Public Policy

December 17, 2025
Pentagon Must Justify JAG Firings Under New NDAA

Under the annual defense policy bill that was sent to the president's desk on Wednesday, the Pentagon will have to explain its firings of military lawyers — a provision that comes after the Trump administration controversially dismissed its top military lawyers at the beginning of the year.
December 17, 2025
Ex-Conn. Official Denied Hearing On Juror's Media Comment

A former Connecticut schools construction official did not provide enough justification to warrant a post-conviction hearing to probe whether jurors were forthcoming about their exposure to press coverage of his public corruption case, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
December 17, 2025
Bill Would Ease Copyright Registration For Visual Artists

Visual artists would have a simplified and cheaper copyright registration process under a bill introduced Wednesday by Tennessee Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn.
December 17, 2025
Court Remands Commerce Ruling On Vietnam Steel Duties

The U.S. Department of Commerce did not properly substantiate its 2023 findings that imports of Vietnamese steel products were flouting duties imposed on South Korea, India and China, the U.S. Court of International Trade said, remanding the agency's determinations.
December 17, 2025
Bank Deserves Sanctions In Jail Debit Card Suit, Court Told

A class of formerly incarcerated people who've accused the Central Bank of Kansas City of charging excessive fees on prepaid debit cards told a Washington federal judge that the bank should face sanctions for failing to sort and hand over documents required for compliance with an August court order.
December 17, 2025
Ore. Tax Court Axes Trust's Appeal Of Special Assessment Nix

The Oregon Tax Court dismissed a trust's appeal of a county assessor's decision denying its bid for a special property tax assessment but declined to sanction the trust for citing nonexistent law, which the court said was "likely" due to use of generative artificial intelligence.
December 17, 2025
Trade Court Remands Pipe Fitting Duty Scope For 2nd Time

The U.S. must better explain how it deemed certain products outside the scope of a 30-year-old antidumping duty order on Chinese pipe fittings for a second time, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled, finding the government's analysis insufficient.
December 17, 2025
Union, Voter Group Seek To Join DOJ Election Records Case

A union local, an affiliate and a Black voters advocacy group urged a federal court Tuesday to let them intervene in a U.S. Department of Justice suit seeking election records from Fulton County, Georgia, arguing the DOJ is trying to boost conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election.
December 17, 2025
Braidwood Asks For Judgment In ACA Preventive Care Fight

Christian-owned, for-profit management company Braidwood Management Inc. asked a Texas federal judge Tuesday to end its challenge to an Affordable Care Act provision that requires coverage of lung cancer screenings and preexposure prophylaxis for HIV/AIDS, citing a U.S. Supreme Court finding upholding the provision.
December 17, 2025
Mich. Appeals Court Rejects Medical Pot Co.'s Tax Deduction

A Michigan medical cannabis provisioning center cannot claim a corporate income tax deduction for business expenses, the Michigan Court of Appeals found, saying the law provides that tax break only to recreational cannabis businesses.
December 17, 2025
CFTC's Pham Will Head To Crypto Co. MoonPay After Exit

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's acting Chair Caroline Pham is set to join cryptocurrency payments firm MoonPay as its top lawyer following her impending departure from the commission, MoonPay announced Wednesday.
December 17, 2025
Ore. Court Takes County's Offer On Cut Property Value

While an Oregon landowner didn't bring enough evidence to show why the real market value of his property should be lower than an initial assessment, it will still be reduced after the state tax court accepted proposed reductions from the county.
December 17, 2025
Doctors Not Harmed By CDC's Vaccine Guidance, Feds Say

The federal government argued Wednesday that doctors lack standing to challenge the overhaul of a key federal vaccine committee that has since downgraded the COVID-19 shot, saying healthcare providers haven't been harmed by the policy shifts.
December 17, 2025
North Carolina's Lumbee Tribe Set To Be Federally Recognized

