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Public Policy
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August 15, 2025
Thoreau Stomping Grounds Still Public, Mass. Justices Rule
Massachusetts' highest court on Friday said the public is entitled to use a section of an 18th century road once deemed "a paradise for walkers" by Henry David Thoreau, rejecting claims by Harvard University and other adjacent property owners that the road was made private decades ago.
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August 15, 2025
DC Circ. Paves Way For Trump Admin To Resume ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ Cuts
A D.C. Circuit panel on Friday tentatively cleared President Donald Trump's administration to carry out mass layoffs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, rejecting a lower-court hold on those efforts but giving time for groups representing consumers and agency workers to request an appeal.
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August 15, 2025
DC Sues Trump Over Police Takeover, Sanctuary Policies
The District of Columbia sued President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday to halt the federal takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department, saying the executive branch lacks authority to exert operational control over the city's law enforcement.
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August 14, 2025
Ed. Dept. Effort To Bar School Diversity Programs Blocked
A Maryland federal judge on Thursday held that the U.S. Department of Education violated the constitution and Administrative Procedure Act when it issued guidance that took aim at school diversity programs, ruling that the "law does not countenance the government's hasty and summary treatment of these significant issues."
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August 14, 2025
Banks Ask To Halt 'Unfair' Clock On ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ Open Banking Rule
Bank trade groups are asking a Kentucky federal judge to freeze looming compliance deadlines for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's contested open banking rule as the agency revamps the measure, while opposing fintech groups called on the White House to block banks from charging them fees for the kind of data-sharing the rule mandates.
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August 14, 2025
Fla. Judge Won't Require Snap To Heed Teen Social Media Law
A Florida federal judge has rejected the state attorney general's bid to force Snap Inc. to comply with a new law that would limit the ability of teens to access the platform, holding that the state's challenge was unlikely to succeed in light of his prior ruling in a related case finding the measure to likely be unconstitutional.Â
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August 14, 2025
NYC Fires Back At Co.'s Migrant Busing Suit
New York City is coming out swinging against a lawsuit brought by a charter company that helped Texas bus thousands of migrants into the city and leave them there, saying that Roadrunner Charters wasn't injured by the city enforcing its own laws.
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August 14, 2025
Fla. Judge Warns Of Split Claims In Detention Center Suit
A Florida federal judge on Thursday warned parties in a proposed class action over attorney access for individuals confined at the Everglades immigrant detention center that some claims in the lawsuit appear to belong in a neighboring district, saying that he could issue a ruling reflecting this determination.Â
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August 14, 2025
ATF Says Ban On Buying Handguns Out Of State Is Valid
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives asked a Texas federal judge to shoot down a bid from a gun store to overturn the federal ban on citizens purchasing handguns outside their state of residence, saying the law has historic backing.
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August 14, 2025
Colo. Sex Offender Can't Nix Registry Over Expunged Record
A Colorado Court of Appeals panel held Thursday in a matter of first impression that an expunged juvenile sex offense can be a factor in determining lifetime registration as a sex offender, rejecting a defendant's arguments that it violates the ex post facto clause and the Eighth Amendment.
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August 14, 2025
9th Circ. OKs Returning Calif. Farm Wage Suit To State Court
A California farmworker's wage and hour suit against Sunsweet Growers Inc. can proceed in state court, a Ninth Circuit panel ruled Thursday, rejecting the company's argument that the suit belongs in federal court and should be dismissed.
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August 14, 2025
Austin Asks Justices To Toss Abortion Travel Decision
The city of Austin, Texas, threw its weight behind San Antonio in the latter's fight against a state appeals court finding that barred San Antonio from funding out-of-state abortion travel, telling the Texas Supreme Court the ruling allows the state to thwart Texas cities' legislative process.
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August 14, 2025
DC Judge Halts Some USDA Climate Grant Terminations
A D.C. federal judge on Thursday halted the U.S. Department of Agriculture's termination of certain climate-focused grants awarded to five nonprofits, saying the terminations were likely arbitrary and capricious but stopping short of blocking the administration's broader grant termination policy.
