Public Policy

  • January 16, 2026

    Treasury's Rule Pace Unchanged After Loper Bright, Atty Says

    The U.S. Supreme Court's 2024 landmark decision limiting federal agencies' deference in interpreting ambiguous statutes has not significantly altered the pace and volume of the U.S. Department of the Treasury's rulemaking workload, a Treasury attorney said Friday.

  • January 16, 2026

    Squires Ends Chinese Chip Co. IPRs In Informative Order

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires has stopped Yangtze Memory Technologies Co.'s challenges to two Micron Technology Inc.-owned patents, saying the Chinese chipmaker did not address concerns over its precise identity.

  • January 16, 2026

    Pension Withdrawal Liability Math Gets High Court Spotlight

    The U.S. Supreme Court will zero in Tuesday on the methodology for assessing the liability of companies that pull out of multiemployer pension plans, hearing arguments in a case attorneys say could have costly implications for employers.

  • January 16, 2026

    Wash. House Bill Seeks Changes To Cannabis Excise Tax

    Washington would make changes to its cannabis excise tax, which is charged in addition to sales and use tax on adult-use cannabis purchases, under a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives.

  • January 16, 2026

    IRS Rightly Withheld Worker Tax Credit FOIA Docs, Court Says

    The Internal Revenue Service properly invoked two Freedom of Information Act exemptions to withhold portions of internal directives about the employee retention tax credit requested by an attorney who represents taxpayers in disputes with the agency, an Alabama federal court said.

  • January 16, 2026

    Localism Requirement Dooms Low-Power Station Requests

    Four proposed low-power FM stations in Texas and one in Nevada can't get building permits from the Federal Communications Commission because their paperwork doesn't indicate they would be run by local organizations under federal rules, the FCC said Friday.

  • January 16, 2026

    CFPB Confirms Its Fed Funding Has Been Replenished

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has received the $145 million in new funding it recently requested from the Federal Reserve after a Washington, D.C., federal judge ruled the Trump administration could not let the consumer agency run out of cash.

  • January 16, 2026

    Pinnacle Ch. 11 Buyer's Repair Pledge Enough For Sale OK

    A New York bankruptcy judge approved the $451 million sale of 93 properties in the Chapter 11 case of real estate entities affiliated with Pinnacle Group, saying the buyer's plan to invest $30 million in repairs and maintenance for the buildings is enough to adequately assure residents it will perform its management obligations.

  • January 16, 2026

    Offshore Wind's Winning Streak Hits 3 With Dominion Restart

    A federal judge on Friday allowed Dominion Energy to resume work on a wind farm off the Virginia coast, handing the Trump administration its third defeat in five days over its efforts to halt offshore wind projects under construction.

  • January 16, 2026

    Dems Balk At FCC Drive For Simpler Broadband Labels

    The Federal Communications Commission wants to move toward broadband "nutrition" labels that it thinks consumers could more easily navigate, even if that means taking out a separate line about early termination fees for high-speed plans, the FCC chair said this week.

  • January 16, 2026

    Washington Pot Co.'s Discrimination Suit Filed Too Late

    A Washington federal judge has dismissed with prejudice a suit by a would-be cannabis dispensary alleging that the state's licensing agency discriminates against minority owners, saying the claims are outside the federal and state statutes of limitations.

  • January 16, 2026

    9th Circ. Upholds County Fines For Illegal Short-Term Rentals

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday refused to stop a Nevada county from enforcing ordinances that don't allow unlicensed short-term rentals to operate, ruling that the lower court rightfully sided against a local company by determining that the related county fines weren't unconstitutionally excessive.

  • January 16, 2026

    Maurene Comey Fights DOJ Bid To Toss Firing Suit

    Former Manhattan federal prosecutor Maurene Comey has urged a New York federal court to reject the U.S. Department of Justice's bid to dismiss her firing suit, arguing her claims belong before the district court and not under the jurisdiction of a non-independent board now controlled by the president.

