Public Policy

  • July 07, 2026

    ​​​​​​​Top Groups Lobbying The FCC

    The Federal Communications Commission heard from lobbyists more than 140 times in June, with AT&T at the front of the pack hoping to convince the agency to preempt California rules that the telecom giant says are hindering network modernization.

  • July 07, 2026

    5 Midyear White Collar Trends To Watch

    The practice of white collar criminal defense is fraught with uncertainty halfway into 2026, as lawyers try to navigate upheaval in the U.S. Department of Justice, the prospect of big changes in Congress and the rapidly developing use of artificial intelligence.

  • July 07, 2026

    DC Circ. Backs Tax Bribery Convictions Despite Jury Error

    A D.C. Circuit panel refused on Tuesday to reverse a lower court's judgments against two men in connection to a bribery scheme carried out to evade $2.3 million in business tax obligations, finding a jury instruction error "harmless," among other unsuccessful arguments.

  • July 07, 2026

    NC Gov. Signs Delayed Budget Gutting Civil Legal Aid Grants

    North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein on Tuesday signed into law the state's long-overdue budget, which includes a provision that largely strips funding for civil legal aid services provided by the state's Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts program.

  • July 07, 2026

    Consumer Says Graco, Newell Owe Tariff Refunds

    Graco Children's Products Inc. and Newell Brands Inc. have been hit with a proposed class action in Georgia federal court over allegations that they retained windfall profits from unlawful tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

  • July 07, 2026

    Exxon Seeks $324M Judgment In Dispute On Qatar Deal Tax

    Exxon asked a Texas federal court to rule that it's owed a $273 million tax refund and $51 million in penalties in a dispute with the U.S. government over the tax treatment of a natural gas deal with Qatar.

  • July 07, 2026

    NYC Hits Walgreens, 3 Others With $2.3M In Wage Fines

    New York City has secured more than $2.3 million in settlements from four companies including Walgreens for violating worker scheduling and paid time off protections, the city's consumer and worker protection agency announced Monday.

  • July 07, 2026

    DHS Says Warrantless Entry Challengers Lack Injury

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security hit back at a lawsuit from three immigrant advocacy groups challenging a policy memo authorizing ICE officers to enter private homes without a judicial warrant, saying the groups have not been personally harmed.

  • July 07, 2026

    11th Circ. Upholds Block of Fla. 'Stop WOKE' Law

    The Eleventh Circuit upheld a lower court's preliminary injunction on a Florida law that restricts classroom discussion of race and gender, finding on Tuesday that the law violates the First Amendment's free speech protections. 

  • July 07, 2026

    Data Co. Not Covered In Meta Glasses Privacy Suit, Court Told

    A data annotation company accused of using private recordings collected by Meta's smart glasses to train artificial intelligence models is not entitled to insurance coverage, a Travelers unit told a California federal court, saying the company's policy bars coverage for the wrongful collection of protected personal information.

  • July 07, 2026

    CFPB Eyes Credit-Card Late Fees For Possible Rulemaking

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is readying a request for information on credit-card late fees, signaling a renewed look at an affordability issue that the agency's Biden-era $8 fee cap sought to address before banking industry opposition helped sink it in court.

  • July 07, 2026

    Feds Push 3rd Circ. To Restore ACA Birth Control Exemptions

    Lawyers for the Trump administration and a Catholic religious order Tuesday asked the Third Circuit to restore broad exemptions to the Affordable Care Act's birth control coverage mandate, arguing federal agencies had discretion to pass rules that effectively enabled employers to "opt in" to the mandate rather than opt out.

  • July 07, 2026

    NJ Union Loses Appeal In Insurance Opt-Out Arbitration Row

    A New Jersey appellate panel Tuesday affirmed a state labor agency's decision blocking arbitration over Essex County's refusal to pay health insurance opt-out reimbursements to correction officers who receive state health benefits through their spouses, finding state law preempted the union's grievance.

  • July 07, 2026

    USPTO To Set Up Outreach Centers At Ga., Ala. HBCUs

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is planning to launch projects in Georgia and Alabama to connect historically Black colleges and universities in those states with partners to help develop and commercialize inventions.

