Public Policy

  • April 16, 2025

    DOJ Resists Perkins Coie Summary Judgment Bid In EO Case

    The U.S. Department of Justice is continuing to defend President Donald Trump's March 6 order suspending security clearances held by Perkins Coie LLP attorneys, arguing on Wednesday that the BigLaw firm cannot take an early win, in part due to the firm's alleged "discriminatory employment activities" through participation in Mansfield Certification.

  • April 16, 2025

    Schumer Looks To Block Trump NY US Attorney Nominations

    Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced on Wednesday he is exercising his power to block two of President Donald Trump's nominations for U.S. attorneys, which could set up an early test for preserving the long-standing Senate blue slip tradition.

  • April 16, 2025

    Ex-US Atty Chosen To Monitor T-Mobile Merger Compliance

    The U.S. Department of Justice is looking to appoint former U.S. attorney and current Kasowitz Benson Torres partner Edward McNally as the new monitoring trustee to oversee the government's settlement with T-Mobile that cleared the way for its $26 billion acquisition of Sprint.

  • April 16, 2025

    More Students Sue Over Scrapped Foreign Student Records

    More than 130 international students accused the U.S. Department of Homeland Security of abruptly and unlawfully terminating digital visa compliance records, saying in a complaint filed in Georgia federal court that the data deletion puts them at risk of arrest, detention and deportation. 

  • April 16, 2025

    DC Judge Mulls Contempt For Gov't Over 'Rushed' Removals

    U.S. District Judge James Boasberg found probable cause on Wednesday to hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt for willfully violating his order barring removals of Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act, despite the U.S. Supreme Court having vacated that order.

  • April 16, 2025

    Trump Ousts Democrats From NCUA Board In Latest Purge

    The National Credit Union Administration's two Democratic board members said Wednesday that President Donald Trump has fired them from the agency, a purge they are slamming as politically motivated and a threat to regulatory independence.

  • April 16, 2025

    California Challenges Trump's Economic Emergency Tariffs

    The California state government filed suit Wednesday challenging President Donald Trump's recent use of a law that has allowed him to unilaterally impose broad and aggressive tariffs on imports entering the U.S.

  • April 16, 2025

    Judge Restores EPA Grant Funds For Climate Change Groups

    A D.C. federal judge has ordered Citibank NA to start disbursing Biden-era federal grant funding to nonprofits working on climate change projects, and blocked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's effort to terminate the grants.

  • April 15, 2025

    Judge Tells Feds To Unfreeze Climate, Infrastructure Funds

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies must "turn the funding spigots back on" while environmental groups challenge the Trump administration's decision to cut congressionally approved dollars for infrastructure, agriculture, climate and other initiatives, a Rhode Island federal judge ruled Tuesday.

  • April 15, 2025

    Trump Cites U.S. Security To Investigate Critical Minerals Tax

    President Donald Trump on Tuesday issued an executive order launching a so-called Section 232 national security tariff investigation into the United States' reliance on imported processed critical minerals, citing his belief that "an overreliance ... could jeopardize U.S. defense capabilities."

  • April 15, 2025

    Zuckerberg Calls Buying Rival, Building Co. Two Sides Of 1 Coin

    Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg tried Tuesday to distance himself from internal documents describing Instagram and WhatsApp as competitive threats, pushing back on Federal Trade Commission monopolization claims by arguing in D.C. federal court that the owner of Facebook was always focused on improvements to itself and the acquisitions.

  • April 15, 2025

    New Mexico Pueblos Allowed Into Fed Mineral Lease Ban Suit

    A pair of Native American pueblos can intervene in a Navajo Nation suit seeking to undo a Biden administration order withdrawing federal land from new mineral leasing around Chaco Canyon, a federal magistrate judge ruled Tuesday.

  • April 15, 2025

    Colo. Gov. Ignored Ex-Official's Race Bias Concerns, Suit Says

    A former commissioner of Colorado's Behavioral Health Administration filed a race discrimination lawsuit on Tuesday accusing Gov. Jared Polis and his former chief of staff of ignoring reports that she was treated worse than peers because she is African American and then firing her for complaining.

