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Public Policy

  • June 24, 2025

    House Reps. Seek Copyright Protections For Building Codes

    Two members of Congress reintroduced a bill that would allow organizations that develop standards and codes for buildings to copyright their work so long as they offer a free version of the information.

  • June 23, 2025

    GOP Plan For Merging Agencies Faces Reckoning, And Alarm

    The Senate parliamentarian has given a thumbs-down to a Republican budget proposal that would allow President Donald Trump to unilaterally eliminate agencies through mergers and consolidation, adding to what experts say are a host of problems with the little-noticed provision.

  • June 23, 2025

    Trump Admin Rescinds Clinton-Era 'Roadless' Logging Rule

    U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced Monday that she was rescinding the longstanding "Roadless Rule" limiting the number of roads built in national forests, calling the 2001 rule "outdated," contrary to the "will of Congress" and an obstacle to "common sense management of our natural resources."

  • June 23, 2025

    Gov't Must Report To-Be-Deleted Signal Chats, Judge Says

    The U.S. Department of Defense will need to inform Secretary of State Marco Rubio about any Signal chats sent by top agency officials that are at risk of being automatically deleted, a D.C. federal judge has ruled.

  • June 23, 2025

    Colo. Attack Suspect's Family Calls Out Detention Conditions

    Attorneys representing the wife and children of an Egyptian man accused of attacking demonstrators demanding the release of Israeli hostages pressed for his family's release from a Texas detention center, pointing to court documents laying out what they called "heartbreaking" conditions at the facility.

  • June 23, 2025

    NC Restarts $1.5B Broadband Program After Fed Revamp

    North Carolina says it will be overhauling its $1.5 billion state broadband deployment program this summer to comply with the Trump administration's restructuring of the $46.5 billion federal program.

  • June 23, 2025

    Feds OK License Transfers To Navigation Co. Subsidiary

    A unit of 3D geolocation service NextNav has gotten the green light from the Federal Communications Commission to take over licenses for location services previously owned by Telesaurus Holdings.

  • June 23, 2025

    Trump Admin Says Justices' Ruling Should Kill SSA Data Suit

    The Trump administration is looking to scrap a union-brought challenge to the Department of Government Efficiency's ability to access Americans' Social Security information, telling a Maryland federal judge that the U.S. Supreme Court's recent pausing of an injunction won by the unions shows the administration's position is strong.

  • June 23, 2025

    DC Judge Wants More Details On Voice Of America Cuts

    A D.C. federal judge on Monday signaled doubt that the Trump administration was obeying his order to keep Voice of America up and running while a coalition of journalists, unions and a reporter advocacy group sue to keep the news agency intact.

  • June 23, 2025

    SEC Names Wiley Rein Partner As Inspector General

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Monday that a white collar defense and government investigations partner at Wiley Rein LLP will serve as the agency's next inspector general, starting late next month.

  • June 23, 2025

    CBS Says Trump's $20B Suit Doesn't Belong In Texas

    Paramount Global and CBS Broadcasting told a Texas federal judge President Donald Trump's $20 billion lawsuit accusing the network of deceptively doctoring a "60 Minutes" interview with Kamala Harris belongs outside the Lone Star State, saying in a Monday brief the interview took place "nearly two thousand miles from this courthouse."

  • June 23, 2025

    FTC Tells Court Not To Pause Meta's Privacy Order Challenge

    The Federal Trade Commission is pushing back on Meta's request to stay the company's constitutional challenge to the commission's bid to bar the Facebook parent from monetizing children's data for 90 days, saying Meta has done nothing to show it could be harmed by continuing the case.

  • June 23, 2025

    Permit Delays Out Of Hand, Telecom Biz Tells Interior Dept.

    Telecom providers are still having a tough time getting federal permits approved for broadband projects, with the Bureau of Land Management causing severe delays, the industry's main trade group told the U.S. Department of the Interior.

