Public Policy

  • October 06, 2026

    EPA's Climate Retreat Sidelined As Justices Weigh State Torts

    The Trump administration's recent moves renouncing its authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions appear unlikely to sway the U.S. Supreme Court in deciding whether state and local governments can pursue climate change lawsuits against fossil fuel companies, attorneys say.

  • October 06, 2026

    1st Circ. Questions Need To Rule On Expired Harvard Visa Ban

    The First Circuit grappled Tuesday with what to do with an injunction blocking the Trump administration's long-suspended ban on foreign students from attending Harvard University, more than 10 months after the president's proclamation expired.

  • October 06, 2026

    UVA Law Prof Takes On Role Of USPTO General Counsel

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said University of Virginia School of Law professor John F. Duffy has joined the agency as its general counsel and acting solicitor.

  • October 06, 2026

    DOD Seeks 1st Circ. Relief Over Fee Award In Grant Cap Case

    The U.S. Department of Defense is appealing a Massachusetts federal court's decision awarding attorney fees to an academic organization that helped successfully argue that the department's cap on reimbursing indirect costs from universities' grant-funded research was unlawful.

  • October 06, 2026

    NC Biz Court Bulletin: Monopoly Suit Setback, Historic Deal

    The North Carolina Business Court rounded the corner into fall with a setback for residents in an antitrust class action, a historic settlement in "forever chemical" contamination litigation and a raft of new restrictive covenant complaints.

  • October 06, 2026

    Wrestler Asks Justices To Shield Her From Trans Opponents

    A high school wrestler asked the U.S. Supreme Court for emergency relief protecting her from competing against female-identifying students who are biologically male, after she said one such opponent sexually assaulted her during a match.

  • October 06, 2026

    Fed To Realign Bank Supervision Into 5 State-Based Regions

    The Federal Reserve's top regulatory official said Tuesday that the central bank is overhauling how it manages its nationwide supervision operations, laying out plans for a reorganization aimed at streamlining the chain of command for its bank examination work.

  • October 06, 2026

    DC Circ. Wary Of Hikvision Appeal Over FCC Device Denials

    Chinese device-maker Hikvision hoped to convince the D.C. Circuit Tuesday that the Federal Communications Commission doesn't have the authority to strip a company's existing authorizations for national security reasons, but the judges did not seem persuaded.

  • October 06, 2026

    1st Circ. Sees Gaps In Order Halting RFK's Vaccine Advisers

    A First Circuit panel on Tuesday puzzled over aspects of a lower court's order staying Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s appointments to a vaccine policy committee, with one judge saying he can't tell what authority the order was based on.

  • October 06, 2026

    Cato, NRA Back Review Of Gun Ban For Nonviolent Felons

    Some four months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a gun ownership ban for drug users is unconstitutional as applied to a marijuana user, gun rights advocates are urging the high court to expand the finding to those convicted of nonviolent marijuana crimes.

  • October 06, 2026

    Colo. Developer Says Town Reversed Course On Sewer Taps

    The developer of a tiny home community just outside a Colorado mountain town has told a federal judge that the town refuses to process the community's wastewater and won't issue new tap permits to new properties despite approving more than a dozen prior to the dispute.

  • October 06, 2026

    Calif. Tribe Says Kalshi Evades Tribal Sports Betting Bans

    A Southern California tribe warned the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday that a recent Third Circuit decision blocking New Jersey from enforcing its gambling laws against Kalshi could threaten tribes' exclusive rights to regulate gambling on their reservations.

  • October 06, 2026

    FCC Threats Loom Like 'Guillotine,' ABC Tells Court

    ABC argued during intense questioning from a D.C. federal judge Tuesday that a Federal Communications Commission probe of eight network-owned TV stations needs to end, because the agency's threats hang like a "guillotine" that could be cut loose at any time.

  • October 06, 2026

    Texas Justices Leery Of Banning AI Deposition Transcripts

    Texas Supreme Court justices seemed hesitant to bar attorneys outright from using artificial intelligence voice transcription software during depositions, pointing out Tuesday that multiple safeguards exist to ensure accuracy.

