Public Policy

  • February 28, 2025

    CFPB Endgame Is Just 'Five Men And A Phone,' Filings Allege

    Current and former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau employees alleged in D.C. federal court filings that the Trump administration is much more aggressively trying to gut the agency than it has let on, warning it has already damaged vital functions.

  • February 28, 2025

    CFPB Won't Drop MoneyLion Suit Despite Agency Shake-Up

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau told a New York federal judge Friday that the agency plans to continue pursuing its lawsuit against MoneyLion Technologies Inc. under Trump-appointed leadership despite uncertainty about the agency's future and the CFPB's recent decisions to drop other actions due to the Trump administration's policy shake-up.

  • February 28, 2025

    Texas Appeals Court Finds City Can't Take Oncor Streetlights

    A Texas appeals court found Killeen, Texas, can't claim sovereign immunity to evade a suit seeking to stop the city from taking possession of streetlights owned by a utility company, finding Friday the utility company had presented a viable constitutional claim.

  • February 28, 2025

    Ga. Can Cap Wrongful Death Damages, US Chamber Says

    The U.S. and Georgia chambers of Commerce have urged the Supreme Court of Georgia to find that its 2010 decision striking down a $350,000 cap on noneconomic medical malpractice damages as unconstitutional should not prevent the court from allowing a similar cap in wrongful death claims.

  • February 28, 2025

    Trump Can't 'Erase' Trans People Via Order, Wash. Judge Says

    A Washington federal judge late Friday blocked parts of two of President Donald Trump's executive orders that cut off funding for gender-affirming care for young people, ruling that they violate the Constitution's separation of powers and equal protection guarantees.

  • February 28, 2025

    Calif. Tribe Didn't Comply With Tobacco Laws, Judge Says

    Federal tobacco regulators were justified in blocking the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians from shipping cigarettes after its wholesale products were resold to people without tribal affiliation, a California federal judge has ruled in a lawsuit that argued the concept of tribal sovereignty was being turned on its head.

  • February 28, 2025

    Ex-Iranian Intel Official Accused Of Torture In Fla. Suit

    A former top Iranian intelligence official was accused of human rights abuses in a Florida federal lawsuit brought by three California men, alleging he played a major role in maintaining the deposed shah's repressive regime through the arrest, mass torture and imprisonment of perceived political dissidents.

  • February 28, 2025

    OPM Tells Agencies To Give On-The-Clock Union Task Info

    The U.S. Office of Personnel Management's acting director instructed federal agency heads to submit information about the official time unionized workers spent negotiating, handling grievances and engaging in labor-management relations, issuing the memorandum to carry out President Donald Trump's aim of restoring "efficiency and accountability" in the government.

  • February 28, 2025

    T-Mobile Touts Broadband Benefits Of US Cellular Deal

    T-Mobile continues to make its case to the Federal Communications Commission in the hopes of earning the agency's blessing on the mobile behemoth's $4.4 billion plan to pick up rival UScellular's wireless business since it holds the key to the transfer of all the latter company's licenses.

  • February 28, 2025

    FCC Slaps Pirate Radio Stations With $400K In Fines

    The Federal Communications Commission fined two people almost $400,000 Friday for running a pair of illegal radio stations, with the agency saying that it was putting "other pirate radio operators on notice."

  • February 28, 2025

    Group Blasts Judge's Call For Women In Contraception MDL

    A judicial organization dedicated to fighting "leftist lawfare" filed a complaint Thursday against the Florida federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation over the hormonal contraceptive drug Depo-Provera, claiming that her comments about women needing to be represented in the MDL leadership show an impermissible bias.

  • February 28, 2025

    Calif. Justices Revive Yacht Club Worker's Injury Suit

    The California Supreme Court has revived a suit brought by a yacht club maintenance worker seeking to hold his employer liable for his workplace injuries under federal maritime law, saying the law preempts California's workers' compensation statute.

  • February 28, 2025

    Trump Admin Cuts Raise Trade Secret Security Concerns

    As the Trump administration reduces the size of the federal government, intellectual property attorneys are expressing concerns about the continued safeguarding of trade secrets that companies are required to disclose to certain agencies.

  • February 28, 2025

    5 Argument Sessions Benefits Attys Should Watch In March

    The Ninth Circuit will mull Express Scripts and OptumRx's bid to force a public nuisance suit brought by the state of California into federal court, and the Second Circuit will hear from pensioners who say that IBM's use of outdated mortality tables shrank their benefits payouts. Here, Law360 looks at these and other appellate arguments happening in March that should be on benefits lawyers' radar.

  • February 28, 2025

    Up Next At High Court: Gun Violence Liability & Nuclear Waste

    The U.S. Supreme Court will return to the bench Monday to consider Mexico's attempt to hold gun manufacturers and distributors liable for cartel-related gun violence and a nuclear waste site dispute that could determine who can challenge future agency actions.