  • June 23, 2025

    Media Matters Sues FTC Over 'Retaliatory' Probe

    Media Matters filed a lawsuit against the Federal Trade Commission in D.C. federal court on Monday, asking a judge to shut down the agency's "retaliatory" investigation into the left-leaning media watchdog's reporting on Elon Musk's social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

  • June 23, 2025

    Fed Joins Peers In Axing Reputational Risk As Exam Factor

    The Federal Reserve Board on Monday became the latest regulator to announce that it will no longer consider reputational risk in its examination programs for the supervision of banks.

  • June 23, 2025

    Google Foes Try To Hold Co. To DOJ's Ad Tech Win

    Website publishers, advertisers and others asked a New York federal court to all but seal Google's fate in their multidistrict litigation targeting the company's advertising placement technology business by holding it to the liability findings against the search giant previously won by the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • June 23, 2025

    High Court's Ruling Against Texas Could Tank FCC Wi-Fi Case

    As the Federal Communications Commission faces a Fifth Circuit challenge to its plan to fund school bus Wi-Fi, the appeals court is weighing how a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week against Texas in a nuclear waste case impacts its jurisdiction.

  • June 23, 2025

    Amazon Sanctioned For Hidden Discovery

    A Washington federal judge sanctioned Amazon.com Monday by limiting its use of company documents produced during discovery while giving the Federal Trade Commission more time for discovery, siding with the FTC's allegations that the online retail giant improperly claimed privilege over tens of thousands of documents in the Prime "dark patterns" lawsuit.

  • June 23, 2025

    DOJ Sues Wash. Over New Abuse Reporting Rule For Clergy

    The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday moved to join the Catholic Church's constitutional challenge of a Washington state law making clergy members mandatory reporters of suspected child abuse, saying the requirement violates priests' right to freely exercise religion by forcing them to disclose information shared during Confession.

  • June 23, 2025

    NY Tribe Says Feds Ignore Public Health In Sanitation Fight

    The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe has asked a New York federal court to order the Indian Health Service to turn over its authority to maintain sanitation facilities to the tribe, arguing that part of the IHS's public health mission is to ensure clean water and functioning sewage systems.

  • June 23, 2025

    Okla. Court Says Race Theory Law Excludes College Classes

    A group of civil rights advocates and their opponent, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, are both claiming victory after the state's high court determined that a 2021 law that blocks the teaching of certain racial and gender topics in public classrooms does not apply to academic speech in higher educational settings.

  • June 23, 2025

    Senate Adviser Clears Way For AI Moratorium In Budget Bill

    The U.S. Senate won't have to meet a heightened vote threshold to enact a sweeping provision tucked into the current budget proposal that would block states from regulating artificial intelligence for a decade, after the chamber's parliamentarian concluded that the controversial measure could remain in the bill. 

  • June 23, 2025

    FTC Puts Viewpoint Commitments In Ad Agency Mega-Deal

    The Federal Trade Commission said Monday it will allow Omnicom to move ahead with its planned $13.5 billion deal for Interpublic after the marketing giants agreed not to work with others to steer advertisers away from publishers based on their political viewpoints.

  • June 23, 2025

    Texas Law Cutting Municipal Fees Not Gift, Comcast Says

    Comcast and a state trade association told the Texas Supreme Court that laws curbing the fees municipalities can charge telecom companies for rights-of-way usage passes constitutional muster, asking the court to flip a lower court's findings that the laws violate the Texas Constitution's gift clauses.

  • June 23, 2025

    Apache Nonprofit Asks Justices For Rehearing In Mining Row

    An Apache nonprofit is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider a decision to deny its petition that looked to block the transfer of nearly 2,500 acres to an Arizona copper mining company, arguing the outcome of a case now before the justices could sway their analysis.

