Public Policy

  • October 01, 2025

    CFPB 'Will Continue Operations' As Gov't Shutdown Hits

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has told its staff to expect business as usual amid the government shutdown that began Wednesday, assuring them that operations, pay and benefits will continue uninterrupted, according to an internal email obtained by Law360.

  • October 01, 2025

    DC Circ. Deems FERC-Approved Pipeline Rates Unjustly High

    The D.C. Circuit wiped out FERC's approval of fuel rates charged by a Kinder Morgan unit's pipeline following an expansion project, saying the agency unfairly saddled gas producer Antero Resources Corp. with higher rates than other pipeline customers.

  • October 01, 2025

    Biz Groups Say They Can Be Amici In 4th Circ. Pollution Suit

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Chemistry Council on Wednesday told the Fourth Circuit they should be allowed to file an amicus brief on behalf of Chemours in a row over PFAS contamination in the Ohio River, saying that there is nothing barring an association from filing in cases where its members are parties.

  • October 01, 2025

    Trump Moves To Elevate FDIC's Hill To Permanent Chair

    President Donald Trump has nominated the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s acting Chairman Travis Hill to lead the deposit insurer on a permanent basis, the White House confirmed Wednesday.

  • October 01, 2025

    Ship Manager Says Liability Shield Applies In Baltimore Wreck

    The manager of the container ship that slammed into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge last year has told a Maryland federal judge that it should be allowed to invoke a nearly two-centuries-old maritime law to limit its liability for the wreck.

  • October 01, 2025

    GAO Urges Nuke Agency To Fix Its Cost Reports To Congress

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office urged the National Nuclear Security Administration to improve its reporting systems after finding it has often failed to inform lawmakers about growing construction project costs as required.

  • October 01, 2025

    DC Circ. Won't Rethink Return Of Head Of Copyright Office

    The D.C. Circuit said Wednesday that it won't rethink its decision to temporarily reinstate the head of the U.S. Copyright Office, who was fired by President Donald Trump as her lawsuit against the administration plays out in court.

  • October 01, 2025

    States Accuse Zillow, Redfin Of Deal To End Competition

    A coalition of states followed their federal counterparts with an antitrust lawsuit in Virginia federal court Wednesday accusing Zillow of paying Redfin more than $100 million to stop competing for the sale of rental housing advertisements on their listing services.

  • October 01, 2025

    Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

    The Federal Trade Commission put the final tweaks on its deal allowing a $13.5 billion merger of marketing companies to move ahead and pushed its bid to block a merger in the medical device coatings industry, while U.K. enforcers launched a number of merger probes.

  • October 01, 2025

    EPA Proposes Rolling Back Biden HFC Ban Deadline

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday proposed a new rule that would extend the compliance deadline for and revise other parts of a Biden administration-era rule that bars hydrofluorocarbons in refrigeration, air conditioning and heating products if more "climate friendly" alternatives are available.

  • October 01, 2025

    NJ Boroughs, Townships' Affordable Housing Suits Tossed

    A New Jersey state judge has permanently thrown out two lawsuits from multiple boroughs and townships challenging a 2024 state law laying out how much new affordable housing needs to be built, ruling the plaintiffs failed to bring a viable legal claim.

  • October 01, 2025

    DHS Accused Of Illegal Data Use In Voter Purge Lawsuit

    The League of Women Voters and a group of naturalized U.S. citizens are suing to stop the Trump administration's pooling of immigrant personal data across federal agencies into centralized databases at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, saying states are using the "unreliable" systems to purge voter rolls.

  • October 01, 2025

    Texas Judge Sends Mifepristone Challenge To Missouri Court

    A closely watched challenge to federal approvals for the abortion medication mifepristone is moving from Texas to Missouri after a federal judge found the plaintiffs remaining in the litigation have no connection to the Lone Star State.

  • October 01, 2025

    Justices Asked To Review Gun Ban For Marijuana Users

    A marijuana user has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case arguing that a federal law prohibiting drug users from owning guns runs afoul of the Second Amendment.

  • October 01, 2025

    DC Judge Protects Union Contracts At 6 Federal Agencies

    A D.C. federal judge stopped the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and four other agencies from canceling their union contracts, granting a union coalition's request for an injunction blocking the agencies from complying with an executive order allowing them to ditch the contracts.

  • October 01, 2025

    States, Businesses Push Justices To Extend Tariff Arguments

    The dozen states, several small businesses and Illinois toymakers that challenged President Donald Trump's emergency tariffs filed a joint motion Wednesday requesting more time to better represent their different claims for oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court in November.

  • October 01, 2025

    FCC Sets Furlough Plan In Motion With Government Shutdown

    The Federal Communications Commission's staff halted most regular operations Wednesday as Congress failed to reach a deal to continue funding agencies after the end of the government's fiscal year.

  • October 01, 2025

    Trump Unlawfully Fired Dem Member Of STB, Suit Alleges

    A recently fired Democratic member of the Surface Transportation Board sued President Donald Trump in federal court Wednesday, alleging that he was unlawfully removed from his position and should be allowed to serve the rest of his term.

  • October 01, 2025

    White House Issues New NEPA Guidance To Federal Agencies

    The White House Council on Environmental Quality has released guidance for federal agencies that are working to update their National Environmental Policy Act guidelines.

  • October 01, 2025

    Muscogee Citizen Fights Okla. Tax Ruling In Supreme Court

    A member of the Muscogee Creek Nation is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn an Oklahoma high court ruling that denied her tax-exempt status, arguing the dispute involves an important question of taxing jurisdiction in tribal lands that broke a long line of precedent.

