Public Policy

  • August 17, 2026

    FCC Turns Down Bid To Revisit Campaign Ad Pricing Policy

    The Federal Communications Commission declined a petition asking it to reconsider guidance the agency put out earlier this year about political ads, saying the "central premise" of the request was "wrong many times over."

  • August 17, 2026

    Attorneys Skeptical Of Trump's 11th Circ. Appeal Of IRS Case

    Six attorneys who weighed in on President Donald Trump's $10 billion suit against the Internal Revenue Service told a Florida federal court Monday that he hasn't demonstrated that he will prove that its ruling that the settlement from the suit lacked a legitimate controversy violated due process.

  • August 17, 2026

    Nashville, Localities Sue DHS Over FEMA Funding Condition

    Nashville, Tennessee, and local governments in Texas and Ohio sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Monday, saying the Trump administration is unlawfully hijacking the Homeland Security Grant Program to coerce states into changing their local election procedures.

  • August 17, 2026

    Blue States Say FTC Can't Regulate Trans Youth Health

    A group of left-leaning states, including Massachusetts and California, asked a Texas federal court to toss a Federal Trade Commission suit against the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, saying Monday that the FTC's suit constitutes a "federal attack on state-regulated transgender healthcare."

  • August 17, 2026

    Mich. Panel Says Notice Rule Doesn't Bar Workers' Bias Suit

    A Michigan appellate panel has refused to dismiss sex discrimination, hostile work environment and retaliation claims by Wayne County Community College District police employees, ruling that the college is a local political subdivision and not subject to the Court of Claims Act's notice requirement.

  • August 17, 2026

    Judge Says Everglades Site Closure Moots Atty Access Suit

    A Florida federal court has dismissed without prejudice a lawsuit alleging that state and federal officials unconstitutionally prevented noncitizens held at an Everglades immigrant detention center from accessing counsel, finding the lawsuit moot in light of the facility's closure.

  • August 17, 2026

    Justices Asked To Ban Ten Commandments In Texas Schools

    Two dozen families on Monday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Fifth Circuit's decision allowing Texas to require public schools to display copies of the Ten Commandments in classrooms, arguing the decision "egregiously" ignores several of the high court's religious freedom precedents.

  • August 17, 2026

    Paramount Wants AGs, WGA To Pay $1.9B Merger Suit Bond

    Paramount Skydance Corp. put a price tag Monday on waiting until next year to close its planned $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, asking a California federal judge to impose an approximately $1.9 billion bond requirement on the Democratic attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America challenging the deal.

  • August 17, 2026

    NC Court Won't Revisit Pot-Smell Basis For Car Search

    The North Carolina Supreme Court has again affirmed that the smell of cannabis can serve as the basis of a police search, noting that the court had already weighed in on the issue in a similar case earlier this year.

  • August 17, 2026

    Broadband Co. Says It's Catching Up After Rural Fund Delays

    Broadband provider Brightspeed told the Federal Communications Commission that it is on track to meet its obligations under a rural development fund despite ongoing delays.

  • August 17, 2026

    2nd Circ. Says Public Can Film Police And Their Stations

    The Second Circuit said Monday it has joined "a growing chorus of our sister circuits" in finding a constitutional right to record law enforcement activity in public, as well as police buildings, but still turned away a self-described First Amendment auditor's lawsuit over his arrest while filming the exterior of a Connecticut police station.

  • August 17, 2026

    Latest Squires Patent Review Order Grants 1, Denies 3

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires granted one petition for an America Invents Act patent review and rejected three others in his latest order on institution decisions.

  • August 17, 2026

    Calif. Tribe Challenges Feds' Gaming Approval Reversal

    A California tribe is asking a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to block the U.S. Department of the Interior's decision last month to undo its approval of the tribe's 160-acre gaming facility project, arguing the latest order was independently unlawful because the government did not give a reasoned explanation for the reversal.

  • August 17, 2026

    Miami Atty Says Judge's Defamation Suit Attacks Free Speech

    An attorney who's challenging a Miami-Dade County judge for her seat urged a Florida state court to toss the judge's suit alleging the attorney defamed her by claiming she tried to block the Donald Trump Presidential Library, saying monetary penalties should also be awarded because the complaint attacks free speech.

