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Public Policy

  • September 03, 2025

    Wash. Court Pressed To Immediately End EV Funding Freeze

    Clean energy advocates have urged a Washington federal judge to wipe out the Trump administration's decision to freeze funding for new electric-vehicle charging infrastructure, saying the government can't be allowed to drag its feet on a pledge to restore funding.

  • September 03, 2025

    Northwestern Mutual Seeks $23M Tax Refund For Free Meals

    Northwestern Mutual is seeking a refund of $23 million in taxes for on-campus lunches it provided to employees, telling a Wisconsin federal court that the IRS improperly denied the company an exclusion on taxable income for the meals.

  • September 03, 2025

    US Steel Wants Federal Court To Take Clairton Blast Suits

    U.S. Steel claims that litigation by workers injured in an explosion at its Clairton Coke Works facility last month should be handled by a federal court, because federal investigators are overseeing the evidence being demanded by the plaintiffs.

  • September 03, 2025

    Referee Blows Whistle On NBA's Partial Win In Vaccine Fight

    A fired referee suing the NBA for religious discrimination asked a New York federal court to reconsider its ruling that denied him front and back pay, arguing the judge overlooked controlling case law that makes the decision "inappropriate."

  • September 03, 2025

    ND Tribes Ask Supreme Court To Protect Voting Rights Act

    Two North Dakota tribes are asking the Supreme Court to undo an Eighth Circuit decision that prohibits lawsuits against states for violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, arguing that if not overturned, the ruling would kneecap the main federal protection against racial discrimination in voting.

  • September 03, 2025

    Tech, Small Biz Groups Push Against Value-Based Patent Fees

    An array of groups representing tech companies, small businesses and more wrote a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, urging them to oppose the Trump administration's reported plan to charge patent owners a new fee based on the value of their patents.

  • September 03, 2025

    Pick For Del.'s 3rd Circ. Seat Questioned On Ties To The State

    Jennifer L. Mascott, nominee for a Delaware seat on the Third Circuit who is currently serving in the White House Counsel's Office, came under questioning from Democrats on Wednesday regarding her lack of connections to the state and her qualifications for the judgeship.

  • September 03, 2025

    Arkansas Insurance Rule Beats Union Plan's ERISA Challenge

    An Illinois federal judge has tossed a Teamsters healthcare plan's challenge to an Arkansas insurance regulation that aims to protect local pharmacies from under-reimbursement for prescription drugs, saying the regulation doesn't tread on the Employee Retirement Income Security Act's territory.

  • September 03, 2025

    EPA Withdraws Slaughterhouse Water Pollution Rule

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday withdrew a Biden-era proposal that would have imposed stricter water discharge regulations on meat and poultry slaughtering, processing and rendering facilities across the country.

  • September 03, 2025

    Manhattan DA To Target Wage-Fixing With Antitrust Laws

    Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Wednesday that his office plans to be the first to use New York's criminal antitrust laws against companies that collude to keep workers' wages low.

  • September 03, 2025

    France To Tackle Tax Avoidance By Wealthy, Minister Says

    France is planning to tackle tax avoidance by wealthy individuals, an endeavor aimed at raising €2 billion ($2.3 billion), the country's budget minister said Wednesday.

  • September 03, 2025

    Calif. Senate Panel OKs Property Tax Break For Tribes

    Native American tribes in California would be eligible for open space exemptions to property taxes under legislation approved by a state Senate panel that's heading for a final vote.

  • September 03, 2025

    Rural Broadband Association GC Joins Womble Bond In DC

    The former general counsel of the National Telecommunication Cooperative Association's Rural Broadband Association, has joined Womble Bond Dickinson as a senior counsel, the firm announced Tuesday.

  • September 03, 2025

    UK Autumn Budget Set For November, Reeves Confirms

    The U.K. government will announce its autumn budget in November, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said Wednesday amid growing speculation that the government will raise taxes to cover the rising cost of borrowing.

