Public Policy

  • September 04, 2025

    PBM Rule Included In DOL Benefits Arm's Regulatory Update

    The U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits arm detailed several new regulations in the works Thursday, including a new fee disclosure rule involving pharmacy benefit managers and plans to revisit retirement plan fiduciary investment advice regulations, according to the administration's latest regulatory update.

  • September 04, 2025

    Wash. Justices To Review Voter Measure Backing Natural Gas

    The Washington State Supreme Court has agreed to weigh in on a dispute over a law approved by voters that prevents local governments and code officials in the state from passing rules restricting or discouraging the use of natural gas.

  • September 04, 2025

    US Steel, Nippon Drop Suit Against Cleveland-Cliffs, USW

    U.S. Steel and its new parent company, Nippon Steel, have ended their lawsuit accusing rival steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. and the United Steelworkers union of attempting to sabotage their merger earlier this year.

  • September 04, 2025

    Nonprofits Defend Suit Over Fla. Land Purchases Ban

    Three nonprofits, a Florida real estate brokerage and a local property owner all have told a Florida federal court not to dismiss their Fair Housing Act suit challenging a state law that bans certain foreigners, such as Chinese citizens, from buying specific types of land, arguing in part that state government officials have mischaracterized their claims.

  • September 04, 2025

    ICE Releases Man After Court Found His Detention Illegal

    A Detroit man was released from immigration detention Wednesday, a few days after a Michigan federal judge ordered the government to release him or give him a bond hearing because his two-month detention without review was a violation of his due process rights.

  • September 04, 2025

    Democrats Press Trump's Fed Pick On His Independence

    Stephen Miran, a close ally of President Donald Trump, was sharply questioned by Democratic senators on Thursday about his ability to independently carry out a leadership role at the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors after he said he would refuse to resign from the president's Council of Economic Advisers if confirmed.

  • September 04, 2025

    Ohio Cannabis Card Network Sued Over Faulty Cybersecurity

    An Ohio man is suing Ohio Medical Alliance LLC in federal court, alleging that its lackluster cybersecurity measures exposed more than 950,000 records containing private health information for its users.

  • September 04, 2025

    EEOC Hit With LGBTQ+ Bias Charge From Ex-Official

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's walkback on enforcing sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination protections has fostered a hostile environment for LGBTQ+ people within the agency, a former commission senior official said in a discrimination charge announced Thursday.

  • September 04, 2025

    Gov't Urges Justices To Fast-Track Emergency Tariff Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court must consider under a proposed fast-track schedule the Federal Circuit's finding of President Donald Trump's emergency tariffs as unlawful or jeopardize the recent bilateral trade agreements and the improvements to the U.S. economy as a result of those duties, the administration said.

  • September 03, 2025

    Trump Seeks To Have Justices Toss E. Jean Carroll Verdict

    President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he's planning to challenge writer E. Jean Carroll's $5 million sexual assault finding against him at the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the high court to give him 60 days to file a petition for the justices to review "significant issues."

  • September 03, 2025

    9th Circ. Affirms Toss Of Satanists' Idaho Abortion Ban Suit

    The Ninth Circuit refused to revive the Satanic Temple's lawsuit that challenged Idaho's laws criminalizing abortion, ruling in a published amended opinion Tuesday that the religious association of more than 1.5 million Satanists lacked standing to sue, both based on its members and as an organization.

  • September 03, 2025

    DOI Casino Approval Overturned For Ignoring Tribal Input

    The U.S. Department of the Interior went beyond its authority and failed to properly consult with another local tribe when it approved the Koi Nation's plan to build a casino on newly acquired trust land, a California federal judge has ruled.

  • September 03, 2025

    NJ Cities Say Precedent Protects Immigration Enforcement Laws

    Four Garden State cities blasted a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit accusing them of obstructing federal immigration enforcement, telling a New Jersey federal judge that the case cannot overcome precedent that upheld the state policy at issue.

