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Public Policy

  • September 05, 2025

    Tribal Groups Urge Justices To Address Religious Violations

    Three Native American advocacy groups are backing a former Louisiana prisoner's U.S. Supreme Court petition for damages after guards forcibly shaved his head, arguing that the case presents issues vital to Indigenous cultural survival.

  • September 05, 2025

    EU Fines Google $3.5B For Giving Leg Up To Co.'s Ad Tech

    European Union antitrust enforcers hit Google with a €2.95 billion ($3.5 billion) fine Friday for the same conduct targeted by the U.S. Department of Justice's successful monopoly case, intentional efforts to give its advertising placement technology business a leg up over the competition.

  • September 05, 2025

    DC Circ. Revives Emergency Defense Rule For Air Polluters

    The D.C. Circuit on Friday restored air pollution-emitting facilities' right to defend themselves against alleged violations of the Clean Air Act by blaming emergency circumstances, finding that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's attempt to ban the practice was unlawful.

  • September 05, 2025

    Ørsted Investors Back $9.4B Rights Issue After US Order

    Ørsted AS said Friday that its shareholders have thrown their weight behind a 60 billion Danish kroner ($9.4 billion) rights issue, amid a legal battle against an order from the Trump administration to stop work on an offshore wind farm.

  • September 04, 2025

    Feds Seek Stay On Court Order Releasing Foreign Aid Billions

    The Trump administration urged the D.C. Circuit on Thursday to stay a federal judge's order that it release billions in frozen foreign aid pending its appeal, saying the disbursement will likely be "impossible" to recover according to the international aid organization plaintiffs' "own description of their financial condition."

  • September 04, 2025

    18 States Fight Trump Admin's Bid To End Haitian Protections

    A coalition of 18 states led by Massachusetts, California and New York has thrown its weight behind immigrants challenging the Trump administration's effort to remove temporary protected status for more than 250,000 Haitians in D.C. federal court, arguing TPS-eligible Haitians contribute $4.4 billion annually to the U.S. economy.

  • September 04, 2025

    11th Circ. Says 'Alligator Alcatraz' Can Stay Open For Now

    A split Eleventh Circuit Thursday paused a Florida federal judge's order that preliminarily ordered the federal government to begin winding down the immigration detention center dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," saying the government likely didn't need to prepare an environmental impact report for the facility built on the Florida Everglades.

  • September 04, 2025

    Trump's DOJ Sets Sights On Boston's Sanctuary City Status

    The U.S. Department of Justice Thursday sued the city of Boston, its mayor, police commissioner and police department over the city's sanctuary laws, claiming that the city is illegally impeding the federal government from enforcing immigration laws.

  • September 04, 2025

    Split 3rd Circ. Rejects Janssen, Bristol Myers Pricing Appeal

    A split Third Circuit panel Thursday shot down another challenge to the Medicare drug pricing negotiation, this time rejecting a consolidated appeal from Bristol Myers Squibb and Janssen and upholding a lower court's finding that the program is indeed voluntary and therefore constitutional.

  • September 04, 2025

    NJ Transit Urges Justices To Affirm Its Sovereign Immunity

    New Jersey Transit is a sovereign arm of the state of New Jersey and should be immune from out-of-state lawsuits according to U.S. Supreme Court precedent, attorneys for the agency told the justices in a brief filed Thursday.

  • September 04, 2025

    Doc Tells 1st Circ. Acquitted Conduct Marred Drug Sentence

    A Massachusetts psychiatrist convicted over an alleged scheme to import and dispense nonapproved forms of addiction medication on Thursday told the First Circuit the trial judge wrongly ran afoul of limitations on the consideration of acquitted conduct in federal sentencings when handing him a three-year prison term.

  • September 04, 2025

    Philip Morris Gets Wash. Tobacco Deal Fight Sent To Arbitrator

    A Washington state judge has ordered R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. to arbitrate rival Philip Morris USA Inc.'s claims that it breached a 2017 deal delineating billions of dollars in annual payments owed to states for Big Tobacco's public health toll by signing a new $277 million agreement with Washington in April.