  • January 16, 2026

    Watchdog Urges Blanche To Exit Trump Records Role

    A watchdog organization is calling on Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to step aside as President Donald Trump's proxy for records from his first term as they become available next week, saying he has a conflict of interest.

  • January 16, 2026

    Law Grad's Malpractice Claims Are Time-Barred, Atty Says

    A Vanderbilt Law School graduate who said that as a teenager his lawyer bungled his criminal defense by convincing him to plead guilty to a crime he did not commit cannot pursue legal malpractice claims, according to a Connecticut lawyer, who told the federal court the suit was filed too late.

  • January 16, 2026

    State Rules Add Wrinkle To Scholarship Tax Break's Rollout

    The U.S. Treasury Department is grappling with how to balance federal and state rules to implement a new tax credit for contributions to eligible scholarship programs, an official said Friday, describing states as "gatekeepers" in determining eligibility.

  • January 16, 2026

    Justices Will Decide Constitutionality Of Geofence Warrants

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to review the constitutionality of geofence warrants, used by law enforcement to pinpoint suspects' whereabouts using location data handed over by technology firms like Google.

  • January 16, 2026

    La. State Court Greenlights Challenge To Gender Care Ban

    A Louisiana state judge sided with a group of transgender teenagers who argue the state's ban on gender-affirming care for minors is unconstitutional, denying the state's bid to dismiss the case, according to an announcement Friday from the minors' attorneys.

  • January 16, 2026

    Hughes Hubbard, MoloLamken Alumns Open Boutique Firm

    Two former arbitration practice group leaders from Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP have launched an international arbitration and litigation boutique in Washington, D.C. and New York, co-founding the practice with a longtime MoloLamken LLP partner and former associate.

  • January 16, 2026

    EU Spending Less On State Aid Tax Schemes, Report Says

    Spending on state aid slumped last year across the European Union while tax benefits have remained a muted share of the subsidies offered since the COVID-19 pandemic, the bloc's executive branch said.

  • January 16, 2026

    EU Imposes Duties On Imports Of Fused Alumina From China

    The European Commission issued anti-dumping duties Friday against Chinese imports of a manufacturing material with defense applications called fused alumina after the commission determined the Chinese products were unfairly priced.

  • January 16, 2026

    Oregon Judge Strikes Down Exclusion Feds Cited For Logging

    An Oregon federal judge has vacated a decades-old categorical exclusion the U.S. Forest Service enacted to exempt forest thinning and wildlife habitat projects from environmental reviews after it was used to allow thousands of acres of commercial logging in Fremont-Winema National Forest.

  • January 16, 2026

    Seneca Nation Pushes To End NY Jurisdiction On Tribal Lands

    The Seneca Nation of New York has urged Congress to pass a bill that would nullify a 1948 law that gives the state criminal and civil jurisdiction over its tribal lands, saying the legislation strengthens public safety accountability and reduces the opportunity for illegal activities to flourish under legal uncertainty.

  • January 16, 2026

    Conn. Officials Say Pot License Scheme Suit Falls Flat

    Connecticut government officials are urging a federal judge to throw out a would-be dispensary operator's suit challenging its social equity licensing scheme, saying the fact that the plaintiff is a Connecticut resident undercuts his claims that the scheme's residency requirement is unconstitutional.

  • January 16, 2026

    Supreme Court Hacker Pleads Guilty To Misdemeanor Charge

    A 24-year-old Tennessee man pled guilty Friday to a single misdemeanor charge for hacking into the U.S. Supreme Court's filing system and several other government networks, admitting that he "intentionally accessed a computer without authorization" on 25 different days in 2023.

Expert Analysis

  • What 2025 Transpo And Logistics Legal Trends Mean For 2026

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    2025 was challenging for the transportation and logistics sector, with emergent trends including dramatic federal policy shifts, developments in tort risk, and a host of mergers and acquisitions — but a review of these themes offers a useful playbook for where the industry is headed in 2026, says Jonathan Todd at Benesch.

