notification requirements, effective later this month, combined with the Federal Trade Commission's new Hart-Scott-Rodino Act rules, will result in greater information sharing among state and federal agencies, making it important for merging parties to consider their transaction's potential state antitrust implications early on, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Federal Construction Considerations Amid Policy Overhaul

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    The rapid overhaul of federal procurement, heightened domestic sourcing rules and aggressive immigration enforcement are reshaping U.S. construction, but several pragmatic considerations can help federal contractors engaged in infrastructure and public construction avoid the legal, financial and operational fallout, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • FMLA Expansion Sees State Progress Despite Federal Barriers

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    Recent legislative efforts to expand the Family and Medical Leave Act reflect workers' growing demand for work-life balance, but as federal proposals continue to face significant hurdles, states have stepped in, creating a labyrinth of leave laws and compliance headaches for multistate employers, say attorneys at FordHarrison.

  • How Political Divisions Are Stalling Pa. Energy Development

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    Despite possessing the nation's second-largest natural gas reserves and a legacy of energy infrastructure, Pennsylvania faces a fragmented and politically charged path to developing the energy resources it will need in the future, thanks to legislative gridlock, divided public opinion and competing energy interests, says Andrew Levine at Stradley Ronon.

  • 3rd-Party Audit Tactics To Improve Export Control Compliance

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    Companies should take a strategic approach to third-party audits in response to the Trump administration's ramp-up of export control enforcement with steps that strengthen their ability to identify the control weaknesses of distributors, dealers and resellers, say Michael Huneke at Hughes Hubbard, and John Rademacher and Abby Williams at Secretariat Advisors.

  • A Look At Trump Admin's Shifting Strategies To Curtail CFPB

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    The Trump administration has so far carried out its goal of minimizing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's authority and footprint via an individualized approach comprising rule rollbacks, litigation moves and administrative tools, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Evading DOJ Crosshairs As Data Security Open Season Starts

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    As the U.S. Department of Justice begins enforcing its new data security program — aimed at preventing foreign adversaries from accessing government-related and personal sensitive data — U.S. companies will need to understand the program’s contours and potential pitfalls to avoid potential civil liability or criminal scrutiny, say attorneys at Cohen & Gresser.

  • How Trump's Trade Policies Are Shaping Foreign Investment

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    Five months into the Trump administration, investors are beginning to see the concrete effects of the president’s America First Investment Policy as it presents new opportunities for clearing transactions more quickly, while sustaining risk aversion related to Chinese trade and potentially creating different political risks, say attorneys at Covington.

  • 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.

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