Public Policy

  • August 31, 2026

    Fiber, Labor Shortages Spur Call To Delay Rural Connections

    Broadband providers have reiterated their call for a one-year extension of the Federal Communications Commission's deadline to complete projects under a rural funding program, citing increasing fiber scarcity and the ongoing skilled labor shortage.

  • August 31, 2026

    EU Sets Evidence Standard For Steel Duty Anti-Evasion Rule

    The European Commission on Monday established the types of evidence that those that import steel into the bloc will need to provide to satisfy new rules requiring clearer information about the country of origin for such products.

  • August 31, 2026

    Judge, Citing COVID Impacts, Cuts SC Mall Tax Value By $17M

    A South Carolina judge cut $17 million from the tax value of a shopping mall, favoring the owner's income analysis and agreeing that the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the viability of malls nationwide.

  • August 31, 2026

    Commerce Probing Indian Polymer For Possible Duties

    The U.S. Department of Commerce said Monday that it is investigating whether Indian imports of a type of polymer used to handle dangerous chemicals are being sold in the U.S. at unfair prices.

  • August 31, 2026

    Thai Spray Foam Imports Face US Circumvention Probe

    The U.S. Department of Commerce said Monday it will determine whether spray foam systems assembled in Thailand with Chinese components are circumventing U.S. duties placed on a foam-making chemical, a month after a similar investigation was opened into Canadian systems.

  • August 31, 2026

    Paul Hastings Hires Longtime FTC Mergers Atty In DC

    An attorney from the Federal Trade Commission, who worked with the agency for nearly 20 years and was most recently deputy assistant director in the Mergers I Division, has joined Paul Hastings LLP, the firm announced Monday.

  • August 28, 2026

    Meta's $17B Child Safety Deal Puts Heat On Congress To Act

    Meta's landmark $17.1 billion settlement of states' claims that it purposely addicted kids to social media mandates many of the safeguards increasingly being required by a growing patchwork of largely contested state child safety laws, boosting not only the profile of these measures but also the push for Congress to enact a more comprehensive fix.

  • August 28, 2026

    Judge Temporarily Nixes 'Arbitrary' Pauses On Diversity Visas

    A California federal judge Friday certified classes of diversity immigrant visa applicants affected by three Trump administration policies that froze immigrant visas and temporarily vacated the policies, agreeing with a Washington, D.C., federal judge who days ago found the policies arbitrary and capricious.

  • August 28, 2026

    25K Workers 'Out Of Luck': Feds Defend Layoffs At 9th Circ.

    The federal government Friday urged the Ninth Circuit to reverse a finding that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management wrongfully fired 25,000 probationary workers shortly after President Donald Trump took office, arguing that the OPM was operating well within its statutory authority, the district court lacked jurisdiction, and the workers are "simply out of luck."

  • August 28, 2026

    MLB's Tampa Bay Rays Get Key Approvals For New Stadium

    Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays took a major step toward consummating the ballclub's yearslong efforts to build a new home ballpark, as the Hillsborough County Commission on Friday approved a development and funding agreement for a proposed $2.3 billion stadium project one day after the Tampa City Council gave its consent.

  • August 28, 2026

    Fintechs Back 24/7 Futures Trading As Energy Producers Balk

    Commodity and energy producers cautioned the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission against enabling round-the-clock trading and perpetual contracts on the energy industry, while many trading platforms told the agency that they believe they can mitigate the risks that come with extended trading hours.

  • August 28, 2026

    Industries, States Take Soot Rule Fight To Supreme Court

    A coalition of industry groups and 25 states led by Kentucky and West Virginia have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a D.C. Circuit decision that upheld a challenged rule imposing tighter nationwide limits on soot pollution.

  • August 28, 2026

    2nd Circ. Revives FCA Overpayment Suit Against Pharmacy

    A Second Circuit panel on Friday undid a whistleblower's loss on False Claims Act allegations that AmerisourceBergen Corp.'s pharmacy business owes the government money for overpayments from federal healthcare programs for drug purchases and other services.

