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Public Policy

  • August 14, 2025

    Justices Allow Mississippi's Social Media Age Verification Law

    The U.S. Supreme Court said Thursday that social media giants like Facebook, X, YouTube and Reddit must comply with a Mississippi law that requires platforms to verify users' ages and obtain parental consent before minors can create accounts, while the companies challenge its constitutionality.

  • August 14, 2025

    Pa. Court Rejects Challenge To Alternative Energy Regs

    A state appeals court swatted down challenges to Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission regulations that put grid improvement and connection costs onto customers with solar and other alternative energy systems that generate excess power for sale to distribution companies.

  • August 14, 2025

    Fla. Court Says Developer Can Build On Contested Property

    A Florida appellate court has partially reversed a man's lower court win in his easement dispute with a developer that wanted to build a single-family home and install a seawall on the company's purchased Santa Rosa County property, ruling that the developer was wrongfully barred by the lower court from working on the property.

  • August 14, 2025

    Del. Lawmakers Seek Study To Fix Property Tax Assessments

    Delaware's General Assembly called for an immediate review of a recent statewide property reassessment to develop legislation to improve the state's property tax assessment process under a Senate concurrent resolution passed by state lawmakers.

  • August 14, 2025

    Hemp Sellers Can Challenge NY Raids Outside Court

    An administrative law judge has ruled that a group of hemp sellers can raise constitutional challenges in administrative proceedings over raids they say were illegally conducted by New York's Office of Cannabis Management.

  • August 13, 2025

    Trump Axes Biden Competition Order And Eases Rocket Regs

    President Donald Trump on Wednesday evening revoked an expansive Biden-era executive order that aimed to boost competition across the U.S. economy, lower prices for consumers and increase pay for workers, while issuing his own order to ease regulations on the commercial space industry to boost American rocket launches.

  • August 13, 2025

    Mich. Tribe Asks High Court To Undo Great Lakes Fishing Pact

    A Michigan tribe is asking the Supreme Court to overturn a Sixth Circuit decision to uphold a 2023 decree governing fishery management in the Great Lakes, saying the document was negotiated over its objections, restricts its treaty rights and will micromanage the waters for the next quarter-century.

  • August 13, 2025

    4th, 11th Circs. Shoot Down Local Gov't Cell Tower Denials

    Both the Fourth and the Eleventh Circuits issued decisions Wednesday allowing cell tower companies to move forward with projects over the objections of local governments that denied them permission.

  • August 13, 2025

    Fla. Detention Center Still Blocks Atty Access, Groups Say

    Civil rights groups Wednesday urged a Florida federal court to grant attorneys access to detainees located at an Everglades-based immigrant detention center in a proposed class action complaint, saying people confined at the facility aren't able to petition for their release.

  • August 13, 2025

    Shah of Iran Intel Chief Must Face Torture Claims By 3 Men

    A former top security official in the regime of Iran's former ruler, Shah Reza Pahlavi, must face a human rights abuse lawsuit by three men alleging he aided and abetted the torture of perceived political dissidents during the 1970s, a Florida federal judge said Tuesday.

  • August 13, 2025

    Andreessen Horowitz Urges SEC To Craft DeFi Safe Harbor

    Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and crypto lobby the DeFi Education Fund penned a joint letter Wednesday, urging the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to shield certain decentralized crypto projects from broker-dealer requirements.

  • August 13, 2025

    What Attys Want To Know About Lutnick's Harvard IP Threat

    After the U.S. Department of Commerce threatened last week to take control of some patents owned by Harvard University, attorneys have been questioning the practicality and legality of doing so.

  • August 13, 2025

    Ga. Defends Polling Place Food And Water Ban At 11th Circ.

    The state of Georgia urged the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday to restore a ban on handing out food and water to voters in line after it was partially blocked by a federal district judge, telling a panel that the First Amendment controversy over the restriction shouldn't outweigh the state's interest in maintaining order at polling places.

