Public Policy

  • March 07, 2025

    Colo. Judge Won't Block DHS 'Protected Area' Policy

    A Colorado federal judge on Friday declined Denver Public Schools' bid to temporarily block Department of Homeland Security guidance on immigration enforcement in "protected areas," ruling at a hearing that an injunction wouldn't actually protect the district and its students from immigration actions.

  • March 07, 2025

    4th Circ. Overturns Remand Of Md., SC PFAS Suits Against 3M

    U.S. district court judges erred when they sent lawsuits Maryland and South Carolina filed against 3M over environmental contamination from consumer products containing forever chemicals back to state courts, a split Fourth Circuit panel ruled Friday.

  • March 07, 2025

    FTC: Outlining World Sans Amazon Price-Floor 'Not Possible'

    The Federal Trade Commission told a Washington federal judge Friday that it can only offer pieces, and not the entire outline, of what an alternative world might look like without Amazon.com's allegedly monopolistic pricing floor created by penalties for sellers offering their goods more cheaply through other retailers.

  • March 07, 2025

    Contractor Can't Bury Medical Marijuana Discrimination Suit

    A Pennsylvania federal judge on Friday denied a Cleveland construction company's bid to escape a prospective employee's suit alleging that the company violated Pennsylvania's medical cannabis law when it rescinded his job offer, saying there are questions of fact about whether he would have been able to do the job.

  • March 07, 2025

    AGs Say Anti-Trans Admin Puts $367M Hospital Grants At Risk

    Attorneys general from Washington and three other states told a federal court that the Trump administration has canceled thousands of dollars in grant funding for gender-affirming care — and threatened to strip up to nearly $370 million more — in violation of court injunctions.

  • March 07, 2025

    Grand Rapids Moves Social Equity Fee Dispute To Fed. Court

    The city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, is looking to push into federal court a state lawsuit filed by cannabis companies looking to upend the fees, fines and residency requirements of the municipality's social equity program, arguing Friday that their claims all touch on federal issues.

  • March 07, 2025

    Hints Of A New High Court Majority Emerge In Trump Cases

    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent rejection of President Donald Trump's bid to keep frozen nearly $2 billion in foreign aid funding gave court watchers a glimpse of a coalition majority that could end up thwarting some of the president's more aggressive and novel attempts to expand executive power.

  • March 07, 2025

    Immigration Lawyers Sue Feds Over Surprise Form Changes

    The American Immigration Lawyers' Association and Benach Collopy LLP sued U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in D.C. federal court on Friday, saying the agency abruptly revised 10 forms to eliminate gender markers without prior warning.

  • March 07, 2025

    New Bellwethers Score Cert. In Generic Drug Price-Fixing MDL

    The Pennsylvania federal court overseeing sprawling multidistrict litigation springing from claims that pharmaceutical giants worked together to hike the cost of off-brand drugs has certified several sets of classes for the cases for the MDL's latest bellwethers.

  • March 07, 2025

    Trump Admin Pressed to Keep Ariz. Indian Affairs Office Open

    A pair of Arizona Democratic senators are calling on President Donald Trump's administration to allow a Phoenix-based Bureau of Indian Affairs office to remain open, saying it must provide clarity on how the decision to close the location was reached.

  • March 07, 2025

    Google Says Special Master Can't Make Ad Tech Trial Calls

    Google is opposing a bid in Texas federal court from state enforcers accusing the company of monopolizing key digital advertising technology to have a special master make decisions about what evidence will be admitted during trial.

  • March 07, 2025

    GAO Says Congress Can't Undo Calif. Emissions Waivers

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office is weighing in against the Trump administration's effort to team up with Congress to take away California's ability to set its own greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles.

  • March 07, 2025

    AGs Back Fight Against End Of Venezuelans' Protected Status

    The attorneys general of 18 states urged a California federal judge on Friday to postpone the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's early termination of deportation protections for more than 500,000 Venezuelans, saying DHS Secretary Kristi Noem gave no sound reason for ending the temporary protections.