  • September 04, 2025

    Courts' Curb Of Fast Removals Shows Due Process Concerns

    Two D.C. federal court rulings that curbed the Trump administration's use of an expedited process to deport noncitizens, as well as high court rulings on removals in general, show judges are keen to preserve due process rights for immigrants.

  • September 04, 2025

    Trump Says 'Century-Old' Precedent Backs Fed Gov.'s Firing

    President Donald Trump on Thursday hit back at Federal Reserve Board Gov. Lisa Cook's motion seeking to block her termination from the central bank, telling a Washington, D.C., federal court that Cook was ignoring "century-old" U.S. Supreme Court precedent that he says forecloses review of her removal for cause.

  • September 04, 2025

    Rural Carriers Call For Expanding Universal Service Aid

    Congress needs to provide more direct aid to rural telecom carriers if it wants connectivity to reach every household in the country, those telecom carriers told House legislators in a recent letter.

  • September 04, 2025

    Chevron, Exxon Kick Off High Court La. Pollution Case

    Chevron and Exxon Mobil Corp. on Thursday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Fifth Circuit's ruling that Louisiana state court, not federal court, is the proper venue for claims that their World War II-era oil production activities violated state law.

  • September 04, 2025

    SEC, Ƶ Rulemaking Agendas Show Deregulatory Push

    Federal regulators overseeing the financial services sector on Thursday unveiled new rulemaking agendas that they say will return their agencies to their core missions with policies to define authority and limit compliance burdens.

  • September 04, 2025

    Seattle Police Free From Federal Oversight After 13 Years

    Seattle police have demonstrated "sustained compliance" with a federal consent decree put in place more than 13 years ago in response to the department's allegedly unconstitutional use of force, a Washington federal judge has ruled, returning full control of the department to city leaders.

  • September 04, 2025

    USDOT Scraps Airline Refund Rule In Deregulatory Push

    The U.S. Department of Transportation is abandoning airline passengers' rights and other consumer protection regulations proposed by the Biden administration as President Donald Trump advances his deregulatory push, according to the White House's updated regulatory agenda released Thursday.

  • September 04, 2025

    Justices Asked To Block FTC Commissioner Reinstatement

    The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to block the reinstatement of Democratic Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter while it appeals a ruling that found her firing was illegal, and also asked the high court to take up the case.

  • September 04, 2025

    Ga. Officer Beats Tornado Failure To Warn Claims, Panel Says

    A Georgia sheriff's office lieutenant can't be held liable for a family's death and injuries in a tornado after she failed to activate the county's warning siren system, a state appellate court said Thursday, ruling that her duties extended only to the public in a general sense rather than to individuals.

  • September 04, 2025

    CTIA's Pai Projects Smooth Mobile Transition In Upper C-Band

    Ajit Pai, the onetime leader of the Federal Communications Commission who now runs wireless trade group CTIA, foresees a relatively smooth transition to mobile services in the upper C-band airwaves — as long as the FCC plays its cards right.

  • September 04, 2025

    EPA Touts 'Ambitious' New Deregulatory Agenda

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday laid out its regulatory agenda for the coming months, and said it intends to revisit or roll back Biden-era initiatives in several areas, including water, climate change and chemical regulations.

  • September 04, 2025

    10th Circ. Backs Firearms Ban For Those Under Indictment

    The Tenth Circuit has upheld a ban on receiving firearms while under federal criminal indictment, finding a Utah man did not have his rights violated under the U.S. Supreme Court's recent Bruen decision.

  • September 04, 2025

    NY AG Appeals Toss Of $500M Trump Fine In Civil Fraud Case

    New York's attorney general said Thursday she will challenge an appeals court's decision to throw out what it called an "excessive" $489 million civil fraud penalty against President Donald Trump and his sons, his companies, and executives of his companies.

Expert Analysis

  • Texas Property Law Complicates Financing And Development

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    A new Texas law imposing expansive state-level restrictions on properties owned by entities from designated countries creates a major obstacle for some lenders, developers and other stakeholders, as well as new diligence requirements for foreign companies, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From Texas AUSA To BigLaw

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    As I learned when I transitioned from an assistant U.S. attorney to a BigLaw partner, the move from government to private practice is not without its hurdles, but it offers immense potential for growth and the opportunity to use highly transferable skills developed in public service, says Jeffery Vaden at Bracewell.

