Public Policy

  • October 01, 2026

    Colo. Energy Rules Can't Shake Federal Preemption Suit

    A federal court allowed real estate industry groups' suit challenging Colorado's and Denver's building energy-performance standards to move forward, finding the groups plausibly alleged the regulations are preempted by federal law governing appliance efficiency standards while tossing their claims about consumer appliances as untimely.

  • October 01, 2026

    Calif. Judge Vacates Trump's $100K H-1B Fee Policies

    A California federal judge has vacated the implementing policies underlying President Donald Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee, saying the federal agencies charged with implementing the fee ran afoul of rulemaking procedures required by the Administrative Procedure Act.

  • October 01, 2026

    11th Circ. Told Maduro Owes $217M, Not Venezuelan Oil Co.

    Venezuela's state oil company told the Eleventh Circuit that it shouldn't be forced to pay a $217 million judgment owed to the family of a political opposition leader who was tortured and killed by his government, arguing Thursday that it was never an agent of former dictator Nicolás Maduro. 

  • October 01, 2026

    Flint Beats Protest Claims After Lawyer Disqualified

    A Michigan federal judge has dismissed a civil rights suit accusing Flint officials and police officers of violating protesters' constitutional rights during a 2025 march, months after the judge disqualified the protesters' attorney over his connection to a law firm barred from practicing in Michigan courts.

  • October 01, 2026

    Colo. Judge Needs More Info In Energy Agency Records Fight

    A Colorado state judge said Thursday that she needs additional briefing before deciding if the deliberative process privilege under the state's open records law shields the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission from providing meeting minutes sought after in a public records request.

  • October 01, 2026

    4 Questions About EU And Canada's Vow To Strengthen Ties

    The European Union's invitation for Canada to become an associate member of the bloc raises questions about the potential practical and political ramifications of such an effort. From technical details on what that membership might look like to political obstacles and how the U.S. fits in, here are four questions facing the endeavor.

  • October 01, 2026

    7th Circ. Won't Rehear Enbridge's Wis. Tribal Trespass Fight

    The Seventh Circuit has refused to rehear Enbridge Energy's petition seeking to overturn a decision that its Line 5 pipeline is trespassing on Wisconsin tribal lands, but also sent back to a lower court a $5.2 million restitution order for a portion of the pipeline's removal.

  • October 01, 2026

    Kalshi Looks To Shield Sports Offerings At 2nd Circ.

    Prediction market giant Kalshi has asked the Second Circuit to shield its sports offerings from Connecticut gaming enforcers, drilling down on its position that those offerings ought to be immune from state scrutiny.

  • October 01, 2026

    Exit Interview: SEC's Hester Peirce On Crypto, Clarity And AI

    Outgoing U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissioner Hester Peirce doesn't mind being referred to as "Crypto Mom" for her work championing the industry, but she thinks investors should know: "The government is never your mom."

  • October 01, 2026

    Walmart Hit With New Tariff Suit As Refund Blitz Continues

    Walmart must compensate customers who "bore the economic burden" of Trump administration tariffs before the U.S. Supreme Court struck them down in February, according to a proposed class action in Connecticut federal court that claims the retail behemoth has no plans to share its $2.9 billion refund.

  • October 01, 2026

    Ga. City Fired Worker Who Reported Harassment, Suit Says

    A Georgia city has been sued in federal court by a former employee who said she was smeared in a local newspaper by colleagues before accusing a city manager of sexual harassment and getting fired for speaking up.

  • October 01, 2026

    Ex-DOJ Atty Reopens Practice, Starts Consulting Firm

    A former U.S. Department of Justice official announced Thursday that he has returned to private practice at the law firm he founded.

  • October 01, 2026

    Pa. Justices Back Transit Prosecutor Law Challenged By DA

    The Pennsylvania Legislature's creation of a "special prosecutor" to address Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner's allegedly unsatisfactory handling of crime in the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority does not run afoul of the state constitution because of the city's special status, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

  • October 01, 2026

    Pentagon Calls Stars And Stripes Its Own Government Speech

    Military newspaper Stars and Stripes qualifies as government speech and can therefore be controlled without violating the First Amendment, according to the new brief from the U.S. Department of Defense and top Pentagon brass in their bid for a summary judgment win over members of the paper's board.

