Public Policy

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Say Another Biofuel Waiver Case Fits In DC Circ.

    Following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision that the D.C. Circuit was the proper venue for challenges to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's denial of biofuel waivers to small refiners, the high court on Monday granted summary disposition in another pending case on the same subject.

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Let Stand IRS' Summons For Coinbase User's Info

    The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Monday a cryptocurrency investor's challenge to an IRS summons for his financial records from the exchange Coinbase, letting stand a First Circuit ruling that upheld limitations on privacy rights for records held by third-party financial institutions.

  • June 30, 2025

    Ex-Ohio Speaker Calls 6th Circ. Bribery Ruling A 'Stretch'

    Former Ohio House of Representatives Speaker Larry Householder urged the Sixth Circuit to rethink its decision to stand by his bribery conviction over the FirstEnergy nuclear bailout scandal that got him 20 years in prison, arguing the panel made "an illegal stretch" in assuming the jurors undertook proper analysis despite allegedly improper instructions.

  • June 30, 2025

    Trump Administration Says Harvard Violated Civil Rights Law

    The Trump administration on Monday informed Harvard University that it had run afoul of federal civil rights law by failing to protect Jewish and Israeli students on campus from harassment, and threatened to cut all funding from the nation's oldest university.

  • June 30, 2025

    High Court Takes GOP Challenge To Election Spending Limits

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said it would review caps on how much political parties can spend on elections in coordination with candidates in a case brought by Vice President JD Vance and Republican organizations.

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Undo Patients' Win In Gender-Affirming Care Fight

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday struck down a Fourth Circuit decision that preserved access to gender-affirming care under two state-run health plans, telling the lower court to consider a recent decision by the justices that upheld a Tennessee law limiting treatments for young transgender people.

  • June 30, 2025

    High Court Won't Review Kentucky's Smog Plan Challenge

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review the Sixth Circuit's refusal to transfer Kentucky's challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's disapproval of its ozone control plan to the D.C. Circuit, after ruling such cases belong in regional circuit courts. 

  • June 30, 2025

    High Court Won't Review Landlords' COVID Eviction Ban Suit

    A split U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a petition filed by billionaire developer and landlord Geoffrey Palmer that sought to recover $100 million by claiming harm from an eviction moratorium Los Angeles imposed after the outbreak of COVID-19.

  • June 30, 2025

    Supreme Court Won't Take On CWA Suit Over Wash. Port Regs

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to wade into a dispute between a Washington state port and an environmental group over whether citizen suits seeking to enforce state permitting conditions that go beyond the Clean Water Act can proceed in federal court.

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Pass On Free Speech Challenge To Ga. Strip Club Tax

    The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it will not review a decision by Georgia's highest court that said a state tax on strip clubs that's used to fund efforts to address child trafficking does not violate the First Amendment.

  • June 28, 2025

    DOJ OKs $14B HPE-Juniper Deal With Small-Biz WiFi Unit Sale

    The U.S. Department of Justice announced a settlement Saturday with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, clearing the tech giant's $14 billion purchase of Juniper Networks by requiring the divestiture of a WiFi network business geared toward small firms.

  • June 27, 2025

    Feds Use Fortress-Backed NPE Suit To Encourage Injunctions

    The federal government acted in line with the administration's strong pro-patent owner policies when, seemingly out of nowhere, it stepped into a little-known Texas patent case and promoted injunctions for nonpracticing entities, attorneys say. But there are suggestions that it may not be so random, as the patent owner may have ties to the nominee for U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director.

  • June 27, 2025

    Trump's Susman Godfrey 'Sword Of Damocles' Order Tossed

    A Washington, D.C., federal judge Friday struck down as unconstitutional President Donald Trump's executive order targeting Susman Godfrey LLP, saying it was issued in retaliation for the firm's representation of clients and causes with which the president disagrees, while hanging "like the sword of Damocles" over the BigLaw firm.

