Public Policy

  • May 21, 2026

    Apple Wants Justices To Review Epic Games Contempt Order

    Apple Inc. has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on exactly when and how civil contempt sanctions can be issued for violating a court order, arguing that the Ninth Circuit missed the mark by upholding such sanctions against Apple in its App Store battle with Epic Games.

  • May 21, 2026

    OpenAI Ouster About Governance, Not Bad Counsel, Pros Say

    Witness testimony offered during a recent high-profile jury trial over Elon Musk's challenge to OpenAI's for-profit restructuring accused the artificial intelligence company's nonprofit board of following bad legal advice when it fired CEO Sam Altman in 2023, although experts say the incident was more likely the product of poor governance rather than lousy legal counsel.

  • May 21, 2026

    Meta Expert Says $27M Is Better Number For Abatement

    An economics expert for Meta testified Thursday against New Mexico's desired $3.7 billion plan to abate social media's harm to mental health, calling it more "a spending plan" than one for abatement and claiming $27 million will do the job.

  • May 21, 2026

    Trump Cites US AI Lead In Shelving Cybersecurity Directive

    President Donald Trump on Thursday abruptly delayed the planned signing of an executive order to tackle cybersecurity concerns surrounding emerging artificial intelligence models, saying he was worried the proposal to encourage developers to voluntarily share their systems with the government for pre-release testing would impede innovation. 

  • May 21, 2026

    PBM Swaps Cravath For WilmerHale In Price-Fixing Suit

    Pharmacy benefit manager Prime Therapeutics LLC has replaced counsel Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP with WilmerHale and another firm in an antitrust case in Michigan federal court brought by the state's attorney general.

  • May 21, 2026

    9th Circ. Says Judge Overstepped In Fluoride Risk Case

    A Ninth Circuit panel scrapped a ruling that directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take action to address potentially unsafe levels of drinking water fluoridation, concluding a California federal judge improperly commandeered the case.

  • May 21, 2026

    AT&T Sues Calif. To End Copper Wire Service Requirements

    AT&T asked a California federal court to preempt state regulations that require it to continue offering "plain old telephone service" to new customers, saying it needs to retire the "outdated" system to move forward with plans to devote $19 billion on modern telecom tech in the Golden State.

  • May 21, 2026

    11th Circ. Axes T-Mobile's Win In Ga. Tower Permit Dispute

    The Eleventh Circuit on Thursday vacated T-Mobile's win in a long-running fight with a Georgia city over a proposed cell tower, rejecting a widely used test over the infrastructure's need that the court called "irreconcilable" with the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

  • May 21, 2026

    9th Circ. Revives Guatemalan Father-Daughter Duo BIA Cases

    A divided Ninth Circuit panel has revived a Guatemalan father and daughter's bids for protection from removal from the United States, finding on Thursday that the father faced extreme persecution in the Central American country when a family member repeatedly shot at their home in a drunken rage in an attempt to force them out.

  • May 21, 2026

    NY Cautions Banks About Cyber Risks From Advanced AI

    New York's financial services regulator issued new guidance Thursday on the risks associated with cutting-edge artificial intelligence, urging firms to make sure their cybersecurity programs can promptly flag weaknesses that so-called frontier AI models can exploit, among other things.

  • May 21, 2026

    U-M Student Says Pro-Palestinian Views Triggered Retaliation

    A University of Michigan student alleged in federal court Thursday he was harassed and stalked by school officials as retaliation for participating in pro-Palestinian protests and calling for the university to sever ties with Israel.

  • May 21, 2026

    Texas AG Accuses Meta Of Lying About WhatsApp Encryption

    Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Meta and the social media giant's messaging platform WhatsApp in Texas state court on Thursday, claiming the companies lied in promising that WhatsApp messages are private and "not even WhatsApp can see them."

  • May 21, 2026

    Vape Sellers Say Pa. E-Cig Law Usurps FDA Authority

    Vape companies are looking to stop a Pennsylvania law that would effectively ban most e-cigarettes, claiming in a federal lawsuit that the statute is unconstitutional, would destroy roughly $2 million of their inventory and targets products that federal regulators say helps smokers quit.

