Public Policy

  • June 23, 2026

    USPTO Shortens Time Period When Delays Need Justification

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office says delays of more than a year in filing certain documents tied to patents need to come with an explanation, shortening the period of time that had been two years.

  • June 23, 2026

    Customs Announces Second Phase Of Tariff Refund System

    The second phase of a system for importers to claim refunds for tariffs struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court will become available June 29 for certain entries that have been subject to the reconciliation process, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Tuesday.

  • June 23, 2026

    Judge Flags Flaws In Rule Capping Health Student Loans

    A D.C. federal judge appeared to agree with health worker organizations challenging new federal student loan caps that there were problems with how the U.S. Department of Education defined "professional degrees" in a recent rulemaking, but suggested that "taking over the job" of the department would be inappropriate.

  • June 23, 2026

    Colo. Justices Say Courts Can Order Condemnation Discovery

    The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that trial courts have discretion to order discovery before immediate possession hearings in condemnation proceedings, finding a lower court erred in concluding it lacked that authority.

  • June 23, 2026

    Judicial Noms Still Say Biden Won In 2020 — Technically

    A group of judicial nominees, who earlier this month were the first of the Trump administration's nominees to say President Joe Biden won the 2020 election, reiterated in follow-up statements that Biden won the election "as a matter of law" — doubling down on what critics say is an equivocation on the election's outcome.

  • June 23, 2026

    New Mexico Tribe Says Land Suit Targets Survey, Not Title

    A New Mexico tribe is fighting attempts to dismiss its bid to block the federal government from altering the boundaries of a Lincoln-era 34,700-acre land patent, telling the court that the defendants can't frame the litigation as a quiet title action.

  • June 23, 2026

    SSA Says Court Has No Jurisdiction Over FOIA Fee Dispute

    The Social Security Administration told the D.C. federal court that the Freedom of Information Act does not authorize the court to override the fee determinations the agency made when producing public records related to its involvement with technology company Palantir.

  • June 23, 2026

    Pa. Town Wants Out Of 'Forever' Sewer Deals With Neighbor

    A Pittsburgh-area township is suing a neighboring borough and sewer authority, asking a Pennsylvania state court to declare that the township has authority to update or terminate decades-old sewer service agreements that locked in rates that no longer reflect the cost of maintaining the system.

  • June 23, 2026

    BioNTech Accused Of Firing Nurse Over Drug Trial Concerns

    A former senior clinical trial manager at BioNTech US Inc. told a North Carolina federal court Monday that she was wrongfully fired after complaining to higher-ups about an "epidemic of safety issues and protocol deviations" in clinical trials.

  • June 23, 2026

    Green Groups Drop Pipeline Permit Appeal After Stay Is Refused

    Environmental groups' challenge to a discharge permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for work on a natural gas pipeline stretching across several Eastern states was voluntarily dismissed Monday at the Fourth Circuit.

  • June 23, 2026

    Feds Tout AI's Role In $6.5B Healthcare Fraud Crackdown

    Federal authorities said Tuesday that artificial intelligence and sophisticated data analysis helped them detect and prosecute healthcare fraud as part of a national crackdown that resulted in charges against 455 defendants.

  • June 23, 2026

    Judge Who Denied Goldstein Retrial Says It Wasn't Close Case

    A Maryland federal judge has elaborated on her decision to deny SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein's bid for an acquittal or new trial, saying that the evidence presented at trial either supersedes or invalidates his claims of issues with jury instructions and insufficient or excluded evidence.

  • June 23, 2026

    Telecom Biz Sees Robust Competition, Think Tank Says

    As the Federal Communications Commission evaluates competition in the telecom sector, a think tank urged the agency not to adopt regulatory policies that treat the market as unfairly skewed toward a few large players.

  • June 23, 2026

    NC Becomes First State To Ban Outside Funding Of Civil Suits

    North Carolina has become the first state in the country to ban outside investors from funding civil litigation, after Democratic Gov. Josh Stein signed into law a bill that outlaws third parties from footing the bill for civil suits in exchange for a cut of the payout at the finish line.

  • June 23, 2026

    DC Judge Pulls Plug On Feds' Voter Citizenship Database

    A D.C. federal judge blocked the Trump administration's expansion of a database that allows states to screen voters, saying it "haphazardly combined and repurposed" information on millions of Americans, including unreliable citizenship information, and violated multiple laws.

  • June 23, 2026

    NY Rule Rewrite Drops 30-Day Pause For Atty Soliciting

    New York's Appellate Division has adopted new rules of professional conduct on attorney advertising and solicitation, deleting a ban on soliciting clients less than 30 days after an incident.

  • June 23, 2026

    FCC Spectrum Auction Pulls In More Than $3.5B

    The Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday it had raised more than $3.5 billion in gross winning bids in its recent spectrum auction, the first sale of wireless licenses by the federal government in years.