  • August 28, 2026

    Trump Admin Asks High Court To Uphold Trans Troop Ban

    The Trump administration urged the U.S. Supreme Court Friday to allow its ban on transgender members of the military to take full effect, arguing the policy is constitutional under the high court's developing transgender case law.

  • August 28, 2026

    OCC Sends Final Stablecoin Rules For White House Sign-Off

    The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has sent its final rule establishing standards for stablecoin issuers under its supervision to the White House in the latest step toward implementing last year's landmark stablecoin law known as the Genius Act, following comments from Comptroller Jonathan Gould that the agency plans to issue the oversight rule by November.

  • August 28, 2026

    FCC Wants To Fine Covered Chinese Cos. $188K

    The Federal Communications Commission wants to fine ZTE and Hytera Communications more than $180,000 for failing to provide the agency with all its various corporate identities after the agency placed both Chinese companies on the covered list.

  • August 28, 2026

    Mich. Judge Backs 'Mass Casualty' Privacy Waiver In Schools

    A Michigan state education budget package requiring schools to give up certain privacy protections in exchange for specific funding is not unconstitutional or vague, a federal judge said Thursday in a ruling mirroring a state appeals court's decision issued earlier this month.

  • August 28, 2026

    8th Circ. Says Alleged Parole Lies Aren't Unconstitutional

    An Eighth Circuit panel has upheld the dismissal of an Arkansas sex offender's lawsuit alleging his parole officer used a fake daycare to reject his housing plans, saying parole is not a constitutionally protected right.

  • August 28, 2026

    Judge Wants Info On Effort To Return Deported Nigerian

    A California federal judge ordered the Trump administration Friday to explain how it is facilitating the return of a Nigerian citizen who was granted protection from being deported to Nigeria but who is now hiding in Togo after Ghanaian officials tried sending him to Nigeria.

  • August 28, 2026

    4th Circ. Reverses $42M Abu Ghraib Verdict Against CACI

    The Fourth Circuit on Friday reversed a $42 million jury verdict finding CACI conspired to torture Iraq War detainees, ruling on rehearing the detainees' claims must be dismissed following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision that courts can't create a private right of action under the Alien Tort Statute.

  • August 28, 2026

    Reform For Upper Microwave Bands Needed Soon, FCC Told

    A satellite industry group urged the Federal Communications Commission to move quickly on reforms to rules covering the upper microwave spectrum bands to make it easier to deploy satellite earth stations.

  • August 28, 2026

    NJ Says TikTok Is Withholding Key Child Usage Data

    New Jersey urged a state judge to force TikTok to hand over detailed user engagement data the state said was essential in proving that the platform's design harmed children, accusing the company of months of evasive answers, shifting explanations and contradictory statements about whether the information even exists.

  • August 28, 2026

    Calif. Challenges Trump Admin's Offshore Wind Lease Buyout

    California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a federal lawsuit on Friday against the Trump administration and Golden State Wind LLC, claiming the government unlawfully used a $120 million buyout of the company's offshore wind energy lease to end the renewable energy project and facilitate fossil fuel development.

  • August 28, 2026

    Feds Gain Ground In Energy Permit Turf War With States

    A federal judge's endorsement earlier this month of the Trump administration's restart of a pipeline over California's objections will likely embolden the federal government to override state opposition to energy project development, but the ruling won't be the last word on the legality of such moves.

  • August 28, 2026

    Mass. Coke Bottler Misclassified Worker To Save OT, Suit Says

    A regional Coca-Cola bottler misclassified a worker as an exempt employee to avoid paying overtime, a new lawsuit in Massachusetts state court alleges.

Expert Analysis

  • Asylum Ruling Signals Larger Separation Of Powers Battle

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Mullin v. Al Otro Lado that border officials may turn away asylum-seekers without inspection is part of a broader conversation about the reach of institutional safeguards that subject governmental authority to legal constraint, says Dree Collopy at American University's Washington College of Law.