  • October 01, 2025

    USPTO Lays Off Employees, Closes Rocky Mountain Office

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office laid off some employees Wednesday as part of a reduction-in-force that's affecting around 1% of the agency's workforce, making the move on the first day of the government shutdown, according to sources familiar with the plans.

  • October 01, 2025

    Ohio Says Norfolk Southern Fully Liable In Derailment Suit

    Ohio is asking a federal judge to find Norfolk Southern Corp. fully liable for pollution stemming from the 2023 East Palestine train derailment, saying the court should find that each railcar is a separate source of pollution under state law and assess penalties accordingly.

  • October 01, 2025

    Fed. Bill Would Let Judges Be Sued Over Repeat Offenders

    A federal lawmaker from North Carolina has proposed a bill to create a pathway for crime victims and their families to sue judges found to have acted with "intentional disregard for public safety" by releasing individuals convicted of violent crime who go on to re-offend.

  • October 01, 2025

    4th Circ. Won't Rehear Consultancy's $5M SBA Loan Suit

    The Fourth Circuit declined to reconsider a global consultancy and risk management company's lawsuit against the U.S. Small Business Administration in which the consultant argued its $5 million loan was eligible for COVID-19 debt relief.

  • October 01, 2025

    Va. Biz Group Calls Charter, Cox Tie-Up Good For Consumers

    The Virginia Chamber of Commerce urged the Federal Communications Commission to approve the planned $34.5 billion merger of cable giants Charter and Cox, saying it would be good for consumers as the companies cut costs through scale.

Expert Analysis

  • The Int'l Compliance View: Everything Everywhere All At Once

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    Changes to the enforcement landscape in the U.S. and abroad shift the risks and incentives for global compliance programs, creating a race against the clock for companies to deploy investigative resources across worldwide operations, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • Opinion

    Calif. Must Amend Trade Secret Civil Procedure

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    A California procedural law that effectively shields trade secret defendants from having to return company materials until the plaintiff can craft detailed requests must be amended to recognize that property recovery and trade secret analysis are distinct issues, says Matthew Miller at Hanson Bridgett.

  • Previewing State Efforts To Regulate Mental Health Chatbots

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    New York, Nevada and Utah have all recently enacted laws regulating the use of artificial intelligence to deliver mental health services, offering early insights into how other states may regulate this area, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • 6 Questions We Should Ask About The Trump Trade Deals

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    Whenever the text becomes available, certain questions will help determine whether the Trump administration’s trade deals with U.S. trading partners have been crafted to form durable economic relationships, or ephemeral ties likely to break upon interpretive disagreement or a change in political will, says Ted Posner at Baker Botts.

  • 'Pig Butchering' Seizure Is A Milestone In Crypto Crime Fight

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    The U.S.' recent seizure of $225 million in crypto funds in a massive "pig butchering" scheme highlights the transformative impact of blockchain analysis in law enforcement, and the increasing necessity of collaboration between law enforcement agencies, cryptocurrency exchanges and stablecoin issuers, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.

  • Justices' Age Verification Ruling May Lead To More State Laws

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton ruling, permitting a Texas law requiring certain websites to verify users’ ages, significantly expands states' ability to regulate minors’ social media access, further complicating the patchwork of internet privacy laws, say attorneys at Troutman.

  • The Pros, Cons Of A Single Commissioner Leading The CFTC

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    While a single-member U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission may require fewer resources and be more efficient, its internal decision-making process would be less transparent to those outside the agency, reflect less compromise between competing viewpoints and provide the public with less predictability, says former CFTC Commissioner Dan Berkovitz.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Relevance Redactions

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    In recent cases addressing redactions that parties sought to apply based on the relevance of information — as opposed to considerations of privilege — courts have generally limited a party’s ability to withhold nonresponsive or irrelevant material, providing a few lessons for discovery strategy, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • How DOJ's New Data Security Rules Leave HIPAA In The Dust

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recently effective data security requirements carry profound implications for how healthcare providers collect, store, share and use data — and approach vendor oversight — that go far beyond the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.

  • Opinion

    Section 1983 Has Promise After End Of Nationwide Injunctions

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down the practice of nationwide injunctions in Trump v. Casa, Section 1983 civil rights suits can provide a better pathway to hold the government accountable — but this will require reforms to qualified immunity, says Marc Levin at the Council on Criminal Justice.

  • Courts Redefining Software As Product Generates New Risks

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    A recent wave of litigation against social media platforms, chatbot developers and ride-hailing companies has some courts straying from the traditional view of software as a service to redefining software as a product, with significant implications for strict liability exposure, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Trump's 2nd Term Puts Merger Remedies Back On The Table

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    In contrast with the Biden administration, the second Trump administration has signaled a renewed willingness to resolve merger enforcement concerns through remedies from the outset, particularly when the proposed fix is structural, clearly addresses the harm and does not require burdensome oversight, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Why Bank Regulators' Proposed Leverage Tweak Matters

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    Banking agencies' recent proposal to modify the enhanced supplementary leverage ratio framework applicable to the largest U.S. banks shows the regulators are keen to address concerns that the regulatory capital framework is too restrictive, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Corp. Human Rights Regulatory Landscape Is Fragmented

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    Given the complexity of compliance with nations' overlapping human rights laws, multinational companies need to be cognizant of the evolving approaches to modern slavery transparency, and proposals that could reduce mandatory due diligence and reporting requirements, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • How Banks Can Harness New Customer ID Rule's Flexibility

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    Banking regulators' update to the customer identification process, allowing banks to collect some information from third parties rather than directly from customers, helps modernize anti-money laundering compliance and carries advantages for financial institutions that embrace the new approach, say attorneys at Bradley Arant.

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