Public Policy

  • May 29, 2025

    TikTok Can't Duck NY Suit Over Kids' Mental Health

    TikTok cannot escape claims brought by the state of New York accusing the social media platform of harming children's mental health, a state court ruled Thursday.

  • May 29, 2025

    Colo. Builder Slams 'Unconstitutional' Affordable Housing Fees

    The city of Denver is unconstitutionally forcing homebuilders to contribute to an affordable housing fund before they can obtain development permits, a local developer said in a suit filed in Colorado federal court.

  • May 29, 2025

    China Unicom Will Stay On FCC 'Covered List'

    The Federal Communications Commission has dashed China Unicom's hopes of being removed from the agency's so-called covered list, a list of companies whose telecommunications equipment the FCC says poses an unacceptable risk to national security.

  • May 29, 2025

    Khalil Files FOIA On Fed Collusion With Anti-Palestinian Groups

    Attorneys representing Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil submitted a Freedom of Information Act request on Thursday seeking communications between the Trump administration and anti-Palestinian groups they say targeted him before his arrest.

  • May 29, 2025

    Colo. Court Says No Immunity For Telecom From Injury Suit

    Colorado appellate judges on Thursday ruled that a telecommunications provider lacked authority over a sidewalk where a cyclist was injured and can't be shielded from liability by a recreational use law, reversing a trial court decision in favor of the company.

  • May 29, 2025

    DOJ Officially Files To Drop Boeing 737 Max Conspiracy Case

    The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday formally moved to drop its criminal conspiracy case against Boeing over the deadly 737 Max 8 crashes and asked a Texas federal judge to vacate the June 23 trial date, saying a $1.1 billion nonprosecution agreement is a meaningful resolution that holds the company accountable.

  • May 29, 2025

    Judge Orders Immigration Parole Programs To Resume

    A Massachusetts federal judge ordered the Trump administration to resume processing applications for parole and benefits filed by noncitizens already in the U.S. under certain categorical parole programs, saying it's necessary to prevent irreparable harm.

  • May 29, 2025

    Fla. Judge Denies Trainer's Bid To Block Horse Racing Law

    A Florida federal judge Thursday denied a horse trainer's bid to block enforcement of a horse racing law in his complaint challenging an anti-doping ban, ruling the trainer failed to show irreparable harm and that issues in his claim asserting a right to a jury trial aren't fully developed.

  • May 29, 2025

    Tariff Rulings Undercut Trump's Trade Authority, Dealmaking

    U.S. trading partners have inadvertently found new leverage in tariff negotiations with the Trump administration after federal courts found several of the president's duties were improperly imposed, raising larger questions about future tariff authorization in the midst of a global trade spat.

  • May 29, 2025

    KC Royals Say Mortgage Deal Doesn't Imply Move To Kansas

    The Kansas City Royals have made a third-party purchase of the mortgage on a potential site for a new ballpark in Overland Park, Kansas, but denied that the transaction meant the MLB team was moving from the city and state of Missouri that have been its home since launching in 1969.

  • May 29, 2025

    Ex-Copyright Chief Wants Fast Ruling In Trump Firing Dispute

    The fired director of the U.S. Copyright Office asked a D.C. federal court Thursday for expedited briefing in her lawsuit challenging her termination by the Trump administration, saying there is "a pressing need" to resolve the matter quickly.

  • May 29, 2025

    Big Oil Caused Woman's Heat Wave Death, Novel Suit Says

    The daughter of a Seattle woman who died during a 2021 heat wave filed a first-of-its kind wrongful death suit in Washington state court Thursday against oil and gas giants — including BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell — alleging the companies knew for decades their fossil fuel products would one day "claim lives."

  • May 29, 2025

    Ore. Pot Regulator Will No Longer Require Labor Peace Pacts

    Oregon's cannabis regulator said Thursday that it would no longer enforce a voter-approved law requiring cannabis businesses to enter into labor peace agreements with their employees, following a federal judge's ruling that the law was preempted by federal policy.

