Public Policy

  • August 20, 2026

    Nintendo Customer Fights To Keep Tariff Refund Suit Alive

    A Washington federal court should deny Nintendo's attempt to escape a proposed class action seeking reimbursement of costs that customers paid toward President Donald Trump's since-invalidated global tariff regime now that the company is pursuing refunds, a customer told the court.

  • August 20, 2026

    Latest Squires Order Grants 2 Patent Petitions, Denies None

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires has issued a brief bulk order instituting a pair of America Invents Act petitions, including a Google challenge to a Valtrus Innovations patent, and saying he would assess the merits of four other patent challenges.

  • August 20, 2026

    Quakers Say Everglades ICE Site Teardown Needs Review

    A southeastern regional Religious Society of Friends group filed a brief Wednesday in the ongoing suit over the now-shuttered immigrant detention center in the Everglades, arguing that environmental review is just as necessary when tearing the facility down as when it was being built.

  • August 20, 2026

    Dems Push For Probe Of LNG Tanker Tax Breaks At IRS

    Democratic senators Thursday urged a government watchdog to investigate whether the Internal Revenue Service has determined that liquefied natural gas exporters who use the fuel to propel their tankers can claim an alternative fuel tax credit.

  • August 20, 2026

    DOJ Pot Shift Changes LA Licensing Challenge, 9th Circ. Told

    A California attorney who has challenged state and local cannabis licensing policies across the country on the grounds that they discriminate against out-of-state entrants told the Ninth Circuit that recent federal shifts on medical marijuana mean the dormant commerce clause should apply to the once-federally illicit industry.

  • August 20, 2026

    Tax Biz Owner Charged In Scheme That May Have Bilked $65M

    A federal grand jury charged an Alabama tax preparation business owner with preparing and filing fraudulent returns for clients and himself in a scheme that may have caused the federal government a tax loss of more than $65 million, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

  • August 20, 2026

    Customs Must Free 1 Of 2 Chinese Tire Shipments, CIT Says

    U.S. Customs and Border Protection must release one of two Chinese tire shipments it withheld for years initially due to a lack of identifying requirements, according to a Thursday opinion by the U.S. Court of International Trade.

  • August 20, 2026

    Ethics Complaints Barred In Mass. Sheriff's Pot Extortion Trial

    The government cannot use records of past state ethics commission complaints against a Massachusetts sheriff in an extortion trial set to get underway next week, a federal judge said Thursday.

  • August 20, 2026

    Illinois Must Face US Suit Over Immigrant Protection Laws

    An Illinois federal judge on Wednesday allowed the Trump administration to move ahead with its legal challenge to two state laws allowing private parties to sue civil immigration officers and barring civil immigration arrests at courthouses, saying the government has plausibly alleged that the threat of personal liability could impede officers charged with enforcing federal law.

  • August 20, 2026

    Commerce Orders Duties On Aussie, Norwegian Silicon Metal

    The U.S. Department of Commerce on Thursday ordered antidumping and countervailing duties on silicon metals from Australia and Norway after the goods were found to be sold at unfair prices and to be harming domestic industry.

  • August 20, 2026

    New Risks For Importers As US Steps Up Tariff Enforcement

    Importers and trade lawyers have seen an upswelling of tariff enforcement efforts that is transforming the compliance relationship between businesses and the government since President Donald Trump took office a second time.

  • August 20, 2026

    Jury Finds Okla. Highway Contractor Guilty Of Price-Fixing

    A federal jury in Oklahoma found a highway runoff contracting business and two of its employees guilty of antitrust violations for a price-fixing conspiracy that allegedly impacted $100 million in publicly funded construction contracts in the state.

  • August 20, 2026

    Ex-SMU Basketball Player Challenges NCAA Transfer Rules

    A former player for the Southern Methodist University women's basketball team told a Texas federal judge that the National Collegiate Athletic Association's rules for athletes seeking to switch schools breach antitrust laws, saying she should be allowed to play for another team.

  • August 20, 2026

    Senator Questions CBP Over Lifted Ban On Dominican Sugar

    The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee asked the Customs and Border Protection commissioner on Thursday why President Donald Trump's administration chose to allow imported sugar products from the Dominican Republic that were previously prohibited due to the company's alleged use of forced labor.

