Public Policy

  • July 29, 2026

    DOL Says Beekeeper Underpaid, Endangered H-2A Workers

    The U.S. Department of Labor sued a beekeeping business and its owner in Washington federal court Wednesday, alleging they underpaid H-2A workers, housed them in a rat-infested trailer and pressured an employee to conceal a workplace injury that nearly cost him a finger.

  • July 29, 2026

    Senate Dems Look To Put Nail In Trump-IRS Immunity Deal

    Democrats in the Senate Finance Committee introduced legislation Wednesday that they said would officially sink the portion of President Donald Trump's settlement of his suit against the IRS that grants him immunity from tax audits while also preventing any such deals in the future.

  • July 29, 2026

    DraftKings Offers Sports Bets In Barred States, Suit Alleges

    A proposed class action in Massachusetts federal court accuses DraftKings of conducting sports betting in states that outlaw it, through prediction markets that are accessible through the same app as its sportsbook and daily fantasy sports.

  • July 29, 2026

    GOP Bill To Curb Judge Shopping May Have Limited Effect

    A Senate Republican has introduced legislation that he says will fix the judge shopping issue, but court observers don't think it will make much of a difference.

  • July 29, 2026

    DOJ Wants New Judge In Fired Court-Appointed US Atty's Suit

    A lawsuit from the Seattle U.S. attorney who was swiftly fired from his post by President Donald Trump shortly after being appointed to it by a federal court should be reassigned to a different judge, the administration has told a Washington federal court.

  • July 29, 2026

    Longtime USPTO Employee Tapped For Acting Deputy Leader

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has selected longtime employee Anne Mendez to serve as the acting second in command of the agency after Deputy Director Coke Morgan Stewart revealed this week that she's leaving for the private sector.

  • July 29, 2026

    Asylum Seeker Class Presses For Removed Member's Return

    A class of young asylum seekers has told a Maryland federal judge that the government violated a settlement when it removed one member with a cognitive disability to Guatemala without first considering his asylum application, and it should be ordered to return him.

  • July 29, 2026

    Enforcers Defend Google Search Win, Seek Payment Ban

    The U.S. Department of Justice and state enforcers urged the D.C. Circuit not to disturb a trial court's ruling that found Google illegally maintained its search monopoly, while also asking the appeals court to consider banning Google from paying to be the default search engine.

  • July 29, 2026

    DOJ Wants To Let Immigration Judges Fine For Contempt

    The Executive Office for Immigration Review proposed a rule Wednesday that would allow immigration judges to impose civil monetary penalties for contempt on attorneys, their noncitizen clients and witnesses, operationalizing a power that has lain dormant since 1996.

  • July 29, 2026

    'Vibe Coding' Pushes Cos. To Rethink Copyright Protection

    As artificial intelligence takes on more software development projects, businesses embracing “vibe coding” are adapting to uncertain copyright protection by documenting engineers’ contributions, keeping humans involved in high-value projects and leaning more heavily on trade secrets.

  • July 29, 2026

    Senate Postpones Key Vote For AG Nominee Blanche

    The committee vote on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's bid to take the permanent role, slated for Thursday, was postponed after Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., were not fully on board.

  • July 29, 2026

    Texas Ties Sway Transfer Ruling In SpaceX Land-Swap Fight

    A D.C. federal judge has allowed SpaceX and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to shift a dispute over their planned land swap to Texas, finding most significant aspects of the case are tied to the Lone Star State.

  • July 29, 2026

    3rd Circ. Revives Atlantic City Hotel Dynamic-Pricing Suit

    A Third Circuit panel Wednesday revived a proposed class action accusing Atlantic City casino-hotels of illegally inflating room prices with software that allegedly shared private occupancy and pricing information among them.

  • July 29, 2026

    ACLU Seeks DOD Docs On Military Role In Immigration Courts

    The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts on Wednesday sued the Trump administration for records about the purported use of military personnel to serve as temporary immigration judges, which the organization called a violation of the founders' desire to keep the military out of domestic law enforcement.

