ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ

Public Policy

  • May 21, 2025

    'Only God Knows My Name': 11th Circ. OKs Doe's Conviction

    The 11th Circuit on Wednesday affirmed the conviction of a man who refused to be identified by immigration officials, saying, "Only God knows my name," ruling the lower court correctly held the criminal statute he was charged under applied to him although it couldn't prove he lawfully entered the country. 

  • May 21, 2025

    USPTO Tackling Backlog Despite Hiring Freeze, Official Says

    While the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office waits out a federal hiring freeze preventing it from bringing in more patent examiners, it's using initiatives like reassignments and rewards to "do more with less" and cut down on patent pendency, the agency's deputy commissioner for patents said Wednesday.

  • May 21, 2025

    EPA Chief Defends Trump Plan To Halve Agency Budget

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin on Wednesday told senators that despite President Donald Trump's proposal to cut the EPA's budget by 55% and an internal reorganization, agency scientists can handle the current workload.

  • May 21, 2025

    Immigrant Groups Appeal Denied Bid To Halt IRS-ICE Deal

    Immigrant advocacy groups on Wednesday appealed a D.C. federal judge's order denying their bid to block the IRS from sharing taxpayer data with immigration enforcement agencies, with their counsel warning "it will be too late" once the information is shared.

  • May 21, 2025

    Small Texas Communities Trying To Siphon Taxes, City Says

    Two Texas state court judges issued court orders Wednesday barring two small municipalities from buying up apartment buildings in the city of Rowlett, Texas, thwarting what Rowlett described as an underhanded attempt to rob the city of property tax revenue.

  • May 21, 2025

    Think Tank Challenges Taxpayer Grants To Michigan Ballparks

    A free-market think tank is challenging earmarks for local projects incorporated in Michigan's state budget in a new lawsuit that claims the funding was never properly authorized.

  • May 21, 2025

    FCC's Carr Clashes With Dems Over Verizon DEI Deal

    Congressional Democrats grilled the Federal Communications Commission's chief Wednesday about the legal basis for targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs at Verizon, days after the wireless giant agreed to drop DEI initiatives amid its takeover of Frontier Communications.

  • May 21, 2025

    Dem Rep. Calls For Withdrawal Of New PTAB Denial Policies

    A Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives representing Silicon Valley told the acting head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that she had "serious concern" regarding new policy in which the director has the final word on whether patent challenges should be denied for discretionary reasons.

  • May 21, 2025

    CPSC Members Take Trump To Court Over Firings

    The three Democrats on the Consumer Product Safety Commission have followed up on their threat to file suit over President Donald Trump's attempts to fire them, saying that the president is breaking the law and that they have been barred from doing their jobs without cause.

  • May 21, 2025

    Montana Reduces Taxes On Residential, Commercial Property

    Montana will lower taxes on residential and commercial property, provide property tax rebates to homeowners and implement other changes to the state's property tax regime under legislation signed by the governor.

  • May 21, 2025

    Mich. Justices Won't Hear Hotels' Water Rate Appeal

    The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to review a Michigan town's water and sewer rates, rejecting an appeal from a group of hotels and restaurants that alleged a rate hike was an unconstitutional tax.

  • May 21, 2025

    Court Won't Revive Mental Health Class Suit Against Fla. Blue

    A Florida appeals court Wednesday declined to revive a proposed class suit by state employees enrolled in a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida healthcare plan alleging the insurer designed a claims process to obstruct approval and payment of claims for mental health care.

  • May 21, 2025

    School Shooting Victims' Suits Tossed After 6th Circ. Ruling

    Lawsuits brought by the families of students who were killed in or affected by the 2021 shooting at an Oxford, Michigan, high school have been dismissed by a federal judge, a few months after the Sixth Circuit determined the school leaders' actions or inactions the morning of the shooting did not increase students' risk of harm.

  • May 21, 2025

    Pa. Justices To Mull State DOT Liability For Hanging Branches

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will decide if the state Department of Transportation should be immune to wrongful-death claims stemming from a large tree branch that overhung a PennDOT road but grew from a tree on land owned by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, the court announced Wednesday.

