Public Policy

  • March 05, 2025

    High Court Allows Release Of Frozen USAID Foreign Aid

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that a D.C. federal judge can require the Trump administration to release up to $2 billion in frozen foreign aid funding, but told the judge he must clarify the scope of the government's responsibility and ensure it has enough time to comply with any deadline. 

  • March 04, 2025

    Trump Calls For Return To 'Law And Order' In Joint Address

    A defiant President Donald Trump during his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night condemned the supposed ability of a sitting president to "viciously prosecute" their political opponents, such as himself, and quipped "how did that work out?"

  • March 04, 2025

    Banks To Face New Defenders Of CFPB Overdraft Rule

    A Mississippi federal judge said Tuesday that he will allow two outside nonprofits to step into litigation over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's $5 overdraft fee rule and defend the Biden-era regulation against a banking industry-backed legal challenge.

  • March 04, 2025

    Sens. Again Push Bill To Boost Online Protections For Teens

    A bipartisan pair of U.S. senators on Tuesday revived a longstanding legislative proposal that would expand digital privacy protections to cover teens between the ages of 13 and 16, ban targeted advertising to minors and require companies to enable the erasure of underage users' personal information.

  • March 04, 2025

    Shipping Council Urges DC Circ. To Nix Maritime Rule

    An ocean carrier trade association is urging the D.C. Circuit to wipe out new regulations defining unreasonable refusals to deal in the maritime industry, telling the appeals court that the "vague" rule has thrown the carriers into confusion.

  • March 04, 2025

    Agencies Have 'Ultimate' Authority Over Firings, OPM Says

    The Office of Personnel Management on Tuesday issued a revised version of its January memo directing agency heads to identify all probationary employees, adding a disclaimer that OPM "is not directing agencies to take any specific performance-based actions" and that agencies "have ultimate decision-making authority."

  • March 04, 2025

    3 Takeaways From The High Court's SF Water Permit Ruling

    The U.S. Supreme Court's Tuesday ruling siding with San Francisco to strike down parts of a federal water pollution permit demonstrated a majority of justices' reluctance to force permit holders to interpret gray areas that could get them in trouble.

  • March 04, 2025

    Justices Asked To Uphold Ruling Against Anti-Terror Law

    The Palestine Liberation Organization is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to affirm a ruling striking down a 2019 law nixing a jurisdictional hurdle for lawsuits stemming from terrorist attacks in Israel and the Palestinian territories, arguing that the law "attempts an end-run around settled constitutional analysis."

  • March 04, 2025

    'Remarkable Coincidence': Judge Blasts Refugee Cuts Timing

    A Washington federal judge on Tuesday criticized the U.S. State Department for canceling resettlement contracts a day after he blocked President Donald Trump's sudden shutdown of the refugee entry program, saying he had concerns it was done to deliberately circumvent his court's ruling.

  • March 04, 2025

    Mich. Suit Shows Courts' Growing Role In Split Governments

    Michigan Republicans who faced an intra-legislature lawsuit after they stalled bills to keep them from being signed into law is another example of a trend that may see the courts brought in to settle partisan disputes, experts tell Law360.

  • March 04, 2025

    Dems Demand Halt To Trump Admin's Tribal Program Cuts

    More than 100 Democratic lawmakers have urged the Trump administration to halt any executive orders that hurt programs and services in Indian Country, saying in a letter to the White House that the U.S. government must honor its trust and treaty obligations to tribes.

  • March 04, 2025

    Minn. County Officials Claim Bias In DOI's Land Trust Decision

    A trio of Minnesota municipalities are asking a federal court for a quick win in a dispute over more than 3,000 acres taken into trust for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians, arguing that the decisions are the product of an unconstitutionally biased process.

  • March 04, 2025

    House Aviation Panel Weighs Air Traffic Control Fixes

    Aviation workers' unions and industry stakeholders told lawmakers on Tuesday that years of political inertia and more recent tumult related to the federal workforce firings are impacting efforts to hire more air traffic controllers and overhaul the nation's outdated and overburdened ATC system.