  • September 03, 2025

    Fintechs Urge Judge To Let CFPB Set Open Banking Deadline

    The fintech trade group defending the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's in-flux open banking rule on Wednesday urged a Kentucky federal judge to defer to the agency on whether to extend compliance deadlines for the data sharing mandate and also to decline banks' request to halt the clock as the agency retools the rule.

  • September 03, 2025

    Google Can Thank AI's Rise For Mixed Search Remedies

    Despite Google's resounding defeat last year in the U.S. Department of Justice's case targeting its search monopoly, the company will face only a mixed bag of remedies aimed at propping up search engine rivals and limiting its distribution contracts.

  • September 03, 2025

    Trump Sued Over Ending Patent Office Bargaining Rights

    A union representing workers from the Office of the Commissioner for Patents, which is part of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, sued President Donald Trump's administration Wednesday over an executive order that stripped federal workers of collective bargaining rights.

  • September 03, 2025

    Hemp Cos. Drop Challenge To Ark. Regulations

    Hemp companies who challenged an Arkansas state law restricting hemp-derived intoxicating products are seeking to end their lawsuit, months after the Eighth Circuit dashed their efforts to temporarily block the statute's enforcement.

  • September 03, 2025

    Trump's Refugee Admission Pause Looks Legal To 9th Circ.

    Two Ninth Circuit judges suggested on Wednesday that President Donald Trump had the authority to suspend U.S. refugee admissions in a January executive order, while also hinting that his administration went too far by pulling funding for resettlement support.

  • September 03, 2025

    4th Circ. Denies Injunction In Md. Cannabis Licensing Challenge

    A California cannabis entrepreneur lost her bid to upend Maryland's social equity licensing program Tuesday when the Fourth Circuit ruled that the state's policies seeking to address inequalities within the cannabis industry are not discriminatory.

  • September 03, 2025

    Dem Sens. Demand DOJ Fire Ex-FBI Agent Tied To Capitol Riot

    A man who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and previously worked at the FBI was hired to work in the "weaponization" group at the U.S. Department of Justice, and now Democrats are calling for his removal.

  • September 03, 2025

    CFTC Member Expresses 'Discontent' As She Exits Agency

    Departing Commodity Futures Trading Commission member Kristin Johnson used her final speech Wednesday to express disfavor with some recent agency actions, saying she was running out of ways to "politely describe" her "discontent" with the recent loosening of licensing standards.

  • September 03, 2025

    DOL Proposal On FLSA Home Care Rule Gets 5,000 Comments

    The U.S. Department of Labor received over 5,000 comments on its plan to rescind an Obama-era rule that expanded wage protections for home care workers, with advocacy organizations arguing that the DOL didn't provide enough backup for the rescission while others saying the move is in line with the fall of Chevron deference.

  • September 03, 2025

    Feds Move To Sink Mass. Offshore Wind Farm Approval

    The federal government said Wednesday it will yank approval for a Massachusetts offshore wind farm 20 miles south of Martha's Vineyard, the latest in a series of moves by the Trump administration to stymie U.S. offshore wind development.

  • September 03, 2025

    Bondi Raises Bar For Private-Violence, Family Asylum Claims

    Attorney General Pam Bondi has issued two new decisions reversing Biden-era attorney general precedents, raising the bar for asylum claims based on nonstate violence and tightening requirements for families to count as eligible social groups.

  • September 03, 2025

    Authority For Emergency Tariffs Poses Puzzle For Justices

    The U.S. Supreme Court faces a provocative puzzle over President Donald Trump's worldwide tariff regime that the Federal Circuit has found illegal, as the judges' positions didn't follow the usual political lines, leaving wide open how the high court may rule on the president's tariff powers.

Expert Analysis

  • Environmental Justice Is Alive And Well At The State Level

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    Even as the Trump administration has rolled back federal environmental justice policies, many states continue to prioritize it, with new regulations, strengthened enforcement of existing rules and ongoing private litigation — so companies must stay alert to how state-level EJ enforcement may affect their operations, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • What FinCEN's AML Rule Delay Means For Advisers

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    Even with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's statement last month delaying the compliance date for a rule requiring advisers to report suspicious activity, advisers can expect some level of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission oversight in connection with anti-money laundering compliance, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • 5 Ways Lawyers Can Earn Back The Public's Trust

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    Amid salacious headlines about lawyers behaving badly and recent polls showing the public’s increasingly unfavorable view of attorneys, we must make meaningful changes to our culture to rebuild trust in the legal system, says Carl Taylor at Carl Taylor Law.

