Public Policy

  • June 26, 2025

    Lawmakers Object To USPTO Reneging On Atlanta Hub Plan

    A group of federal lawmakers from Georgia has written to the acting director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to ask why it no longer plans to launch an outreach office in Atlanta and instead plans to open one at its current headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.

  • June 26, 2025

    Conn. Pushes For Emergency Halt To Tribal Land Trust Plan

    Connecticut is looking to halt the U.S. Interior Department's transfer of 80 acres into trust for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, arguing that without intervention, the federal government will interfere with the state's sovereign right to control its territory and its ability to enforce its laws.

  • June 26, 2025

    Trump Admin. Moves To Fast-Track Immigration Fines

    The U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Homeland Security released an interim final rule on Thursday aimed at making it easier to impose civil monetary penalties on noncitizens who enter the country without authorization or fail to voluntarily depart.

  • June 26, 2025

    Key DOL Nominees Clear US Senate Committee

    U.S. Department of Labor nominees cleared a U.S. Senate committee Thursday and are set to head to a vote in the full chamber, moving the agency closer to having a complete leadership team that is likely to proceed with policy changes.

  • June 26, 2025

    Seattle Jan. 6 Cops Again Ask Justices To Shield Identities

    Four current and former Seattle police officers who attended the Jan. 6, 2021, "Stop the Steal" insurrection have again asked the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency stay to prevent the public release of their names after an initial denial from the high court, saying the justices have two days to act.  

  • June 26, 2025

    Solar Co. Meyer Burger Can Tap $10M DIP To Fund Ch. 11 Sale

    Swiss solar panel maker Meyer Burger's U.S. unit secured a Delaware bankruptcy judge's interim approval Thursday for a $10 million debtor-in-possession loan as it looks to sell two manufacturing sites in Chapter 11.

  • June 26, 2025

    FERC Chair Aims To Stay Beyond His Term's End

    As his potential replacement awaits a U.S. Senate confirmation hearing, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Mark Christie said Thursday that he plans to oversee the agency's next monthly open meeting in July, but otherwise remained tight-lipped about his impending departure.

  • June 26, 2025

    Fair Housing Groups Argue HUD Wrongly Withheld Grants

    A pair of advocacy groups have sued the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in D.C. federal court over the Trump administration's purported move to withhold grants meant to help private nonprofits enforce housing laws.

  • June 26, 2025

    Ex-FDA Regulator Joins ArentFox Schiff's Pharma Practice

    ArentFox Schiff LLP has hired a career U.S. Food and Drug Administration compliance professional, whose oversight focused on ensuring pharmaceutical industry participants' compliance with drug supply chain rules and other governing regulations, as counsel in the firm's food, drug, medical device and cosmetic practice in Washington.

  • June 26, 2025

    ICE Agents Could Testify Anonymously In 1st Am. Trial

    A Massachusetts federal judge suggested Thursday he is open to allowing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to testify anonymously at an upcoming bench trial in a suit brought by academic groups challenging the detention of noncitizen students and faculty who express pro-Palestinian views.

  • June 26, 2025

    New FCC Republican Names Key Legal Staff

    Commissioner Olivia Trusty, who was sworn in this week as the newest member of the Federal Communications Commission, announced the hiring of several top aides Thursday.

  • June 26, 2025

    Trans Passport Applicants Say Gov't Flouting Court Order

    Members of two recently certified classes of transgender and nonbinary people seeking passports that reflect their gender identity accused the Trump administration of "slow-walking compliance" with a Massachusetts federal judge's order requiring the U.S. Department of State to resume issuing passports with the requested designations.

  • June 26, 2025

    Trump 2.0's First Group Of Judicial Noms Goes To Full Senate

    The first batch of judicial nominations from President Donald Trump's second term were sent to the Senate floor on Thursday, as they were voted out of committee along party lines.

