Public Policy

  • October 18, 2026

    Trump Waives Russia Sanctions, Tariff Law After Fuel Deal

    President Donald Trump signed an executive order to suspend Russian sanctions and tariff provisions contained in a law passed earlier this year by Congress in response to Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.

  • October 16, 2026

    NY, Conn. Secure $2.7M Deal Over Health Network Data Breach

    A pediatric health network and its information technology manager have agreed to pay $2.7 million to resolve the New York and Connecticut attorneys general's claims that they failed to institute "common" security measures to protect the personal data of patients impacted by a 2024 data breach, the states announced Friday. 

  • October 16, 2026

    Texas Court Tosses $60M Security Guard Scuffle Verdict

    A Texas appeals court Friday tossed a roughly $60 million verdict and castigated the trial court for creating a record "rife with error" after the lower court wrongly included several corporate entities in a judgment relating to a scuffle between a security guard and a patron.

  • October 16, 2026

    Wash. AG Office, WSU Rigged $15M Data Contract, Suit Says

    A former prosecutor and the police-use-of-force analytics company he now helms sued Washington's attorney general's office and Washington State University over an allegedly rigged $15 million public safety data contract, claiming the defendants privately coordinated and shared nonpublic procurement information ahead of a competitive bidding process.

  • October 16, 2026

    Wash. Justices Void Vague Release Term For Sex Offender

    The Washington Supreme Court has reversed a convicted child molester's community custody condition that he not possess or access "sexually exploitive materials" because the term is not clearly defined in state law, and could potentially mean many things.

  • October 16, 2026

    NORML Urges 6th Circ. To Reconsider Pot Illegality Ruling

    The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a leading cannabis consumer advocate, is urging the Sixth Circuit to rehear its decision throwing out a $31.8 million jury verdict for a Michigan marijuana grower, arguing federal illegality should not categorically bar contract damages against a cannabis purchaser that breached a supply deal.

  • October 16, 2026

    Suing The Trump Admin Can Have Massive Impact, Attys Say

    Lawyers representing clients against the federal government spoke Friday about the challenges and rewards of such litigation in the Trump era, with plaintiff-side powerhouse Elizabeth Cabraser pointing to the potential for massive impact, including one case in which she successfully got more than a billion dollars in grant funding reinstated.

  • October 16, 2026

    State Telecom Roundup: Clearing The Way For BEAD Funds

    Nearly five years after the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program was signed into law by then-President Joe Biden, states have finally started disbursing funds to subgrantees who will carry out the projects that are supposed to end the digital divide.

  • October 16, 2026

    DC Circ. Questions Trump Records Ownership Claim

    Judges on the D.C. Circuit hounded a Trump administration attorney over the White House's attempt to do away with the Presidential Records Act on Friday, as they searched to find the limit on the president's authority over his own work documents.

  • October 16, 2026

    Permitting Bill Gives FERC A Bigger Enforcement Hammer

    Recently introduced U.S. Senate permitting legislation proposes an unprecedented extension of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's enforcement reach into areas of electricity grid planning policy that have been traditionally overseen by states, experts say.

  • October 16, 2026

    Frontier Settles Connecticut's Data Breach Probe For $625K

    Frontier is going to pay $625,000 to end a Connecticut state investigation into a data breach that compromised the Social Security numbers of nearly 60,000 people in the state two and a half years ago.

  • October 16, 2026

    Fla. Localities Seek To End Sex Offender Registry Challenge

    The state of Florida and dozens of cities and counties are urging a Florida federal court to toss an advocacy group's lawsuit that claims state and local laws governing registered sex offenders violate the U.S. Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

  • October 16, 2026

    Denver Pot Shop Says City Can't Revoke Approved License

    A would-be marijuana shop is looking to force Denver to honor the final approval of a retail store license, claiming the city licensing director unlawfully withdrew authorization and ordered a redundant hearing, which will risk tens of thousands of dollars it has already spent.

  • October 16, 2026

    GAO Wants Better Federal Office Occupancy Data Collection

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office told the General Services Administration that the GSA needs to do a better job of collecting occupancy data for federal office space, saying that improved data collection would allow the federal government to cut waste.