Expert Analysis

  • Getting Ahead Of The SEC's Continued Focus On Cyber, AI

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is showing it will continue to scrutinize actions involving cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, but there are proactive measures that companies and financial institutions can take to avoid regulatory scrutiny going forward, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Navigating Florida's Bad Faith Reforms After Appellate Ruling

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    A Florida appellate court's recent decision is among the first to interpret two significant amendments to the state's insurance bad faith law, and its holding that one of the statutes could not apply retroactively may affect insurers' interpretation of the other statute, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • 3 Steps For In-House Counsel To Assess Litigation Claims

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    Before a potential economic downturn, in-house attorneys should investigate whether their company is sitting on hidden litigation claims that could unlock large recoveries to help the business withstand tough times, says Will Burgess at Hilgers Graben.

  • IRS And ICE Info Sharing Could Drive Payroll Tax Enforcement

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    Tax crimes are historically difficult to prosecute, but the Internal Revenue Services’ recent agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to share taxpayer records of non-U.S. citizens could be used to enhance payroll tax-related enforcement against their employers, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Breaking Down Ill. Bellwether Case For Bank Preemption

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    The banking industry's pending lawsuit against the state of Illinois stands to permanently enjoin state regulation of bank card processing, as well as clarify the outstanding and consequential issue of whether conflict preemption continues to cover third parties in certain circumstances, says Tom Witherspoon at Stinson.

  • Despite SEC Climate Pause, Cos. Must Still Heed State Regs

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    While businesses may have been given a reprieve from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's rules aimed at standardizing climate-related disclosures, they must still track evolving requirements in states including California, Illinois, New Jersey and New York that will soon require reporting of direct and indirect carbon emissions, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

  • A Primer On The Trading And Clearing Of Perpetual Contracts

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    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission recently released a request for comment on the trading and clearing of perpetual-style derivatives, most common in the cryptocurrency market, necessitating a deep look at how these contracts operate and their associated risks, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Series

    Teaching College Students Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Serving as an adjunct college professor has taught me the importance of building rapport, communicating effectively, and persuading individuals to critically analyze the difference between what they think and what they know — principles that have helped to improve my practice of law, says Sheria Clarke at Nelson Mullins.

  • 5 Areas Contractors Should Watch After 1st 100 Days

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    Federal agencies and contractors face challenges from staff reductions, contract terminations, pending regulatory reform and other actions from the second Trump administration's first 100 days, but other areas stand to become more efficient and cost-effective, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • Planning For Open Banking Despite ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ Uncertainty

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    Though pending litigation or new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau leadership may reshape the Biden-era regulation governing access to consumer financial data, companies can use this uncertain period to take practical steps toward an open banking strategy that will work regardless of the rule’s ultimate form, says Adam Maarec at McGlinchey Stafford.

  • Crunching The Numbers Of Trump SEC's 1st 100 Days

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    During the first 100 days of the second Trump administration, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission brought significantly fewer stand-alone enforcement actions than at the beginning of the Biden and the first Trump administrations, with every one of the federal court complaints including allegations of fraudulent conduct, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • Charging A Separate Tariff Fee May Backfire For Retailers

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    In the wake of the Trump administration's newly imposed tariffs, retailers facing significant supply chain cost increases may be considering adding a tariff fee to offset these costs, but doing so risks violating state drip pricing bans, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From DOJ Enviro To Mid-Law

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    Practitioners leaving a longtime government role for private practice — as when I departed the U.S. Department of Justice’s environmental enforcement division — should prioritize finding a firm that shares their principles, values their experience and will invest in their transition, says John Cruden at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • Independent Contractor Rule Up In The Air Under New DOL

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    In several recent court challenges, the U.S. Department of Labor has indicated its intent to revoke the 2024 independent contractor rule, sending a clear signal that it will not defend the Biden-era rule on the merits in anticipation of further rulemaking, say attorneys at Jackson Lewis.

  • Why Trade Cases May Put Maple Leaf Deference On Review

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    When litigation challenging the president’s trade actions reaches the Federal Circuit, the court will have to reevaluate the Maple Leaf standard in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2024 Loper Bright decision limiting Chevron-like deference to cases involving statutory provisions in which Congress delegated discretionary authority to the executive branch, say attorneys at Wiley.

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