Public Policy

  • July 20, 2026

    9th Circ. Says Age-Based Groups Are Immutable In Asylum Bid

    The Ninth Circuit Monday revived the asylum bid of a Mexican mother and her children who escaped masked men, saying an immigration appeals panel disobeyed its own precedent when rejecting an age-based social group she based her petition on.

  • July 20, 2026

    EEOC Defends Subpoenas In Suit Over NM Native Bias Probe

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said a New Mexico school board hasn't explained why it failed to exhaust administrative remedies to challenge the agency's subpoenas seeking employment and applicant data as part of its investigation into alleged race discrimination.

  • July 20, 2026

    Scientist Seeks To Enforce Journalist's 2024 Contempt Order

    Yanping Chen, a scientist who accused an FBI agent of leaking her confidential immigration records to former Fox News correspondent Catherine Herridge, is asking a D.C. federal judge to finally enforce a yearsold contempt order against Herridge now that the appeals process has run its course.

  • July 20, 2026

    Trump Looks To Spur US Aluminum Output With Tariff Break

    Companies that pledge to build, expand or refurbish aluminum smelters in the U.S. will be able to apply for a reduced tariff rate on certain amounts of aluminum, President Donald Trump announced Monday.

  • July 20, 2026

    DOJ Says $1.8B Fund Is Dead, Urges Court To Toss Suit

    A Virginia federal judge should dismiss a suit challenging the U.S. Department of Justice's $1.8 billion settlement fund that was to be included in a deal to close President Donald Trump's tax leak suit, the federal government said, arguing the case is moot.

  • July 20, 2026

    Kalshi's Prediction Market Biz Facing Shutdown In Washington

    A Washington federal judge Monday granted the state's bid to preliminarily enjoin Kalshi's operations in the state, agreeing with Attorney General Nick Brown that the prediction market platform offers unlicensed sports wagering and other illegal online gambling activities.

  • July 20, 2026

    Uber, Lyft Urge Court To Block NYC Driver Deactivation Law

    Uber and Lyft have told a Manhattan federal judge that New York City overstepped in enacting an unconstitutional new ordinance prohibiting the ride-hailing companies from "deactivating" drivers without formal notice and investigation, saying that carving out certain provisions from the regulation still doesn't save it from scrutiny.

  • July 20, 2026

    FCC Poised To Pull Co.'s Test Lab Status Over China Ties

    A Federal Communications Commission office is ready to pull a company's certification as an authorized test lab for devices sold into the U.S. market because of its ownership ties to the Chinese government.

  • July 20, 2026

    Judge Questions Exxon Bid To Revive Claims In Records Suit

    A Massachusetts judge on Monday appeared unlikely to let Exxon Mobil revive equal protection claims in a public records lawsuit against state environmental regulators, saying counsel for the company was essentially asking him to second-guess a colleague who tossed the allegations in March.

  • July 20, 2026

    NJ Justices Call Land Swap An Abuse Of Eminent Domain

    The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that a municipality violated state law and constitutional limits when it condemned two privately owned parcels of land to trade them to a developer, holding that the town never intended to put the seized properties to public use.

  • July 20, 2026

    Pa. District Owed Refund For Improper Water Fees, Court Told

    The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority has continued to improperly collect stormwater fees even after a recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision found the fees to be illegal taxes, the city's public school district said in a complaint filed Monday, arguing it is entitled to a $1.9 million refund.

  • July 20, 2026

    Exxon Climate Suit Fate May Hinge On Preemption Precedent

    A Connecticut state judge on Monday seemed inclined to wait for upcoming U.S. Supreme Court preemption guidance before ruling on the state's attempt to nix one of Exxon Mobil's defenses in an environmental marketing lawsuit, though both sides drew some skepticism during oral argument Monday.

  • July 20, 2026

    Trump Curbs Foreign Sourcing Waivers For Weapon Materials

    President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday directing the secretary of defense to limit waivers that allow weapons contractors to obtain certain materials from nonallied countries.

  • July 20, 2026

    SD Judge Blocks Abortion Ad Ban Against Atty, Nonprofit

    A South Dakota federal judge barred the state from enforcing an abortion advertising ban against a reproductive health education nonprofit and an attorney, ruling that doing so would likely violate the First Amendment.

