Public Policy

  • July 13, 2026

    NJ Justices Revamp Test For Certain Zoning Variances

    The New Jersey Supreme Court revised a decades-old legal test governing use variances for "inherently beneficial" projects, ruling Monday that applicants must show that a proposed development will not substantially impair a municipality's zoning plan before a zoning board balances the project's public benefits against its downsides.

  • July 13, 2026

    Judge Halts Ohio Hemp Law In Dormant Commerce Fight

    An Ohio federal judge on Monday ordered state officials to stop enforcing a new law that reclassified hemp products as marijuana, although the order's scope is limited to the products manufactured and sold by the hemp interests that challenged the policy.

  • July 13, 2026

    GOP States Back Bid To Restore Voter Database Expansion

    A group of Republican-led states is calling on the D.C. Circuit to stay a lower court decision vacating the Trump administration's changes to a database used to verify voters' citizenship or immigration statuses, saying that a number of state laws cannot be executed if Social Security number searches are not allowed.

  • July 13, 2026

    2nd Circ. Rejects Bid To End NYC's Congestion Pricing

    The Second Circuit on Monday upheld New York City's congestion pricing, rejecting two suburban counties' claims that Manhattan's congestion pricing tolls are discriminatory and unconstitutionally restrict motorists' right to travel.

  • July 13, 2026

    Solar Co. Loses Challenge To Validity Of Conn. Panel Seats

    A Connecticut state court judge has turned away a solar developer's argument that three commissioners were sitting illegally on the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority when they ruled in favor of an Avangrid Inc. unit as part of a dispute over a power purchase agreement.

  • July 13, 2026

    Ill. Conforms Property Tax Law With High Court Takings Case

    Illinois updated parts of its property tax code to clarify that tax authorities cannot keep more than a debtor owes under a bill approved by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

  • July 13, 2026

    Judge OKs Pause On Reviewing CFPB Layoff Plan

    A D.C. federal court has approved a joint bid from the Trump administration and a union that represents Consumer Financial Protection Bureau staffers to pause weighing a response to the administration's plan to lay off about half of the agency's remaining workforce, after the parties argued the president's nominee to head the agency should be given the chance to review the plan if he is confirmed.

  • July 13, 2026

    States Win Vacatur Of Remain-In-Mexico Termination Memos

    A Texas federal judge granted Texas and Missouri's push to block the Biden-era termination of the Remain in Mexico policy, which required asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico while their claims were processed, and ruled a nationwide vacatur was appropriate.

  • July 13, 2026

    FCC Ditches Lifeline Obligations In Hundreds Of Counties

    The Federal Communications Commission has announced a list of counties across the country in which eligible telecommunications carriers will no longer be required to advertise and offer Lifeline-supported voice service.

  • July 13, 2026

    Cannabis Co. Says Mich. City Forced Illegal License Waiver

    A marijuana dispensary in Michigan's Upper Peninsula told a federal court that a Michigan municipality changed cannabis licensing rules midway through the process and committed fraud and breach of contract.

  • July 13, 2026

    Hemp Co. Tells 7th Circ. To Leave RICO Case Buried

    Hemp product maker Urb Cannabis and its affiliates are urging the Seventh Circuit to leave intact the dismissal of a hemp seller's suit alleging that Urb's products were illegal and led to a police raid on his store, saying the racketeering claims are insufficient and fail to describe the conspiracy or identify its members.

  • July 13, 2026

    Blanche Hearing To Proceed After Graham's Death

    The Senate Judiciary Committee will still hold the confirmation hearing for Todd Blanche's nomination to be attorney general on Wednesday, despite the death of committee member Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., over the weekend. 

  • July 13, 2026

    Families Cite Geofence Ruling In Newborn Blood Testing Case

    A group of parents suing the state of Michigan over the way newborn blood samples are collected and stored has asked a federal judge to revive its claims by citing recently decided U.S. Supreme Court precedent over the use of bulk cellphone data by police.

