Public Policy

  • June 05, 2026

    Berkeley Dean Views 1952 Opinion As Executive Power Test

    Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, has urged the courts to examine a lesser-known concurring opinion in a 1952 U.S. Supreme Court decision on a steel mill case when judging the modern limits of presidential power.

  • June 05, 2026

    Chancery Judge Zurn Nominated For Del. Supreme Court Seat

    Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer on Friday nominated a vice chancellor on the Delaware Court of Chancery for a spot on the state Supreme Court held by a retiring justice.

  • June 05, 2026

    House Armed Services Committee Passes Draft Defense Bill

    The House Armed Services Committee late Thursday passed Chairman Mike Rogers' draft of the nearly $1.15 trillion National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2027, which focuses on revitalizing the U.S. defense industrial base and supporting small businesses.  

  • June 05, 2026

    FCC's Trusty Says Network Vandalism Is Getting Worse

    Infrastructure vandalism damaging high-speed networks is getting worse despite warnings about the problem, a member of the Federal Communications Commission, Commissioner Olivia Trusty, said during remarks addressing critical communications infrastructure.

  • June 05, 2026

    Trust Tells DC Circ. Security Isn't Viable Reason For Ballroom

    The National Trust for Historic Preservation argued to the D.C. Circuit on Friday that the administration can't use national security as a reason to build the ballroom at the White House.

  • June 05, 2026

    Judge Asks How FCC Ruling Affects $6.6M IRS Penalty Fight

    A Pennsylvania federal judge ordered briefing on how the U.S. Supreme Court's new decision upholding agency fines without a jury trial affects a $6.6 million tax penalty dispute, signaling potential reconsideration of last year's opinion in the case.

  • June 05, 2026

    DOE Announces More Financial Support For US Coal Industry

    The Trump administration Thursday said it will steer hundreds of millions of dollars to projects in the U.S. coal industry, asserting it has a critical role to play in the country's energy sector.

  • June 05, 2026

    Judge Slams Gov't For 'Pretextual' Immigration Filing Pause

    A Rhode Island federal judge ruled on Friday that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' indefinite hold on processing immigration applications for individuals from the 39 countries on President Donald Trump's travel ban list is unlawful.

  • June 05, 2026

    FinCEN, CFPB Flag Immigration-Linked Risks In Banking Push

    Federal regulators on Friday pressed banks to apply greater immigration-related customer scrutiny, issuing guidance that urges closer monitoring to flag employment of unauthorized workers and cautions immigration status may need to factor into some lending decisions.

  • June 05, 2026

    Senate Signs Off On Nearly $70B More For ICE, Border Patrol

    The U.S. Senate voted early Friday to pass a budget reconciliation bill that will see another roughly $70 billion allocated to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol to field President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement agenda.

  • June 04, 2026

    Trump Era Worse Than McCarthy For Speech, Law Dean Says

    The dean of UC Berkeley's law school told an audience of lawyers and artists on Thursday that America is experiencing "an unprecedented assault on the Constitution, on the First Amendment, and on freedom of speech," comparing the country under President Donald Trump unfavorably to the McCarthy era.

  • June 04, 2026

    Draft House Bill Aims To Set Federal AI Regulatory Standard

    A bipartisan pair of House members Thursday released a draft proposal to create a federal framework for AI governance that would require large developers to take steps to address and disclose "catastrophic" risks while prohibiting states from crafting or enforcing laws "targeting the development of AI models" for three years.

  • June 04, 2026

    5th Circ. Unblocks Texas App Age-Check Law During Appeal

    The Fifth Circuit on Thursday paused an injunction halting a Texas law that requires app store owners to verify users' ages and block minors from downloading apps or making in-app purchases without parental consent, saying the state will likely succeed in showing the district court erred in blocking the law.

  • June 04, 2026

    Fla. High Court Backs Accounting Methods In Utility Rate Hike

    The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the state Public Service Commission's order approving accounting mechanisms used by a natural gas company in a rate increase plan, ruling that the regulator wasn't inconsistent with internal policy and within its discretion to approve the measures.

