Public Policy

  • July 27, 2026

    Cannabis In The Courts: A Midyear Litigation Review

    In the first half of 2026, lawsuits taking aim at recent federal shifts in cannabis policy, a federal ban on marijuana users owning firearms and purported residency criteria in state cannabis licensure programs were argued in multiple courts across the country.

  • July 27, 2026

    Utilities Org. Urges FCC Not To Preempt Wash. Pole Regs

    A group representing 27 consumer-owned public utility districts in Washington state has told the Federal Communications Commission not to preempt the state's process to resolve issues stemming from mobile or internet service providers wanting to attach equipment to utility poles.

  • July 27, 2026

    Trump Admin Appeals Partial Block On Mail Ballot Order

    The Trump administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in after the First Circuit declined on Saturday to lift a lower court's order prohibiting the administration from enforcing restrictions on mail-in balloting in 23 states and the District of Columbia in this year's general election.

  • July 27, 2026

    Comey Says Seashell Post No Threat To Trump

    Former FBI Director James Comey urged a North Carolina federal court Monday to dismiss an indictment stemming from a social media post he made last year, arguing the post doesn't constitute a "true threat" to President Donald Trump.

  • July 27, 2026

    Commerce Orders Duties On Korean Chemical Imports

    Certain monomers and oligomers imported into the U.S. from South Korea will be tagged with antidumping duties following an order by the U.S. Department of Commerce on Monday.

  • July 27, 2026

    Pa. Felony Murder Bill Deadline Expires With No New Rules

    The deadline for Pennsylvania lawmakers to pass new sentencing rules for second-degree murder has passed, after the state Supreme Court didn't act Friday on a request to extend the delay on their ruling that mandatory life sentences for second-degree murder are unconstitutional.

  • July 24, 2026

    Data Privacy & AI Issues To Watch For The Rest Of 2026

    Federal and state lawmakers are expected in the coming months to keep pressing efforts for companies to do more to keep children safe online and rein in potentially harmful uses of emerging artificial intelligence systems, while the California Legislature ponders a measure that's aimed at easing the explosion of wiretap litigation under a decades-old state law.

  • July 24, 2026

    Illinois Blocked From Giving Tuition Aid To Immigrants

    A federal judge Friday permanently barred Illinois from providing benefits such as in-state tuition and education scholarships to unauthorized immigrants, agreeing with the Trump administration's argument that the offerings run afoul of federal law by discriminating against U.S. citizens.

  • July 24, 2026

    IP Cases In The Spotlight As ITC Adds 5 New Commissioners

    The Senate's confirmation of five new commissioners at the International Trade Commission, including two who were staffers on the intellectual property committees in Congress, could lead to a greater focus on IP cases at the commission and efforts to speed them up, attorneys say.

  • July 24, 2026

    5th Circ. Partly Upholds Block On Texas Content Filtering Law

    A Fifth Circuit panel on Friday affirmed in part a lower court's injunction blocking Texas' new law forcing companies to filter content for underage users, though it said other portions of the law, including an age-verification requirement, were permissible.

  • July 24, 2026

    Va. Court Orders FDA To Reconsider Mifepristone Restrictions

    A Virginia federal judge held that a 2023 regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration unlawfully placed prescribing restrictions on the abortion drug mifepristone, agreeing with a group of abortion providers that the agency inadequately addressed burdens on the healthcare system.

  • July 24, 2026

    Conservative Groups Say No To Broadcast Renewal Updates

    Fourteen conservative and free-market organizations urged Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr to preserve broadcast license renewals as "routine and presumptive."

  • July 24, 2026

    DOD Says Boat Strike Videos Sought By NYT Are Classified

    The U.S. Department of Defense told a New York federal judge that while it did share on social media video clips from military strikes on boats in the Pacific and Caribbean, it properly withheld from The New York Times the full-length videos because they contain classified details.

  • July 24, 2026

    FCC Adopts New Rules To Close 'Covered List' Loophole

    The Federal Communications Commission closed a loophole that allowed the sale of products containing "smart" components despite their manufacturers' inclusion on the agency's list of national security threats.