  • July 29, 2026

    DOJ Declines To Charge Optometry Group Under New Policy

    New Jersey-based optometry practice Campus Eye Management on Wednesday became the first healthcare company to secure a declination of criminal charges under the U.S. Department of Justice's new corporate enforcement policy.

  • July 28, 2026

    Fed's 'Skinny' Accounts Need Failure Safeguards, Critics Say

    As the Federal Reserve moves closer to giving fintech and crypto firms a direct on-ramp to its payment rails, critics inside and outside the banking industry say it needs a more robust off-ramp for those that get into trouble or fail.

  • July 29, 2026

    Lowe's Coverage Row, NASCAR Team Tiff: NC Midyear Report

    The North Carolina courts are teeing up for a busy second half of 2026, including readying for a multimillion-dollar insurance trial with Lowe's and speeding through discovery in a high-profile trade secrets dispute involving former NFL coach Joe Gibbs' championship NASCAR team.

  • July 28, 2026

    Trump Asks Supreme Court To Upend $83M Carroll Verdict

    President Donald Trump urged the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday to wade in and overturn a jury's $83.3 million verdict finding he defamed writer E. Jean Carroll after she accused him of a decades-old sexual assault, pointing to the justices' decision giving presidents sweeping immunity for official acts.

  • July 28, 2026

    Houston's Race-Conscious Contracting Program Struck Down

    A Texas federal judge on Tuesday ruled that Houston's program awarding public contracts on a race-conscious basis violated the Fourteenth Amendment in the first federal challenge to such a program following the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 decision striking down affirmative action admissions policies.

  • July 28, 2026

    FCC Pulls Major Provider From Lifeline, Citing Violations

    The Federal Communications Commission says it has banned one of the nation's biggest Lifeline providers from participating in the subsidy program after uncovering widespread violations of the program's rules, including a practice of transferring people back after they switched their service to another provider.

  • July 28, 2026

    DHS Can't Undo Order Halting TSA Union Deal Cancellation

    A federal judge in Seattle denied the Trump administration's bid on Tuesday to lift a court order blocking the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from canceling a collective bargaining agreement covering thousands of Transportation Security Administration workers, saying the government failed to debunk two independent grounds for the injunction.

  • July 28, 2026

    Ed Dept. Can't Cancel K–12 Mental Health Grants Worth $1B

    A Washington federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration on Tuesday from terminating nearly $1 billion in K–12 mental health grants serving 15 states, finding that the plaintiff states are likely to prove the U.S. Education Department bypassed federal procedures when attempting to cut off the funds.

  • July 28, 2026

    Texas Judge Calls Late Bid To Disqualify Atty 'Dilatory Tactic'

    A Texas federal judge on Tuesday denied a request to disqualify an attorney representing the former chief executive of a real estate company related to the late mogul Gene Phillips, saying the attempt to knock out the attorney came way too late in the game.

  • July 28, 2026

    NJ Nursing Home On Hook For Hypothermia Death Verdict

    A New Jersey appellate panel on Tuesday affirmed a $450,000 jury verdict against a nursing home accused of negligently keeping a resident's room like an "icebox," which caused her death from hypothermia, saying the verdict was supported by sufficient evidence.

  • July 28, 2026

    Amazon To Pay $2M To End Suit Over Rest Breaks In Wash.

    Amazon will pay $2 million to resolve Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go store workers' accusations that the e-commerce giant failed to provide them with meal and rest breaks required under Washington state law, according to a settlement given final approval by a Pierce County judge.

Expert Analysis

  • Inside Differing State Approaches To Prediction Market Taxes

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    As states adopt divergent approaches to prediction market platforms through both legislation and litigation, and the landscape is anything but settled, the emerging patchwork of state taxes on prediction markets presents novel questions about characterization, preemption and compliance, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • FDIC Proposals Mark Pullback In Bank Resolution Rules

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    A recent pair of Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. proposals would fundamentally reshape testing of banks' resolution-related capabilities from a mandatory exercise to a voluntary one supported by significant financial incentives, amounting to an overall reduction in reporting requirements, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Series

    Being A Singer Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Before law school, I spent seven years trying to make it as a professional singer in Los Angeles, and nearly everything I learned about preparation, humility, confidence and more has followed me into my legal practice, says Jessica Caterina at Moses & Singer.