  • July 20, 2026

    Water Transfer Co. Seeks $351K In Worker Credit Refunds

    The Internal Revenue Service owes a water transfer services company nearly $351,000 in employee retention tax credit refunds, the business told a Pennsylvania federal court, saying the agency improperly retained the overpayments to offset a supposed civil penalty against the company.

  • July 20, 2026

    Vanda's NDA Rejection Challenge Can't Be Heard At DC Court

    A D.C. federal judge has said he no longer has jurisdiction to hear Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s challenge alleging the FDA violated the Appointments Clause by allowing a non-officer to exercise "signatory authority" and reject its new drug application for tradipitant, since Vanda went to the D.C. Circuit raising the same argument already.

  • July 20, 2026

    Trade Court Backs Thai Pipe Duties On Third Try

    A Thai steel pipe producer will be hit with a 15% antidumping duty after the U.S. Court of International Trade signed off on a federal government determination finding the record was missing necessary information.

  • July 20, 2026

    Wis. Village Can't Void Tribal Land Trust Order, 7th Circ. Told

    The U.S. Department of the Interior is asking the Seventh Circuit to reject a Wisconsin village's appeal that seeks to undo the agency's decision to place 500 acres into trust for the Oneida Nation, arguing that the municipality can't overcome Congress' power to regulate Indian affairs.

  • July 20, 2026

    Masonry Co. Owner To Pay $7.2M Over Amtrak Bribery Plot

    The owner of an Illinois-based masonry contracting company who last year pled guilty to conspiring to bribe an Amtrak employee to get favorable contract terms for the renovation of Philadelphia's 30th Street Station has agreed to pay more than $7.2 million to resolve civil claims stemming from the scheme, prosecutors said.

  • July 20, 2026

    IMF Paper Backs Destination-Based VAT For Digital Services

    The most coherent way to tax digital services is with value-added taxes that have place-of-supply rules to ensure they apply on a destination basis to final domestic consumption, according to a working paper by the International Monetary Fund.

  • July 20, 2026

    Activist Seeks Mich. Judicial Candidate Records

    A suburban Detroit political activist who has brought several challenges to candidates and state election rules sued Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and state election officials, claiming they violated the Freedom of Information Act by refusing to provide identity documents filed by a Wayne County judicial candidate. 

  • July 20, 2026

    Unions Seek To Block Texas Tech Curriculum Censorship

    A professors union and its Texas affiliate asked a Texas federal court to stop Texas Tech University's chancellor and board from enforcing policies that, the unions say, censor academic speech on race, gender identity and sexual orientation, arguing the policies will cause irreparable harm to the university's teachers.

  • July 20, 2026

    Trump Demands Review Of Judges' Science Manual

    President Donald Trump has escalated a recent controversy over a scientific manual for federal judges that has been around for over three decades. 

  • July 20, 2026

    Legal Center Tells 4th Circ. To Reject FCC Campaign Ad Rule

    The Campaign Legal Center has asked the Fourth Circuit to set aside recent FCC guidance on political ads, saying it violates the Communications Act of 1934.

  • July 20, 2026

    Rural Providers Laud Latest Broadband Map Push

    Rural telecoms are pressing lawmakers to advance a new bill to improve granular detail to broadband maps across the U.S. introduced by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.

Expert Analysis

  • Attorney Mental Health Is An Ethical Obligation In The AI Era

    Author Photo

    As attorneys cope with the increasing unpredictability that artificial intelligence and constant policy changes have created, particularly in practice areas where they carry the emotional weight of clients’ most consequential life events, otherwise soft discussions about self-care are a matter of professional competence, says attorney Jack Jrada.

  • Md. Ruling Reflects Classic Administrative Law Principle

    Author Photo

    A Maryland federal court's recent decision in Columbus v. Kennedy significantly limits how far the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services can go in reshaping the Affordable Care Act through regulation, highlighting a principle that will likely be applied in similar Administrative Procedure Act challenges, says Michael King at Brownstein Hyatt.

