Public Policy

  • September 01, 2026

    Copyright Chief Says Cook Ruling Bolsters Firing Challenge

    The U.S. Copyright Office's Shira Perlmutter has asked the D.C. Circuit to reverse a federal judge's refusal to block her firing by the Trump administration, arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court's June decision protecting Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook undercuts the lower court's reason for denying her preliminary relief.

  • September 01, 2026

    Satellite Permitting, Robocall Bills Sail Through Subcommittee

    The SAT Streamlining Act was one of half a dozen bills that breezed through a House energy and commerce subcommittee Tuesday afternoon, with lawmakers managing to get all six bills sent along to the full committee in under an hour.

  • September 01, 2026

    VA Judge Blocks Effort To Limit Local ICE Cooperation

    A federal judge in Virginia granted the government's motion for a preliminary injunction to prevent the Commonwealth of Virginia's efforts to regulate cooperation between state, local and federal immigration enforcers.

  • September 01, 2026

    SEC Sends White House Plan For Retail Private Market Access

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Investment Management has submitted to the White House a proposal to help facilitate retail investors' exposure to private markets and enable investment advisers to charge related performance fees, saying it could provide more opportunities for investors looking to diversify their portfolios.

  • September 01, 2026

    DC Circ. Reinstates Bergdahl Court-Martial Conviction

    The D.C. Circuit ruled Tuesday that a district court judge lacked jurisdiction to vacate Bowe Bergdahl's 2017 court-martial conviction for desertion, finding that only military appellate courts can directly overturn court-martial judgments and reversing a summary judgment decision that voided the conviction.

  • September 01, 2026

    High Court Case Looms Over State Climate Superfund Fights

    A federal judge has dealt a blow to the viability of state climate change Superfund laws, although experts say the ruling may ultimately be marginalized by a looming U.S. Supreme Court decision on the future of climate tort litigation against fossil fuel companies.

  • September 01, 2026

    NJ Gov. Renews Judicial Advisory Panel With 5 Newcomers

    New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill expanded and reshaped the state's Judicial Advisory Panel on Monday, issuing an executive order that adds an eighth seat on the panel and replaces four of its longtime members, including three former state Supreme Court justices who had served under previous administrations, with new appointees.

  • September 01, 2026

    DirecTV Says Emergency Alert Symbols Are A Hard Sell

    The Federal Communications Commission's heart was in the right place when it floated the idea of requiring emergency alerts to include visual symbols, but satellite television providers just aren't set up to display those symbols, DirecTV has told the agency.

  • September 01, 2026

    Enviro Groups Sue Forest Service To Halt Logging Project

    Environmental groups led by the Center for Biological Diversity launched a legal challenge in Washington federal court Monday to the U.S. Forest Service's approval of a logging project in the Methow Valley, saying the project would diminish old-growth forests and imperil Northern spotted owls and bull trout.

  • September 01, 2026

    Lumen Beats $1.4B Pension Swap Suit

    A Colorado federal judge on Tuesday ruled in favor of Lumen Technologies in a class action regarding $1.4 billion in pension obligations transferred to a risky insurance company, saying that plan participants could not show they suffered a current cognizable harm of loss of protections and the threat of impending injury was unconvincing.

  • September 01, 2026

    Abbott, Paxton Feud Over Authority To Settle With Feds

    Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told a Texas federal court that he, as the state's "chief executive officer," must sign off on a potential settlement with the federal government over a border barrier dispute, feuding with his state's attorney general.

  • September 01, 2026

    Unified, Industry Orgs. Again Push Justices On PTAB Policies

    Unified Patents, Clearing House Payments subsidiary Askeladden and a series of industry groups have continued pressing the U.S. Supreme Court to accept petitions addressing the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's patent review authority, this time in a case brought by Tesla.

  • September 01, 2026

    Treatment Centers Cited Over Unpaid Work By Patients

    Massachusetts' attorney general on Tuesday announced a first-of-its-kind citation of over $1 million against a faith-based substance use treatment program for allegedly having hundreds of participants perform unpaid work, including landscaping and moving, for businesses.