  • October 06, 2026

    3rd Circ. Backs Hybrid Test For Categorizing Sex Offenders

    The Third Circuit on Tuesday joined its sister circuits and adopted a "hybrid" framework to determine a sex offender's appropriate category under a federal registry law by looking at the text of state laws used to charge an offender, and weighing facts from the case.

  • October 06, 2026

    Chicago Woman Sues Over Shooting By Border Patrol Agent

    A Chicago woman who was shot five times by a U.S. Border Patrol agent during an immigration enforcement operation last year sued the federal government Monday, alleging that the agent deliberately struck her car and shot her without justification while she was alerting her neighbors to the officers' presence.

  • October 06, 2026

    Ábrego García Deportation Hearing Abruptly Scrapped

    A hearing on the Trump administration's monthslong bid to deport Kilmar Ábrego García to Liberia was abruptly scrapped Tuesday afternoon, and attorneys on both sides declined to say why.

  • October 06, 2026

    Ariz. Tribe Seeks Emergency Stop To Border Wall In DC Circ.

    The Tohono O'odham Nation is asking the D.C. Circuit for an emergency injunction pending appeal to block construction of a border wall on its Arizona reservation, telling the appellate court that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security intends to start construction as early as Monday.

  • October 06, 2026

    Farmers Strike Deal With Insurer To End Crop Loss Dispute

    Two tobacco farmers in North Carolina have settled their suit seeking to recoup the cost of arbitration proceedings and other damages from a crop insurance provider accused of trying to halve their recovery for crop-related losses, federal court records show.

  • October 06, 2026

    DC Circ. Tells FCC To Respond In Fox Philly License Case

    The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday ordered the Federal Communications Commission to respond to an advocacy group's petition for court action to compel full commission review of a staff order that tossed a challenge to Fox TV's Philadelphia broadcast license.

  • October 06, 2026

    10th Circ. Revives Prosecution Of Utah Psilocybin Church

    The Tenth Circuit has revived a state court prosecution against a Utah church that uses the psychedelic psilocybin as a sacrament, saying the enforcement action did not violate religious freedoms and a lower district judge erred by halting it.

  • October 06, 2026

    3rd Circ. Judge Faces Ethics Complaint For Managing PR Firm

    A pair of U.S. senators from Delaware have filed an ethics complaint with the Third Circuit raising concerns over U.S. Circuit Judge Jennifer Mascott's purported operation of a public affairs agency, months after she was officially confirmed to the appellate court.

  • October 06, 2026

    Ex-FBI Analyst Says Bove Ordered Illegal Protester Probe

    A former FBI agent has come forward with a claim that when U.S. Circuit Judge Emil Bove was at the U.S. Department of Justice, he directed the Los Angeles field office to illegally investigate protesters.

  • October 06, 2026

    DOL Cancels Proposal To Nix Wage-Hour Guidance

    The U.S. Department of Labor on Tuesday said it is withdrawing a proposal to remove interpretive rules and policy statements regarding the Fair Labor Standards Act that had not gone through notice-and-comment rulemaking.

  • October 06, 2026

    USTR Keeps China Tariffs After Industry Push For Extension

    The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Tuesday announced the continuation of tariffs on some $50 billion worth of Chinese goods installed during President Donald Trump's first term after domestic businesses requested they be extended.

Expert Analysis

  • Tips For Issuers Left In Lurch Without Genius Act Final Rules

    Author Photo

    The compliance runway envisioned by the Genius Act is steadily shrinking after regulators failed to finalize all the required implementing regulations by July 18, so stablecoin issuers should begin implementing "no-regrets" compliance measures and securing outside vendors before the law takes full effect in January, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.

  • Why Courts Are Pushing Back On Greenwashing Laws

    Author Photo

    Recent Fourth Circuit and California federal court decisions blocking state greenwashing statutes on First Amendment grounds reveal a tension at the heart of environmental marketing regulation — while states want clarity, courts aren't prepared to let legislatures flatly ban categories of truthful commercial speech, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • What NYC Bridge Crash Signals About Micromobility Liability

    Author Photo

    A recent fatal crash between a cyclist and a man riding a high-powered electric scooter on New York City's Queensboro Bridge highlights how litigation over accidents involving micromobility devices may increasingly shift away from ordinary negligence and toward product liability, says Jeff Korek at Gersowitz Libo.