  • March 07, 2025

    USPTO Scraps Expedited Review Program For New Filers

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is winding down a program that expedites review of patent applications from first-time filers, the agency announced, saying the initiative will "expire as scheduled" on Tuesday.

  • March 07, 2025

    Okla. Gov.'s Brother Can't Use McGirt Ruling to Avoid Ticket

    Keith Stitt, brother of Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, can't dodge a speeding ticket on the back of a 2020 landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling, a state appeals court panel said, arguing that the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, maintains jurisdiction over the dispute.

  • March 07, 2025

    CPKC Rail Merger Enviro Review Needs Redo, DC Circ. Told

    A group of Illinois towns told the D.C. Circuit on Friday that federal regulators relied on flawed train traffic data to approve Canadian Pacific's $31 billion merger with Kansas City Southern, failing to account for significant public safety and environmental harms to Windy City communities.

  • March 07, 2025

    Trump DOJ's Shift Threatens To Upend Police Reform

    As the Trump administration abandons consent decrees — court-ordered agreements designed to curb police misconduct — experts warn that a crucial mechanism for law enforcement accountability is disappearing.

  • March 07, 2025

    SD Lawmakers Request Study Of Tax Relief For Homeowners

    South Dakota instructed its Legislative Research Council to review the state's property tax policies and identify ways to provide property tax relief to homeowners under a concurrent resolution approved by state lawmakers.

  • March 07, 2025

    Ex-Santos Staffer Gets 1 Year For Fundraising Fraud

    A former staffer for expelled U.S. Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., was sentenced to a year and a day in prison Friday after pleading guilty to posing as a top aide to former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to solicit donations.

  • March 07, 2025

    Ukraine Off The Hook For European Import Duties On Steel

    The European Commission on Friday proposed a year's extension to its exemption of duties for steel imports from Ukraine, in support of the country's economy following Russia's "unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression," it said in a statement.

  • March 07, 2025

    Cosmetics Co. Sues Insurer Over Calif. Water Pollution Claims

    A cosmetics company facing water pollution claims told a California federal court its insurer denied coverage in bad faith, saying though the insurer agreed to defend a lawsuit from the California attorney general, the insurer still wrongly refused to reimburse costs from two prior, related suits that were ultimately rescinded.

  • March 07, 2025

    Trucker Overtime Carveout Is Focus Of Reintroduced Bill

    A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill that would nix a Fair Labor Standards Act carveout making certain truck drivers overtime-exempt.

  • March 07, 2025

    Prison Phone Co. Floats New FCC Rate Cap Plan

    Prison phone company NCIC Correctional Services is hoping to kill several birds with one stone by presenting the Federal Communications Commission with a proposal it says would fix issues with a 2024 order changing how the phone prison payment system works and resolve some issues it has on appeal at the First Circuit.

  • March 07, 2025

    Tariffs, Diversity And DOGE Dominate Trump 2.0 'Risk Factors'

    Public companies are busily reworking risk disclosures since the arrival of President Donald Trump's second administration, seeking to walk a fine line of being upfront with investors about potential threats to business despite vast legal and policy uncertainties.

  • March 07, 2025

    U. Of Washington To Pay $4M To End COVID Tuition Case

    The University of Washington will pay $4 million to settle a class action filed by students seeking tuition reimbursement from the COVID-19 campus shutdown, according to a settlement that received a judge's preliminary approval this week.

Expert Analysis

  • Preparing For A Possible End To The Subminimum Wage

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    The U.S. Department of Labor's proposed rule to end the subminimum wage for employees with disabilities may significantly affect the community-based rehabilitation and training programs that employ these workers, so certified programs should be especially vigilant about compliance during this period of evaluation and scrutiny, say attorneys at Jackson Lewis.

