Public Policy

  • May 21, 2025

    Ex-Con's Gun Case Can't Overcome Immunity, Feds Say

    The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives cannot be the targets of a lawsuit filed by a man who claims he was wrongly denied a firearm purchase despite his four-decades-old marijuana felony being expunged, the government argued, telling a Kansas federal court that both agencies have sovereign immunity on the matter.

  • May 21, 2025

    Gold Mine Risks Alaska Preserve And Whales, Tribe Claims

    An Alaskan tribe and environmental groups have filed suit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers seeking to stop a mining company from expanding gold operations, activity that would contaminate the waterways near a national park and harm the endangered beluga whale population.

  • May 21, 2025

    Title Insurance Co. Fights Treasury All-Cash Resi Deals Rule

    A title insurance company and a subsidiary have filed suit in Florida federal court challenging new reporting requirements for all-cash real estate closings, saying the rule exceeds the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's authority.

  • May 21, 2025

    Okla. Judge Reaffirms Block Of State Immigration Law

    An Oklahoma federal judge entered a two-week block on an Oklahoma law that makes it a crime for unauthorized immigrants to live in the state, reaffirming a prior ruling that the state law was likely unconstitutional.

  • May 21, 2025

    GOP FTC Renews Calls For Orange Book Patent Delistings

    The now-Republican controlled Federal Trade Commission again called on Teva, Novartis, Mylan and other drugmakers to remove patents from a key federal database that partially insulates their drugs from generic competition, arguing Wednesday the patents cover "devices," not drugs, and thus don't warrant such protection.

  • May 21, 2025

    Wash. Gov. Signs Budget With New And Higher Taxes

    Washington's governor signed a two-year $78 billion state budget that closed a $16 billion shortfall in part by raising and increasing taxes, ending weeks of speculation over whether he'd agree with his fellow Democrats in the state Legislature that a tax package was needed.

  • May 21, 2025

    Texas Bills To Watch Before The End Of The 2025 Session

    With less than two weeks remaining in the Texas legislative session, lawmakers will hit several deadlines in the coming days that will seal the fate of bills surrounding legal procedure, abortion, artificial intelligence and other topics.

  • May 21, 2025

    Courts Can't Review Trump's Tariff Emergencies, Gov't Says

    Courts can't review President Donald Trump's decision that unusual or extraordinary threats exist under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a government attorney told the U.S. Court of International Trade on Wednesday as 12 states seek to block Trump's tariffs under the law.

  • May 21, 2025

    Offshore Wind Farm Foes Back Trump Permitting Pause

    Opponents of a New Jersey offshore wind farm on Wednesday backed the Trump administration's freeze on wind project permitting, telling a Massachusetts federal judge the moratorium is both legal and constitutional.

  • May 21, 2025

    Country Music Singer Urges Sens. To Pass AI Deepfakes Bill

    Country music star Martina McBride urged U.S. senators Wednesday to pass legislation aimed at protecting individuals from having their voice and likeness replicated with artificial intelligence without their permission, saying "it's frightening, and it's wrong."

  • May 21, 2025

    American Tells United To Butt Out Of O'Hare Gate Dispute

    American Airlines has urged an Illinois federal court to not allow rival carrier United to intervene in its lawsuit alleging the city of Chicago breached its contract with the airline by reassigning gate space at O'Hare International Airport, arguing its competitor has no right to wade into a case concerning "a lease to which it is not a party and which grants it no rights or benefits."

  • May 21, 2025

    UC Says It's Unclear Students In Bias Suit Even Plan To Apply

    The University of California told a federal judge Tuesday that an organization representing a group of Asian American and white students hasn't shown they are actually "able and ready" to seek admission, arguing the court should toss a suit claiming the school racially discriminated against them.

  • May 21, 2025

    'Only God Knows My Name': 11th Circ. OKs Doe's Conviction

    The 11th Circuit on Wednesday affirmed the conviction of a man who refused to be identified by immigration officials, saying, "Only God knows my name," ruling the lower court correctly held the criminal statute he was charged under applied to him although it couldn't prove he lawfully entered the country. 

