Public Policy

  • August 19, 2025

    SpaceX Rebuffs Effort To Revisit Space Launch Rules

    SpaceX has accused a flight test coordinator, whose members include the nation's biggest aerospace companies and defense contractors, of "gamesmanship" in a new Federal Communications Commission filing, alleging the group has closed off frequencies for launch operators in retaliation for pushback to their proposal for stricter space launch coordination requirements.

  • August 19, 2025

    4th Circ. Revives Habeas Bid Over Attorney-Client Evidence

    The Fourth Circuit has ordered a lower court to conclusively determine whether a Maryland woman's rights were violated after prosecutors retried her for murder using information they gathered from her successful ineffective assistance of counsel motion during the first trial.

  • August 19, 2025

    CMS Defeats 'Hair's Breadth' Star Rating Challenge

    Insurance companies challenging the "star" system for rating Medicare Advantage organizations have lost another round in court, with a Texas federal judge saying Elevance Health failed to show federal officials violated the law when rounding down scores.

  • August 19, 2025

    Bid To Revisit Minn. Gaming Immunity Order Shut Down

    A Minnesota federal judge won't revisit an order that dismissed a commercial casino and horse racetrack operator's Class III gaming lawsuit on sovereign immunity grounds, saying another attempt can't overcome appellate court precedent.

  • August 19, 2025

    Sacramento Says 2nd Circ. Erred In Cannabis Ruling

    The city of Sacramento has told the Ninth Circuit that the Second Circuit erred when it applied the U.S. Constitution's dormant commerce clause to marijuana, and urged the appellate court not to follow suit in a similar pending case.

  • August 19, 2025

    Reasoning For IRS Firings Clashes With Reality, TIGTA Says

    Probationary workers at the Internal Revenue Service who were told earlier this year that they were fired for performance had been rated highly or had not been there long enough to be evaluated, according to a report Tuesday by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

  • August 19, 2025

    Judge Backs Deal To Overhaul NY Kids' Mental Healthcare

    A New York federal judge has given the green light to allow the state to revamp its Medicaid mental health services for children to expand greater in-home and crisis care to prevent the institutionalization of kids. 

  • August 19, 2025

    DOJ Asks Full 4th Circ. To Rehear Judges' Speech Dispute

    The U.S. Department of Justice petitioned the full Fourth Circuit to rehear a June panel decision reviving a free speech suit from an immigration judges union, saying it flouts U.S. Supreme Court precedent and implements a novel legal requirement.

  • August 19, 2025

    Nantucket Civil Rights Case Partially Revived On Appeal

    A Massachusetts intermediate-level appeals court ruled Tuesday that "hostile" responses by Nantucket's longtime town manager to a Black resident's comments about a hate crime investigation could reasonably be found by a jury to violate the resident's state civil rights.

  • August 19, 2025

    FERC Grid Project Carveouts Are Unjustified, DC Circ. Told

    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission can't justify its decision to exempt a Kansas electricity cooperative's transmission projects from a regional grid operator's process to determine how project costs are divided before they're approved, the D.C. Circuit heard Monday.

  • August 19, 2025

    Chicago Suburb Sued Over Medical History Probes

    The city of Evanston, Illinois, was hit with a state court lawsuit by job applicants who allege its questions about their family medical histories violated an Illinois law barring employers from asking about genetic information and using it to make employment decisions.

  • August 19, 2025

    Former Husch Blackwell Chair Named Missouri AG

    Former Husch Blackwell LLP chair Catherine L. Hanaway has been appointed Missouri's next attorney general by Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe, according to the firm on Tuesday.

  • August 19, 2025

    Trump Tariff Suit Belongs In Trade Court, Gov't Tells DC Circ.

    Suits challenging President Donald Trump's imposition of emergency tariffs belong in the U.S. Court of International Trade and a D.C. federal judge improperly considered a case lodged by Illinois-based toy makers in his court, the government told the D.C. Circuit.

