Public Policy

  • June 27, 2025

    Banks Get Clean Bill Of Health As Stress Test Changes Loom

    The Federal Reserve said Friday that the nation's big banks are stocked with enough capital to weather a severe recession, giving them passing marks on what are poised to be the last round of stress tests before regulators begin overhauling the testing process.

  • June 27, 2025

    Fla. Teen Files $10M Suit Alleging DMV Appointment Scalping

    A Florida teenager has filed a proposed $10 million state court class action lawsuit against highway safety officials, alleging they were negligent for allowing her to camp outside a driver's license office just to secure an appointment because reservations were scalped by internet bots and sold for profit.

  • June 27, 2025

    Judge Waits On Fortune's Bid To Join Assa Abloy Fight

    A D.C. federal judge left open the question of whether Fortune Brands Home & Security can intervene to enforce Assa Abloy's 2023 settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday, as the DOJ seeks to keep a supply agreement between the two companies in place.

  • June 27, 2025

    Groups Quickly Switch Tactics In Birthright Citizenship Cases

    Just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court limited federal judges' ability to issue nationwide injunctions Friday, groups challenging the constitutionality of President Donald Trump's birthright citizenship executive order fired off a volley of new lawsuits, switching their legal actions to class action complaints.

  • June 27, 2025

    Judge Lets DOGE Access Go On But Cites 'Grave' Concerns

    A D.C. federal judge Friday voiced his "grave" concerns about the White House's Department of Government Efficiency obtaining personal information, but the district court declined to stop the U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from giving this access.

  • June 27, 2025

    Senate Says AI Is In, Some Spectrum Parts Out Of Budget Bill

    The updated version of a moratorium on states' regulation of artificial intelligence is allowed to be included in the budget reconciliation package but some of the spectrum-related provisions are not, according to the latest ruling from the U.S. Senate parliamentarian.

  • June 27, 2025

    NC Appeals Court Urged To Back Firing Of General Counsel

    North Carolina's body of independent administrative law judges is urging the state appeals court to reject its former general counsel's bid to revive his claims that his politics got him fired, arguing that his position is exempt from certain workplace protections.

  • June 27, 2025

    After Dobbs, States Become Battleground For Abortion Rights

    Three years ago, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the precedent set by Roe v. Wade, it did more than end nearly five decades of federal constitutional protection for abortion; it also fractured the legal landscape of reproductive rights, shifting the authority to regulate the procedure to individual states, and leading to legal uncertainty for courts, physicians and patients.

  • June 27, 2025

    Pregnancy Loss Draws Police Scrutiny Following Dobbs

    The nation's abortion debate has played out in civil courtrooms and state capitols across the country since the overturning of Roe v. Wade three years ago. But the battle is also emerging in another arena: the criminal courts.

  • June 27, 2025

    How States Are Rethinking Life Without Parole For Youth

    A wave of recent state high court rulings, including a landmark decision in Michigan in April, has curtailed the use of mandatory life without parole for defendants under 21, citing evolving standards of decency and brain science. Hundreds of incarcerated individuals in Michigan are now eligible for resentencing, but the reforms face resistance from prosecutors, victims’ rights advocates, and dissenting justices who warn of consequences for public safety and judicial overreach.

  • June 27, 2025

    Greystar, Landlords Push To Toss DOJ's RealPage Suit

    Greystar Management Services LLC and several other landlords urged a North Carolina federal court to toss a rent price-fixing suit lodged by the federal government and multiple states, arguing in part that they have failed to provide specifics for their antitrust claims.

  • June 27, 2025

    Full 5th Circ. To Hear Planned Parenthood Atty Immunity Row

    The full Fifth Circuit will rehear a panel's decision concluding that Planned Parenthood is entitled to attorney immunity in a whistleblower suit accusing the organization of improperly billing Medicaid programs.

  • June 27, 2025

    Trump Ends Canada Trade Talks Over Digital Services Tax

    The U.S. is ending trade negotiations with Canada because of the country's digital services tax, President Donald Trump said Friday, days before tech giants are due to file their first returns for the 3% charge on revenues they earn from Canadians.

  • June 27, 2025

    Colo. Appeals Court Clarifies Meaning Of Molotov Cocktail

    A Colorado state appeals court has ruled for the first time on the interpretation of state laws around explosives and incendiary devices, stating that lawmakers "intended 'explosive' to carry the same meaning as 'incendiary device.'"