  • May 21, 2025

    USPTO Tackling Backlog Despite Hiring Freeze, Official Says

    While the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office waits out a federal hiring freeze preventing it from bringing in more patent examiners, it's using initiatives like reassignments and rewards to "do more with less" and cut down on patent pendency, the agency's deputy commissioner for patents said Wednesday.

  • May 21, 2025

    EPA Chief Defends Trump Plan To Halve Agency Budget

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin on Wednesday told senators that despite President Donald Trump's proposal to cut the EPA's budget by 55% and an internal reorganization, agency scientists can handle the current workload.

  • May 21, 2025

    Immigrant Groups Appeal Denied Bid To Halt IRS-ICE Deal

    Immigrant advocacy groups on Wednesday appealed a D.C. federal judge's order denying their bid to block the IRS from sharing taxpayer data with immigration enforcement agencies, with their counsel warning "it will be too late" once the information is shared.

  • May 21, 2025

    Small Texas Communities Trying To Siphon Taxes, City Says

    Two Texas state court judges issued court orders Wednesday barring two small municipalities from buying up apartment buildings in the city of Rowlett, Texas, thwarting what Rowlett described as an underhanded attempt to rob the city of property tax revenue.

  • May 21, 2025

    Think Tank Challenges Taxpayer Grants To Michigan Ballparks

    A free-market think tank is challenging earmarks for local projects incorporated in Michigan's state budget in a new lawsuit that claims the funding was never properly authorized.

  • May 21, 2025

    FCC's Carr Clashes With Dems Over Verizon DEI Deal

    Congressional Democrats grilled the Federal Communications Commission's chief Wednesday about the legal basis for targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs at Verizon, days after the wireless giant agreed to drop DEI initiatives amid its takeover of Frontier Communications.

  • May 21, 2025

    Dem Rep. Calls For Withdrawal Of New PTAB Denial Policies

    A Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives representing Silicon Valley told the acting head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that she had "serious concern" regarding new policy in which the director has the final word on whether patent challenges should be denied for discretionary reasons.

  • May 21, 2025

    CPSC Members Take Trump To Court Over Firings

    The three Democrats on the Consumer Product Safety Commission have followed up on their threat to file suit over President Donald Trump's attempts to fire them, saying that the president is breaking the law and that they have been barred from doing their jobs without cause.

  • May 21, 2025

    Montana Reduces Taxes On Residential, Commercial Property

    Montana will lower taxes on residential and commercial property, provide property tax rebates to homeowners and implement other changes to the state's property tax regime under legislation signed by the governor.

  • May 21, 2025

    Mich. Justices Won't Hear Hotels' Water Rate Appeal

    The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to review a Michigan town's water and sewer rates, rejecting an appeal from a group of hotels and restaurants that alleged a rate hike was an unconstitutional tax.

  • May 21, 2025

    Court Won't Revive Mental Health Class Suit Against Fla. Blue

    A Florida appeals court Wednesday declined to revive a proposed class suit by state employees enrolled in a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida healthcare plan that alleging the insurer designed a claims process to obstruct approval and payment of claims for mental health care.

  • May 21, 2025

    School Shooting Victims' Suits Tossed After 6th Circ. Ruling

    Lawsuits brought by the families of students who were killed in or affected by the 2021 shooting at an Oxford, Michigan, high school have been dismissed by a federal judge, a few months after the Sixth Circuit determined the school leaders' actions or inactions the morning of the shooting did not increase students' risk of harm.

Expert Analysis

  • 3 Tax Issues Manufacturers Should Watch In 2025 Budget Bill

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    As Congress works toward a budget reconciliation bill, manufacturing companies should keep a keen eye on proposals to change bonus depreciation, the qualified business income deduction and energy tax credits, which could have a significant impact on capital-intensive industries, say attorneys at Frost Brown Todd.