  • June 04, 2026

    Deepfake Mocks Judge Spearheading Judiciary Deepfake Rule

    The New York federal judge developing policies for phony audiovisual materials revealed Thursday firsthand experience with the subject: an artificial intelligence video on social media that depicts him as a maniacal Nazi who recently sentenced a private equity executive to prison "for being a Republican."

  • June 04, 2026

    USA Fencing Seeks Fees For 'Meritless' Trans Athlete Suit

    USA Fencing Association asked a judge to award it and its fellow defendants $92,000 in fees and costs after a suit accusing it of discriminating against women fencers by allowing transgender women to compete was dismissed, arguing the case was "meritless" and meant to harass.

  • June 04, 2026

    Generics Cos. Get More Freedom In High Court Patent Ruling

    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision Thursday shutting down a patent case involving a generic heart drug that uses a so-called skinny label establishes a road map for generics companies to avoid such suits and creates hurdles for branded companies pursuing infringement litigation, attorneys say.

  • June 04, 2026

    Atkore Inks Additional $50M Deal In PVC Pipe Antitrust Row

    Atkore Inc. has reached another settlement in litigation claiming it conspired with other polyvinyl chloride pipe producers to fix prices, this time agreeing to pay $50 million to a class of end-user plaintiffs, according to a motion for preliminary approval of the deal filed Thursday in Illinois federal court.

  • June 04, 2026

    Jersey City Drops Suit Over Cops' Off-Duty Pot Use

    Jersey City dropped its federal lawsuit that sought to terminate police officers who used recreational marijuana while off duty after a New Jersey appeals court affirmed the officers' reinstatement, ruling that there was no conflict between federal firearm restrictions for drug users and state law.

  • June 04, 2026

    9th Circ. Backs FMCSA Block On Calif. Bus Driver Break Rules

    A Ninth Circuit panel on Thursday validated the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's conclusion that national hours-of-service regulations trump California's meal and rest break rules for bus drivers, saying the agency was justified in finding that the Golden State rules strain interstate commerce.

  • June 04, 2026

    OCC's Gould Defends Trump EO On Immigrant Bank Scrutiny

    Republican tensions over President Donald Trump's recent order for greater immigration-related customer scrutiny at banks were on view Thursday in the U.S. House of Representatives as one top regulator told a GOP lawmaker that her concerns about its industry impact were "overblown."

  • June 04, 2026

    Ex-FirstEnergy Execs Face New Bribery Charges After Mistrial

    An Ohio grand jury hit two former FirstEnergy executives Wednesday with a fresh round of corruption charges alleging they bribed a utility regulator to secure a controversial $1.3 billion bailout for two FirstEnergy nuclear plants, beefing up accusations against the executives after a jury deadlocked on the initial charges.

  • June 04, 2026

    DOJ Says Meta And Others Froze $3.8M Tied To Crypto Fraud

    The U.S. Department of Justice announced that private sector corporations, including Meta Platforms Inc. and Google LLC, voluntarily froze over $3.8 million in stolen cryptocurrency during an event known as "Disruption Week."

  • June 04, 2026

    Feds Tout Medicaid Fraud Crackdown In Ohio, Slam Hawaii

    The Trump administration on Thursday praised Ohio's fight against Medicaid fraud and said Hawaii was doing too little, as federal officials pushed states to ramp up anti-fraud prosecutions or risk the loss of federal funding.

  • June 04, 2026

    Bolton To Plead Guilty In Classified Info Case

    Former National Security Advisor John Bolton will plead guilty to charges that he illegally retained classified national defense information.

Expert Analysis

  • A Core Weakness In The Challenge To Birthright Citizenship

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    The government’s recent oral arguments against birthright citizenship in Trump v. Barbara would have the Supreme Court use modern immigration classifications as markers for a constitutional boundary that is not expressed in the Fourteenth Amendment, making the theory easier to administer but weaker as a matter of text and history, says attorney Tara Kennedy.

  • Bet On Prediction Market Regulation To Accelerate

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    Watershed developments concerning prediction markets — such as the first insider trading charges, major speeches from U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission leadership, and the introduction of rulemaking and legislation — dominated the first quarter of 2026, a trend that will likely continue throughout the rest of the year, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Opinion

    Financial Meltdown Fears Don't Warrant Private Credit Regs

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    Recent withdrawals from business development companies have resurfaced theories that private credit growth poses a crisis-level risk to the financial system, but arguments that more regulation is needed should be viewed with beady and careful eyes, says James Deeken at Akin.

