Public Policy

  • July 16, 2026

    DHS Allows Broader Test For Public Charge Findings

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Thursday finalized a regulation that will give immigration officers more discretion to scrutinize immigration applications to determine if someone is inadmissible for being likely to rely on government benefits.

  • July 16, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Asked Not To Shift Moderna Vax Patent Case To Gov't

    Drugmakers like Novartis, former federal judges, a startup group and others have urged the Federal Circuit to reject calls to shift liability in a COVID-19 vaccine patent suit against Moderna to the federal government, saying that doing so would undermine patent rights.

  • July 16, 2026

    NJ Justices Clarify FCA Amendment In Reviving Bank Suit

    The New Jersey Supreme Court on Thursday revived whistleblower claims accusing Bank of America, Wells Fargo and other financial giants of fraud in the setting of interest rates on certain municipal bonds, saying that a lower court improperly blocked the attorney general from exercising authority in the litigation.

  • July 16, 2026

    Feds Tell 11th Circ. It Can't Hear BP Offshore Drilling Case

    The federal government has told the Eleventh Circuit it doesn't have jurisdiction to hear an appeal from conservation groups challenging the Trump administration's approval of BP PLC's Kaskida offshore oil and gas drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico.

  • July 16, 2026

    Texas Judge Warns BNSF, Unions Against Tactical Litigation

    A Texas federal judge had stern words for both BNSF Railway Co. and two unions that are tangled in a labor dispute with the company, saying in a Thursday hearing that federal district courts do not exist to "provide leverage" in union negotiations.

  • July 16, 2026

    Calif. Says AT&T Mustn't Make Move From Copper 'Disorderly'

    The California Public Utilities Commission has told AT&T that it's not pleased to hear that the cost of certain copper services has gone up "exponentially" as the state and the mobile behemoth duke it out in federal court and at the Federal Communications Commission over AT&T's desire to end legacy copper service.

  • July 16, 2026

    Dish Freed From 5G Network Commitment

    A D.C. federal judge has signed off on the U.S. Department of Justice's request that Dish be freed from its commitment to build and run a nationwide 5G network following its sale of $40 billion worth of spectrum licenses to AT&T and SpaceX.

  • July 16, 2026

    Tillis Might Back Blanche, As AG Pick Met Epstein Survivors

    Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche on Thursday afternoon met with a group of survivors of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after retiring Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said his condition for supporting Blanche's appointment to the permanent position was for the nominee to speak to them face-to-face.

  • July 16, 2026

    Colorado County Housing Fee Upheld On Appeal

    A Colorado mountain community's housing impact fee methodology for residential homes survived a challenge from a Texas property developer attempting to overturn a roughly $250,000 permit fee for an 11,300-square-foot home after the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the fee complies with state law.

  • July 16, 2026

    Mich. Renews Enbridge Line 5 Permit, Tribes Vow Fight

    Michigan environmental regulators reissued key state permits for Enbridge Energy's proposed Great Lakes Tunnel project, allowing the company to continue pursuing approvals needed to replace the aging Line 5 pipelines beneath the Straits of Mackinac, while tribal leaders and environmental groups vowed to challenge the decision.

  • July 16, 2026

    SEC Proposes Making E-Delivery Default For Investor Docs

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday proposed a new rule that would allow electronic delivery to be the default method for sending investors disclosures, shareholder reports, proxy statements and other information, replacing a standard by which many documents are delivered in paper format unless the recipient chooses otherwise.

  • July 16, 2026

    Gov't To Revive Digital Equity Grants, Minus Race, Judge Says

    The Trump administration is going to reinstate the Digital Equity Act Competition Grant Program, minus the provisions that require the government to consider race, a D.C. federal judge has said in an opinion striking down part of the law as unconstitutional.

  • July 16, 2026

    Republicans Call For Warnings On Shows With Trans Content

    Almost 50 House Republicans have come together to let the Federal Communications Commission know they're in "strong support" of the agency's inquiry into whether it should update the TV rating system to warn people when a program may include transgender or nonbinary characters.

