Public Policy

  • July 30, 2026

    Split 4th Circ. Says NC Vape Sale Limits Pass Preemption Test

    A divided Fourth Circuit on Thursday refused to block a new North Carolina law that regulates and prohibits the sale of certain e-cigarette or "vape" products, saying a coalition of vape retailers and manufacturers are not likely to prevail on their theory that the statute is preempted by federal law.

  • July 30, 2026

    Enbridge Loses 7th Circ. Wis. Trespass Row, Gets $5.2M Redo

    The Seventh Circuit upheld a decision holding that Enbridge Energy is trespassing on Wisconsin tribal lands, but vacated and remanded a $5.2 million restitution order and timeline for a portion of the Line 5 pipeline's removal, saying the company needs a "reasonable opportunity" to complete the proposed reroute.

  • July 30, 2026

    Planned Parenthood Sues Feds For Politicized Grant Priorities

    Planned Parenthood has sued the Trump administration in D.C. federal court over changes to Title X grant funding rules related to family planning, arguing applicants are forced to "align" with the administration's political priorities disfavoring contraceptives and targeting transgender patients when regulations require offering services in a nondiscriminatory fashion.

  • July 30, 2026

    FCC Says EchoStar Can't Use Trust Fund To Pay Itself

    The Federal Communications Commission is not pleased that EchoStar is trying to convince a bankruptcy court to let it use a trust fund created to pay contractors to build its now-abandoned 5G network to instead pay a loan one EchoStar subsidiary made to another.

  • July 30, 2026

    NC, Green Groups Call EPA-Chemours PFAS Deal Too Lenient

    North Carolina state leaders and environmental organizations asked the federal government to walk back a proposed settlement with Chemours over so-called forever chemical pollution from three factories, saying the deal amounted to a slap on the wrist.

  • July 30, 2026

    Minn. Social Media Mandate Muzzles Sites, Says Tech Group

    Tech trade group NetChoice is urging a federal court to reject Minnesota's bid to keep alive its new law requiring social media companies to display mental health warning labels at the login page, arguing the statute forces these companies to become "mouthpieces" for the state, violating the First Amendment.

  • July 30, 2026

    Instagram Could Easily Disrupt User Permascrolling, Jury Told

    A Silicon Valley tech guru and theorist testified on Thursday in Tennessee's trial against Meta that, for him, it took "less than 10 lines of code" to create a time delay that broke the grip of a hard-to-resist design feature he released to the world in 2006, infinite scroll.

  • July 30, 2026

    Consider 4.4GHz Band To Expand 5G, 6G, Report Says

    As the federal government eyes a pair of bands for the expansion of 5G and 6G, a spectrum researcher has released a report saying that the 4.4 gigahertz band is the best option.

  • July 30, 2026

    2 More Circuits Reject No-Bond Rule For Interior ICE Arrests

    Split Seventh Circuit and Ninth Circuit panels ruled Thursday that noncitizens arrested in the interior U.S. cannot be detained without bond, joining four other circuits that have rejected the Trump administration's policy of subjecting these noncitizens to mandatory detention.

  • July 30, 2026

    Ex-Greenberg Traurig Atty Named Acting Patent Commish

    A former principal shareholder at Greenberg Traurig LLP has been promoted to acting commissioner for patents at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, according to his LinkedIn profile.

  • July 30, 2026

    AT&T's Copper Network Retirement Needs Review, FCC Told

    The Communications Workers of America, rural counties in California and a consumer advocacy group for affordable utilities urged the Federal Communications Commission to reverse its automatic approval of AT&T's request to retire copper-line networks in California, saying that significant public interest concerns have to be addressed first.

  • July 30, 2026

    Judge Wary Of DOD Rationale For Anthropic Risk Label

    A California federal judge appeared unconvinced Thursday by the government's claim that its designation of Anthropic PBC as a supply chain risk to national security was based on a credible threat and not retaliation for publicly criticizing the Trump administration.

  • July 30, 2026

    11th Circ. Revives Nonprofit's Bias Suit Over COVID Grants

    The Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday revived part of a Florida nonprofit's suit challenging the denial of two COVID-19 relief grants, finding that the group had sufficiently alleged it was discriminated against because of racial bias and its association with a pan-African movement.

