Public Policy

  • September 29, 2026

    Feds Seek To Throw Out States' Challenge To DEI Contract EO

    The Trump administration told a Maryland federal court that it should toss a lawsuit from states challenging its implementation of an executive order targeting diversity, equity and inclusion practices in the government contracting space, arguing the order falls within well-settled law.

  • September 29, 2026

    NY Court Officials Must Disclose Secret Guidance To Judges

    The New York State Office of Court Administration must hand over a batch of memos instructing state judges how to interpret the law after fighting for years to keep them under wraps, a New York state appeals court ruled Tuesday.

  • September 29, 2026

    Public Citizen Files 2 Complaints Over Trump Ads

    Nonprofit advocacy group Public Citizen has filed two complaints following the appearance of an ad boosting the image of President Donald Trump that was paid for by government funds.

  • September 29, 2026

    Akin Adds House Financial Services Staffer To Lobbying Team

    Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP said Tuesday a former senior staff member on the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services has joined its lobbying and public policy practice in Washington, D.C.

  • September 29, 2026

    Tax Co. Urges 5th Circ. To Deny Microcaptive Rules Case Stay

    A global tax services provider asked the Fifth Circuit to deny the IRS' request to stay its challenge to the agency's reporting rules for microcaptive insurance companies pending the resolution of a similar case before the appeals court, saying it should be allowed to present its own arguments.

  • September 29, 2026

    11th Circ. Urged To Undo School's Ban On Penguins Book

    Book authors urged the Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday to overturn a Florida school's ban on a children's novel about two male penguins that partnered to raise a chick, arguing that the lower court unlawfully created a new exception for governments to regulate private speech. 

  • September 29, 2026

    Justices Allow Third-Country Removals To Resume, For Now

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Trump administration to resume, for now, deporting immigrants to countries besides their own, while agreeing to review the legality of the practice.

  • September 29, 2026

    11th Circ. Won't Pause Sanctions Against Trump In IRS Case

    An Eleventh Circuit panel refused Tuesday to pause a district court's sanctions order barring President Donald Trump and others from citing the agreement he made to settle his $10 billion suit against the Internal Revenue Service while they appeal the order.

  • September 29, 2026

    Qualcomm Presses High Court To Ignore FedEx RPI Dispute

    Qualcomm wants the U.S. Supreme Court to skip a bid from FedEx to examine the Federal Circuit's refusal to review whether the technology company complied with real-party-in-interest requirements in a patent challenge, arguing the same type of dispute won't likely come up again.

  • September 29, 2026

    DC Circ. Won't Rehear Ute Tribe's 1.5M-Acre Land Fight

    An en banc D.C. Circuit won't rehear a Utah tribe's petition to overturn a decision that says it has no compensable title to 1.5 million acres in the state after the Indigenous nation argued that the lower court misinterpreted an 1880 law.

  • September 29, 2026

    NY, Brooklyn Landlord Settle Rent Stabilization Suit

    New York has agreed to settle a state court lawsuit against a Brooklyn landlord whom it accused of failing to register his rent-stabilized units with the state government, the New York Attorney General's Office announced.

  • September 29, 2026

    CBP Bars Indonesian Palm Oil With Possible Illicit Labor Ties

    Imported palm oil products from two Indonesian companies will be barred from entering the U.S. because of suspected ties to forced labor, Customs and Border Protection announced Tuesday.

  • September 29, 2026

    Senate Passes Bankruptcy Bill Restoring Higher Debt Limits

    The U.S. Senate passed a House-approved bill that would bring back and make permanent higher debt limits for small businesses and individuals accessing streamlined restructuring processes.

  • September 29, 2026

    Davis-Bacon Rule Fight Resumes In Texas

    A Texas federal court will rule on dueling bids for early wins between construction groups and the U.S. Department of Labor over a challenge to 2023 Davis-Bacon Act regulations, according to an order lifting a stay in the case.

