Public Policy

  • September 16, 2026

    Pa. Justices Ask When Canes, Hot Dogs Become Crime Tools

    Pennsylvania's justices contemplated pummeling one another with canes, gavels and hot dogs as they grappled with what transforms a mundane object into an "instrument of crime" during arguments Wednesday.

  • September 16, 2026

    Conn. Judge Trims Claims In 3M Firefighter PFAS Suit

    A Connecticut federal judge has dismissed some "forever chemicals" allegations lodged against 3M Co. by state firefighter unions and firefighters in a Minnesota multidistrict litigation concerning municipalities that purchased firefighting turnout gear, ruling that the unions lack associational standing over certain claims in the case.

  • September 16, 2026

    6th Circ. Ruling Puts Cannabis Deals In Question

    The Sixth Circuit's decision reversing a $31.8 million jury judgment against cannabis giant Curaleaf on the grounds that marijuana is federally illegal is bound to have ramifications for industry players who seek redress in federal courts, attorneys told Law360.

  • September 16, 2026

    EU Eyes Canada As First Associate Member Amid Rift With US

    The European Union may take steps to include Canada as its first associate member in the wake of growing U.S. trade uncertainty, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday.

  • September 16, 2026

    Cannabis Venture Says Township Caved To Public Pressure

    A pair of companies alleged in a federal lawsuit Tuesday that the planning board of a New Jersey township unlawfully torpedoed their plan to open a marijuana cultivation facility because of community hostility to the plan.

  • September 16, 2026

    Underdog Sues To Stop Conn. Crackdown On Event Contracts

    The prediction market operator Underdog has joined a growing legal fracas with Connecticut officials who are trying to shut down alleged online sports betting in the state, arguing in a new federal lawsuit that only the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has jurisdiction over such companies.

  • September 16, 2026

    Trade Court OKs Korean Pipe Duties In Decade-Long Dispute

    The U.S. Court of International Trade backed the latest U.S. Department of Commerce determination in a long-running challenge to antidumping duties on imports of South Korean pipes that first started in 2016, finding the department properly used a new pricing test.

  • September 16, 2026

    Minn. Court Drops $22M From Wells Fargo Tower's Tax Value

    A Wells Fargo office tower in Minneapolis was overvalued by $22 million by the local assessor, the Minnesota Tax Court said, looking at the sales prices of the building itself and applying calculations that it called for in a previous order.

  • September 16, 2026

    DOJ Fights Acquittal Motion Following Okla. Bid-Fixing Verdict

    The U.S. Department of Justice is urging an Oklahoma federal court to reject an acquittal bid from a man convicted of participating in an erosion control company's bid-rigging conspiracy that allegedly affected over $100 million in publicly funded transportation construction contracts.

  • September 16, 2026

    5th Circ. Says EPA Went Too Far With Chemical Ban

    The Fifth Circuit has sided with a group of chemical companies and vacated a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule that banned nearly all uses of methylene chloride, saying the agency went too far in evaluating the substance as a whole instead of its uses.

  • September 16, 2026

    Senate Panel Weighs 6 Trump Judicial Picks From Red States

    Six nominees for U.S. district judge appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday for their nomination hearing.

  • September 16, 2026

    NGOs Petition Burnham For Wealth Tax Ahead Of Budget

    Prime Minister Andy Burnham should introduce a tax to target "extreme wealth" in the upcoming autumn budget, a coalition said Wednesday.

  • September 15, 2026

    DOJ Says Fed Law Preempt Colo., Denver Efficiency Mandates

    The Trump administration told a Colorado federal court Tuesday that federal law preempts Colorado and the city of Denver's regulations on greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, backing a magistrate judge who recommended that a lawsuit challenging the regulations proceed.

  • September 15, 2026

    DOJ Says States Could Owe Bond In Paramount Merger Case

    The U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday that a coalition of state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America could indeed be required to put up a bond as they challenge Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, but only if the order they secured truly constitutes an injunction.

  • September 15, 2026

    Brothers Seek Justices' Clarity After Losing Stolen Skull Suit

    Two brothers who lost their bid to hold an Illinois county liable for a former coroner's secret skull-collecting practices asked the U.S. Supreme Court Monday to use their case as the vehicle for settling a deep circuit split they say a recent Seventh Circuit ruling "cemented."

  • September 15, 2026

    DC Circ. Vexed Over Migrant Kid Sponsor Approval Timeframe

    The D.C. Circuit tore into the Trump administration Tuesday morning after a government attorney refused to answer how long an Office of Refugee Resettlement approval of a sponsor for an "unaccompanied" child lasts, even when the court whittled the time down to a matter of hours.