  • July 13, 2026

    DHS Revives Plan For NJ Immigrant Detention Center

    The U.S. government told a federal judge that it's actually still considering plans to turn a New Jersey warehouse into an immigrant detention center, a week after it reported it no longer intended to pursue the challenged project.

  • July 13, 2026

    CBP Sends Another $15B In Tariff Refunds To Treasury

    Customs and Border Protection finalized over $15 billion more worth of tariff refunds in just under two weeks, according to a Monday declaration filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade.

  • July 13, 2026

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    The Delaware Chancery Court last week handled disputes involving corporate control, post-closing competition, executive departures, arbitration awards and shareholder litigation.

  • July 13, 2026

    Health Org. Can't Halt FTC Texas Suit Over Trans Youth Care

    A D.C. federal court declined to bar the Federal Trade Commission from pursuing a consumer protection suit in Texas against the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, finding WPATH failed to show those proceedings threatened the court's injunction of a related investigation by the FTC.

  • July 13, 2026

    Alaska Tribal Health Group Drops $390M Suit After Deal

    The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium is looking to nix its $390 million challenge to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over seven years of alleged unpaid contract support cost claims after the parties reached a settlement in the dispute.

  • July 13, 2026

    Ex-Lawmaker's Atty License Pulled After Fraud Conviction

    Former Connecticut state Sen. Dennis A. Bradley will lose his law license on an interim basis later this week while a court considers imposing a lengthier suspension over his March 27 wire fraud conviction.

  • July 13, 2026

    NY Times Says Gov't Can't Justify Concealing Boat Strike Videos

    The New York Times told a New York federal judge that the U.S. Department of Defense's "vague and implausible" justification for withholding footage from several military strikes on boats in the Pacific and Caribbean is countered by its decision to release clips from the footage on social media.

  • July 13, 2026

    Mass. Judge Hints At Fee Award In DOD Grant Cap Case

    The U.S. Department of Defense was "not substantially justified" in moving forward with a unilaterally imposed reimbursement limit for grant-funded research support costs, a Massachusetts federal judge said Monday while weighing whether to award legal fees to a group that successfully challenged the cap.

  • July 13, 2026

    Hawaii To Expand First-Time Homebuyer Tax Break

    Hawaii will increase the individual income tax deduction amount that can be claimed for a taxpayer's contribution to a first-time homebuyer account under a bill approved by Democratic Gov. Josh Green.

  • July 13, 2026

    Trump-IRS Settlement Result Of Sham Suit, Judge Rules

    President Donald Trump's $10 billion suit against his own Internal Revenue Service and the resulting settlement deal lacked a legitimate controversy, given Trump's control over both the agency and the U.S. Department of Justice, a Florida district judge said Monday in an order barring Trump or others from citing the deal.

  • July 13, 2026

    $725M Liquid Nails Deal Would Harm Market, FTC Tells Judge

    Loctite maker Henkel's planned $725 million acquisition of Liquid Nails would create a construction adhesives market behemoth with a "staggering" 80% retail share, the Federal Trade Commission told a Manhattan federal judge Monday as it challenges the deal.

  • July 13, 2026

    US Sets Tariff Rate Quotas For Sugar, Syrups

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture set the tariff-rate quotas on Monday for imports of both raw cane sugar and certain refined sugars that will be subject to lower tariff rates for the 2027 fiscal year.

Expert Analysis

  • Weighing The Implications Of The Anthropic Export Directive

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    The Trump administration recently issued an export control directive against Anthropic to suspend all access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 by any foreign national, representing one of the first uses of the regime against a frontier large language model in widespread commercial distribution, says attorney Sohan Dasgupta.

  • Series

    Moshing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Entering a mosh pit is much like entering the practice of law — it is difficult, you have to know both the written and unwritten rules, and conduct yourself according to the expectations of each community, says Christopher Deubert at Constangy Brooks.

  • Okla. Reforms Will Curb Oil, Gas Royalty Litigation Risk

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    Recent amendments to Oklahoma's Production Revenue Standards Act — the most comprehensive in decades — raise the stakes for true noncompliance with the state's oil and gas royalty payment framework, while offering operators clearer rules, defined interest boundaries and predictable exits from prolonged suspense situations, say attorneys at GableGotwals.