  • August 17, 2026

    Young Athletes Are Wising Up, But Attys Say They're Still Kids

    As the name, image and likeness industry grows and billions of dollars pour into college sports, attorneys who represent student-athletes say that while they're not as green as their youth suggests, they're still vulnerable to bad actors and need to clear business decisions with mom and dad.

  • August 17, 2026

    Justices Won't Reconsider Verizon's $47M FCC Fine

    The U.S. Supreme Court is not interested in reconsidering how it worded its June opinion upholding the Federal Communications Commission's authority to issue monetary penalties, despite Verizon arguing that the ruling left it between a rock and a hard place concerning the $47 million fine it already paid.

  • August 17, 2026

    Mass. Judge Vacates ACA Gender-Affirming Care Restriction

    A Massachusetts federal judge handed a coalition of 21 states a win on their claim that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services unlawfully issued Affordable Care Act reforms barring marketplace plans from requiring coverage for medical procedures used in gender-affirming care.

  • August 17, 2026

    FTC Gets $725M Liquid Nails Deal Blocked

    A New York federal court has sided with the Federal Trade Commission and blocked Loctite maker Henkel's planned $725 million acquisition of fellow construction adhesive brand Liquid Nails, following a bench trial in Manhattan last month.

  • August 17, 2026

    Biz Pushes Class Cert. As Solution To IEEPA Refund Issues

    The U.S. Court of International Trade should grant class certification to companies seeking refunds of duties paid under the invalidated global tariff regime, the company serving as a test case for the refunds said in arguments mirroring those recently made in the underlying dispute.

  • August 17, 2026

    4th Circ. Says Waiver Applicants Aren't Shielded From ICE

    Federal immigration regulations do not prevent the government from deporting an unlawfully present noncitizen who is married to a U.S. citizen and is seeking to avoid being statutorily barred from reentering the country amid the green card process, the Fourth Circuit ruled.

  • August 17, 2026

    NC Gov. Nixes GOP Bill To Let Chief Justice Suspend Judges

    North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein on Monday vetoed a bill that would allow the chief justice to suspend trial court judges under investigation by the Tar Heel State's judicial watchdog, criticizing lawmakers as "playing politics" with the judiciary.

  • August 17, 2026

    Georgia DA Wants A Say In Trump Election Case Fee Battle

    Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is urging a Georgia appellate court to undo an order blocking her from intervening in a bid by President Donald Trump and others to recoup $16 million in legal fees in a dismissed election interference case, saying her office has a significant financial interest at stake.

  • August 17, 2026

    Mich. Homeowner Qualifies For Exemption, Court Rules

    A Michigan homeowner who lived in the state while her husband lived in Washington state is eligible for a principal residence exemption despite filing a nonresident return for one year, a panel of the Michigan Appeals Court ruled. 

  • August 17, 2026

    'Act Now' To Save FCC School Subsidy, Group Urges Public

    School and library broadband advocates are urging communities that depend on the E-Rate subsidy that supports high-speed connectivity in learning environments to file public comments in support amid a push by the Federal Communications Commission to dismantle it.

  • August 17, 2026

    Trump Monument Cuts Spur Disputed Utah Mining Claims

    Tribal nations and environmental groups are urging the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to reject mining claims on two Utah national monuments, arguing that operations can't begin until 60 days after the president removed federal protections for more than 90% of the monuments' lands.

Expert Analysis

  • What 'Good Faith' Means In Calif.'s 1st Climate Reporting Year

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    Initial submissions to California's corporate greenhouse gas emissions reporting program are due this month — and for regulated businesses, the first-year issue is not whether CARB has answered every implementation question, but how a company can make its good faith compliance efforts provable later, says Thierry Montoya at FBT Gibbons.