  • July 24, 2026

    CFTC Warns Platforms Against Broad Event Contract Filings

    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Friday told prediction market platforms that it won't wave through "broad, template" filings seeking to certify a variety of event contracts at once.

  • July 24, 2026

    Illinois Judge Tosses Suit Aimed At High School Speed Zone

    An Illinois federal judge has tossed a Chicago driver's proposed class lawsuit challenging two speeding tickets she received in a high school safety zone, adding that one claim requires administrative adjudication before it returns to court.

  • July 24, 2026

    11th Circ. Revives Challenge To Ga. Gun Carry Age Limits

    The Eleventh Circuit revived a challenge to a Georgia statute that prohibits adults under the age of 21 from obtaining weapons carry licenses and carrying handguns in public on Friday, sending the case back to a lower court to consider it in light of recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

  • July 24, 2026

    Fixed-Stay Student Visas May Add Burdens For Employers

    The Trump administration's new fixed-admission framework for foreign students has U.S. employers and universities thinking through new compliance obligations, with some companies contemplating tracking students' visa expiration dates and taking on their extension paperwork, attorneys tell Law360.

  • July 24, 2026

    2 Conservative Airbnb Investors Drop Proxy Bias Suit

    Two right-leaning institutional investors that accused Airbnb of wrongly excluding their shareholder proposals from proxy materials have been allowed to quietly drop their lawsuit against the short-term rental business.

  • July 24, 2026

    Ex-Immigration Judge Says Firing Is Part Of Biased Anti-DEI Push

    A former immigration judge has sued the U.S. Department of Justice in California federal court claiming she was pushed off the bench because she is Black and female, and previously advocated for immigrant clients as an attorney — and saying dozens of similarly situated judges were also fired or denied permanent positions.

  • July 24, 2026

    Upstart Gets OCC's Conditional Approval For Bank Charter

    Online lending platform Upstart has cleared a key initial hurdle at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in its bid to launch what it is calling the first national bank built with artificial intelligence-powered underwriting.

  • July 24, 2026

    'Irreparable': The Lasting Harm Of Justices' Temporary Orders

    The U.S. Supreme Court has considered dozens of emergency petitions involving executive policies since President Donald Trump's return to office. While justices often defend their emergency rulings as stop-gap measures, people at the center of those cases — who've lost their legal status, jobs, or federal funding — say that even interim decisions have had lasting effects on their lives.

  • July 24, 2026

    Paramount Promises Not To Close Merger During Challenge

    Paramount Skydance Corp. took a fight over a preliminary injunction off the table Friday with a promise not to close its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. until June 2027 or when a California federal judge rules on the merits of challenges to the deal.

  • July 24, 2026

    Mich. Justices Say Open Meeting Not Needed For Pot Permit

    The city manager of a Detroit suburb did not violate Michigan's Open Meetings Act by privately evaluating and ranking applicants for the city's limited recreational marijuana licenses, the Michigan Supreme Court has ruled, reversing an appellate decision.

  • July 24, 2026

    Judge Won't Halt BLM Ore. Logging Project

    An Oregon federal judge declined to halt a federal forest management project, saying a pair of conservation organizations were unlikely to prevail on their claim that the project had changed substantially enough to warrant a supplemental environmental review after it was approved.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Being A Singer Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Before law school, I spent seven years trying to make it as a professional singer in Los Angeles, and nearly everything I learned about preparation, humility, confidence and more has followed me into my legal practice, says Jessica Caterina at Moses & Singer.

  • EEOC Enforcement Plan Signals DEI, Religious Bias Scrutiny

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    In light of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently publishing its national enforcement plan covering through fiscal year 2029, employers should expect increased scrutiny of practices that conflict with the administration's positions on diversity, equity and inclusion, national origin discrimination, and religious accommodations, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Immigration Order Raises Customer ID Stakes For Banks

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    Following a recently issued immigration-related executive order, financial institutions should expect and prepare for increased scrutiny of customer due diligence and identification, suspicious activity monitoring, and consumer lending, as well as accompanying supervisory shifts and rising fair lending risks, says Douglas Weissinger at Butler Snow.

