Public Policy

  • July 29, 2026

    Longtime USPTO Employee Tapped For Acting Deputy Leader

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has selected longtime employee Anne Mendez to serve as the acting second in command of the agency after Deputy Director Coke Morgan Stewart revealed this week that she's leaving for the private sector.

  • July 29, 2026

    Asylum Seeker Class Presses For Removed Member's Return

    A class of young asylum seekers has told a Maryland federal judge that the government violated a settlement when it removed one member with a cognitive disability to Guatemala without first considering his asylum application, and it should be ordered to return him.

  • July 29, 2026

    Enforcers Defend Google Search Win, Seek Payment Ban

    The U.S. Department of Justice and state enforcers urged the D.C. Circuit not to disturb a trial court's ruling that found Google illegally maintained its search monopoly, while also asking the appeals court to consider banning Google from paying to be the default search engine.

  • July 29, 2026

    DOJ Wants To Let Immigration Judges Fine For Contempt

    The Executive Office for Immigration Review proposed a rule Wednesday that would allow immigration judges to impose civil monetary penalties for contempt on attorneys, their noncitizen clients and witnesses, operationalizing a power that has lain dormant since 1996.

  • July 29, 2026

    'Vibe Coding' Pushes Cos. To Rethink Copyright Protection

    As artificial intelligence takes on more software development projects, businesses embracing “vibe coding” are adapting to uncertain copyright protection by documenting engineers’ contributions, keeping humans involved in high-value projects and leaning more heavily on trade secrets.

  • July 29, 2026

    Senate Postpones Key Vote For AG Nominee Blanche

    The committee vote on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's bid to take the permanent role, slated for Thursday, was postponed after Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., were not fully on board.

  • July 29, 2026

    Texas Ties Sway Transfer Ruling In SpaceX Land-Swap Fight

    A D.C. federal judge has allowed SpaceX and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to shift a dispute over their planned land swap to Texas, finding most significant aspects of the case are tied to the Lone Star State.

  • July 29, 2026

    3rd Circ. Revives Atlantic City Hotel Dynamic-Pricing Suit

    A Third Circuit panel Wednesday revived a proposed class action accusing Atlantic City casino-hotels of illegally inflating room prices with software that allegedly shared private occupancy and pricing information among them.

  • July 29, 2026

    ACLU Seeks DOD Docs On Military Role In Immigration Courts

    The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts on Wednesday sued the Trump administration for records about the purported use of military personnel to serve as temporary immigration judges, which the organization called a violation of the founders' desire to keep the military out of domestic law enforcement.

  • July 29, 2026

    DOJ Declines To Charge Optometry Group Under New Policy

    New Jersey-based optometry practice Campus Eye Management on Wednesday became the first healthcare company to secure a declination of criminal charges under the U.S. Department of Justice's new corporate enforcement policy.

  • July 28, 2026

    Fed's 'Skinny' Accounts Need Failure Safeguards, Critics Say

    As the Federal Reserve moves closer to giving fintech and crypto firms a direct on-ramp to its payment rails, critics inside and outside the banking industry say it needs a more robust off-ramp for those that get into trouble or fail.

  • July 29, 2026

    Lowe's Coverage Row, NASCAR Team Tiff: NC Midyear Report

    The North Carolina courts are teeing up for a busy second half of 2026, including readying for a multimillion-dollar insurance trial with Lowe's and speeding through discovery in a high-profile trade secrets dispute involving former NFL coach Joe Gibbs' championship NASCAR team.

  • July 28, 2026

    Trump Asks Supreme Court To Upend $83M Carroll Verdict

    President Donald Trump urged the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday to wade in and overturn a jury's $83.3 million verdict finding he defamed writer E. Jean Carroll after she accused him of a decades-old sexual assault, pointing to the justices' decision giving presidents sweeping immunity for official acts.

  • July 28, 2026

    Houston's Race-Conscious Contracting Program Struck Down

    A Texas federal judge on Tuesday ruled that Houston's program awarding public contracts on a race-conscious basis violated the Fourteenth Amendment in the first federal challenge to such a program following the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 decision striking down affirmative action admissions policies.