  • May 29, 2025

    Judge Favors Vanda But Seeks Deal Over Drug Approval

    A D.C. federal judge on Thursday seemed ready to rule for Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. in its challenge to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's timelines for approving new drugs but asked both sides to first try negotiating remedies to resolve the dispute.

  • May 29, 2025

    Ex-USPTO Solicitor Says He's Against Squires Nomination

    A former solicitor for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has come out against the nomination of John A. Squires to be the next director of the agency, saying in a letter Thursday that he's concerned about the nominee's desire to make existing patents stronger.

  • May 29, 2025

    Judge Challenges Visa's Bid To Dismiss DOJ Antitrust Suit

    A New York federal judge on Thursday questioned whether Visa Inc. is inappropriately raising factual disputes in its motion to dismiss U.S. Justice Department claims that the company has illegally maintained a monopoly in the market for debit card networks.

  • May 29, 2025

    Drugstores Say Texas Flouted Rules To Update Pharmacy Regs

    The National Association of Chain Drug Stores Inc. told the Texas Supreme Court that updates to statewide policy governing how pharmacies report drug prices flouted Texas rulemaking procedures, telling the state's high court that even if the updates were "good policy" they weren't lawful.

  • May 29, 2025

    DC Court Blocks Trump's Tariffs As Overreach Of Power

    The International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not empower the president to impose tariffs, the D.C. federal district court said Thursday, ruling that President Donald Trump's global levies are unlawful and barring his administration from enforcing them on two toymakers who challenged the policies.

  • May 29, 2025

    Interior OKs Utah Mine In First Fast-Tracked Energy Review

    The U.S. Department of the Interior has greenlit a uranium and vanadium mine in southeastern Utah, the first to be approved under a new, expedited 14-day environmental review process.

  • May 29, 2025

    SD Tribe Issues State Of Emergency Over Police Resources

    The Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota has declared a public safety state of emergency on its reservation due to methamphetamine use and illicit drug trafficking, urging the federal government to give the tribe more law enforcement resources.

  • May 29, 2025

    Don't Kill 'Crucial' FCC Wi-Fi Subsidy, House Lawmakers Told

    Dozens of groups urged lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday to preserve the Federal Communications Commission's off-campus wireless hot spot subsidy for schools and libraries after the U.S. Senate voted to gut the program created late in the Biden administration.

  • May 29, 2025

    Kids Launch New Climate Case Over Trump Energy Orders

    The U.S. government on Thursday was hit with a fresh lawsuit from youths alleging that federal energy policies harm their future by exacerbating climate change, specifically targeting President Donald Trump's executive orders aimed at boosting fossil fuels.

  • May 29, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Revives Trump Tariffs As It Weighs Appeal

    The Federal Circuit temporarily reinstated President Donald Trump's global tariffs Thursday, a day after the U.S. Court of International Trade held that an emergency law did not give the president "unbounded authority" to impose the measures.

  • May 29, 2025

    IRS Delaying $11M Worker Tax Credit Payout, Hospital Says

    A hospital forced to suspend its normal business as it responded to the COVID-19 pandemic told a Washington federal court Thursday that it's entitled to an $11.5 million tax refund for employee retention credits and that the IRS has failed to deliver the promised aid.

  • May 29, 2025

    Neb. Tribe Challenges Army's Repatriation Law Interpretation

    A Nebraska tribe has said the U.S. Army is introducing new errors into its Fourth Circuit arguments against efforts to repatriate the remains of two children from a Native boarding school cemetery in Pennsylvania, telling the appellate court the attempt to complicate a straightforward federal law should be rejected.

Expert Analysis

  • Top 3 Litigation Finance Deal-Killers, And How To Avoid Them

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    Like all transactions, litigation finance deals can sometimes collapse, but understanding the most common reasons for failure, including a lack of trust or a misunderstanding of deal terms, can help both parties avoid problems, say Rebecca Berrebi at Avenue 33 and Boris Ziser at Schulte Roth.