  • Trade Secret Practice Tips From The 1st Half Of 2026

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    Intellectual property attorneys should consider what several significant developments in 2026 thus far mean for how they protect, litigate and value trade secrets, focusing on new state noncompete bans, cases scrutinizing how plaintiffs identify trade secrets and federal rulings on damages doctrines, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • High Court Rulings Could Alter Agency Strategy For Cos.

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decisions in Trump v. Slaughter and Trump v. Cook mark major turning points in the law of independent agencies and in how regulated companies should think about federal enforcement, rulemaking and agency-facing strategy, say attorneys at Holtzman Vogel.

  • How CME Suit May Reshape CFTC's Crypto Derivatives Rules

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    CME Group's recent lawsuit over the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's approval of a Kalshi application to offer a bitcoin perpetual contract as a futures product could have cascading consequences for crypto derivatives regulation, highlighting why policy ambitions do not override statutory text or substitute for reasoned decision-making, says attorney Tamara de Silva.

  • Opinion

    Justices' Parole Ruling Degrades Green Card Holders' Rights

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Blanche v. Lau, holding that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers can parole a returning lawful permanent resident without clear and convincing evidence of a crime, weakens the statutory and practical protections Congress intended, say attorneys at Cyrus D. Mehta & Partners.

  • NEPA Reforms Can Fix Permitting Without Weakening Review

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    Recent National Environmental Policy Act reforms, in tandem with a Senate bill proposing faster permitting reviews and greater agency coordination, mark a long overdue move toward more efficient energy and infrastructure permitting that does not sacrifice environmental assessment, say attorneys at GableGotwals.

  • 2 Microsoft Matters Could Help Shape AI Antitrust Outlook

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    A pending federal court case and investigation focusing on Microsoft's allegedly anticompetitive conduct in the deployment of artificial intelligence tools are testing whether antitrust law can distinguish ordinary competition to supply the AI ecosystem from conduct that distorts how that competition unfolds, says Kylie Kim at Massey & Gail.

  • Preparing For Next Congress With Eye On Investigation Risk

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    Rod Rosenstein, Brian Whisler and Bruce Linskens at Baker McKenzie offer advice for organizations seeking to build a proactive response plan to potential congressional oversight as the election looms.

  • Asylum Ruling Signals Larger Separation Of Powers Battle

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Mullin v. Al Otro Lado that border officials may turn away asylum-seekers without inspection is part of a broader conversation about the reach of institutional safeguards that subject governmental authority to legal constraint, says Dree Collopy at American University's Washington College of Law.

  • Solar's Momentum At Mid-2026 Will Help It Overcome Snags

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    The rapid expansion of U.S. solar development in the first half of 2026 is likely to continue its pace, even amid ongoing shifts in federal trade policy and supply chain regulations, obstacles to permitting reform, and an increasing divide between states enacting policies to encourage or stymie project development, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • The Debanking Minefield: Navigating Fair Access In 2026

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    Federal regulators' recent elimination of reputational risk from bank supervision, alongside a growing patchwork of state fair access laws, is reshaping how banks make account and service decisions and ushering in a new compliance era requiring individualized, objective and risk-based access determinations, say attorneys at Spencer Fane.

  • Carbon Health Settlement Highlights Why Evidence Is Key

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    The California Attorney General's Office's first-of-its-kind settlement with Carbon Health, imposing penalties for alleged corporate practice of medicine violations, shows that friendly professional corporation challenges usually hinge not on the parties' management services agreement, but on whether the operational record matches it, says Ben Dubin at VC Expert Services.

  • What PE Practitioners Need To Know About New Del. ABC Act

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    Delaware's new Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors statute represents a structural shift in how companies backed by private equity can be wound down and provides a more streamlined tool for managing sponsor liability without the public visibility of a bankruptcy proceeding, says Evelyn Meltzer at Troutman Pepper.

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