  • September 01, 2026

    Colo. Panel Mulls Enviro Groups' Challenge To Emission Rule

    Environmental advocacy groups urged a Colorado appellate court to revive their challenge to a state agency's rule on emissions monitoring, arguing Tuesday that the rule allows most polluters to escape certain monitoring requirements by paying a fee, while the judges focused counsel on questions of statutory interpretation.

  • September 01, 2026

    Noncitizens Sue DHS Over 'Fine Everyone Policy'

    Five noncitizens have filed a proposed class action accusing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security of illegally fining noncitizens who enter the U.S. without authorization, issuing the fines retroactively and far from the border in violation of a narrowly drafted charging provision in the 2025 federal budget reconciliation law. 

  • September 01, 2026

    HHS Seeks 9th Circ. Review Of Tribal Opioid Clinic Order

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has appealed to the Ninth Circuit for a review of a lower court order requiring the HHS' Indian Health Service to fund a Pechanga Band of Indians' opioid treatment facility.

  • September 01, 2026

    4 Mass. Rulings You May Have Missed In August

    Three fertility doctors defeated claims they violated a nonsolicitation agreement, while a consulting company failed in its effort to amend a four-year-old contract suit that has already been extensively litigated, among other notable Massachusetts state court rulings in August.

  • September 01, 2026

    Foreign Air Carriers To Challenge FCC Altimeters Order

    The International Air Transport Association is challenging a Federal Communications Commission order requiring aircraft serving the United States to upgrade their radio altimeters but limits reimbursements to domestic carriers.

  • September 01, 2026

    Teachers Union Wants In On CDL Data Fight

    The American Federation of Teachers is seeking to enter a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's bid to obtain a database containing information on 17 million commercial driver's license holders, telling a Virginia federal court Tuesday that the 24 states bringing the suit don't adequately represent the interests of the union.

  • September 01, 2026

    SEC Plans To Bless Transfer Agents' Blockchain Use

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is promising sweeping changes to the rules governing transfer agents for the first time in 40 years, issuing a proposal Tuesday that would, among other things, allow agents to utilize the blockchain in tracking securities ownership. 

  • September 01, 2026

    NLRB Urges Full DC Circ. To Respect Its Policy Views

    The National Labor Relations Board urged the full D.C. Circuit on Tuesday to rethink a recent panel decision limiting the court's regard for the agency's legal positions in a vigorous defense of the board's policymaking power after the U.S. Supreme Court scrapped a sweeping deference doctrine.

  • September 01, 2026

    Split 9th Circ. Rejects Biden-Era Entry Rule

    A now-expired Biden-era rule limiting asylum eligibility for noncitizens entering from the southern border ran afoul of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Ninth Circuit ruled, noting the INA allows noncitizens to seek asylum regardless of how they entered.

  • September 01, 2026

    Machine Guns, Silencers Aren't Protected By 2nd Amendment

    A self-described "alt-right" conservative podcaster cannot have his firearms convictions overturned because a federal law banning machine guns does not violate his Second Amendment rights, the Third Circuit ruled Tuesday.

  • September 01, 2026

    Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

    Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery pressured state attorneys general challenging their merger to settle, the Federal Trade Commission successfully challenged a construction adhesives tie-up, state officials waded in against the NextEra-Dominion transaction, and Union Pacific Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp. defended their combination under review by federal regulators.

  • September 01, 2026

    Congress Approves Bill Delaying Hemp Ban One Month

    The U.S. House of Representatives gave final approval Tuesday to a stopgap spending bill which includes language to delay implementation of a federal ban on products containing hemp-derived THC by one month.

Expert Analysis

  • Tips For Issuers Left In Lurch Without Genius Act Final Rules

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    The compliance runway envisioned by the Genius Act is steadily shrinking after regulators failed to finalize all the required implementing regulations by July 18, so stablecoin issuers should begin implementing "no-regrets" compliance measures and securing outside vendors before the law takes full effect in January, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.

