Public Policy

  • August 21, 2026

    Mass. Eyes More Time For 'Greenwash' Records Response

    Massachusetts environmental regulators asked a judge for another two weeks to search for potentially responsive records sought by a lawyer representing Exxon Mobil in the state's "greenwashing" lawsuit.

  • August 21, 2026

    Meta Tells DC Circ. To Reject FTC Appeal

    Meta Platforms Inc. urged the D.C. Circuit not to revive the Federal Trade Commission's monopolization lawsuit targeting its purchases of WhatsApp and Instagram, arguing Thursday that a D.C. federal judge correctly held that in the here and now, competition from TikTok and YouTube means it "has no monopoly."

  • August 21, 2026

    The Race Is On To Confirm Trump's Judges By Year-End

    President Donald Trump nominated 11 judges this past week, meaning 19 nominees are now in the pipeline. But how many can the Senate confirm before the end of the year, given that it will mostly be absent and consumed by the midterm election? 

  • August 21, 2026

    Illinois-Led States Win TRO To Block DOT Bid For CDL Data

    A Virginia federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from obtaining a database containing information on 17 million commercial driver's license holders, ruling in favor of 21 states that allege it unlawfully demanded the records for immigration enforcement.

  • August 21, 2026

    Trump Admin Moves Toward Nixing ABA's Accreditor Status

    The Department of Education has made a preliminary finding that the American Bar Association is not in compliance with the department's regulations and standards as an accreditor of law schools, a move that comes as the ABA seeks to modify or repeal standards related to diversity, equity and inclusion in an attempt to preserve its accreditor status.

  • August 21, 2026

    Trump Says Pardon Atty Ed Martin Leaving For Midterms

    U.S. pardon attorney Ed Martin will be leaving the administration to work on the midterm elections, President Donald Trump announced on Friday.

  • August 21, 2026

    Roberts Allows Trump To Construct Ballroom For Now

    Chief Justice John Roberts ruled Friday that President Donald Trump could temporarily continue construction of a new White House ballroom until the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether lower courts had the authority to order that work stop on the project pending congressional approval.

  • August 21, 2026

    DNA Can Prove Your Innocence — If They Let You Test It

    Since the mid-1980s, DNA testing has exonerated hundreds of wrongfully convicted people and reshaped the criminal justice system. Rodney Reed's decadeslong unsuccessful effort to test the belt prosecutors say he used to kill a woman, however, shows how difficult access to post-conviction DNA testing can be, even for prisoners with credible innocence claims.

  • August 21, 2026

    Ex-Mass. Cannabis Chair Says Ouster Was Retaliation

    Massachusetts' former top cannabis regulator says efforts to remove her from the role were retaliation by the state treasurer and other officials for flagging alleged conflicts of interest, regulatory violations and fraud.

  • August 21, 2026

    8th Circ. Won't Revisit Cannabis User's Gun Conviction

    The Eighth Circuit on Thursday declined to revisit its decision to preserve a man's conviction for possessing a firearm while being a user of cannabis.

  • August 21, 2026

    Groups Say HHS Left Migrant Children Without Legal Help

    Former legal services providers for unaccompanied migrant children have told a California federal judge that the Trump administration could be violating an injunction requiring the government to maintain legal representation for the minors, alleging that thousands are now unrepresented after the providers' contract expired last month.

  • August 21, 2026

    US Urges High Court To Reject Tribe's $208M Water Claim

    The United States is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a Nevada tribe's petition that looks to revive a $208 million breach of trust claim, saying the tribe hasn't identified a source of substantive law that the federal government violated by allegedly failing to prevent water diversion from its reservation.

  • August 21, 2026

    ICE Contractor Wins Partial Block Of Colo. Inspection Law

    A Colorado federal judge temporarily blocked part of a new state law imposing additional inspections and penalties on The GEO Group Inc.'s immigration detention facility in Aurora, finding the provisions likely unlawfully discriminate against the company as a federal contractor.

  • August 21, 2026

    Trump Says He Reached Deal For Tariff-Free Ground Beef

    President Donald Trump said Friday he has cut a deal to allow up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef to be imported into the U.S. without an added tariff in exchange for lower prices for consumers.