  • July 28, 2026

    FCC Pulls Major Provider From Lifeline, Citing Violations

    The Federal Communications Commission says it has banned one of the nation's biggest Lifeline providers from participating in the subsidy program after uncovering widespread violations of the program's rules, including a practice of transferring people back after they switched their service to another provider.

  • July 28, 2026

    DHS Can't Undo Order Halting TSA Union Deal Cancellation

    A federal judge in Seattle denied the Trump administration's bid on Tuesday to lift a court order blocking the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from canceling a collective bargaining agreement covering thousands of Transportation Security Administration workers, saying the government failed to debunk two independent grounds for the injunction.

  • July 28, 2026

    Ed Dept. Can't Cancel K–12 Mental Health Grants Worth $1B

    A Washington federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration on Tuesday from terminating nearly $1 billion in K–12 mental health grants serving 15 states, finding that the plaintiff states are likely to prove the U.S. Education Department bypassed federal procedures when attempting to cut off the funds.

  • July 28, 2026

    Texas Judge Calls Late Bid To Disqualify Atty 'Dilatory Tactic'

    A Texas federal judge on Tuesday denied a request to disqualify an attorney representing the former chief executive of a real estate company related to the late mogul Gene Phillips, saying the attempt to knock out the attorney came way too late in the game.

  • July 28, 2026

    NJ Nursing Home On Hook For Hypothermia Death Verdict

    A New Jersey appellate panel on Tuesday affirmed a $450,000 jury verdict against a nursing home accused of negligently keeping a resident's room like an "icebox," which caused her death from hypothermia, saying the verdict was supported by sufficient evidence.

  • July 28, 2026

    Amazon To Pay $2M To End Suit Over Rest Breaks In Wash.

    Amazon will pay $2 million to resolve Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go store workers' accusations that the e-commerce giant failed to provide them with meal and rest breaks required under Washington state law, according to a settlement given final approval by a Pierce County judge.

  • July 28, 2026

    1st Circ. Asked To Save Mayer Brown $21M Fee Bid In RI Suit

    The American Trucking Associations told the First Circuit that its attorneys at Mayer Brown LLP reasonably justified their request for $21 million in fees and costs after securing "substantial" wins in long-running litigation over Rhode Island's truck tolling program, disputing a district court's determination that the trucking trade group wasn't actually a "prevailing party."

  • July 28, 2026

    FCC Says Starlink Routers Exempt From Nat'l Security Ban

    The Federal Communications Commission has banned virtually all foreign-made routers from the United States, citing national security concerns, but it isn't worried about ones made by billionaire Elon Musk's satellite internet company Starlink.

  • July 28, 2026

    Wash. AG's Income Tax Repeal Ballot Language Challenged

    Political action committee Let's Go Washington on Monday launched a legal challenge to the Evergreen State attorney general's wording of a November ballot measure that would repeal a recently passed 9.9% tax on annual income above $1 million, claiming the summary is inaccurate and slanted in favor of the tax.

  • July 28, 2026

    Senate Confirms Jay Clayton As National Intelligence Chief

    The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to confirm Jay Clayton as director of national intelligence, two weeks after Clayton, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, refused to answer who he thought won the 2020 election during his confirmation hearing.

  • July 28, 2026

    States Back Guam Group In High Court Disposal Permit Fight

    A coalition of states has told the U.S. Supreme Court that the U.S. Air Force must comply with separate, complementary environmental laws over its permit renewal application to detonate expired munitions in Guam, arguing the laws have distinct aims.

Expert Analysis

  • What Colorado AI Law's Major Rewrite Means For Employers

    Author Photo

    Colorado's landmark law regulating employers' use of artificial intelligence tools was recently replaced with a narrower regime that eliminates many burdensome obligations, but still imposes a host of requirements focused on transparency and accountability, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Operational AI Washing: The Next Frontier Of Fiduciary Risk

    Author Photo

    While there are still no final Delaware decisions applying Caremark specifically to artificial intelligence governance failures, previous case law provides a blueprint, so the question for boards is whether their governance architectures will satisfy Caremark when the first cases are decided, say attorneys at Akerman.