  • August 20, 2026

    Trump Taps DOJ Official, ND Solicitor General For Judgeships

    President Donald Trump announced Thursday he's tapping Jesus Osete, a top U.S. Department of Justice official, to serve on the Western District of Missouri and Philip Axt, solicitor general of North Dakota, for the District of North Dakota.

  • August 19, 2026

    Social Media Use Has Addiction Hallmarks, Meta Jury Told

    A psychologist told a Tennessee jury considering claims against Meta on Wednesday that it's well accepted in his field that social media use can cause behavior that looks like addiction, and social media is a challenging presence in the lives of 15% to 20% of his patients.

  • August 19, 2026

    Zuckerberg Can't Be Trusted On Kids' Safety Online, Jury Told

    A Meta whistleblower testified Wednesday in a California federal jury trial over states' claims Meta hid social media's harms that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg ignored calls for Meta to prioritize kids' safety while publicly touting Meta's safety practices, saying "I feel that you just cannot trust Mark Zuckerberg with kids."

  • August 19, 2026

    Convicted Ex-Atty Deserves Redemption, Pardoned Client Says

    A former Connecticut attorney under suspension for the past decade over his role in a $3 million stock pump-and-dump scheme deserves reinstatement and redemption, a client of his pardon consulting firm told a state bar admissions committee on Wednesday.

  • August 19, 2026

    Nonprofits Urge Court To Block HHS From Sharing Aid Data

    Counsel for a group of nonprofits on Wednesday asked a Brooklyn federal judge to block the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from sharing personal information, including immigration status, of recipients of financial assistance with the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies, saying the proposed disclosure has "no statutory authority whatsoever."

  • August 19, 2026

    German Entrepreneur's Dad Can't Nix SEC Tab, 1st Circ. Rules

    The First Circuit on Wednesday affirmed a judgment against the father of German billionaire Michael Gastauer, saying the parent "waited too long" to object to a lower court's personal jurisdiction over him as a relief defendant in a case concerning his son's alleged participation in an international pump-and-dump scheme.

  • August 19, 2026

    Colo. Sues GEO Group To Allow Tuberculosis Probe At ICE Camp

    Colorado sued private prison operator GEO Group in state court Wednesday, accusing it of failing to comply with a public health order seeking compliance with a tuberculosis investigation in the only immigration detention camp in the state.

  • August 19, 2026

    CFPB Pursues Early Win In Hagens Berman Lender Docs Suit

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is seeking to beat Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP's suit accusing the agency of illegally withholding information about any investigations into mortgage lender Veterans United, arguing that acknowledging any such probe could thwart the bureau's law enforcement efforts.

  • August 19, 2026

    FTC Warns Secret Personalized Prices Likely To Draw Scrutiny

    Retailers and other businesses that use consumers' personal data to set individualized prices are likely to face regulatory backlash if these practices aren't clearly disclosed, the Federal Trade Commission cautioned in a proposed policy statement issued Wednesday that vowed the agency would "aggressively" enforce such misconduct.

  • August 19, 2026

    Albertsons Says Wash. Failed To Prove Opioid Claims At Trial

    Albertsons Cos. Inc. urged a Seattle judge on Tuesday to throw out Washington state's lawsuit accusing the chain and its subsidiary Safeway Inc. of fueling Washington's opioid crisis, arguing that the state failed to prove wrongdoing by the companies after nearly five weeks of an ongoing bench trial.

  • August 19, 2026

    Baltimore Can't Send Payday Lender Suit Back To State Court

    A Maryland federal judge refused to remand a suit brought by the city of Baltimore against Los Angeles-based lender Dave Inc. to state court, ruling that the city failed to explain how federal courts' interpretation and application of the city's consumer protection ordinance would disrupt the state's efforts to establish a policy regulating consumer loans.

Expert Analysis

  • Attorney Mental Health Is An Ethical Obligation In The AI Era

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    As attorneys cope with the increasing unpredictability that artificial intelligence and constant policy changes have created, particularly in practice areas where they carry the emotional weight of clients’ most consequential life events, otherwise soft discussions about self-care are a matter of professional competence, says attorney Jack Jrada.

  • Md. Ruling Reflects Classic Administrative Law Principle

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    A Maryland federal court's recent decision in Columbus v. Kennedy significantly limits how far the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services can go in reshaping the Affordable Care Act through regulation, highlighting a principle that will likely be applied in similar Administrative Procedure Act challenges, says Michael King at Brownstein Hyatt.