  • May 21, 2026

    SEC's Peirce To Join Law School Faculty After Agency Exit

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Hester Peirce will join the faculty of Regent University School of Law this November after her time at the agency, the university announced, although the commissioner said her departure date has not yet been set.

  • May 21, 2026

    5 Podcasts To Keep IP Attys Entertained And Informed

    Whether intellectual property attorneys are hitting the road for a family trip or kicking their feet up at home, podcasts about legal news can offer an easy way for them to stay in the know while (hopefully) not working this Memorial Day weekend.

  • May 21, 2026

    FTC's Gender Care Policy Might Not Sink Probe, Judge Says

    A D.C. federal judge wondered Thursday whether it would set a bad precedent for future commissions to label the Federal Trade Commission's investigative demand to the American Academy of Pediatrics as "retaliatory" just because agency officials have issued a policy statement attacking gender-affirming care for minors.

  • May 21, 2026

    Minnesota Tribal Land Trust Order Was Biased, 8th Circ. Told

    Morrison County, Minnesota, and two townships are seeking to vacate a decision to take about 3,238 acres into trust for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, arguing it was based on a biased process in which the tribe pays Bureau of Indian Affairs' salaries to process trust requests.

  • May 21, 2026

    Consumers Want Prelim Block On Paramount-Warner Bros.

    Consumers challenging Paramount Skydance Corp.'s pending $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery asked a California federal judge Wednesday to preliminarily block the transaction while the case proceeds, arguing the threat of higher streaming costs and reduced news competition is too great, and it will be too hard to unscramble the egg after trial.

  • May 21, 2026

    Mich. Judge Expedites Suits Over Candidate Affidavit Rules

    A Michigan claims court judge has consolidated three election-related lawsuits challenging Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's rules and guidance regulating candidate affidavits of identity, while ordering expedited briefing as ballot certification deadlines approach for the August primary election.

  • May 21, 2026

    Newsom Order Eyes Labor Protections Amid AI Growth

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday issued what his office called a "first-in-the-nation" executive order aiming to shore up state labor policies in an effort to prepare workers and businesses in the event of mass workforce disruption caused by artificial intelligence.

  • May 21, 2026

    Feds Accuse Contractors Of DOD Bribery Scheme In Hawaii

    The U.S. Department of Justice has accused two Florida residents of conspiring to bribe a U.S. Army employee and defraud the federal government in connection with the development of a U.S. Department of Defense innovation lab in Hawaii.

  • May 21, 2026

    Legislative Update: Cannabis And Psychedelics Bill Roundup

    Virginia's governor vetoed legislation to establish adult-use marijuana sales, keeping the state in cannabis legal limbo; Illinois lawmakers introduced legislation to rein in hemp products, aligning state policy with an upcoming shift in federal law; and Louisiana lawmakers sent a bill to the governor that would allow terminally ill patients to access medical marijuana in healthcare facilities. Here are the major moves in cannabis and psychedelics legislation from the past week.

  • May 21, 2026

    Feds Tell 4th Circ. Maryland Judges Went Too Far On Removals

    The Trump administration told the Fourth Circuit that a district court wrongly deemed its suit challenging a standing order temporarily barring the immediate removal or transfer of detained noncitizens out of the District of Maryland a "branch-on-branch" dispute.

  • May 21, 2026

    Portugal Must Reclaim Illegal State Aid, EU Court Says

    The European Union's top court said Thursday that Portugal can't suspend tax enforcement proceedings against a company that benefited from unlawful state aid granted by the Madeira Free Zone.

  • May 21, 2026

    OCC Says Fintech Partner Bank Fell Behind On AML Controls

    The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has ordered Community Federal Savings Bank to strengthen its anti-money laundering controls after finding that the New York-based bank failed to keep pace with the risks from its fast-growing payment-processing business.

Expert Analysis

  • Why MDLs Slow Down — And How To Speed Them Up

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    Multidistrict litigation has become central to mass tort practice, but as MDLs grow in size and complexity, so do delays and costs — so tools like the new federal rule governing MDLs, targeted use of special masters and strategically deployed Lone Pine orders are more essential than ever, say attorneys at Ice Miller.