  • September 29, 2026

    Chinese, Indian Electrodes Dumped, Commerce Finds

    Imports of electrodes used for smelting from India and China are facing possible antidumping duties, the U.S. Department of Commerce said Tuesday, finding they are being sold in the U.S. at less than fair value.

  • September 29, 2026

    Jack Smith Says He Won't Be Intimidated By Trump Threats

    Former special counsel Jack Smith testified on Tuesday he "will not be silenced" by threats of prosecution by the president or others.

  • September 28, 2026

    FEMA Can't Tie Grant Funds To Election Process, Court Says

    The Federal Emergency Management Agency does not have the authority to condition receipt of counterterrorism grants on the way localities administer elections, a D.C. federal judge ruled Monday, handing a win to governments in Tennessee, Texas and Ohio just weeks before the midterms.

  • September 28, 2026

    Trump's New Birthright Order Still Unconstitutional, Suit Says

    Parents and expecting parents of U.S.-born children lodged a putative class action Monday in D.C. federal court, saying President Donald Trump's latest executive order targeting birthright citizenship, just like one the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down, is unconstitutional.

  • September 28, 2026

    Parler Wasn't Worth Much When CEO Was Fired, Jury Told

    A company valuation expert testified Monday in the trial over Parler's 2021 ouster of its CEO that the company had little value at the time and that insider estimates in the hundreds of millions of dollars were "speculation."

  • September 28, 2026

    Immigrants Urge Justices To Block 3rd-Country Removals

    Immigrant rights advocates urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to reject the Trump administration's request to continue deporting migrants to countries other than their nations of origin, contending the policy conflicts with federal law barring people's removal to places where they face likely persecution or torture.

  • September 28, 2026

    Senate Passes Protect College Sports Act

    The Senate voted 77-22 on Monday night to pass legislation to impose sweeping regulations on college sports, a multibillion dollar industry. 

  • September 28, 2026

    Calif. Attys Face New Penalties For Paying To Recruit Clients

    Lawyers convicted of felony "capping" — or illegally paying for client recruitment — in California will now face a $25,000 civil penalty and face disbarment under a bill signed Sunday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

  • September 28, 2026

    Trump Admin Reinstates Former Title IX Regs

    The U.S. Department of Education on Monday said it's formally repealing a vacated Biden-era rule that attempted to expand Title IX discrimination protections to include sexual orientation and gender identity and reinstating a rule the Trump administration enacted in 2020.

  • September 28, 2026

    Calif. Governor Vetoes Broad Ban On Sensitive Data Sales

    California's governor has refused to sign off on legislation that would have made the state the latest to restrict the sale and sharing of consumers' geolocation, biometric and other sensitive information, saying the proposed "categorical ban" on these online data practices was "a step too far."

  • September 28, 2026

    6th Circ. Narrows Scope Of Injunction On Ohio Hemp Law

    Ohio officials can enforce much of a state law that reclassified hemp products as marijuana, the Sixth Circuit has ruled, only prohibiting state officials from enforcing on certain companies the parts that put geographical limitations on where cannabis products can be sourced.

Expert Analysis

  • The Deep Split Over Mandatory Detention, And What's Next

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    The government’s mandatory detention policy for noncitizens who entered the U.S. without inspection has led to a spate of decisions this year, with nine circuits rejecting the government's reading of the Immigration and Nationality Act against two that have accepted it, making the issue ripe for U.S. Supreme Court review, says attorney Kemal Hepsen.

  • Intersecting Investigation Risks Loom In Next Congress

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    Taken together, two July D.C. Circuit decisions and a recent U.S. Department of Justice opinion on executive privilege may affect the procedural defenses and privilege protections available to targets of oversight in the upcoming Congress, and companies should begin preparing now, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • FTC Focus: A Shift In The Pricing Disclosure Terrain

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    Recent state and Federal Trade Commission developments spotlight materially different ways in which personalized pricing might be addressed, which could result in an increasingly fragmented regulatory landscape in which businesses face differing disclosure obligations and substantive restrictions depending upon the jurisdiction, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Attorneys Using AI May Have Ethical Duty To Redact Docs

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    The trajectory of legal ethics guidance in recent years strongly suggests that as redaction technology becomes more accessible, the failure to use it when uploading highly confidential materials into artificial intelligence tools will become increasingly difficult to defend as reasonable, say attorneys at Lewis Brisbois.