  • June 23, 2026

    Several Democrats Challenge FCC Political Ad Guidance

    Democratic candidates and officeholders, including former Sen. Sherrod Brown, Sen. Jon Ossoff, former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet, have asked the Fourth Circuit to strike down Federal Communications Commission guidance they say unlawfully expands discounted political advertising rates to party committees and joint fundraising groups.

  • June 23, 2026

    New York Mask Ban For Federal Agents Sparks Dueling Lawsuits

    New York state and the U.S. Department of Justice have filed dueling lawsuits over the state's new laws banning federal law enforcement officers from wearing face masks and seeking to rein in immigration enforcement in the Empire State.

  • June 23, 2026

    US Bars Jordan Cos.' Imports Over Forced Labor Concerns

    U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Tuesday announced it would bar shipments of any garments produced by a pair of Jordanian companies due to indications that they are being produced with forced labor.

  • June 23, 2026

    US Blocks WTO Appellate Body Selection Process Again

    The World Trade Organization failed again to begin the process of selecting members to the appellate body designed to settle disputes over WTO decisions, marking the 98th time that the initiative has been blocked by U.S.-led efforts, according to a news release Tuesday.

  • June 23, 2026

    Ill. Feds Drop More Charges For Grand Jury 'Irregularities'

    A third federal prosecution has unraveled over "serious irregularities" in grand jury proceedings at Chicago's federal courthouse, with U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros personally moving Monday to permanently dismiss arson charges against four defendants after improper communications between a prosecutor and grand jurors came to light.

  • June 23, 2026

    UK Aims To Modernize Tax Framework For Distributions

    The United Kingdom is aiming to modernize its tax system on distributions, including by aligning the treatment of dividends from foreign companies with domestic companies, the government said Tuesday.

  • June 23, 2026

    EU Parliament Panels Advance Mexico Trade Agreement

    Two European Parliament committees signed off Tuesday on a reworked trade deal with Mexico that would remove nearly all tariffs on European agricultural goods imported into the country, setting up a full vote by Parliament.

  • June 23, 2026

    Texas, DOJ Get Judge To End Biden Immigration Rule In 1 Day

    A Texas federal court has approved a deal between Texas and the Trump administration to vacate a Biden-era rule allowing immigration courts to temporarily close cases, the same day Texas filed a lawsuit alleging the policy had created a "de facto amnesty program."

Expert Analysis

  • Revised Fed Principles Balance Risk And Remediation

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    The Federal Reserve's recently updated supervisory principles sharpen standards for enforcement actions while rewarding self-identification and remediation, signaling a more transparent approach that could reduce uncertainty and reshape how banks manage examination risk and regulator engagement going forward, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • Big Issues Linger After Senate Prediction Market Trading Ban

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    Whether the Senate can — or should — extend prediction market trading restrictions beyond itself will test not only the boundaries of insider trading law, but also the structural limits of legislative power in an era where information itself has become a tradable asset, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lesson: Diagnose Before Arguing

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    Law school often skips over explicitly teaching students how to determine what kind of problem a case presents before they commit to a particular doctrinal path, which risks building arguments that are internally coherent but externally misaligned, says Melanie Oxhorn at Kobre & Kim.

  • Trump's Psychedelics EO Creates A Regulatory Collision

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    Sponsors pursuing U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for psychedelic drug access must tackle how to generate regulatory-grade safety and efficacy data in controlled trials when President Donald Trump's recent executive order on psychedelics mandates uncontrolled access through Right to Try, say Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell and Odette Hauke at Odette Alina.

  • What Model Risk Guidance Update Means For Banks

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    Federal prudential regulators recently issued new model risk management guidance for banks that is designed to reduce prescriptive supervisory expectations and instead focus more on material financial risk, so banking organizations should reassess their model inventories, apply the new materiality framework and update their internal policies, say attorneys at Orrick.

  • Recent Benchmarking Suits Highlight DOJ Enforcement Risks

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent settlements with RealPage and Agri Stats inform the level of antitrust risk surrounding the use of benchmarking services and suggest an aggressive enforcement approach, particularly with respect to granular data and nonprice data reporting, say attorneys at Axinn.

  • Becoming The Biz-Savvy GC That Portfolio Companies Need

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    Candidates for general counsel roles at private equity-backed portfolio companies should prioritize proving their sector-specific experience, commercial judgment and ease with uncertainty — and attorneys hoping to be candidates in five to 10 years should start working on those skills now, says Dimitri Mastrocola at Major Lindsey.

  • Operational AI Washing: The Section 220 Information Strategy

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    Plaintiffs filing AI washing claims will likely use Section 220 of the Delaware General Corporation Law to obtain internal board records, but 2025 amendments have fundamentally changed the landscape of presuit shareholder document demands in ways that create both risk and opportunity for companies, say attorneys at Akerman.

  • What New PFAS Rule Means For Tracking And Disclosure

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    In the wake of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's publication of its rule adding PFHxS-Na to the Toxics Release Inventory, companies should identify this substance in their facilities and supply chains, and prepare for disclosures to both regulators and the public, says Ayodeji Ayolola at Gordon Rees.

  • 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.

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