  • June 26, 2025

    Maine To Hike Sales Tax On Cannabis, Add Streaming To Base

    Maine will raise its sales tax rate on adult-use cannabis and lower its excise tax rate on cannabis flower and add streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu to the sales tax base under budget legislation signed by the governor.

  • June 26, 2025

    Justices Say DHS Orders Final In Withholding-Removal Cases

    The U.S. Supreme Court held Thursday that the 30-day statutory deadline for challenging deportation orders in withholding of removal cases starts when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issues a final administrative review order, not when Board of Immigration Appeals proceedings conclude.

  • June 26, 2025

    Justices Allow Texas Death Row Inmate's DNA Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday said a Texas death row inmate can sue state officials in federal court to try to obtain post-conviction DNA testing, a decision that could open the door to broader challenges to how Texas provides access to forensic evidence after conviction.

  • June 26, 2025

    Justices Say SC Medicaid Patient Can't Sue To Pick Provider

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a patient can't challenge South Carolina's decision to kick Planned Parenthood from the state Medicaid program because it includes abortions among its services.

  • June 25, 2025

    Fed Rolls Out Plan To Relax Leverage Rule For Biggest Banks

    The Federal Reserve on Wednesday kicked off an effort to ease a key leverage requirement for the biggest U.S. banks, advancing a highly anticipated proposal that officials said could free up bank balance-sheet capacity to bolster the U.S. Treasury market. 

  • June 25, 2025

    Trump's DOL Blocked From Slashing Job Corps Program

    A New York federal judge Wednesday issued a nationwide preliminary injunction prohibiting the U.S. Department of Labor from "suspending" most of the Job Corps program, ruling that Congress created the program and funded it, and the "DOL is not free to do as it pleases."

  • June 25, 2025

    Judge Blocks Colo. Gov. From Forcing Cooperation With ICE

    A Colorado state judge on Wednesday blocked Gov. Jared Polis from forcing certain state labor department employees to comply with a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement subpoena, but he stopped short of prohibiting Polis from cooperating with the federal agency.

  • June 25, 2025

    TCPA Litigants Brace For 'Seismic Shift' After Deference Blow

    The U.S. Supreme Court's backing of broad judicial review for the crush of regulatory orders interpreting the Telephone Consumer Protection Act is poised to turn the litigation landscape on its head, as key statutory determinations that have long been viewed as settled matters are suddenly ripe for scrutiny. 

  • June 25, 2025

    Senate Panel Again OKs Bill To Boost Teens' Online Privacy

    A longstanding legislative proposal that would ban online targeted advertising to minors and expand digital privacy protections to cover teens between the ages of 13 and 16 began its latest trip through Congress on Wednesday, when the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee easily advanced the measure to the full chamber. 

  • June 25, 2025

    Coinme Fined $300K In Landmark Calif. Enforcement Action

    Crypto kiosk operator Coinme Inc. has agreed to pay a $300,000 fine to resolve findings that it violated California's kiosk transaction limits and failed to include certain disclosures on receipts, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation announced Wednesday.

  • June 25, 2025

    Tulsa Inks Jurisdiction Pact With Tribe As Okla. Gov. Objects

    The mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Wednesday settled a jurisdictional dispute with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation over law enforcement, saying the city will bring an end to the tribe's lawsuit by deferring to its criminal jurisdiction, despite Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt's objections that he's been cut out of the deal.

  • June 25, 2025

    Colo. Justices Unsure If Law Covers AI-Made Child Images

    The Colorado Supreme Court expressed uncertainty Wednesday over whether a state statute in place through 2024 made illegal the production of sexually explicit AI-generated images of minors, or if this month's revision to the law proves the 2024 statute did not cover those images.

Expert Analysis

  • 5th Circ. Ruling Is Latest Signal Of Shaky Qui Tam Landscape

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    In his recent concurring opinion in U.S. v. Peripheral Vascular Associates, a Fifth Circuit judge joined a growing list of jurists suggesting that the False Claims Act's whistleblower provisions are unconstitutional, underscoring that acceptance of qui tam relators can no longer be taken for granted, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.