  • 3 Ways Tokenization Is Moving To Traditional Finance

    Author Photo

    Recent initiatives reflect efforts to integrate distributed ledger technology into existing regulatory frameworks for securities, banking and payments settlements while preserving the underlying rights and obligations of market participants, say attorneys at Hughes Hubbard.

  • At The Intersection Of Right-To-Repair Laws And IP Rights

    Author Photo

    Right-to-repair legislation passing through Congress highlights a broad tension between manufacturers' security measures and consumer autonomy, with important repercussions for the automotive industry's intellectual property rights, says Keith Noe at Lando & Anastasi. 

  • Opinion

    States Should Reconsider Forced PBM Divestiture Laws

    Author Photo

    State legislatures are attempting to enact policies intended to force pharmacy benefit managers to divest from pharmacies, but these laws would have the practical effect of reducing patient access and competition, potentially violating the U.S. Constitution in the process, says former Utah Attorney General John Swallow.

  • HSR Deals Proceed More Steadily Than Narratives Suggest

    Author Photo

    The most recent Hart-Scott-Rodino Act data show that transaction volume remained relatively stable, transaction values continued to increase and enforcement activity remained low, suggesting that enforcement rates have been relatively consistent across presidential administrations despite widely differing public rhetoric regarding merger enforcement, says Amanda Wait at Michael Best.

  • Assessing The Benefits Of Fla.'s Newest Business Structure

    Author Photo

    As of July 1, Florida business owners can create protected series LLCs to shield assets from liability while avoiding increased costs and wasted time, but burdensome recordkeeping obligations are crucial to maintaining the very protection that makes them attractive in the first place, says Gregory Ritter at Moritt Hock.

  • Key Post-Proposal Shifts Likely In CFPB Loss Mitigation Rule

    Author Photo

    Mortgage servicers, borrowers and consumer advocates should prepare for a likely narrowed version of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's loss mitigation rule, which is likely to permit sequential reviews, defer to investor guidelines, extend compliance timelines and preempt conflicting state standards, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • Series

    Teaching SEC Investigations Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Instructing a law school course on U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigations has made me a more thoughtful, deliberate practitioner because it requires me to continually reassess and challenge what I know about securities law enforcement, how I know it and how best to explain it, says David Chase at Miami Law.

  • Noncompete Laws Show States Focusing On Bans, Healthcare

    Author Photo

    The first half of 2026 confirms that state legislatures are driving the most consequential changes in noncompete law, including a few state bans and several healthcare-specific laws, making a one-size-fits-all approach increasingly untenable for multistate employers, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • What's Inside Proposed, Expanded NY Stablecoin Regulations

    Author Photo

    New York's recently proposed regulations for payment stablecoin issuers would, if adopted, increase the regulatory burdens of a state license, and midsize issuers considering a conversion to a federal charter should weigh the associated costs of both options, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Justices' Tax Sale Ruling Tees Up Auction Fairness Battles

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Pung v. Isabella County, Michigan, that taxpayers are not entitled to fair market value of real property seized to satisfy a tax debt shifts attention to the fairness of state and local auction procedures, and whether taxpayers claiming surplus proceeds face unwarranted hurdles, say attorneys at Miller Canfield.

  • What Corporate Counsel Can Learn From OpenAI Test Breach

    Author Photo

    The significance of the recent artificial intelligence testing breach involving OpenAI and Hugging Face lies in what it reveals about the path of AI’s evolution, because legal professionals must translate that trajectory into actionable governance, contractual and advisory frameworks, says Jason Mueller at Vorys.

  • Patent Eligibility Reforms Keep Chasing The Wrong Fixes

    Author Photo

    Repeated efforts to create a consistent, predictable patent eligibility standard under Section 101 have centered on replacing judge-made exceptions with new statutory language, but the better fix is to align examination standards with how courts actually apply eligibility doctrine, says former Patent Trial and Appeal Board judge Amee Shah.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Public Policy archive.