  • September 15, 2026

    Alaska Judge Defers To Army Corps In Gold Mine Permit Row

    An Alaska federal judge has told tribal and environmental groups that they failed to show the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers improperly approved a Clean Water Act permit allowing JT Mining Inc. to develop access to a mineral exploration site on privately owned land in Lake Clark National Park.

  • September 15, 2026

    Lender Alleges Housing Official Ran $2.4M Ponzi Scheme

    A real estate investment firm has accused the former executive director of a Connecticut town's housing authority of operating a Ponzi scheme that caused a $2.4 million loan to "vanish," alleging he and an associate made fraudulent assurances about proposed bonds, account balances, property values and other financing.

  • September 15, 2026

    States Say DOJ Trans Care Crackdown Is Unconstitutional

    States suing the Trump administration have urged a Massachusetts federal judge to strike down directives calling for providers of gender-affirming care to be investigated and prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice, arguing the directives are arbitrary and capricious and violate the Tenth Amendment.

  • September 15, 2026

    OpenAI Wants To See Details Of SpaceXAI's Deal With Apple

    OpenAI filed an emergency motion Tuesday in Texas federal court seeking the details of a settlement SpaceXAI inked this week with Apple over claims that Apple's deal to integrate ChatGPT into the iPhone violated antitrust law, saying the terms of the deal may undermine the antitrust allegations SpaceXAI is still pursuing against OpenAI.

  • September 15, 2026

    4th Circ. Probes Party Standing Over FERC Grid Planning Rule

    The Fourth Circuit on Tuesday appeared inclined to uphold the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's broad grid planning overhaul amid a raft of challenges from certain states, transmission providers and consumer advocates, with standing issues taking center stage.

  • September 15, 2026

    Fla. Judge Won't Pause Trump-IRS Settlement Sanctions

    The Florida federal judge who barred President Donald Trump and others from citing a settlement resolving what she characterized as a sham $10 billion case against his own Internal Revenue Service won't pause her sanctions order while the president appeals to the Eleventh Circuit.

  • September 15, 2026

    Walmart, Retail Groups Doubt Value Of $200B Swipe Fee Deal

    Major retail trade associations and Walmart are objecting to a $200 billion settlement over Visa and Mastercard swipe fees in New York federal court, saying the court should decertify the class or at least allow opt-outs so merchants can preserve "valuable claims that class counsel are trading away for nothing."

  • September 15, 2026

    AG Pushes Data Center Rates To Protect NC Customers

    The attorney general of North Carolina urged the state's Utilities Commission to create a new rate class for Duke Energy's data center customers, saying it would ensure they pay their fair share of energy use.

  • September 15, 2026

    DC Circ. Queries Feds On Immigrant Truck Driver Restrictions

    D.C. Circuit judges on Tuesday questioned whether the U.S. Department of Transportation reasonably justified the safety rationale for new restrictions on commercial driver's licenses for foreign truckers or whether it disproportionately relied on individuals' immigration status to promulgate an "exclusionary" rule.

Expert Analysis

  • How DOJ Is Approaching Monitorship After Signaling Limits

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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.

  • GHG Rescission Undermines State Climate Suit Preemption

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    As the U.S. Supreme Court considers the fate of state climate litigation in Suncor Energy Inc. v. Boulder County, it must confront the fact that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rescission of its greenhouse gas endangerment finding has also removed the foundation for federal preemption of state climate suits, says attorney Gregg Goldfarb.

  • Constructing AI Compliance Plans As State Laws Diverge

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    With Colorado, Connecticut and the federal government recently announcing wildly different approaches to artificial intelligence regulation, creating a workable compliance program means addressing overlapping obligations using shared systems rather than separate silos, say attorneys at Ogletree.

  • How McDonnell Still Shapes Bribery Defense Strategy

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    The pending federal bribery allegations against Washington, D.C., Council member Trayon White Sr. highlight for defense counsel the importance of overcoming the “official act” requirement established by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in McDonnell v. U.S., and juries' critical role in distinguishing between official and unofficial acts, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Assessing Issues The CFTC's Sports Betting Rules May Face

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    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission recently proposed a rule to consolidate its control of sports bets made on prediction market trading platforms, but problems may arise from possible conflicts between the proposed changes and state laws — and maybe even the Commodity Exchange Act itself, says David Slovick at Kopecky Schumacher.

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