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Public Policy

  • May 20, 2025

    ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ's Guidance Purge May Have Limited Impact For Industry

    The Trump administration's recent culling of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau guidance may help advance the agency's pivot to lighter-touch regulation, but consumer advocates and even some financial services attorneys say the rescinded policies could still shape litigation and leave companies guessing about the agency's current views.

  • May 20, 2025

    TikTok's Bid To Get NY Docs From AG Sunk By New State Law

    A New York state judge on Tuesday denied TikTok's bid to force the New York attorney general to turn over agency documents related to claims the app harms children's mental health, relying on an amendment tucked into the state's budget that was signed into law this month.

  • May 20, 2025

    Stewart Revives E-Cig Patent Row, Clarifying PTAB Denials

    The acting head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has revived a company's Patent Trial and Appeal Board challenge to an electronic cigarette patent, issuing a precedential decision that provides guidance on discretionary denials when a patent challenger relies on prior art previously furnished to an examiner. 

  • May 20, 2025

    Trump Calls For FCC Spectrum Auctions In Budget Bill

    President Donald Trump on Tuesday jumped into the ongoing debate about federal auctions of the airwaves by calling for inclusion of spectrum sales in the budget reconciliation bill pending in Congress.

  • May 20, 2025

    NJ Justices Take Up Bond Marketing Suit Against Big Banks

    The New Jersey Supreme Court will review a lower appellate court's ruling in favor of JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo and other big banks in a lawsuit accusing them of a scheme to inflate the interest rates of certain bonds, according to an order list the justices released Tuesday.

  • May 20, 2025

    Connecticut House Passes Psilocybin Decriminalization Bill

    Connecticut's House of Representatives on Monday narrowly approved a bill to decriminalize possession of small amounts of psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychoactive mushrooms, sending the bill to the state Senate. 

  • May 20, 2025

    Judge Denies Meta's Mid-Trial Bid To End FTC Monopoly Case

    A D.C. federal judge refused Tuesday to cut short the trial in the Federal Trade Commission's monopolization lawsuit against Meta Platforms Inc., not finding the clear evidentiary failure necessary to nix the government's case over the company's purchases of WhatsApp and Instagram.

  • May 20, 2025

    Senate Dems Protest Broadband Deployment Delays

    A dozen Senate Democrats urged President Donald Trump to curtail the U.S. Department of Commerce's potential overhaul of a $42.5 billion broadband deployment program created during the Biden administration.

  • May 20, 2025

    Russia Challenges EU Carbon Border Tax At WTO

    Russia formally initiated a dispute at the World Trade Organization over the European Union's carbon border adjustment mechanism, suggesting that the emissions pricing system violates multilateral trade agreements, according to documents released by the organization.

  • May 20, 2025

    4th Circuit Won't Halt Order For Asylum-Seeker's Return

    A divided Fourth Circuit denied the Trump administration's request to halt a district court order requiring the government to bring back a 20-year-old Venezuelan with a pending asylum application who was deported to a Salvadoran prison despite a class settlement barring his removal.

  • May 20, 2025

    GOP Will Push Calif. Waiver Vote, Dems Will Jam EPA Noms

    Senate Republicans vowed Tuesday to forge ahead with Congressional Review Act resolutions that would repeal clean-vehicle waivers for California that were approved by the Biden administration, while Democrats said they'll throw roadblocks in front of presidential nominees in retaliation.

  • May 20, 2025

    State AGs Back NJ Judicial Privacy Law At 3rd Circ.

    Most states' attorneys general, along with law enforcement organizations and a data privacy group, have encouraged the Third Circuit to uphold a New Jersey judicial privacy measure, saying states have sovereignty to enact such laws in a time of increased threats against judges.

  • May 20, 2025

    FTC Case Against Greystar Stayed For Settlement Talks

    A Colorado federal judge has stayed a Federal Trade Commission suit alleging developer and property manager Greystar advertised deceptive rental prices after the parties notified the court that they are in "active settlement negotiations" that could resolve the entire case.

