Public Policy

  • August 05, 2026

    Ill. Feds Fight Contempt Proceedings In ICE Protest Case

    Federal prosecutors urged an Illinois federal judge Tuesday to reject further hearings and a special prosecutor over grand jury misconduct in a dismissed case against anti-ICE activists, arguing that the dismissal of the charges, the payout of their attorney fees, "substantial" internal reforms and a pending ethics probe render criminal contempt proceedings unnecessary.

  • August 05, 2026

    Trade Group Seeks Injunction Over Colo. Recycling Law

    A trade group made up of about 35,000 wholesale distribution companies asked a Colorado federal judge Wednesday to issue an injunction preventing the state from enforcing a new recycling law, arguing that the law is unconstitutional.

  • August 05, 2026

    Texas Governor Calls For Data Center Audit

    Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to audit any data centers that are going through ERCOT's electric grid interconnection process, saying that an audit is needed because the demand from data centers seeking to connect to Texas' electric grid could overwhelm it.

  • August 05, 2026

    Mass. City Must Refund $2.4M In Cannabis 'Impact' Fees

    A Massachusetts state court judge has ordered a Boston suburb to refund $2.4 million in fees it collected from cannabis retailers, saying the city of Newton failed to show the fees were tethered to the costs of hosting the businesses.

  • August 05, 2026

    Texas Cos., Others Urge Cruz, Cornyn To Block Rio Barriers

    More than 140 river outfitters, local businesses and recreation groups have urged Texas' two U.S. senators and Gov. Greg Abbott to intervene and stop planned border barrier construction in and around Big Bend National Park, warning the project would devastate the region's recreation economy and cut off public access to the Rio Grande.

  • August 05, 2026

    Judge Says Firearms Act Can't Stand After Gun Taxes Zeroed

    A Texas federal court ruled Wednesday that the National Firearms Act and its enforcement of registration and transfer requirements are unconstitutional in light of the 2025 federal budget bill's elimination of taxes on certain firearms, handing a win to several gun rights advocacy groups.

  • August 05, 2026

    Utah Can Enforce Gambling Laws Against Kalshi, Judge Says

    A Utah federal judge has allowed the state's gambling regulators to crack down on Kalshi's sports event contracts, rejecting the prediction market giant's argument that it should be shielded by federal law.

  • August 05, 2026

    Senate Panel Presses DOJ Antitrust Pick On Independence

    President Donald Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, Adam Candeub, faced tough questions Wednesday during a U.S. Senate confirmation hearing, where several Democrats challenged his independence.

  • August 05, 2026

    Convicted Tax-Offender Atty Rebuffed In Bid To Have Firearm

    A Connecticut attorney who served prison time for tax offenses cannot proceed with most of a suit that seeks the restoration of his right to possess a firearm, a federal judge said in a ruling Wednesday.

  • August 05, 2026

    These Firms Are Picking Up The Most PTAB Work

    Intellectual property heavyweight Fish & Richardson PC remains the busiest firm in front of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, as it again secured the top spot on a list of firms with the most PTAB trials over the past three years.

  • August 05, 2026

    9th Circ. Urged To Revisit Klamath Project ESA Ruling

    A water association is asking the Ninth Circuit to rethink a ruling that held the Endangered Species Act applies to the operation and management of an Oregon irrigation project, arguing that the appellate court left "an unworkable" framework to determine a threshold question over nondiscretionary federal agency actions.

  • August 05, 2026

    CFPB Sends Open-Banking Rule Redo To White House

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has finished a proposal to overhaul its Biden-era open-banking rule and has submitted it for White House clearance, a move that signals the agency is nearing publication of the highly anticipated draft changes.

  • August 05, 2026

    Texas Firm Lands $150M HHS Services Deal For Migrant Kids

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it has entered into a $150 million contract with a small Texas law firm to provide legal services to unaccompanied immigrant children, raising concerns from former subcontractors about the firm's experience with immigration matters.

  • August 05, 2026

    Mich. Wineries Fight 'Secret Evidence' In Intervention Bid

    A group of northern Michigan wineries on Tuesday urged a federal judge to block a local advocacy group's attempt to introduce "secret evidence" into an ongoing lawsuit between the wineries and Peninsula Township, which they claim is undermining their business in the popular tourist locale. 

  • August 05, 2026

    Feds Sued Over Man's Death After ICE Raid At Cannabis Farm

    The family of a man who died following a chaotic ICE raid last summer at a cannabis farm has sued the U.S. government for negligence in California federal court, alleging that law enforcement agents used excessive force during the incident and prevented him from receiving timely treatment by medical personnel.

  • August 05, 2026

    Holland & Knight Hires Energy Finance Advisers In DC

    Holland & Knight LLP has hired a trio of advisers from lobbying and consulting firm Boundary Stone Partners to bolster its work on energy, technology and infrastructure funding and finance in Washington, D.C., the firm announced Tuesday.

  • August 05, 2026

    Ex-Congo President Challenges US Sanctions As Baseless

    The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control based its placement of the former president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on a sanctions blacklist on unsupported claims he backed armed rebel groups, he told a federal court in Washington, D.C.