  • A 2-Step System For Choosing A Digital Asset Reporting Path

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    Under the Internal Revenue Service's new digital asset reporting regulation, each type of asset may have three potential reporting destinations, so a detailed testing framework can help to determine the appropriate path, says Keval Sonecha at Sonecha & Amlani.

  • NEPA Repeal Could Slow Down Environmental Review

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    As the Trump administration has rescinded the Council on Environmental Quality's long-standing National Environmental Policy Act regulations, projects that require NEPA review may be bogged down by significant regulatory uncertainty and litigation risks, potentially undermining the administration's intent to streamline the permitting process, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

  • 5th Circ. Ruling Is Latest Signal Of Shaky Qui Tam Landscape

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    In his recent concurring opinion in U.S. v. Peripheral Vascular Associates, a Fifth Circuit judge joined a growing list of jurists suggesting that the False Claims Act's whistleblower provisions are unconstitutional, underscoring that acceptance of qui tam relators can no longer be taken for granted, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.

  • Foreign Countries Have Strong Foundation To Fill FCPA Void

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    Though the U.S. has paused enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, liberal democracies across the globe are well equipped to reverse any setback in anti-corruption enforcement, potentially heightening prosecution risk for companies headquartered in the U.S., says Stephen Kohn at Kohn Kohn.

  • How Attys Can Use A Therapy Model To Help Triggered Clients

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    Attorneys can lean on key principles from a psychotherapeutic paradigm known as the "Internal Family Systems" model to help manage triggered clients and get settlement negotiations back on track, says Jennifer Gibbs at Zelle.

  • A Tale Of Two Admins: Parsing 1st Half Of SEC's FY 2025

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    The first half of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's fiscal year 2025, which ended March 31, was unusually eventful, marked by a flurry of enforcement actions in the last three months of former Chair Gary Gensler's tenure and a prompt pivot after Inauguration Day, say attorneys at Jones Day.

  • A Closer Look At Amendments To Virginia Noncompete Ban

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    Recently passed amendments in Virignia will prohibit noncompetes for all employees who are eligible for overtime pay under federal law, and though the changes could simplify employers’ analyses as to restrictive covenant enforceability, it may require them to reassess and potentially adjust their use of noncompetes with some workers, say attorneys at McGuireWoods.

  • What Bank Regulator Consolidation Would Mean For Industry

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    Speculation over the Trump administration’s potential plans to consolidate financial service regulators is intensifying uncertainty, but no matter the outcome for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the industry should expect continued policy changes, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • Getting Ahead Of The SEC's Continued Focus On Cyber, AI

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is showing it will continue to scrutinize actions involving cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, but there are proactive measures that companies and financial institutions can take to avoid regulatory scrutiny going forward, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Navigating Florida's Bad Faith Reforms After Appellate Ruling

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    A Florida appellate court's recent decision is among the first to interpret two significant amendments to the state's insurance bad faith law, and its holding that one of the statutes could not apply retroactively may affect insurers' interpretation of the other statute, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • 3 Steps For In-House Counsel To Assess Litigation Claims

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    Before a potential economic downturn, in-house attorneys should investigate whether their company is sitting on hidden litigation claims that could unlock large recoveries to help the business withstand tough times, says Will Burgess at Hilgers Graben.

  • IRS And ICE Info Sharing Could Drive Payroll Tax Enforcement

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    Tax crimes are historically difficult to prosecute, but the Internal Revenue Services’ recent agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to share taxpayer records of non-U.S. citizens could be used to enhance payroll tax-related enforcement against their employers, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Breaking Down Ill. Bellwether Case For Bank Preemption

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    The banking industry's pending lawsuit against the state of Illinois stands to permanently enjoin state regulation of bank card processing, as well as clarify the outstanding and consequential issue of whether conflict preemption continues to cover third parties in certain circumstances, says Tom Witherspoon at Stinson.

  • Despite SEC Climate Pause, Cos. Must Still Heed State Regs

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    While businesses may have been given a reprieve from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's rules aimed at standardizing climate-related disclosures, they must still track evolving requirements in states including California, Illinois, New Jersey and New York that will soon require reporting of direct and indirect carbon emissions, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

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