Public Policy

  • September 11, 2025

    4th Circ. Seems Wary Of Backing Freeze On Trump DEI Orders

    A Fourth Circuit panel appeared reluctant Thursday to uphold an injunction blocking parts of President Donald Trump's executive orders that aimed to cut grants and rein in diversity programs among federal contractors, posing tough questions to the groups who claim the orders are unconstitutional.

  • September 11, 2025

    Bill Giving White House More Control Of DC Judges Advances

    The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has advanced a bill on party lines that would abolish the commission in Washington, D.C., that vets and picks potential judicial nominees for the district's local courts.

  • September 11, 2025

    Trump Taps American Airlines Pilot For NTSB

    President Donald Trump has nominated an American Airlines pilot to serve as a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, filling a vacancy on the five-member board that's contending with a series of high-profile accident investigations.

  • September 11, 2025

    Pa. Justices Seek Fair Process For Picking Tax Appeals

    Pennsylvania's Supreme Court grappled Thursday with whether a school district's tax assessment appeals ran afoul of prior rulings upholding the uniformity clause of the state Constitution, suggesting that any criteria for choosing appeals might favor one kind of property over another.

  • September 11, 2025

    Senate Energy Panel Advances Republican FERC Nominees

    The U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Thursday advanced President Donald Trump's picks to fill Republican slots on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in a largely party-line vote.

  • September 11, 2025

    NYC Council Overrides Mayor's Vetoes On Workers' Pay

    The New York City Council overrode Mayor Eric Adams' veto of two bills that establish a minimum pay for grocery delivery drivers and roll out protections for delivery drivers, putting the legislation back on track.

  • September 11, 2025

    Montana Tribe Members Ask To Join Justices' Tariff Suit Review

    Members of the Blackfeet Nation have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to join its review of cases challenging President Donald Trump's emergency tariffs, telling the justices that their arguments' inclusion in the matter is essential to support tribal rights under federal law.

  • September 11, 2025

    Connecticut City HR Chief Loses Pay Cut Case

    A Connecticut federal judge has dismissed constitutional claims against the city of Derby and declined to hear a state-level breach of contract claim from the human resources director who said her pay was cut improperly, finding that she is not owed the salary she demanded.

  • September 11, 2025

    2nd Circ. Axes Hotel's Appeal After Town Drops Zoning Suit

    The Second Circuit tossed a hotel's appeal bid for a district court order that remanded a New York town's zoning suit concerning asylum seekers staying at the hotel, ruling Thursday that it will also vacate the remand order because the town permanently dropped its suit against the hotel.

  • September 11, 2025

    Nadine Menendez Gets 4½ Years In Bribery Case

    A Manhattan federal judge on Thursday sentenced Nadine Menendez to 4½ years in prison following her conviction at trial for aiding her husband Bob Menendez's corruption by acting as the go-between for bribe payments made to the former U.S. senator to help further the business and personal interests of three New Jersey businessmen.

  • September 10, 2025

    Feds Barred From Axing 30-Year Noncitizen Services, For Now

    A Rhode Island federal judge Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from enacting a policy change requiring immigration status checks for a number of federally funded community services, saying a coalition of Democratic-led states is likely to succeed in its assertion that the move is unconstitutional, as well as arbitrary and capricious.

  • September 10, 2025

    Long Island Town Hit With Another Pot Shop Suit Over Zoning

    The Long Island town of Southampton, New York, was hit with another lawsuit accusing it of weaponizing its zoning to block marijuana shops from opening, with the latest suit claiming it changed its laws at the last minute to prohibit an all but ready-to-open retail shop, wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars the cannabis entrepreneur spent.

  • September 10, 2025

    Cannabis Co. Says Battle With Activists Was Tossed Too Soon

    A multistate cannabis company told a New Jersey state appeals court on Wednesday that its lawsuit against local opponents of a cultivation facility was prematurely dismissed, while the activists countered that the case amounted to a strategic lawsuit against public participation cloaked in land-use litigation.