  • October 16, 2026

    Conn. Agency Prevails Against Estate's $20M Infant Death Suit

    The estate of a slain infant did not prove Connecticut Department of Children and Families workers caused the 7-month-old boy's death by failing to take him away from his father, who threw him into the Connecticut River from a 90-foot-high bridge, a state judge has ruled after a bench trial.

  • October 16, 2026

    GAO Finds Workforce Slump In Nuclear Weapons Agency

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office released a new report Friday finding that the agency responsible for managing the country's nuclear weapons stockpile has seen its number of mission-critical employees continue to drop amid the highest workload since the Cold War.

  • October 16, 2026

    CFPB Looks To Collect $144M In CashCall Bank Row

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has asked a California federal judge to order Merchants Bank of Indiana to hand over $144 million in collateral it has held for lender CashCall, arguing the bank acted in bad faith by delaying enforcement of the judgment against CashCall by retaining the funds.

  • October 16, 2026

    10th Circ. OKs EPA's Okla. Indian Country Programs Approval

    The Tenth Circuit rejected a Native American tribe's challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's decision to approve Oklahoma's request to extend the state's administration of federal environmental regulatory programs to Indian Country, ruling Friday that a provision of a 2005 transportation bill controls the outcome.

  • October 16, 2026

    FCC Eyes 'All Options' As 5th Circ. Orders Subsidy Fee Redo

    The Federal Communications Commission said Friday it was exploring all options for managing the $9 billion Universal Service Fund after a Fifth Circuit panel ruled the FCC lacked authority to create the funds' private oversight company.

  • October 16, 2026

    Michigan State Must Face Claims In Public Records Fee Fight

    Michigan State University must face claims that it improperly charged nearly $3,900 to fulfill a public records request and deliberately delayed releasing documents concerning alleged financial irregularities and university oversight, a Michigan Court of Claims judge has ruled, allowing two claims to proceed while dismissing five others.

  • October 16, 2026

    Target Says It Warned Investors About Pride Merch Backlash

    Target Corp. told a Minnesota federal court it should be released from a class action alleging it "betrayed" investors with Pride-themed merchandise that they claim was "exceptionally offensive," saying the company sufficiently warned investors about the potential backlash to the campaign.

  • October 16, 2026

    Attys Can Still Protect Voting Rights During The Midterms

    With the midterm elections approaching, a coalition of local and national nonprofits are seeking volunteers, especially lawyers, to safeguard the vote during an election with more states in play as battlegrounds and growing anxiety about federal interference in local elections.

  • October 16, 2026

    Jail Walls Block The Ballot. Advocates Try To Bring It Inside

    For eligible people detained before trial, the right to vote can depend on a tenuous chain of requests to the institution holding them. Across the country, however, election officials and advocates are working to ensure eligible voters can cast a ballot from jail.

  • October 16, 2026

    FTC Can Bring Debt Relief Scam Suit Before Jury

    A California federal judge has ruled that the Federal Trade Commission can bring its case against a telecommunications company over its marketing voicemails before a jury.

  • October 16, 2026

    FCC Says Five Eyes Allies Share Cybersecurity Info

    The Federal Communications Commission is working with foreign counterparts in the Five Eyes security alliance to share data on cyber risks, the U.S. agency said Friday.

Expert Analysis

  • Testing AI's Promise For Large-Scale Document Review

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    Our document-review comparison of attorneys' responsiveness and issue coding decisions versus predictions generated by artificial intelligence across 1,600 documents suggests that these tools can offer a reasonable and reliable basis for improved discovery workflows, provided lawyers understand where guardrails are needed, say attorneys at Redgrave.

  • AG Watch: Va. Vape Product Regulations Enter A New Phase

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    Virginia's new vape enforcement framework carries important implications related to product eligibility and certification requirements for businesses operating in the marketplace, representing the culmination of several years of legislative action, regulatory development, litigation and interagency planning, says Chuck Slemp at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Opinion

    Colo. Climate Suit Defies Limits Of State Power

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    In Suncor Energy v. Boulder County, the U.S. Supreme Court must not allow a single Colorado county to penalize pollution occurring across the country and around the globe, because the U.S. Constitution forbids states from exercising power beyond their borders, says Michael McGinley at Dechert.