  • May 20, 2025

    GSA Official Gives Mea Culpa On 'Non-Core' Federal Property

    A top official of the federal government's real estate overseer testified on Tuesday that the administration was a bit rash in publishing a list two months ago with more than 400 "non-core" government properties, including federal courthouses, that it was considering disposing of.

  • May 20, 2025

    Judge Revives Suit Challenging BLM Lease Sales In Utah

    A Utah federal judge said she erred when she tossed a lawsuit challenging multiple U.S. Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease sales in the state, as she failed to recognize that the agency had recently issued drilling permits for some of the transactions.

  • May 20, 2025

    EEOC Annual Worker Data Bid Opens With Diversity Warning

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's annual workplace demographic data collection window opened Tuesday with a warning from the EEOC's acting chair that employers can't act on protected characteristics like race and sex to try to enhance diversity.

  • May 19, 2025

    DC Circ. Ponders Letting Gov't Claw Back $20B In Green Funds

    The D.C. Circuit didn't seem convinced Monday morning that the Trump administration can't claw back $20 billion in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants that it's trying to cancel and divert elsewhere, hearing arguments over a preliminary injunction blocking the government from doing just that.

  • May 19, 2025

    Senate Advances Stablecoin Bill After Dem Backers Return

    The U.S. Senate's proposal to regulate stablecoins is headed to the floor after lawmakers voted to close debate on the bill Monday evening, clearing a procedural hurdle after first stumbling earlier this month when Democrats pulled support to pursue further negotiations.

  • May 19, 2025

    Feds To Use FCA To Go After Antisemitism, DEI Policies

    The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that it will use the False Claims Act to go after any recipients of federal funds that the agency determines promote diversity, equity and inclusion policies, and allow antisemitism to thrive.

  • May 19, 2025

    Feds Want Full 2nd Circ. To Toss Student Removal Challenges

    The U.S. Department of Justice has asked the full Second Circuit to reconsider a pair of decisions siding with students who say they were detained by immigration officials for expressing pro-Palestinian views, doubling down on its argument that courts don't have the jurisdiction to consider the government's removal decisions.

  • May 19, 2025

    House Urged To Ax Proposed 10-Year Ban On State AI Laws

    More than 140 civil rights and consumer advocacy groups on Monday became the latest to oppose a sweeping provision in the U.S. House of Representatives' budget proposal that would place a 10-year moratorium on states enacting or enforcing laws to regulate emerging artificial intelligence systems, joining a bipartisan coalition of state enforcers that issued a similar call last week.

  • May 19, 2025

    2 Dozen States Urge Judge To Stop AmeriCorps Cuts

    Two dozen states urged a Maryland federal judge on Monday to halt $400 million in cuts to AmeriCorps programs, while the lawyers for the Trump administration insisted that the states' challenge must be brought before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

  • May 19, 2025

    Trump Admin Fights Bid To Block OPM From Helping DOGE

    A trio of unions can't substantiate their claims that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management is inappropriately disclosing sensitive data to the Department of Government Efficiency, the Trump administration has told a New York federal judge, asking her to toss the unions' injunction request.

  • May 19, 2025

    Interior Dept. Lifts Freeze On Empire Wind Project

    The U.S. Department of the Interior has lifted its stop-work order, allowing construction to resume on the Empire Wind offshore wind energy project south of New York's Long Island, according to an announcement made Monday.

  • May 19, 2025

    Protesters Say Fort Lauderdale Cops Can't Claim Immunity

    Demonstrators who said the police improperly used were tear gas during a 2020 George Floyd protest urged a Florida federal court to not dismiss their proposed class action suit, arguing that they had presented enough facts to get past the Fort Lauderdale police officers' qualified immunity defense.

Expert Analysis

  • Staying The Course On Consumer Financial Law Compliance

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    Although there may be some regulatory uncertainty, with many rule changes on hold, and enforcement actions and investigations terminated, 11 fundamental laws and rules governing consumer financial services are unlikely to change, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • 10 Soft Skills Every GC Should Master

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    As businesses face shifting regulatory and technological uncertainty, general counsel will need to strengthen certain soft skills to succeed, from admitting when they make a mistake to maintaining a healthy dose of dispassion, says Douglas Brown at Manatt.

