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Public Policy

  • July 09, 2025

    Sierra Club Says OMB Ignoring Funding Freeze Info Requests

    The Office of Management and Budget's refusal to produce records concerning the Trump administration's freeze of federal funding programs is impeding the Sierra Club's mission to advocate for and educate the public about pressing public health and environmental issues, the environmental organization alleged Tuesday in California federal court.

  • July 09, 2025

    Senate Confirms Airline Executive To Lead FAA

    The U.S. Senate Wednesday largely voted along party lines to confirm President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Federal Aviation Administration.

  • July 09, 2025

    Senators Weigh Principles To Guide Crypto Market Rules

    Senate Democrats and a former chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission homed in on the importance of preserving the strength of existing securities laws during a Wednesday hearing where senators and industry experts previewed their priorities for the chamber’s coming crypto market structure proposal.

  • July 09, 2025

    Trump Admin Beats Injunction Bid Over Deleted Webpages

    A Washington, D.C., federal judge on Wednesday rejected the Sierra Club and other nonprofits' request for a preliminary injunction forcing federal agencies to restore webpages the groups said provided critical environmental information, saying they hadn't shown keeping the status quo while their case is pending would cause irreparable harm.

  • July 09, 2025

    Ohio Officials Sued Over $600M In Funds For Browns Stadium

    The transfer of $600 million in unclaimed property funds to the Cleveland Browns to help finance a proposed new suburban stadium for the NFL team is an "unconstitutional and unlawful misappropriation of private property,'' a group of unclaimed-property owners alleged in a proposed class action in Ohio state court against several state officials.

  • July 09, 2025

    USPTO Defends Termination Of Art Project Patent App

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Wednesday defended its decision to sanction an art kit company that hired a patent services business that used a licensed practitioner's signature in a patent application without permission, saying it had the authority to terminate the application.

  • July 09, 2025

    FCC Targets Older Regulations On Phone Service 'Slamming'

    The Federal Communications Commission will take a close look during its July meeting at whether to consolidate or even scrap a bevy of rules against "slamming," or the unauthorized switching of phone services to a new provider.

  • July 09, 2025

    7th Circ. Nixes Rail Sharing Order Power For Subpar Service

    Federal regulators can't give themselves power to order rail carriers to share shipments with their rivals unless the incumbent railroad's service is "inadequate," a Seventh Circuit panel said in striking a Surface Transportation Board rule designed to empower such mandates when service merely fails certain reliability metrics.

  • July 09, 2025

    EPA Sued Over Oil Refineries' Hydrogen Fluoride Use

    A group of environmental advocates has hauled the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency into California federal court to stop the use of hydrogen fluoride in domestic oil manufacturing refineries, arguing it's endangering the public and the Toxic Substances Control Act requires that the agency eliminate those risks through regulations.

  • July 09, 2025

    DOJ Atty Floats Axing Removal Law As Only Fix For Adversaries

    A U.S. Department of Justice attorney suggested that killing the expedited removal statute, which enables the swift expulsion of unauthorized immigrants, is the only hypothetical relief that a court can offer a group challenging President Donald Trump's expansion of the law.

  • July 09, 2025

    LA County, Cities Want In On Immigration Enforcement Suit

    Los Angeles County and several of its cities have urged a California federal court to let them join a proposed class action that seeks to stop the Trump administration from continuing what officials say are unconstitutional immigration raids in their communities.

  • July 09, 2025

    Water Co. Can't Charge Customers $42M, Conn. Justices Say

    State regulators lawfully rejected Eversource subsidiary Aquarion Water Co. of Connecticut's 2022 request to increase rates by $42 million to pay for plant additions, but they wrongly scuttled the utility's $1.5 million bid to recover conservation expenses, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

  • July 09, 2025

    Suit Challenges Colo. Abortion Parental Notice Law

    An OB-GYN asked a Colorado state judge on Tuesday to block the state's requirement for minors seeking an abortion to give notice to a parent, saying it runs afoul of a 2024 amendment to the Colorado Constitution.

  • July 09, 2025

    DOJ Says Calif.'s Trans Student Athlete Policies Violate Title IX

    The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday accused the California Department of Education of illegally discriminating against cisgender female student athletes by allowing transgender girls to compete on girls' high school sports teams.

