Public Policy

  • September 08, 2026

    Kik App Is 'A Parent's Worst Nightmare,' Conn. AG Says

    The mobile messaging app Kik is "a cesspool of sexual abuse, exploitation and bullying" and "a parent's worst nightmare," Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said Tuesday in announcing his office would investigate allegations that inadequate privacy and content moderation measures endanger children.

  • September 08, 2026

    DOL Issues Mental Health Parity Enforcement Guidance

    The U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits arm issued guidance Tuesday on how to comply with federal laws that require employer health plans to produce an analysis of their mental health and substance use disorder coverage, which remains subject to litigation in D.C. federal court.

  • September 08, 2026

    SEC Sues Proxy Adviser Firm ISS For Client Voting Records

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has asked a Pennsylvania federal court to enforce a subpoena against Institutional Shareholder Services, alleging the proxy advisory firm is improperly withholding information about the voting advice ISS gives institutional investors due to fears of retaliation.

  • September 08, 2026

    'Resilience,' Scale Up For Changes In EU Merger Overhaul

    With major European Union merger reforms due for finalization by the end of the year, the EU's top competition official said Sunday that enforcers plan to add more clarity to the draft merger guidelines, including by spelling out how improving environmental "resilience" can push transactions across the finish line.

  • September 08, 2026

    ITC Seeks Input On Long-Dormant Trade Bias Program

    The U.S. International Trade Commission is working to redevelop a practice for identifying potentially discriminatory trade actions against the U.S. as required under the dormant Great Depression-era statute President Donald Trump used to launch recent tariffs against Canada, the commission said.

  • September 08, 2026

    Ed. Dept. Says It Will Fund Research But Opposes Court Order

    A lawyer representing the government told a Massachusetts federal judge Tuesday the U.S. Department of Education intends to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in research funding before it expires at the end of this month but urged the court not to order the department to do so.

  • September 08, 2026

    Humboldt To Pay FTC $12M Over 'Sham' Merchant Payment Biz

    Payment processing company Humboldt Merchant Services has agreed to pay $12 million and be permanently banned from processing payments for merchants with a higher risk of fraud to resolve Federal Trade Commission claims that it processed payments for more than 1,000 merchants that defrauded customers.

  • September 08, 2026

    Idaho Supreme Court OKs Revised Abortion Ballot Language

    The Idaho Supreme Court has agreed to revised ballot language for an abortion amendment scheduled to be in front of voters this November. 

  • September 08, 2026

    Comcast, APCo At Odds Again Over Pole Replacement Rates

    Comcast has doubled down on its call for the Federal Communications Commission to direct Appalachian Power Co. to assume more of the cost for replacing damaged utility poles to allow for broadband gear attachments.

  • September 08, 2026

    3rd Circ. Revives Firearm Group's Challenge To NJ Gun Law

    The Third Circuit on Tuesday held that the National Shooting Sports Foundation can challenge New Jersey's law allowing the state to sue firearms manufacturers for endangering public safety, also reversing a lower court's decision to put the case on hold.

  • September 08, 2026

    Top LA Prosecutor Faces New DQ Attempt After 9th Circ. Ruling

    A criminal defendant has renewed his attempt to disqualify top Los Angeles federal prosecutor Bill Essayli from overseeing his case, following a Ninth Circuit decision that upheld a similar ruling against Nevada's lead federal prosecutor, saying the government is "playing shadow games" with prosecutorial powers.

  • September 08, 2026

    Makers Of Meta Glasses Won't Provide Repair Parts, Suit Says

    A Denver electronics repair shop has sued the makers of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses in Colorado state court, alleging they refused to provide the repair parts, software and technical documentation that state law now requires manufacturers to make available to independent repair businesses.

  • September 08, 2026

    W.Va. AG Calls Pa. Alternative Energy Laws Unconstitutional

    West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey has filed a federal lawsuit over Pennsylvania laws that limit most of the Keystone State's "alternative energy credits" to in-state power producers, arguing that shutting out sources from other states violates the dormant commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution.

  • September 08, 2026

    Ex-Conn. Lawmaker Is Denied New Trial, Slips 3 Fraud Counts

    Former Connecticut state Sen. Dennis A. Bradley Jr. will not receive a new trial on charges that he improperly collected public campaign funds, but a federal judge has reversed his convictions on three counts in a wire fraud case centered around a 2018 party that he claimed was hosted by his law firm.

  • September 08, 2026

    Canada Defends Retaliatory Tariffs Against US As Necessary

    Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney defended Canada's retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. as they went into effect Tuesday, saying they are needed to protect Canadian workers and industries from President Donald Trump's latest trade war action.

  • September 08, 2026

    Calif. Urges Justices To Let Paramount Merger Case Play Out

    California and other state enforcers that are challenging Paramount Skydance Corp.'s planned $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery have urged the U.S. Supreme Court not to expedite Iowa and Montana's case seeking to block the merger challenge.

  • September 08, 2026

    CIT Backs Commerce's Reworked Korean Wind Tower Rate

    The U.S. Department of Commerce properly justified revised antidumping duty rate calculations for certain Korean wind tower imports, according to a U.S. Court of International Trade opinion that blessed a new rate for the products over stakeholder objections.

  • September 08, 2026

    DC Circ. Affirms Injunction Against IRS-ICE Data Sharing

    The D.C. Circuit affirmed a lower court's preliminary injunction Tuesday barring the IRS from sharing taxpayer data with immigration authorities, finding that the coalition challenging the deal has standing and that the arrangement likely violates the law.

  • September 08, 2026

    DOJ, Pinnacle Reach RealPage Rent-Fixing Settlement

    The federal government wants to settle its antitrust claims against Cushman & Wakefield unit Pinnacle Property Management Services LLC, which was accused in North Carolina federal court of using property management software company RealPage Inc.'s revenue management technology to fix rental prices, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • September 08, 2026

    Hemp Cos. Win Block Of New Ohio THC Regulations

    An Ohio federal judge has agreed to block enforcement of a new state law classifying any product with more than 0.3% THC as cannabis, finding the hemp companies have sufficiently shown that the law violates the dormant commerce clause by unfairly discriminating against out-of-state actors.

  • September 08, 2026

    Ed Martin Joins Trump Ally's Think Tank

    Ed Martin, the recently departed White House pardon attorney, has joined a conservative policy think tank started by a key ally of President Donald Trump.

  • September 08, 2026

    Asian Plywood Imports Harming US Industry, ITC Finds

    The U.S. International Trade Commission said Tuesday that hardwood and decorative plywood imports from China, Indonesia and Vietnam determined by the Commerce Department to be sold at unfair prices are harming domestic industry, setting up Commerce to issue duty orders against the products.

  • September 07, 2026

    Missouri Asks Justices To Prevent Election 'Disaster'

    Missouri has implored the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the state high court's ruling prohibiting the use of a new congressional map drawn to help Republicans in this year's midterms and requiring the map be submitted for voter approval, claiming the decision will create an unconstitutional "disaster." 

  • September 07, 2026

    USPS Asks High Court To Allow 'Modest' Mail Ballot Rules

    The Trump administration has once again asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift a Massachusetts federal judge's order barring the U.S. Postal Service from enforcing new mail-in ballot regulations ahead of this year's midterms, arguing the "modest" changes are well within USPS' authority and don't affect election administration. 

  • September 04, 2026

    Feds Can't Force NJ To Assist ICE Efforts, Judge Says

    A New Jersey federal judge Friday tossed the Trump administration's suit challenging Gov. Mikie Sherrill's February executive order limiting immigration officials' access to state property without a warrant, saying the federal government cannot commandeer state resources.

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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