Public Policy

  • May 23, 2025

    Ex-Immigration Judge Fights To Keep Fla. Bias Suit Alive

    A former immigration judge has urged a Florida federal court to reject U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi's bid for an early win against her disability bias claims, arguing she was denied a hardship transfer and reasonable accommodation due to her gender and age.

  • May 23, 2025

    Va. Contractor Denied Real Property Sales Tax Break For Sand

    Sand purchased by a Virginia homebuilder is tangible personal property subject to use tax and not real property, the state tax commissioner said, rejecting the builder's argument that the sand was part of the land at its previous location.

  • May 23, 2025

    House Budget Would Sap Emerging Energy Tax Credit Market

    The House's sweeping tax and budget legislation would scrap a relatively new financing option that lets project development owners sell valuable green energy tax credits for cash, which would likely doom or severely hamper the burgeoning market for the credits.

  • May 23, 2025

    Alarms Sound As DOJ Anti-Corruption Unit Withers

    Created in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal as a guardrail against government corruption and politically motivated criminal prosecutions, the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section has been stripped down under the Trump administration to a skeleton crew with severely limited responsibilities, potentially opening the door for improper prosecutions and eliminating a knowledge base built up over decades.

  • May 23, 2025

    Takeaways For Benefits Attys After Parity Enforcement Freeze

    A recent decision by President Donald Trump’s administration to stop enforcing regulations requiring employer health plans to analyze their coverage of behavioral health conditions compared with physical healthcare coverage has benefits attorneys uncertain about what's coming next. Here, Law360 talks to attorneys about the regulatory about-face.

  • May 23, 2025

    La. Sued For Blocking Community Air Monitoring Sensors

    Louisiana is hindering its citizens' ability to monitor air pollution in their communities by threatening to dish out "crippling" fines to those who share data collected from certain affordable sensors, according to a lawsuit filed by environmental groups accusing the state of violating the First and 14th amendments.

  • May 23, 2025

    Judge Blocks Trump Move To Ban Harvard Foreign Enrollment

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Friday granted a restraining order to Harvard University temporarily blocking the Trump administration from enforcing a ban on enrolling foreign students, hours after the school filed a suit calling the move unconstitutional and retaliatory.

  • May 22, 2025

    Copyright Director Sues Trump Over 'Blatantly Unlawful' Firing

    The recently fired director of the U.S. Copyright Office sued the Trump administration over the "blatantly unlawful" attempts to remove her, asking a Washington, D.C., federal judge Thursday to block her removal and stop the acting librarian of Congress installed by the president from making leadership decisions.

  • May 22, 2025

    SEC Drops Dealer Suits In 'Astonishing' Move, Crenshaw Says

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday dropped several suits targeting businesses for failing to register as securities "dealers" with the agency as required by law, a move that the SEC's sole Democratic commissioner called "astonishing."

  • May 23, 2025

    Ex-FCC Nom Slams Trump For Pulling Digital Equity Funding

    One-time FCC nominee Gigi Sohn dug into President Donald Trump for killing the $2.75 billion Digital Equity Fund, borrowing his language to say that the abrupt cancellation of a congressionally approved program was "unconstitutional" and "illegal."

  • May 22, 2025

    Critics Decry Budget Bill As Clean Energy 'Attempted Murder'

    The budget reconciliation bill that House Republicans passed Thursday replaced an earlier plan to phase out renewable energy tax credits with a 60-day qualification period, leaving project developers struggling to meet a deadline experts say is unrealistic and effectively guts the benefit.

  • May 22, 2025

    Nonprofits Seek To Block Trump's DEI, LGBTQ+ Orders

    A group of nonprofits urged a California federal judge Thursday to block President Donald Trump's executive orders targeting diversity and inclusion policies and programs serving the LGBTQ+ community, arguing the unconstitutionally "vague" orders have upended lifesaving services and illegally treat transgender individuals as if they don't exist.