  • July 30, 2026

    Wash. Justices Say University Owed Duty In Hazing Death Suit

    The Washington State Supreme Court said in a 5-4 ruling Thursday that Washington State University had a duty to protect a student who died of alcohol poisoning following a hazing ritual at an off-campus party, including by taking steps to ensure fraternities were following rules against alcohol misuse and hazing.

  • July 30, 2026

    Polymarket Says Hidden Sports Bets Suit Must Be Arbitrated

    Polymarket is urging a New York federal court to send to arbitration users' claims that the prediction market company disguises its sports gambling offers as sports event contracts to get around regulations, arguing that its terms of use include an arbitration provision.

  • July 30, 2026

    4th Circ. Urged To Keep Trump Trans Health Orders Blocked

    A group of transgender individuals and advocacy groups urged the Fourth Circuit to uphold a nationwide injunction they won against Trump administration executive orders banning federal funding of gender-affirming care for individuals under the age of 19.

  • July 30, 2026

    Squires Erases PTAB Ax Of Dermatology IP Upheld At ITC

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires has thrown out the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's finding that Biofrontera Inc. had shown that all the challenged claims of a Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc. patent on a photodynamic dermatology device are invalid as obvious.

  • July 30, 2026

    Judiciary's Bid To Control Courthouses Gets Senate Push

    A bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill on Thursday that would create a pilot program for the federal judiciary to obtain direct authority to maintain its buildings, which the judiciary says is desperately needed.

  • July 30, 2026

    Ease Broadband Buildout To Fuel AI Boom, Lawmakers Urged

    Lawmakers must put an end to delays in broadband deployment and renew a federal cybersecurity statute if they hope to feed the artificial intelligence boom while curtailing safety concerns, U.S. senators heard Thursday.

  • July 30, 2026

    8th Circ. Revives Iowa Vape Restrictions Law

    Iowa can start enforcing a state law that restricts the sale of some e-cigarettes, after the Eighth Circuit on Thursday determined that the policy was not preempted by federal tobacco law and overturned a lower court's ruling that blocked officials from implementing it.

  • July 30, 2026

    Resolution Copper Creates $54M Trust For Ariz., NM Tribes

    Resolution Copper Co. said it established a $54 million trust that will provide annual funding to 11 Indigenous nations that have cultural and ancestral ties to a sacred Arizona worship site that's facing destruction to make way for a multibillion-dollar mining operation.

  • July 30, 2026

    Renters Seek $120M Fee Award In RealPage Rent-Fixing MDL

    Renters in sprawling multidistrict litigation that reached nearly $360 million in preliminary settlements with building owners over their alleged use of RealPage's software to inflate rents asked a Tennessee federal judge to approve $119.9 million in attorney fees, saying they've expended over 100,000 hours on the case.

  • July 30, 2026

    OCC, FDIC Say Ore. Opt-Out Law Threatens Interstate Lending

    Top federal banking regulators have lined up behind the banking industry in a challenge to a new Oregon law aimed at capping interest rates on loans from out-of-state banks, warning in federal court filings that it threatens "confusion" and disruption for interstate lending.

  • July 30, 2026

    DOJ Wants Rethink On Apple's Peek Into Feds' Phone-Buying

    The U.S. Department of Justice has asked a special master to rethink his New Jersey federal court mandate giving Apple a look into how the Pentagon, CIA, State Department and other federal agencies purchase smartphones, arguing that the retired federal judge applied the wrong legal standard in the antitrust case.

  • July 30, 2026

    Conn. Bans Most In-Cell Restraints To Settle Prison Lawsuit

    Connecticut's prisons on Sept. 1 will stop using separate restraints on inmates locked in holding cells, the state's corrections commissioner announced Thursday, settling a lawsuit by disability rights advocates who said the state was inappropriately using shackles to deal with mental illness symptoms.

Expert Analysis

  • 3 Ways Tokenization Is Moving To Traditional Finance

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    Recent initiatives reflect efforts to integrate distributed ledger technology into existing regulatory frameworks for securities, banking and payments settlements while preserving the underlying rights and obligations of market participants, say attorneys at Hughes Hubbard.