  • July 09, 2025

    Red States Want In On Youths' Suit Over Trump Energy Orders

    A coalition of Republican states led by Montana asked a federal court Tuesday for permission to intervene in a lawsuit brought by youths challenging President Donald Trump's recently enacted fossil fuel policies.

  • July 09, 2025

    Plan Administrator Seeks To Toss Union's Pension Error Suit

    A benefit plan administration company said it shouldn't have to face a lawsuit claiming a union pension fund paid $2.4 million in interest because the administrator paid benefits on the wrong day of the month, arguing in Pennsylvania federal court that it wasn't acting as a fiduciary.

  • July 09, 2025

    7th Circ. Revives Deputy's Retaliation Suit Over Election Feud

    The Seventh Circuit reinstated a sheriff's deputy's retaliation suit claiming he wasn't promoted because he criticized his boss while attempting to unseat him as sheriff, ruling the lower court failed to credit evidence that the sheriff admitted sabotaging the deputy's career when finding the case was untimely.

  • July 09, 2025

    Supreme Court Denies Fla. Bid To Enforce Immigration Law

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday denied Florida's request to lift a block on a state law that criminalizes the entry of unauthorized immigrants into the state, leaving in place a ruling that the law is likely preempted by the federal Immigration and Nationality Act.

  • July 09, 2025

    NY School District Faces Civil Rights Probe Over Mascot Ban

    The U.S. Department of Education said it's investigating a Long Island, New York, school district for civil rights violations for working to remove its Native American mascot and imagery under a state law banning the symbols.

  • July 09, 2025

    DHS Used Pro-Israel Sites To Target Activists, Official Testifies

    A mid-level U.S. Department of Homeland Security official told a Massachusetts federal court on Wednesday that the agency relied in part on pro-Israel websites that post dossiers on individuals deemed to support Palestine to identify potential targets for visa and green card revocations.

  • July 09, 2025

    1st Woman On Montana's US Court To Take Senior Status

    U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters of the District of Montana, who was the first woman appointed to that court, has announced that she will take semiretired status next year.

  • July 09, 2025

    DA Willis Urges Ga. Justices To Ax Trump Case Testimony Bid

    Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis urged the Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday to toss a subpoena seeking her testimony from the state Senate committee that was investigating her relationship with a special prosecutor during her prosecution of President Donald Trump in an election interference case, arguing the panel is "seeking to 'try' the district attorney in public."

  • July 09, 2025

    Businesses, States Tell Fed. Circ. Trump's Tariffs Are Unlawful

    The U.S. Court of International Trade correctly determined President Donald Trump's emergency tariffs were improperly imposed under a law that makes no mention of the trade mechanism, a group of states and small businesses told the Federal Circuit, arguing that the duties should be limited under another law.

  • July 09, 2025

    3M PFAS Suit Belongs In State Court, Conn. Tells 2nd Circ.

    Connecticut is urging the Second Circuit to reject 3M Co.'s effort to move a state court lawsuit accusing the company of polluting the environment with forever chemicals contained in its consumer products to federal court.

  • July 09, 2025

    FDA Gets Early Win In Blue States' Abortion Pill Suit

    A Washington federal judge has granted an early win to the federal government in a lawsuit from 17 Democratic attorneys general challenging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's restrictions on access to the abortion drug mifepristone, finding the agency has properly reviewed the drug when issuing regulations.

Expert Analysis

  • What We Lost After SEC Eliminated Regional Director Role

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    Former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Regional Director Marc Fagel discusses the recent wholesale elimination of the regional director position, the responsibilities of the job itself and why discarding this role highlights how the appearance of creating a more efficient agency may limit the SEC's effectiveness.

  • Mass. Suit Points To New Scrutiny For Home Equity Contracts

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    The Massachusetts attorney general’s recent charge that a lender sold unregulated reverse mortgages shows more regulators are scrutinizing mortgage alternatives like home equity contracts, but a similar case in the Ninth Circuit suggests more courts need to help develop a consensus on these products' legality, say attorneys at Weiner Brodsky.

