Public Policy

  • September 30, 2026

    Sen. Blackburn Sues Smith For Seizing Phone Records

    U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn alleges in a federal complaint filed Wednesday that Jack Smith illegally subpoenaed her phone records as part of an investigation into alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

  • September 30, 2026

    Ariz. Land Swap Survives Despite 11-Judge 9th Circ. Dissent

    The Ninth Circuit won't rethink a decision to allow a 2,500-acre land exchange within Arizona's Tonto National Forest that tribal nations and conservation groups say will destroy a sacred Apache worship site, with 11 judges arguing in a dissent that a 2025 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the dispute was wrong.

  • September 30, 2026

    Commerce Finds Chinese, Indian Electrodes Being Stockpiled

    Imports of electrodes used for smelting from India appear to have surged in response to the opening of a countervailing duty investigation, the U.S. Department of Commerce preliminarily found Wednesday, setting up possible retroactive duties on the goods.

  • September 30, 2026

    Bessent Owes $910K In Taxes As Limited Partner, Wyden Says

    Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent should pay more than $910,000 in payroll taxes as a hedge fund limited partner after the Second Circuit ruled that such partners are subject to the self-employment tax, Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden said Wednesday.

  • September 30, 2026

    Judge Orders ICE Reports After Hold Room Violations

    A Maryland federal judge ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to provide cell count and medical care data for its short-term holding facilities in Baltimore, largely granting a detainee class's push to enforce an injunction issued over "deplorable" and likely unconstitutional conditions.

  • September 30, 2026

    Ex-Budget Official Sentenced To 7 Years After Fleeing US

    Former Connecticut budget official Konstantinos Diamantis, who fled to Greece before learning his fate on federal corruption charges, was sentenced while absent on Wednesday to seven years in prison, if extradition efforts are successful, and immediately faced new litigation over his state government pension.

  • September 29, 2026

    OpenAI Knew AI Was Rogue Before Hugging Face, Suit Says

    A public interest law nonprofit sued OpenAI in California state court Tuesday, seeking to hold the ChatGPT maker liable for a July cyberattack on Hugging Face, arguing OpenAI "straightforwardly violated California law" by failing to rein in hundreds of rogue AI agents that OpenAI knew were running amok without proper safeguards.

  • September 29, 2026

    RealPage Wins Injunction Against NY Rent Software Law

    A federal judge in Manhattan granted RealPage's request for a preliminary injunction blocking a New York law banning building owners from using the property management platform to set residential rents, saying the company is "marginally" likely to prevail on its claim the statute regulates speech protected by the First Amendment.

  • September 29, 2026

    DOJ Says Trump Name Is Key To Kennedy Center Survival

    The U.S. Department of Justice told the D.C. Circuit the Kennedy Center's donors will flee if his name isn't put back on the building, arguing in its opening brief to the appeals court that the institution faces "financial ruin" without "appropriate recognition" for Trump.

  • September 29, 2026

    Ministry Stance In Anti-LGBTQ+ Hiring Suit Confuses 9th Circ.

    An en banc Ninth Circuit struggled Tuesday to understand a Washington-based Christian ministry's legal stance as it sought to preserve its ability to reject job applicants who are gay, with several judges suggesting it was immune from enforcement action since the state recognized the jobs as ministerial and therefore constitutionally exempt from anti-discrimination laws.

  • September 29, 2026

    Trump Admin Can't Dodge Claims Over Slashed Foreign Aid

    The Trump administration has persuaded a D.C. federal judge to cut three claims from a suit seeking to stop it from terminating foreign assistance grants and contracts en masse, but most of the suit — another 15 claims — marched forward untouched.

  • September 29, 2026

    Groups Say Calif. Biogas Credits Incentivize More Methane

    Four environmental groups accused California regulators of violating state law by allowing factory farm biogas producers to receive carbon credits — a practice they said is notionally aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions but in reality incentivizes more methane production.

  • September 29, 2026

    Squires Confirms PTAB Judges Will Resume Institution Calls

    Administrative patent judges will soon resume deciding whether Patent Trial and Appeal Board challenges will be instituted on the merits, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires told the Senate on Tuesday during a hearing that also raised questions about if the office has sacrificed patent quality to speed through an examination backlog.

