Public Policy

  • September 23, 2026

    Wash. Judge Blocks Ed. Dept. Mental Health Grant Cuts

    A Washington federal judge preliminarily enjoined the U.S. Education Department from terminating up to $1 billion in K–12 mental health grants serving 15 states, finding states provided sufficient evidence that the agency was planning to unlawfully cut those grants.

  • September 23, 2026

    Exelon Investors' $40M Deal In Bribery Case Wins Final OK

    An Illinois federal judge on Tuesday granted final approval to a $40 million settlement resolving Exelon shareholders' claims against company leaders connected to the Commonwealth Edison bribery scandal, over the objections of some investors who argued that most benefits were already paid, previously implemented, or too small to justify releasing valuable claims.

  • September 23, 2026

    DOJ Partially Backs Apple In Epic High Court Contempt Case

    The U.S. Department of Justice told the U.S. Supreme Court in an amicus brief that the Ninth Circuit wrongly faulted Apple for charging a 27% commission on transactions linked out from apps, but it backed other parts of the California federal court's contempt order won by Epic Games.

  • September 23, 2026

    Illinois Swipe-Fee Ban Also Blocked For Federal Credit Unions

    An Illinois federal judge expanded an order blocking the state from enforcing its landmark ban on tax-and-tip swipe fees against most banks, ruling that an injunction she granted earlier this year extends to federal credit unions in light of a new federal rule that authorizes them to collect interchange fees.

  • September 23, 2026

    Mich. Court Keeps Freeze On Voting Data Deletion In Place

    A temporary restraining order preventing the deletion of voter records from the Aug. 4 primary election will remain in place pending the release of administrative rulings from the Michigan Secretary of State, a Michigan judge ruled Tuesday.

  • September 23, 2026

    Mich. Judge Gives Cannabis Cos. Chance To Fix Complaint

    A Michigan federal judge has given two companies challenging the city of Menominee's marijuana licensing process a chance to amend their complaint after the city argued that a waiver signed as part of a license application bars their nine-count lawsuit.

  • September 23, 2026

    Ex-NY County Top Official's 12-Year Sentence Cut To 10

    A New York federal judge sentenced former Long Island politician Edward Mangano to 10 years for corruption Wednesday, trimming a 12-year term she handed him after the Second Circuit tossed a jury's finding that he committed bribery.

  • September 23, 2026

    FTC Backs Proposed Education Dept. Accreditation Reforms

    The Federal Trade Commission has endorsed the U.S. Department of Education's proposal to expand higher education accreditation options and promote competition among accreditation agencies.

  • September 23, 2026

    Md. Governor Calls For Ending Data Centers' Tax Exemption

    Maryland's governor became the latest state executive Wednesday to back off giving tax breaks to data centers, a development becoming increasingly common as the midterm elections draw near.

  • September 23, 2026

    Del. Justices Weigh If Corporations Can Vote In Beach Town

    The ACLU of Delaware urged the state's high court Wednesday to revive its challenge to Fenwick Island's practice of allowing property-owning corporations and other artificial entities to vote in municipal elections, arguing the system unlawfully dilutes residents' votes.

  • September 23, 2026

    Sens. Await FTC Reply On Amazon, Walmart Shopping Bots

    U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin and Rick Scott are waiting to receive a substantive response from the Federal Trade Commission to their request for an investigation into how Amazon and Walmart's AI shopping assistants handle "Made in the USA" products, Baldwin's office confirmed Wednesday.

  • September 23, 2026

    OpenAI Looks To End SpaceXAI's Apple Deal Antitrust Case

    OpenAI is urging a Texas federal court to end an antitrust case from Elon Musk's SpaceXAI over a deal integrating ChatGPT into Apple devices, saying the pact is not exclusive and does not block competition from rival chatbots.

  • September 23, 2026

    Fla. Panel Won't Hear City's Immunity Bid In Partnership Suit

    A Florida state appellate panel issued a split decision on Wednesday dismissing a bid by a city to overturn an order striking its motion to argue for immunity in a lawsuit over a public-private partnership to build a green waste facility near protected wetlands, saying it lacks jurisdiction. 