  • How New Counter-Drone Rule Will Reshape Event Security

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    A new interim final rule on counter-unmanned aircraft systems creates one of the most structured regulatory frameworks yet adopted for mitigating unauthorized drone activity, with implications for law enforcement, airport and stadium operators, drone companies, and public event organizers, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • How Home Infusion Providers Can Adapt To Enrollment Pause

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    Recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services moratoria on new enrollments of home health agencies, medical equipment companies and hospices make home infusion providers' compliance obligations more complex and ambiguous, requiring new careful consideration of specific enrollment requirements and limitations, say attorneys at Quarles & Brady.

  • Opinion

    Birthright Citizenship Dissents Belie Originalist Interpretation

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    The three dissents in the U.S. Supreme Court's recent birthright citizenship decision clashed with originalist readings of the Constitution, applying the 14th Amendment more narrowly than its drafters, and by applying contemporary and living document approaches to constitutional interpretation, says Ediberto Roman at Florida International University.

  • NYDFS Swedbank Order Offers Lessons On Candor

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    The New York State Department of Financial Services' consent order with Swedbank reflects the department's broad view of its investigative authority, emphasizes transparency, and underscores the risks of intrusive investigations that can occur if a regulator believes that it was misled, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

  • 3 Rulings Show High Court's Transnational Litigation Stance

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's most recent term closed with three consequential decisions for transnational litigation that illustrate the court's readiness to enforce a Congress-created cause of action for overseas conduct and unwillingness to create this liability itself, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Managing Data Center Power Issues, Public Pushback

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    The many risks associated with data center construction include power availability, government regulations and public opinion, and contractual disputes — but these can be mitigated with careful project controls, planning and targeted contract drafting, say Randa Adra and Lily Geyer at Crowell & Moring, and Natasha Dahl at Ankura.

  • California FAIR Plan Is Outgrowing Last-Resort Role

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    With a recent rate increase, a litigation win and pending legislation to reshape operations, the California FAIR Plan is being regulated and reinforced as an apparent fixture of California's insurance market, rather than the temporary safety net originally intended, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Data Center Risks Include Schedules, Supply Chain, Labor

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    Managing the dynamic technical and legal risks related to data center development requires sophisticated strategies for dealing with compressed schedules and liquidated damages, supply chain and long-lead equipment challenges, and labor shortages and productivity issues, say Randa Adra and Lily Geyer at Crowell & Moring, and Natasha Dahl at Ankura.

  • How 'Markedly Different' Test Shapes Patent Eligibility Debate

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    Following last month's U.S. Senate hearing on the proposed Patent Eligibility Restoration Act, it is important to examine how courts and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office have applied the 46-year-old "markedly different characteristics" framework to determine eligibility of composition-of-matter claims, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • 5 Antitrust Lessons On Bundled Discounts After Medtronic

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    The recent California federal court decision upholding a $381.7 million verdict against Medtronic offers practitioners a clearer road map for navigating bundled discount claims under Section 2 of the Sherman Act, and the practical implications are substantial, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • Calif. OppFi Suit Outlines Key Criteria For Bank Partnerships

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    A California state court's recent ruling in OppFi v. Hewlett offers fintech-bank partnerships a blueprint for structuring lending programs to withstand future true lender challenges, while signaling that enforcement theories may face added scrutiny under the state's ban on underground regulations, say attorneys at Womble Bond.

  • AG Watch: Va. Auto Renewal Law Clears Enforcement Path

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    The most consequential aspect of recent amendments to Virginia's automatic renewal law is the enforcement authority it creates, giving the attorney general a clear statutory pathway to pursue cases involving subscription-related compliance failures under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act, says Chuck Slemp at Cozen O'Connor.

  • A New Era Of Scrutiny For China-Linked Pharma Deals

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    As Congress considers bipartisan legislation that would heighten regulatory scrutiny for life sciences deals involving Chinese biotech entities, companies should reassess the risks and due diligence requirements that will come with using heavily China-dependent pipelines, says Jen Maki at Ankura.

  • Justices' FTC Ruling Weakens Qui Tam's Constitutional Base

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Trump v. Slaughter, expanding presidential control over those exercising executive power, suggests that courts may be receptive to arguments challenging the constitutional foundations of the False Claims Act’s qui tam mechanism, says Daniel Passeser at Wiggin.

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