Public Policy

  • September 02, 2026

    Optics Co.'s £346M Sale Not Stopped By Antitrust Authorities

    Optics technology provider Gooch & Housego, advised by Burges Salmon LLP, said Wednesday that it cleared a regulatory hurdle in its proposed acquisition by Kirkland & Ellis LLP-led private equity shop Arlington Capital, as the antitrust waiting period for the £346 million ($470 million) deal has expired.

  • September 02, 2026

    Mass. Woman Admits Assault On Agents Detaining Immigrants

    A Massachusetts woman pled guilty in federal court on Wednesday to assaulting and threatening to kill federal agents outside a courthouse where they were attempting to detain immigrants, prosecutors said.

  • September 02, 2026

    Crypto Mine Noise Suit Belongs In State Court, Neighbors Say

    Residents of a North Carolina town suing over allegedly excessive noise coming from a nearby cryptocurrency mining and AI data center want their lawsuit bumped back down to state court, arguing the damages they're seeking fall short of the threshold required for federal jurisdiction.

  • September 02, 2026

    DOJ Says Trump's Jan. 6 Speech Was An Official Act

    The U.S. Department of Justice argued Tuesday that President Donald Trump was carrying out one of his office's "most important functions" when he urged protesters to head to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and "fight like hell," so the D.C. Circuit should deem his speech official conduct.

  • September 02, 2026

    Dems Call Subpoenas' Secrecy Request 'Abuse Of Authority'

    Democratic lawmakers Sen. Ron Wyden, Ore., and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Wash., have called for an investigation into subpoenas issued from federal law enforcement to private companies that contain nondisclosure provisions and carry threats of legal consequences for noncompliance.

  • September 02, 2026

    Localities Say DHS Can't Tie Grant Funds To Election Process

    Governments in Tennessee, Texas and Ohio have asked a D.C. federal court to grant them a win against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, arguing Congress did not condition receipt of counterterrorism grants on the way localities administer elections.

  • September 02, 2026

    Calif. Beats DOJ's Challenge To State Trans Athlete Policy

    A California federal judge tossed Monday the government's challenge to Golden State policies allowing transgender students to compete on sports teams that aligned with their gender identity, finding a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling doesn't bar such policies and the government failed to notify the state of its funding restrictions.

  • September 02, 2026

    Groups Push To Revive Challenges To Trump Monument Cuts

    Coalitions of conservation groups on Wednesday asked a Washington, D.C., federal judge to reopen a series of stayed cases to try to overturn President Donald Trump's removal of millions of acres of land from the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah.

  • September 02, 2026

    DOJ Opinion Broadens States' Duty To Report To DHS

    All state agencies in states participating in federal welfare programs must notify federal immigration officials about the presence of unauthorized immigrants, according to an opinion released Wednesday by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel.

  • September 02, 2026

    Miami College Officials Claim Immunity In ICE Protest Suit

    Miami college administrators urged a Florida federal court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by students who said they were unjustly disciplined for protesting against a U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement contract, saying immunity bars the complaint against them. 

  • September 02, 2026

    DC Says AC Outage Among 'Shocking' Conditions At Complex

    Washington, D.C., said Wednesday that it has sued the landlord of an affordable housing complex where residents have dealt with "shocking" conditions such as a summertime air conditioning outage, unrepaired fire damage and pest infestations.

  • September 02, 2026

    5th Circ. Presses ATF On Out-Of-State Handgun Sales

    A Fifth Circuit panel pressed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to explain the scope of a law barring citizens from purchasing handguns outside their state of residence, asking Wednesday what problems the government would face from the law's revocation.

  • September 02, 2026

    Judge Tosses Feds' Sanctuary Policy Fight Against Rochester

    A New York federal court tossed a lawsuit from the Trump administration challenging the city of Rochester's sanctuary immigration policies, finding the policies do not unlawfully regulate or discriminate against the federal government and are not preempted under federal law.