  • March 04, 2025

    Fla. Med Mal Damages Loophole Facing Lawmaker Scrutiny

    With the new legislative session now underway in the Florida Legislature, state lawmakers are once again considering doing away with a statute that plaintiffs attorneys say unfairly and arbitrarily limits pain-and-suffering damages in fatal medical malpractice cases, but healthcare providers are saying not so fast.

  • March 04, 2025

    House GOP Push WH Right To Send State Cases To Fed. Court

    House Republicans on Tuesday rallied behind a bill that would let current and former presidents move state cases against them to federal court, calling the legislation a response to weaponized prosecutions of President Donald Trump.

  • March 04, 2025

    10th Circ. Upholds EPA Approval Of Colo. Smog Plan Changes

    A Tenth Circuit panel on Tuesday affirmed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's approval of two changes to Colorado's plan to bring Denver and the northern Front Range into compliance with ozone pollution standards, rejecting a challenge brought by conservation groups.

  • March 04, 2025

    Trump To Drop Biden-Era Suit Against Idaho Abortion Ban

    The Trump administration has said it plans to drop a federal lawsuit alleging that Idaho's strict abortion ban conflicts with a federal emergency stabilization law, a reversal from the Biden administration's legal efforts that fought the ban up to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

  • March 04, 2025

    Ruger Must Face Colorado Shooting Suits In Connecticut

    Connecticut-based gunmaker Sturm Ruger & Co. Inc. must face two lawsuits in its home state over a 2021 mass shooting in a Boulder, Colorado, supermarket, a Connecticut judge has ruled, citing the state's interest in policing harms its businesses may cause in other jurisdictions.

  • March 04, 2025

    CFPB Says Ga. Enforcement Atty 'No Longer Employed' There

    Another Consumer Financial Protection Bureau attorney, based out of the agency's Atlanta regional office, has left the bureau as it faces uncertainty under President Donald Trump's administration.

  • March 04, 2025

    DC Circ. Doubts FERC Was Wrong To OK Tennessee Pipeline

    The D.C. Circuit struggled to understand just where environmentalists think FERC messed up when approving a Tennessee pipeline project that would serve a gas-fired power plant that's set to replace a coal-fired one, expressing varying degrees of doubt Monday during arguments.

  • March 04, 2025

    Bored Ape NFT Maker, Crypto Co. Say SEC Threats Are Over

    The crypto arm of trading firm DRW Holdings LLC and the company behind the celebrity-endorsed non-fungible token project known as the Bored Ape Yacht Club say that they are the latest in a string of digital asset firms to see the back of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

  • March 04, 2025

    Special Master Recommends Win For UnitedHealth In FCA Suit

    A massive False Claims Act case targeting Medicare Advantage plans operated by UnitedHealth relies on "speculation and assumptions," according to a special master's report that recommends ruling in the company's favor and ending the lawsuit.

  • March 04, 2025

    3rd Circ. Says Pa. GOP Can't Challenge Biden's Voting Order

    The Third Circuit on Tuesday ruled that Republican lawmakers from Pennsylvania lack the standing to challenge former President Joe Biden's executive order expanding "get-out-the-vote" information, reasoning that the individual politicians could not bring a suit claiming an injury on behalf of the state Legislature.

  • March 04, 2025

    DC Judge Blocks Trump Admin From Removing MSPB Chair

    President Donald Trump illegally attempted to fire the Merit Systems Protection Board chair without cause, a D.C. federal judge ruled Tuesday, repudiating the administration's arguments that removal protections for board members violate the U.S. Constitution.

  • March 04, 2025

    IRS Drops Push To Penalize Ex-Braves Players For Fraud

    The federal government dropped its push Tuesday to reinstate civil fraud penalties against a partnership founded by former Atlanta Braves players John Smoltz and Ryan Klesko in their Eleventh Circuit appeal of a decision slashing their $47 million deduction for a conservation easement donation.

Expert Analysis

  • 10 Key Worker-Friendly California Employment Law Updates

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    New employment laws in California expand employee rights, transparency and enforcement mechanisms, and failing to educate department managers on these changes could put employers at risk, says Melanie Ronen at Stradley Ronon.

