Public Policy

  • July 28, 2025

    Mass. Planning Group Looks To Bar AFSCME Union Petition

    A publicly funded regional planning entity in Massachusetts has asked a judge to deem it is not a public employer, seeking to head off further efforts by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees to organize the group's workers.

  • July 28, 2025

    EU, US Agree To 15% Tariff Rate For Most Sectors

    The European Union and the U.S. government have reached a deal for a 15% U.S. tariff rate on EU goods from most industry sectors, including cars, semiconductor chips and pharmaceuticals, avoiding the 30% rate that was due to take effect next month.

  • July 28, 2025

    DOL Seeks Small Biz Input On Pooled Retirement Plans

    The U.S. Department of Labor asked small businesses for feedback Monday on whether there should be more conflict-of-interest guardrails on pooled employer retirement plans, and what barriers prevent employers from trusting the newly structured benefit vehicles.

  • July 28, 2025

    DOL's Job Corps Closure Was Unlawful, DC Judge Rules

    A D.C. federal court granted a group of students' request for a preliminary injunction against the U.S. Department of Labor for its decision to close 99 Job Corps centers, saying the department's move was unlawful and "unprecedented."

  • July 28, 2025

    Fired FTC Dem Urges DC Circ. Not To Pause Reinstatement

    A Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission who was fired by the president is urging the D.C. Circuit not to pause a lower court order calling for her reinstatement while the administration appeals, saying the administration has little chance of success.

  • July 28, 2025

    State Justices' Financial Disclosures 'Didn't Get Worse' In '24

    Several states are making information about their Supreme Court justices' finances and potential financial conflicts somewhat more accessible, according to a new report.

  • July 28, 2025

    Trump Wants Ex-Death Row Inmates In 'Supermax' ADX

    Advocates argue that President Donald Trump's effort to send the inmates whom President Joe Biden saved from federal death row to the country's most restrictive federal "supermax" prison is testing the limits of the justice system.

  • July 28, 2025

    Judge Again Cites Bias In NIH Fund Freeze As Gov't Appeals

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Monday reiterated his conclusion that the Trump administration's freeze of $783 million worth of National Institutes of Health grants was based on "palpable" gender and racial discrimination, as he acknowledged a pending request by the government to the U.S. Supreme Court to stay his order that the money be released.

  • July 28, 2025

    Judge To Weigh If FTX Prosecutors Broke Plea Promise

    A Manhattan federal judge said Monday he will investigate an allegation by crypto lobbyist Michelle Bond that she was charged with campaign finance crimes despite a promise that a guilty plea by her husband, former FTX executive Ryan Salame, would leave her in the clear.

  • July 28, 2025

    Merger Settlements Return As Enforcers Keep Busy

    The first half of 2025 saw a string of settlements by the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice allowing mergers to move forward, a marked shift from the prior administration.

  • July 28, 2025

    Texas Resolution Seeks Vote On Lower Property Value Limits

    Texas would ask voters if the state should amend its constitution to authorize lower limits on the maximum appraised value of residence homesteads and of real property other than homesteads for tax purposes under a joint resolution filed in the state House of Representatives during a special session.

  • July 28, 2025

    Fair Housing Groups Win Thaw Of HUD Grant Program Freeze

    A Washington, D.C., federal judge on Monday ordered the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to unlock a grant program meant to help nonprofits enforce housing laws after two groups in a purported class complained that the Trump administration abruptly froze the funding.

  • July 28, 2025

    Judge Says Trump Admin Can't Defund Planned Parenthood

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Monday blocked President Donald Trump's administration from denying Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood clinics, expanding an earlier ruling that had applied only to those that do not provide abortions or that receive minimal federal support.

  • July 28, 2025

    Top 6 Immigration Cases To Track In 2nd Half Of 2025

    The U.S. Supreme Court's June decision curtailing nationwide injunctions promises to shape the trajectory of immigration litigation in the latter half of this year as litigants shift strategies and try other tactics to block the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration measures. Here, Law360 looks at six key immigration cases to watch in the latter half of the year.

