Public Policy

  • July 14, 2025

    TD Bank Defends $3 Monthly Paper Statement Fee

    TD Bank has urged a New York federal judge to end a proposed class action alleging it illegally charges customers a $3 fee if they receive checking account paper statements every month, arguing Monday it has the authority under the National Bank Act to levy non-interest charges and fees.

  • July 14, 2025

    Noem Seeks Win In Suit Over SD Ban On Intoxicating Hemp

    South Dakota's former governor, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and current attorney general urged a federal judge on Monday to deliver a quick win to officials in a dispute over a law banning the processing of hemp derivatives into intoxicating products

  • July 14, 2025

    Judge Probes Bid To Block Wash. Clergy Abuse Reporter Law

    A Washington federal judge appeared receptive Monday to Catholic officials' argument that a new state law requiring priests to report suspected child abuse amounts to a free exercise violation, while also expressing uncertainty about how far the court can go in blocking the statute's enactment.

  • July 14, 2025

    Group Urges 11th Circ. To Ditch 'Radioactive' Mosaic Road

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should not have approved The Mosaic Co.'s request to use radioactive phosphogypsum in road construction at a Florida fertilizer facility, the Center for Biological Diversity told the Eleventh Circuit.

  • July 14, 2025

    Split 2nd Circ. Denies Rehearing In Fox Threats Case

    A split Second Circuit on Monday declined to grant an en banc rehearing to a man convicted of sending threatening messages to two Fox News hosts and two members of Congress, saying the 11-member jury that found him guilty did not violate his constitutional rights.

  • July 14, 2025

    House Committee Proposes Commerce, Science Cuts

    A House Appropriations Committee bill released Monday would provide $76.8 billion in funding to agencies including the U.S. Department of Commerce and its subsidiary agencies, representing a 2.8% decrease from the previous fiscal year's budget.

  • July 14, 2025

    Media Matters Wants FTC Probe Paused Pending Suit

    Media Matters for America asked a D.C. federal court Monday for a preliminary injunction to block what it calls a retaliatory investigation by the Federal Trade Commission, saying the agency has been weaponized against the organization for simply exercising its First Amendment rights.

  • July 14, 2025

    USPTO Acting Director Spurns 'Traditional Knowledge' Treaty

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's acting director has come out against an international treaty that could require patent applicants to report if an invention uses the traditional knowledge of indigenous people, suggesting in remarks that such a rule would undermine the global patent system's effectiveness.

  • July 14, 2025

    OCC Drops 'Disparate Impact' From Fair Lending Oversight

    The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Monday that it will stop checking to see whether banks' lending practices are causing potentially unintended discrimination, scrubbing so-called disparate-impact liability from its examination policies.

  • July 14, 2025

    GAO Report Looks At FAA Use Of Fee Waivers In Settlements

    The Federal Aviation Administration has required pilots and other certificate holders to waive their rights to seek attorney fees and other costs under the Equal Access to Justice Act in order to settle enforcement actions initiated against them, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report released Monday.

  • July 14, 2025

    House Passes Bills Aimed At Telecom Sector Security, Growth

    The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday passed half a dozen bills designed improve U.S. network security and spur the growth of communications industries.

  • July 14, 2025

    DC Circ. Temporarily Stays Block Of Trump's Asylum Curbs

    The D.C. Circuit agreed to pause a district court injunction blocking federal officials from implementing President Donald Trump's Jan. 20 proclamation declaring an invasion at the southern border while it weighs the government's request for an emergency stay during the appeal.

  • July 14, 2025

    9th Circ. Affirms FERC's Yank Of PG&E Grid Perk

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday backed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's decision to deny Pacific Gas & Electric Co. a grid incentive meant for public utilities that voluntarily join a regional transmission organization, saying PG&E was not entitled to the perk since a California law now mandates membership in an organization.

