Public Policy

  • May 12, 2026

    FCC OKs EchoStar $40B Spectrum Sales To AT&T, SpaceX

    Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr announced on Tuesday that FCC staff has approved EchoStar's sale of "underused" spectrum to AT&T and SpaceX, in deals collectively totaling roughly $40 billion.

  • May 12, 2026

    Attys For Tufts Profs Didn't Blink In A Tenure Standoff

    When Jennifer Henricks and Kevin Peters first learned what was happening to tenured professors at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston a few years ago, they knew that what was at stake involved more than just a dispute over the terms of a contract.

  • May 12, 2026

    DOJ Playing 'Dirty Pool' With Hospital In Trans Care Subpoena

    A Rhode Island federal judge indicated Tuesday she's likely to quash a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice seeking to obtain gender-affirming care medical records from Rhode Island Hospital, saying the DOJ was playing "dirty pool" by filing a motion to enforce the subpoena in another jurisdiction.

  • May 12, 2026

    Colo. Justices Weigh Discovery Rights In Condemnation Suit

    The Colorado Supreme Court seemed poised Tuesday to send back to a lower court a landowner's challenge of a quasimunicipal corporation's use of eminent domain, appearing to agree with the landowner that the trial court had discretion to grant discovery.

  • May 12, 2026

    Mass. AG OKs Auditor Lawsuit, Ending Constitutional Spat

    The Massachusetts attorney general said on Tuesday she will allow litigation to proceed over whether the state legislature can be audited and will appoint special counsel to represent the state auditor, ending a high-profile showdown between two high-ranking elected officials.

  • May 12, 2026

    USPTO Touts Fraud Crackdown In Patent, TM Applications

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said Tuesday the agency is taking steps to combat fraudulent representations and invalid filings in trademark and patent applications, saying it had purged thousands of applications in the last fiscal year.

  • May 12, 2026

    7th Circ. Urged To Revive Hartford $4M Wire Fraud Fight

    An Illinois agency that administers financially distressed insurers' estates Tuesday urged the Seventh Circuit to revive its lawsuit seeking insurance coverage for a cyberattack during which its financial chief provided confidential login information to hackers, who used his email account to instruct employees to wire them nearly $7 million.

  • May 12, 2026

    Gray, Dish Settle FCC Complaint After Retransmission Deal

    Gray Television has settled with Dish Network over a complaint to the Federal Communications Commission alleging that the satellite TV provider was airing Gray's content without permission, after the companies ended a retransmission consent dispute this month.

  • May 12, 2026

    Feds Tell 9th Circ. They Have Last Word On Pipeline Restart

    A federal pipeline regulator told the Ninth Circuit on Monday it reasonably asserted jurisdiction over an oil pipeline system near Santa Barbara, California, and approved a Texas company's restart plan, saying challenges brought by California and environmental groups are unfounded.

  • May 12, 2026

    Law Student Can't Get School To Nix Kirk Comment Discipline

    A Texas federal judge on Tuesday said the court cannot force Texas Tech University's leaders to rescind a reprimand against a law student who allegedly celebrated following the death of Charlie Kirk, as the university has sovereign immunity.

  • May 12, 2026

    Sports Broadcasting Protections Need Overhaul, Groups Say

    State broadcasting groups have called on Congress to update the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 to protect fan access to programming amid the growing number of streaming paywalls.

  • May 12, 2026

    5th Circ. Judge Hints PWFA Fight May Be Headed For Justices

    The full Fifth Circuit grappled Tuesday with whether lawmakers had to be physically present to have validly enacted the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, in a case one judge said will head to the U.S. Supreme Court if a lower court ruling barring PWFA enforcement against Texas stands.

  • May 12, 2026

    Ga. Lets Gig Workers Tap Into Benefits Without Status Shift

    Georgia gig workers can access benefits like health insurance and retirement savings plans without giving up independent contractor status under legislation recently signed by Gov. Brian Kemp. 