  • May 22, 2025

    Feds Push To Nix Landmark Migrant Kids Detention Settlement

    The Trump administration is urging a California federal judge to end a landmark settlement agreement governing the custody of detained immigrant children — a move advocacy groups that have long fought for it quickly vowed to fight.

  • May 22, 2025

    California City Cleared In Employment Discrimination Trial

    A Los Angeles jury cleared the city of Baldwin Park, California, of liability on Thursday in a wrongful-termination suit by a former longtime employee who claimed that she was forced to resign after complaining about race and gender bias and misuse of federal housing funds.

  • May 22, 2025

    What's Next As DOJ Mulls Dropping Boeing Criminal Case

    Boeing might be on the verge of closing a chapter in its 737 Max legal saga as the U.S. Department of Justice contemplates dropping its criminal conspiracy case against the company in what experts described as an unprecedented move just a year after Boeing was preparing to be branded a corporate felon.

  • May 22, 2025

    Wash. Justices Undo Landlord Win In Eviction Answer Dispute

    Washington's highest court overturned a Seattle-area landlord's eviction victory on Thursday, saying any tenant who responds to a summons with a written "notice of appearance" can't be hit with a default judgment for failing to file an answer in an unlawful detainer action.

  • May 22, 2025

    Rochester Says Feds Used Sham 911 Call For Immigration Aid

    The city of Rochester, New York, has told a state district court that federal immigration agents used a sham 911 call to trick its police department into engaging in federal civil immigration enforcement in violation of the Tenth Amendment.

  • May 22, 2025

    Trump Admin Ends Early Biden-Era Memphis Redlining Deal

    A Tennessee federal judge on Wednesday approved a Trump administration request to terminate a redlining consent order with Trustmark National Bank, closing out the settlement that kicked off a Biden-era crackdown on mortgage lending discrimination.

  • May 22, 2025

    Feds Ask To Bar Discovery, Trial In Free-Speech Removal Suit

    The Trump administration is urging a Massachusetts federal judge to bar discovery and trial in a lawsuit brought by academic organizations accusing it of pursuing an "ideological deportation policy" against noncitizen students and faculty who participate in pro-Palestinian protests.

  • May 22, 2025

    7th Circ. Wary Of Crypto Fund Owner's Appeal Of $231M Fine

    A Seventh Circuit panel on Thursday pressed counsel for a cryptocurrency fund operator challenging a $231 million judgment for running a Ponzi scheme to address whether he'd waived his argument that the digital tokens his funds invested in aren't "commodities" subject to regulation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission by not raising it in the lower court.

  • May 22, 2025

    Sen. Durbin Holds Up Florida US Attorney Nominee

    Sen. Dick Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced Thursday he will be holding up President Donald Trump's U.S. attorney nominee for the Southern District of Florida, blaming precedent set by Vice President JD Vance when he was in the Senate.

  • May 22, 2025

    Clinic Tells NC Justices Med Mal Reforms Apply To Practices

    An orthopedic clinic is urging North Carolina's highest court to free it from a family's negligent-retention claim over an allegedly faulty surgery by a doctor who later lost his license, asserting that the lower court incorrectly found that state medical malpractice statutes and subsequent reforms don't apply to medical practices.

  • May 22, 2025

    FTC Can't Get Amazon Execs' Financials Yet In Prime Case

    A Washington federal court has refused the Federal Trade Commission's request to immediately force several Amazon executives to turn over sensitive financial information, ruling the agency must instead wait until after trial in its case accusing the company of trapping consumers into renewing Prime subscriptions.

  • May 22, 2025

    EPA Warns States, Tribes On Clean Water Act Authority

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday warned states and tribes that their authority under the Clean Water Act to veto certain water quality certifications shouldn't be used to "shut down projects" for concerns outside the law's scope.

  • May 22, 2025

    Alaska Airlines Grilled In Wash. COVID Workers' Comp Case

    Members of Washington's highest court cast doubt Thursday about Alaska Airlines' stance in a flight attendant's COVID-19 workers' compensation case, with several justices seemingly frustrated by the employer's attempt to draw a line between covered occupational disease and sickness that develops during job-related travel.

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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