  • July 16, 2026

    Noncitizens Awaiting U Visas Not Entitled To Leave, Reenter

    The Eleventh Circuit said noncitizens who were victims of the Parkland high school shooting, and their families, are not entitled to leave and reenter the country while awaiting their special visas for assisting law enforcement in investigating the crime.

  • July 16, 2026

    DEA Judge Lays Out Next Steps Following End Of Pot Hearing

    A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration administrative law judge has laid out upcoming deadlines following the conclusion of hearings on a proposal to move marijuana to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act.

  • July 16, 2026

    FERC Pushes Reliability Standards For Data Centers

    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday pressed for the continued development of reliability standards for power-hungry data centers and other computational loads, and ordered two western grid operators to report on coordination efforts at the seams of their operations.

  • July 16, 2026

    5th Circ. Upholds Gun Ban Against Domestic Abuser

    The Fifth Circuit ruled that a man convicted of domestic violence cannot have his right to own a firearm restored despite the U.S. Supreme Court's expansion of gun rights in recent years, and that Congress did not exceed its constitutional authority by limiting his Second Amendment rights.

  • July 16, 2026

    AG Fines, Not Damages Allowed After RealPage Renter Deals

    The attorneys general of D.C., Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey and Washington can seek civil fines and injunctive relief against RealPage Inc. and landlords for fixing rent prices, but claims on behalf of their residents are barred by deals made with private plaintiffs, a Tennessee federal judge ruled Thursday.

  • July 16, 2026

    Calif. Tells 9th Circ. AI Disclosure Law Helps Consumers

    The state of California has pressed the Ninth Circuit to affirm a district court's decision denying xAI's injunction request against a state law requiring artificial intelligence companies to disclose what's included in training their models, saying the law advanced "an important governmental interest" in providing transparency to the public.

  • July 16, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Revives Commerce's Korean Steel Duty Findings

    The U.S. Department of Commerce can adjust its countervailable duty rate for a South Korean steel manufacturer by reconsidering earlier determinations, a Federal Circuit panel said Thursday, reversing a trade court ruling that made the department stick with its older findings.

  • July 16, 2026

    Wyden Urges Admin To Protect US From Canadian Spy Law

    Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., urged the Trump administration Thursday to protect national security and American citizens from a proposed backdoor surveillance bill from Canada.

  • July 16, 2026

    DHS Finalizes Fixed Admission Terms For Foreign Students

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security finalized a rule on Thursday limiting foreign students' admission for academic and exchange visitor programs and replacing a policy that had allowed them to stay in the U.S. for the duration of their studies.

  • July 16, 2026

    Reps. Dingell, Clarke Push Menopause Workplace Bias Bill

    A pair of House Democrats have introduced a bill that would require employers to provide reasonable accommodations for workers experiencing menopause-related symptoms, creating explicit federal workplace protections for a condition that supporters say is not directly addressed under current law.

  • July 16, 2026

    Senate Democrats Revive Bill To End Federal Marijuana Ban

    Senate Democrats on Thursday once again reintroduced a cannabis legalization bill that would remove the drug entirely from the ambit of the Controlled Substances Act and impose a tax-and-regulate scheme akin to what is currently in place for alcohol and tobacco.

  • July 16, 2026

    Swedbank To Pay $50M Fine In Panama Papers-Linked Case

    Swedbank AB and its New York branch have agreed to pay a $50 million civil penalty to the New York State Department of Financial Services to resolve claims that the bank failed to fully cooperate with department requests for information related to Swedbank's relationships with Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the center of the 2016 Panama Papers leak.

Expert Analysis

  • Operational AI Washing: The Next Frontier Of Fiduciary Risk

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    While there are still no final Delaware decisions applying Caremark specifically to artificial intelligence governance failures, previous case law provides a blueprint, so the question for boards is whether their governance architectures will satisfy Caremark when the first cases are decided, say attorneys at Akerman.

  • A Look At The Court's Next Steps In Live Nation Antitrust Case

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    Following a recent jury verdict that Live Nation and Ticketmaster operated as a monopoly to fix ticket prices, a New York federal court stands to weigh Live Nation's bid for a new trial, approve the U.S. Department of Justice's March settlement with the defendants, and impose remedies that include full structural separation, say attorneys at Crowell.

