Public Policy

  • December 15, 2025

    Palin Can't Get 3rd Trial In NYT Defamation Case

    A New York federal judge on Monday denied Sarah Palin's attempt for another redo of her libel trial against The New York Times, saying her lawyers "seriously misconstrued" a Second Circuit decision as reducing what she had to prove at trial.

  • December 15, 2025

    Racial 'X-Acto Knife' Used For Prop 50 Map, Calif. Panel Told

    A three-day hearing before three federal judges kicked off Monday in Los Angeles over challenges brought by California Republicans and the U.S. Department of Justice to the state's Proposition 50 voter-approved congressional districts, with a RealClearPolitics election analyst testifying that one district was created using a racial "X-Acto knife" rather than a political one.

  • December 15, 2025

    3rd-Country Removal Relief Is Proper, Immigrants Tell 1st Circ.

    Immigrants challenging the Trump administration's authority to abruptly deport people to third countries urged the First Circuit on Friday to restore an order that required some notice to allow for claims asserting fears of torture or persecution.

  • December 15, 2025

    Senate Banking Committee Pushes Crypto Markup To 2026

    The Senate Banking Committee anticipates marking up a crypto market structure proposal in the new year as bipartisan negotiations on the bill continue, a spokesperson for committee chairman Tim Scott, R.-S.C, said Monday.

  • December 15, 2025

    DC Judge Won't Block Calif. Tribe's Recognition Status

    Three California residents and a nonprofit cannot have an emergency order blocking a decision by the U.S. Interior Department to give federal recognition to California's Ione Band of Miwok Indians, a D.C. federal judge ruled, saying the plaintiffs didn't comply with federal rules governing such requests.

  • December 15, 2025

    Groups Challenge FERC's Texas Natural Gas Project Approval

    The city of Port Isabel, Texas, and two environmental nonprofits on Monday sued the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission over its approval of a Lone Star State natural gas project, arguing the agency used a flawed analysis to calculate the impact of pollution.

  • December 15, 2025

    Walmart Adds To Visa, Mastercard Swipe-Fee Deal Objections

    Walmart has become the latest retailer to object to a proposed new settlement between Visa, Mastercard and a class of potentially millions of merchants to resolve two decades of antitrust litigation, claiming the class plaintiffs and counsel have "sold out their fellow class members."

  • December 15, 2025

    Md. Residents, Advocates Fight DOJ's Bid For Voters' Data

    Three Maryland voters and a pair of civil rights watchdog groups are the latest to push to participate in the U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuit seeking to force the state to hand over voters' sensitive personal information, arguing the request threatens residents' privacy and could enable voter disenfranchisement. 

  • December 15, 2025

    NC Panel Says State's Hospital Law Is Constitutional

    North Carolina's "certificate of need" law hasn't created a monopoly nor has it restricted an eye surgeon's right to earn a living, a state court panel ruled Friday, ending for now the surgeon's yearslong suit arguing the law is facially unconstitutional.

  • December 15, 2025

    FCC Moves Forward On Multilingual Wireless Alerts

    The Federal Communications Commission will soon make effective a rule rolling out multilingual alert templates for cellphones during public emergencies following pressure from Democrats on Capitol Hill over alleged delays in the effort.

  • December 15, 2025

    Ohio Gov. To Designate Synthetic Kratom Extract Illegal Drug

    Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is looking to immediately ban synthetic kratom compounds while simultaneously seeking to either ban or heavily regulate the active ingredient in "natural kratom," citing serious public health concerns.

  • December 15, 2025

    PCAOB Challenger Tells DC Circ. He Should Stay Anonymous

    An anonymous accountant challenging the constitutionality of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has told the D.C. Circuit he should be allowed to proceed in district court as a John Doe plaintiff, aiming to reverse a ruling that he cannot continue to litigate the suit pseudonymously.

  • December 15, 2025

    Judge Orders Return Of Comey Atty Richman's Seized Files

    A D.C. federal judge has ordered the government to return copies of materials seized from former James Comey attorney Daniel Richman, allowing the government to deposit only a single sealed copy of the materials with the Eastern District of Virginia for potential future warranted access.

