Public Policy

  • August 17, 2026

    9th Circ. Says Statute Mandates Central Valley Contract Switch

    A Ninth Circuit panel on Monday ruled the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation had no duty to complete environmental reviews before it converted dozens of water service contracts for the Central Valley Project in California in a process intended to help fund storage improvements.

  • August 17, 2026

    Virginia Hemp Cos. Lose Bid To Halt THC Cap

    A Virginia federal judge has refused to block a state law placing new potency caps on THC products, ruling that the hemp businesses opposing the law are unlikely to succeed with claims that the law constitutes an unconstitutional taking.

  • August 17, 2026

    Dem Lawmakers Press Hegseth On USS Lincoln Conditions

    Democratic lawmakers are demanding answers from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth over reported conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been deployed for more than 250 days, setting modern records for days at sea without returning to port.

  • August 17, 2026

    Kalshi Loses Bid To Block Conn. Enforcement

    A Connecticut federal judge has denied a bid from KalshiEX to keep offering sports contracts while it pursues an appeal before the Second Circuit, finding the prediction market's arguments for a stay had already been rejected by the court and that it has not shown it is likely to win on appeal.

  • August 17, 2026

    CBP Halts Big Bend Wall Work As New Suit Challenges Plan

    U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Monday it is halting border wall construction at Big Bend National Park while Commissioner Rodney Scott conducts an on-the-ground evaluation.

  • August 17, 2026

    Philly Says Gun Shop Insurer Must Pay $12M Settlement

    The Cincinnati Specialty Underwriters Insurance Co. is on the hook for a nearly $12 million settlement between the city of Philadelphia and a gun shop operator resolving allegations of illegal gun purchases, according to a complaint filed by the city in Pennsylvania state court.

  • August 17, 2026

    Mich. County Urges Toss Of DOJ's Immigration Policy Suit

    Washtenaw County asked a Michigan federal judge on Monday to dismiss the U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuit challenging local policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, arguing federal law makes this coordination optional and does not allow the government to commandeer county employees or property.

  • August 17, 2026

    FCC Turns Down Bid To Revisit Campaign Ad Pricing Policy

    The Federal Communications Commission declined a petition asking it to reconsider guidance the agency put out earlier this year about political ads, saying the "central premise" of the request was "wrong many times over."

  • August 17, 2026

    Attorneys Skeptical Of Trump's 11th Circ. Appeal Of IRS Case

    Six attorneys who weighed in on President Donald Trump's $10 billion suit against the Internal Revenue Service told a Florida federal court Monday that he hasn't demonstrated that he will prove that its ruling that the settlement from the suit lacked a legitimate controversy violated due process.

  • August 17, 2026

    Nashville, Localities Sue DHS Over FEMA Funding Condition

    Nashville, Tennessee, and local governments in Texas and Ohio sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Monday, saying the Trump administration is unlawfully hijacking the Homeland Security Grant Program to coerce states into changing their local election procedures.

  • August 17, 2026

    Blue States Say FTC Can't Regulate Trans Youth Health

    A group of left-leaning states, including Massachusetts and California, asked a Texas federal court to toss a Federal Trade Commission suit against the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, saying Monday that the FTC's suit constitutes a "federal attack on state-regulated transgender healthcare."

  • August 17, 2026

    Mich. Panel Says Notice Rule Doesn't Bar Workers' Bias Suit

    A Michigan appellate panel has refused to dismiss sex discrimination, hostile work environment and retaliation claims by Wayne County Community College District police employees, ruling that the college is a local political subdivision and not subject to the Court of Claims Act's notice requirement.

  • August 17, 2026

    Judge Says Everglades Site Closure Moots Atty Access Suit

    A Florida federal court has dismissed without prejudice a lawsuit alleging that state and federal officials unconstitutionally prevented noncitizens held at an Everglades immigrant detention center from accessing counsel, finding the lawsuit moot in light of the facility's closure.

  • August 17, 2026

    Justices Asked To Ban Ten Commandments In Texas Schools

    Two dozen families on Monday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Fifth Circuit's decision allowing Texas to require public schools to display copies of the Ten Commandments in classrooms, arguing the decision "egregiously" ignores several of the high court's religious freedom precedents.