  • June 27, 2025

    Texas Justices OK Methodist Church's Suit Against SMU

    The Texas Supreme Court found the United Methodist Church has the right to sue Southern Methodist University over its attempted split, but in a Friday opinion drew short of saying the university filed false paperwork as part of the breakup.

  • June 27, 2025

    DC Judge Asks If WH Can Pull Clearances Based On Bias

    The D.C. federal judge overseeing national security lawyer Mark S. Zaid's challenge to being stripped of his clearances had some hard questions Friday for the government's attorney, asking if President Donald Trump stripped clearances from attorneys for being Catholic meant they could judicially challenge him.

  • June 27, 2025

    Texas Justices Say Paxton Can Keep Jan. 6 Records

    The Texas Supreme Court found that Attorney General Ken Paxton does not have to cough up his communications during and after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, saying in a Friday opinion only the state's high court may issue orders compelling executive officers to certain actions.

  • June 27, 2025

    Senate Republican Plan Would Cut CFPB Funds, Keep PCAOB

    U.S. Senate Banking Committee Republicans' latest budget bill plans have dropped a push to dismantle the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and pivoted to a lesser — but still severe — cut to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding. 

  • June 27, 2025

    Tribes Say Kalshi's Sports Contracts Undermine Sovereignty

    A group of state and tribal gaming associations plus 27 federally recognized tribes have weighed in on a dispute between trading platform KalshiEx LLC and Maryland regulators, arguing that Kalshi's entrance into the gaming market has adversely impacted tribal gaming revenue and impeded tribes' inherent sovereign right to regulate gaming activity on tribal lands.

  • June 27, 2025

    DOD's Pot Questions Violate 5th Amendment, Contractor Says

    A former defense contractor who was denied security clearance because he refused to say if he had consumed marijuana during a specific time period is suing the U.S. Department of Defense, alleging it violated his constitutional right against self-incrimination.

  • June 27, 2025

    Fed Circ. Passes On VA, Veteran Dispute Over GI Bill Benefits

    A three-judge Federal Circuit panel said it lacked jurisdiction to step into an ongoing GI Bill dispute as a long-serving veteran challenges an education benefits denial that purportedly flies in the face of a U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down last year.

  • June 27, 2025

    Abrego Garcia Attys 'Cannot Put Any Faith' In DOJ Claims

    Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia's attorneys on Friday urged the Tennessee federal judge overseeing his criminal case to delay issuing his release from custody, citing the government's contradictory statements over its seemingly new intention to redeport him somewhere other than his native El Salvador.

  • June 27, 2025

    Can AI Kill Human Art? Two Judges Envision Different Futures

    The two federal judges who issued highly anticipated opinions about training generative artificial intelligence models with copyrighted material acknowledged the fear from many that AI could ultimately supplant human-created works, but they had differing views about the probability of such a future.

  • June 27, 2025

    Feds Prevail Over J&J In Another 340B Rebate Dispute

    A D.C. federal judge granted a summary judgment win Friday to the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration over Johnson & Johnson, finding the agency acted within its discretion when it rejected the company's program to offer rebates instead of discounts in a decades-old drug pricing program.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • How AI May Reshape The Future Of Adjudication

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    As discussed at a recent panel at Texas A&M, artificial intelligence will not erase the human element of adjudication in the next 10 to 20 years, but it will drive efficiencies that spur private arbiters to experiment, lead public courts to evolve and force attorneys to adapt, says Christopher Seck at Squire Patton.

  • What Money Transmitters Need To Know About New Colo. Law

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    Colorado's new Money Transmission Modernization Act updates standards for the licensing, supervision and regulation of money transmitters while codifying an agent-to-payee exemption, and represents another step toward standardizing these rules across state governments, say Sarah Auchterlonie and Joel Herberman at Brownstein Hyatt.

  • How States Are Taking The Lead On Data Center Regulation

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    While support for data center growth is a declared priority for the current administration, federal data center policy has been slow to develop — so states continue to lead in attracting and regulating data center growth, say attorneys at Steptoe.

