Public Policy

  • March 10, 2025

    FCC Chair Suggests YouTube Censors Christian Content

    The Federal Communications Commission's new leader wants to know if YouTube and Google have a policy, "secret or otherwise," of discriminating against faith-based programming after receiving a complaint from the network that owns the popular Christian streaming service PureFlix.

  • March 10, 2025

    Tribal Nations, Students Sue Feds Over School Staffing Cuts

    Three tribal nations and five Native American students are asking a D.C. federal court to block a Trump administration executive order calling for large-scale federal workforce reductions, saying the directive devastated operations and undermined Bureau of Indian Education schools across the nation.

  • March 10, 2025

    Bad Police Work Led To 30-Year Sentence, Conn. Jury Told

    A Connecticut man who served 30 years in prison for a murder he did not commit should be compensated because one local police officer failed to disclose key evidence and another sat by as the state police fed facts to an informant, his attorneys told a federal jury Monday afternoon.

  • March 10, 2025

    OCC Nixes Supervisory Hurdle For Banks' Crypto Biz

    The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has told banks that they no longer need to obtain a nonobjection from the regulator to push forward with crypto plans, reaffirming interpretations issued under the first Trump administration and rescinding a Biden-era supervisory requirement for crypto activities.

  • March 10, 2025

    Medtronic Compliance Officer's Journey To State Senate Seat

    A Medtronic compliance officer is taking on a role making different kinds of policies at the Minnesota State Capitol, following his successful bid for a state senate seat in late January. He told Law360 his compliance background is a natural fit for his new role in the public sector.

  • March 10, 2025

    EPA Climate Grantee Sues Citibank, Agency Over Frozen Cash

    A climate-change-focused nonprofit is accusing Citibank NA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in D.C. federal court of breaching a contract to deliver billions of dollars in grant funding that's been frozen by the Trump administration.

  • March 10, 2025

    Colo. Justices To Review Insurers' Noncooperation Defense

    The Colorado Supreme Court will consider whether a pair of insurance companies can defeat a man's bad-faith lawsuit by arguing his failure to turn over medical information about a surgery before his auto accident breached a contractual duty, according to an order Monday granting two petitions for review.

  • March 10, 2025

    Advocacy Orgs. Slam FCC's '60 Minutes' Probe As Unfounded

    The FCC "has denied requests alleging much worse" than CBS' choice to edit down then-Vice President Kamala Harris' "60 Minutes" interview, says an advocacy group that is asking the agency to kill its probe into whether the network committed "news distortion."

  • March 10, 2025

    Ski Resort Buy Deemed Illegal In Precedential NY AG Win

    New York's attorney general celebrated a precedent-setting antitrust win Monday, faulting a ski mountain operator for buying a rival just to shut it down.

  • March 10, 2025

    USCIS To Allow Grace Period For Immigration Form Changes

    U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it will provide a grace period before newly revised forms with only male and female gender options go into effect, a day after immigration lawyers filed a lawsuit challenging the abrupt policy change.

  • March 10, 2025

    Patent Office Solicitor Moves To PTAB Vice Chief Judge Role

    Farheena Y. Rasheed, who had been the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's solicitor since June, has moved to a new role as a Patent Trial and Appeal Board acting vice chief judge, to assist the board as it deals with several vacancies, the office said Monday.

  • March 10, 2025

    Border Agent Admits To Making Migrants Expose Themselves

    A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent has pled guilty in New York federal court to forcing women to expose their breasts to him during processing as they attempted to enter the country.

  • March 10, 2025

    Tariff Shifts Creating Compliance Chaos For Energy Cos.

    The unpredictability of President Donald Trump's tariff maneuvers is challenging energy companies' ability to comply with fluctuating mandates and making tariff violations more likely.

  • March 10, 2025

    Paxton Says Ex-Aides Want Excessive Whistleblower Atty Fees

    The Texas attorney general's office and four of Ken Paxton's former deputies took jabs at each other over whether a court should hear more evidence in their long-running whistleblower suit, with the office alleging the aides have sought attorney fees outside the scope of the case while the ex-employees say the office "misses the point."