  • July 25, 2025

    Trump Admin Loses Sanctuary Fight With Ill., For Now

    An Illinois federal judge Friday threw out the Trump administration's first suit challenging local sanctuary policies, ruling that it's within Illinois', Cook County's and Chicago's rights to opt out of helping the federal government with immigration enforcement efforts.

  • July 25, 2025

    Judge Keeps Nationwide Block On Birthright Citizenship EO

    A Massachusetts federal judge Friday refused to narrow a nationwide injunction blocking President Donald Trump's executive order limiting birthright citizenship, saying any narrower alternative would not be enough to protect a group of states from their asserted harms.

  • July 25, 2025

    Pullman & Comley Didn't Flag 'Falsified' $16M Loan, Suit Says

    Pullman & Comley LLC didn't discover that the executive director of a Connecticut municipal housing authority had allegedly forged a connected company's $16.2 million loan application before penning a letter claiming the deal appeared solid, the lender, who was not a client, has alleged in a lawsuit.

  • July 25, 2025

    Calif. Air Board Faces New Suit Over Carbon Fuel Standard

    Environmental and public interest groups hit the California Air Resources Board with another lawsuit in Golden State court Friday, alleging that the state's recent amendments to the Low Carbon Fuel Standard will have the perverse effect of incentivizing large-scale factory farms, which pose significant environmental and public health risks.

  • July 25, 2025

    Solar Developer Claims NC County's Permit Denial Was Biased

    A "needlessly and excessively combative" board of county commissioners in North Carolina unconstitutionally blocked a solar energy developer's project based on personal issues, according to the company's lawsuit.

  • July 25, 2025

    DC Circ. Pauses Order Reinstating 2 NCUA Members

    The D.C. Circuit on Friday intervened and granted the Trump administration's request to pause a Washington federal judge's order reinstating two National Credit Union Administration board members fired by President Donald Trump, after the federal judge declined to pause the order himself.

  • July 25, 2025

    Kalshi Tells 3rd Circ. Fed Law Bars NJ From Restricting Its Biz

    Sports betting company Kalshi's so-called prediction market that allows users to wager on the outcome of real-world events counts as a federal derivative exchange and, as a result, can't be regulated by state enforcers, the gambling company told the Third Circuit.

  • July 25, 2025

    Sports & Betting Cases To Watch In The Second Half Of 2025

    Certain court cases have become staples on both the midyear and end-of-year must-watch lists in sports and betting at Law360. One that seemed best positioned to finally fall off the list, as it turns out, is far from over: the multibillion-dollar NCAA settlement regarding name, image and likeness payments and revenue sharing with hundreds of thousands of college athletes. A handful of other suits from past years will also continue to bear watching through the end of 2025.

  • July 25, 2025

    9th Circ. Rejects Suit Against Wash. Youth Gender Care Laws

    A Ninth Circuit panel has unanimously declined to revive a challenge to a Washington state law allowing shelters to help runaway teens seek gender-affirming treatment without notifying their parents, ruling on Friday that the plaintiff parents and anti-trans advocacy groups haven't shown actual or imminent harm from the statute.

  • July 25, 2025

    11th Circ. Overturns Funding Model For SEC Database

    The Eleventh Circuit sent the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission back to the drawing board on Friday to chart a path forward for its $500 million market surveillance tool, telling the regulator that it was unreasonable to potentially force broker-dealers to fund the entire project.

  • July 25, 2025

    Reviewing Stewart's Latest Discretionary Denial Decisions

    Acting U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Coke Morgan Stewart issued just eight discretionary denial decisions over the last week, including one that addressed arguments tying in the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act for the first time.