  • FTC Report On AI Sector Illuminates Future Enforcement

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    The Federal Trade Commission's report on cloud service providers and their partnerships with developers of artificial intelligence's large language models suggests that the agency will move to rein in Big Tech with antitrust enforcement to protect startups, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • FCA Enforcement Would Make Trump's Tariffs More Effective

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    In implementing its trade policies, the Trump administration is likely to employ the False Claims Act, a powerful enforcement tool that would give tariffs and customs duties teeth, help raise promised revenue and prevent evaders from gaining a competitive advantage, says Sam Buffone at Buffone Law.

  • End-Of-Year FCPA Enforcement Surge Holds Clues For 2025

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    The last three months of 2024 saw more Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions than any quarter in the previous four years, providing lessons for companies — even as a new administration raises doubts about whether this momentum will continue, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • What's Next For Accounting Enforcement After SEC's Big 2024

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the Trump administration will likely continue to focus enforcement efforts on many of the same accounting and auditing issues that it pursued over the past year — but other areas, such as ESG, internal controls and cryptocurrency cases, may fall out of focus, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Mentorship Resolutions For The New Year

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    Attorneys tend to focus on personal achievements or career milestones when they set yearly goals, but one important area often gets overlooked in this process — mentoring relationships, which are some of the most effective tools for professional growth, say Kelly Galligan at Rutan & Tucker and Andra Greene at Phillips ADR.

  • Trump's Energy Plans For Generation, Transmission And More

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    The executive orders and presidential memoranda issued by President Donald Trump on the day of his inauguration, unwinding the Biden administration's energy policies and encouraging development of fossil fuels, may have significant impacts on the generation mix, electric transmission construction and the state regulatory environment, say attorneys at Polsinelli.

  • Insights For Finance Firms, Regulators From House AI Report

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    Though a U.S. House of Representatives report encourages the financial sector to embrace artificial intelligence tools, its focus on ensuring high-quality datasets, transparent development and equitable access underscores that firms and regulators must strike a delicate balance between technological innovation and responsible implementation, says Brendan Palfreyman at Harris Beach.

  • LA Wildfires' Effect On Calif. Insurer Of Last Resort

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    Attorneys at Willkie discuss the background of California's insurer of last resort — known as the Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan — and examine the process of assessing member insurers and relevant recent property insurance market developments in light of the destruction from the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires.

  • How PAGA Reform Can Inform Employer Strategies In 2025

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    While recent changes to California's Private Attorneys General Act will not significantly reduce PAGA claims, employers can use the new law to potentially limit their future exposure, by taking advantage of penalty reduction opportunities and more, say attorneys at Thompson Coburn.

  • Takeaways From FDA's Updated Confirmatory Trial Guidance

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's latest draft guidance about accelerated drug approval indicates the FDA's intent to address the significant lag time between accelerated approval and full approval of drugs and may help motivate the industry to complete confirmatory trials, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Key Trends In PFAS Regulation And Litigation For 2025

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    The critical policy milestones for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances expected in 2025 will not only shape the trajectory of PFAS regulation, but also set key precedents for environmental accountability, potentially reshaping the corporate approach to these "forever chemicals" for decades to come, say attorneys at MG+M.

  • Inside New Commerce Tech Restrictions: Key Risk Takeaways

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    While there are a few limitations on the scope of a new final rule restricting certain foreign adversary products and technologies, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security retains sweeping authority to regulate an array of risk areas, says Peter Jeydel at Troutman.

  • The Most Important Schedule I Drug Regulatory Shifts Of 2024

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    In 2024, psychedelics and cannabis emerged as focal points in medical research, marking a pivotal year in their legal and regulatory journey, but these developments presented both opportunities and challenges within this evolving field, say Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell and Stephen Kim at Avicanna.

  • California's New Homeowner Law Could Hamper Foreclosures

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    While A.B. 2424, which took effect this month in California, gives homeowners in default additional protections, it also provides loopholes that can be used to delay foreclosure auctions, and the cost of these delays will likely be passed on to the borrower, says Stephen Britt at Severson & Werson.

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