Public Policy

  • July 13, 2026

    Mass. Judge Hints At Fee Award In DOD Grant Cap Case

    The U.S. Department of Defense was "not substantially justified" in moving forward with a unilaterally imposed reimbursement limit for grant-funded research support costs, a Massachusetts federal judge said Monday while weighing whether to award legal fees to a group that successfully challenged the cap.

  • July 13, 2026

    Hawaii To Expand First-Time Homebuyer Tax Break

    Hawaii will increase the individual income tax deduction amount that can be claimed for a taxpayer's contribution to a first-time homebuyer account under a bill approved by Democratic Gov. Josh Green.

  • July 13, 2026

    Trump-IRS Settlement Result Of Sham Suit, Judge Rules

    President Donald Trump's $10 billion suit against his own Internal Revenue Service and the resulting settlement deal lacked a legitimate controversy, given Trump's control over both the agency and the U.S. Department of Justice, a Florida district judge said Monday in an order barring Trump or others from citing the deal.

  • July 13, 2026

    $725M Liquid Nails Deal Would Harm Market, FTC Tells Judge

    Loctite maker Henkel's planned $725 million acquisition of Liquid Nails would create a construction adhesives market behemoth with a "staggering" 80% retail share, the Federal Trade Commission told a Manhattan federal judge Monday as it challenges the deal.

  • July 13, 2026

    US Sets Tariff Rate Quotas For Sugar, Syrups

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture set the tariff-rate quotas on Monday for imports of both raw cane sugar and certain refined sugars that will be subject to lower tariff rates for the 2027 fiscal year.

  • July 13, 2026

    12 Democratic AGs Challenge Paramount-Warner Bros. Deal

    A dozen Democratic attorneys general on Monday sought to block Paramount Skydance's proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, arguing in a California federal court challenge that the deal threatens competition for film distribution and basic cable.

  • July 10, 2026

    NY Nonprofits Want ICE Docs On Courthouse Arrest Policies

    Nonprofit groups suing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over courthouse arrest policies pressed a Manhattan federal judge to force the agency to produce documents and testimony concerning arrests it conducts outside immigration courts after the agency's revised policy concerning such arrests in Manhattan was put on hold.

  • July 10, 2026

    Biggest Illinois Decisions Of 2026: Midyear Report

    One of the biggest decisions to come down in Illinois so far this year applies a 2-year-old Biometric Information Privacy Act amendment retroactively in an appellate ruling experts anticipate will deflate settlement values even though it came from a federal court.

  • July 10, 2026

    Trump Admin. Cuts ESA 'Harm' Definition, Groups Vow Fight

    The Trump administration on Friday said it's scrapping a long-standing definition of "harm" for the Endangered Species Act that included habitat degradation, with environmental groups promising a legal challenge and warning the change will put imperiled species at greater risk of extinction.

  • July 10, 2026

    States' Stopgap Suit Aims To Shield K-12 Mental Health Grants

    Washington and 14 other states launched a preemptive lawsuit Friday to stop the Trump administration from ending federal grants for mental health programming in public schools, seeking to preserve the funding if the U.S. Department of Education succeeds in asserting new grounds for canceling the grants in a related case.

  • July 10, 2026

    Crypto Firms Urge CFTC To Tailor Rules, CME Urges Caution

    Cryptocurrency industry groups and firms are urging the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to make regulatory tweaks to ensure blockchain-based financial products aren't burdened by unsuitable requirements of traditional registration categories, while some traditional finance players told the agency to tread carefully as it considers deregulation for fintech businesses.

  • July 10, 2026

    Kalshi's Contracts 'Sound Like A Bet,' 9th Circ. Judge Says

    A Ninth Circuit panel appeared open Friday to preliminarily blocking Kalshi and Robinhood from offering sports contracts on tribal land, with one judge saying Kalshi's contracts "sound like a bet" subject to Native American gambling laws and another saying it "wouldn't be so unreasonable" to exclude tribes from federal oversight in this area.

  • July 10, 2026

    Ga. Sheriff Says Call Rate Cap Waiver Needed For Rural Jails

    A sheriff from Georgia is asking the Federal Communications Commission to grant the waiver that one of the country's largest prison phone service providers seeks, which would allow it to charge incarcerated people more for audio and video calls than the agency cap.