  • August 21, 2026

    Transportation Tracker: Boeing, CH Robinson Verdicts

    In our latest Law360 Transportation Tracker, an Illinois jury awarded $29 million to the family of a U.N. worker killed in the 2019 crash of a Boeing 737 Max 8, while freight broker C.H. Robinson was hit with a blockbuster $604 million verdict in Texas over a fatal 2021 trucking accident.

  • August 20, 2026

    Instagram Algorithm Czar Tells Jury Safety Helps Profits

    The Instagram executive responsible for the algorithm kicked off Meta's defense case Thursday over Tennessee's claims it concealed harm to youths' mental health, testifying the company's efforts to protect children also protect its bottom line.

  • August 20, 2026

    Fla. Panel Says Tribe Can Intervene In Parental Rights Case

    A Florida appeals court has reversed a lower court's denial of the Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians' request to intervene in a parental rights case, saying the tribe has the right to intervene under the Indian Child Welfare Act at any point in the proceeding.

  • August 20, 2026

    CFPB Rips 'Baseless' CashCall Bid To Ax $157M Judgment

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has urged a California federal court to reject lender CashCall Inc.'s bid to wipe out its more than $157 million enforcement judgment, slamming its claims of a settlement bait-and-switch by the agency as "baseless."

  • August 20, 2026

    Suit Says 'Animus' Driving Feds' Push To Gut Climate Work

    An environmental group asked a Colorado federal judge to block a Trump administration push to end climate research programs at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and shutter its Mesa Lab headquarters in Boulder, calling it "the antithesis of reasoned decision-making."

  • August 20, 2026

    Meta Atty 'Absolutely Wrong' On Client Privilege, Judge Warns

    With trial dark Thursday due to juror illness, a California judge overseeing states' claims that Meta Platforms Inc. hid social media's harms heard arguments over evidence, at one point criticizing Meta's efforts to assert attorney-client privilege and calling the company's in-house lawyer "absolutely wrong" about the appropriate standard.

  • August 20, 2026

    OCC Greenlights Brazil Banking Giant's Bid To Form US Bank

    The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Thursday preliminarily approved a charter application from Brazil-based Itaú Unibanco SA, guided by Arnold & Porter, to establish a national bank in the United States.

  • August 20, 2026

    Selig Says CFTC Will Propose Crypto Rules If Clarity Act Stalls

    U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Michael Selig said Thursday that he's directed agency staff to begin crafting crypto rules in the event that crypto market structure legislation fails to move forward in September.

  • August 20, 2026

    Judge Frees ICE Detainee Over Repeated Bond Missteps

    A Florida federal judge has ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release a Colombia native from detention, finding an immigration judge's repeated denial of bond was based on factual inaccuracies.

  • August 20, 2026

    Sens. Call On FINRA To Update Rules To Curb Transfer Fraud

    U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., urged the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to boost consumer protections to prevent brokerage fraud through the Automated Customer Account Transfer Service, pointing to "structural weaknesses" in the system they say bad actors are exploiting to drain customers' brokerage accounts.

  • August 20, 2026

    11th Circ. Saves Delta-Aeromexico Joint Venture

    The Eleventh Circuit on Thursday handed Delta Air Lines and Aeromexico a decisive win by vacating a U.S. Department of Transportation order directing them to dismantle their nearly decadelong joint venture, saying the DOT applied a skewed standard and made unsupported findings about the partnership's purported anticompetitive effects.

Expert Analysis

  • Attorney Mental Health Is An Ethical Obligation In The AI Era

    Author Photo

    As attorneys cope with the increasing unpredictability that artificial intelligence and constant policy changes have created, particularly in practice areas where they carry the emotional weight of clients’ most consequential life events, otherwise soft discussions about self-care are a matter of professional competence, says attorney Jack Jrada.

  • Md. Ruling Reflects Classic Administrative Law Principle

    Author Photo

    A Maryland federal court's recent decision in Columbus v. Kennedy significantly limits how far the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services can go in reshaping the Affordable Care Act through regulation, highlighting a principle that will likely be applied in similar Administrative Procedure Act challenges, says Michael King at Brownstein Hyatt.