  • February 28, 2025

    More Sanctuary Jurisdictions Join Suit Against Trump Admin

    U.S. cities and counties challenging the Trump administration's targeting of sanctuary jurisdictions have escalated their legal battle to fend off federal funding cuts and civil or criminal prosecution, adding nearly a dozen more localities to the suit.

  • February 28, 2025

    Dems Sue Trump To Stop Encroachment On FEC

    The three national Democratic Party committees sued President Donald Trump in D.C. federal court Friday, saying a recent executive order undercuts the independence of the federal agency charged with enforcing campaign finance law.

  • February 28, 2025

    Presidents v. Courts: Lincoln, Trump & Judicial Power Limits

    Amid fears of President Donald Trump disobeying judges with impunity, debate has focused on famous instances of officials defying the U.S. Supreme Court. But some of the clearest insights into America's handling of White House disregard for courts exist in relatively obscure cases from the Civil War era, when unprecedented presidential actions provoked extraordinary responses from the judiciary — and underscored the limits of its powers.

  • February 28, 2025

    NJ Out-Of-State Wine Sale Limits Are Justified, 3rd. Circ. Says

    The Third Circuit on Friday upheld a New Jersey law barring out-of-state sellers to directly ship wine to in-state consumers, saying that to grant a New York retailer's challenge would "shake the foundations" of New Jersey's three-tiered system for regulating alcohol.

  • February 28, 2025

    9th Circ. Backs Developer's Conviction For Bribing LA Pol

    The Ninth Circuit upheld a developer's conviction for bribing former Los Angeles City Councilor Jose Huizar to foil a challenge to a downtown project, ruling Thursday the district court didn't have to instruct jurors that the government had to prove the developer bribed Huizar to take a specific, official act.

  • February 28, 2025

    Fla. Officials Can't Escape Authors' Suit Over Book Bans

    A Florida federal judge Friday declined to dismiss a lawsuit by six publishing houses; two parents of schoolchildren; and five bestselling authors, including Jodi Picoult and Laurie Halse Anderson, challenging a state law that restricts books in school libraries.

  • February 28, 2025

    FinCEN Delays Corporate Transparency Act Deadlines

    The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said it will not take any enforcement actions against companies failing to file or update their beneficial ownership information reports pursuant to the Corporate Transparency Act until an interim final rule becomes effective.

  • February 28, 2025

    Justices Asked To Review IRS Crypto Doc Seizure Case

    A cryptocurrency investor who lost his challenge to the Internal Revenue Service's seizure of his account records has asked the U.S. Supreme Court for review, saying the 1976 legal doctrine that sank his case is outdated and fails to meet digital realities, including decentralized banking.

  • February 28, 2025

    Off The Bench: Trans Ban Recusal Bid, Wemby Spat, Fox Suit

    In this week's Off The Bench, a Colorado federal judge won't recuse himself from a case centering on a transgender athlete over his pronoun use, the sale of a high-profile Victor Wembanyama jersey will go forward despite feverish litigation and a sprawling harassment suit against Fox Sports is shuffled from federal to state court.

  • February 28, 2025

    CFPB Drops TransUnion Suit In Enforcement Retreat

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Friday voluntarily dismissed, with prejudice, a lawsuit against TransUnion alleging deceptive marketing practices, and another suit against 1st Alliance Lending LLC alleging deceptive mortgage lending practices, the latest in a string of enforcement actions the Trump administration has dropped without explanation.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Updated HIPAA Rule Is A Necessary Step For Data Protection

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    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' updated rules addressing cybersecurity threats in healthcare will necessitate significant investment in technology, training and compliance infrastructure, but are an essential evolution in safeguarding data in an increasingly digital world, say attorneys at Clark Hill.

  • Anticipating The Maritime Sector's Future Under Trump 2.0

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    With the Republicans taking control of a governance trifecta, the maritime sector should brace for both familiar leadership and new change that could significantly shift shipping and defense priorities, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Penn State Brand Case Leaves Ornamentality Unresolved

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    While the recent jury verdict in Penn State University v. Vintage Brand was a win for the college and brands, legal practitioners should expect plenty of litigation around unaddressed ornamentality issues of whether marks that are not yet incontestable can be canceled for being used solely in decorative, non-source-identifying ways, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • 2024 Was A Banner Year For Shareholder Activism

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    Shareholder activism campaigns in 2024 continued at an elevated pace globally, with activist investors exploiting valuation gaps and pushing aggressively for corporate governance reforms, including the ouster of many companies' chief executives, a trend that could continue once President-elect Donald Trump takes office, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Expect A Big Shake Up At The EEOC Under 2nd Trump Admin

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    During President-elect Donald Trump’s second term, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is likely to significantly shift its focus and priorities, especially where workplace DEI initiatives, immigration enforcement, LGBTQ+ rights and pregnancy protections are concerned, say attorneys at Stoel Rives.

  • Series

    Illinois Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q4

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    While the last quarter of 2024 didn't bring any notable state financial legislation, Illinois banks did see developments in the challenge to the Interchange Fee Prohibition Act, and received some awaited guidance on credit line disclosures and bank-fintech relationships, say attorneys at Dykema.

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