  • What A Court Doc Audit Reveals About Erroneous Filings

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    My audit of 1,522 court documents from last month found that over 95% contained at least one verifiable error, with fewer than 1% showing clear indicators of artificial intelligence use — highlighting above all else that lawyers may want to focus most on strengthening their review processes, says Elliott Ash at ETH Zurich.

  • Regulators' Basel Pitch May Bring Banks Capital Relief

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    The prudential banking agencies' new proposals to implement the so-called Basel III endgame rules — which would modify the approach to risk-based capital, among other notable changes — represent a fundamental directional shift in bank capital requirements aimed at increasing lending capacity, says Chen Xu at Debevoise.

  • How SEC And CFTC Are Attempting To End Their 'Turf War'

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    Through coordinated examinations and a shared aim to end duplicative regulation, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's recent memorandum of understanding could represent a significant shift in the regulatory landscape for market participants subject to the jurisdiction of both agencies, say attorneys at Jenner.

  • FTC Focus: Growing Emphasis On Competition In AI

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    The Federal Trade Commission's leadership has continued to highlight that competitive risks in artificial intelligence markets may arise at multiple levels simultaneously, considering not only who controls the resources necessary to build AI systems, but also how those systems function and yield outputs, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • What's Missing From Latest Gov't Claims Against Harvard

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    The most interesting thing about the Trump administration’s recent civil rights enforcement efforts targeting Harvard University is its decision not to assert violations of the False Claims Act when given the opportunity, despite signals that its enforcement efforts will include use of the federal FCA, say attorneys at Bass Berry.

  • How Cos. Can Prepare For 'Made In America' Ad Scrutiny

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    The Trump administration's executive order to combat fraudulent "Made in America" claims in consumer-facing advertising, along with actions by the Federal Trade Commission, suggest a potential increased focus on consumer protection and pricing-related matters, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Opinion

    FTC Case Risks Redefining Price Discrimination

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    Federal Trade Commission v. Southern Glazer puts a spotlight on the blurry line between illegal price discrimination and ordinary competition, and could potentially set a precedent that puts nearly any manufacturer at risk of Robinson-Patman Act enforcement, says Jeremy Sandford at Econic Partners.

  • Parsing Rule 12(c) Motion Overuse In Securities Class Actions

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    Defendants in securities class actions have more frequently been filing motions for judgment on the pleadings following the denial of motions to dismiss, but courts have recently demonstrated an increasing willingness to reject these previously rare motions, finding them transparent attempts to relitigate already-decided issues, say attorneys at Labaton Keller.

  • Preparing For New Calif. Pay Data Reporting Requirements

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    California's S.B. 464 overhauls the state's pay data reporting framework by requiring employers to use job categories that are based on the Standard Occupational Classification system, increasing both the potential visibility of pay disparities and the complexity of compliance, say attorneys at Kaufman Dolowich.

  • Series

    Mich. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1

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    Michigan's financial services sector saw several significant developments in 2026's first quarter, including the state Department of Insurance and Financial Services' issuance of a bulletin on the use of artificial intelligence and the Michigan House's introduction of a bill based on the Model Money Transmission Modernization Act, say attorneys at Dykema.

  • Justices' Ruling Stresses Quick Action Against Absconders

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    Following the U.S. Supreme Court's recent holding in Rico v. U.S. that a supervised release term is not automatically extended when a defendant absconds, probation officers and prosecutors risk being unable to address later violations if they don't act promptly to secure warrants, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • New DOD Framework Offers Key Guidance On PFAS Disposal

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    The U.S. Department of Defense's recently updated guidance on disposal of materials containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances ends its moratorium on incineration of PFAS-containing waste, but contractors must be ready to demonstrate stringent compliance with the department's new permitting system, operational controls and data practices, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • How Cos. Can Navigate The Patchwork Of AI Safety Bills

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    In the first few months of 2026, state and federal lawmakers introduced hundreds of bills to address the perceived safety risks of artificial intelligence, so companies should assess whether existing or planned services could be scoped into AI safety legislation across jurisdictions, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

  • Unpacking FCC's Proposed Rules For Offshore Call Centers

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    The Federal Communications Commission recently proposed rules that would restrict the use of offshore customer service operations, citing consumer frustration, data security risks and fraud as core reasons for the sweeping regulatory move, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

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