  • July 10, 2026

    Amazon Deal Would Let Casino App Users Pursue Developers

    Amazon.com Inc. has reached a tentative deal in a proposed class action accusing the e-commerce giant of promoting "social casino" mobile apps that constitute illegal gambling, agreeing to pay $2.5 million upfront and leverage indemnity rights that would allow the putative class to recover money from the app developers.

  • July 10, 2026

    House Duo Push Agencies To Tackle AI-Related Election Risks

    A bipartisan pair of members of the U.S. House of Representatives is calling on several federal agencies to coordinate efforts to ensure technologies fueled by artificial intelligence aren't operating in a way that undermines voters' ability to access "accurate, neutral and reliable" information about the upcoming midterm elections.

  • July 10, 2026

    Hospitals, Housing Targeted In 2026 As Fed Antitrust Wanes

    The U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division and Federal Trade Commission are confronting claims that federal antitrust enforcement is petering out even as the agencies' dockets in 2026 include actions against hospital systems' demands on insurers, rental home listings, protein industry data and criminal prosecutions.

  • July 10, 2026

    Top 5 Enviro Cases To Watch In The 2nd Half Of 2026

    The second half of 2026 could see courts delivering important rulings that will determine whether municipalities can set their own building emissions laws, the extent of California's authority to regulate pollution and citizens' power to enforce the Clean Air Act. Here, Law360 takes a look at five environmental cases that could be resolved before the end of the year.

  • July 10, 2026

    Esco Bar Maker, FDA End Vape Suit Without Prejudice

    The manufacturer behind the popular vape brand Esco Bar has agreed to end its lawsuit accusing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of unfairly rejecting its $7 million application seeking permission to sell more than 100 vape products, with a federal judge sitting by designation in Texas accepting a stipulated dismissal.

  • July 10, 2026

    Chemours Says NC Resident's PFAS 'Equity Action' Must Fail

    DuPont entity and spinoff Chemours Inc. has told a North Carolina federal court it shouldn't have to face a PFAS contamination suit from a state resident, saying in her early-stage court filings, she's conceded that her "equity action" is doomed to fail.

  • July 10, 2026

    Groups Say Verizon's Defense Of Spectrum Deal Falls Short

    Three groups told the Federal Communications Commission that Verizon failed to address shortcomings in the agency's decision to approve its $1 billion takeover of onetime rival UScellular's spectrum in a June filing.

  • July 10, 2026

    Del. Justices Nix $16M Fee Award In SpaceX Investment Fight

    The Delaware Supreme Court on Friday erased a $16 million fee award stemming from a dispute over a fund manager's handling of a failed $50 million SpaceX investment, concluding that although the fund manager committed a limited breach of a "duty of candor," shifting all litigation expenses to him was unwarranted.

  • July 10, 2026

    5th Circ. Backs Block On Texas Dream Act Defense

    A split Fifth Circuit panel said a federal judge was right to block a challenge to an agreement Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and the Trump administration struck to end Texas law provisions allowing some unauthorized immigrants to pay in-state college tuition.

  • July 10, 2026

    Tulsa DA Tells 10th Circ. He Can Try Indians On Creek Land

    Oklahoma's Tulsa County district attorney has asked the Tenth Circuit to deny the Muscogee (Creek) Nation's attempts to block him from exercising criminal jurisdiction on its reservation, arguing that he has the authority to prosecute nonmember Indians for nonmajor crimes.

  • July 10, 2026

    MassDOT, Contractors Ignored Environmental Rules, AG Says

    The Massachusetts Department of Transportation and a group of private contractors working on a nearly complete bridge project just outside Boston have violated multiple state environmental laws and regulations, exposing workers and nearby residents to asbestos and other hazardous materials, the state's attorney general alleged in a lawsuit launched Friday.

  • July 10, 2026

    Judge Shields Anti-Abortion Groups From New Mich. Bias Law

    A federal judge ruled Friday that two anti-abortion organizations do not have to comply with a Michigan law that prevents employers from discriminating against workers who have had an abortion, stating they're likely to succeed on their claims that the statute illegally infringes on their missions and free speech.