  • April 15, 2025

    Trump Orders Overhaul Of Federal Contracting Rules

    President Donald Trump issued orders Tuesday aimed at simplifying and reducing the costs of federal contracting for both government and contractors, directing agencies to pare back the Federal Acquisition Regulation to only "essential" requirements and to prioritize commercial item purchases.

  • April 15, 2025

    9th Circ. Told Oregon Hospital Merger Law Flouts Due Process

    A hospital trade group urged the Ninth Circuit on Monday to block an Oregon law allowing the Oregon Health Authority to review proposed healthcare business consolidations, arguing the law is "unconstitutionally vague" and bestows unlimited power on the agency to block healthcare transactions in the state.

  • April 15, 2025

    OCC Pledges Transparency Amid 'Ongoing' Breach Review

    Following a "major" breach of its email system, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said it is still figuring out what sensitive information was accessed and will let banks know individually if material on them or their customers was included.

  • April 15, 2025

    Ga. Justices Wary Of Precedent In Gun Carry Age Limit Case

    Georgia's justices on Tuesday questioned whether they would have to overturn more than a century's worth of precedent to revive a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Peach State's statutory prohibition on adults under the age of 21 carrying handguns in public.

  • April 15, 2025

    Ill. Senator Takes Stand To Defend Self On Bribery Charges

    An Illinois senator accused of agreeing to take a bribe from a red-light camera executive testified Tuesday that passing bills is "a numbers game" at the state Capitol, and it requires sorting through some dishonest organizations and lobbyists to obtain the information necessary to vote on them.

  • April 15, 2025

    Fired NLRB, MSPB Members Tell Justices Not To Rush Ruling

    A pair of fired independent regulators implored the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to reject President Donald Trump's bid to keep them unemployed while they challenge his authority to fire them without cause, arguing his new attack on a century-old precedent doesn't qualify as an emergency that the high court must address.

  • April 15, 2025

    DC Asks Judge To Narrow Nursing Home Ruling

    The District of Columbia urged a D.C. federal judge on Tuesday to narrow an injunction requiring it to do more to help disabled nursing home residents transition into the community, arguing the order reaches beyond the class of plaintiffs and is too vague.

  • April 15, 2025

    DC Circ. Again Nixes Challenge To $44B Alaska LNG Project

    The D.C. Circuit rejected a challenge by conservation groups against the U.S. Department of Energy's reapproval of a $44 billion liquefied natural gas project in Alaska, ruling Tuesday the department's conclusion regarding uncertainty over the project's effects on greenhouse gases was supported by "overwhelming evidence" in its environmental impact statements.

  • April 15, 2025

    Cops At Insurrection Ask Justices To Let Them Stay Incognito

    Four current and former Seattle police officers who attended the 2021 Jan. 6 "Stop the Steal" insurrection in D.C. have made an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to stay a ruling by Washington state's high court that barred the officers from litigating their state court privacy claims using John Doe pseudonyms.

  • April 15, 2025

    Japan Orders Google To Stop Android Licensing Practice

    Japan's competition enforcer became the latest global authority to take on Google's Android licensing practices Tuesday, ordering the search giant to stop requiring phone manufacturers and mobile carriers to preinstall its apps on their devices.

  • April 15, 2025

    3 USPTO Updates You Should Know About

    Probationary patent examiners and trademark examining attorneys within 50 miles of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Virginia offices will have to start working from those facilities, one of three recent changes at the agency. Here's what you need to know.

  • April 15, 2025

    SpaceX Blasts GE Healthcare Effort To 'Slow Roll' Spectrum

    GE Healthcare Technologies has asked the Federal Communications Commission to hold off on issuing authorizations for space launch operations in a certain slice of spectrum used by the healthcare industry, and SpaceX is steaming mad about it.

Expert Analysis

  • Avoiding Pitfalls Around New Calif. Commercial Lease Law

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    A California law that became effective this year requires commercial landlords to extend certain protections previously afforded to residential tenancies, and a few key provisions of the law especially warrant reexamination of leasing and operational processes, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • How BigLaw Executive Orders May Affect Smaller Firms

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    Because of the types of cases they take on, solo practitioners, small law firms and public interest attorneys may find themselves more dramatically affected by the collective impact of recent government action involving the legal industry than even the BigLaw firms named in the executive orders, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Filial Consortium Claims' Future After Conn. High Court Ruling

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    While the Connecticut Supreme Court recently ruled for defendants in rejecting parents’ attempt to recover loss of companionship damages in a severe child injury case, there is still potential for the plaintiffs bar to lobby for a law that would allow filial consortium claims, Glenn Coffin at Gordon Rees.