  • August 13, 2025

    NYC Pot Shops Can't Revive Suit Over Marijuana Crackdown

    A federal judge will not reconsider his decision to end a lawsuit filed by more than two dozen companies that claim their due process rights were violated when New York City closed some of their stores on claims they were unlicensed cannabis operations, saying they brought nothing new for the court to ponder.

  • August 13, 2025

    9th Circ. Greenlights Expansive Use Of Discovery Statute

    The Ninth Circuit ruled for the first time that documents produced under a foreign discovery statute may be used in proceedings other than those identified in a petition, affirming an Oregon federal court decision in an acrimonious dispute over control of a Luxembourg-based investment fund.

  • August 13, 2025

    FTC Closes Antitrust Probe Of Calif. Truck Emissions Pact

    The Federal Trade Commission has closed an antitrust investigation into Daimler, Volvo and other heavy-duty truck manufacturers after they swore off an agreement brokered with California regulators to abide by heightened emission standards.

  • August 13, 2025

    Visa Lottery Applicants Win Bid To Compel Travel Ban Record

    The Trump administration has until Thursday to disclose the administrative record behind the travel ban, which a D.C. federal judge said is necessary to weigh a bid by diversity visa lottery winners to halt what they deem an unlawful "no-visa policy."

  • August 13, 2025

    Pennsylvania Drops $2B Suit After Federal Funds Restored

    Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro voluntarily dismissed on Wednesday a lawsuit against the Trump administration seeking to restore $2 billion in federal funds designated for Pennsylvania in light of the government's release of the money.

  • August 13, 2025

    Business Groups Fail To Halt Calif. Climate Reporting Rules

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups lost a bid to block new California state regulation requiring large companies to publicly disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related financial risks that they said violated their First Amendment rights, when a federal judge Wednesday denied them preliminary injunction.

  • August 13, 2025

    Colo. Dispensary Says Weed Regulator Made Invalid Rule

    The owners of a cannabis company told a state judge on Tuesday that an industry bulletin posted about them by Colorado's marijuana regulator was "quasi-legislative" and created new enforcement rules in the industry without approval.

  • August 13, 2025

    High Court's Trans Ruling Doesn't Change Insurer's ACA Loss

    A Washington federal judge has reaffirmed his finding that Premera Blue Cross' coverage policy for gender-affirming chest surgery violates the Affordable Care Act, rejecting the insurer's bid for a redo following the Supreme Court's decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti.

  • August 13, 2025

    Trump Taps Democratic Commissioner As Acting FERC Chair

    President Donald Trump on Wednesday named Democratic Commissioner David Rosner as acting chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, citing his support for expanding the electric grid to better serve data centers and artificial intelligence, which is an administration priority.

  • August 13, 2025

    Trump Admin Bid To Kill SSA Data Suit Ruled Premature

    The Trump administration can't fight an injunction in Maryland federal court and the Fourth Circuit simultaneously, a Maryland federal judge said Wednesday, tabling the administration's dismissal bid while the Fourth Circuit considers whether to lift a ban on the Department of Government Efficiency accessing unredacted Social Security data.

  • August 13, 2025

    8th Circ. Revives Ark. Ban On Youth Gender-Affirming Care

    A split Eighth Circuit en banc panel revived an Arkansas state law banning gender-affirming care for minors, finding that a district court erred in blocking the law because it does not discriminate based on sex but instead classifies based only on age and medical procedure.

  • August 13, 2025

    Trump's Troop Deployment In Calif. Troubles Judge

    A California federal judge overseeing a bench trial over the state's claims that President Donald Trump unlawfully deployed troops there told a U.S. Justice Department lawyer Wednesday that he was troubled by the seeming lack of limits on the use of the soldiers once they're in place.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Skillful Persuasion

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    In many ways, law school teaches us how to argue, but when the ultimate goal is to get your client what they want, being persuasive through preparation and humility is the more likely key to success, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.

  • A Look At Trump 2.0 Antitrust Enforcement So Far

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    The first six months of President Donald Trump's second administration were marked by aggressive antitrust enforcement tempered by traditional structural remedies for mergers, but other unprecedented actions, like the firing of Federal Trade Commission Democrats, will likely stoke heated discussion ahead, says Richard Dagen at Axinn.