Expert Analysis

  • Ch. 11 Ruling Raises Bar For Avoiding Default Interest

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    Following a New York bankruptcy court's recent decision in 33 Mako, solvent debtors may find it significantly harder to avoid paying contractual default interest to oversecured lenders under Section 506(b) of the Bankruptcy Code, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Courts Can Survive The Tech Revolution

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    Colorado Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter and Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Lino Lipinsky de Orlov discuss how artificial intelligence has already fundamentally altered the legal system and offer tips for courts navigating deepfakes, hallucinations and a gap in access to AI tools.

  • 'Skinny Label' Arguments Spotlight Induced Infringement Risk

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    Recent oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in Hikma Pharmaceuticals v. Amarin Pharma highlight the uncertain boundary between lawful generic competition through so-called skinny labels and induced patent infringement, with potential implications for patent holders’ communication, enforcement and causation strategies across industries, says Anton Hopen at Trenam.

  • What Jury Holdouts Can Teach Trial Lawyers About Strategy

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    Though a hung jury can be a disappointment, a psychological understanding of jury holdouts can help trial lawyers shape their damages arguments and understand leadership and group composition as a function of jury selection, says Clint Townson at Townson Litigation.

  • 'Mobile' Sources For On-Site Generation May Be A Risky Bet

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    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering treating large on-site generators used at data centers as mobile rather than stationary sources under the Clean Air Act, a significant policy change that would leave developers that adopt this solution at risk of regulatory reversals, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • AI Investment Advice May Fail Investor Protection Rules

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    Based on an ongoing study of artificial intelligence platforms' investment advice given to retail investors, direct access to AI may not yield recommendations for typical households that are suitable under relevant securities rules, raising new and important issues in the regulation of financial markets, says Bruce Carlin at Rice University.

  • Startup Founder Disputes Increasingly Turn On Governance

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    Recent Delaware developments suggest that as courts place increasing emphasis on board process, independence and oversight in founder-led startups, the growing intersection of governance, technology risk and investor oversight is accelerating both the emergence and escalation of founder disputes, says mediator Frank Burke.

  • 3 AI Adoption Mistakes GCs Should Avoid

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    The pressure in-house legal teams face to quickly adopt artificial intelligence tools, combined with budget constraints and the need to evaluate a crowded market of options, sets the stage for implementation mistakes that are often difficult to undo, says former 23andMe general counsel Guy Chayoun.

  • Series

    Playing Basketball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My grandfather used to say "I wear your jersey" as shorthand for wholly committing to support someone with loyalty and integrity — ideals that have shaped my life on the basketball court and in legal practice, says Tracy Schimelfenig at Schimelfenig Legal.

  • AG Watch: Reconciling 2 Maryland Data Privacy Statutes

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    In-house counsel should map the interplay between the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act's strictly necessary standard to deliver a requested service, and the Protection From Predatory Pricing Act's exemption of consent-based pricing within loyalty programs, before the state attorney general begins enforcement on the latter in October, says Erek Barron at Mintz.

  • EPA Listing Signals New Scrutiny Of Drugs In Drinking Water

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    The recent publication of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's latest draft drinking water contaminant list highlights pharmaceuticals as a category of concern, marking the start of a process that could shape future research priorities, monitoring requirements, and federal and state actions, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • New Cuba Sanctions Raise Risks For Foreign Banks, Cos.

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    President Donald Trump's bold move leveling secondary sanctions against Cuba expands enforcement risk for foreign banks and companies with no U.S. nexus, signaling that non-U.S. businesses should reassess related transactions, counterparties and exposure as regulators test this broader authority, say attorneys at Troutman.

  • SEC Clarifies 'Baby Shelf' Restrictions For Small Cos.

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    For smaller public companies looking to access the capital markets, the so-called baby shelf requirements can be a significant limitation, but recent guidance from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission helps to alleviate the effect of subsequent baby shelf restrictions on an at-the-market facility, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • Nexstar Offers A Cautionary Tale On State-Level Deal Scrutiny

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    State-enforcement challenges to the $6.2 billion Nexstar-Tegna merger remind legal practitioners that federal approval isn't always sufficient to deliver certainty on closing, integration and timetable assumptions, says Brett Story at Britehorn Securities.

  • How 'Bundling' Enforcement Is Parsing Efficiency, Access

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    Recent antitrust enforcement actions have taken a selective view of companies' bundling of products or services — challenging it when it shuts out rivals, but tolerating it when it creates efficient scale — making the real test now less about lower prices than about whether competition is being blocked, says attorney Alan Kusinitz.

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