  • What's Next For Prediction Markets If States Win At High Court

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    While the Supreme Court hasn't taken up a prediction market case yet, a high court win for the states in their quest to regulate the exchanges would likely mean a wave of state legislature bills and regulatory guidance arriving on different timelines, rather than a single uniform transition, says Howard Herndon at Bradley Arant.

  • FDIC Standards Body Could Ease Bank Vendor Due Diligence

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    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s recently proposed standards body for bank vendors could streamline due diligence and onboarding, but banks and their third-party service providers alike should still monitor open questions around oversight, certification costs and governance, say attorneys at Clark Hill.

  • Navigating A Key Inflection Point In Biosimilar Sector M&A

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    As biosimilar mergers and acquisitions gain notice amid U.S. Food and Drug Administration reforms, a maturing patent framework and a looming patent cliff, companies diversifying into the higher-growth biologics space should align their regulatory, intellectual property and transactional strategies, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • AI Meeting Recaps Pose New Discovery And Privilege Risks

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    The New York City Bar Association’s recent ethics opinion, cautioning attorneys not to record nonclient conversations with artificial intelligence tools, reflects an emerging view that AI meeting recaps are now a distinct business record category, meaning counsel should set meeting-level controls and apply framework-level updates, says William Wright at Faegre Drinker.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: September Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses six recent rulings involving pecuniary loss in false price comparison advertising, privity in an insurance fee class, antitrust standing, immigration class representatives, retirement beneficiary class commonality, and Rule 23(f) appeals in Fair Labor Standards Act claims.

  • How Employers Can Navigate NLRB Rulings Ripe For Reversal

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    Given a recent National Labor Relations Board memo seeking to reverse several precedents — including on severance agreements and workplace policies — employers should prepare now to restore broader protections when the board acts, while following the law as it exists today, says Howard Lavin at Thompson Coburn.

  • What Comes Next For Digital Asset Regs After Clarity Act Flop

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    After the U.S. Senate recently blocked the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, agency rulemaking could still offer a near-term remedy, and companies meanwhile should monitor the existing framework assembled from enforcement precedent and case law in the absence of a purpose-built statute, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • FDA Bill Shows Risk Of Inexact Statute Text, Post-Loper Bright

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    A recent House bill to amend the Food and Drug Administration's drug preclusion framework reveals the increased importance of precision when drafting statutory rules in a post-Loper Bright landscape, as several minor errors in the text could lock in unintended results that will be difficult to repeal, say attorneys at Venable.

  • Species 'Harm' Definition Rollback Brings Risk For Developers

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    A rule recently adopted by federal agencies rescinds the definition of "harm" in Endangered Species Act regulations to exclude habitat destruction — but while the move is aimed at reducing regulatory burdens, it creates new uncertainty for developers, and may trigger increased environmental protections in California, say attorneys at Cox Castle.

  • $95M Nev. Case Provides Clues On Wound Care Enforcement

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    Federal prosecutors’ recent U.S. v. Dubin indictment, charging a Nevada physician with healthcare fraud over an alleged $95 million Medicare billing scheme involving amniotic wound allografts, provides a clearer picture of an increasingly data-driven enforcement strategy that follows the entire wound care transaction, say attorneys at Bass Berry.

  • DOJ Fraud Memo Highlights Trade Enforcement Playbook

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    A recent U.S. Department of Justice memo that outlines the Fraud Enforcement Division's priorities demonstrates that customs and trade fraud enforcement has entered a new and far more aggressive phase, with recent cases highlighting how the False Claims act is driving the new push, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • HPE-Juniper Settlement Teaches Key Tunney Act Lessons

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    A California federal court's recent approval of the U.S. Department of Justice's settlement with Hewlett Packard over its Juniper Networks acquisition offers legal practitioners some crucial lessons, including on unique tech-sector remedies for mergers and acquisitions and the continued viability of the Tunney Act, says Shubha Ghosh at Syracuse University College of Law.

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