  • EEOC Enforcement Plan Signals DEI, Religious Bias Scrutiny

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    In light of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently publishing its national enforcement plan covering through fiscal year 2029, employers should expect increased scrutiny of practices that conflict with the administration's positions on diversity, equity and inclusion, national origin discrimination, and religious accommodations, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Immigration Order Raises Customer ID Stakes For Banks

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    Following a recently issued immigration-related executive order, financial institutions should expect and prepare for increased scrutiny of customer due diligence and identification, suspicious activity monitoring, and consumer lending, as well as accompanying supervisory shifts and rising fair lending risks, says Douglas Weissinger at Butler Snow.

  • Trade Secret Practice Tips From The 1st Half Of 2026

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    Intellectual property attorneys should consider what several significant developments in 2026 thus far mean for how they protect, litigate and value trade secrets, focusing on new state noncompete bans, cases scrutinizing how plaintiffs identify trade secrets and federal rulings on damages doctrines, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • High Court Rulings Could Alter Agency Strategy For Cos.

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decisions in Trump v. Slaughter and Trump v. Cook mark major turning points in the law of independent agencies and in how regulated companies should think about federal enforcement, rulemaking and agency-facing strategy, say attorneys at Holtzman Vogel.

  • How CME Suit May Reshape CFTC's Crypto Derivatives Rules

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    CME Group's recent lawsuit over the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's approval of a Kalshi application to offer a bitcoin perpetual contract as a futures product could have cascading consequences for crypto derivatives regulation, highlighting why policy ambitions do not override statutory text or substitute for reasoned decision-making, says attorney Tamara de Silva.

  • Opinion

    Justices' Parole Ruling Degrades Green Card Holders' Rights

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Blanche v. Lau, holding that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers can parole a returning lawful permanent resident without clear and convincing evidence of a crime, weakens the statutory and practical protections Congress intended, say attorneys at Cyrus D. Mehta & Partners.

  • NEPA Reforms Can Fix Permitting Without Weakening Review

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    Recent National Environmental Policy Act reforms, in tandem with a Senate bill proposing faster permitting reviews and greater agency coordination, mark a long overdue move toward more efficient energy and infrastructure permitting that does not sacrifice environmental assessment, say attorneys at GableGotwals.

  • 2 Microsoft Matters Could Help Shape AI Antitrust Outlook

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    A pending federal court case and investigation focusing on Microsoft's allegedly anticompetitive conduct in the deployment of artificial intelligence tools are testing whether antitrust law can distinguish ordinary competition to supply the AI ecosystem from conduct that distorts how that competition unfolds, says Kylie Kim at Massey & Gail.

  • Preparing For Next Congress With Eye On Investigation Risk

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    Rod Rosenstein, Brian Whisler and Bruce Linskens at Baker McKenzie offer advice for organizations seeking to build a proactive response plan to potential congressional oversight as the election looms.

  • Asylum Ruling Signals Larger Separation Of Powers Battle

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Mullin v. Al Otro Lado that border officials may turn away asylum-seekers without inspection is part of a broader conversation about the reach of institutional safeguards that subject governmental authority to legal constraint, says Dree Collopy at American University's Washington College of Law.

  • Solar's Momentum At Mid-2026 Will Help It Overcome Snags

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    The rapid expansion of U.S. solar development in the first half of 2026 is likely to continue its pace, even amid ongoing shifts in federal trade policy and supply chain regulations, obstacles to permitting reform, and an increasing divide between states enacting policies to encourage or stymie project development, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • The Debanking Minefield: Navigating Fair Access In 2026

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    Federal regulators' recent elimination of reputational risk from bank supervision, alongside a growing patchwork of state fair access laws, is reshaping how banks make account and service decisions and ushering in a new compliance era requiring individualized, objective and risk-based access determinations, say attorneys at Spencer Fane.

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