Public Policy

  • August 27, 2026

    OpenAI Leads Corporate Push To Bolster Cyber Defense

    OpenAI and more than 100 other companies and organizations signed an open letter Thursday calling for a global surge in cyber defense, warning that artificial intelligence will make cyberattacks "more widespread and sophisticated" in the coming months.

  • August 27, 2026

    States' Suit Says HHS Terms Threaten Family Planning Dollars

    Twenty-three states launched a lawsuit in Maryland federal court Thursday challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' new conditions on federal funding for family planning services that they say would require recipients end support for "gender ideology," abandon diversity programming and drive patients toward parenthood and marriage.

  • August 27, 2026

    SD Judge Takes On Voter ID Rule Affecting Tribes

    A South Dakota federal judge expedited briefing for a preliminary injunction bid in a League of Women Voters lawsuit against the state ahead of absentee voting that starts Sept. 18, ruling the league can hasten its challenge of a new documentary proof of citizenship requirement.

  • August 27, 2026

    Enviro Groups Seek More Time To Fight Roadless Rule Repeal

    Environmental groups have asked the U.S. Forest Service to extend a public comment period for its proposal to scrap a 25-year-old "Roadless Rule" that bars logging and road construction on tens of millions of acres of national forest around the country.

  • August 27, 2026

    Colo. AG Accuses EarnIn Of Making Illegal Payday Loans

    Colorado's attorney general has accused the financial firm EarnIn of illegally providing "predatory" payday loans to tens of thousands of Coloradans through its earned wage access product, charging annual percentage rates of 1,000% or more.

  • August 27, 2026

    DOJ Targets 4 More States Over Immigrant Tuition Benefits

    The U.S. Department of Justice sued Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington on Thursday over their laws allowing unauthorized immigrants to pay in-state tuition, arguing the measures amount to unconstitutional discrimination against U.S. citizens.

  • August 27, 2026

    FCC Ends Caption Reg On Public Channel Video Programmers

    The Federal Communications Commission has scrapped a requirement that video programmers show they comply with closed captioning rules if they only provide content to local public, educational and governmental channels that are exempt from captioning mandates.

  • August 27, 2026

    'We Are Not Afraid To Try This Case,' Says Rep. McIver's Atty

    Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., and her legal team Thursday outlined her options following the appeals court decision affirming that charges against her arising from her oversight visit to an immigration detention facility can move forward.

  • August 27, 2026

    NY, Sheriffs File Dueling Suits Over ICE Agreements

    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James sued the Rensselaer County Sheriff's Office on Thursday for failing to comply with a newly enacted state law requiring local law enforcement agencies to end agreements to assist with federal immigration enforcement.

  • August 27, 2026

    Chamber Says FTC's Meta Appeal Trying To 'Rewrite' Law

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other amicus filers urged the D.C. Circuit not to revive the Federal Trade Commission monopolization lawsuit targeting Meta's purchases of WhatsApp and Instagram, taking issue Thursday with how the FTC characterizes social media competition, consumer behavior and the law allowing it to sue.

  • August 27, 2026

    Officer Assaults Not Always Violent Crimes, 8th Circ. Says

    An Eighth Circuit panel has ruled that assault against a federal employee is not categorically a crime of violence, saying U.S. Supreme Court precedent demands proof of more physical force than a conviction under the federal statute requires.  

  • August 27, 2026

    Telecoms Face FCC Call Block Over Robocall Compliance

    The Federal Communications Commission has told nine different telecoms that they need to get right with their robocall mitigation database certifications or face being booted off U.S. networks.

  • August 27, 2026

    SpaceX Seeks Green Light On Gen3 System

    Since the FCC is already in the middle of overhauling its satellite licensing framework to presume applications are in the public interest if they follow certain rules, SpaceX wants the agency to apply that presumption to the 100,000-satellite constellation it has proposed.

  • August 27, 2026

    Ex-West Point Prof Says Climate Science Stand Cost Him Job

    A former West Point professor is alleging in New York federal court that the military academy violated his First Amendment rights when it forced him out after he voiced opposition to a directive to stop teaching cadets about human contributions to climate change.