  • July 14, 2025

    FCC To Hear Anuvu's Claim It Got Shorted In Spectrum Move

    Anuvu Licensing Holdings will get a hearing before an administrative law judge at the Federal Communications Commission to determine if the agency owes it money for clearing out part of the C-band to repurpose the spectrum.

  • July 14, 2025

    6th Circ. Nom Is 1st Senate Confirmation Of Trump's 2nd Term

    The Senate voted 46-42 on Monday evening to confirm Whitney Hermandorfer, director of the Office of the Tennessee Attorney General's Strategic Litigation Unit, to the Sixth Circuit, making her the first judicial confirmation of the second Trump administration.

  • July 14, 2025

    Google Ads Rival Wants Search Fix To Include It, AI Cos.

    If a D.C. federal judge agrees with the Justice Department and orders Google to syndicate its search and search advertising results, he should do so in a way that permits expansive access, a search advertising rival said Friday in an 11th-hour intervention bid.

  • July 14, 2025

    DC Circ. Says Biden DOL Didn't Improperly Issue H-2A Rule

    The D.C. Circuit has said the Biden administration did not flout notice and comment rulemaking procedures when it issued a rule in 2022 revising the H-2A visa worker program because it pulled the Trump administration's 2021 version of the rule before it became final.

  • July 14, 2025

    Deportation Before Due Process? Mass. Justices To Decide

    A Haitian man charged with sexual assault in Massachusetts hopes to be deported home instead of facing a trial, an unusual case where the state's highest court is expected to decide whether judges can use bail to keep a person in state custody out of immigration proceedings.

  • July 14, 2025

    Enviro Groups Sue DOE Over Tenn. Nuclear Site Cleanup Plan

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's $30 billion cleanup plan for a nuclear site outside Knoxville, Tennessee, has failed to prevent harmful discharges into the area's groundwater and waterways, threatening community health and the local environment, environmental groups have said.

  • July 14, 2025

    Tulsa Sheriff, DA Seek Pause In Tribal Jurisdiction Dispute

    Tulsa County, Oklahoma, Sheriff Vic Regalado and District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler on Friday asked a federal judge to pause the Muscogee (Creek) Nation's lawsuit seeking to prevent the state from asserting criminal jurisdiction on its reservation until the U.S. Supreme Court reviews a similar case.

  • July 14, 2025

    Ga. County Wants 11th Circ. To Nix Trans Deputy's Health Win

    A Georgia county urged the Eleventh Circuit to reverse a transgender sheriff's deputy's trial court win on claims that denying coverage for a vaginoplasty constituted discrimination in violation of Title VII, arguing the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision upholding a Tennessee state ban on gender-affirming care for minors supported its appeal.

  • July 14, 2025

    Trump Threatens Tariffs On Russia Over Ukraine War

    President Donald Trump said Monday that Russia must end its war with Ukraine within the next 50 days or else the U.S. will levy "severe tariffs" on Russian goods entering the U.S.

  • July 14, 2025

    Privilege Issue Snarls Free-Speech Trial Over Deportations

    A Massachusetts federal bench trial in a suit by academic groups accusing the Trump administration of targeting for deportation noncitizens who express support for Palestinians was on hold Monday while the First Circuit considers whether certain government materials are privileged, including some that have already been discussed in open court.

  • July 14, 2025

    5th Circ. Upholds Law Banning Strip Club Workers Under Age 21

    The Fifth Circuit on Monday said that a Texas law barring people under 21 from working at strip clubs and other adult businesses passes a First Amendment test, saying Monday the law helps prevent sexual trafficking and furthers a significant government interest.

  • July 14, 2025

    Feds Argue Trump's Energy Orders Should Not Be Blocked

    The federal government is fighting an effort to block President Donald Trump's fossil fuel-boosting executive orders that was filed by youths alleging U.S. energy policies harm their future by exacerbating climate change.