  • October 01, 2026

    Blackburn Holds Up White House's Tenn. Judge Pick

    The White House is standing by its nominee for a federal judgeship in the Eastern District of Tennessee amid a holdup from Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., a White House official confirmed to Law360 on Thursday.

  • October 01, 2026

    Airlines' Fight Over Colo. Sick Leave Law Heads To Trial

    A Colorado federal court has sent an airline industry group's challenge to the state's paid sick leave law to trial, finding that competing expert testimony about whether the law increases employee absences and disrupts airline services creates factual disputes that a judge cannot resolve before trial.

  • October 01, 2026

    Judge Reinstates Rogoff As Seattle US Atty After Trump Firing

    A Washington federal judge issued an order from the bench on Thursday reinstating Roger Rogoff as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, finding that President Donald Trump exceeded his authority when he fired him in July.

  • October 01, 2026

    Ga. Official Defeats DOJ Bid To Force Handover Of Voter Info

    A federal judge threw out a U.S. Department of Justice suit seeking to force Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to hand over an unredacted copy of the state's voter registration list, unpersuaded by the federal government's claims that the state's failure to produce the records was unlawful.

  • October 01, 2026

    Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

    State enforcers settled their case challenging Paramount Skydance's planned $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, while the U.S. Department of Justice probes Fox's planned $22 billion deal for Roku and regulators review massive deals in the energy and railroad sectors.

  • October 01, 2026

    Ore. Tax Break Denied For Homeowner Living Out Of State

    An Oregon homeowner staying in Washington state to care for her 82-year-old brother is ineligible for a property tax deferral because she doesn't live in the Oregon home, a state court ruled, rejecting her plea for a health exemption to the residency requirement.

  • October 01, 2026

    Trump Announces Judicial Noms For 5th Circ., NC

    President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he's nominating Todd Butler, a managing partner at Phelps Dunbar LLP, to serve as a judge on the Fifth Circuit. 

  • October 01, 2026

    Family Of Renée Good Sues Feds Over Fatal ICE Shooting

    The family of Renée Good, who was killed in January when an immigration officer fired gunshots into her car earlier this year, sued the United States on Thursday, along with the officer and other federal officials involved in the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.

  • October 01, 2026

    Commerce Probes Aluminum Composite For Duty Evasion

    A Chinese company's aluminum composite panels may be designed to circumvent duties on common alloy aluminum sheet imported from the country, the U.S. Department of Commerce said Thursday, announcing an investigation.

  • October 01, 2026

    Calif. Gov. Vetoes Expanded Menopause Bias Protections

    California's governor rejected legislation passed by lawmakers that would have added menopause to the definition of "sex" under the state's anti-discrimination statute, reasoning that the move would have been redundant and could have triggered unnecessary litigation.

  • October 01, 2026

    DOJ Outlines New Corporate Fraud Enforcement Priorities

    Federal prosecutors "must place great weight" on a new list of factors when considering potential charges in corporate fraud cases, including whether the matters involve government programs, threats to national security or immigration offenses, according to a memo released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Expert Analysis

  • $95M Nev. Case Provides Clues On Wound Care Enforcement

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    Federal prosecutors’ recent U.S. v. Dubin indictment, charging a Nevada physician with healthcare fraud over an alleged $95 million Medicare billing scheme involving amniotic wound allografts, provides a clearer picture of an increasingly data-driven enforcement strategy that follows the entire wound care transaction, say attorneys at Bass Berry.