  • May 12, 2026

    ACLU, Other Groups Want To Back Mich. In ICE Facility Fight

    The American Civil Liberties Union was joined by several civil rights and immigrant advocacy groups in asking a Michigan federal court on Monday for permission to weigh in support of a suit filed by the state of Michigan and city of Romulus seeking to stop an immigration detention center from taking over a former warehouse site.

  • May 12, 2026

    Colo. Legislators Approve AI Bias Law Replacement

    The Colorado Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would revamp the state's landmark law regulating the use of artificial intelligence technologies in employment, education and other significant decisions, sending the legislation to Gov. Jared Polis for his signature.

  • May 12, 2026

    DOE Accused Of Stretching Emergency Power For Pa. Plant

    A group of consumer and environmental advocates has told the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Department of Energy illegally substituted long-term electricity planning reserved for states with its own emergency authority to keep open a Pennsylvania power plant.

  • May 12, 2026

    Low-Power TV Group Asks FCC To Allow 5G Broadcast Standard

    The Low-Power TV Broadcasters Association asked the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday to allow it to use the 5G broadcast standard to deliver content to smartphones.

  • May 12, 2026

    PayPal Settles Gov't DEI Probe With Small Biz Program

    The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday that it has reached a settlement with PayPal Inc. to end an investigation into what the department said was a discriminatory investment program for Black- and minority-owned businesses.

  • May 12, 2026

    New Precedent Revives $6.6M IRS Penalty Fight, Broker Says

    An insurance broker asked a Pennsylvania federal court to consider new constitutionality arguments against the IRS penalty prepayment requirement to revive its challenge to $6.6 million in captive insurance tax penalties, arguing those claims rely on new legal precedent.

  • May 12, 2026

    Commerce Details Path To Discount For 100% Pharma Tariff

    The U.S. Department of Commerce released guidance for pharmaceutical companies looking to show they have made sufficient onshoring commitments to qualify for a discount on the 100% tariff on certain imported drugs coming this summer.

  • May 12, 2026

    Southern Utes Secure First Tribal Energy Resource Agreement

    The Southern Ute Indian Tribe has signed the first ever tribal energy resource agreement with the U.S. Department of the Interior that will allow the Indigenous nation to manage and develop energy resources on its own lands without having to obtain federal approval for each endeavor.

  • May 12, 2026

    NJ, ICE Pause Fight Over Planned Immigrant Detention Center

    The state of New Jersey and one of its municipalities on Tuesday temporarily paused their bid to block a planned immigration detention center after reaching an agreement with federal officials that halts most work at the site pending further environmental review.

  • May 12, 2026

    Comcast, Power Co. In FCC Tug Of War Over Pole Upgrades

    Comcast claims it's still having problems getting Appalachian Power Co. to cover the cost of utility pole fixes for broadband upgrades, but it's not clear whether the Federal Communications Commission is ready to spring into action to resolve the dispute.

  • May 12, 2026

    Epstein Accusers Urge Changes To Laws At Fla. Hearing

    Jeffrey Epstein accusers urged lawmakers to pass laws giving more rights to sex trafficking victims, testifying Tuesday during a congressional hearing in Florida that they were never consulted prior to a federal non-prosecution agreement for the late financier nearly 20 years ago. 

  • May 12, 2026

    6th Circ. Says Jailers Entitled To Immunity In Detainee Death

    The Sixth Circuit has ruled that a group of jail officials in Michigan should be given qualified immunity from a lawsuit alleging they ignored the medical needs of a man who was incarcerated in their facility and later died from cardiac arrest.

Expert Analysis

  • How Calif. Safety Worker Pension Bill Could Cost Employers

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    Public employers should carefully consider how pension costs and bargaining concerns could change under a California Legislature bill that would increase retirement benefits for safety employees like police and firefighters, which could erode previous efforts to fully fund the public retirement system without necessarily improving worker retention, says Michael Youril at Liebert Cassidy.

  • Opinion

    Judicial Restraint Anchors Constitutional Order

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    Contrasting opinions in two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings — Trump v. CASA and Bost v. Illinois State Board of Elections — demonstrate how the judiciary’s constitutionally entrusted role can easily be preserved or disrupted, and invite renewed attention to the enduring importance of judicial restraint, says Ninth Circuit Judge J. Clifford Wallace.

