Public Policy

  • September 19, 2025

    Fla. Entrepreneur Urges 1st Circ. To Remand RI Pot Regs Suit

    A Florida entrepreneur on Friday is urging the First Circuit to remand back to Rhode Island federal court his constitutional challenge to Rhode Island's cannabis retail licensure scheme, now that the cannabis regulations at issue have been made public and the license application process is open.

  • September 19, 2025

    Fed Workers Can Telework For Religious Reasons, DOJ Says

    Federal employees should be allowed to telework occasionally for religious reasons, even after President Donald Trump's January executive order requiring in-person attendance for government workers, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

  • September 19, 2025

    Lawmakers' Exit Puts Court, Judicial Security Funds In Limbo

    Congress left for recess Friday afternoon after the Senate failed to pass a stopgap spending measure that includes funds for judicial security and the courts.

  • September 19, 2025

    DC Circ. Sides With FERC On Puerto Rican Gas Pipeline

    The D.C. Circuit on Friday unanimously rejected challenges to a liquefied natural gas pipeline in Puerto Rico built after hurricanes battered the island's electrical grid, saying the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's decision not to stop the project fell under its unreviewable enforcement discretion.

  • September 19, 2025

    Fla. Bar Must Conduct Bondi Ethics Probe, State Justices Told

    An attorney has doubled down on his attempt to force the Florida Bar into investigating U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi for alleged unethical conduct, arguing to the state Supreme Court that the bar has a clear legal duty to do so.

  • September 19, 2025

    FTC Restructuring Its Non-DC Offices Under Single Banner

    The head of the Federal Trade Commission's Competition Bureau said in New York City remarks Friday that the agency is restructuring its offices outside its Washington, D.C., base so that those satellite units operate as a single division under an "easier, cleaner, more efficient reporting structure."

  • September 19, 2025

    Builder Not Covered In Conn. Park Dispute, Insurers Tell Court

    Two insurers have no duty to defend or indemnify a developer and two of his companies against a suit accusing them of unlawfully encroaching on and destroying public land because the claims do not trigger their policies' insuring agreements, the insurers told a Connecticut federal court.

  • September 19, 2025

    Off The Bench: Briefings On Trans Ban, New Kalshi Conflicts

    In this week's Off The Bench, the U.S. Supreme Court receives initial briefs from West Virginia and Idaho regarding their bans on gender identity-based participation in school sports, Kalshi is taken to court by another state over its event contract offerings, and Washington, D.C.'s National Football League team takes a major step toward returning to its namesake city.

  • September 19, 2025

    Former Immigration Judge's Bias Suit Gets Trimmed In Fla.

    A Florida federal judge has trimmed multiple counts from a former immigration judge's discrimination lawsuit, finding that she failed to back up her bias claims.

  • September 19, 2025

    Trump Asks High Court To Lift Block On Trans Passport Ban

    The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to lift a nationwide order requiring the U.S. Department of State to issue passports to transgender and nonbinary individuals that reflect their gender identity, arguing the mandate wrongly compels the government to express speech it disagrees with.

  • September 19, 2025

    Groups Decry Bid To Roll Back Ariz. Monument Protections

    Conservation groups are denouncing congressional legislation that, if approved, would nullify protections on two Indigenous national monuments in Arizona that were put in place to prevent new uranium, copper and gold mining of the sites.

  • September 19, 2025

    ICE Leaders Sued For Calif. Court Arrests, Custody Conditions

    A class action complaint filed Thursday accused Trump administration officials of turning Northern California's immigration courts into "a trap" where masked agents ambush and needlessly arrest immigrants who must then endure squalid conditions in a makeshift San Francisco holding facility.

  • September 19, 2025

    USPTO's Top Solicitors To Leave Amid Continued Shake-Ups

    The legal department at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is facing some shake-ups, with two of its top officials slated to leave the agency in the coming weeks.