  • September 23, 2026

    Ute Tribe Says Split-Estate Lands Remain Indian Country

    The Ute Indian Tribe has urged the Tenth Circuit to overturn a Utah federal judge's ruling that the surface of split-estate lands within its reservation's original boundaries is not Indian Country, arguing the appellate court settled the issue decades ago.

  • September 23, 2026

    DC Pied-à-Terre Tax Plan Targets Pricey Second Homes

    Washington, D.C., would impose additional property tax on homes worth about $2.6 million or more that are not rented out or used as primary residences under legislation before the district council.

  • September 23, 2026

    Senate Confirms Abbott Aide To Texas Federal Bench

    The Senate voted 50-47, along party lines, on Wednesday to confirm Angela Colmenero, deputy chief of staff to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, to serve on the Southern District of Texas.

  • September 23, 2026

    NY Judge Dismisses States' DOGE Treasury Data Access Suit

    A New York federal judge Wednesday tossed several states' lawsuit that challenged Department of Government Efficiency staff access to U.S. Department of the Treasury data, saying DOGE's dissolution rendered the states' access claims moot and that they failed to allege that any federal funding due to them was ultimately canceled.

  • September 23, 2026

    Cable Group Opposes FCC Plan For Robocall 'Scorecard'

    A major cable industry group blasted a plan by the Federal Communications Commission to let consumers use a "scorecard" to rate their voice service providers' efforts to block robocalls, saying it will divert FCC resources from actual enforcement.

  • September 23, 2026

    Fed. Grants Bind Railways To Fed. Labor Law, NMB Argues

    The Eleventh Circuit should affirm a Florida federal judge's finding that a high-speed rail operator is subject to the Railway Labor Act, the National Mediation Board argued, saying the operator can't wriggle its way out of complying because it runs an intercity rather than interstate rail line.

  • September 23, 2026

    Judge Orders Feds To Wait 3 Days Before ICE Transfers

    A Massachusetts judge has ordered federal immigration authorities to provide three days' notice to detainees who request bond hearings before they can be moved from the First Circuit, where they have a right to a bond hearing, to another circuit where the law may be different.

  • September 23, 2026

    BofA Customers Drop Suit Over Post-Jan. 6 Data-Sharing

    A proposed class action accusing Bank of America NA of illegally sharing customer information with law enforcement after the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack has quietly come to an end, according to a notice filed late Tuesday in Florida federal court.

  • September 23, 2026

    Ga. Appeals Court Says Atlanta Can't Escape Injury Verdict

    The Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday said a trial court rightly refused to set aside a $140,000 verdict against the city of Atlanta in a woman's lawsuit over a broken wrist she said she suffered when she tripped over the metal remnants of a traffic sign on the sidewalk. 

  • September 23, 2026

    Chinese Graphite Electrodes May See Retroactive Duties

    The U.S. Department of Commerce identified a surge of imported Chinese large-diameter graphite electrodes in advance of duties being imposed on those goods and preliminarily determined that critical circumstances exist for the department to retroactively apply countervailing duties, according to a Wednesday notice. 

  • September 23, 2026

    GOP Leaders Say NJ Is Withholding Voter List Records

    National and New Jersey Republicans have filed a lawsuit seeking the disclosure of the Garden State's voter-list maintenance records, alleging that state and local officials haven't fully complied with their requests.

  • September 23, 2026

    Medicare Brokers Say Feds Won't Identify Alleged False Claims

    A group of insurance companies and brokers accused in a False Claims Act case of colluding to steer Medicare recipients to certain Medicare Advantage plans said Tuesday that the federal government has refused to provide specifics of the allegations.

Expert Analysis

  • NC Crypto Kiosk Law Opens Door To Stricter Fraud Regs

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    North Carolina's new cryptocurrency kiosk law will force operators to build fraud-screening, disclosure and compliance systems before the end of the year, while also providing an opening for more stringent city and county limits on kiosk placement and operations, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Student Loan Suit Draws Line On Testimony In Trust Litigation

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    A recent interlocutory opinion from the Southern District of New York shows securitization experts can explain servicing practices but cannot substitute for authenticated loan-level ownership proof or intent evidence, signaling that parties in student loan trust cases should sharpen recordkeeping and tracing strategies, says attorney Stanley Tate.