  • September 02, 2026

    2nd Circ. Faults NLRB's Dress Code Test In Starbucks Appeal

    The Second Circuit faulted the test the National Labor Relations Board applies to neutral dress codes that restrict workers' displays of union insignia, tossing Wednesday a ruling that Starbucks illegally barred workers at a Manhattan shop from wearing pro-union shirts. 

  • September 02, 2026

    Mich. City Says New Rules Moot Developer's Data Center Suit

    The city of Wixom said in Michigan federal court Tuesday that a developer's exclusionary zoning and due process claims over its recently enacted data center moratorium and subsequent denial of a waiver are not viable because they focus on an unapproved site plan under old rules.

  • September 02, 2026

    Calif. Bill Regulating Atty AI Use Heads To Newsom's Desk

    A bill regulating attorneys' and arbitrators' use of generative artificial intelligence has unanimously passed the California State Legislature and is headed to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk.

  • September 02, 2026

    Colo. Exits Pharma Group's Challenge Of Drug Discount Law

    A Colorado federal court has thrown out a pharmaceutical industry trade group's challenge of a state law requiring drug manufacturers to sell discounted drugs through contracted pharmacies, finding the group failed to show the law conflicts with federal law or controls business activity beyond Colorado's borders.

  • September 02, 2026

    Lutnick Says Semiconductor Tariffs Are Coming, With Carveouts

    U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Wednesday said the U.S. is looking to issue a broad tariff on semiconductors, though he also said it would be structured such that companies that commit to U.S. manufacturing would be exempt.

  • September 02, 2026

    Wireless Provider Claims Utility Slowing Idaho Projects

    A wireless services provider claims a Washington-based public utility is slowing down its Idaho broadband deployments and charging excessive fees, asking the Federal Communications Commission to step in.

  • September 02, 2026

    Insurers Needn't Cover Retailer In 'Ghost Gun' Sale Suit

    Two insurers have no duty to defend or indemnify a Missouri-based firearm retailer accused of contributing to gun violence by selling "ghost gun" kits, a New York federal court ruled, saying the underlying claims did not allege harm caused by an accident.

  • September 02, 2026

    GAO Says FCC Needs To Ease Broadband Map Issues

    A U.S. Government Accountability Office report to congressional committees is recommending that the Federal Communications Commission work with smaller communities and providers in completing the challenge process to determine the accuracy of its mapping data.

  • September 02, 2026

    No Tax Break For SC Homeowner With Nonresident Wife

    A South Carolina homeowner was correctly denied a property tax rate for owner-occupied primary residences because his spouse was a resident of another state at the time, an administrative law judge ruled.

  • September 02, 2026

    Austrian Oil Pipe Imports Facing Possible Countervailing Duty

    Imports of certain pipes known as oil country tubular goods from Austria are in line for a possible countervailing duty after the U.S. Department of Commerce found Monday that they are benefiting from government subsidies.

  • September 02, 2026

    DOJ Ad Tech Judge Won't Break Up Google's Biz

    A Virginia federal judge on Wednesday refused to break up Google's advertising placement technology business, opting instead to grant the U.S. Department of Justice a litany of behavioral fixes aimed at limiting the search giant's ability to boost itself and the ads running through its own servers over ads from rival ad tech providers.

  • September 01, 2026

    Watchdog Sues To Unmask Feds' 'Secret' Frontier AI Review

    A nonprofit ethics watchdog accused the Trump administration in D.C. federal court Tuesday of failing to hand over information about the "secret de facto regulatory regime" governing frontier artificial intelligence models.

Expert Analysis

  • NY Bill Would Boost Litigation Risk For Cosmetics Cos.

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    The Beauty Justice Act, now pending in the New York Legislature, would not only present compliance challenges for companies making cosmetics and personal care products, but could also be used by private plaintiffs to bring consumer fraud, false advertising, toxic exposure and product liability claims, says Kadeejah Kelly-Previl at Faegre Drinker.

  • Appellate Vape Rulings May Expand State Regulation Powers

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    Two recent federal appeals courts decisions rejecting Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act preemption challenges to state electronic nicotine delivery systems directory laws signal an emerging appellate consensus that could significantly expand states' power to regulate vaping product sales where federal enforcement falls short, say attorneys at Troutman.