  • Compliance Lessons From Agriculture Co. Mexican Bribe DPA

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    Agricultural company Scoular’s recently announced deferred prosecution agreement over alleged Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations at the U.S.-Mexico border reinforces the U.S. Department of Justice’s focus on cartels, and companies must accordingly ensure they address risks associated with the use of customs brokers, says Adam Safwat at Foley Hoag.

  • OpenAI Deal Highlights AI Hiring Risks In PERM Process

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent settlement of allegations that OpenAI discriminated against U.S. applicants for positions connected to the permanent labor certification process underscores that employers providing or using artificial intelligence must align their recruitment practices with their overlapping compliance obligations, say attorneys at Duane Morris.

  • 5 Practice Tips After DOJ's Healthcare Fraud Declination

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    In light of the U.S. Department of Justice's decision to not prosecute Campus Eye Management under the agency's new corporate enforcement and voluntary self-disclosure policy, healthcare companies should keep several considerations in mind when weighing their risk and self-disclosure strategy, including the distinctions between reporting to the DOJ versus other government agencies, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.

  • What Bulk-Power Gear Import EO Means For US Energy Cos.

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    Though President Donald Trump's recent executive order restricting imports of foreign-produced bulk-power system electrical equipment imposes no immediate obligations on private parties, stakeholders can take near-term steps to mitigate supply chain and contractual risks, as much of the order's ultimate impact will depend on implementing regulations, say attorneys at Orrick.

  • Assessing The Early Days Of Woodcock's SEC Tenure

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    Since David Woodcock took over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement four months ago, the division has pursued a scaled-back caseload centered on fraud and manipulative conduct, largely following the enforcement outlook that emerged under SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, say attorneys at Akerman.

  • AI And AML: Rulemakings Lean Into Responsible Innovation

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    Recent federal rulemaking increasingly supports deployment of artificial intelligence tools for anti-money laundering compliance purposes, and institutions that build clear use and governance frameworks will be best positioned to defend programs when AI systems err, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

  • Series

    Juggling And Unicycling Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Because I juggle (sometimes with fire) and ride the unicycle, friends and family used to joke that I should join the circus, but I pursued the practice of law instead and learned that my hobbies benefit my profession in several important ways, says Morgan Eddy at Smith Currie.

  • Unpacking Texas' New Grid Reliability Rules For Data Centers

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    The Electric Reliability Council of Texas’ recently effective technical and compliance obligations, designed to prevent data centers and other large energy customers from causing cascading outages when they go offline, will challenge facilities to develop equipment and protocols to help protect the grid, says Casey Bell at Balch & Bingham.

  • Opinion

    Md. Court Got Ad Tax Similarity Analysis Wrong

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    Decisions striking Maryland’s digital advertising tax are fundamentally flawed because the Maryland Tax Court found similarity between digital ads and other ads without considering deep market distinctions, says Darien Shanske at UC Davis School of Law.

  • Opinion

    NC Litigation Funding Ban Sets Model For Other States

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    States worried about rising liability costs and the commercialization of their courts should treat North Carolina's recently enacted litigation funding ban as a model because a prohibition adequately addresses the distortion that disclosure only documents, say attorneys at McAngus Goudelock.

  • The Future Of DOL Judge Removal Challenges After Slaughter

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Trump v. Slaughter calls into question whether U.S. Department of Labor administrative law judges exercising significant governmental authority remain insulated from presidential removal, but the answer depends on the governing statute, its severability provisions and other factors, says Mark Ishu at Conn Maciel.

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