  • New Risks Emerge As States Push Proxy Voting Legislation

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    Recent state proxy voting laws have increasingly emphasized financial returns while intensifying scrutiny of proxy advisory firms and stewardship practices, creating new compliance challenges and risks, according to attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Suit's Dismissal Would Not Settle Gold Card Visa's Legality

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    The government’s recent assertion that the plaintiffs in American Association of University Professors v. Department of Homeland Security lack standing to challenge the Trump administration’s pay-to-play immigration program does not address whether an agency can deem a million-dollar gift evidence of eligibility for immigration benefits carefully defined by Congress, says Jun Li at Reid & Wise.

  • Enviro Ruling And A New Law Signal Shift In La. Legacy Cases

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    Together, a Louisiana state court decision in WMH Farms v. Apache Corp. and an incoming statutory regime signal a sea change for legacy litigation in Louisiana, as courts make it harder to establish proof of contamination, and lawmakers narrow available remedies once contamination is proven, says Philip Wood at Jones Walker.

  • DOJ's Stance On Antitrust And Patent Law Reflects Balance

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    Recent statements of interest in patent litigation and a speech from a key U.S. Department of Justice official communicate the view that strong patent rights and competition policy are complementary, and offer important guidance for intellectual property practitioners and businesses navigating patent enforcement, standard‑setting and licensing, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • Ruling Shows How Texas Law Altered Derivative Suit Outlook

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    In the first test of S.B. 29's new ownership threshold requirement for shareholder actions, a Texas federal court recently dismissed Gusinsky v. Reynolds, a derivative action brought by a minority Southwest Airlines shareholder, offering key guidance for navigating the new Texas corporate litigation landscape, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • 2 AI Snafus Show Why Attys Can't Outsource Judgment

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    The recent incident involving Sullivan & Cromwell where citations in a filed motion were fabricated by artificial intelligence, as well as a punitive ruling from the Sixth Circuit in U.S. v. Farris, demonstrate that the obligation to supervise AI has belonged and always will belong to lawyers, says John Powell at the Kentucky School Boards Association.

  • NY Opioid Antagonist Mandate Leaves Employers Guessing

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    A recently enacted New York law will require employers that are federally mandated to maintain first-aid supplies to now include an opioid antagonist, but being that it is subject to a complicated Occupational Safety and Health Administration analysis, employers face several unanswered compliance questions, say attorneys at Conn Maciel.

  • Opinion

    Congress Must Repair USPTO's Inter Partes Review Process

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    To challenge recent changes to the inter partes review process issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Congress must establish clear statutory guardrails, transparency and meaningful judicial review so that questionable patents receive proper scrutiny, say Sean Tu at the University of Alabama, Arti Rai at Duke University and Aaron Kesselheim at Harvard.

  • Calif. Case Raises Questions For Medical Practice Investors

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    The California attorney general's amicus brief in Art Center v. WCE and the California Medical Association's response highlight how the California appeals court's ruling could significantly affect the structure and enforceability of succession arrangements in medical practice ownership, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Previewing FDA Preapproval Access In Psychedelics EO

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    The second of two pathways for psychedelic drug access outlined in President Donald Trump's recent executive order constitutes an unprecedented expansion of the Right to Try Act, which could fundamentally alter the psychedelic access landscape while presenting significant regulatory, operational and legal challenges, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

  • How Data Center Accounting May Draw Enforcement Scrutiny

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    As public and media scrutiny of the data center industry intensifies, regulators, enforcement authorities and Congress will likely focus on accounting judgments that rely on aggressive assumptions, opaque financing structures or rapidly evolving collateral classes, heightening the risk of investigations and inquiries, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • NY's Growing Enviro Reg Framework Will Transform Projects

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    Three closely connected environmental rulemakings in New York state — concerning greenhouse gas reporting, remediation standards and amendments to the State Environmental Quality Review Act — have reached critical stages, and taken together, they will have major impacts on business operations, construction project timelines and transactional risk, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

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