  • May 21, 2025

    Reed Smith Grows In Atlanta With Kilpatrick White Collar Pair

    Reed Smith LLP has expanded its Atlanta office with two longtime Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP partners, including the former co-leader of Kilpatrick's government enforcement and investigations team and head of its white collar and investigations practice, the firm announced Wednesday.

  • May 21, 2025

    Court Won't Budge On Player's Eligibility Until 6th Circ. Acts

    A Tennessee federal judge on Wednesday refused to reconsider a University of Tennessee baseball player's request for an injunction that would pause the NCAA's eligibility restrictions on junior college transfers, saying he will have to wait for a Sixth Circuit decision in a similar antitrust lawsuit.

  • May 21, 2025

    'Rip And Replace' Likely Done In 1 Year, FCC Says

    Telecom carriers will likely be finished with work across the country to remove risky foreign-made equipment from their networks in about a year, the head of the Federal Communications Commission told lawmakers Wednesday.

  • May 21, 2025

    Democrats Wary of Nominees' Pledge To Honor Court Orders

    Nominees for top roles at the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security fended off questions from Democrats on Wednesday about the Trump administration's willingness to defy court orders and pledged that the White House would at least follow rulings of the Supreme Court.

  • May 21, 2025

    NRA Asks Justices To End Fla.'s Age Limit On Gun Sales

    The National Rifle Association is taking its fight against Florida's prohibition on gun sales to anyone under 21 up to the U.S. Supreme Court, telling the justices that a circuit split makes the Eleventh Circuit's March decision upholding the ban ripe for review.

  • May 21, 2025

    DOGE Seeks High Court's Help In Ducking FOIA Discovery

    The Department of Government Efficiency asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to halt discovery into whether it's an agency subject to Freedom of Information Act requests, arguing a Washington, D.C., federal judge has improperly authorized a "fishing expedition" into the internal workings of a presidential advisory entity.

  • May 21, 2025

    Cannabis Sellers Win Fight Against Oregon Labor Peace Law

    An Oregon federal judge shot down a state law that required cannabis growers to sign agreements with labor unions before they could get licensed to sell, saying the United for Cannabis Workers Act is preempted by the National Labor Relations Act.

  • May 21, 2025

    NC Panel Sides With County In Builder's Service Fee Spat

    North Carolina's intermediate appeals court on Wednesday backed a county's interpretation of an ordinance allowing it to collect water service fees from a homebuilder, reasoning that the builder's residential neighborhood is a "new development" subject to the law.

  • May 21, 2025

    Trump Can't Fire Privacy Board Democrats, DC Court Says

    The Trump administration is not allowed to remove two Democrats from the U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, Congress' privacy watchdog over the executive branch's counterterrorism policies, a D.C. federal judge ruled Wednesday.

  • May 21, 2025

    Device Maker Who Evaded Tax Gets 2 Years In Prison

    A Florida man who sold millions of dollars worth of medical devices that federal prosecutors said were unproven to work was sentenced to two years in prison for evading taxes and ordered to pay $2.3 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

  • May 21, 2025

    EU Proposes €2 Handling Fee On Small Import Packages

    The European Commission is planning to levy a flat fee of €2 ($2.27) on billions of small packages imported into the European Union, including many Chinese goods, according to the bloc's trade chief.

Expert Analysis

  • How Trump Orders Affect Health Orgs.' Care For Trans Minors

    Author Photo

    Two recent executive orders issued by President Donald Trump regarding gender-affirming care for minors have put healthcare organizations in a precarious situation, and these institutions should prepare for various implications and potential scenarios, say attorneys at ArentFox.

  • FDIC Rules Rollback Foretells More Pro-Industry Changes

    Author Photo

    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s March withdrawal of Biden-era proposals to tighten brokered deposit rules and impose new corporate governance standards shows that acting chair Travis Hill’s commitment to reviewing regulations that may restrict growth and innovation for financial institution and fintech companies is unlikely to flag soon, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Trump DOE's Plan On AI Offers Challenges, Opportunities

    Author Photo

    The Trump administration's push to make federal land available for development of artificial intelligence data centers follows a similar Biden administration proposal — but a new request for information from the U.S. Department of Energy envisions a rapid timeline that may prove challenging for both the DOE and industry stakeholders, say attorneys at HWG.