  • August 27, 2026

    Charter Schools Blast Proposal To Limit E-Rate To Rural Areas

    Public charter schools told the Federal Communications Commission that the agency cannot pare back the E-Rate subsidy program to just rural areas because Congress meant the program to serve all low-income areas, including urban neighborhoods.

  • August 27, 2026

    AG Says Florida Won't Take Part In Meta's 'Weak' $17B Deal

    Florida will take no part in Meta's $17 billion social media addiction settlement, according to state Attorney General James Uthmeier, who has slammed the sum as "weak" and said the Sunshine State will not be bought off for "pennies on the dollar."

  • August 27, 2026

    Developer Says Mass. City Can't Tie Permits To Rent Caps

    A developer seeking to build a mixed-use mid-rise in Cambridge, Massachusetts, says the city is unlawfully withholding its building permit unless the developer meets affordable-housing requirements and pays a $450,000 permit fee under an inclusionary housing ordinance, according to a complaint filed Thursday in state court.

  • August 27, 2026

    Ukrainians Still Can't Tie Cos. To Russian Missiles, TI Says

    Several semiconductor manufacturers, including Mouser Electronics Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc., asked a Texas federal court to throw out claims brought by Ukrainian civilians alleging the companies' parts ended up in Russian missiles, saying the civilians failed to cure defects in their pleadings.

  • August 27, 2026

    6th Circ. Rules Mich. Doesn't Own Unclaimed Accounts

    The Sixth Circuit revived proposed class claims accusing Michigan officials of violating property owners' due process rights by keeping interest earned on unclaimed financial accounts, holding that the state takes custody of abandoned property but does not take ownership of it. 

  • August 27, 2026

    Feds Fight 'Premature' Attempt To Block New Birthright Order

    The Trump administration has defended its new executive order targeting birthright citizenship after losing at the U.S. Supreme Court in June, urging a Maryland federal court not to block the new order from being implemented.

  • August 27, 2026

    FCC Urged To Hold Off On New Subsea Cable Security Regs

    A trade association for submarine cable owners and other groups urged the Federal Communications Commission to hold off on adopting more regulations for undersea communication cable equipment until more information is available.

  • August 27, 2026

    USPTO Sets Radiation Monitoring Patent Order As Informative

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has added weight to a Patent Trial and Appeal Board order from earlier this year that undid a decision rejecting an RNA patent application.

  • August 27, 2026

    MARTA, Atlanta Reach $52M Deal In Lengthy Tax Dispute

    The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority and the city of Atlanta announced a $52 million settlement Thursday to end their yearslong dispute over the amount of sales tax proceeds allocated for its enhanced bus service.

  • August 27, 2026

    Dems Want DOJ, FTC To Look At Sysco's $29B Jetro Buy

    Two Democratic lawmakers called on the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday to closely inspect Sysco Corp.'s plans to buy competitor Restaurant Depot LLC aka Jetro Restaurant Depot at a total enterprise value of $29.1 billion, warning in a letter the transaction could hurt independent restaurants, farmers and Americans who "are already facing an affordability crisis."

  • August 27, 2026

    DOJ Can't Get Rethink On Apple Peek Into Fed Phone-Buying

    A special master has refused to reconsider his New Jersey federal court mandate giving Apple a look into how the Pentagon, CIA, State Department and other agencies purchase smartphones, criticizing the Justice Department for trying to "split hairs" in contending the agencies aren't "party" to the monopolization lawsuit.

Expert Analysis

  • More Cos. Will Copy SpaceX's Shareholder Proposal Opt-Out

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    For more than 80 years, the shareholder proposal looked like a federal right guaranteed to all public company investors, but after SpaceX opted out before its recent initial public offering, other companies are likely to follow, says Mohsen Manesh at the University of Oregon School of Law.

  • How DOJ Is Approaching Monitorship After Signaling Limits

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    As the U.S. Department of Justice keeps more monitors in place than expected, a look at the matters in which prosecutors are maintaining oversight reveals the sort of companies enforcers might trust to self-remediate, and also those that may receive independent supervision, say attorneys at Kendall Brill.

