Public Policy

  • May 12, 2025

    Copyright Office Director Latest To Get Axed By Trump

    The Trump administration has fired the director of the U.S. Copyright Office, shortly after the office issued a report raising questions about the legality of using copyrighted material to train generative artificial-intelligence models and two days after the White House ousted the leader of the Library of Congress.

  • May 12, 2025

    GOP Floats $30,000 SALT Cap, Renewed R&D Credit

    House Ways and Means Republicans proposed a $30,000 state and local tax deduction cap and a renewed research and development credit in updated legislation to extend their 2017 tax overhaul law, which the committee plans to consider Tuesday.

  • May 12, 2025

    New York Medical Cannabis Industry Wary Of $15M Fee

    The large, vertically integrated companies that make up the Empire State's medical cannabis trade said Monday that Gov. Kathy Hochul's proposal to levy $15 million fees on dispensaries seeking to enter the recreational market would "doom" the industry.

  • May 09, 2025

    FTC Says Amazon Hid Doc Calling Bezos 'Dark Arts Officer'

    The Federal Trade Commission has urged a Seattle federal court to impose punitive sanctions on Amazon in the commission's lawsuit accusing the e-commerce giant of trapping consumers into Prime subscriptions, saying Amazon withheld tens of thousands of documents in bad faith by baselessly claiming the documents were privileged.

  • May 09, 2025

    Trump's Latest Sanctuary City Order Can't Avoid Injunction

    A California federal judge on Friday clarified that the Trump administration can't use the president's latest executive order targeting sanctuary cities and counties to evade a preliminary injunction blocking it from withholding federal funds from the local governments.

  • May 09, 2025

    Calif. Judge Blocks Trump's Gov't Reorganization, Job Cuts

    A California federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked federal agencies and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from carrying out President Donald Trump's directive to reduce the government workforce, saying the president doesn't have the constitutional or statutory authority "to reorganize the executive branch."

  • May 09, 2025

    Pa. Top Court Snapshot: Cap & Trade, Prosecutor Power

    The scope of powers held by the Pennsylvania governor, the attorney general, and state and local utility authorities will take center stage in Harrisburg when the state Supreme Court convenes for its May session.

  • May 09, 2025

    National Report Exposes Gaps In Missing Minority Cases

    A growing number of minority groups, including Indigenous and Black people, have gone missing and remain unaccounted for around the United States, and systemic disparities contribute to the failure of law enforcement to track and resolve cases, a new report said.

  • May 09, 2025

    'See You In Court:' Fired CPSC Commissioner Vows To Sue

    Consumer Product Safety Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. said Friday that he plans to fight President Donald Trump's attempt to fire him, arguing that the president doesn't have the authority to sack members of the independent, bipartisan commission and telling Trump, "See you in court, Mr. President."

  • May 09, 2025

    Atlanta Sued Over Ex-Cop's Sexual Assault Of Teen

    The city of Atlanta and a former police officer were hit with a civil rights lawsuit from a mother and her teenage daughter who said the officer sexually assaulted the girl when he stopped under the guise of helping her after a serious car crash.

  • May 09, 2025

    Calif. Bar Seeks Provisional Licenses And More For Exam Snafu

    California Bar trustees voted on Friday to ask the state Supreme Court to grant provisional licenses to the hundreds of applicants who did not pass the tumultuous February bar exam, which was rife with technical, proctoring and procedural issues.

  • May 09, 2025

    Treasury Pushes To Ax Shareholders' FHFA Director Suit

    The federal government has said a Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholder complaint should be dismissed because it is "devoid of any allegations" that tenure protections for the Federal Housing Finance Agency's director affected their dividend payments. 

  • May 09, 2025

    SEC's Crypto Retreat Warrants Court Scrutiny, Crenshaw Says

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's lone Democratic member called on courts to "take a long hard look" at the agency's reversals in crypto enforcement matters in a scathing dissent of the agency's settlement with blockchain firm Ripple Labs, which she argued "undermines" earlier court decisions in the case.

