Public Policy

  • March 11, 2025

    Conservationists Sue FWS Over 'Blanket' Species Rule

    Two conservation groups are suing the U.S. Department of the Interior in Montana federal court over an Endangered Species Act rule they say illegally gives the government power to indiscriminately restrict landowners' use of their property.

  • March 11, 2025

    FTC Defends Southern Glazer's Pricing Case

    The Federal Trade Commission is defending its price discrimination case against alcohol distributor Southern Glazer's, telling a California federal judge Monday that the company's move to dismiss the suit "misapprehends applicable case law, ignores key allegations, and overstates the factual detail required of the pleading standard."

  • March 11, 2025

    DOJ's RealPage Antitrust Case Gets New Judge

    The U.S. Department of Justice's price-fixing lawsuit against algorithmic real estate pricing company RealPage is getting a new judge due to a conflict.

  • March 11, 2025

    BigLaw Firms Join To Support Del. Corporate Law Changes

    Twenty-one law firms with Delaware corporate practices have jointly endorsed pending state legislation, S.B. 21, that aims to narrow stockholder avenues for challenging corporate acts and clarify the definition of company controllers.

  • March 11, 2025

    FERC Can't Defend Its Enforcement Powers, Energy Co. Says

    An energy efficiency aggregator insists that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission doesn't have the authority to pursue a market manipulation case against it, telling a North Carolina federal judge that just because it can contest a penalty in court doesn't mean its constitutional rights haven't been violated.

  • March 11, 2025

    Former Immigration Judges Defend Legal Services Programs

    A group of former immigration judges and Board of Immigration Appeals members told a D.C. federal judge that legal services programs for unrepresented detained immigrants that the Trump administration stopped funding help the courts function more efficiently.

  • March 11, 2025

    CMA's Big Tech Enforcement To Focus On UK Impact

    An official for the Competition and Markets Authority said the agency will focus enforcement efforts against technology companies on issues that have a local impact in the United Kingdom and is less likely to act on issues already being addressed by other authorities.

  • March 11, 2025

    NYC Workers Can't Revive Fossil Fuel Divestment Challenge

    A New York state appeals court refused Tuesday to reopen a lawsuit claiming several New York City pension plans unlawfully put politics over municipal employees' financial needs by divesting $3.9 billion from fossil fuels, backing a trial court's determination that the workers hadn't shown their benefits were affected.

  • March 11, 2025

    Split 2nd Circ. Says Court Records Rule Flouts Free Speech

    A split panel of the Second Circuit said Tuesday that Vermont's new rule restricting access to newly filed state court complaints until they can be reviewed by court staff is unconstitutional in its current form, with one judge arguing that the majority's ruling will stifle innovation in judicial procedures.

  • March 11, 2025

    Colo. Justices Uneasy About Reach Of Xcel's Immunity Claim

    Colorado's justices were concerned Tuesday about the potentially far-reaching consequences of Xcel Energy's claim that a regulatory tariff limits its liability from a man's personal injury claim, with one justice asking if it would be a "severe derogation of common law" for regulators to grant the utility such broad immunity.

  • March 11, 2025

    'Victim Of Its Own Success': The Federalist Society's Shift

    The Federalist Society can now boast long-sought victories and point to scores of federal judges appointed from its ranks. But its alliance with President Donald Trump may bring about a reckoning within the conservative legal movement.

  • March 11, 2025

    Eric Adams Case Dying Slow Death In 'Sovereign' District

    Experts say New York City Mayor Eric Adams' criminal corruption case appears on track to be tossed permanently — a looming development that could signal the end of the fierce independence of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

  • March 11, 2025

    Threats Against Judges 'Top Priority,' Fed. Judiciary Says

    Protecting federal judges is a "top priority" as violent threats spike against a polarized political backdrop, making congressional funding for additional security measures more important than ever, the U.S. Judicial Conference said Tuesday.