  • Opinion

    DHS' World Cup Influencer Warning Overreads Visa Law

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    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s reported position that foreign influencers covering the 2026 World Cup need work visas if their content is monetized runs contrary to both legislative intent and long-standing precedent that structure the visa inquiry around labor market substitution, says Jun Li at Reid & Wise.

  • 3 Steps For Banks As Section 1071 Rule Finally Becomes Final

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    Some community banks and other lenders will get some breathing room in the final Section 1071 rule exempting them from small business lending reporting duties, but other reporting institutions should update applications, systems and staff training ahead of the 2028 compliance date, says Memrie Fortenberry at Jones Walker.

  • Why DOE Isn't Phasing Out Appliance Efficiency Regs

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    While the U.S. Department of Energy recently acted on President Donald Trump's 2025 executive order requiring it to consider sunsetting many energy regulations, the DOE has not proposed phasing out efficiency standards for appliances and industrial equipment — but it could pursue other approaches to ease such requirements, say attorneys at HWG.

  • Series

    Power To The Paralegals: Burnout As A Structural Problem

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    Law firm leadership can best retain their paralegals not by encouraging self-care, but by seeking top-down structural solutions for the quiet proliferation of responsibilities and the vicarious exposure to client trauma that particularly drive burnout in this vital role, says Erika Sneeringer at Brockstedt Mandalas.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: June Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses five recent rulings from cases involving allegations of internet data misuse, consumer fraud claims, immigration, insurance and First Amendment violation claims.

  • Justices' FCC Fine Ruling May Weaken Agency Leverage

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Federal Communications Commission v. AT&T upheld the commission's forfeiture framework as consistent with Jarkesy, but it is also likely to reduce the effectiveness of the commission’s forfeiture proceedings as a collection and deterrence tool, say attorneys at Venable.

  • Takeaways From 1st Del. Ruling Applying Moelis Amendments

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    Delaware corporations should carefully review contractual arrangements and governance documents following the Court of Chancery's recent enforcement of a non-Delaware forum selection clause in a CEO's employment agreement under 2024 amendments to the state's General Corporation Law, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Ill. Law Firm MSO Bill Clashes With Court Power, Ethics Rules

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    An Illinois bill prohibiting law firms from certain business arrangements with management service organizations, sent to the governor for signature last week, encroaches upon the courts' constitutional powers and goes beyond the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct in regulating investment in law-related services, says Matthew O’Hara at Smith Gambrell.

  • Google Antitrust Case Puts Spotlight On De Facto Exclusivity

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    Mozilla's recent amicus filing in U.S. v. Google arguing that its agreement to make Google the default search engine did not amount to de facto exclusivity highlights the growing debate over traditional indicators of exclusivity, with implications for any business that uses rebates, preferred contracts or volume incentives, says Chris Gowen at WilmU Farnan School of Law.

  • Justices' Montgomery Ruling Doesn't Expand Shipper Liability

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    Whether negligent hiring liability claims against shippers will increase after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last month in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II is anyone's guess, but the ruling itself will have no impact on shippers' actual liability in personal injury claims relating to trucking accidents, says Ronald Leibman at McCarter & English.

  • GHG Rescission Undermines State Climate Suit Preemption

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    As the U.S. Supreme Court considers the fate of state climate litigation in Suncor Energy Inc. v. Boulder County, it must confront the fact that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rescission of its greenhouse gas endangerment finding has also removed the foundation for federal preemption of state climate suits, says attorney Gregg Goldfarb.

  • Constructing AI Compliance Plans As State Laws Diverge

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    With Colorado, Connecticut and the federal government recently announcing wildly different approaches to artificial intelligence regulation, creating a workable compliance program means addressing overlapping obligations using shared systems rather than separate silos, say attorneys at Ogletree.

  • How McDonnell Still Shapes Bribery Defense Strategy

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    The pending federal bribery allegations against Washington, D.C., Council member Trayon White Sr. highlight for defense counsel the importance of overcoming the “official act” requirement established by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in McDonnell v. U.S., and juries' critical role in distinguishing between official and unofficial acts, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

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