  • Solar's Momentum At Mid-2026 Will Help It Overcome Snags

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    The rapid expansion of U.S. solar development in the first half of 2026 is likely to continue its pace, even amid ongoing shifts in federal trade policy and supply chain regulations, obstacles to permitting reform, and an increasing divide between states enacting policies to encourage or stymie project development, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • The Debanking Minefield: Navigating Fair Access In 2026

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    Federal regulators' recent elimination of reputational risk from bank supervision, alongside a growing patchwork of state fair access laws, is reshaping how banks make account and service decisions and ushering in a new compliance era requiring individualized, objective and risk-based access determinations, say attorneys at Spencer Fane.

  • Carbon Health Settlement Highlights Why Evidence Is Key

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    The California Attorney General's Office's first-of-its-kind settlement with Carbon Health, imposing penalties for alleged corporate practice of medicine violations, shows that friendly professional corporation challenges usually hinge not on the parties' management services agreement, but on whether the operational record matches it, says Ben Dubin at VC Expert Services.

  • What PE Practitioners Need To Know About New Del. ABC Act

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    Delaware's new Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors statute represents a structural shift in how companies backed by private equity can be wound down and provides a more streamlined tool for managing sponsor liability without the public visibility of a bankruptcy proceeding, says Evelyn Meltzer at Troutman Pepper.

  • How To Brace For A Potential Democratic Oversight Push

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    With the possibility of a shift in congressional control after the November midterm elections, companies and their general counsel should prepare now by mapping oversight exposure, reviewing government interactions, preserving records and developing coordinated communications strategies, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

  • Opinion

    Labor Contract Bill Would Introduce Sweeping Risks For Cos.

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    The House-approved Faster Labor Contracts Act would force rapid first-contract bargaining, subject businesses to binding arbitration over key workplace terms, and create major uncertainty for nonunion companies, making it crucial for employers to assess their exposure and mitigate the risks now, say attorneys at FBT Gibbons.

  • Fed Autonomy Rests On Narrow Exception After Justices Rule

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Trump v. Cook and Trump v. Slaughter expand presidential removal power while temporarily preserving the Federal Reserve’s independence, but there is uncertainty about which of the Fed’s authorities fall within the court’s narrow monetary-policy exception, says Keith Bradley at Squire Patton.

  • Assessing New Risks After The End Of The SEC's Gag Rule

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent rescission of its long-standing no‑deny gag rule marks a transition from a regime of enforced silence to one of strategic communication, meaning the question is no longer simply whether to settle, but how to manage the narrative that follows, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.

  • New Pipeline Repair Rules Shift Burden To Engineer Judgment

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    A proposal from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to allow operators more flexibility to make analysis-informed repair choices, rather than hew to long-standing prescriptive criteria, could make documenting the engineer’s decision-making process as important to compliance as the ultimate repair performed, says Ahuva Battams at Beatty & Wozniak.

  • Series

    Being A Magician Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The skills I've developed as a lifelong magician have translated directly into tangible benefits in the courtroom because performing magic and trying cases both live at the intersection of psychology, storytelling, timing and disciplined rehearsal, says Mark Dombroff at Fox Rothschild.

  • What Ga. Stablecoin Licensing Law Means For Payments Cos.

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    Georgia recently enacted one of the first state-level licensing frameworks for stablecoin issuance aligned with the Genius Act, which may appeal to eligible companies by making licensure accessible to nondepository entities and potentially offering easier access to regulatory guidance, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • Illinois Audit Law Will Make AI Clauses Actually Enforceable

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    A law recently enacted in Illinois creates a first-in-the-nation requirement for artificial intelligence developers to undergo annual audits, providing objective standards that can be incorporated into private contracts and addressing the problem of defining responsible AI use, says William Tanenbaum at Moses & Singer.

  • Opinion

    Shareholder Derivative Litigation Needs A Better Framework

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    Uncoordinated, multiforum shareholder derivative litigation is a growing issue for corporate defendants that have little to no recourse for organizing and consolidating actions, but several commonsense steps should be utilized to preempt such disputes, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • How Justices' TPS Ruling Affects Workforce Planning

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent holding in Mullin v. Doe that courts lack jurisdiction to review temporary protected status determinations greenlights the end of TPS for thousands of Syrian and Haitian nationals, and means employers must reevaluate TPS-designees' employability while avoiding discriminatory document practices, says attorney Richard Herman.

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