  • September 10, 2025

    NC Justice Probes 'Scalia-Style' View Of Waste Fee Law

    A North Carolina Supreme Court justice probed the expansiveness of counsel's argument over a county's solid waste ordinance Wednesday, wondering if channeling a "Justice Scalia"-style reading of the text suggests that a property owner could hire a private waste collector just once a year to sidestep an annual fee.

  • September 10, 2025

    FCC's Carr Says Agency Clawbacks Save More Than $9M

    The Federal Communications Commission will be clawing back more than $9 million in overpayments that it says it mistakenly made to telecoms and discovered as part of an audit of the "antiquated high-cost program."

  • September 10, 2025

    DHS Moves To End Suit Over Protected Status Terminations

    Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem urged a California federal judge to end a lawsuit challenging her termination of temporary protection statuses for immigrants from Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal seeking refuge from environmental and political crises, arguing Tuesday the court lacks jurisdiction since her determinations are shielded from judicial review.

  • September 10, 2025

    DOJ Retreats From Reunification Claim In Kids Removal Suit

    A government attorney told a D.C. federal judge Wednesday she couldn't contest a Guatemalan government report undercutting the Trump administration's claim that it tried to deport 76 unaccompanied minors over Labor Day weekend to reunite them with their parents.

  • September 10, 2025

    FCC Sticks With Nearly $1M Pirate Radio Fine

    A New York City area man was slapped with a nearly $1 million Federal Communications Commission fine Wednesday for operating an illegal radio station, after the agency says he ignored the notice warning that they intended to fine him for nearly a year.

  • September 10, 2025

    Fla. Rep. Accuses Primary Rival Of Defamation In $1M Suit

    A Florida member of Congress sued a primary challenger and is seeking at least $1 million in damages after alleging he defamed her in various campaign statements posted to the internet and in published newspaper columns. 

  • September 10, 2025

    FCC Calls Preemption The Way To Rush Telecom Deployment

    The Federal Communications Commission is considering making a "rocket docket" for permitting disputes and blocking states and localities from denying small cell wireless permits based on aesthetic concerns, according to a rule update the agency is proposing.

  • September 10, 2025

    Trump Admin's Push To Sunset Energy Regs Faces Hurdles

    Legal obligations and practical challenges may hamstring the Trump administration's efforts to wipe out as many energy regulations as possible, making the moves vulnerable to lawsuits while creating uncertainty for the energy industry.

  • September 10, 2025

    Texas Gov. Issues Executive Order On Hemp Products For Kids

    Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday issued an executive order requiring state agencies to implement rules restricting the sale of hemp-derived psychoactive products to anyone under the age of 21.

  • September 10, 2025

    Md. Appeals Court Says Psychoactive Hemp Wares Illegal

    A Maryland appeals court on Tuesday ruled that products containing psychoactive compounds derived from hemp are illegal, delivering a blow to a coalition of hemp interests that brought a constitutional challenge to the state's recreational marijuana legalization law.

  • September 10, 2025

    Airbnb Presses Bid To Toss Conservative Shareholders' Suit

    Airbnb Inc. is urging a Delaware federal judge to reject a lawsuit from two conservative institutional shareholders, arguing that delivery of the groups' shareholder proposals to the company's mail room doesn't suggest executives sought to exclude the submissions from the company's 2025 proxy materials.

  • September 10, 2025

    3rd Circ. Questions NJ's Bid To Block Kalshi's Sports Bets

    The Third Circuit seemed prepared on Wednesday to block New Jersey from enforcing a sports gambling ban on trading platform KalshiEx, with at least one judge arguing the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's authority to regulate the event contracts space "seems quite broad."

Expert Analysis

  • How DOJ's New Data Security Rules Leave HIPAA In The Dust

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recently effective data security requirements carry profound implications for how healthcare providers collect, store, share and use data — and approach vendor oversight — that go far beyond the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.