  • July 07, 2026

    Women's Law Group Asks FCC To Ditch Plan For 'The View'

    The National Women's Law Center has asked the Federal Communications Commission to drop potential plans to withdraw its "bona fide news" exemption for ABC's "The View" over concerns it would amount to censorship.

  • July 07, 2026

    5th Circ. Again Nixes Challenge To La. 340B Drug Delivery Law

    A Fifth Circuit panel doubled down on its decision to uphold a Louisiana law prohibiting drug manufacturers from blocking contracts between pharmacies and providers in the federal 340B drug discount program, reiterating that conclusion upon rehearing but this time allowing intervention by an advocacy group.

  • July 07, 2026

    House Dems Push To Ban Judges From Prediction Markets

    Ranking members of the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday called on the federal judiciary to ban judges from taking part in prediction markets amid growing concerns that court-related wagers could undermine judicial integrity.

  • July 07, 2026

    NJ Panel Backs Atty's Trimmed Government Pension Credits

    A New Jersey state appeals court said the state's public employee pension system was right to shave eight years of service off a government prosecutor's retirement credits, finding he couldn't skirt a change in law that blocked contractors of professional services from collecting benefits.

  • July 07, 2026

    Consultant Says FARA Verdict Should Be Erased

    A political consultant convicted of knowingly failing to register as a foreign agent as she helped draft a $50 million contract involving a former congressman and Venezuela's state-owned oil enterprise continues to argue she should be acquitted or given a new trial, saying the verdict was "against the great weight of the evidence."

  • July 07, 2026

    Kansas Tribe Looks To Block Lottery Sales On Its Reservation

    The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation is asking a district court to block the Kansas Lottery from offering games on its reservation, arguing that the sales are a direct violation of federal and tribal laws that require the tribe to have sole proprietary interest in all Class III gaming.

  • July 07, 2026

    IOC Lets Russia Back Into Olympics Over Ukrainian Protests

    The International Olympic Committee on Tuesday lifted the suspension of Russia and its athletes put in place shortly after the country invaded Ukraine, with Ukraine's Olympic committee saying that the IOC's move set "a dangerous precedent.''

  • July 07, 2026

    Legal Tech Co. Drops Suit After Anthropic Embargo Lifted

    Legal tech company Legion has voluntarily dropped its claims against the Commerce Department over an order forcing artificial intelligence platform Anthropic to shut down two of its advanced models to foreigners, days after news broke that the government had rescinded the directive.

  • July 07, 2026

    10th Circ. Revives Voter Intimidation Suit Over Canvassing

    The Tenth Circuit revived voter intimidation claims against three Colorado election activists and a private group they formed to investigate alleged voter fraud after the 2020 election, holding that a lower court wrongly tossed the group from the case and too narrowly limited evidence about its canvassing campaign.

  • July 07, 2026

    Justices To Defend Court's Budget In Rare Hill Testimony

    U.S. Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan will testify before House and Senate committees on July 14, marking the first time in seven years that a sitting justice has gone before lawmakers.

  • July 07, 2026

    Immigrant Groups Seek Block On TPS Work Permit Curbs

    Immigrant advocacy groups are asking a Massachusetts federal court to temporarily block a series of allegedly unlawful Trump administration policies that threaten to hinder the ability of thousands of temporary protected status holders and asylum-seekers to work and remain in the U.S.

Expert Analysis

  • Trademark Law As A Tool To Bolster NIL Rights Against AI

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    The meteoric rise of artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes is prompting high-profile celebrities to protect their name, image and likeness rights using federal trademark law — a powerful yet limited supplement to traditional NIL claims, says Susan Natland at BakerHostetler.

  • What Ex-CFPB Head's Calif. Role May Foretell For Oversight

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    California Gov. Gavin Newsom's selection of former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra to lead a new consumer agency signals tougher state financial services oversight, especially for fintechs, as well as heightened enforcement activity and larger penalties, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Why SEC Climate Rule Rescission Wouldn't End Disclosure

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    If the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent proposal to rescind its 2024 climate-related disclosure rules is adopted, companies would no longer need to prepare for the rules' specific governance, emissions, attestation, financial statement and tagging requirements, but several important constraints would remain, say attorneys at Venable.