  • How Proxy Advisory Firms Are Approaching AI And DEI

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    Institutional Shareholder Services' and Glass Lewis' annual updates to their proxy voting guidelines reflect some of the biggest issues of the day, including artificial intelligence and DEI, and companies should parse these changes carefully, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.

  • 6 Criteria Can Help Assess Executive Branch Actions

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    With new executive policy changes announced seemingly every day, several questions can help courts, policymakers and businesses determine whether such actions are proper, effective and in keeping with our democratic norms, say Marc Levin and Khalil Cumberbatch at the Council on Criminal Justice.

  • Opinion

    Administrative Disaster At Bankruptcy Courts May Be In Sight

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    If, as a result of voluntary resignations or terminations, the professional staff of the U.S. Trustee's Office is depleted, it will undoubtedly cause a slowdown in the administrative process for the significant majority of bankruptcy cases, says Charles Tatelbaum at Tripp Scott.

  • Reviving A Dormant Criminal Statute In Antitrust Prosecution

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    The U.S. Department of Justice is poised to revive a dormant misdemeanor statute to resolve bid-rigging charges against a foreign national, providing important context to a recent effort to entice foreign defendants to take responsibility for pending charges or face the risk of extradition, say attorneys at Axinn.

  • End May Be In Sight For Small Biz Set-Aside Programs

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    A Jan. 21 executive order largely disarming the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, along with recent court rulings, suggests that the administration may soon attempt to eliminate set-asides intended to level the award playing field for small business contractors that qualify under socioeconomic programs, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • Traversing The Shifting Sands Of ESG Reporting Compliance

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    Multinational corporations have increasingly found themselves between a rock and a hard place attempting to comply with EU and California ESG requirements while not running afoul of expanding U.S. anti-ESG regimes, but focusing on what is material to shareholder value and establishing strong governance can help, say attorneys at MoFo.

  • An Unrestrained, Bright-Eyed View Of Legal AI's Future

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    Todd Itami at Covington offers a bright-eyed, laughing-all-the-way, skydive look at what the legal industry could look like after an artificial intelligence revolution, which he believes may happen much sooner and more dramatically than we expect.

  • Ban On Reputation Risk May Help Bank Enforcement Defense

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    The Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s recent commitment to stop examining banks for reputation risk could help defendants in enforcement actions challenge unfavorable assessments and support defendants' arguments for lower civil money penalties, says Brendan Clegg at Luse Gorman.

  • Tracking The Evolution In Litigation Finance

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    Despite continued innovation, litigation finance remains an immature market with borrowers recieving significantly different terms as lenders learn to value cases, which firms need a strong handle on to ensure lending terms do not overwhelm collateral value, says Robert Wilkins at Lightfoot Franklin.

  • Assessing Market Manipulation Claims In Energy Markets

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    Today's energy markets are conducive to sudden price changes, breakdowns in pricing linkages and substantial shifts in trading patterns, so it's necessary to take a holistic view when evaluating allegations of market manipulation, say Maximilian Bredendiek, Greg Leonard and Manuel Vasconcelos at Cornerstone Research.

  • Opinion

    In Vape Case, Justices Must Focus On Agencies' Results

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    With the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. Wages and White Lion Investments having put off the question of whether agency decisions arrived at erroneously are always invalid, the court should give the results of agency actions more weight than the reasoning behind them when it revisits this case, says Jonathan Sheffield at Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

  • How Int'l Arbitration Could Factor In Tariff Dispute Resolution

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    As tariffs complicate international business contracts, the robust legal infrastructure supporting international arbitration can provide a more solid base for recovery of rewards than foreign court judgments, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • How Calif., NY Could Fill Consumer Finance Regulatory Void

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    California and New York have historically taken the lead in consumer financial protection, and both show signs of becoming even more active in this area during the second Trump administration amid an enforcement pullback at the federal level, say attorneys at Sidley.

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