Public Policy

  • May 23, 2025

    Service Members' COVID Vax Claims Sent To Military Boards

    A Court of Federal Claims judge said an executive order directing the reinstatement of service members discharged over a COVID-19 vaccine mandate warranted sending the claims of 10 people who refused to comply with the mandate to military records boards for consideration.

  • May 23, 2025

    Groups Look To Block Trump's Monument Fishing Order

    Three conservation groups are challenging a Trump administration proclamation that will open up a 400,000-square-mile Hawaiian national marine monument to commercial fishing, saying the president exceeded his Antiquities Act and constitutional authority in doing so.

  • May 23, 2025

    SoCal Edison To Pay $82.5M Over 2020 Bobcat Fire Costs

    Southern California Edison agreed Friday to pay $82.5 million to the federal government to resolve a lawsuit that seeks to recoup costs incurred by the U.S. Forest Service as a result of the devastating 2020 Bobcat Fire, which burned over 100,000 acres, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced.

  • May 23, 2025

    Trump Admin Must Restore 'Censored' Harvard Docs' Articles

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Friday ordered the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to restore articles penned by two Harvard Medical School researchers that contained terms like "transgender" and "LGBTQ," calling their removal a "textbook example of viewpoint discrimination."

  • May 23, 2025

    FTC Probing Alcon's $430M Lensar Deal

    The Federal Trade Commission has requested additional information about Swiss eye care company Alcon Inc.'s planned purchase of Florida-based medical technology developer Lensar Inc. in a deal worth up to $430 million.

  • May 23, 2025

    Senate Dems Bash Spectrum 'Giveaway' In Budget Bill

    Key Senate Democrats who oversee telecommunications issues have lambasted House Republicans for "handing over" swaths of radio spectrum to the wireless industry in the sweeping budget reconciliation bill that GOP lawmakers passed Thursday.

  • May 23, 2025

    Judge Skeptical Of Harm In Recall Of Tribe's Gambling Eligibility

    A D.C. federal judge on Friday signaled concerns with the Interior Department's decision to revoke a California tribe's gambling eligibility for a casino-resort project in the Bay Area, but said that the tribe faces an uphill battle in establishing the irreparable harm needed to secure a preliminary injunction.

  • May 23, 2025

    Judge Strikes Down Trump Order Against Jenner & Block

    Jenner & Block LLP on Friday defeated a Trump administration executive order suspending security clearances for its employees in retaliation for its pro bono work and for a former partner's work with former special counsel Robert Mueller.

  • May 23, 2025

    Chief Justice Pauses DOGE's FOIA Discovery For Now

    Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily paused discovery Friday into whether the Department of Government Efficiency is an agency subject to Freedom of Information Act requests, giving the initiative a short reprieve as the U.S. Supreme Court considers DOGE's bid to more fully halt a purported "fishing expedition."

  • May 23, 2025

    Split DC Circ. Affirms Ax Of Ex-Trump Aide's Surveillance Suit

    A split D.C. Circuit affirmed Friday the dismissal of claims by former Trump 2016 campaign adviser Carter Page that the U.S. Department of Justice, FBI and former top officials violated privacy statutes in surveilling him as part of a Russian election interference probe.

  • May 23, 2025

    Va. Deed Tax Due On Actual Property Value, Ruling Says

    Virginia's deed recordation tax is paid based on the current assessed value of a property, rather than its value during a foreclosure sale, the state tax commissioner said.

  • May 23, 2025

    Grassley Slams Durbin Over Holds On US Attorney Nominees

    Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, slammed his Democratic counterpart on Friday for holding up U.S. attorney nominations.

  • May 23, 2025

    Battery Co. Li-Cycle Gets Ch. 15 Nod Amid Glencore Sale Bid

    A New York bankruptcy judge on Friday granted Chapter 15 recognition to lithium battery recycler Li-Cycle and affiliates after overruling an objection from the U.S. Trustee's Office, as the Toronto-based debtor looks to sell its business and secure new funding.

  • May 23, 2025

    Trump Issues Fresh Tariff Threats Against EU, Apple

    President Donald Trump said that the European Union should face a 50% tariff beginning July 9 because trade negotiations are "going nowhere" and that Apple should pay at least a 25% tariff if it doesn't manufacture iPhones in the U.S.

  • May 23, 2025

    Amended Ill. Temp Workers Law Survives Staffing Cos.' Row

    An Illinois law mandating benefits for long-term temporary workers will stay in place as amended because the staffing agencies challenging it are not likely to succeed on their claims that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act preempted it, a federal judge ruled.

  • May 23, 2025

    Off The Bench: Tennis Officials, NCAA Stay On The Defensive

    In this week's Off The Bench, tennis players face pushback from the governing bodies they are accusing of antitrust violations, college basketball players claiming the NCAA exploited them want their class action revived, and a baseball player seeking one last year to play in college hits another legal roadblock.