  • Why Courts Are Pushing Back On Greenwashing Laws

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    Recent Fourth Circuit and California federal court decisions blocking state greenwashing statutes on First Amendment grounds reveal a tension at the heart of environmental marketing regulation — while states want clarity, courts aren't prepared to let legislatures flatly ban categories of truthful commercial speech, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • What NYC Bridge Crash Signals About Micromobility Liability

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    A recent fatal crash between a cyclist and a man riding a high-powered electric scooter on New York City's Queensboro Bridge highlights how litigation over accidents involving micromobility devices may increasingly shift away from ordinary negligence and toward product liability, says Jeff Korek at Gersowitz Libo.

  • 3 Ways Tokenization Is Moving To Traditional Finance

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    Recent initiatives reflect efforts to integrate distributed ledger technology into existing regulatory frameworks for securities, banking and payments settlements while preserving the underlying rights and obligations of market participants, say attorneys at Hughes Hubbard.

  • At The Intersection Of Right-To-Repair Laws And IP Rights

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    Right-to-repair legislation passing through Congress highlights a broad tension between manufacturers' security measures and consumer autonomy, with important repercussions for the automotive industry's intellectual property rights, says Keith Noe at Lando & Anastasi. 

  • Opinion

    States Should Reconsider Forced PBM Divestiture Laws

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    State legislatures are attempting to enact policies intended to force pharmacy benefit managers to divest from pharmacies, but these laws would have the practical effect of reducing patient access and competition, potentially violating the U.S. Constitution in the process, says former Utah Attorney General John Swallow.

  • HSR Deals Proceed More Steadily Than Narratives Suggest

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    The most recent Hart-Scott-Rodino Act data show that transaction volume remained relatively stable, transaction values continued to increase and enforcement activity remained low, suggesting that enforcement rates have been relatively consistent across presidential administrations despite widely differing public rhetoric regarding merger enforcement, says Amanda Wait at Michael Best.

  • Assessing The Benefits Of Fla.'s Newest Business Structure

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    As of July 1, Florida business owners can create protected series LLCs to shield assets from liability while avoiding increased costs and wasted time, but burdensome recordkeeping obligations are crucial to maintaining the very protection that makes them attractive in the first place, says Gregory Ritter at Moritt Hock.

  • Key Post-Proposal Shifts Likely In CFPB Loss Mitigation Rule

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    Mortgage servicers, borrowers and consumer advocates should prepare for a likely narrowed version of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's loss mitigation rule, which is likely to permit sequential reviews, defer to investor guidelines, extend compliance timelines and preempt conflicting state standards, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • Series

    Teaching SEC Investigations Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Instructing a law school course on U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigations has made me a more thoughtful, deliberate practitioner because it requires me to continually reassess and challenge what I know about securities law enforcement, how I know it and how best to explain it, says David Chase at Miami Law.

  • Noncompete Laws Show States Focusing On Bans, Healthcare

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    The first half of 2026 confirms that state legislatures are driving the most consequential changes in noncompete law, including a few state bans and several healthcare-specific laws, making a one-size-fits-all approach increasingly untenable for multistate employers, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • What's Inside Proposed, Expanded NY Stablecoin Regulations

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    New York's recently proposed regulations for payment stablecoin issuers would, if adopted, increase the regulatory burdens of a state license, and midsize issuers considering a conversion to a federal charter should weigh the associated costs of both options, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Justices' Tax Sale Ruling Tees Up Auction Fairness Battles

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Pung v. Isabella County, Michigan, that taxpayers are not entitled to fair market value of real property seized to satisfy a tax debt shifts attention to the fairness of state and local auction procedures, and whether taxpayers claiming surplus proceeds face unwarranted hurdles, say attorneys at Miller Canfield.

  • What Corporate Counsel Can Learn From OpenAI Test Breach

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    The significance of the recent artificial intelligence testing breach involving OpenAI and Hugging Face lies in what it reveals about the path of AI’s evolution, because legal professionals must translate that trajectory into actionable governance, contractual and advisory frameworks, says Jason Mueller at Vorys.

  • Patent Eligibility Reforms Keep Chasing The Wrong Fixes

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    Repeated efforts to create a consistent, predictable patent eligibility standard under Section 101 have centered on replacing judge-made exceptions with new statutory language, but the better fix is to align examination standards with how courts actually apply eligibility doctrine, says former Patent Trial and Appeal Board judge Amee Shah.

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