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August 14, 2025
DOJ Says No Habeas Exception In Georgetown Scholar's Case
The Trump administration has told the Fourth Circuit that district court orders barring the removal and ordering the release of Indian Georgetown academic Badar Khan Suri, who was detained on foreign policy grounds, flout longstanding limits on courts' authority over habeas petitions.
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August 14, 2025
Trump Picks Ex-Scalia, Kavanaugh Clerk For 7th Circ.
President Donald Trump announced on Thursday evening he would be nominating Rebecca Taibleson, an assistant U.S. attorney in Wisconsin, to the Seventh Circuit.
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August 14, 2025
Trump's Brazil Tariffs Raise Questions About Legal Limits
Higher tariffs imposed last week on Brazilian imports may prove especially vulnerable to legal challenges, but stakeholders expect the U.S.-Brazil trading relationship to nevertheless remain in limbo for the immediate future.
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August 14, 2025
Bid To Block Alabama's Anti-DEI Law Rejected
An Alabama federal judge has rejected a bid to block a state law banning certain diversity, equity and inclusion-related activities at state schools and college campuses, finding the Alabama NAACP and the students and professors who filed suit didn't show that the law is unconstitutionally vague.
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August 14, 2025
Calif. Justices Say No Arb. For Nursing Home Death Claim
The California Supreme Court on Thursday reversed a decision sending to arbitration a wrongful death claim by parents who allege their son was neglected at the 24-hour skilled nursing facility he was admitted to.
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August 14, 2025
SpaceX Calls Va. Broadband Funding Plan 'Wasteful'
SpaceX criticized Virginia over its spending plan for the $1.48 billion in broadband funding it's set to receive from the BEAD program, saying the state "has put its heavy thumb on the scale in favor of expensive, slow-to-build fiber bias" over satellite.
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August 14, 2025
Red States Back Feds' Push To End Trump Energy Orders Suit
Republican-led states on Thursday threw their support behind the federal government's bid to dismiss a lawsuit by youths alleging that President Donald Trump's energy policy directives harm their future by exacerbating climate change, saying there are no grounds to sustain the suit.
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August 14, 2025
AGs Urge Meta To 'Prioritize Safety' With Location Feature
A bipartisan coalition of more than three dozen state attorneys general is calling on Meta Platforms Inc. to strengthen the privacy and security safeguards for a new location tracking feature that recently debuted on Instagram, arguing that the social media giant has a duty "to prioritize user safety over product novelty."
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August 14, 2025
Okla. City Fights Creek Nation Over Tribal Court Authority
An Oklahoma city is looking to dismiss a challenge by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation that looks to block the municipality from prosecuting Native Americans for crimes committed on tribal lands, arguing that a 2022 Supreme Court ruling gives it concurrent jurisdiction with the federally recognized tribe.
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August 14, 2025
PTAB Petitions To Get More Scrutiny Under New Policy
A new Patent Trial and Appeal Board policy limiting the ability of the challengers to argue that "general knowledge" indicates that a patent is invalid will heighten scrutiny of petitions and could lead to more of them being denied if they don't comply with the rule, attorneys say.
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August 14, 2025
Wyden, Warren Ask Lutnick's Son About Firm's Tariff Bets
Senate Democratic ranking members sent a letter published Thursday to Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. CEO Brandon Lutnick raising concerns about potential insider trading and conflicts of interest associated with a financial product hedging the legality of tariffs that his father, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, has been involved in.
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August 14, 2025
11th Circ. Looks For Immunity Line In $40M Taser Case
An Eleventh Circuit panel appeared conflicted Thursday over whether to toss a $40 million verdict against the city of Atlanta and a cop who left a man a quadriplegic after shocking him with a Taser over suspicions of panhandling, struggling with whether the officer should have foreseen the injuries he caused.
Expert Analysis
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New NY Residential Real Estate Rules May Be Overbroad
New legislation imposing a 90-day-waiting period and tax deduction restrictions on certain New York real estate investors may have broad effects and unintended consequences, creating impediments for a wide range of corporate and other transactions, says Libin Zhang at Fried Frank.