  • 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."

Expert Analysis

  • Mergers Face Steeper Slopes In State Antitrust Reviews

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    The New York Supreme Court's recent summary judgment in New York v. Intermountain Management, blocking the acquisition and shuttering of a ski mountain in the Syracuse area, underscores the growing trend among state antitrust enforcers to scrutinize and challenge anticompetitive conduct under state laws, say attorneys at Robins Kaplan.

  • Opinion

    The IRS Shouldn't Go To War Over Harvard's Tax Exemption

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    If the Internal Revenue Service revokes Harvard's tax-exempt status for violating established public policy — a position unsupported by currently available information — the precedent set by surviving the inevitable court challenge could undercut the autonomy and distinctiveness of the charitable sector, says Johnny Rex Buckles at Houston Law Center.

  • Balancing Deep-Sea Mining Executive Order, Int'l Agreements

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    President Donald Trump's recent executive order directing exploration and exploitation of deep-sea mineral resources appears to conflict with the evolving international framework regulating such activities, so companies and investors should proceed with care and keep possible future legal challenges in mind, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • CFTC Memos Clarify When 'Sorry' Still Gets You Subpoenaed

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    A pair of Commodity Futures Trading Commission advisories released in February and April open a new path to self-reporting but emphasize that serious breaches still warrant a trip to the penalty box, prompting firms to weigh whether — and how — to disclose potential violations in the future, say attorneys at Pryor Cashman.

  • Parsing The SEC's New Increased Co-Investment Flexibility

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new co-investment exemptive orders simplify processes and reduce barriers for regulated funds — and rulemaking may evolve further to allow investors access to additional investment opportunities and increase available capital for issuers seeking to raise money from fund complexes, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Cos. Must Assess And Prepare For Cartel-Related FCPA Risks

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    Given the Trump administration’s strong signaling that it will focus on drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations when it resumes Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement, global businesses should refresh their risk assessments and conduct enhanced due diligence to account for these shifting priorities, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • State AGs Shape Regulatory Dynamic In Trump's 1st 100 Days

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    With President Donald Trump's promised rollback of long-standing federal regulations and enforcement actions just beginning, alongside a flurry of executive orders, what state attorneys general do now will influence the complex state-federal regulatory landscape for years to come, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Opinion

    New Hospice Regulations Should Enforce Core Principles

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    As the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General prepares to research and expand on oversight of Medicare hospice care, the OIG should keep in mind certain core principles, such as an emphasis on preventing the entry of hospices that raise red flags, says Bill Dombi at Arnall Golden.

  • AT&T Decision May Establish Framework To Block FCC Fines

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    The Fifth Circuit's recent decision in AT&T v. FCC upends the commission's authority to impose certain civil penalties, reinforcing constitutional safeguards against administrative overreach, and opening avenues for telecommunications and technology providers to challenge forfeiture orders, say attorneys at HWG.

  • Opinion

    Int'l Athletes' Wages Should Be On-Campus Employment

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    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security should recognize participation in college athletics by international student-athletes as on-campus employment to prevent the potentially disastrous ripple effects on teams, schools and their surrounding communities, says Catherine Haight at Haight Law Group.

  • What Banks Should Note As Regulators Plan To Nix CRA Rule

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    While federal bank regulators’ recently announced intent to rescind a Biden-era Community Reinvestment Act final rule will loosen the framework for evaluating banks’ lending, service and investing activities, the decision means industry innovations and changes will remain unaddressed, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • Series

    Playing Guitar Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Being a lawyer not only requires logic and hard work, but also belief, emotion, situational awareness and lots of natural energy — playing guitar enhances all of these qualities, increasing my capacity to do my best work, says Kosta Stojilkovic at Wilkinson Stekloff.

  • Adapting To PTAB's Reembracing Of Discretionary Denials

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    Recent guidance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office marks a swing back toward procedural discretion in Patent Trial and Appeal Board trial institution decisions, bringing unpredictability but also opportunities for drafting petitions, and making and responding to discretionary denial arguments, says Taylor Stemler at Merchant & Gould.

  • Addressing PFAS Risks In Public Company Disclosures

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    As individual lawsuits and class actions over PFAS risks spanning multiple sectors and products increase, and rapidly evolving and often unclear regulatory initiatives on both the federal and state levels proliferate, it's more important than ever for companies to know how and when to complete PFAS-related disclosures, say attorneys at Venable.

  • Crisis Management Lessons From The Parenting Playbook

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    The parenting skills we use to help our kids through challenges — like rehearsing for stressful situations, modeling confidence and taking time to reset our emotions — can also teach us the fundamentals of leading clients through a corporate crisis, say Deborah Solmor at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and Cara Peterman at Alston & Bird.

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