  • How Cos. Can Roll With NY's New Algorithmic Pricing Rules

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    Despite uncertainty from New York’s new ban on artificial intelligence and computer algorithms for setting rents, and efforts to further restrict individualizing prices based on consumers' personal data, property managers, software providers and merchants can take several steps to stay compliant, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • 2025 State AI Laws Expand Liability, Raise Insurance Risks

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    As 2025 nears its end, claims professionals should be aware of trends in state legislation addressing artificial intelligence use, as insurance claims based on some of these liability-expanding statutes are a certainty, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practical Problem Solving

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    Issue-spotting skills are well honed in law school, but practicing attorneys must also identify clients’ problems and true goals, and then be able to provide solutions, says Mary Kate Hogan at Quarles & Brady.

  • Crypto In 2025: From Federal Deregulation To State Action

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    The cryptocurrency enforcement landscape evolved in 2025, marked by federal deregulatory trends and active state attorney general enforcement, creating both opportunity and risk for businesses navigating the digital asset market, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • How CFTC Enforcement Shifted In 2025 And What's Next

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    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission pivoted sharply under acting Chairman Caroline Pham in 2025, resulting in a pared-back enforcement docket, sweeping policy changes intended to provide greater transparency, and a renewed focus on fraud prevention and maintaining market integrity for the CFTC's core markets, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Learning From 2025 FCA Trends Targeting PE In Healthcare

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    False Claims Act enforcement trends and legislative developments from this year signal intensifying state and federal scrutiny of private equity's growing footprint in healthcare, and the urgency of compliance, says Lisa Re at Arnold & Porter.

  • Reviewing 2025's State And Federal AI Regulations

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    In light of increasing state and federal action to oversee the use of artificial intelligence, companies that develop or deploy the technology should keep abreast of current and forthcoming AI laws and consider their applicability to their business activities, says Jessica Brigman at Spencer Fane.

  • Software Patents May Face New Eligibility Scrutiny

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    November guidance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, along with recent litigation trends from the Federal Circuit, may encourage new challenges in the USPTO and district courts to artificial intelligence and software patents that rely on generic computing functions without concrete details, say attorneys at Venable.

  • What Trump Order Limiting State AI Regs Means For Insurers

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    Last week's executive order seeking to preclude states from regulating artificial intelligence will likely have minimal impact on insurers, but the order and related congressional activities may portend a federal expectation of consistent state oversight of insurers' AI use, says Kathleen Birrane at DLA Piper.

  • Opinion

    A Uniform Federal Rule Would Curb Gen AI Missteps In Court

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    To address the patchwork of courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence, curbing abuses and relieving the burden on judges, the federal judiciary should consider amending its civil procedure rules to require litigants to certify they’ve reviewed legal filings for accuracy, say attorneys at Shook Hardy.

  • Investment Advisers Should Stay Apprised Of New AI Risks

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently issued annual examination priorities reiterate a host of regulatory implications for investment advisers using artificial intelligence tools, highlighting that meaningful ongoing due diligence can help mitigate both operational and regulatory surprises amid AI's rapid evolution, says Christopher Mills at Sidley.

  • New Rule Shows NRC Willing To Move Fast To Reform Regs

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    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s decision to forgo public comment and immediately rescind certain rules governing adjudicatory procedures, federal tort claims and disclosure of licensee information signals the agency's intent to accelerate the regulatory streamlining efforts ordered by the president this spring, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • AG Watch: Texas Junk Fee Deal Shows Enforcement Priorities

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    Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's recent $9.5 million settlement with online travel agency website Booking Holdings for so-called junk fee practices follows a larger trend of state attorneys general who have taken similar action and demonstrates the significant penalties that can follow such allegations, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.

  • 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.

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