  • NY Tax Talk: Sourcing, Retroactivity, Information Services

    Author Photo

    Attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland examine recent decisions by New York’s Tax Appeals Tribunal, Division of Taxation and Court of Appeals on location sourcing of broker-dealer receipts, a case of first impression on the retroactive application of Corporate Franchise Tax regulations and when fees for information services are excluded from taxation.

  • DOJ Memo Maps Out A Lighter Touch For Digital Assets

    Author Photo

    A recent memo issued by the Justice Department signals a less aggressive approach toward the digital asset industry, with notable directives including disbandment of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, a higher evidentiary bar for unlicensed money transmitting, and prosecutions of individuals rather than platforms, say attorneys at Cleary.

  • SEC Update May Ease Accredited Investor Status Verification

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently opened a new avenue to verifying accredited investor status, which could encourage more private fund sponsors and other issuers to engage in a general solicitation with less fear that they will lose the offering's exemption from registration under the Securities Act, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Legal Ethics Considerations For Law Firm Pro Bono Deals

    Author Photo

    If a law firm enters into a pro bono deal with the Trump administration in exchange for avoiding or removing an executive order, it has an ethical obligation to create a written settlement agreement with specific terms, which would mitigate some potential conflict of interest problems, says Andrew Altschul at Buchanan Angeli.

  • Avoiding Compliance Risks Under Calif. Recycling Label Law

    Author Photo

    CalRecycle's recently published final findings on California's S.B. 343 — determining which products and packaging materials are eligible to use the "chasing arrows" recyclability symbol — offer key guidance that businesses operating in the state must heed to avert the risk of penalties or litigation, says Christopher Smith at Greenspoon Marder.

  • Reproductive Health Under Trump So Far, And What's Next

    Author Photo

    Based on priorities stated so far, the Trump administration will likely continue to weaken Biden-era policies that protect reproductive health, with abortion, in vitro fertilization and contraception all being issues to watch closely amid a post-Dobbs shift, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • FDIC Unlocks A Door To Banks' Potential Crypto Future

    Author Photo

    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s recent crypto guidance broadens the scope of permissible activities for banks to an unprecedented level, although most institutions are unlikely to initiate or expand such practices in the immediate future, says Amanda Kowalski at Barley Snyder.

  • Del. Dispatch: Open Issues After Corp. Law Amendments

    Author Photo

    Recent amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law represent a significant change in the future structuring of boards and how the First State will approach conflicted transactions, but Delaware courts may interpret the amendments narrowly, limiting their impact, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • Series

    Playing Football Made Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    While my football career ended over 15 years ago, the lessons the sport taught me about grit, accountability and resilience have stayed with me and will continue to help me succeed as an attorney, says Bert McBride at Trenam.

  • What Del. Supreme Court LKQ Decision Means For M&A Deals

    Author Photo

    The Delaware Supreme Court's recent decision in LKQ v. Rutledge greatly increases the enforceability of forfeiture-for-competition provisions, representing an important affirmation of earlier precedent and making it likely that such agreements will become more common in M&A transactions, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

  • Tracking FTC Labor Task Force's Focus On Worker Protection

    Author Photo

    The Federal Trade Commission recently directed its bureaus to form a joint labor task force, shifting the agency's focus toward protecting consumers in their role as workers, but case selection and resource allocation will ultimately reveal how significant labor markets will be in the FTC's agenda, say attorneys at Venable.

  • 10 Arbitrations And A 5th Circ. Ruling Flag Arb. Clause Risks

    Author Photo

    The ongoing arbitral saga of Sullivan v. Feldman, which has engendered proceedings before 10 different arbitrators in Texas and Louisiana along with last month's Fifth Circuit opinion, showcases both the risks and limitations of arbitration clauses in retainer agreements for resolving attorney-client disputes, says Christopher Blazejewski at Sherin and Lodgen.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Public Policy archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!