Public Policy

  • March 03, 2025

    USAID Leader Details Toll On 'Critical' Aid Under Trump

    The U.S. Agency for International Development has been "wholly prevented" from delivering "critical" lifesaving services around the world, and that will lead to preventable death, destabilization and threats to national security "on a massive scale," according to memos from an agency leader made public Monday.

  • March 03, 2025

    DC Judge Calls For CFPB Official To Testify In Shutdown Suit

    A Washington, D.C., federal judge on Monday signaled skepticism of Trump administration claims that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau isn't going away, summoning a senior agency official to testify next week as she weighs a possible preliminary injunction.

  • March 03, 2025

    Calif. Jury Struggling To Reach Verdict In Judge's Murder Trial

    The murder trial of Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson took a dramatic turn on the fourth day of jury deliberations when jurors indicated they were at an impasse on whether Judge Ferguson is guilty of second-degree murder for shooting his wife to death in August 2023.

  • March 03, 2025

    TikTok And Reddit Face UK Probes Over Kids' Data Handling

    Britain's data protection watchdog on Monday stepped up its efforts to ensure that children are being protected online, launching investigations into how popular digital platforms TikTok, Reddit and Imgur gather and use minors' personal information.

  • March 03, 2025

    Ultragenyx Loses Bid To Toss Suit Over Henrietta Lacks' Cells

    A Maryland federal judge on Monday refused to toss a lawsuit lodged by the family of the late Henrietta Lacks against biotechnology company Ultragenyx for allegedly profiting off her stolen "immortal" cells, saying proof Ultragenyx engaged in intrastate business in Maryland would thwart its contention the lawsuit was filed too late.

  • March 03, 2025

    Colo. Judge Vacates Fed Orders Allowing Wild Horse Removal

    A Colorado federal judge vacated two U.S. Bureau of Land Management orders removing wild horses and donkeys from public lands Monday, finding they violate not only administrative and environmental laws, but a law governing protected populations of wild horses.

  • March 03, 2025

    Trump Admin Defends MSPB Chair's Ouster As Constitutional

    President Donald Trump and other administration officials pursued their argument that the U.S. Supreme Court's Humphrey's Executor ruling doesn't apply to the Merit Systems Protection Board, telling a D.C. federal judge that the removal of the agency's chair was lawful.

  • March 03, 2025

    ICE Contractor Loses Immunity Bid In Family Separation Suit

    A California federal judge Monday largely denied a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contractor's attempt to escape litigation that a father and son brought against the transportation company for its role in a policy that separated them and thousands of other immigrant families during the first Trump administration.

  • March 03, 2025

    Trump Deportees Sue Panama To Stop Refoulement To Iran

    A group of asylum-seekers deported from the U.S. lodged a complaint at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, asking the tribunal to stop Panama from returning them to their home countries where they say they will face certain persecution.

  • March 03, 2025

    Sandoz Settles Florida's Generic Drug Price-Fixing Claims

    Sandoz AG reached a settlement with Florida that ends federal antitrust claims the Sunshine State lodged against the drugmaker within wider litigation claiming numerous pharmaceutical companies and individuals participated in a conspiracy to fix generic drug prices, according to a Friday court filing.

  • March 03, 2025

    Gov't Wants End Of Judicial Review, Atty For MSPB Head Says

    An attorney for the briefly ousted head of the Merit Systems Protection Board said Monday that the U.S. Department of Justice was effectively calling for the end of judicial review during impassioned arguments on an injunction that would keep the official on the board after a temporary order reinstating her expires Tuesday.

  • March 03, 2025

    SEC Expands Confidential Filing Options For Companies

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday said it is expanding the range of filings that companies can submit for confidential review before such documents become public, predicting that the new accommodations will spur capital formation.

  • March 03, 2025

    Judge Tosses SEC Crypto Case For Lack Of US Ties

    Crypto founder Richard Heart has beaten a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission suit over his Hex, PulseChain and PulseX crypto projects after the Brooklyn federal judge overseeing the case found the regulator failed to show enough stateside ties.