  • May 09, 2025

    New Orleans Wants Out Of Airbnb's Short-Term Rentals Suit

    New Orleans urged a Louisiana federal court on Friday to toss a suit brought by Airbnb Inc. and multiple property owners challenging several of the city's short-term rental ordinances.

  • May 09, 2025

    Biden-Era Asylum Restrictions Mostly Struck Down

    A D.C. federal judge on Friday largely vacated a Biden-era rule that generally requires noncitizens to make an appointment through the CBP One mobile app at a port of entry to be eligible for asylum, finding it contravenes federal immigration law.

  • May 09, 2025

    Wells Fargo Execs Sued In Del. Over 'Sham' Diversity Efforts

    A Wells Fargo stockholder launched a derivative suit on Friday in Delaware's Court of Chancery seeking damages from 17 of the banking giant's directors and officers for potentially billions in costs tied to alleged "sham" diversity-focused recruitment and hiring initiatives.

  • May 09, 2025

    Tech-Averse Souter Still Kept Up With The Times In IP Cases

    U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter, who famously rejected facets of modernity like email and cellphones, nonetheless evinced a willingness to keep up with technology and culture in his writing on intellectual property matters, including important copyright cases on parody and peer-to-peer file sharing, attorneys said.

  • May 09, 2025

    Bipartisan Bill Would Make Tech Giants Help Pay For Networks

    A bipartisan group of U.S. senators are renewing their push to get big tech companies and broadband service providers to pay into the government fund that supports network deployment.

  • May 09, 2025

    Texas Justices Let Home Depot Off Hook In Cop Shooting Suit

    The Texas Supreme Court on Friday tossed a suit seeking to hold Home Depot and an off-duty police officer serving as a security guard liable for the shooting death of a responding police officer, saying police officers trying to prevent crimes even when off duty are entitled to immunity.

  • May 09, 2025

    Energy Group Backs States' BlackRock Coal Investments Suit

    An energy industry advocacy group backed Texas and several other states' claims that BlackRock Inc. and other investment groups took advantage of their large holdings in publicly traded energy companies to drive up coal prices.

  • May 09, 2025

    Google AI Fixes Are About Tomorrow, DOJ Tells Judge

    The U.S. Department of Justice closed out a D.C. federal court trial seeking to force Google to sell the Chrome browser and prop up rival search engines, with expert testimony arguing Friday that the proposed search monopolization remedies should include artificial intelligence, regardless of what generative AI is like today.

  • May 09, 2025

    Fla. Sheriff's Office Sued Over Deputy Shooting Airman

    The mother of a slain U.S. Air Force special operations airman has sued the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office and her son's apartment complex over the wrongful death of her son, who was shot immediately after opening his door to a sheriff's deputy.

  • May 09, 2025

    Gov't Fights Latest Challenge To Worker Resignation Offer

    A Massachusetts federal judge should toss a renewed challenge to the Trump administration's resignation incentive program for the same reasons he tossed it before, the government argued, saying the union-brought challenge is doomed because of standing issues and because it belongs before an agency, not a federal judge.

  • May 09, 2025

    DC Circ. Tosses DOD's Time-In-Service Appeal As Moot

    A D.C. Circuit panel ruled Friday that the U.S. Department of Defense cannot appeal to defend a since-rescinded policy setting service duration requirements for noncitizen soldiers to pursue an expedited path to citizenship.

  • May 09, 2025

    Advocates Upset As Trump Targets 'Woke' Digital Equity

    Broadband deployment advocates protested a Trump administration move to zero out the Digital Equity Fund, a $2.75 billion program to improve digital literacy skills, in a cost-cutting move at the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Expert Analysis

  • 7 Things Employers Should Expect From Trump's OSHA Pick

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    If President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is confirmed, workplace safety veteran David Keeling may focus on compliance and assistance, rather than enforcement, when it comes to improving worker safety, say attorneys at Fisher Phillips.