  • September 03, 2025

    Texas Bill Would OK More Sales Tax For Property Tax Relief

    Texas would allow local governments to impose supplemental sales and use tax to raise additional revenue for property tax relief if the sales and use tax is approved by voters under a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives.

  • September 03, 2025

    5th Circ. Deems Trump's Use Of Wartime Removal Law Illegal

    A split Fifth Circuit panel ruled that President Donald Trump's March proclamation invoking the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members likely ran afoul of the wartime law and blocked removals in the Northern District of Texas.

  • September 02, 2025

    Fed Gov. Cook Doubles Down On Removal TRO Bid

    Federal Reserve Board Gov. Lisa Cook on Tuesday doubled down in her bid to have a D.C. federal court block President Donald Trump's attempt to strip her of her position, saying the federal government was trying to expand the limits of a "for cause" removal.

  • September 02, 2025

    DC Circ. Refuses To Block Fired FTC Dem's Reinstatement

    A split D.C. Circuit panel Tuesday refused to stay a lower court's order reinstating a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission, finding that the government has "no likelihood of success" fighting her reinstatement because President Donald Trump broke the law when he fired her without cause.

  • September 02, 2025

    Wheeling & Appealing: The Latest Must-Know Appellate Action

    For appellate attorneys feeling sad summer's over, September's circuit calendars are here to help with argument topics — including the former Meghan Markle, an ex-Jones Day lawyer's religious liberty suit and $17 million in fees after "a vigorous litigation battle" between BigLaw firms — offering enough intrigue to vanquish any autumn ennui.

  • September 02, 2025

    5th Circ. Judge Says Reimbursement Drop 'Not Chicken Feed'

    A U.S. Circuit judge pushed the government to explain the policy rationale behind lowering how much hospitals can recoup in Medicare reimbursements for treating low-income patients who use state-specific programs, saying Tuesday the rule was seemingly aimed at "screwing these hospitals out of reimbursements."

  • September 02, 2025

    DC Circ. Says EPA Can Freeze Climate Grant Funds

    A D.C. Circuit panel vacated an injunction on Tuesday ordering Citibank to relinquish grant funding frozen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, finding green groups are not likely to succeed on the merits of their "essentially contractual" claims.

  • September 02, 2025

    GAO Report Says FEMA Funding Should Go Directly To Tribes

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office on Tuesday urged Congress to provide direct Federal Emergency Management Agency funding to Native American tribes hit by tornadoes, reporting that 17 states in a recent 10-year period did not distribute any FEMA awards to tribes.

  • September 02, 2025

    Speculation Can't Halt Medical Coatings Merger, GTCR Says

    GTCR BC Holdings LLC should be allowed to merge the nation's leading medical coatings supplier with the second leading provider because federal regulators spent two weeks simply relying on speculation and theory to prove its losing antitrust case, the private equity subsidiary argued.

  • September 02, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Told PTAB Ineligibility Rule Flouts Due Process

    Marketing software company HighLevel Inc. has urged the Federal Circuit to prohibit the Patent Trial and Appeal Board from retroactively applying a decision barring patent reviews after a district court has found the patent invalid on eligibility grounds, saying the practice violates due process.

  • September 02, 2025

    9th Circ. Rejects Unvaxxed Firefighters' Discrimination Appeal

    A Ninth Circuit panel declined on Tuesday to revive a group of Washington firefighters' suit against their employer for refusing them religious exemptions from a state COVID-19 vaccination mandate, concluding the fire agency would've faced "substantial costs" had it allowed them to continue working without the shot in 2021.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    Fla. Misses Opportunity To Rectify Wrongful Death Damages

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    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' recent veto of a bill that would have removed certain arbitrary and unfair prohibitions on noneconomic wrongful death damages in medical negligence cases highlights the urgent need for reforms to current state law, say attorneys at Farah & Farah.