Expert Analysis

  • Policy Shifts Bring New Anti-Money Laundering Challenges

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    In the second half of 2025, the U.S. anti-money laundering regulatory landscape is poised for decisive shifts in enforcement priorities, compliance expectations and legislative developments — so investment advisers and other financial institutions should take steps to prepare for potential new obligations and areas of risk, say attorneys at Linklaters.

  • 8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work

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    Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.

  • Kousisis Concurrence Maps FCA Defense To Anti-DEI Suits

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    Justice Clarence Thomas' recent concurrence in Kousisis v. U.S. lays out how federal funding recipients could use the high standard for materiality in government fraud cases to fight the U.S. Justice Department’s threatened False Claims Act suits against payees deviating from the administration’s anti-DEI policies, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.

  • Despite Dark Clouds, Outlook For US Solar Has Bright Spots

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    While tariff, tax policy and bankruptcy news seemingly portends unending challenges for the U.S. solar energy industry, signs of continued growth in solar generating capacity and domestic solar manufacturing suggest that there is a path forward, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • Assessing New Changes To Texas Officer Exculpation Law

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    Consistent with Texas' recent modernization of its corporate law, the recently passed S.B. 2411 allows officer exculpation, streamlines certificate of formation amendments, authorizes representatives to act on shareholders' behalf in mergers and makes other changes aimed toward companies seeking a more codified, statutory model of corporate governance, say attorneys at Bracewell.

  • How Ending OFCCP Will Affect Affirmative Action Obligations

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    As President Donald Trump's administration plans to eliminate the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, which enforces federal contractor antidiscrimination compliance and affirmative action program obligations, contractors should consider the best compliance approaches available to them, especially given the False Claims Act implications, say attorneys at Ogletree.

  • Rising Enforcement Stakes For Pharma Telehealth Platforms

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    Two pieces of legislation recently introduced in Congress could transform the structure and promotion of telehealth arrangements as legislators increasingly scrutinize direct-to-consumer advertising platforms, potentially paving the way for a new U.S. Food and Drug Administration policy with bipartisan support, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients

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    Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.

  • One Year On, Davidson Holds Lessons On 'Health Halo' Claims

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    A year after the Ninth Circuit's Davidson v. Sprout Foods decision — which raised the bar for so-called health halo claims — food and beverage companies can draw insights from its finding, subsequently expanded on by other courts, that plaintiffs must be specific when alleging fraud in healthfulness marketing, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Justices' NRC Ruling Raises New Regulatory Questions

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    In Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court avoided ruling on the NRC's authority to license private, temporary nuclear waste storage facilities — and this failure to reach the merits question creates new regulatory uncertainty where none had existed for decades, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • 3 Judicial Approaches To Applying Loper Bright, 1 Year Later

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    In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in its Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, a few patterns have emerged in lower courts’ application of the precedent to determine whether agency actions are lawful, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

  • Navigating Antitrust Risks When Responding To Tariffs

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    Companies should assess competitive perils, implement compliance safeguards and document independent decision-making as they consider their responses to recent tariff pressures, say attorneys at White & Case.

  • Breaking Down Part 3 Of The Copyright Office's AI Report

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    On May 9, the U.S. Copyright Office published a prepublication version of the third and final part of its three-part report on artificial intelligence, offering key insights on the unauthorized use of copyrighted material by AI systems, says Courtney Sarnow at CM Law.

  • 8 Insurer Takeaways From Sweeping Georgia Tort Reform

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    Insurers should take note of several critical components of Georgia's tort litigation overhaul — including limitations on damages anchoring, procedural rules governing dismissals, and liability standards in negligent security cases — and adapt claims-handling strategies to reduce litigation risk, says Lucy Aquino at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Bill Leaves Renewable Cos. In Dark On Farmland Reporting

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    A U.S. Senate bill to update disclosure requirements for foreign control of U.S. farmland does not provide much-needed guidance on how to report renewable energy development on agricultural property, leaving significant compliance risks for project developers, say attorneys at Hodgson Russ.

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