  • Engaging With Feds On Threats To Executives, Employees

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    In an increasingly polarized environment, where companies face serious concerns about how to protect executives and employees, counsel should consider working with federal law enforcement soon after the discovery of threats or harassment, says Jordan Estes at Gibson Dunn.

  • The Risk And Reward Of Federal Approach To AI Regulation

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    The government has struggled to keep up with artificial intelligence's furious pace, but while an overbroad federal attempt to adopt a more unified approach to regulating AI poses its own risks, so does the current environment of regulatory uncertainty, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Losing A Motion To Dismiss Ruling Isn't Necessarily The End

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    A recent Delaware Court of Chancery ruling, that the Manti Group had not demonstrated any conflicts of interest favoring private equity fund operator The Carlyle Group, serves as an important reminder that a decision on a pleading motion is not the end of the story, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Anticipating Direction Of Cosmetics Regulation Under Trump

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    It is unclear how cosmetics regulation reform from the last few years will fare under President Donald Trump, but the new administration's emphasis on deregulation and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s views on product safety provide some insight, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Drug Pricing Policy Trends To Expect In 2025 And Beyond

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    Though 2025 may bring more of the same in the realm of drug pricing policy, business as usual entails a sustained, high level of legal and policy developments across at least six major areas, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Drug Cartels' Terrorist Label Raises Litigation Risk For Cos.

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    President Donald Trump's planned designation of some Latin American drug-trafficking groups as foreign terrorist organizations creates an additional and little-noticed source of legal exposure: U.S. civil litigation risk involving terrorism claims by victims of those groups, say attorneys at Covington.

  • IRS Basis-Shifting Rule Poses Notable Reporting Obligations

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    While the IRS’ recently finalized rule requiring partnerships to report certain related-party basis adjustment transactions is narrower than originally proposed, taxpayers and their advisers will still need to comb through myriad transactions to comply, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • How Cos. Can Prepare Now For SEC E-Filing System Changes

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's amendments to the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval system are designed to improve access to and management of EDGAR accounts, and with the March 24 effective date fast approaching, and the transition requiring significant coordination, companies should begin planning now, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • The Tides Are Changing For Fair Access Banking Laws

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    The landscape of fair access banking laws, which seek to prevent banks from denying services based on individuals' ideological beliefs, has shifted in the last few years, but a new presidential administration provides renewed momentum for advancing such legislation against the backdrop of state efforts, say attorneys at Latham.

  • Imagine The Possibilities Of Openly Autistic Lawyering

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    Andi Mazingo at Lumen Law, who was diagnosed with autism about midway through her career, discusses how the legal profession can create inclusive workplaces that empower openly autistic lawyers and enhance innovation, and how neurodivergent attorneys can navigate the challenges and opportunities that come with disclosing one’s diagnosis.

  • A Halftime Analysis Of DOJ's Compensation Pilot Program

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    The U.S. Department of Justice appears to consider the first half of its three-year pilot program on compensation incentives and clawbacks to be proceeding successfully, so companies should expect prosecutors to emphasize the program and other compliance-related considerations early in investigations, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Opinion

    How Congress Can Stem Consumer Finance Law Uncertainty

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    In the face of rising uncertainty about consumer finance laws that are based largely on fluctuating administrative rules, Congress should cement certain existing laws into statute and clarify federal agencies' delegations of authority, say attorneys at Bradley Arant.

  • Top 10 Healthcare And Life Sciences Issues To Watch In 2025

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    Under the new Trump administration, this coming year may benefit some healthcare and life sciences stakeholders, while creating new challenges for others amid an increasingly complex regulatory environment, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Birthright Order Denies 14th Amendment's Purpose, Origin

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    President Trump's executive order ending birthright citizenship invokes logic explicitly rejected by the framers of the 14th Amendment, demonstrating the administration's fundamental misunderstanding of the citizenship clauses' origins, jurisprudence, and impact on how Americans understand equality and national belonging, says Mauni Jalali at Quinn Emanuel.

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