  • August 19, 2025

    Pa. Justices OK Lower Court's Test For When Posts Are Public

    A split Pennsylvania Supreme Court endorsed a lower court's proposed test for whether an elected official's personal social media messages are subject to the state's open records law, with the majority agreeing the posts should only be considered public if they have the "trappings" of a government record.

  • August 19, 2025

    Cannabis Store Defends NY Labor Peace Law Challenge

    A cannabis store challenging New York's requirement that marijuana businesses have labor peace agreements with employees asserted on Monday that the state's arguments in favor of the case's dismissal were unavailing.

  • August 19, 2025

    FTC Fights Order Blocking Media Matters Probe

    The Federal Trade Commission is appealing a D.C. federal court's order preliminarily blocking an investigation into left-leaning watchdog Media Matters for America over concerns about collusion in the advertising industry and is asking to pause the order for the appeal.

  • August 19, 2025

    Public Broadcasters Alarmed At Warning Grant Cuts

    The Corporation for Public Broadcasting called on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to take over its $136 million Next Generation Warning System grant program for local public media stations, saying it can no longer manage the program as it winds down operations.

  • August 19, 2025

    ​​​​​​​CSX To Shell Out $440K In DOL Retirement Plan Fee Suit

    CSX Transportation Inc. and the U.S. Department of Labor asked a Florida federal judge Tuesday to sign off on a $440,000 settlement ending the agency's lawsuit alleging the company unlawfully deducted fees from a trust devoted to funding its employee retirement plans.

  • August 19, 2025

    Trump Signs Bill To Boost Export Control Transparency

    President Donald Trump signed a bipartisan bill on Tuesday that aims to provide more transparency in the U.S. Department of Commerce's export control system, which restricts foreign adversaries from obtaining critical U.S. technologies and software.

  • August 19, 2025

    Feds Say They'll Rescind Biden-Era Species Protections

    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has said it will rescind a Biden-era Endangered Species Act rule that automatically places the strongest protections on all plants and animals covered by law.

  • August 19, 2025

    5 Firms Build $6.2B Nexstar, Tegna Media Mega-Merger

    Broadcast television giant Nexstar Media Group Inc. on Tuesday unveiled plans to buy fellow broadcast digital media company Tegna Inc. in an all-cash deal that was built by five law firms and is valued at $6.2 billion.

  • August 19, 2025

    9th Circuit Pauses Oak Flat Land Transfer Pending Appeals

    A Ninth Circuit panel has hit pause on the federal government's scheduled transfer of a centuries-old Indigenous worship site within Arizona's Tonto National Forest to a copper mining company while challenges to a multibillion-dollar proposed project play out in the appellate court.

  • August 19, 2025

    Trump's 'Abnormal' Use Of FCA Could Get Tricky In Court

    The Trump administration is wielding the False Claims Act in unusually narrow ways to drive policies on social and cultural issues — including gender-affirming care and diversity, equity and inclusion programs — but the government's potential theories of liability under the federal law remain largely untested and might not hold up in court, experts say.

  • August 18, 2025

    NJ Feds Say Habba's US Atty Role Unusual, But Not Unlawful

    Acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba on Monday doubled down on her argument that President Donald Trump legally appointed her New Jersey's top federal prosecutor, telling a federal judge that this is simply "an unusual situation" created when the district court last month refused to extend her interim tenure.

  • August 18, 2025

    Battle Brews Over Fed's Plan For Big Bank Ratings Revamp

    Leading banking industry groups are urging the Federal Reserve to move full speed ahead with a supervisory ratings overhaul that could classify more big banks as "well managed," but critics warn the plan amounts to dangerous, and potentially unlawful, grade inflation.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    DOJ's HPE-Juniper Settlement Will Help US Compete

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    The U.S. Department of Justice settlement with Hewlett Packard Enterprise clears the purchase of Juniper Networks in a deal that positions the U.S. as a leader in secure, scalable networking and critical digital infrastructure by requiring the divestiture of a WiFi network business geared toward small firms, says John Shu at Taipei Medical University.