  • At The Intersection Of Right-To-Repair Laws And IP Rights

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    Right-to-repair legislation passing through Congress highlights a broad tension between manufacturers' security measures and consumer autonomy, with important repercussions for the automotive industry's intellectual property rights, says Keith Noe at Lando & Anastasi. 

  • Opinion

    States Should Reconsider Forced PBM Divestiture Laws

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    State legislatures are attempting to enact policies intended to force pharmacy benefit managers to divest from pharmacies, but these laws would have the practical effect of reducing patient access and competition, potentially violating the U.S. Constitution in the process, says former Utah Attorney General John Swallow.

  • HSR Deals Proceed More Steadily Than Narratives Suggest

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    The most recent Hart-Scott-Rodino Act data show that transaction volume remained relatively stable, transaction values continued to increase and enforcement activity remained low, suggesting that enforcement rates have been relatively consistent across presidential administrations despite widely differing public rhetoric regarding merger enforcement, says Amanda Wait at Michael Best.

  • Assessing The Benefits Of Fla.'s Newest Business Structure

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    As of July 1, Florida business owners can create protected series LLCs to shield assets from liability while avoiding increased costs and wasted time, but burdensome recordkeeping obligations are crucial to maintaining the very protection that makes them attractive in the first place, says Gregory Ritter at Moritt Hock.

  • Key Post-Proposal Shifts Likely In CFPB Loss Mitigation Rule

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    Mortgage servicers, borrowers and consumer advocates should prepare for a likely narrowed version of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's loss mitigation rule, which is likely to permit sequential reviews, defer to investor guidelines, extend compliance timelines and preempt conflicting state standards, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • Series

    Teaching SEC Investigations Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Instructing a law school course on U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigations has made me a more thoughtful, deliberate practitioner because it requires me to continually reassess and challenge what I know about securities law enforcement, how I know it and how best to explain it, says David Chase at Miami Law.

  • Noncompete Laws Show States Focusing On Bans, Healthcare

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    The first half of 2026 confirms that state legislatures are driving the most consequential changes in noncompete law, including a few state bans and several healthcare-specific laws, making a one-size-fits-all approach increasingly untenable for multistate employers, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • What's Inside Proposed, Expanded NY Stablecoin Regulations

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    New York's recently proposed regulations for payment stablecoin issuers would, if adopted, increase the regulatory burdens of a state license, and midsize issuers considering a conversion to a federal charter should weigh the associated costs of both options, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Justices' Tax Sale Ruling Tees Up Auction Fairness Battles

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Pung v. Isabella County, Michigan, that taxpayers are not entitled to fair market value of real property seized to satisfy a tax debt shifts attention to the fairness of state and local auction procedures, and whether taxpayers claiming surplus proceeds face unwarranted hurdles, say attorneys at Miller Canfield.

  • What Corporate Counsel Can Learn From OpenAI Test Breach

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    The significance of the recent artificial intelligence testing breach involving OpenAI and Hugging Face lies in what it reveals about the path of AI’s evolution, because legal professionals must translate that trajectory into actionable governance, contractual and advisory frameworks, says Jason Mueller at Vorys.

  • Patent Eligibility Reforms Keep Chasing The Wrong Fixes

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    Repeated efforts to create a consistent, predictable patent eligibility standard under Section 101 have centered on replacing judge-made exceptions with new statutory language, but the better fix is to align examination standards with how courts actually apply eligibility doctrine, says former Patent Trial and Appeal Board judge Amee Shah.

  • Opinion

    Qualified Immunity Bill's Reach Goes Beyond Federal Officers

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    The federal Qualified Immunity Abolition Act, introduced earlier this year and described by the bill sponsors as a federal-officer measure, would in actuality reach the entire universe of Section 1983 defendants, a distinction that matters as much to defense counsel as to plaintiffs, says attorney V. James DeSimone.

  • State Of Insurance: Q2 Notes From Pennsylvania

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    Todd Leon at Marshall Dennehey highlights notable second-quarter insurance developments in Pennsylvania, including federal court opinions providing guidance on first-party and third-party insurance coverage principles, and a pending bill seeking to regulate health insurers' use of artificial intelligence.

  • Assessing DOJ Antitrust's New, Faster Merger Review Option

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    The U.S. Justice Department Antitrust Division's recently announced targeted second request option and new model timing signal a commercially friendly stance and a departure from the prior administration's position, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.

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