  • March 11, 2025

    NJ Power Broker Fights Civil Suit After Criminal Case Victory

    South Jersey power broker George Norcross and his brother moved this week to dismiss a civil racketeering suit against them arguing that the plaintiff's claims "parroted" a criminal indictment against them that was recently dismissed.

  • March 11, 2025

    California Entities Escape State Judge's Underpayment Suit

    A California state judge threw out some claims in a proposed class action from a judge who alleges she was underpaid the last several years, saying the state's retirement agency and its controller showed they didn't have much authority over judges' pay.

  • March 11, 2025

    Publix's Suit Over Ga. County's Private Attys 'Beyond Reason'

    Publix can't sue a metro Atlanta county to force it to drop its private attorneys who filed an opioid suit against the supermarket chain, the Georgia Court of Appeals has said, ruling that the company "fails to show what right the county has violated by its choice of counsel."

  • March 11, 2025

    Colorado Pot Grower Sues Regulators Over Lax Enforcement

    A Colorado cannabis grower is suing state regulators, alleging that they are failing to crack down on illegal businesses and retaliating against legitimate operations for blowing the whistle on noncompliant actors.

  • March 11, 2025

    Trump Admin Drops Suit Over COVID Nasal Spray Ads Claims

    The U.S. Department of Justice quietly moved Monday to drop a Utah federal court lawsuit filed on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission accusing a sinus nasal spray company of falsely claiming its products could help prevent and treat COVID-19.

  • March 11, 2025

    NJ High Court Approves AG Conflicts Waiver Pilot Program

    The New Jersey Supreme Court has given the go-ahead for a two-year pilot program through which the state attorney general will be allowed to waive conflicts of interest for public clients represented by the Office of the Attorney General.

  • March 11, 2025

    Bipartisan Bill Penalizing Child Labor Violations Reintroduced

    A bill that would heavily penalize companies that have been found in violation of child labor laws and would bar them from securing government contracts has been reintroduced by two senators.

  • March 11, 2025

    1st Circ. Upholds Block On Trump's Birthright Citizenship Order

    The First Circuit on Tuesday refused to disturb a Massachusetts federal judge's ruling that blocked the Trump administration's move to end birthright citizenship, rejecting the government's claim that states suing over the policy lacked standing.

  • March 11, 2025

    Utah Lawmakers OK Min. Tax Rate Consensus Certification

    Utah would require a minimum property tax rate imposed by school districts to be certified by the state's tax commission, the governor's Office of Planning and Budget and the state Legislature's Office of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst under a bill approved by state lawmakers and headed to the governor.

  • March 11, 2025

    White House Names Ex-Goldman Sachs Atty To Lead USPTO

    U.S. President Donald Trump has nominated John Squires, Goldman Sachs' former longtime chief intellectual property counsel, to serve as the next U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director.

  • March 11, 2025

    Trump Admin Must Restore $250M In Teacher Grants For Now

    A federal judge in Massachusetts late Monday ordered the Trump administration to temporarily restore $250 million in funding for teacher training grants that it had slashed over their ties to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

  • March 11, 2025

    Womble Bond Partner Named US Attorney For Western NC

    A white collar defense attorney and business litigator from Womble Bond Dickinson's Charlotte office will helm the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of North Carolina, filling a vacancy left by former U.S. Attorney Dena J. King.

Expert Analysis

  • Fund Names Rule FAQs Leave Some Interpretative Uncertainty

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    Although recently released FAQs clarify many specific points of the 2023 expansion to the Investment Company Act's fund names rule, important questions remain about how U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission staff will interpret other key terms when the end-of-year compliance date arrives, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • How Design Thinking Can Help Lawyers Find Purpose In Work

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    Lawyers everywhere are feeling overwhelmed amid mass government layoffs, increasing political instability and a justice system stretched to its limits — but a design-thinking framework can help attorneys navigate this uncertainty and find meaning in their work, say law professors at the University of Michigan.