  • 'Made In America' Rules Raise Stakes For Gov't Contractors

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    The convergence of widely varying "buy American" requirements, increased enforcement efforts and continuing regulatory attempts to limit foreign sourcing suggests that government contractors should carefully review their supply chain and country-of-origin compliance to remain competitive, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Human Authorship Is Still Central To Copyright Eligibility

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    In declining to review the D.C. Circuit's ruling in Thaler v. Perlmutter — holding that a work purely generated by artificial intelligence cannot be copyrighted — the U.S. Supreme Court has reinforced the human authorship requirement, so it is critical for creators of AI-assisted projects to document their involvement, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Recent Bank Resolution Filings Stress Readiness Over Docs

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    Against the backdrop of banking regulators' recent emphasis on institutional readiness in the event of a bank failure, a review of more than a dozen public resolution plan submissions points to an immediate future in which regulators and banks alike prioritize operational preparedness over extensive documentation, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Series

    Alpine Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Skiing has shaped habits I rely on daily as an attorney — focus, resilience and the ability to remain steady when circumstances shift rapidly — and influences the way I approach legal strategy, client counseling and teamwork, says Isaku Begert at Marshall Gerstein.

  • 3 Federal Policy Trends Shaping Data Center Power

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    With the White House, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Congress each pushing energy policies that will influence how data centers are sited, powered and interconnected for years to come, industry stakeholders should understand compliance obligations, consider possible downstream effects, and evaluate off-grid and self-supply energy options, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • NY Tax Talk: Calculating Tiered Partnership Income

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    Attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland discuss how the potential impact recent New York City Tax Appeals Tribunal decision in Matter of Cantor Fitzgerald holding that the entity approach should be used by tiered partnerships to compute unincorporated business tax liability, why the issue of the proper approach remains unsettled and the broader implications for federal conformity and administrative agency deference.

  • FDA Guidance May Move Goalposts For Form 483 Responses

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    New draft guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration provides formal insight on how drug manufacturers are expected to respond to Form 483s, raising some concerns about the agency's timelines and expectations, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Understanding The SEC's Consequential Crypto Guidance

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent interpretive release — its most comprehensive statement ever on the application of the federal securities laws to crypto-assets — reimagines the Howey test to resolve long-standing questions over what is a security, but leaves many issues unresolved, say attorneys at Cahill.

  • Ohio Case Reflects States' Aggressive Criminal Antitrust Turn

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    The Ohio Attorney General's Office’s recent bid-rigging indictment of an online auctioneer is the latest signal that states, through attorneys general pursuing more kickback cases and legislators expanding the reach of antitrust laws, are shedding their historical reluctance to wield their criminal antitrust enforcement powers, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Justices' Geofence Ruling May Test 4th Amendment's Future

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    When the U.S. Supreme Court decides in Chatrie v. U.S. whether law enforcement may use geofence warrants to compel Google to disclose location history data, the ruling is likely to become an important statement about the future of Fourth Amendment law in data-driven investigations, says Duncan Levin at Levin & Associates.

  • Series

    NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1

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    In the first quarter of 2026, New York's banking developments were headlined by initiatives to expand oversight of financial institutions and strengthen consumer protection laws, including a new framework for buy now, pay later lenders, a sweeping debt collection rule and a revised corporate self-disclosure program for financial crimes, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Seeking A Policy Fix As Merger Reporting Fight Continues

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    A recently announced request by the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice for public comment on the Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger reporting requirements, as litigation challenging the commission's updated requirements continues, suggests the government's willingness to address how best to support modern merger enforcement without unduly burdening filing parties, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • What New Fla. Citizens Bill Means For Surplus Lines Insurers

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    A Florida bill recently passed by the Legislature as part of a continued effort to depopulate Citizens Property Insurance, the state's insurer of last resort, creates an additional pathway for commercial policies to be written by surplus lines insurers, but also presents concerns of unnecessary regulation, say attorneys at Troutman.

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