  • September 29, 2026

    NYC Property Owners Say 2nd-Home Tax Is Unconstitutional

    A group of New York City property owners and other parties sued the New York state government on Tuesday over its pied-à-terre tax for certain high-value second homes, alleging in state court that the tax is unconstitutional because it discriminates against people who don't primarily live in the city.

  • September 29, 2026

    X Corp. Says Crypto Gambling Company Bribed X Employees

    X Corp. told a Texas federal court that a company behind two controversial crypto gambling websites, which allegedly bribed X employees, cannot arbitrate claims that X unfairly removed their access to its website.

  • September 29, 2026

    EB-5 Visa Fees More Than Double For Individual Investors

    U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced increased filing fees Tuesday for the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program — more than double for individual investors — saying the higher price tag is needed to close a $48.4 million annual funding gap.

  • September 29, 2026

    NHTSA Fuel Economy Regs Overhaul Crushes EV Ambitions

    The elimination of strict federal mandates for higher fuel efficiency in new cars crushes momentum for the U.S. auto industry to pivot toward alternative-powered vehicles, ensuring that manufacturers will again be caught in litigation limbo as environmental groups prepare challenges to seemingly inconsequential standards with no penalties, experts say.

  • September 29, 2026

    FCC Looking To Duck Mandamus In 2021 RF Exposure Order

    Five years after the D.C. Circuit told the FCC it needed to provide more in-depth reasoning for why it believes cellphones and other wireless devices don't pose a risk to humans, the agency is arguing it needs more time to sort out a response.

  • September 29, 2026

    Lupin Strikes Deal In States' Generic Drug-Price Fixing Suit

    Lupin Pharmaceuticals has reached a settlement with multiple states to resolve allegations that it conspired with G&W Laboratories Inc. to raise prices of the tuberculosis drug Ethambutol during a supply shortage years ago, according to a minute order entered in Connecticut federal court on Monday.

  • September 29, 2026

    Suit Accuses USDA Of Unlawfully Gutting Aid For Rural Solar

    A coalition including farm and renewable energy trade groups has accused the Trump administration of abruptly and unlawfully making most solar projects ineligible for a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant and loan program created to advance renewable energy in rural areas.

  • September 29, 2026

    Fugitive Ex-Conn. Budget Official Seeks To Split Restitution

    A onetime Connecticut budget official now on the lam in Greece asked a federal judge Tuesday to postpone restitution until two admitted co-conspirators who testified against him are sentenced, arguing their plea agreements could force them to shoulder at least some of the costs of a school construction bribery scheme.

  • September 29, 2026

    CFTC Sends Event-Contracts Swaps Proposal To White House

    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has submitted two rule proposals to the White House that appear to explicitly establish event contracts as swaps while excluding "casino-style gambling products," updates that could affirm the agency's view that prediction markets are under its "exclusive jurisdiction" and beyond the reach of states.

  • September 29, 2026

    Aldi Sued Over Online Order Delivery Fees By SNAP Users

    Aldi illegally charges ancillary, nonfood-related delivery, expedited fulfillment and convenience fees to customers who use SNAP-EBT benefits to buy grocery items online through Instacart or Aldi Express, alleges a proposed consumer protection class action filed Monday in California state court. 

  • September 29, 2026

    Trump Admin Can't Use Anti-DEI, Citizenship Rules For Grants

    A Rhode Island federal judge on Tuesday said the U.S. Department of Justice can't impose new conditions related to diversity, equity and inclusion activities and immigration status on domestic violence assistance grants, a ruling that sides with a coalition of states and nonprofits that challenged the restrictions.

  • September 29, 2026

    Feds Tell 4th Circ. Ábrego García Delayed His Own Removal

    The Trump administration is telling the Fourth Circuit that a Maryland federal judge shouldn't have granted Kilmar Ábrego García protection from continued immigration detention, saying the unlawful rulings he successfully sought are what's preventing his removal to Liberia.

Expert Analysis

  • Money Transmission Issue Looms For Prediction Markets

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    The circuit split recently created by the Ninth Circuit's ruling in Kalshi v. Assad has implications reaching beyond gaming regulation as, depending on the ultimate characterization of prediction market event contracts, platforms may face differing obligations under federal and state money transmission laws, say attorneys at Manatt.

  • 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.

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