  • Opinion

    A Guiding Principle For The SEC On Exempt Capital Markets

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently proposed Regulation Crypto Assets borrows selectively from other capital-raising exemptions while giving crypto issuers materially different terms, and those unexplained differences reveal the need for a regulatory approach of presumptive parity, says Brian Christie at the Crowdfunding Professional Association.

  • Where DOJ's Fraud Priorities Memo May Actually Matter

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s recently released memo outlining priorities for its newly created fraud division will shape how cases are identified, staffed and sequenced, meaning white collar defense work must begin earlier, say David Tarras at Tarras Defense and Trevor Jones at Dynamis.

  • What To Know As Legal Duty To Consider AI Takes Shape

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    While the U.K. Jurisdiction Taskforce’s recent statement on liability for artificial intelligence harms is nonbinding for both U.K. and U.S. lawyers, it highlights the importance of being able to distinguish between the availability of a tool and a professional obligation to use it, say Jonny Frank and Michael Costa at StoneTurn.

  • What Cos. Should Do During Stay Of Nasdaq Delisting Rule

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently approved — and subsequently stayed — Nasdaq's $5 million market value threshold for continued listing, giving companies additional time to evaluate financing opportunities, communicate with investors and consider strategic alternatives, says Joseph Lucosky at Lucosky Brookman.

  • NC Dental Review Change Counters Tougher National Trend

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    North Carolina’s elimination of its prior review requirement for dental management agreements departs sharply from the national trend toward expanded corporate practice of medicine oversight, but stakeholders should not view this regulatory shift as a relaxation of compliance expectations, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Prepping To Use Crypto Collateral Under Ohio Ownership Law

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    Ohio's digital asset law should ease the path to using cryptocurrency as collateral, and as the October effective date approaches, lenders should update their loan documentation and diligence processes to take advantage of the new control-based perfection rules, say attorneys at Kegler Brown.

  • NY Bill Would Boost Litigation Risk For Cosmetics Cos.

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    The Beauty Justice Act, now pending in the New York Legislature, would not only present compliance challenges for companies making cosmetics and personal care products, but could also be used by private plaintiffs to bring consumer fraud, false advertising, toxic exposure and product liability claims, says Kadeejah Kelly-Previl at Faegre Drinker.

  • Appellate Vape Rulings May Expand State Regulation Powers

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    Two recent federal appeals courts decisions rejecting Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act preemption challenges to state electronic nicotine delivery systems directory laws signal an emerging appellate consensus that could significantly expand states' power to regulate vaping product sales where federal enforcement falls short, say attorneys at Troutman.

  • Parsing Gov't Scrutiny Of Lending To Unauthorized Workers

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    Attorneys at Mayer Brown explain guidance recently issued by three banking regulators that addresses risks associated with lending to so-called non-work authorized individuals and discuss what the regulatory update could mean for fintech companies.

  • Discovery Into Insurers' AI Use Should Stay Proportional

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    As insurers increasingly use artificial intelligence to make claim decisions, plaintiffs in first-party coverage litigation should seek discovery that tracks how materially the automated system influenced the challenged decision, not whether the insurer used AI somewhere in its operations, says attorney Joe Zaid.

  • How FCC Covered List Blitz Is Sidelining Commerce Dept.

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    The swath of recent Federal Communications Commission rulemakings raises serious questions about the purpose and future of Commerce's Office of Information and Communications Technology and Services, and how the U.S. government will go forward in imposing national security regulation on domestic applications of adversary-linked technologies, says Peter Jeydel at Troutman.

  • DOJ Healthcare Declination Offers Self-Disclosure Checklist

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's declination of criminal charges against Campus Eye Management signals that its new self-disclosure policy provides a real path for healthcare companies to avoid criminal exposure, but that path is paved with speed, transparency and operational remediation, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • SEC Rulemaking Radar: The Rubber Meets The Road

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new rulemaking agenda shows its regulatory reset taking shape, with sweeping crypto proposals that could bring the biggest changes it has made to broker-dealer, exchange and trading compliance in decades, says Christopher Grobbel at Goodwin.

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