  • New Colo. Retainage Bonds Shift Construction Power Balance

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    A new Colorado law that can force property owners and developers to accept bonds from contractors in lieu of traditional cash retainage means owners’ practical leverage now derives from administering a risk-transfer mechanism, not from controlling cash, but key questions remain about who may assert a claim and how enforcing a bond actually works, say attorneys at Akerman.

  • Justices Stand On Statutory Specifics In Cisco And Landor

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    With its June 23 decisions in Cisco Systems Inc.v. Doe and Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections and Public Safety, the U.S. Supreme Court doubled down on the critical point that the statute invoked in a federal claim must authorize a private lawsuit and the remedy sought, says Patrick Judd at Phelps Dunbar.

  • Immigration Ruling Maps Alternative To Universal Injunctions

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    A Rhode Island federal court's decision in Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island v. USCIS vacating policies that froze key immigration adjudications for nationals of 39 countries, and paused asylum applications altogether, suggests how practitioners might press for the Administrative Procedure Act's bad faith exception to record review and seek vacatur as a viable alternative to universal injunctions, says Kemal Hepsen at Mandamus Lawyers.

  • New Va. Finance Laws Signal Consumer Protection Push

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    Virginia's 2026 legislative session produced several noteworthy developments for financial institutions, including garnishment reforms, mortgage assumption requirements and debt collection reforms, signaling broader trends toward increased consumer protection, enhanced fraud prevention obligations and greater accountability in financial services operations, says Jay Spruill at Woods Rogers.

  • How Montgomery Ruling Will Affect Cos. Across Supply Chain

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    Since the U.S. Supreme Court's May 14 decision in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, the immediate focus has been on freight brokers and negligent carrier-selection claims, but the ripple effects may extend to shippers, logistics providers, insurers, transportation managers and other participants in the supply chain, say attorneys at Quintairos Prieto.

  • High Court's FCC Fine Ruling Reframes Agency Enforcement

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Federal Communications Commission v. AT&T sweeps aside uncertainty about what kinds of regulatory enforcement trigger a Seventh Amendment right, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • How Maine's Expanded Health Deal Reviews Complicate M&A

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    A pair of recently approved Maine competition laws establish notice and approval requirements for certain healthcare transactions and expand state antitrust oversight, creating new hurdles for dealmakers as states take a more aggressive role in policing healthcare consolidation, especially involving private equity, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Opinion

    Congress Must Resolve Growing Subchapter V Uncertainty

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    Congress must pass a bill to permanently restore the Subchapter V debt limit and clarify several other key points of the law to prevent a practical restructuring tool from becoming a costly procedural morass, says Ted Gavin at Gavin Solmonese.

  • CFTC Policy Substantially Expands Self-Reporting Incentives

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    A recent U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission policy moves from a mitigation-centered model to prioritizing declination for early self-reporting and full cooperation, reflecting a deliberate effort to harmonize voluntary self-disclosure incentives across the federal enforcement authorities, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • Opinion

    Exxon Shareholders Were Right To Save New Voting Program

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    Following Exxon shareholders’ recent vote that rejected a bid to dismantle the company’s new retail voting program, other companies should replicate it as a way to lower the friction for shareholders who already vote with the board to keep doing so without wrestling a ballot every spring, says J.W. Verret at the Antonin Scalia Law School.

  • Series

    Choral Singing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Singing in the New York City Bar Chorus — a hobby partly inspired by the late U.S. District Judge Richard Owen, who infused my clerkship year with opera music — has improved my legal career by refining my abilities to listen, exude confidence and develop emotional intelligence, says Bonnie Baker at Friedman Kaplan.

  • What Ratings Overhaul May Mean For Banking Industry

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    Proposed revisions to the bank rating system commonly known as CAMELS could constrain examiner discretion and tie supervisory outcomes more closely to measurable financial risk, potentially saving compliance costs, reducing the frequency of ratings downgrades and spurring a more growth-oriented banking system, say attorneys at Debevoise.

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