  • How Crypto Firms Can Prep As Clarity Act Inches Toward Law

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    Though the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act’s road to enactment remains uncertain, the statutory framework for regulating digital commodities recently advanced by the Senate Banking Committee is now sufficiently developed that market participants can begin preparing in several areas where the complicated legislation would affect them, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.

  • Checking For AI Errors Is Now A Two-Way Street

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    A handful of recent federal and state cases demonstrate the importance of checking for errors generated by artificial intelligence not only in your own court submissions, but also your opponent's, as well as when catching opposing counsel's AI mistakes could result in an award for attorney fees, says Tamara Barago at Hollingsworth.

  • Opinion

    SEC Enforcement Reforms Must Address Post-Wells Limbo

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent changes to how it notifies companies of a potential enforcement action fail to address what happens after the Wells process is over, highlighting the need for meaningful process reform that includes a formal closure determination, says Kimble Cannon at Mahdavi Bacon.

  • Green Card Memo Warps Long-Standing Adjustment Process

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    A recent policy memorandum that treats a nonimmigrant visa holder’s decision to seek adjustment of status in the U.S., rather than at a U.S. consulate, as an adverse factor reinterprets existing discretionary frameworks, compounds risks for applicants required to apply abroad and changes practitioner approaches to application preparation, says attorney Jack Jrada.

  • Opinion

    Congress Must Bolster Wrongful Conviction Framework

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    The Trump administration's recent decision to abandon its flawed “anti-weaponization” fund should not end the conversation about compensating those wronged by the U.S. justice system, — it should open the door for Congress to build a principled system that strengthens and expands the existing framework, say Marc Levin and Khalil Cumberbatch at the Council on Criminal Justice.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Shoring Up Corporate Law In Maryland

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    Launched more than 20 years ago to improve complex corporate adjudication, Maryland's Business and Technology Case Management Program has been a solid success in some areas, but there always is room for improvement, says Bill Krulak at Miles & Stockbridge.

  • How End Of SEC 'Gag Rule' Affects Free Speech Certiorari Bid

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    The Securities and Exchange Commission's recent rescission of the so-called gag rule, which forbade defendants in settlements from denying the SEC’s allegations, may sway the outcome of a petition to the Supreme Court in a case challenging the rule on First Amendment grounds, say attorneys at Troutman.

  • 7 Ways Va. Employers Can Prep For New Noncompete Limits

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    As of July 1, Virginia noncompete agreements with employees fired without "cause" must provide "severance benefits" — but with those key terms undefined, employers should implement several flexible but defensible compliance strategies to limit their exposure once the rule is rolled out, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Data Collection Push Signals New Era For Bank Compliance

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    An executive order pushing for broad bank collection of beneficiary data and a Financial Crimes Enforcement Network geographic targeting order in Minnesota should prompt financial institutions to run checks on customer diligence and privacy controls, as these directives may be part of a wider compliance shift, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • Federal Officer Removal After Justices' La. Pollution Ruling

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    In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Chevron USA v. Plaquemines Parish, companies seeking to use federal officer removal to move litigation out of state court should ask three questions, focusing on government contract language, federally directed activity and related conduct, say attorneys at Hollingsworth.

  • Series

    Competing At Poker Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing poker in male-dominated rooms taught me to treat skepticism as background noise when my opponents seem to underestimate me, to apply pressure when it matters and to adapt without losing strategic discipline — skills that are all indispensable in restructuring and insolvency matters, says Alexis Gambale at Pashman Stein.

  • FTC Sweep Signals Increased 'Made In USA' Claim Scrutiny

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    After the Federal Trade Commission's recent enforcement sweep targeting allegedly deceptive "Made in USA" claims, companies should expect continued scrutiny of both traditional and digital marketing channels, coupled with sustained focus on supply chain transparency and claim substantiation, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • 5 Things Associates Must Ask About Their Firm's Merger Plan

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    The associates who navigate law firm mergers best ask the right questions early, such as inquiring about partners' plans, to assess how the merger could affect their workflow and career path, says Jackie Bokser-LeFebvre at Major Lindsey.

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