  • September 19, 2025

    Mich. Top Court Again Backs Retroactive Auto Reform Limits

    The Michigan Supreme Court on Friday reversed a lower state appellate panel's decision in a dispute over whether no-fault reforms enacted in 2019 apply to policies that "straddled" the reform effective dates, pointing to the top court's earlier finding that such policies are subjected to post-reform increased limits for liability.

  • September 19, 2025

    Rhode Island, Connecticut Fight To Finish Building Wind Farm

    The Rhode Island and Connecticut attorneys general asked a Rhode Island federal judge to allow an energy developer to resume work on an offshore wind farm that is 80% complete, arguing that a delay past Monday could imperil the entire project and thwart states' abilities to meet mandated emissions goals.

  • September 19, 2025

    Maine County Can Use Business Channel For Public Safety

    Maine's northernmost county will be able to draw from a pool of industrial channels to use for internal public safety and first responder communications.

  • September 19, 2025

    UK Gov't Borrowing Hits £18B Ahead of Autumn Budget

    U.K. government borrowing reached £18 billion ($24.3 billion) in August, according to official figures published Friday, adding to pressure for the government to hike taxes in its coming budget.

  • September 19, 2025

    Full 2nd Circ. Lets Students Facing Removal Stay Free, For Now

    The Second Circuit on Friday declined to revisit its earlier decisions that allowed two foreign students facing deportation, allegedly for their pro-Palestinian advocacy, to stay out of detention, rejecting the Trump administration's bid to find it lacks jurisdiction over their cases.

  • September 19, 2025

    Vax Panel Delays Hep B Vote, Backpedals On MMRV Coverage

    A panel of vaccine advisers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention kicked off a meeting Friday with a confused series of votes that effectively nullified a key decision on coverage for children the panel made less than a day prior.

  • September 18, 2025

    ​​​​​​​BofA Unit To Pay $5.6M To End DOJ Market Manipulation Case

    The U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday that an investment banking arm of Bank of America Corp. will pay roughly $5.6 million to resolve a criminal investigation into market manipulation allegations involving two now-former traders on its U.S. Treasurys desk.

  • September 18, 2025

    Kimmel Controversy Sidetracks Broadband Permitting Hearing

    A U.S. House subcommittee looking into how to expedite broadband permitting struggled to stay on topic Thursday afternoon due to Democrats being hopping mad about late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel being pulled off the air.

  • September 18, 2025

    Ill. Justices Reverse Therapist's Fee Win Against Regulator

    Illinois' financial and professional regulator should not be ordered to pay attorney fees in connection with a therapist's successful bid to shield his notes from a doctor's administrative reinstatement hearing, the state's highest court ruled Thursday.

  • September 18, 2025

    SEC Eases Path For Crypto ETPs With New Listing Rules

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has eased a key part of the listing process for crypto exchange-traded products, and attorneys say the move may create a shorter path to market for years to come.

  • September 18, 2025

    Federal Vaccine Panel Votes To Tweak MMRV Recommendation

    A panel of federal vaccine advisers on Thursday changed its recommendation for a long-used vaccine for children but allowed a key government program to continue paying for the shots.

  • September 18, 2025

    Delaware Judge Calls For Civility After 'Annus Horribilis'

    In a rare postscript to her bench ruling this week, a Delaware vice chancellor lamented what she observed as a breakdown in the state bar's civility and mutual respect over the past "annus horribilis," comments that have since drawn cautious support and resonance with several in the First State's legal community.

Expert Analysis

  • Preserving Refunds As Tariffs Await Supreme Court Weigh-In

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    In the event that the U.S. Supreme Court decides in V.O.S. Selections v. Trump that the president doesn't have authority to levy tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, importers should keep records of imports on which they have paid such tariffs and carefully monitor the liquidation dates, say attorneys at Butzel.

  • How Justices' Ruling Upends Personal Jurisdiction Defense

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Fuld v. Palestinian Liberation Organization, holding that the Fifth Amendment's due process clause does not require a defendant to have minimum contacts with a forum, may thwart foreign defendants' reliance on personal jurisdiction to evade federal claims in U.S. courts, say attorneys at Axinn.