  • DOJ China Container Indictments Signal Global Cartel Risk

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent announcement that it had indicted Chinese manufacturers for conspiring to drive up the price of shipping containers sold in the U.S. illustrates the Antitrust Division's interest in pursuing overseas cartel conduct, especially in China, signaling that multinational companies with employees abroad should strengthen antitrust compliance to avoid running afoul of U.S. national security policy, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • More Cos. Will Copy SpaceX's Shareholder Proposal Opt-Out

    Author Photo

    For more than 80 years, the shareholder proposal looked like a federal right guaranteed to all public company investors, but after SpaceX opted out before its recent initial public offering, other companies are likely to follow, says Mohsen Manesh at the University of Oregon School of Law.

  • How DOJ Is Approaching Monitorship After Signaling Limits

    Author Photo

    As the U.S. Department of Justice keeps more monitors in place than expected, a look at the matters in which prosecutors are maintaining oversight reveals the sort of companies enforcers might trust to self-remediate, and also those that may receive independent supervision, say attorneys at Kendall Brill.

  • Opinion

    DHS' World Cup Influencer Warning Overreads Visa Law

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s reported position that foreign influencers covering the 2026 World Cup need work visas if their content is monetized runs contrary to both legislative intent and long-standing precedent that structure the visa inquiry around labor market substitution, says Jun Li at Reid & Wise.

  • 3 Steps For Banks As Section 1071 Rule Finally Becomes Final

    Author Photo

    Some community banks and other lenders will get some breathing room in the final Section 1071 rule exempting them from small business lending reporting duties, but other reporting institutions should update applications, systems and staff training ahead of the 2028 compliance date, says Memrie Fortenberry at Jones Walker.

  • Why DOE Isn't Phasing Out Appliance Efficiency Regs

    Author Photo

    While the U.S. Department of Energy recently acted on President Donald Trump's 2025 executive order requiring it to consider sunsetting many energy regulations, the DOE has not proposed phasing out efficiency standards for appliances and industrial equipment — but it could pursue other approaches to ease such requirements, say attorneys at HWG.

  • Series

    Power To The Paralegals: Burnout As A Structural Problem

    Author Photo

    Law firm leadership can best retain their paralegals not by encouraging self-care, but by seeking top-down structural solutions for the quiet proliferation of responsibilities and the vicarious exposure to client trauma that particularly drive burnout in this vital role, says Erika Sneeringer at Brockstedt Mandalas.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: June Lessons

    Author Photo

    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses five recent rulings from cases involving allegations of internet data misuse, consumer fraud claims, immigration, insurance and First Amendment violation claims.

  • Justices' FCC Fine Ruling May Weaken Agency Leverage

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Federal Communications Commission v. AT&T upheld the commission's forfeiture framework as consistent with Jarkesy, but it is also likely to reduce the effectiveness of the commission’s forfeiture proceedings as a collection and deterrence tool, say attorneys at Venable.

  • Takeaways From 1st Del. Ruling Applying Moelis Amendments

    Author Photo

    Delaware corporations should carefully review contractual arrangements and governance documents following the Court of Chancery's recent enforcement of a non-Delaware forum selection clause in a CEO's employment agreement under 2024 amendments to the state's General Corporation Law, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Ill. Law Firm MSO Bill Clashes With Court Power, Ethics Rules

    Author Photo

    An Illinois bill prohibiting law firms from certain business arrangements with management service organizations, sent to the governor for signature last week, encroaches upon the courts' constitutional powers and goes beyond the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct in regulating investment in law-related services, says Matthew O’Hara at Smith Gambrell.

  • Google Antitrust Case Puts Spotlight On De Facto Exclusivity

    Author Photo

    Mozilla's recent amicus filing in U.S. v. Google arguing that its agreement to make Google the default search engine did not amount to de facto exclusivity highlights the growing debate over traditional indicators of exclusivity, with implications for any business that uses rebates, preferred contracts or volume incentives, says Chris Gowen at WilmU Farnan School of Law.

  • Justices' Montgomery Ruling Doesn't Expand Shipper Liability

    Author Photo

    Whether negligent hiring liability claims against shippers will increase after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last month in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II is anyone's guess, but the ruling itself will have no impact on shippers' actual liability in personal injury claims relating to trucking accidents, says Ronald Leibman at McCarter & English.

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.