  • December 15, 2025

    DOJ Sues Fulton County To Obtain 2020 Election Records

    The U.S. Department of Justice filed suit against the clerk of courts in Fulton County, Georgia, in an effort to obtain five-year-old ballots linked to the 2020 presidential election, accusing the clerk of violating federal law by not relinquishing the records.

  • December 15, 2025

    USPTO Replaces Denver Office With Center In Montana

    Montana has been picked by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to be the first state to oversee community outreach in the area formerly serviced by the now-shuttered Rocky Mountain Regional Outreach Office in Denver.

  • December 15, 2025

    IRS Finalizes Tribal Welfare, Energy Direct Pay Rules

    The IRS finalized a pair of long-awaited tribal regulations Monday governing a taxable income exclusion for welfare benefits and classifying certain tribe-owned entities as tax-exempt to allow them to directly monetize tax credits for clean energy projects.

  • December 15, 2025

    Beyond Nuclear Pushes Justices To Undo Storage License

    The nonprofit seeking to stop the U.S. Department of Energy from contracting out nuclear waste storage hit back at the contractor's bid to keep the case out of the U.S. Supreme Court, saying the contractor's own brief supports the nonprofit's position.

  • December 15, 2025

    Groups Say Texas Food Labeling Law Must Be Blocked

    A group of food industry associations are urging a Texas federal judge to block a section of the state's new Make Texas Healthy Again Act, saying the section is preempted by federal law because it requires them to put false and misleading information on the labels.

  • December 15, 2025

    Fishery Says NY, NJ Wind Project 'Obliterated' Fishing Area

    A Garden State fishery has sued the owner of the Empire Offshore Wind project in New Jersey federal court, alleging that it has "completely and permanently obliterated" the ability to harvest shellfish in the project area and caused it more $25 million in damages.

  • December 15, 2025

    Nix FCC's Public Interest Standard, Free Market Group Says

    Lawmakers need to consider scrapping the longstanding public interest standard rather than seeking to hold broadcasters to a measure from the Communications Act, a free-market think tank argued Monday.

  • December 15, 2025

    Connecticut 'Likely' To Settle Generic Drug Price Cap Dispute

    A pharmaceutical industry trade group and the state of Connecticut have signaled their intent to settle a feud over the interpretation of the state's generic drug price cap law, and a federal judge gave them until Monday to say more about their plan.

  • December 15, 2025

    Ex-US Attys Say Pardons, Loyalty Demands Hurt Rule Of Law

    A bipartisan group of former U.S. attorneys spoke publicly Monday on their concerns regarding the direction the U.S. justice system has taken since the start of the second Trump administration and the potential risks that may pose to the rule of law.

  • December 15, 2025

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Litigation in Delaware's Court of Chancery sprawled from a dispute over control of banana plantations along Africa's Congo River to a fight over the late musician Prince's estate last week. Along the way, a court ruling rejected a motion for a quick decision favoring Blue Bell Creameries director and officer calls for liability releases in a tainted ice cream saga that dates to 2015.

  • December 15, 2025

    Judge Won't Boot Bondi-Appointed Prosecutor In LA

    A federal judge has refused to reconsider his ruling disqualifying Bill Essayli from holding the role of U.S. attorney but allowing him to serve as the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, finding that Essayli's appointment by U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi is valid.

  • December 15, 2025

    Fed. Court Asked To Block IRS' Microcaptive Reporting Rule

    A Texas federal court should vacate an IRS rule aimed at flagging potential tax avoidance by requiring companies to disclose information about their microcaptive insurance transactions because it undermines Congress' authority, according to a Texas plastics company and its microcaptive adviser.

Expert Analysis

  • 10th Circ. Dissent May Light Path For Master Account Access

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    While the Tenth Circuit's majority in Custodia Bank v. Federal Reserve Board recently affirmed Federal Reserve banks' control over master account access, the dissent raised constitutional questions that could support banks seeking master accounts in future litigation, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

  • Calif. AG's No-Poach Case Reflects Tougher Antitrust Stance

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    This month, California’s attorney general resolved the latest enforcement action barring the use of no-poach agreements, underscoring an aggressive antitrust enforcement trend with significant increases in criminal and civil penalties, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • A Look At The Wave Of 2025 Email Marketing Suits In Wash.