  • March 03, 2025

    Catholic Charity Org. Sues HHS Over Frozen Refugee Funds

    Catholic Charities Fort Worth sued the Trump administration in D.C. federal court Monday, accusing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of illegally withholding more than $36 million in grant funding meant for resettling refugees in Texas.

  • March 03, 2025

    FDIC Beats Bank's Constitutional Fight Over In-House Judges

    A Kansas federal judge tossed on Monday a local bank's constitutional challenge to administrative law judges presiding over the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s $20.5 million anti-money laundering enforcement proceeding against the bank, ruling that the district court does not have the jurisdictional authority to hear the bank's Seventh Amendment claims.

  • March 03, 2025

    Texas High Court Told Telecom Law Clears State Constitution

    Texas is hoping its highest court will overturn a ruling that found the state violated its own constitutional rules about gift-giving by capping the amount cities can charge telecoms for using their rights-of-way to such a degree that they were basically forced to give away public money.

  • March 03, 2025

    Transparency Law Flouts Biz Owners' Privacy, Judge Says

    A Michigan federal judge on Monday ruled the Corporate Transparency Act's beneficial ownership reporting requirements constitute an unreasonable intrusion into business owners' privacy, shortly after the U.S. Department of the Treasury said it was suspending enforcement of the embattled law.

  • March 03, 2025

    Conn. Justices Set New Atty Duty In Deathbed Will Dispute

    Three intended beneficiaries of a late businessman's will can sue attorney Anthony J. Palermino for allegedly failing to tell his client that TD Ameritrade account documents would need to be changed to fulfill his deathbed wishes, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Monday, finding that attorneys have a duty to third-party beneficiaries in such situations.

  • March 03, 2025

    National Gaming Chair Gets Pause In Alaskan Casino Suit

    A federal judge has paused litigation against acting National Indian Gaming Commission Chairwoman Sharon M. Avery until the court can determine if an Alaskan Native village is a required party in the dispute that looks to block plans for a 58,000-square-foot casino in Anchorage.

  • March 03, 2025

    Calif. Farm Sues Tenn. Sheriff Over $3.9M In Destroyed Hemp

    A California hemp farm is suing a Tennessee sheriff's department, alleging that a deputy wrongly arrested a driver who was carrying $3.9 million in legal hemp and had it destroyed.

  • March 03, 2025

    Trump Admin Defends Right To Send DOGE Into Agencies

    A group of unions is trying to limit the president's right to oversee the executive branch by claiming that Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency can't access agencies' computer systems, the Trump administration told a D.C. federal judge, asking him to nix the unions' injunction bid.

  • March 03, 2025

    DOJ Opposes Anthropic's Amicus Bid In Google Search Case

    The U.S. Department of Justice is telling a D.C. federal judge to keep Anthropic PBC out of the remedies phase of its search antitrust case against Google, arguing that the artificial intelligence company is trying to backdoor its way to intervenor privileges through an amicus curiae request.

  • March 03, 2025

    SEC's Peirce Taps Ex-Willkie Partner For Crypto Task Force

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has hired a former Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP partner into a leadership role in its new task force created to transform the agency's approach toward the cryptocurrency industry.

  • March 03, 2025

    Some 'ComEd Four' Bribery Counts Vacated Over Jury Charge

    An Illinois federal judge on Monday ordered a retrial on four bribery charges in the case against an ex-Commonwealth Edison executive and three lobbyists convicted of conspiring to bribe former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, finding the jury was improperly instructed in the wake of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling but leaving intact the overarching conspiracy conviction.

  • March 03, 2025

    Chamber Leads Group Challenging NY Climate Superfund Bill

    A U.S. Chamber of Commerce-led coalition asked a New York federal judge to block a "plainly unconstitutional" Empire State law that promises to impose $75 billion in cost-recovery demands on fossil fuel companies to help pay for climate adaptation projects.

Expert Analysis

  • Hydrogen Regs Will Provide More Certainty — If They Survive

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    Newly finalized regulations implementing the Section 45V clean hydrogen tax credit allow producers more flexibility, and should therefore help put the industry on more solid footing — but the incoming Trump administration and Republican Congress will have multiple options for overturning or altering the regulations, say attorneys at Steptoe.