  • June 27, 2025

    Parolees Say Feds Not Processing Benefits As Required

    Noncitizens challenging the Trump administration's termination of Biden-era parole programs called on a Massachusetts federal judge to make the government explain how it's not violating a court order to restore processing of their immigration benefits requests.

  • June 27, 2025

    Hawaii Groups Look To Block Monument Fishing Permits

    Three conservation groups are looking to set aside an April decision by the Trump administration that gave the go-ahead for permit holders to commercially fish in the waters of a Pacific Coast national monument, telling a Hawaii federal court that destructive fishing has already started in the 400,000-square-mile site.

  • June 27, 2025

    Groups Sue To Protect Everglades From 'Alligator Alcatraz'

    Environmental groups sued Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Florida officials Friday in Miami federal court in a bid to halt the construction of a migrant detention center known as "Alligator Alcatraz" in the Everglades, alleging it wasn't properly vetted for how it will impact the protected wetlands.

  • June 27, 2025

    Texas Justices Give Uri MDL Plaintiffs Chance To Replead

    The Texas Supreme Court on Friday said that thousands of plaintiffs in a multidistrict litigation stemming from winter storm Uri in 2021 could replead their gross negligence claims against transmission and distribution utility providers, giving them a chance to revive their long-running dispute over the crippling winter storm.

  • June 27, 2025

    Financial Regulators Say Banks Can Use Third-Party TIN Info

    Financial regulators on Friday said banks can collect tax identification number information from third parties, rather than just from their customers, pointing to changes in banking since the requirement was enacted under the USA PATRIOT Act.

  • June 27, 2025

    Utilities Can Depose Regulator Who Erased Texts, Judge Says

    A Connecticut judge has ruled the head of the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority who deleted text messages included in a discovery request can be deposed by the energy companies that brought the request in their suits seeking to recover millions in revenue deficiencies.

  • June 27, 2025

    Feds Seek 3rd Circ. Stay Of Columbia Grad's Release Order

    The federal government has asked the Third Circuit to stay a New Jersey judge's order that released Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil on bond, arguing that the district court lacked jurisdiction over the immigration issue and Khalil's habeas filing.

  • June 27, 2025

    Grassley Plots Next Moves After Nationwide Injunction Ruling

    Following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision Friday significantly limiting federal judges' ability to issue injunctions affecting parties outside a case, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is gearing up to further rein in judges with the Republicans' budget bill and standalone legislation.

  • June 27, 2025

    DOL Says No More Liquidated Damages In Wage-Hour Probes

    The U.S. Department of Labor said Friday it would no longer seek liquidated damages in wage and hour investigations, marking a shift away from its approach under the Biden administration. 

  • June 27, 2025

    Afghan Can't Halt Removal In Biden-Era Asylum Rule Suit

    A D.C. federal judge has denied a bid by an Afghan asylum-seeker to stay his imminent removal while he challenges a Biden-era rule allowing asylum officers to quickly deny requests if a mandatory bar to asylum exists.

  • June 27, 2025

    FDIC, OCC Join Fed In Pitching Plan To Ease Leverage Rule

    A Federal Reserve-backed proposal to relax a key leverage rule for the nation's biggest banks moved forward to the public comment stage Friday after securing approvals from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From NY Fed To BigLaw

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    While the move to private practice brings a learning curve, it also brings chances to learn new skills and grow your network, requiring a clear understanding of how your skills can complement and contribute to a firm's existing practice, and where you can add new value, says Meghann Donahue at Covington.

  • Reviewing Trump Admin's Rapid Pro-Crypto Regulatory Pivot

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    The digital asset industry has received a boost from the explicitly pro-crypto Trump administration, which in its first few months reversed Biden-era rules and installed industry proponents at regulatory agencies, marking one of the biggest regulatory about-faces by a government in recent memory, says Robert Appleton at Olshan Frome.

  • Cos. Face Enviro Justice Tug-Of-War Between States, Feds

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    The second Trump administration's sweeping elimination of environmental justice policies, programs and funding, and targeting of state-level EJ initiatives, creates difficult questions for companies on how best to avoid friction with federal policy, navigate state compliance obligations and maintain important stakeholder relationships with communities, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • 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.

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