  • 5 Tools To Help Existing Gov't Contracts Manage Tariff Costs

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    Five pointers can help government contractors scrutinize their existing contracts for protections like equitable adjustment and duty-free entry clauses, which may help insulate them from tariff-related cost increases, say attorneys at Covington.

  • 4th Circ. Health Data Ruling Opens Door To State Law Claims

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    In Real Time Medical v. PointClickCare, the Fourth Circuit recently clarified that state law claims can rest in part on violations of a federal law that prohibits electronic health information blocking, expanding legal risks for health IT companies and potentially creating exposure to a range of competitive implications, say attorneys at BCLP.

  • Opinion

    Lawsuits Shouldn't Be Shadow Assets For Foreign Capital

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    Third-party litigation financing amplifies inefficiencies from litigation and facilitates national exposure to foreign influence in the U.S. justice system, so full disclosure of financing arrangements should be required as a matter of institutional integrity, says Roland Eisenhuth at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

  • 2 Del. Rulings Reinforce Proof Needed For Records Demands

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    Two recent Delaware Court of Chancery decisions involving Amazon and Paramount Global illustrate the significance of the credible basis standard on books and records requests, underscoring that stockholders seeking to investigate wrongdoing must come forward with actual evidence of misconduct — not mere allegations, say attorneys at Cleary.

  • How To Accelerate Your Post-Attorney Career Transition

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    Professionals seeking to transition to nonattorney careers may encounter skepticism as nontraditional candidates, but there are opportunities for thought leadership and to leverage speaking and writing to accelerate a post-attorney career transition, say Janet Falk at Falk Communications and Evgeny Efremkin at Toronto Metropolitan University.

  • Key Takeaways From The 2025 Spring Antitrust Meeting

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    Leadership changes, shifting priorities and evolving enforcement tools dominated the conversation at the recent American Bar Association Spring Antitrust Meeting, as panelists explored competition policy under a second Trump administration, agency discretion under the 2023 merger guidelines and new frontiers in conduct enforcement, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • 3 Action Items For Innovators Amid Fintech Regulatory Pivot

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    As the federal banking agencies seek to smooth the way for banks to engage in crypto-related activities, banks and technology companies should take note of this new chapter in payments services, especially as leadership in digital financial technology becomes a national priority, says Jess Cheng at Wilson Sonsini.

  • What PFAS-Treated Clothing Tariff Bill Would Mean For Cos.

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    In keeping with a nationwide trend of greater restrictions on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, legislation pending in the U.S. House of Representatives would remove tariff advantages for PFAS-treated clothing — so businesses would be wise to proactively adapt their supply chains and review contracts to mitigate liability, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • How Tariffs May Affect Proxy Contests This Season

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    While global tariffs imposed by the Trump administration will certainly chill at least some activity this proxy season, and make defending contests significantly easier, there will likely be many new activist investments once there is more economic certainty, meaning more proxy fights this fall, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Running A Compliant DEI Program After EEOC, DOJ Guidance

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    Following recent guidance from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice that operationalized the Trump administration's focus on ending so-called illegal DEI, employers don't need to eliminate DEI programs, but they must ensure that protected characteristics are not considered in employment decisions, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • A Closer Look At New NYSE, Nasdaq Listing Rule Changes

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has recently approved changes to the New York Stock Exchange's and the Nasdaq's listing rules on reverse stock splits, minimum share price requirements and required liquidity for initial listings, meaning listed companies facing delisting will have fewer means to regain compliance, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.

  • Opinion

    GENIUS Act Can Bring Harmony To Crypto-Banking Discord

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    ​​​​​​​By embracing crypto innovation while establishing appropriate guardrails, the so-called GENIUS Act charts a path forward that promotes financial inclusion and technological advancement without compromising stability or constitutional rights, says J.W. Verret at George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School.

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