  • A Look At The Court's Next Steps In Live Nation Antitrust Case

    Author Photo

    Following a recent jury verdict that Live Nation and Ticketmaster operated as a monopoly to fix ticket prices, a New York federal court stands to weigh Live Nation's bid for a new trial, approve the U.S. Department of Justice's March settlement with the defendants, and impose remedies that include full structural separation, say attorneys at Crowell.

  • How Crypto Firms Can Prep As Clarity Act Inches Toward Law

    Author Photo

    Though the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act’s road to enactment remains uncertain, the statutory framework for regulating digital commodities recently advanced by the Senate Banking Committee is now sufficiently developed that market participants can begin preparing in several areas where the complicated legislation would affect them, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.

  • Checking For AI Errors Is Now A Two-Way Street

    Author Photo

    A handful of recent federal and state cases demonstrate the importance of checking for errors generated by artificial intelligence not only in your own court submissions, but also your opponent's, as well as when catching opposing counsel's AI mistakes could result in an award for attorney fees, says Tamara Barago at Hollingsworth.

  • Opinion

    SEC Enforcement Reforms Must Address Post-Wells Limbo

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent changes to how it notifies companies of a potential enforcement action fail to address what happens after the Wells process is over, highlighting the need for meaningful process reform that includes a formal closure determination, says Kimble Cannon at Mahdavi Bacon.

  • Green Card Memo Warps Long-Standing Adjustment Process

    Author Photo

    A recent policy memorandum that treats a nonimmigrant visa holder’s decision to seek adjustment of status in the U.S., rather than at a U.S. consulate, as an adverse factor reinterprets existing discretionary frameworks, compounds risks for applicants required to apply abroad and changes practitioner approaches to application preparation, says attorney Jack Jrada.

  • Opinion

    Congress Must Bolster Wrongful Conviction Framework

    Author Photo

    The Trump administration's recent decision to abandon its flawed “anti-weaponization” fund should not end the conversation about compensating those wronged by the U.S. justice system, — it should open the door for Congress to build a principled system that strengthens and expands the existing framework, say Marc Levin and Khalil Cumberbatch at the Council on Criminal Justice.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Shoring Up Corporate Law In Maryland

    Author Photo

    Launched more than 20 years ago to improve complex corporate adjudication, Maryland's Business and Technology Case Management Program has been a solid success in some areas, but there always is room for improvement, says Bill Krulak at Miles & Stockbridge.

  • How End Of SEC 'Gag Rule' Affects Free Speech Certiorari Bid

    Author Photo

    The Securities and Exchange Commission's recent rescission of the so-called gag rule, which forbade defendants in settlements from denying the SEC’s allegations, may sway the outcome of a petition to the Supreme Court in a case challenging the rule on First Amendment grounds, say attorneys at Troutman.

  • 7 Ways Va. Employers Can Prep For New Noncompete Limits

    Author Photo

    As of July 1, Virginia noncompete agreements with employees fired without "cause" must provide "severance benefits" — but with those key terms undefined, employers should implement several flexible but defensible compliance strategies to limit their exposure once the rule is rolled out, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Data Collection Push Signals New Era For Bank Compliance

    Author Photo

    An executive order pushing for broad bank collection of beneficiary data and a Financial Crimes Enforcement Network geographic targeting order in Minnesota should prompt financial institutions to run checks on customer diligence and privacy controls, as these directives may be part of a wider compliance shift, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • Federal Officer Removal After Justices' La. Pollution Ruling

    Author Photo

    In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Chevron USA v. Plaquemines Parish, companies seeking to use federal officer removal to move litigation out of state court should ask three questions, focusing on government contract language, federally directed activity and related conduct, say attorneys at Hollingsworth.

  • Series

    Competing At Poker Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Playing poker in male-dominated rooms taught me to treat skepticism as background noise when my opponents seem to underestimate me, to apply pressure when it matters and to adapt without losing strategic discipline — skills that are all indispensable in restructuring and insolvency matters, says Alexis Gambale at Pashman Stein.

  • FTC Sweep Signals Increased 'Made In USA' Claim Scrutiny

    Author Photo

    After the Federal Trade Commission's recent enforcement sweep targeting allegedly deceptive "Made in USA" claims, companies should expect continued scrutiny of both traditional and digital marketing channels, coupled with sustained focus on supply chain transparency and claim substantiation, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Public Policy archive.