  • DOJ Fraud Memo Highlights Trade Enforcement Playbook

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    A recent U.S. Department of Justice memo that outlines the Fraud Enforcement Division's priorities demonstrates that customs and trade fraud enforcement has entered a new and far more aggressive phase, with recent cases highlighting how the False Claims act is driving the new push, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • HPE-Juniper Settlement Teaches Key Tunney Act Lessons

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    A California federal court's recent approval of the U.S. Department of Justice's settlement with Hewlett Packard over its Juniper Networks acquisition offers legal practitioners some crucial lessons, including on unique tech-sector remedies for mergers and acquisitions and the continued viability of the Tunney Act, says Shubha Ghosh at Syracuse University College of Law.

  • What Opt-In Framework Means For Novel Space Activities

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    The U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of Space Commerce is advancing a voluntary certification framework for commercial space activities not covered by existing licenses — but it's unclear whether this approach becomes a durable mission authorization regime, and separate legal permissions from agencies may still be necessary, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Negotiating The Scope Of The Stablecoin Customer ID Rule

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    Though comments on bank regulators’ proposed rule for stablecoin issuers under the Genius Act generally agree that oversight would help prevent illicit activity, agencies must reconcile disagreement over whether to extend customer identification requirements from issuers' primary-market relationships to secondary-markets activity, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • How To Improve Hiring Transparency Amid Ghost Job Scrutiny

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    Recent regulatory and state law scrutiny of ghost job postings for roles that don't exist or aren't being filled signals a shift toward hiring transparency, and employers that fail to adapt risk enforcement actions, consumer protection claims and financial penalties, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • FTC Push May Create Dual Origin-Claim Risks For Contractors

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    Recent Federal Trade Commission actions involving Made in USA advertising requirements offer a preview of enforcement themes that may impose dual compliance burdens on government contractors that are also subject to Federal Acquisition Regulation Buy American restrictions, says Amy Hoang at Seyfarth.

  • Series

    Playing Bid Whist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    As a child, I viewed bid whist as a family tradition and a source of friendly card game competition, but as a lawyer, I see it as a tool that has helped me cultivate skills like communication, teamwork, risk assessment and composure, says Keyonn Pope at Riley Safer.

  • FCC Robotics Restrictions Raise AI Compliance Risks

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    A recent "covered list" update from the Federal Communications Commission places restrictions on foreign-produced advanced robotic devices’ ability to obtain new authorizations, creating a framework that is poorly suited to continuous artificial intelligence updates, and raising several transactional and contractual challenges, says Kim Larsen at Stinson.

  • Navigating Employer Obligations Under NY Personnel File Law

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    In light of a New York law that will soon give private sector employees the right to review and comment on their personnel files, employers should understand where their exposure lies and be mindful of where records are stored, and for how long, among other things, says attorney Jason Tenenbaum.

  • Banks Should Stay Disciplined As OCC, FDIC Ease Oversight

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    Despite a newly issued Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. rule that narrows the range of conduct that regulators may require institutions to remediate, prudent risk management suggests banks should still document how they arrive at their risk determinations, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Tracking Trends In State-Level Regulatory Enforcement

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    State-level enforcement now increasingly involves antitrust, artificial intelligence and data privacy issues, and the key for organizations to reducing risk is having the ability to respond across governance, public affairs, discovery and remediation in multiple states simultaneously, say consultants at FTI Consulting.

  • Opinion

    The Time Is Right To Simplify Overlapping Broker-Dealer Regs

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    While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has made an important start to simplifying its rules, legislators should follow and expand on the commission's example by reexamining and removing the unnecessary overlap between SEC, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and state broker-dealer regulations, says Howard Spindel at Integrated Solutions.

  • What Cos. Must Know As Fast Energy Permitting Gains Steam

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    A recently approved geothermal project in Nevada may be the first authorized by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management under a new 14-day expedited environmental review process — but project developers may find that a more thorough environmental analysis will provide better protection against litigation challenges, says Jill Yung at Allen Matkins.

  • Opinion

    Calif. Bill Goes Too Far In Trying To Regulate Attorney AI Use

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    California’s first-in-the-nation act regulating how attorneys and arbitrators use generative artificial intelligence will likely soon become law, but read broadly, the provisions may dissuade lawyers from employing AI at all, thereby depriving them of key work tools, says Joshua Wurtzel at Schlam Stone.

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