The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is set to receive federal recognition after the U.S. Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act on Wednesday, which included legislation that, if signed by President Donald Trump, will grant the tribe the long-awaited status.
December 17, 2025
Trump Admin's BEAD Redo Subject To Hill Review, GAO Says

The U.S. Government Accountability Office has ruled that Congress can review the Trump administration's sweeping revision of rules covering a $42.5 billion broadband deployment program.
December 17, 2025
Unions Sue To Block VA's Labor Contract Cancellations

A coalition of labor organizations urged a Rhode Island federal court Wednesday to stop the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs from canceling collective bargaining agreements covering 2,800 federal workers, arguing that the agency failed to provide a valid reason for doing so.
December 17, 2025
BREAKING: Full DC Circ. Blocks EPA From Freezing Grants

The D.C. Circuit on Wednesday reversed an order issued by a panel of its own judges and reinstated a federal district court's order that blocked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from freezing grants designated for climate change projects.
December 17, 2025
DOJ Weighs In On Apple Watch Antitrust Claims

The Justice Department filed a statement of interest in the private smartphone monopolization case against Apple to urge the court to reject several arguments supporting the tech giant's bid to nix claims that it restricts the capabilities of competing smartwatches.
December 17, 2025
Red Lake Nation Deal Is Minnesota's 6th Tribal Pot Pact

Minnesota signed a tribal-state cooperative agreement with the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, granting the federally recognized tribe the ability to open eight cannabis shops outside its reservation and issue licenses to grow and manufacture the plant, and giving the state agreements with more than half of the tribes within its borders.
December 17, 2025
Mass. Court Orders GPS Monitoring Review For Sex Offender

A Massachusetts man sentenced to 10 years in prison and 10 years probation with location monitoring after sexually abusing his children has the right to challenge the reasonableness of the duration of his tracking, the state's highest court said Wednesday, vacating a lower court's denial of his request.
December 17, 2025
After Questioning Judge Nominee, Sen. Kennedy Wants More

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., on Wednesday pressed a judicial nominee for Indiana on statements he's made as an ordained elder on sexuality and marriage.
December 17, 2025
Biggest Colorado Cases Of 2025

In 2025, a Colorado federal judge blocked U.S. immigration agents from conducting warrantless arrests in the state without determining probable cause. Elsewhere, Colorado's justices articulated for the first time the burden of proof required for plaintiffs bringing tort cases against public entities. And Xcel Energy agreed to pay $640 million to settle claims that it caused or contributed to the state's 2021 Marshall Fire. Here's a look at some of the biggest decisions and cases that affected the state this year.
December 17, 2025
Treasury Issues Final Rule On BEAT For Securities Lending

Taxpayers must determine and account for certain qualified derivative payments linked to securities-lending transactions when calculating payments covered by the base erosion and anti-abuse tax, according to a final rule released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
December 17, 2025
Mich. Tribe Fights Feds' High Court Protest In Fishing Suit

The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians says four of its fellow Michigan tribes and the federal government are "conjuring vehicle problems" from a dispute over a decades-old Great Lakes fishing compact, telling the U.S. Supreme Court that none of their arguments warrant denying its petition.
December 17, 2025
Judge Tosses Suit Fighting Rail Project's Buy America Waiver

A D.C. federal judge said an Alstom unit had no viable path to challenge a Buy America waiver allowing a Siemens unit to supply trains for Brightline West's high-speed passenger rail project linking Las Vegas and Southern California.

Editor's Picks

Trump's Legal Battles

States, federal employee unions, various advocacy groups and several individuals have filed over 220 lawsuits challenging the Trump administration's implementation of executive orders and other initiatives. Law360 has created a database of those lawsuits, separated into categories based on their subject matter.

