Public Policy

  • January 16, 2026

    Stock Buyback Ban Could Shrink Defense Industrial Base

    The Trump administration's move to bar defense contractors from buying back their stock or paying shareholder dividends if they are underperforming on their contracts could make companies reconsider working with the U.S. government and counteract the administration's stated goals.

  • January 16, 2026

    Afghan Nationals Tell Judge Feds Can't Suspend Visa Process

    Afghanistan citizens seeking special immigrant visas after aiding U.S. forces overseas told a D.C. federal judge on Thursday that the Trump administration can't indefinitely suspend processing when it faces a court order to promptly process applications that have been unduly delayed already.

  • January 16, 2026

    Rail Regulator Tells UP, Norfolk Southern To Redo Merger Bid

    A rail regulator said Friday that Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern still haven't shared crucial details or projected revenue and traffic numbers related to their proposed mega-merger, so their application must be rejected for now as "incomplete."

  • January 16, 2026

    PBMs Seek Exit From Philly's Suit Over Opioid Crisis

    CVS Health Corp. and other pharmacy benefit managers asked a Pennsylvania federal judge to let them out of the city of Philadelphia's lawsuit claiming they contributed to the opioid epidemic in the city, arguing that the city waited too long to file its suit and lacked standing to sue the companies.

  • January 16, 2026

    Calif. AG Orders xAI To Stop Enabling Sexualized Deepfakes

    California's attorney general on Friday sent xAI a cease and desist letter demanding the artificial intelligence company immediately stop the creation and distribution of nonconsensual, sexualized deepfakes, days after U.S. senators announced they had demanded that leading tech companies disclose how they are preventing such images on their platforms.

  • January 16, 2026

    Judge Says Okla. DAs Must Face Tribal Jurisdiction Lawsuits

    Two Oklahoma district attorneys can't escape lawsuits that look to block them from prosecuting tribal citizens for crimes committed in Indian Country, a federal district court judge determined, saying arguments that the Indigenous nations have not suffered an injury are meritless.

  • January 16, 2026

    College Gambling Busts Show That Getting Caught Is Easy

    The evidence against the college basketball players indicted Thursday on federal sports gambling charges, and the alleged fixers involved in enticing and paying the players, appears strong enough for the NCAA to focus on preventing future scandals rather than on denying the problem existed, sports law experts say.

  • January 16, 2026

    Planned Parenthood Can Challenge Heartbeat Act, Court Says

    A Texas appeals court on Friday found that Planned Parenthood has standing to challenge the state law that empowers ordinary citizens to prosecute abortion providers, saying Planned Parenthood has done enough to launch a pre-enforcement challenge to the law.

  • January 16, 2026

    White House Backs State Govs In Push For PJM Changes

    The Trump administration on Friday joined an effort by 13 state governors to force the nation's largest regional grid operator, PJM Interconnection, to fix the issue of escalating power prices amid data center-fueled increases in electricity demand.

  • January 16, 2026

    In First Year, Trump Lost Most Cases But Often Won Appeals

    In the first year of President Donald Trump's second term, his administration lost in court nearly twice as often as it won, but its success rate increased when it appealed, according to a Law360 review of more than 400 lawsuits.

  • January 16, 2026

    Cannabis Cos. Say Mich. Township Blocked Retail Permits

    Two Michigan cannabis companies allege in a new federal lawsuit Friday that a Michigan township prevented them from opening their doors after the locality's voters approved a ballot measure to ban pot stores.

  • January 16, 2026

    Judicial Candidate Nixed From Ballot Over Text To Rival

    A Texas judge ruled a candidate for a state judicial seat in Houston ineligible for the March primary election, finding the candidate violated the state's Election Code by trying to coerce her opponent into withdrawing from the race.

  • 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.

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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