  • Opinion

    Section 1983 Has Promise After End Of Nationwide Injunctions

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down the practice of nationwide injunctions in Trump v. Casa, Section 1983 civil rights suits can provide a better pathway to hold the government accountable — but this will require reforms to qualified immunity, says Marc Levin at the Council on Criminal Justice.

  • Courts Redefining Software As Product Generates New Risks

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    A recent wave of litigation against social media platforms, chatbot developers and ride-hailing companies has some courts straying from the traditional view of software as a service to redefining software as a product, with significant implications for strict liability exposure, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Trump's 2nd Term Puts Merger Remedies Back On The Table

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    In contrast with the Biden administration, the second Trump administration has signaled a renewed willingness to resolve merger enforcement concerns through remedies from the outset, particularly when the proposed fix is structural, clearly addresses the harm and does not require burdensome oversight, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Why Bank Regulators' Proposed Leverage Tweak Matters

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    Banking agencies' recent proposal to modify the enhanced supplementary leverage ratio framework applicable to the largest U.S. banks shows the regulators are keen to address concerns that the regulatory capital framework is too restrictive, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Corp. Human Rights Regulatory Landscape Is Fragmented

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    Given the complexity of compliance with nations' overlapping human rights laws, multinational companies need to be cognizant of the evolving approaches to modern slavery transparency, and proposals that could reduce mandatory due diligence and reporting requirements, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • How Banks Can Harness New Customer ID Rule's Flexibility

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    Banking regulators' update to the customer identification process, allowing banks to collect some information from third parties rather than directly from customers, helps modernize anti-money laundering compliance and carries advantages for financial institutions that embrace the new approach, say attorneys at Bradley Arant.

  • CEQA Reform May Spur More Housing, But Devil Is In Details

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    A recently enacted law reforming the California Environmental Quality Act has been touted by state leaders as a fix for the state's housing crisis — but provisions including a new theoretically optional traffic mitigation fee could offset any potential benefits, says attorney David Smith.

  • Opinion

    Premerger Settlements Don't Meet Standard For Bribery

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    Claims that Paramount’s decision to settle a lawsuit with President Donald Trump while it was undergoing a premerger regulatory review amounts to a quid pro quo misconstrue bribery law and ignore how modern legal departments operate, says Ediberto Román at the Florida International University College of Law.

  • Texas Med Spas Must Prepare For 2 New State Laws

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    Two new laws in Texas — regulating elective intravenous therapy and reforming healthcare noncompetes — mark a pivotal shift in the regulatory framework for medical spas in the state, which must proactively adapt their operations and contractual practices, says Brad Cook at Munsch Hardt.

  • What EPA Chemical Data Deadline Extension Means For Cos.

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    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's extension for manufacturers and importers of 16 chemical substances to report unpublished health and safety studies under the Toxic Substances Control Act could lead to state regulators stepping into the breach, while creating compliance risks and uncertainty for companies, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Series

    Playing Soccer Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Soccer has become a key contributor to how I approach my work, and the lessons I’ve learned on the pitch about leadership, adaptability, resilience and communication make me better at what I do every day in my legal career, says Whitney O’Byrne at MoFo.

  • How Trump Cybersecurity EO Narrows Biden-Era Standards

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    President Donald Trump recently signed Executive Order No. 14306, which significantly narrows the scope and ambition of a Biden executive order focused on raising federal cybersecurity standards among federal vendors, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Forced Labor Bans Hold Steady Amid Shifts In Global Trade

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    As businesses try to navigate shifting regulatory trends affecting human rights and sustainability, forced labor import bans present a zone of relative stability, notwithstanding outstanding questions about the future of enforcement, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Grappling With Workforce-Related Immigration Enforcement

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    To withstand the tightening of workforce-related immigration rules and the enforcement uptick we are seeing in the U.S. and elsewhere, companies must strike a balance between responding quickly to regulatory changes, and developing proactive strategies that minimize risk, say attorneys at Fragomen.

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