  • March 10, 2025

    FCC Allows Higher Power Level For SpaceX Mobile Coverage

    The Federal Communications Commission relaxed technical limits on SpaceX's new satellite-based backup for T-Mobile service, as long as it controls possible harmful signal interference to other network users.

  • March 10, 2025

    DOJ Wants In On Invisalign Monopoly Arguments At 9th Circ.

    The U.S. Department of Justice wants to be there when orthodontists and consumers who purchased clear teeth aligners face off with the company behind Invisalign at the Ninth Circuit next month, so it can tell the appellate judges where the lower court went wrong in killing their monopoly suits.

  • March 10, 2025

    Wash. AG Says Sheriff Is Illegally Aiding Feds On Immigration

    Washington's attorney general has accused the sheriff of a rural county of violating a state law that restricts local police agencies from assisting in the enforcement of federal immigration law, saying the sheriff is bolstering President Donald Trump's deportation policies after initially signaling his office would work to comply with state law.

  • March 10, 2025

    Ontario Slaps Electricity Export Surcharge On NY, Mich., Minn.

    New York, Michigan and Minnesota residents receiving electricity from Ontario could face cost increases as a new 25% export surcharge is applied in response to President Donald Trump's 25% tariffs, the province's government announced Monday.

  • March 10, 2025

    Michigan Told To Take A Stance On Clinic's Gender Policies

    A federal judge said Monday that Michigan can't stay mum on whether a religious medical clinic's pronoun, gender transition and faith-based hiring policies violate state law, as the clinic sues to block the law's enforcement.

  • March 10, 2025

    DOT Pulls Biden Enviro Justice Highway Funding Policy

    The U.S. Department of Transportation on Monday rescinded Biden-era memorandums that advised state and local agencies receiving funds from 2021's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to prioritize highway, road, bridge and other projects that promoted social justice or climate resiliency goals.

  • March 10, 2025

    Judge May Pause Trump Admin's Cuts To Teacher Training

    A Massachusetts federal judge hinted Monday it would be reasonable to order the U.S. Department of Education to temporarily reinstate $250 million in teacher-training grants targeted for cuts by the Trump administration over their ties to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

  • March 10, 2025

    Judge Tosses Challenge To Chicago Tenant Law

    An Illinois federal judge dismissed a Chicago apartment building owner's suit over a local ordinance that requires the owners of foreclosed rental properties to pay qualifying tenants with a one-time relocation fee or offer them a new lease.

  • March 10, 2025

    Senate Confirms Trump's Labor Secretary Pick

    The U.S. Senate confirmed President Donald Trump's nominee for labor secretary Monday evening, with support from more than a dozen Democrats and opposition from some members of the nominee's own party.

  • March 10, 2025

    AFL-CIO, Unions Defend Fight Against DOGE Access

    The AFL-CIO and a group of unions sought to keep alive their claims that Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency can't legally access data from the U.S. Department of Labor and other federal agencies, telling a D.C. federal judge they have standing to file their suit.

  • March 10, 2025

    DOJ Defends Musk's Influence Against States' Challenge

    The U.S. Department of Justice is defending Elon Musk's influence in the federal government against a constitutional challenge brought by 14 states, telling D.C. federal court that the "special government employee" does not occupy an official office that would be subject to the Constitution's appointments clause.

Expert Analysis

  • How SDNY US Atty Nom May Shape Enforcement Priorities

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    President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Jay Clayton, will likely shift the office’s enforcement priorities, from refining whistleblower policies to deemphasizing novel prosecutorial theories, say attorneys at Cohen & Gresser.

  • How FAR Council's Proposal May Revamp Conflicts Reporting

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    The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council's recent proposal for updating organizational conflict of interest rules includes some welcome clarifications, but new representation and disclosure obligations would upend long-standing practices, likely increase contractors’ False Claims Act risks, and necessitate implementation of more complex OCI compliance programs, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • Emerging Energy Trends Reflect Shifting Political Landscape

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    As the Trump administration settles in, some emerging energy industry trends, like expanded support for fossil fuel production, are right off of its wish list — while others, like the popularity of Inflation Reduction Act energy tax credits, and bipartisan support for carbon capture, reflect more complex political realities, say attorneys at Greenberg Traurig.