  • DOJ China Container Indictments Signal Global Cartel Risk

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent announcement that it had indicted Chinese manufacturers for conspiring to drive up the price of shipping containers sold in the U.S. illustrates the Antitrust Division's interest in pursuing overseas cartel conduct, especially in China, signaling that multinational companies with employees abroad should strengthen antitrust compliance to avoid running afoul of U.S. national security policy, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • More Cos. Will Copy SpaceX's Shareholder Proposal Opt-Out

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    For more than 80 years, the shareholder proposal looked like a federal right guaranteed to all public company investors, but after SpaceX opted out before its recent initial public offering, other companies are likely to follow, says Mohsen Manesh at the University of Oregon School of Law.

  • How DOJ Is Approaching Monitorship After Signaling Limits

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    As the U.S. Department of Justice keeps more monitors in place than expected, a look at the matters in which prosecutors are maintaining oversight reveals the sort of companies enforcers might trust to self-remediate, and also those that may receive independent supervision, say attorneys at Kendall Brill.

  • Opinion

    DHS' World Cup Influencer Warning Overreads Visa Law

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    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s reported position that foreign influencers covering the 2026 World Cup need work visas if their content is monetized runs contrary to both legislative intent and long-standing precedent that structure the visa inquiry around labor market substitution, says Jun Li at Reid & Wise.

  • 3 Steps For Banks As Section 1071 Rule Finally Becomes Final

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    Some community banks and other lenders will get some breathing room in the final Section 1071 rule exempting them from small business lending reporting duties, but other reporting institutions should update applications, systems and staff training ahead of the 2028 compliance date, says Memrie Fortenberry at Jones Walker.

  • Why DOE Isn't Phasing Out Appliance Efficiency Regs

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    While the U.S. Department of Energy recently acted on President Donald Trump's 2025 executive order requiring it to consider sunsetting many energy regulations, the DOE has not proposed phasing out efficiency standards for appliances and industrial equipment — but it could pursue other approaches to ease such requirements, say attorneys at HWG.

  • Series

    Power To The Paralegals: Burnout As A Structural Problem

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    Law firm leadership can best retain their paralegals not by encouraging self-care, but by seeking top-down structural solutions for the quiet proliferation of responsibilities and the vicarious exposure to client trauma that particularly drive burnout in this vital role, says Erika Sneeringer at Brockstedt Mandalas.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: June Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses five recent rulings from cases involving allegations of internet data misuse, consumer fraud claims, immigration, insurance and First Amendment violation claims.

  • Justices' FCC Fine Ruling May Weaken Agency Leverage

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Federal Communications Commission v. AT&T upheld the commission's forfeiture framework as consistent with Jarkesy, but it is also likely to reduce the effectiveness of the commission’s forfeiture proceedings as a collection and deterrence tool, say attorneys at Venable.

  • Takeaways From 1st Del. Ruling Applying Moelis Amendments

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    Delaware corporations should carefully review contractual arrangements and governance documents following the Court of Chancery's recent enforcement of a non-Delaware forum selection clause in a CEO's employment agreement under 2024 amendments to the state's General Corporation Law, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Ill. Law Firm MSO Bill Clashes With Court Power, Ethics Rules

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    An Illinois bill prohibiting law firms from certain business arrangements with management service organizations, sent to the governor for signature last week, encroaches upon the courts' constitutional powers and goes beyond the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct in regulating investment in law-related services, says Matthew O’Hara at Smith Gambrell.

  • Google Antitrust Case Puts Spotlight On De Facto Exclusivity

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    Mozilla's recent amicus filing in U.S. v. Google arguing that its agreement to make Google the default search engine did not amount to de facto exclusivity highlights the growing debate over traditional indicators of exclusivity, with implications for any business that uses rebates, preferred contracts or volume incentives, says Chris Gowen at WilmU Farnan School of Law.

  • Justices' Montgomery Ruling Doesn't Expand Shipper Liability

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    Whether negligent hiring liability claims against shippers will increase after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last month in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II is anyone's guess, but the ruling itself will have no impact on shippers' actual liability in personal injury claims relating to trucking accidents, says Ronald Leibman at McCarter & English.

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