Expert Analysis

How Cos. Can Roll With NY's New Algorithmic Pricing Rules

Despite uncertainty from New York’s new ban on artificial intelligence and computer algorithms for setting rents, and efforts to further restrict individualizing prices based on consumers' personal data, property managers, software providers and merchants can take several steps to stay compliant, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.
2025 State AI Laws Expand Liability, Raise Insurance Risks

As 2025 nears its end, claims professionals should be aware of trends in state legislation addressing artificial intelligence use, as insurance claims based on some of these liability-expanding statutes are a certainty, say attorneys at Wiley.
Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: Practical Problem Solving

Issue-spotting skills are well honed in law school, but practicing attorneys must also identify clients’ problems and true goals, and then be able to provide solutions, says Mary Kate Hogan at Quarles & Brady.
Crypto In 2025: From Federal Deregulation To State Action

The cryptocurrency enforcement landscape evolved in 2025, marked by federal deregulatory trends and active state attorney general enforcement, creating both opportunity and risk for businesses navigating the digital asset market, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.
How CFTC Enforcement Shifted In 2025 And What's Next

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission pivoted sharply under acting Chairman Caroline Pham in 2025, resulting in a pared-back enforcement docket, sweeping policy changes intended to provide greater transparency, and a renewed focus on fraud prevention and maintaining market integrity for the CFTC's core markets, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.
Learning From 2025 FCA Trends Targeting PE In Healthcare

False Claims Act enforcement trends and legislative developments from this year signal intensifying state and federal scrutiny of private equity's growing footprint in healthcare, and the urgency of compliance, says Lisa Re at Arnold & Porter.
Reviewing 2025's State And Federal AI Regulations

In light of increasing state and federal action to oversee the use of artificial intelligence, companies that develop or deploy the technology should keep abreast of current and forthcoming AI laws and consider their applicability to their business activities, says Jessica Brigman at Spencer Fane.
Software Patents May Face New Eligibility Scrutiny

November guidance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, along with recent litigation trends from the Federal Circuit, may encourage new challenges in the USPTO and district courts to artificial intelligence and software patents that rely on generic computing functions without concrete details, say attorneys at Venable.
What Trump Order Limiting State AI Regs Means For Insurers

Last week's executive order seeking to preclude states from regulating artificial intelligence will likely have minimal impact on insurers, but the order and related congressional activities may portend a federal expectation of consistent state oversight of insurers' AI use, says Kathleen Birrane at DLA Piper.
Opinion

A Uniform Federal Rule Would Curb Gen AI Missteps In Court

To address the patchwork of courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence, curbing abuses and relieving the burden on judges, the federal judiciary should consider amending its civil procedure rules to require litigants to certify they’ve reviewed legal filings for accuracy, say attorneys at Shook Hardy.
Investment Advisers Should Stay Apprised Of New AI Risks

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently issued annual examination priorities reiterate a host of regulatory implications for investment advisers using artificial intelligence tools, highlighting that meaningful ongoing due diligence can help mitigate both operational and regulatory surprises amid AI's rapid evolution, says Christopher Mills at Sidley.
New Rule Shows NRC Willing To Move Fast To Reform Regs

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s decision to forgo public comment and immediately rescind certain rules governing adjudicatory procedures, federal tort claims and disclosure of licensee information signals the agency's intent to accelerate the regulatory streamlining efforts ordered by the president this spring, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
AG Watch: Texas Junk Fee Deal Shows Enforcement Priorities

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's recent $9.5 million settlement with online travel agency website Booking Holdings for so-called junk fee practices follows a larger trend of state attorneys general who have taken similar action and demonstrates the significant penalties that can follow such allegations, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.
10th Circ. Dissent May Light Path For Master Account Access

While the Tenth Circuit's majority in Custodia Bank v. Federal Reserve Board recently affirmed Federal Reserve banks' control over master account access, the dissent raised constitutional questions that could support banks seeking master accounts in future litigation, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.
Calif. AG's No-Poach Case Reflects Tougher Antitrust Stance

This month, California’s attorney general resolved the latest enforcement action barring the use of no-poach agreements, underscoring an aggressive antitrust enforcement trend with significant increases in criminal and civil penalties, say attorneys at Pillsbury.