  • 4 Potential Effects Of 3rd Circ.'s Coinbase Ruling

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    The Third Circuit's recent landmark decision in Coinbase v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the SEC's refusal to engage in rulemaking to clarify its stance on crypto enforcement was "insufficiently reasoned" could have wide-ranging impacts, including on other cases, legislation and even the SEC's reputation itself, says Daniel Payne at Cole-Frieman.

  • Applying ABA Atty Role Guidance To White Collar Matters

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    The American Bar Association’s recently published guidance, clarifying the duties outside counsel owes to both organizational clients and those organizations' constituents, provides best practices that attorneys representing companies in white collar and other investigative matters should heed, say attorneys at MoFo.

  • What Trump Admin's Anti-DEI Push Means For FCA Claims

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    President Donald Trump's recent rescission of a 60-year-old executive order imposing nondiscrimination requirements on certain federal contractors has far-reaching implications, including potential False Claims Act liability for contractors and grant recipients who fail to comply, though it may be a challenge for the government to successfully establish liability, say attorneys at Bass Berry.

  • Pete Seeger's Lessons For 2025 Congressional Investigations

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    The constitutional invalidation of singer Pete Seeger's contempt of Congress conviction serves as a reminder for the 119th Congress to focus its investigations on the details, instead of committee member motivations, says Matthew Miller at Foley Hoag.

  • As EPA Backs Down, Expect Enviros To Step Up Citizen Suits

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    As President Donald Trump's U.S. Environmental Protection Agency draws down federal enforcement efforts, environmental groups will step into the void and file citizen suits — so companies should focus on compliance efforts, stay savvy about emerging analytical and monitoring methods, and maintain good relations with neighbors, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • CFPB's Message To States Takes On New Weight Under Trump

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's January guidance to state enforcers has fresh significance as the Trump administration moves to freeze the bureau's work, and industry should expect states to use this series of recommendations as an enforcement road map, say attorneys at Brownstein Hyatt.

  • What's Next For State Regulation Of Hemp Cannabinoids

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    Based on two recent federal court cases that indisputably fortify broad state authority to regulate intoxicating hemp cannabinoid products, 2025 will feature continued aggressive state regulation of such products as industry stakeholders wait for Congress to release its plans for the next five-year Farm Bill, say attorneys at Foley Hoag.

  • What Companies Should Consider During FCPA Pause

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    While waiting for updated guidance on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act criminal investigations after a Feb. 10 executive order froze FCPA enforcement, companies should consider the implications of several possible policy shifts, rather than relaxing internal oversight of questionable business practices, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • How Criminal Enforcement Of Trump Tariffs May Work

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    While tariff enforcement has traditionally been handled as a civil matter, tariffs are central to President Donald Trump's broader economic, immigration and national security agendas — making it likely that the U.S. Department of Justice will be tasked with criminal enforcement of tariff evasion, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • Takeaways From CFTC's Private Fund Rule Amendments

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    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's recently adopted amendments to Rule 4.7 of the Commodity Exchange Act ensure that investors in the complex derivatives markets receive relevant and comprehensive information, and further align suitability criteria for investors in private funds, says Rita Molesworth at Willkie.

  • National Bank Act Rulings Facilitate More Preemption Analysis

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    Two recent National Bank Act preemption decisions from an Illinois federal court and the Ninth Circuit provide the first applications of the U.S. Supreme Court’s May ruling in Cantero v. Bank of America, opening the potential for several circuit courts to address the issue this year, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Series

    Collecting Rare Books Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My collection of rare books includes several written or owned by prominent lawyers from early U.S. history, and immersing myself in their stories helps me feel a deeper connection to my legal practice and its purpose, says Douglas Brown at Manatt Health.

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