  • DOJ China Container Indictments Signal Global Cartel Risk

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent announcement that it had indicted Chinese manufacturers for conspiring to drive up the price of shipping containers sold in the U.S. illustrates the Antitrust Division's interest in pursuing overseas cartel conduct, especially in China, signaling that multinational companies with employees abroad should strengthen antitrust compliance to avoid running afoul of U.S. national security policy, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • More Cos. Will Copy SpaceX's Shareholder Proposal Opt-Out

    Author Photo

    For more than 80 years, the shareholder proposal looked like a federal right guaranteed to all public company investors, but after SpaceX opted out before its recent initial public offering, other companies are likely to follow, says Mohsen Manesh at the University of Oregon School of Law.

  • How DOJ Is Approaching Monitorship After Signaling Limits

    Author Photo

    As the U.S. Department of Justice keeps more monitors in place than expected, a look at the matters in which prosecutors are maintaining oversight reveals the sort of companies enforcers might trust to self-remediate, and also those that may receive independent supervision, say attorneys at Kendall Brill.

  • Opinion

    DHS' World Cup Influencer Warning Overreads Visa Law

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s reported position that foreign influencers covering the 2026 World Cup need work visas if their content is monetized runs contrary to both legislative intent and long-standing precedent that structure the visa inquiry around labor market substitution, says Jun Li at Reid & Wise.

  • 3 Steps For Banks As Section 1071 Rule Finally Becomes Final

    Author Photo

    Some community banks and other lenders will get some breathing room in the final Section 1071 rule exempting them from small business lending reporting duties, but other reporting institutions should update applications, systems and staff training ahead of the 2028 compliance date, says Memrie Fortenberry at Jones Walker.

  • Why DOE Isn't Phasing Out Appliance Efficiency Regs

    Author Photo

    While the U.S. Department of Energy recently acted on President Donald Trump's 2025 executive order requiring it to consider sunsetting many energy regulations, the DOE has not proposed phasing out efficiency standards for appliances and industrial equipment — but it could pursue other approaches to ease such requirements, say attorneys at HWG.

  • Series

    Power To The Paralegals: Burnout As A Structural Problem

    Author Photo

    Law firm leadership can best retain their paralegals not by encouraging self-care, but by seeking top-down structural solutions for the quiet proliferation of responsibilities and the vicarious exposure to client trauma that particularly drive burnout in this vital role, says Erika Sneeringer at Brockstedt Mandalas.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: June Lessons

    Author Photo

    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses five recent rulings from cases involving allegations of internet data misuse, consumer fraud claims, immigration, insurance and First Amendment violation claims.

  • Justices' FCC Fine Ruling May Weaken Agency Leverage

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Federal Communications Commission v. AT&T upheld the commission's forfeiture framework as consistent with Jarkesy, but it is also likely to reduce the effectiveness of the commission’s forfeiture proceedings as a collection and deterrence tool, say attorneys at Venable.

  • Takeaways From 1st Del. Ruling Applying Moelis Amendments

    Author Photo

    Delaware corporations should carefully review contractual arrangements and governance documents following the Court of Chancery's recent enforcement of a non-Delaware forum selection clause in a CEO's employment agreement under 2024 amendments to the state's General Corporation Law, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Ill. Law Firm MSO Bill Clashes With Court Power, Ethics Rules

    Author Photo

    An Illinois bill prohibiting law firms from certain business arrangements with management service organizations, sent to the governor for signature last week, encroaches upon the courts' constitutional powers and goes beyond the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct in regulating investment in law-related services, says Matthew O’Hara at Smith Gambrell.

  • Google Antitrust Case Puts Spotlight On De Facto Exclusivity

    Author Photo

    Mozilla's recent amicus filing in U.S. v. Google arguing that its agreement to make Google the default search engine did not amount to de facto exclusivity highlights the growing debate over traditional indicators of exclusivity, with implications for any business that uses rebates, preferred contracts or volume incentives, says Chris Gowen at WilmU Farnan School of Law.

  • Justices' Montgomery Ruling Doesn't Expand Shipper Liability

    Author Photo

    Whether negligent hiring liability claims against shippers will increase after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last month in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II is anyone's guess, but the ruling itself will have no impact on shippers' actual liability in personal injury claims relating to trucking accidents, says Ronald Leibman at McCarter & English.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Public Policy archive.