  • Justices' Charter School Tie Delays Church-State Reckoning

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent deadlock in Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board v. Drummond, blocking the creation of the nation’s first religious charter school, preserved the separation of church and state for now, but offered little reassurance about its continued viability, says Jeffrey Sultanik at Fox Rothschild.

  • When Legal Advocacy Crosses The Line Into Incivility

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    As judges issue sanctions for courtroom incivility, and state bars advance formal discipline rules, trial lawyers must understand that the difference between zealous advocacy and unprofessionalism is not just a matter of tone; it's a marker of skill, credibility and potentially disciplinary exposure, says Nate Sabri at Perkins Coie.

  • Opinion

    It's Time To Expand The WARN Act Liability Exception

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    With layoffs surging across several industries, Congress should amend the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act to address an exception-based disparity that prevents directors and officers from taking all reasonable steps to save a company before being required to provide workers with a mass-layoff notice, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Texas Bill Could Still Boost Property Rights In Gov't Disputes

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    The passage of a bill in Texas that would provide litigants with access to a greater swath of judicial remedies in immunity disputes with government entities and officials would be an invaluable boon for property rights, says Nathan Vrazel at Munsch Hardt.

  • Two Bills Promise A Crypto Revamp, But Not A Done Deal Yet

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    Recent efforts in Congress toward an updated regulatory framework for digital assets have led to two bills — the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act — that represent the most consequential legislative developments yet in the push for coherent, pro-innovation, reliable regulation for the industry, but both face multiple hurdles, says Mike Katz at Manatt.

  • Opinion

    NJ Should Align With Federal Rule On Expert Testimony

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    The time is right to amend Rule 702 of the New Jersey Rules of Evidence to align it with the recently amended Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence and clarify the standard for admissibility of expert testimony, says Timothy Freeman at Tanenbaum Keale.

  • Recent Reports Shed Light On Section 340B's Effectiveness

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    Recent analyses of the Section 340B program's effectiveness in helping patients afford drugs in Minnesota reinforce concerns about the program's lack of transparency and underscore the need for further evaluation of whether legislative reform should be enacted, say William A. Sarraille at the University of Maryland, and Andrée-Anne Fournier and Molly Frean at Analysis Group.

  • Opinion

    Congress Should Pass IP Reform, Starting With 3 Patent Bills

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    Congress is considering a trio of bipartisan bills to fix patent law problems that have cropped up over the past two decades, and it shouldn't stop there — addressing two other intellectual property issues is critical for America's economy, says retired Judge Kathleen O'Malley at the Council for Innovation Promotion.

  • Perspectives

    The Reforms Needed To Fight Sexual Abuse By Prison Staff

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    Prisoners sexually assaulted by corrections staff, such as the California women who recently won a consent decree against FCI Dublin, often delay reporting out of fear of retaliation by their abusers, but several practical reforms could empower prisoners to disclose abuse while the evidence necessary to indict perpetrators is still available, says Jaehyun Oh at Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law.

  • Colo. Antitrust Law Signals Growing Scrutiny Among States

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    Colorado's recently enacted Uniform Antitrust Pre-Merger Notification Act makes it the second state to add such a requirement, reflecting a growing trend and underscoring the need for merging parties to plan for a more complex and multilayered notification landscape for deals, say Puja Patel and Noa Gur-Arie at Cleary.

  • FCPA Enforcement Is Here To Stay, But It May Look Different

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    After a monthslong enforcement pause, the U.S. Department of Justice’s new Foreign Corrupt Practices Act guidelines fundamentally shift prosecutorial discretion and potentially reduce investigatory burdens for organizations, but open questions remain, so companies should continue to exercise caution, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Ore. Coinbase Case Charts New Path For State Crypto Suits

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    Oregon's recent lawsuit against Coinbase serves as a reminder for the crypto industry that not all states will simply defer to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's evolving stance on crypto-assets, highlighting why stakeholders should proactively assess the risks posed by state-level litigation and develop strategies to address distinct challenges, say attorneys at Steptoe.

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