  • Key Points From DOJ's New DeFi Enforcement Outline

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    Recent remarks by the U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Division head Matthew Galeotti reveal several issues that the decentralized finance industry should address in order to minimize risk, including developers' role in evaluating protocols and the importance of illicit finance risk assessments, says Drew Rolle at Alston & Bird.

  • Revamped Opportunity Zones Can Aid Clean Energy Projects

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    The Qualified Opportunity Zone program, introduced in 2017 and reshaped in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, offers investors federal tax incentives for development in low-income communities — incentives that are especially meaningful for clean energy projects, where capital-intensive infrastructure and long-term planning are essential, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • Assessing Potential Ad Tech Remedies Ahead Of Google Trial

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    The Virginia federal judge tasked with prying open Google’s digital advertising monopoly faces a smorgasbord of potential remedies, all with different implications for competition, government control and consumers' internet experience, but compromises reached in the parallel Google search monopoly litigation may point a way forward, say attorneys at MoloLamken.

  • Earned Wage Access Providers Face State Law Labyrinth

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    At least 12 states have established laws or rules regulating services that allow employees to access earned wages before payday, with more laws potentially to follow suit, creating an evolving state licensing maze even for fintech providers that partner with banks, say attorneys at Venable.

  • The Pros And Cons Of Levying Value-Based Fees On Patents

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    The potential for a recurring, value-based maintenance fee on patents, while offering some benefits, raises several complications, including that it would likely exceed the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's statutory authority and reduce research and development activities in the U.S., says Sandip Patel at Marshall Gerstein.

  • Sales And Use Tax Strategies For Renewables After OBBBA

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    With the One Big Beautiful Bill Act sharply curtailing federal tax incentives for solar and wind projects, it is vital for developers to carefully manage state and local sales and use tax exposures through early planning and careful contract structuring, say advisers at KPMG.

  • 9th Circ. Ruling Leaves SEC Gag Rule Open To Future Attacks

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    Though the Ninth Circuit's recent ruling in Powell v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission leaves the SEC's no-admit, no-deny rule intact, it could provide some fodder for litigants who wish to criticize the commission's activities either before or after settling with the commission, says Jonathan Richman at Brown Rudnick.

  • Series

    Writing Musicals Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My experiences with writing musicals and practicing law have shown that the building blocks for both endeavors are one and the same, because drama is necessary for the law to exist, says Addison O’Donnell at LOIS Law.

  • How Fashion, Tech Can Maximize New Small Biz Tax Breaks

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    Fashion and technology companies, which invest heavily in innovation, should consider taking advantage of provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that favor small businesses, restructuing if necessary to become eligible for expanded research and experimental expenditure credits and qualified small business stock incentives, says Aime Salazar at Olshan Frome.

  • Steps To Take As States Expand Foreign-Influence Bans

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    As efforts to curb foreign-influenced corporate political spending continue, companies should be aware of the nuances of related laws and layer an additional analysis when assessing legality of foreign engagement, say attorneys at Steptoe.

  • A Reminder Of The Limits Of The SEC's Crypto Thaw

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    As the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's regulatory thaw has opened up new possibilities for tokenization projects, the Ninth Circuit's recent decision in SEC v. Barry that certain fractional interests are investment contracts, and thus securities, illustrates that guardrails remain via the Howey test, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Genius Act Poses Strategic Hurdles For Community Banks

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    ​​​​​​​The pace of change in digital asset policy, including the recent arrival of the Genius Act, suggests that strategic planning should be a near-term priority for community banks, with careful attention to customer relationships, regulatory developments and the local communities they serve, say attorneys at Jones Walker.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From Va. AUSA To Mid-Law

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    Returning to the firm where I began my career after seven years as an assistant U.S. attorney in Virginia has been complex, nuanced and rewarding, and I’ve learned that the pursuit of justice remains the constant, even as the mindset and client change, says Kristin Johnson at Woods Rogers.

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