  • How Cos. Can Mitigate Increasing Microplastics Liability Risk

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    Amid rising scrutiny in the U.S. and Europe of microplastics' impact on health and the growing threat of litigation against consumer product and food and beverage manufacturers, companies can limit liability through compliance with labeling laws, careful contract management and other practices, say attorneys at Rogers Joseph.

  • Strategizing For Renewable Energy Project Success In Texas

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    The Electric Reliability Council of Texas has long been a key market for renewable energy projects, but rising financial and regulatory uncertainty means that developers and investors must prepare for inflation and policy risks, secure robust insurance coverage, and leverage tax equity transferability to ensure success, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Opinion

    Slater Heralds Return To US Antitrust Norms, Innovation

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    Under recently confirmed Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater, the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice can fulfill President Donald Trump's objective to reestablish American economic dominance on the global stage while remaining faithful to antitrust's core principles, says Ediberto Roman at the Florida International University College of Law.

  • A Cold War-Era History Lesson On Due Process

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    The landmark Harry Bridges case from the mid-20th century Red Scare offers important insights on why lawyers must be free of government reprisal, no matter who their client is, says Peter Afrasiabi at One LLP.

  • How Latin American Finance Markets May Shift Under Trump

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    Changes in the federal government are bringing profound implications for Latin American financial institutions and cross-border financing, including increased competition from U.S. banks, volatility in equity markets and stable green investor demand despite deregulation in the U.S., says David Contreiras Tyler at Womble Bond.

  • Series

    Improv Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Improv keeps me grounded and connected to what matters most, including in my legal career where it has helped me to maintain a balance between being analytical, precise and professional, and creative, authentic and open-minded, says Justine Gottshall at InfoLawGroup.

  • TikTok Bias Suit Ruling Reflects New Landscape Under EFAA

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    In Puris v. Tiktok, a New York federal court found an arbitration agreement unenforceable in a former executive's bias suit, underscoring an evolving trend of broad, but inconsistent, interpretation of the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, say attorneys at Williams & Connolly.

  • Avoiding Pitfalls Around New Calif. Commercial Lease Law

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    A California law that became effective this year requires commercial landlords to extend certain protections previously afforded to residential tenancies, and a few key provisions of the law especially warrant reexamination of leasing and operational processes, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • How BigLaw Executive Orders May Affect Smaller Firms

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    Because of the types of cases they take on, solo practitioners, small law firms and public interest attorneys may find themselves more dramatically affected by the collective impact of recent government action involving the legal industry than even the BigLaw firms named in the executive orders, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Filial Consortium Claims' Future After Conn. High Court Ruling

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    While the Connecticut Supreme Court recently ruled for defendants in rejecting parents’ attempt to recover loss of companionship damages in a severe child injury case, there is still potential for the plaintiffs bar to lobby for a law that would allow filial consortium claims, Glenn Coffin at Gordon Rees.

  • 5 Tools To Help Existing Gov't Contracts Manage Tariff Costs

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    Five pointers can help government contractors scrutinize their existing contracts for protections like equitable adjustment and duty-free entry clauses, which may help insulate them from tariff-related cost increases, say attorneys at Covington.

  • 4th Circ. Health Data Ruling Opens Door To State Law Claims

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    In Real Time Medical v. PointClickCare, the Fourth Circuit recently clarified that state law claims can rest in part on violations of a federal law that prohibits electronic health information blocking, expanding legal risks for health IT companies and potentially creating exposure to a range of competitive implications, say attorneys at BCLP.

  • Opinion

    Lawsuits Shouldn't Be Shadow Assets For Foreign Capital

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    Third-party litigation financing amplifies inefficiencies from litigation and facilitates national exposure to foreign influence in the U.S. justice system, so full disclosure of financing arrangements should be required as a matter of institutional integrity, says Roland Eisenhuth at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

  • 2 Del. Rulings Reinforce Proof Needed For Records Demands

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    Two recent Delaware Court of Chancery decisions involving Amazon and Paramount Global illustrate the significance of the credible basis standard on books and records requests, underscoring that stockholders seeking to investigate wrongdoing must come forward with actual evidence of misconduct — not mere allegations, say attorneys at Cleary.

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