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Cos. Must Tailor Due Diligence As Trafficking Risks Increase
As legislators, prosecutors and plaintiffs attorneys increasingly focus on labor and sex trafficking throughout the U.S., companies must tailor their due diligence strategies to protect against forced labor trafficking risks in their supply chains, say attorneys at Steptoe.
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Series
Creating Botanical Art Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Pressing and framing plants that I grow has shown me that pursuing an endeavor that brings you joy can lead to surprising benefits for a legal career, including mental clarity, perspective and even a bit of humility, says Douglas Selph at Morris Manning.
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Opinion
PFAS Reg Reversal Defies Water Statute, Increasing Risks
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent moves delaying the deadlines to comply with PFAS drinking water limits, and rolling back other chemical regulations, violate the Safe Drinking Water Act, and increase the likelihood that these toxins could become permanent fixtures of the water supply, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.
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New Federal Worker Religious Protections Test All Employers
A recent Trump administration memorandum expanding federal employees' religious protections raises tough questions for all employers and signals a larger trend toward significantly expanding religious rights in the workplace, say attorneys at Seyfarth.
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FTC Focus: Surprising Ways Meador And Khan Sound Alike
Since becoming a commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission, Mark Meador's public comments, speeches and writings reveal a surprising degree of continuity with former Chair Lina Khan's approach, in an indication that differing philosophies might have comparable practical effects, say attorneys at Proskauer.
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Supreme Court's Criminal Law Decisions: The Term In Review
Though the U.S. Supreme Court’s criminal law decisions in its recently concluded term proved underwhelming by many measures, their opinions revealed trends in how the justices approach criminal cases and offered reminders for practitioners, says Kenneth Notter at MoloLamken.
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Compliance Is A New Competitive Edge For Mortgage Lenders
So far, 2025 has introduced state and federal regulatory turbulence that is pressuring mortgage lenders to reevaluate the balance between competitive and compliant employee and customer recruiting practices, necessitating a compliance recalibration that prioritizes five key strategies, say attorneys at Mitchell Sandler.
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Noncompete Forecast Shows Tough Weather For Employers
Several new state noncompete laws signal rough conditions for employers, particularly in the healthcare sector, so employers must account for employees' geographic circumstances as they cannot rely solely on choice-of-law clauses, say lawyers at McDermott.
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Opinion
Privacy Bill Must Be Amended To Protect Small Businesses
While a bill recently passed by the California Senate would exempt a company's use of legally compliant website advertising and tracking technologies from the California Invasion of Privacy Act, it must be amended to adequately protect small businesses, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.
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Opinion
Budget Act's Deduction Limit Penalizes Losing Gamblers
A provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that reduces the deduction for gambling losses is unfair to professional and recreational players, risks driving online activity to offshore sites, and will set back efforts to legalize and regulate the industry, says Walter Bourdaghs at Kang Haggerty.
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Even As States Step Up, They Can't Fully Fill ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ's Shoes
The Trump administration's efforts to scale down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have prompted calls for state regulators to pick up the slack, but there are also important limitations on states' ability to fill the gap left by a mostly dormant ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ, say attorneys at Covington.
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Opinion
The Legal Education Status Quo Is No Longer Tenable
As underscored by the fallout from California’s February bar exam, legal education and licensure are tethered to outdated systems, and the industry must implement several key reforms to remain relevant and responsive to 21st century legal needs, says Matthew Nehmer at The Colleges of Law.
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The Int'l Compliance View: Everything Everywhere All At Once
Changes to the enforcement landscape in the U.S. and abroad shift the risks and incentives for global compliance programs, creating a race against the clock for companies to deploy investigative resources across worldwide operations, say attorneys at Dentons.
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Opinion
Calif. Must Amend Trade Secret Civil Procedure
A California procedural law that effectively shields trade secret defendants from having to return company materials until the plaintiff can craft detailed requests must be amended to recognize that property recovery and trade secret analysis are distinct issues, says Matthew Miller at Hanson Bridgett.