  • Lessons From Liberty Mutual FCPA Declination

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    Liberty Mutual’s recent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act resolution with the U.S. Department of Justice signals that the Trump administration is once again considering such declinations after an enforcement pause, offering some assurances for companies regarding the benefits of voluntary self-disclosure, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.

  • Data Undermines USPTO's 'Settled Expectations' Doctrine

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    An analysis of inter partes review proceedings filed since 2012 appears to refute the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's recent stance that patent owners develop a strong settled expectation that their patents will not be challenged after being in force for six years, say Jonathan DeFosse and Samuel Smith at Sheppard Mullin, and Kenzo Kasai at NGB Corp.

  • Drafting M&A Docs After Delaware Corp. Law Amendments

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    Attorneys at Greenberg Traurig discuss how the March and June amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law affect the drafting of corporate and M&A documents, including board resolutions, governing documents, and books and records demands.

  • Advice For 1st-Gen Lawyers Entering The Legal Profession

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    Nikki Hurtado at The Ferraro Law Firm tells her story of being a first-generation lawyer and how others who begin their professional journeys without the benefit of playbooks handed down by relatives can turn this disadvantage into their greatest strength.

  • FTC Focus: When Green Goals And Antitrust Law Collide

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    A recently concluded Federal Trade Commission investigation has turned an emissions deal involving major U.S. heavy-duty truck manufacturers that was brokered by the California Air Resources Board into a cautionary tale about the potential for environmental agreements to run afoul of competition rules, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • High Court E-Cig Ruling Opens Door For FDA Challenges

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    There will likely be more challenges to marketing denial orders brought before the Fifth Circuit following the Supreme Court's recent ruling in U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co., where litigants have generally had greater success, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Opinion

    Small-Plane Black Box Mandate Would Aid Probes, Lawsuits

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    Given climbing fatality rates from small-plane and helicopter crashes, and the evidentiary significance of cockpit voice recordings in litigation and investigations, the Federal Aviation Administration should mandate black boxes in smaller aircraft, despite likely judicial challenges over privacy and cost-benefit calculations, says Jeff Korek at Gersowitz Libo.

  • Untangling 'Debanking' Exec Order And Ensuing Challenges

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    President Donald Trump's recent executive order on the practice of closing or refusing to open accounts for high-risk customers has heightened scrutiny on "debanking," but practical steps can help financial institutions reduce the likelihood of becoming involved in investigations, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • What FDIC's Asset Threshold Raise Would Mean For Banking

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    If the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. goes through with its plan to raise asset thresholds that determine regulatory intensity, it could free billions in compliance costs and bolster regional and community banks, but risk of oversight gaps are making this a contested area in banking policy, says Jessica Groza at Kohr Jackson.

  • 2nd Circ. Ruling Gives Banks Shield From Terrorism Liability

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    A recent Second Circuit dismissal strengthens the position of international banks facing claims they indirectly helped terrorist organizations and provides clearer guidance on the boundaries of secondary liability, but doesn't provide absolute immunity, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • Calif. Board's Financial-Grade Climate Standards Raise Stakes

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    After the California Air Resources Board's recent workshop, it is clear that the state's climate disclosure laws will be enforced with standards comparable to financial reporting — so companies should act now to implement assurance-grade systems, formalize governance responsibilities and coordinate reporting across their organizations, says Thierry Montoya at Frost Brown.

  • Series

    Coaching Cheerleading Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    At first glance, cheerleading and litigation may seem like worlds apart, but both require precision, adaptability, leadership and the ability to stay composed under pressure — all of which have sharpened how I approach my work in the emotionally complex world of mass torts and personal injury, says Rashanda Bruce at Robins Kaplan.

  • Unpacking The BIS Guidance On Chinese AI Chip Use

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    In response to May guidance from the Bureau of Industry and Security, which indicates the agency considers a wide but somewhat unclear range of activities involving Chinese integrated circuits to be in violation of its General Prohibition 10, companies should consider adopting enhanced due diligence to determine how firm counterparties may be using the affected chips, says Peter Lichtenbaum at Covington.

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