  • Parsing Gov't Scrutiny Of Lending To Unauthorized Workers

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    Attorneys at Mayer Brown explain guidance recently issued by three banking regulators that addresses risks associated with lending to so-called non-work authorized individuals and discuss what the regulatory update could mean for fintech companies.

  • Discovery Into Insurers' AI Use Should Stay Proportional

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    As insurers increasingly use artificial intelligence to make claim decisions, plaintiffs in first-party coverage litigation should seek discovery that tracks how materially the automated system influenced the challenged decision, not whether the insurer used AI somewhere in its operations, says attorney Joe Zaid.

  • How FCC Covered List Blitz Is Sidelining Commerce Dept.

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    The swath of recent Federal Communications Commission rulemakings raises serious questions about the purpose and future of Commerce's Office of Information and Communications Technology and Services, and how the U.S. government will go forward in imposing national security regulation on domestic applications of adversary-linked technologies, says Peter Jeydel at Troutman.

  • DOJ Healthcare Declination Offers Self-Disclosure Checklist

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's declination of criminal charges against Campus Eye Management signals that its new self-disclosure policy provides a real path for healthcare companies to avoid criminal exposure, but that path is paved with speed, transparency and operational remediation, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • SEC Rulemaking Radar: The Rubber Meets The Road

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new rulemaking agenda shows its regulatory reset taking shape, with sweeping crypto proposals that could bring the biggest changes it has made to broker-dealer, exchange and trading compliance in decades, says Christopher Grobbel at Goodwin.

  • Monitor Exposure, Stay Flexible Amid Tariff Uncertainty

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    To navigate an unstable trade environment, businesses must evaluate their exposure to new tariffs invoked under a patchwork of statutory authorities and be prepared to adapt to further changes that may be on the horizon, says Bhargav Prajapati at Capital Trade.

  • CFPB Complaint Portal Overhaul Signals Changing Priorities

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's updates to its consumer complaint portal and decision to cease publishing consumer complaint narratives should be viewed by companies as one component of a larger recalibration of how the CFPB collects information and allocates its supervisory and enforcement resources, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Series

    Being In A Band Made Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing shows in storied New York City venues and rehearsing with my bandmates in poorly ventilated rooms helped develop the professional qualities I rely on as a litigator, including an ability to collaborate with strong-minded equals and the determination to treat each client with singular focus, says Eliad Shapiro at Herrick Feinstein.

  • Opinion

    Correctional Healthcare Requires Clearer Legal Standards

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    As the correctional healthcare industry increasingly faces financial instability due to litigation, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons should develop clear standards for constitutionally adequate care for incarcerated patients, says Susanne Moore at Blackstone Trial Group.

  • 6 Risk Areas Future Fla. Stablecoin Issuers Should Plan For

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    Companies hoping to issue stablecoins under Florida’s new supervision regime should prioritize constructing robust risk management architecture across key areas before the Oct. 1 effective date so they can secure licenses, avoid a web of potential liabilities, and operate sustainably as state and federal regulations evolve, says Elizabeth Brusa at Shumaker.

  • 6 Key Takeaways From CFIUS Annual Report

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    Attorneys at Simpson Thacher review highlights from the annual report of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., released to Congress this month, including the launch of the American First Investment Policy and the Known Investor Pilot Program, and the agency's continued focus on enforcement despite its resource constraints.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Surviving A Long Trial

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    Most of law school trial advocacy is geared toward the sprint of trying a short case, but beyond managing a cross-examination or closing argument, effectively handling the marathon of a lengthy trial requires the ability to maintain composure, organization and credibility with the jury, says Mihir Elchuri at Hirschler.

  • AI Chatbot's Medical Claims Highlight Enforcement Risks

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    The Pennsylvania State Board of Medicine's recent lawsuit against Character Technologies, arguing that an artificial intelligence chatbot engaged in the unlicensed practice of medicine, may provide other state licensing boards with a road map for going after AI platforms, and counsel should advise clients to calibrate compliance accordingly, say attorneys at Cooley.

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