  • Unpacking Copyright Office's AI Report Amid Admin Shakeups

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    Though recent firings have thrown the U.S. Copyright Office into turmoil, the latest entry in its report on artificial intelligence can serve as a road map for litigants, persuasive authority for courts and input on the legislative process, say attorneys at Epstein Becker.

  • Del. Bill Reflects Nat'l Tug-Of-War Between Cannabis, Alcohol

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    As Delaware's bill targeting hemp-derived THC beverages and ingestible products moves through the general assembly, it reads like a local regulatory fix — but in reality, it's a microcosm of a national power struggle playing out state-by-state across the cannabis frontier, says attorney Peter Murphy.

  • Perspectives

    Reading Tea Leaves In High Court's Criminal Law Decisions

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    The criminal justice decisions the U.S. Supreme Court will announce in the coming weeks will reveal whether last term’s fractured decision-making has continued, an important data point as the justices’ alignment seems to correlate with who benefits from a case’s outcome, says Sharon Fairley at the University of Chicago Law School.

  • $38M Law Firm Settlement Highlights 'Unworthy Client' Perils

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    A recent settlement of claims against law firm Eckert Seamans for allegedly abetting a Ponzi scheme underscores the continuing threat of clients who seek to exploit their lawyers in perpetrating fraud, and the critical importance of preemptive measures to avoid these clients, say attorneys at Lockton Companies.

  • Hints Of Where Enforcement May Grow Under New ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ

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    Though the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has significantly scaled back enforcement under the new administration, states remain able to pursue Consumer Financial Protection Act violators and the ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ seems set to enhance its focus on predatory loans to military members and fraudulent debt collection and credit reporting practices, say attorneys at MoFo.

  • Only Certainty About FAR Reform Order Is Its Uncertainty

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    The president’s recent order overhauling the Federal Acquisition Regulation, which both contractors and agencies rely on to ensure predictability and consistency in federal procurement, lacks key details about its implementation, which will likely eliminate many safeguards that ensure contractors are treated fairly and that procurements are awarded in a reasonable manner, say attorneys at Miles & Stockbridge.

  • Maintaining Legal Compliance For GenAI In Life Sciences

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    As companies continue to implement generative artificial intelligence to enhance all phases of drug discovery, they must remain mindful of legal, regulatory and practical considerations as best practices in this space emerge and evolve, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • Assessing Jurisdictional Issues In 2nd Circ. Bank Audi Case

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    The Second Circuit's reasoning last month in Raad v. Bank Audi that the exercise of personal jurisdiction must be based on conduct taking place within the jurisdiction reminds foreign financial institutions to continually monitor how plaintiffs are advocating for an expansive view of personal jurisdiction in the U.S., say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • Series

    Teaching Business Law Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Teaching business law to college students has rekindled my sense of purpose as a lawyer — I am more mindful of the importance of the rule of law and the benefits of our common law system, which helps me maintain a clearer perspective on work, says David Feldman at Feldman Legal Advisors.

  • Enviro Justice Efforts After Trump's Disparate Impact Order

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    The Trump administration's recent executive order directing the U.S. Department of Justice to unwind disparate impact regulations may end some Biden-era environmental justice initiatives — but it will not end all efforts, whether by state or federal regulators or private litigants, to address issues in environmentally overburdened communities, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • What Disparate Impact Order Means For Insurers' AI Use

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    A recent executive order seeking to bar disparate impact theory conveys a meaningful policy shift, but does not alter the legal status of federal antidiscrimination law or enforceability of state laws, such as those holding insurers accountable for using artificial intelligence in a nondiscriminatory matter, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • Choosing A Road To Autonomous Vehicle Compliance

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    As autonomous vehicle manufacturers navigate the complex U.S. regulatory landscape, they may opt for different approaches to following federal, state and local rules and laws, as they balance the tradeoffs between innovation, compliance and speed of deployment, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Navigating The Expanding Frontier Of Premerger Notice Laws

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    Washington's newly enacted law requiring premerger notification to state enforcers builds upon a growing trend of state scrutiny into transactions in the healthcare sector and beyond, and may inspire other states to enact similar legislation, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

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