  • Top 10 Noncompete Developments Of 2024

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    Following an eventful year in noncompete law at both state and federal levels, employers can no longer rely on a court's willingness to blue-pencil overbroad agreements and are proceeding at their own peril if they do not thoughtfully review and carefully enforce such agreements, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • 5 E-Discovery Predictions For 2025 And Beyond

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    In the year to come, e-discovery will be shaped by new and emerging trends, from the adoption of artificial intelligence provisions in protective orders, to the proliferation of emojis as a source of evidence in contemporary litigation, say attorneys at Littler.

  • NY Plastic Pollution Verdict May Not Bode Well For Other Suits

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    The dismissal of New York state's public nuisance complaint against PepsiCo over pollution of the Buffalo River with the company's single use plastic bottles may not augur well for similar lawsuits filed by Baltimore and Los Angeles County, although tort law varies from state to state, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • Key Ethical Issues For Gov't Attys Moving To Private Practice

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    Transitioning from government service to private practice presents complex ethical challenges for attorneys, including navigating conflicts of interest, confidential information rules and post-employment restrictions, say attorneys at HWG.

  • Climate Disclosure Spotlight Shifts To 2 Calif. Laws

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    With Donald Trump's election spelling the all-but-certain demise of the proposed federal climate disclosure rules, new laws in California currently stand as the nation's only broadly applicable climate disclosure requirements — and their brevity is both a blessing and a curse, say attorneys at Davis Polk.

  • A Deep Dive Into DOJ's Proposed FARA Shake-Up

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recently published and long-awaited proposed amendments to the Foreign Agents Registration Act's implementing regulations, if adopted, would mark dramatic changes to the commercial exemption and new requirements for labeling informational materials, says Tessa Capeloto at Wiley.

  • Preparing For Mexican Drug Cartels' Terrorist Designation

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    In the event President-elect Donald Trump designates Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, businesses will need to consider how their particular industry is affected and evaluate previously legitimate practices given the cartels' involvement so many sectors of the economy, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • Final Hydrogen Tax Credit Regs Add Flexibility For Producers

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    The recently released final regulations implementing the Inflation Reduction Act's clean hydrogen production tax credit offer taxpayers greater flexibility, reducing risk and creating more certainty for investments in the industry, thus diminishing — but not eliminating — the risk of legal challenges to the regulations, say attorneys at Steptoe.

  • Where Payments Law And Regulation Are Headed In 2025

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    The Trump administration will likely bring significant changes to payments regulations in 2025, but maintaining internal compliance efforts in the absence of robust federal oversight will remain key as state authorities and private plaintiffs step into the breach, say attorneys at Stinson.

  • What To Expect From Federal Cybersecurity Policy In 2025

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    There are 12 cyber policy questions to keep an eye on as the new administration and Republican control of Congress present an opportunity to advance less regulatory approaches and revisit some choices from the prior administration, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • Republican Trifecta Amplifies Risks For Cos. In 3 Key Areas

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    Expected coordination between a Republican Congress and presidential administration may expose companies to simultaneous criminal, civil and congressional investigations, particularly with regard to supply chain risks in certain industries, government contracting and cross-border investment, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • 2 Cases May Signal Where FTC Is Headed On Labor Issues

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    Two recent Federal Trade Commission challenges to no-hire clauses in agreements between building service firms and their customers include comments by future FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson that may offer insight into the direction the FTC is headed on labor issues, says Michael Wise at Squire Patton.

  • How Decline Of Deference Will Affect Trump Policymaking

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    An administrative law regime without Chevron deference may limit the Trump administration’s ability to implement new policies in the short term, but ultimately help it in the long term, and all parties with an interest in regulatory changes will have to take a fresh approach to litigation, say attorneys at Covington.

  • 5 Evolving Concerns For Family Offices In 2025

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    Complex regulatory changes and emerging operational risks will force family offices to stay on their toes in 2025, with timely action particularly necessary to address several tax and reporting developments that may affect their investments and business operations, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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