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    Since the Washington Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Old Navy in April, more than 30 lawsuits have alleged that a broad range of retailers across industries sent emails that violate the Washington Commercial Electronic Mail Act, but retailers are unlikely to find clear answers yet, says Gonzalo Mon at Kelley Drye.

  • 3 Defense Strategies For Sporadically Prosecuted Conduct

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    Not to be confused with selective prosecutions, sporadic prosecutions — charging someone for conduct many others do without consequences — can be challenging to defend, but focusing on materiality, prosecutorial motivations and public opinion can be a winning strategy, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • 2025 Noncompete Developments That Led To Inflection Point

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    Employers must reshape their approaches to noncompete agreements following key 2025 developments, including Delaware's rejection of blue-penciling and the proliferation of state wage thresholds, say attorneys at Gunderson Dettmer.

  • Riding The Changing Winds For AI Innovations At The USPTO

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    As recent U.S. Patent and Trademark Office moves reshape how artificial intelligence inventions will be examined and put them on firmer eligibility footing, practitioners need to consider how this shift is both an opportunity and a challenge, say Ryan Phelan at Marshall Gerstein and attorney Mark Campagna.

  • Series

    The Law Firm Merger Diaries: Integrating Practice Groups

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    Enacting unified leadership and consistent client service standards ensures law firm practice groups connect and collaborate around shared goals, turning a law firm merger into a platform for growth rather than a period of disruption, says Brian Catlett at Fennemore Craig.

  • The Tricky Issues Underscoring Prediction Market Regulation

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    Prediction markets are not merely testing the boundaries of commodities law — they are challenging the conventional divisions between gambling regulation and financial market oversight, and in doing so, may reshape both, says Braeden Anderson at Gesmer Updegrove.

  • Nonprofits Face Uncertainty Over Political Activity Rules

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    Two federal court decisions suggesting that the Internal Revenue Service's rules for 501(c)(4) organizations' political activity may be too vague to survive constitutional scrutiny leave nonprofit organizations caught between constitutional limits on government regulation of speech and tax limits on their exempt status, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • Opinion

    Supreme Court Term Limits Would Carry Hidden Risk

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    While proposals for limiting the terms of U.S. Supreme Court justices are popular, a steady stream of relatively young, highly marketable ex-justices with unique knowledge and influence entering the marketplace of law and politics could create new problems, say Michael Broyde at Emory University and Hayden Hall at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

  • Navigating A Sea Change In Rent Algorithm Regulation

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's proposed settlement of the RealPage lawsuit represents a pivotal moment in the regulation of algorithmic rent-setting, restraining use of these tools amid a growing trend of regulatory limits on use of algorithmic data and methodologies in establishing housing rental prices. say attorneys at Wilson Elser.

  • Tariffs And Trade Volatility Drove 2025 Bankruptcy Wave

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    The Trump administration's tariff regime has reshaped the commercial restructuring landscape this year, with an increased number of bankruptcy filings showing how tariffs are influencing first‑day narratives, debtor-in-possession terms and case strategies, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • Insuring Equality: 3 Tips To Preserve Coverage For DEI Claims

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    Directors and officers and employment practices liability are key coverages for policyholders to review as potentially responsive to the emerging liability threat of Trump's executive orders targeting corporate diversity, equity and inclusion policies and practices, says Micah Skidmore at Haynes Boone.

  • Opinion

    Justice Requires Excluding Manner Of Death As Evidence

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    A recent report showing that the unstandardized and subjective U.S. system of medicolegal death investigations contributes to unjust convictions should prompt courts and lawmakers to reject manner of death testimony in favor of more transparent and testable forensic evidence, say Peter Neufeld and Isabelle Cohn at the Innocence Project.

  • The SEC Whistleblower Program A Year Into 2nd Trump Admin

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's whistleblower program continues to operate as designed, but its internal cadence, scrutiny of claims and operational structure reflect a period of recalibration, with precision mattering more than ever, say attorneys Scott Silver and David Chase.

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