  • August 05, 2026

    DC Gun Ban Suit Paused For High Court Look At Ill. Case

    A D.C. federal judge has stayed the Trump administration's challenge to the city's prohibition on silencers and AR-15s, ordering the case to remain on ice until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a similar challenge to semiautomatic bans in Illinois and Connecticut.

  • August 05, 2026

    Wyoming Judge Says Congress Nixed Coal Lease Fight

    A Wyoming federal judge dismissed a series of cases challenging resource management plans that ended new coal leasing on federal lands in the Powder River Basin, agreeing that the dispute ended when Congress repealed the plans.

  • August 05, 2026

    Court Wrongly Nixed $750K Tax Debt Collection, 6th Circ. Told

    An Ohio federal court wrongly found that the U.S. government couldn't collect on a man's federal tax liabilities of over $750,000 via a property sale, the government told the Sixth Circuit, saying while the man's mother holds legal title to the property, he is its equitable owner.

  • August 05, 2026

    High Court's Trans Athlete Ruling Roils Volleyball Dispute

    A legal fight over San Jose State University's decision to roster a transgender player on its women's volleyball team has intensified as the litigants feverishly debate the impact of recent U.S. Supreme Court case law.

  • August 05, 2026

    T-Mobile Asks Judge To Reconsider Data Breach Ruling

    T-Mobile has asked a Washington judge to address issues that the company says were overlooked in his June ruling finding that T-Mobile committed more than 722,000 violations of a state data breach notification law.

  • August 05, 2026

    PTAB Filings Crashed After Squires And Stewart's Shake-Ups

    The number of America Invents Act filings with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board cratered at the end of 2025 after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office enacted policies that made the petitions a disfavored route for challenging patents, according to a new report.

  • August 05, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Told Injunction Against Samsung Is Warranted

    Collision Communications Inc. wants the Federal Circuit to undo a Texas federal judge's decision denying its bid to block Samsung from selling products a jury found were infringing, saying the judge "went inexplicably astray" following the $445 million verdict.

  • August 05, 2026

    Finance Group Urges Changes To UK Tax Reporting Rules

    The U.K.'s Labour government should change its plans for new cross-border tax reporting rules because the draft rules are overly complex for financial firms and the timeline is unrealistic, an industry group warned.

Expert Analysis

  • How Montgomery Ruling Will Affect Cos. Across Supply Chain

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    Since the U.S. Supreme Court's May 14 decision in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, the immediate focus has been on freight brokers and negligent carrier-selection claims, but the ripple effects may extend to shippers, logistics providers, insurers, transportation managers and other participants in the supply chain, say attorneys at Quintairos Prieto.

  • High Court's FCC Fine Ruling Reframes Agency Enforcement

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Federal Communications Commission v. AT&T sweeps aside uncertainty about what kinds of regulatory enforcement trigger a Seventh Amendment right, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • How Maine's Expanded Health Deal Reviews Complicate M&A

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    A pair of recently approved Maine competition laws establish notice and approval requirements for certain healthcare transactions and expand state antitrust oversight, creating new hurdles for dealmakers as states take a more aggressive role in policing healthcare consolidation, especially involving private equity, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Opinion

    Congress Must Resolve Growing Subchapter V Uncertainty

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    Congress must pass a bill to permanently restore the Subchapter V debt limit and clarify several other key points of the law to prevent a practical restructuring tool from becoming a costly procedural morass, says Ted Gavin at Gavin Solmonese.

  • CFTC Policy Substantially Expands Self-Reporting Incentives

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    A recent U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission policy moves from a mitigation-centered model to prioritizing declination for early self-reporting and full cooperation, reflecting a deliberate effort to harmonize voluntary self-disclosure incentives across the federal enforcement authorities, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • Opinion

    Exxon Shareholders Were Right To Save New Voting Program

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    Following Exxon shareholders’ recent vote that rejected a bid to dismantle the company’s new retail voting program, other companies should replicate it as a way to lower the friction for shareholders who already vote with the board to keep doing so without wrestling a ballot every spring, says J.W. Verret at the Antonin Scalia Law School.

  • Series

    Choral Singing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Singing in the New York City Bar Chorus — a hobby partly inspired by the late U.S. District Judge Richard Owen, who infused my clerkship year with opera music — has improved my legal career by refining my abilities to listen, exude confidence and develop emotional intelligence, says Bonnie Baker at Friedman Kaplan.

  • What Ratings Overhaul May Mean For Banking Industry

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    Proposed revisions to the bank rating system commonly known as CAMELS could constrain examiner discretion and tie supervisory outcomes more closely to measurable financial risk, potentially saving compliance costs, reducing the frequency of ratings downgrades and spurring a more growth-oriented banking system, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Series

    Illinois Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2

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    The last three months were particularly consequential for Illinois banking law, with a federal court ruling reshaping the Interchange Fee Prohibition Act, the state filling enforcement gaps, significant legislative activity and a revision to the community bank leverage ratio, say attorneys at Riley Safer.

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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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.

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