  • August 17, 2026

    Paramount Wants AGs, WGA To Pay $1.9B Merger Suit Bond

    Paramount Skydance Corp. put a price tag Monday on waiting until next year to close its planned $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, asking a California federal judge to impose an approximately $1.9 billion bond requirement on the Democratic attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America challenging the deal.

  • August 17, 2026

    NC Court Won't Revisit Pot-Smell Basis For Car Search

    The North Carolina Supreme Court has again affirmed that the smell of cannabis can serve as the basis of a police search, noting that the court had already weighed in on the issue in a similar case earlier this year.

  • August 17, 2026

    Broadband Co. Says It's Catching Up After Rural Fund Delays

    Broadband provider Brightspeed told the Federal Communications Commission that it is on track to meet its obligations under a rural development fund despite ongoing delays.

  • August 17, 2026

    2nd Circ. Says Public Can Film Police And Their Stations

    The Second Circuit said Monday it has joined "a growing chorus of our sister circuits" in finding a constitutional right to record law enforcement activity in public, as well as police buildings, but still turned away a self-described First Amendment auditor's lawsuit over his arrest while filming the exterior of a Connecticut police station.

  • August 17, 2026

    Latest Squires Patent Review Order Grants 1, Denies 3

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires granted one petition for an America Invents Act patent review and rejected three others in his latest order on institution decisions.

  • August 17, 2026

    Calif. Tribe Challenges Feds' Gaming Approval Reversal

    A California tribe is asking a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to block the U.S. Department of the Interior's decision last month to undo its approval of the tribe's 160-acre gaming facility project, arguing the latest order was independently unlawful because the government did not give a reasoned explanation for the reversal.

  • August 17, 2026

    Miami Atty Says Judge's Defamation Suit Attacks Free Speech

    An attorney who's challenging a Miami-Dade County judge for her seat urged a Florida state court to toss the judge's suit alleging the attorney defamed her by claiming she tried to block the Donald Trump Presidential Library, saying monetary penalties should also be awarded because the complaint attacks free speech.

  • August 17, 2026

    Young Athletes Are Wising Up, But Attys Say They're Still Kids

    As the name, image and likeness industry grows and billions of dollars pour into college sports, attorneys who represent student-athletes say that while they're not as green as their youth suggests, they're still vulnerable to bad actors and need to clear business decisions with mom and dad.

  • August 17, 2026

    Justices Won't Reconsider Verizon's $47M FCC Fine

    The U.S. Supreme Court is not interested in reconsidering how it worded its June opinion upholding the Federal Communications Commission's authority to issue monetary penalties, despite Verizon arguing that the ruling left it between a rock and a hard place concerning the $47 million fine it already paid.

  • August 17, 2026

    Mass. Judge Vacates ACA Gender-Affirming Care Restriction

    A Massachusetts federal judge handed a coalition of 21 states a win on their claim that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services unlawfully issued Affordable Care Act reforms barring marketplace plans from requiring coverage for medical procedures used in gender-affirming care.

  • August 17, 2026

    FTC Gets $725M Liquid Nails Deal Blocked

    A New York federal court has sided with the Federal Trade Commission and blocked Loctite maker Henkel's planned $725 million acquisition of fellow construction adhesive brand Liquid Nails, following a bench trial in Manhattan last month.

Expert Analysis

  • New State AI Laws Create Dual Misrepresentation Risk

    Author Photo

    As artificial intelligence transparency laws are enacted across the country and the volume and specificity of compliance records increase, companies will be required to speak more often, more precisely and to more audiences about the same systems, compounding the risk of litigation, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Series

    Cow Horse Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Moving an unwilling 800-pound cow while riding a horse at high speed is exhilarating, a little unhinged and, at least for me, a surprisingly effective training ground for litigation — both demand focus, preparation over rigid planning and the willingness to act despite fear, says Ashley Zitrin at Glenn Agre.

  • Unpacking The Take It Down Act's Compliance Ambiguities

    Author Photo

    The Federal Trade Commission’s recent guidance concerning the Take It Down Act suggests that covered platforms should build removal systems immediately and prioritize compliance, but until courts or regulators provide additional clarity, companies will be navigating a statutory framework that is urgent and uncertain, says Laura-Kate Bernstein at ZwillGen.