  • Key Aspects Of FDIC's Resolution Planning FAQ

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    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s recent FAQ on changes to its resolution plan rule ease burdensome requirements for some large institutions and exempt others from discussion of franchise components, making it easier for banks to finalize submissions before the July 1 deadline, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Why Texas Should Slow Down On Healthcare Merger Bills

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    More time is needed to study three Texas bills aimed at considering the effects of healthcare consolidation to increase affordability and access to healthcare, which could have the opposite effect, say John Saran and Harshita Rathore at Holland & Knight and Robbie Allen at U.S. Heart and Vascular.

  • As Tariffs Hit The Radar, PE Counsel Should Review Strategies

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    As tariffs compound existing challenges in the private equity sector, counsel should consider existing headwinds such as interest rates and industry-specific impacts like supply chains and pricing power, which may help mitigate risks and capture opportunity, says Nathan Viehl at Thompson Coburn.

  • Trump Rule Would Upend Endangered Species Status Quo

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    The Trump administration's recent proposal to rescind the regulatory definition of "harm" in the Endangered Species Act would be a tectonic shift away from years of established regulatory practice, with major implications for both species protection and larger-scale conservation efforts, says David Smith at Manatt.

  • DOJ Memo Raises Bar For Imposition Of Corporate Monitors

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    A recently released U.S. Department of Justice memo, outlining guidance on the imposition of compliance monitors in corporate criminal cases, reflects DOJ leadership’s concerns about scope creep and business costs, but the strategies for companies to avoid a monitorship haven't changed much compared to the Biden era, says James Koukios at MoFo.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Becoming A Firmwide MVP

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    Though lawyers don't have a neat metric like baseball players for measuring the value they contribute to their organizations, the sooner new attorneys learn skills frequently skipped in law school — like networking, marketing, client development and case evaluation — the more valuable, and less replaceable, they will be, says Alex Barnett at DiCello Levitt.

  • How NY's FAIR Act Mirrors CFPB State Recommendations

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    New York's proposed FAIR Business Practices Act, which targets predatory lending and junk fees, reflects the Rohit Chopra-era Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recommendations to states in a number of ways, including by defining "abusive" conduct and adding a new right to file class actions, says Christian Hancock at Bradley Arant.

  • Expect Eyes On Electronic Devices At US Entry Points

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    Electronic device searches are becoming common at U.S. border inspections, making it imperative for companies to familiarize themselves with what's allowed, and mandate specific precautions for employees to protect their privacy and sensitive information during international travel, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

  • Big Tech M&A Risk Under Trump May Resemble Biden Era

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    Merger review under the Trump administration may not differ substantially from merger review under the Biden administration, particularly in the Big Tech arena, in which case dealmakers and investors should shift the antitrust discount on M&A deals upward, says Jonathan Barnett at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.

  • A Breakdown Of Trump's Order On Drug Pricing

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    The Trump administration may attempt to effectuate through rulemaking a recently issued executive order on lowering drug prices, which would likely have an adverse effect on stakeholders and trigger litigation, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • FTC Focus: Interlocking Directorate Enforcement May Persist

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    Though the Federal Trade Commission under Chair Andrew Ferguson seems likely to adopt a pro-business approach to antitrust enforcement, his endorsement of broader liability for officers or directors who illegally sit on boards of competing corporations signals that businesses should not expect board-level antitrust scrutiny to slacken, says Timothy Burroughs at Proskauer.

  • Calif. Climate Superfund Bill Faces Legal, Technical Hurdles

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    California could soon join other states in sending the fossil fuel industry a massive bill for the costs of coping with climate change — but its pending climate Superfund legislation, if enacted, is certain to face legal pushback and daunting implementation challenges, says Donald Sobelman at Farella Braun.

  • How Cos. Can Navigate Risks Of New Cartel Terrorist Labels

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    The Trump administration’s recent designation of eight drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations gives rise to new criminal and civil liabilities for companies that are unwittingly exposed to cartel activity, but businesses can mitigate such risks in a few key ways, say attorneys at Steptoe.

  • Cosmetic Co. Considerations As More States Target PFAS

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    In the first quarter of the year, seven states introduced or passed legislation focused on banning the sale of cosmetics that contain PFAS, making it necessary for businesses to adjust their product testing and supply chain practices, product formulations, marketing strategies, and more, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

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