  • Justices' Certiorari Denial Leaves Interstate Tax Questions

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    Since the U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to review a Philadelphia resident’s claim that her Delaware state income taxes should be credited against her city wage tax liabilities, constitutional questions about state and local tax distinctions linger, and some states may continue to apply Supreme Court precedent differently, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • The Fate Of Biden-Era Clinical Study Guidance Under Trump

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    Draft guidance about the study of sex and gender differences in medical product development issued by the outgoing Biden administration currently faces significant uncertainty and litigation potential due to the Trump administration's executive orders and other actions, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Biden-Era M&A Data Shows Continuity, Not Revolution

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    While the federal antitrust agencies under former President Joe Biden made broad claims about increasing merger enforcement activity, the data tells a different story, with key claims under Biden coming in at the lowest levels in decades, say attorneys at Covington.

  • What Travis Hill's Vision For FDIC Could Portend For Banks

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    If selected to lead the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in a permanent capacity, acting Chairman Travis Hill is likely to prioritize removing barriers to innovation and institution-level growth, emphasizing the idea that eliminating rules, relaxing standards and reducing scrutiny will reinvigorate the industry, say attorneys at Mitchell Sandler.

  • 10 Issues To Watch In Aerospace And Defense Contracting

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    This year, in addition to evergreen developments driven by national security priorities, disruptive new technologies and competition with rival powers, federal contractors will see significant disruptions driven by the new administration’s efforts to reduce government spending, regulation and the size of the federal workforce, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • Will Independent Federal Agencies Remain Independent?

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    For 90 years, members of multimember independent federal agencies have relied on the U.S. Supreme Court's 1935 ruling in Humphrey's Executor v. U.S. establishing the security of their positions — but as the Trump administration attempts to overturn this understanding, it is unclear how the high court will respond, says Harvey Reiter at Stinson.

  • High Court Sentencing Case Presents Legal Fork In The Road

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    On Feb. 25, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in Esteras v. U.S. about the factors trial courts may consider when imposing a sentence of imprisonment after revoking supervised release, and the justices’ eventual decision may prioritize either discretion or originalism, says Michael Freedman at The Freedman Firm.

  • 5 Major Crypto Developments From The Trump Admin So Far

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    The early weeks of the Trump administration have set the stage for a significant transformation in U.S. digital asset policy by prioritizing regulatory clarity, innovation and a shift away from enforcement-heavy tactics, but many of these changes will require congressional support and progress may be gradual, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Compliance Pointers For DOJ's Sweeping Data Security Rule

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    A new Justice Department rule broadly restricts many common data transactions with the goal of preventing access by countries of concern, and with an effective date of April 8, U.S. companies must quickly assess practices related to employee, customer and vendor data, says Sam Castic at Hintze Law.

  • Opinion

    Admin Change May Help Reduce PTAB Invalidation Rates

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    It is not good for the U.S. patent system that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board finds all challenged claims to be unpatentable 70% of the time — but new leadership at the Commerce Department and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office may foster pro-patent policies and provide some relief, says Stephen Schreiner at Carmichael IP.

  • What To Expect From The New FCC Chair

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    As a vocal critic of the Federal Communications Commission's recent priorities, newly appointed chair Brendan Carr has described a vision for the agency that would bring significant changes to telecommunication regulation and Telephone Consumer Protection Act enforcement in the U.S., say attorneys at BCLP.

  • Navigating The Trump Enviro Rollback And Its Consequences

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    The Trump administration's rapid push for environmental deregulation will lead to both opportunities and challenges, requiring companies to adopt strategic approaches to a complex, unpredictable legal environment in which federal rollbacks are countered by increased enforcement by states, and risks of citizen litigation may be heightened, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • Comparing 2 Pending Bills To Regulate Stablecoins

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    Alexandra Steinberg Barrage at Troutman analyzes the key similarities and differences between two payment stablecoin proposals currently pending in Congress — the STABLE and GENIUS acts — as both chambers are forming a working group to deliver a clear regulatory framework for digital assets and bipartisan agreement appears within reach.

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