  • High Court Ruling Casts Doubt On Status-Based Gun Bans

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Hemani demonstrates that the justices are increasingly skeptical of broad theories of categorical disarmament and clarifies that dangerousness cannot simply be presumed from one's status or membership in a statutory category, such as illegal drug use, says Lee Francis at Widener Law.

  • Is The SEC Entering Fight Over Prediction Market Oversight?

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had remained largely silent on prediction market regulation until last week, but that trend may be changing, as many event contracts could qualify as security-based swaps, which are subject to the SEC's oversight under current definitions, say attorneys at Bradley Arant.

  • Data Reveals Pivot In Feds' Financial Fraud Priorities

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    Recent Justice Department data shows fraud prosecutions fell to their lowest rate in a decade in 2025, illustrating a move away from traditional financial cases and toward a targeted mix of healthcare, government program, consumer and sanctions matters, say Paul Hinton and Adrienna Huffman at The Brattle Group.

  • Why Highly Specialized Experts May Risk Exclusion At Trial

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    Expert witnesses with highly specific areas of focus may be vulnerable to exclusion in court, making it important for attorneys to check how potential witnesses' qualifications can be bolstered by their publications and other professional activities, say Evan Weisberg and Christopher Cunio at Hunton, and Kevin Cahill at FTI Consulting.

  • Steps For Employers After 7th Circ. BIPA Retroactivity Ruling

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    The Seventh Circuit's recent ruling in Clay v. Union Pacific sharply limits per-scan statutory damages theories in pending Biometric Information Privacy Act cases by retroactively applying a 2024 amendment, but employers should not mistake the holding for a broad safe harbor, say attorneys at Thompson Coburn.

  • How NEPA Review Has Changed Since Seven County

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    A year after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County instituted major changes to judicial review under the National Environmental Policy Act, courts are effectively applying the decision, but where things go from here may be up to agencies and project proponents, say attorneys at Venable.

  • Trump AI Order: Voluntary Framework, Mandatory Implications

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    President Donald Trump's recent executive order promoting the advancement of artificial intelligence innovation and security establishes a new framework for government collaboration with the AI industry, but its classified benchmarking criteria, prerelease framework terms and operational rules will determine whether it establishes de facto compliance expectations, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • FDIC Proposal Takes Bank-Like AML Approach To Stablecoins

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    Rather than craft a bespoke regime for stablecoin issuers, a recently proposed Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. rule builds a technology-neutral Bank Secrecy Act compliance framework under the Genius Act, firmly anchoring stablecoins within the U.S. financial regulatory perimeter, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.

  • DOJ Shifts Raise Ethics Questions For White Collar Defense

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    Recent shifts in U.S. Department of Justice clemency and charge-dismissal practices create ethical gray areas for white collar defense attorneys, who should follow risk-mitigating best practices while still forcefully advocating for their clients, says Kenneth Notter at MoloLamken.

  • A Midyear Look At Antiterrorism Act Jurisprudence And Policy

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    Plaintiffs have filed comparably fewer new actions under the Antiterrorism Act this year, though a handful of key decisions further defined the statute’s aiding-and-abetting standard and highlighted continuing risks for financial services companies, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Opinion

    FTC's Clinical Trial Requirement Threatens Food Claim Rules

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    The Federal Trade Commission's general requirement for randomized controlled trials for most health-benefit claims, recently embraced by the National Advertising Review Board, lacks legal basis and endangers the existing statutory framework Congress created for marketing food and dietary supplements versus drugs, say attorneys at Keller & Heckman.

  • What NERC Reliability Guideline Means For Large Loads

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    The North American Electric Reliability Corporation's new reliability guideline — which addresses issues associated with large loads like data centers, cryptocurrency mining facilities and factories — is nonbinding, but hints at possible future expansion of reliability obligations for large load owners, operators, developers and equipment providers, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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