  • What Insurers Must Know About New La. Proof Of Loss Law

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    Insurers that comply with all the requirements under a Louisiana law effective this month may condition claim payments on receipt of proof of loss statements, but those that overlook even one prerequisite risk penalties and late payments, say attorneys at Phelps Dunbar.

  • Legal Jeopardy Looms Over Trump's Trade Negotiation Plans

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    Even as the Trump administration announces one trade deal after another, the legal authority of the executive branch to impose tariffs under consensual arrangements with leading trading partners is just as debatable as the unilateral imposition of U.S. tariffs under the president's executive orders, says Jeffrey Bialos at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • Criminal Healthcare Fraud Takeaways From 4th Circ. Reversal

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    After the Fourth Circuit reversed a doctor’s postconviction acquittal in U.S. v. Elfenbein last month, defense attorneys should consider three strategies when handling complex criminal healthcare matters, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • Opinion

    Furtive Changes To Federal Health Data Threaten Admissibility

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    A recent study showing that nearly 100 U.S. federal health datasets have been modified this year without any notation in official change logs should concern plaintiffs counsel, defense counsel and judges alike — because undermining data's integrity, authenticity and chain of custody threatens its admissibility in litigation, say attorneys at Kershaw Talley.

  • State Laws Show Uniformity Is Key To Truly Fair Bank Access

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    The lack of uniformity among state laws — including new Idaho legislation — that forbid banks from discriminating against customers based on ideology shows that a single set of federally administered fair access rules would better serve financial institutions and American consumers, say attorneys at Bradley Arant.

  • A Look At Justices' Rare Decision Not To Limit Agency Powers

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    The Supreme Court's recent denial of Alpine's cert petition in its long-running case against the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority sends a strong signal that litigation strategies dependent on the elimination of government agencies merit caution, even from a court that lately hasn't been shy about paring back agency authority, say attorneys at Venable.

  • Series

    Hiking Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    On the trail, I have thought often about the parallels between hiking and high-stakes patent litigation, and why strategizing, preparation, perseverance and joy are important skills for success in both endeavors, says Barbara Fiacco at Foley Hoag.

  • Opportunity Zone Overhaul Is Good News For Investors

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    Recently enacted reforms making the qualified opportunity zone program permanent, restoring the basis step-up for capital gains and adding flexibility to the zone designation process enhance the program’s appeal for long-term investment, says Steven Hadjilogiou at McDermott.

  • What US-India Trade Deal Will Mean For Indian Pharma

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    Complicated by newly imposed tariffs from the U.S., the outcome of the U.S.-India trade talks is poised to reshape not just trade policy, but also the strategic alignment of the two countries' pharmaceutical ecosystems, says Jashaswi Ghosh at Holon Law Partners.

  • Opinion

    Time For Full Disclosure Of Third-Party Funding In MDLs

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    It is appropriate that the Federal Advisory Committee on Civil Rules is considering a rule to require disclosure of third-party litigation funding in civil litigation — something that is particularly needed in multidistrict litigation, which now comprises more than half of all civil cases in the federal courts, says Eric Hudson at Butler Snow.

  • Regulating Online Activity After Porn Site Age Check Ruling

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    A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding an age verification requirement for accessing online adult sexual content applied a lenient rational basis standard, raising questions for how state and federal courts will determine what kinds of laws regulating online activity will satisfy this standard going forward, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

  • White House Report Strikes An Optimistic Note On Crypto

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    Taking seriously President Donald Trump's pledge to adopt a pro-innovation mindset toward digital assets and blockchain technologies, a recent benchmark White House report on crypto provides a comprehensive regulatory framework that takes into account the products' novel characteristics within the high-tech ecosystem, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

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