  • Cybersecurity Risks Can Lurk In Gov't Contractor Acquisitions

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    The Justice Department’s recent False Claims Act enforcement activity against Raytheon and Nightwing-related defense contractors demonstrates the importance of identifying and mitigating potential cybersecurity compliance risks when acquiring a company that contracts with the federal government, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • Budget Act Should Boost Focus On Trade Compliance

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    Passage of the One Big Beautiful Budget Act, coupled with recent U.S. Department of Justice statements that it will use the False Claims Act aggressively to pursue trade, tariff and customs fraud, marks a sharp increase in trade-related enforcement risk, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • NY Bill Would Complicate Labor Law Amid NLRB Uncertainty

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    The New York Legislature passed a bill that, if enacted, would grant state agencies the power to enforce federal labor law, potentially causing significant challenges for employers as they could be subject to both state and federal regulators depending on the National Labor Relations Board's operational status, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Trump Tax Law's Most Consequential International Changes

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    The international tax provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act may result in higher effective tax rates for some multinational corporations, but others, particularly those operating in low-tax jurisdictions, may benefit from alignment with global anti-profit shifting efforts, say attorneys at Weil.

  • Associates Can Earn Credibility By Investing In Relationships

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    As the class of 2025 prepares to join law firms this fall, new associates must adapt to office dynamics and establish credible reputations — which require quiet, consistent relationship-building skills as much as legal acumen, says Kyle Forges at Bast Amron.

  • How 6th Circ. Ruling Deepens Split On Broker Liability

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    A growing divide in Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act jurisprudence is ripe for U.S. Supreme Court review, after the Sixth Circuit last month found in Cox v. Total Quality Logistics that brokers can be held liable for negligent hiring, says Gregory Reed at Hanson Bridgett.

  • How The Genius Act May Aid In Fight Against 'Pig Butchering'

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    ​​​​​​​The recently enacted Genius Act represents a watershed moment in the fight against crypto fraud, providing new tools to freeze and recover funds that are lost to scams such as "pig butchering" schemes executed from scam factories abroad, but there are implementation challenges to watch, say attorneys at Treanor Devlin.

  • Assessing Strategies For Mixed-Use Pro Sports Projects

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    Counsel managing mixed-use sports and entertainment districts must combine expertise ranging from stadium-arena finance to municipal law to public relations into a unified strategy, and a series of practice tips can aid project management from inception to completion, say attorneys at Katten.

  • Opinion

    Congressional Bid Protest Concerns Lack Evidence

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    The U.S. Government Accountability Office's most recent congressionally mandated report on the bid protest process showed little reason for concern, and underlined that further scrutiny should cease until data is collected that would enable the identification of purported problems, say attorneys at Fox Rothschild.

  • Trending At The PTAB: IPR Memo And Its Fed. Circ. Backdrop

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    There are new rules for when and how evidence other than patents or printed publications can be considered in inter partes reviews, and while this change is intended to reflect current Federal Circuit precedent, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's memo seems to acknowledge tension with last month's Shockwave decision, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • Biosolid Contaminants Spawn Litigation, Regulation Risks

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    While nutrient-rich biosolids — aka sewage sludge — can be an attractive fertilizer, pending legislation and litigation spurred by the risk of contamination with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and other pollutants should put stakeholders in this industry on guard, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • When Misconduct Can Trigger Bank Industry Employment Ban

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    The Federal Reserve Board recently settled an enforcement action in which a former employee of a Wyoming bank was banned from banking for conduct she allegedly committed at an entity unrelated to the bank, raising questions about the scope of regulatory enforcement authority, says Travis Nelson at Polsinelli.

  • Filing Clarifies FTC, DOJ's Passive Investment Stance

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    The antitrust agencies' statement of interest filed in Texas v. Blackrock clarifies that certain forms of corporate governance engagement are permissible under the "solely for investment" exemption, a move that offers guidance for passive investors but also signals new scrutiny of coordinated engagement, say attorneys at Stinson.

  • Lessons From 7th Circ.'s Deleted Chat Sanctions Ruling

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    The Seventh Circuit’s recent decision in Pable v. Chicago Transit Authority, affirming the dismissal of an ex-employee’s retaliation claims, highlights the importance of properly handling the preservation of ephemeral messages and clarifies key sanctions issues, says Philip Favro at Favro Law.

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