Expert Analysis

  • A Look At Trump Admin's Shifting Strategies To Curtail CFPB

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    The Trump administration has so far carried out its goal of minimizing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's authority and footprint via an individualized approach comprising rule rollbacks, litigation moves and administrative tools, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Evading DOJ Crosshairs As Data Security Open Season Starts

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    As the U.S. Department of Justice begins enforcing its new data security program — aimed at preventing foreign adversaries from accessing government-related and personal sensitive data — U.S. companies will need to understand the program’s contours and potential pitfalls to avoid potential civil liability or criminal scrutiny, say attorneys at Cohen & Gresser.

  • How Trump's Trade Policies Are Shaping Foreign Investment

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    Five months into the Trump administration, investors are beginning to see the concrete effects of the president’s America First Investment Policy as it presents new opportunities for clearing transactions more quickly, while sustaining risk aversion related to Chinese trade and potentially creating different political risks, say attorneys at Covington.

  • How Trump Admin Treasury Policies Are Reaching Banks

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    The Treasury Department has emerged as an important facilitator of the Trump administration's financial policies affecting banks, which are now facing deregulation domestically and the use of international economic authorities in cross-border trade and investment, say attorneys at Davis Polk.

  • Series

    My Opera And Baseball Careers Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Though participating in opera and the world of professional baseball often pulls me away from the office, my avocations improve my legal career by helping me perform under scrutiny, prioritize team success, and maintain joy and perspective at work, says Adam Unger at Herrick Feinstein.

  • FTC Focus: Enforcers Study AI Innovation And Entrenchment

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    The Federal Trade Commission and other regulators setting their sights on the burgeoning artificial intelligence ecosystem are considering how the government should approach innovation in tech markets that tend, almost inevitably, toward concentration, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • High Court ACA Ruling May Harm Preventative Care

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Kennedy v. Braidwood last week, ruling that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary has authority over an Affordable Care Act preventive care task force, risks harming the credibility of the task force and could open the door to politicians dictating clinical recommendations, says Michael Kolber at Manatt.

  • Policy Shifts Bring New Anti-Money Laundering Challenges

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    In the second half of 2025, the U.S. anti-money laundering regulatory landscape is poised for decisive shifts in enforcement priorities, compliance expectations and legislative developments — so investment advisers and other financial institutions should take steps to prepare for potential new obligations and areas of risk, say attorneys at Linklaters.

  • 8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work

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    Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.

  • Kousisis Concurrence Maps FCA Defense To Anti-DEI Suits

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    Justice Clarence Thomas' recent concurrence in Kousisis v. U.S. lays out how federal funding recipients could use the high standard for materiality in government fraud cases to fight the U.S. Justice Department’s threatened False Claims Act suits against payees deviating from the administration’s anti-DEI policies, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.

  • Despite Dark Clouds, Outlook For US Solar Has Bright Spots

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    While tariff, tax policy and bankruptcy news seemingly portends unending challenges for the U.S. solar energy industry, signs of continued growth in solar generating capacity and domestic solar manufacturing suggest that there is a path forward, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • Assessing New Changes To Texas Officer Exculpation Law

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    Consistent with Texas' recent modernization of its corporate law, the recently passed S.B. 2411 allows officer exculpation, streamlines certificate of formation amendments, authorizes representatives to act on shareholders' behalf in mergers and makes other changes aimed toward companies seeking a more codified, statutory model of corporate governance, say attorneys at Bracewell.

  • How Ending OFCCP Will Affect Affirmative Action Obligations

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    As President Donald Trump's administration plans to eliminate the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, which enforces federal contractor antidiscrimination compliance and affirmative action program obligations, contractors should consider the best compliance approaches available to them, especially given the False Claims Act implications, say attorneys at Ogletree.

  • Rising Enforcement Stakes For Pharma Telehealth Platforms

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    Two pieces of legislation recently introduced in Congress could transform the structure and promotion of telehealth arrangements as legislators increasingly scrutinize direct-to-consumer advertising platforms, potentially paving the way for a new U.S. Food and Drug Administration policy with bipartisan support, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients

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    Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.

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