  • Reform Partly Modernizes Small Biz Stock Gains Exclusion

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    Changes to the Internal Revenue Code in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act update the qualified small business stock gains exclusion to reflect inflation, but the regime would be more in line with current business realities if Congress had also made the exemption available to additional business structures, says Mark Parthemer at Glenmede.

  • Breaking Down Novel Va. Social Media Law For Minors

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    While a Virginia bill passed in May is notable for setting a one-hour daily limit on minors' use of social media, other provisions create compliance burdens for social media operators and app store providers, and increase privacy and security risks associated with the collection of sensitive information to prove identity, says Jenna Rode at Hunton.

  • Lessons From Crackdown On Mexican Banks With Cartel Ties

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    Recent U.S. Treasury Department orders excluding three major Mexican financial institutions from the U.S. banking system for laundering drug cartel money and processing payments for fentanyl precursor chemicals offer guidance for companies in reviewing their procedures and controls to ensure they are not the next targets, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.

  • Litigation Inspiration: How To Respond After A Loss

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    Every litigator loses a case now and then, and the sting of that loss can become a medicine that strengthens or a poison that corrodes, depending on how the attorney responds, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • Tips For Cos. From California Climate Reporting FAQ

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    New guidance from the California Air Resources Board on how businesses must implement the state's sweeping climate reporting requirements should help companies assess their exposure, understand their disclosure obligations and begin documenting good-faith compliance efforts, says Thierry Montoya at Frost Brown.

  • FDA's Hasty Policymaking Approach Faces APA Challenges

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    Though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has abandoned its usual notice-and-comment process for implementing new regulatory initiatives, two recent district court decisions make clear that these programs are still susceptible to Administrative Procedure Act challenges, says Rachel Turow at Skadden.

  • DOJ Crypto Enforcement Is Shifting To Target Willfulness

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    Three pending criminal prosecutions could be an indication of how the U.S. Department of Justice's recent digital assets memo is shaping enforcement of the area, and show a growing focus on executives who knowingly allow their platforms to be used for criminal conduct involving sanctions offenses, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

  • Legal Considerations Around Ibogaine As Addiction Therapy

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    Recent funding approval in Texas pertaining to the use of ibogaine for the potential treatment of substance use disorders signals a growing openness to innovative addiction treatments, but also underscores the need for rigorous compliance with state and federal requirements and ethical research standards, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

  • Unpacking DOJ's Suit Against Maryland Federal Bench

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    Political hoopla aside, the Trump administration’s suit naming the Maryland federal district court and all of its judges, which challenges a standing order that delays deportation upon the filing of a habeas petition, raises valid questions about both the validity of the order and the DOJ’s approach, says Steven Gordon at Holland & Knight.

  • What Calif. Insurance Ruling Means For Smoke Damage Limits

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    As California continues to grapple with an increasing number of wildfire claims, a state court's recent Aliff v. California FAIR Plan decision serves as a clear directive to insurers that policy language that narrows the scope of fire coverage below the California Insurance Code's minimum standards is impermissible, say attorneys at Wood Smith.

  • Wash. Law Highlights Debate Over Unemployment For Strikers

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    A new Washington state law that will allow strikers to receive unemployment benefits during work stoppages raises questions about whether such laws subsidize disruptions to the economy or whether they are preempted by federal labor law, says Daniel Johns at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Why SEC Abandoned Microcap Convertible Debt Crackdown

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has recently dismissed several cases targeting microcap convertible debt lenders, a significant disavowal of what was a controversial enforcement initiative under the Biden administration and a message that the new administration will focus on clear fraud, say attorneys at O'Melveny.

  • Justices' Resentencing Ruling Fortifies First Step Act Tools

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Hewitt v. U.S. ruling clarifies that resentencing after vacatur must reflect the law in effect at the time of the new sentencing, ultimately strengthening the strategic tools available to defense attorneys under the First Step Act, says Benson Varghese at Varghese Summersett.

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