  • How Property Insurers Serve As Climate Change Harbingers

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    Thomas Dawson at McDermott discusses the role that U.S. property insurers may play in identifying and assessing climate risk, as well as in financing climate change adaptation projects, in light of global warming and shifting geopolitical realities.

  • Series

    Playing Baseball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing baseball in college, and now Wiffle ball in a local league, has taught me that teamwork, mental endurance and emotional intelligence are not only important to success in the sport, but also to success as a trial attorney, says Kevan Dorsey at Swift Currie.

  • Assessing Impact Of USPTO's New Patent Policies

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    Recent data shows how the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's new patent policies are affecting America Invents Act trial institution rates, including spurring an uptick in discretionary denials, say attorneys at Armond Wilson.

  • What US Medicine Onshoring Means For Indian Life Sciences

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    Despite the Trump administration's latest moves to onshore essential medicine manufacturing, India will likely remain an indispensable component of the U.S. drug supply chain, but Indian manufacturers should prepare for stricter compliance checks, says Jashaswi Ghosh at Holon Law Partners.

  • APA Relief May Blunt Justices' Universal Injunction Ruling

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    The Administrative Procedure Act’s avenue for universal preliminary relief seems to hold the most promise for neutralizing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. CASA to limit federal district courts' nationally applicable orders, say attorneys at Crowell.

  • Wells Fargo Suit Shows Consumer Protection Limits In Mass.

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    The Massachusetts Appeals Court's May decision in Wells Fargo Bank v. Coulsey underscores that consumer rights are balanced against the need for closure, and even the broad protections of state consumer protection law will not open the door to relitigating the same claims, say attorneys at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Series

    Ohio Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2

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    Ohio's financial services sector saw several significant developments in the second quarter of 2025, including a case that confirmed credit unions' setoff rights, another that established contract rights between banks and cardholders, and the House passage of a digital asset bill, say attorneys at Frost Brown.

  • Building Better Earnouts In The Current M&A Climate

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    In the face of market uncertainty, we've seen a continued reliance on earnouts in M&A deals so far this year, but to reduce the risk of related litigation, it's important to use objective standards, apply company metrics cautiously and ensure short time periods, among other best practices, say attorneys at White & Case.

  • Managing Risks As State AGs Seek To Fill Enforcement Gap

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    Given an unprecedented surge in state attorney general activity resulting from significant shifts in federal enforcement priorities, companies must consider tailored strategies for navigating the ever-evolving risk landscape, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • A Deep Dive Into 14 Nixed Gensler-Era SEC Rule Proposals

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last month formally withdrew 14 notices of proposed rulemaking, including several significant and widely criticized proposals that had been issued under former Chair Gary Gensler's leadership, signaling a clear and definitive shift away from the previous administration, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Skillful Persuasion

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    In many ways, law school teaches us how to argue, but when the ultimate goal is to get your client what they want, being persuasive through preparation and humility is the more likely key to success, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.

  • A Look At Trump 2.0 Antitrust Enforcement So Far

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    The first six months of President Donald Trump's second administration were marked by aggressive antitrust enforcement tempered by traditional structural remedies for mergers, but other unprecedented actions, like the firing of Federal Trade Commission Democrats, will likely stoke heated discussion ahead, says Richard Dagen at Axinn.

  • Reform Partly Modernizes Small Biz Stock Gains Exclusion

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    Changes to the Internal Revenue Code in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act update the qualified small business stock gains exclusion to reflect inflation, but the regime would be more in line with current business realities if Congress had also made the exemption available to additional business structures, says Mark Parthemer at Glenmede.

  • Breaking Down Novel Va. Social Media Law For Minors

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    While a Virginia bill passed in May is notable for setting a one-hour daily limit on minors' use of social media, other provisions create compliance burdens for social media operators and app store providers, and increase privacy and security risks associated with the collection of sensitive information to prove identity, says Jenna Rode at Hunton.

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