  • Foreign Countries Have Strong Foundation To Fill FCPA Void

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    Though the U.S. has paused enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, liberal democracies across the globe are well equipped to reverse any setback in anti-corruption enforcement, potentially heightening prosecution risk for companies headquartered in the U.S., says Stephen Kohn at Kohn Kohn.

  • How Attys Can Use A Therapy Model To Help Triggered Clients

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    Attorneys can lean on key principles from a psychotherapeutic paradigm known as the "Internal Family Systems" model to help manage triggered clients and get settlement negotiations back on track, says Jennifer Gibbs at Zelle.

  • A Tale Of Two Admins: Parsing 1st Half Of SEC's FY 2025

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    The first half of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's fiscal year 2025, which ended March 31, was unusually eventful, marked by a flurry of enforcement actions in the last three months of former Chair Gary Gensler's tenure and a prompt pivot after Inauguration Day, say attorneys at Jones Day.

  • A Closer Look At Amendments To Virginia Noncompete Ban

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    Recently passed amendments in Virignia will prohibit noncompetes for all employees who are eligible for overtime pay under federal law, and though the changes could simplify employers’ analyses as to restrictive covenant enforceability, it may require them to reassess and potentially adjust their use of noncompetes with some workers, say attorneys at McGuireWoods.

  • What Bank Regulator Consolidation Would Mean For Industry

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    Speculation over the Trump administration’s potential plans to consolidate financial service regulators is intensifying uncertainty, but no matter the outcome for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the industry should expect continued policy changes, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • Getting Ahead Of The SEC's Continued Focus On Cyber, AI

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is showing it will continue to scrutinize actions involving cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, but there are proactive measures that companies and financial institutions can take to avoid regulatory scrutiny going forward, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Navigating Florida's Bad Faith Reforms After Appellate Ruling

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    A Florida appellate court's recent decision is among the first to interpret two significant amendments to the state's insurance bad faith law, and its holding that one of the statutes could not apply retroactively may affect insurers' interpretation of the other statute, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • 3 Steps For In-House Counsel To Assess Litigation Claims

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    Before a potential economic downturn, in-house attorneys should investigate whether their company is sitting on hidden litigation claims that could unlock large recoveries to help the business withstand tough times, says Will Burgess at Hilgers Graben.

  • IRS And ICE Info Sharing Could Drive Payroll Tax Enforcement

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    Tax crimes are historically difficult to prosecute, but the Internal Revenue Services’ recent agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to share taxpayer records of non-U.S. citizens could be used to enhance payroll tax-related enforcement against their employers, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Breaking Down Ill. Bellwether Case For Bank Preemption

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    The banking industry's pending lawsuit against the state of Illinois stands to permanently enjoin state regulation of bank card processing, as well as clarify the outstanding and consequential issue of whether conflict preemption continues to cover third parties in certain circumstances, says Tom Witherspoon at Stinson.

  • Despite SEC Climate Pause, Cos. Must Still Heed State Regs

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    While businesses may have been given a reprieve from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's rules aimed at standardizing climate-related disclosures, they must still track evolving requirements in states including California, Illinois, New Jersey and New York that will soon require reporting of direct and indirect carbon emissions, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

  • A Primer On The Trading And Clearing Of Perpetual Contracts

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    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission recently released a request for comment on the trading and clearing of perpetual-style derivatives, most common in the cryptocurrency market, necessitating a deep look at how these contracts operate and their associated risks, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Series

    Teaching College Students Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Serving as an adjunct college professor has taught me the importance of building rapport, communicating effectively, and persuading individuals to critically analyze the difference between what they think and what they know — principles that have helped to improve my practice of law, says Sheria Clarke at Nelson Mullins.

  • 5 Areas Contractors Should Watch After 1st 100 Days

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    Federal agencies and contractors face challenges from staff reductions, contract terminations, pending regulatory reform and other actions from the second Trump administration's first 100 days, but other areas stand to become more efficient and cost-effective, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

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