  • Protecting AI-Driven Innovation In Life Sciences IP

    Author Photo

    Recent developments, including the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's evolving inventorship standards, and the impact of artificial intelligence on the "person of ordinary skill in the art" standard demand that life sciences companies elevate AI patent strategy to a top priority, says Sandra Haberny at Quinn Emanuel.

  • NY's UCC Updates Spell Change In Digital Asset Lending

    Author Photo

    Given the state’s role as a preferred jurisdiction for financing transactions, New York’s recent enactment of Uniform Commercial Code amendments, which establish control as a central concept for determining who has rights to a digital asset, will encourage nationwide growth toward a more technology-neutral approach to secured transactions, say attorneys at Manatt.

  • How Trump's Nuclear EO Has Transformed The NRC

    Author Photo

    In the year since President Donald Trump issued Executive Order No. 14300, directing sweeping reforms of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the agency has revised key oversight programs and proposed major rulemakings and new licensing frameworks — but the NRC must continue to center transparency and trust as key values, says Brooke Clark at Morgan Lewis.

  • Opinion

    Agentic AI And Securities Law: Steps Congress Should Take

    Author Photo

    Agentic artificial intelligence technology doesn't fit comfortably into the existing securities regulatory landscape, so Congress should avoid repeating the mistakes that led to the legal uncertainty crypto companies and investors have faced over the past decade-plus by providing a legislative framework before AI fully matures, says Joseph A. Hall at Davis Polk.

  • Weighing Trade-Offs Of SEC's Semiannual Reporting Proposal

    Author Photo

    Though public companies could benefit from a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposal that would allow them to file earnings reports just twice a year, widespread adoption could also increase market volatility, complicate capital raising and fragment disclosure standards to the detriment of issuers and investors, say attorneys at Seward & Kissel.

  • High Court's Hikma Decision Reshapes 'Skinny Label' Suits

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Hikma v. Amarin marks a significant victory for generic drug manufacturers, but rather than putting an end to so-called skinny label inducement claims, it narrows and refocuses them, say attorneys at Sterne Kessler.

  • Virginia's Cannabis Retail Veto Leaves Industry In Legal Limbo

    Author Photo

    Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger's recent veto of legislation that would have established a regulated retail cannabis framework halts momentum built by the General Assembly, but it also sends important signals about what a future regulatory framework must address to survive, says Charles Slemp at Cozen.

  • Opinion

    At High Court, Oil Cos.' Suncor Preemption Claims Fall Short

    Author Photo

    In Suncor Energy v. Boulder County, pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, oil and gas companies argue that municipalities' climate deception claims are equivalent to emissions standards for their industry — but the suit is ultimately incapable of imposing such standards, say Thomas McGarity at the University of Texas School of Law and James Goodwin at the Center for Progressive Reform.

  • What Colorado AI Law's Major Rewrite Means For Employers

    Author Photo

    Colorado's landmark law regulating employers' use of artificial intelligence tools was recently replaced with a narrower regime that eliminates many burdensome obligations, but still imposes a host of requirements focused on transparency and accountability, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Operational AI Washing: The Next Frontier Of Fiduciary Risk

    Author Photo

    While there are still no final Delaware decisions applying Caremark specifically to artificial intelligence governance failures, previous case law provides a blueprint, so the question for boards is whether their governance architectures will satisfy Caremark when the first cases are decided, say attorneys at Akerman.

  • A Look At The Court's Next Steps In Live Nation Antitrust Case

    Author Photo

    Following a recent jury verdict that Live Nation and Ticketmaster operated as a monopoly to fix ticket prices, a New York federal court stands to weigh Live Nation's bid for a new trial, approve the U.S. Department of Justice's March settlement with the defendants, and impose remedies that include full structural separation, say attorneys at Crowell.

  • How Crypto Firms Can Prep As Clarity Act Inches Toward Law

    Author Photo

    Though the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act’s road to enactment remains uncertain, the statutory framework for regulating digital commodities recently advanced by the Senate Banking Committee is now sufficiently developed that market participants can begin preparing in several areas where the complicated legislation would affect them, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.

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.