Public Policy

  • May 14, 2026

    US Trade Rep. Seeks Feedback On ITC's Quartz Tariff Plan

    The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Thursday said it is seeking comments on tariff recommendations made in April by the U.S. International Trade Commission regarding imported quartz surfaces.

  • May 14, 2026

    Trump's 8th Circ. Pick Clears Senate Panel Vote

    President Donald Trump's nominee for the Eighth Circuit, who represented the president in the cases brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, advanced to the full Senate on Thursday.

  • May 14, 2026

    DOL Walks Back Biden-Era Overtime Exemption Rule

    The U.S. Department of Labor moved Thursday to undo a rule from former President Joe Biden's administration that raised the salary threshold for overtime exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act, returning to the standard from President Donald Trump's first term.

  • May 14, 2026

    Justices Say Freight Brokers Can Face Negligence Suits

    The U.S. Supreme Court said Thursday that freight brokers might also be liable under state law for selecting unsafe motor carriers that then get into highway crashes that kill or injure people, offering long-sought clarity on liability standards in a commercial trucking industry unnerved by supersized verdicts against carriers and drivers.

  • May 13, 2026

    Trump Library Land Given As Unlawful Gift, Fla. Suit Says

    A group of Florida residents alleged President Donald Trump broke the law after paying nothing to receive a downtown Miami parcel worth $300 million to build his presidential library, claiming in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday the land transfer constituted an illegal gift under the U.S. Constitution.

  • May 13, 2026

    Microsoft Exec Backed OpenAI Deal Amid Concerns, Jury Told

    Microsoft's chief technology officer testified in a California federal jury trial Wednesday over Elon Musk's challenge to OpenAI's for-profit conversion, recalling that he proposed Microsoft invest significant resources into OpenAI's for-profit arm to stay competitive despite his initial concerns over whether OpenAI's nonprofit donors had agreed to the for-profit partnership.

  • May 13, 2026

    EPA Must Reconsider Flame Retardant Regs, 9th Circ. Says

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must revisit rulemaking on a flame retardant known as decaBDE, a Ninth Circuit panel said Wednesday, agreeing with a Native American tribe and environmental groups that the federal agency failed to adequately explain its past decisions declining to further regulate the chemical's disposal.

  • May 13, 2026

    Dems Target Ethics, Illicit Finance In Crypto Bill Amendments

    Lawmakers have offered over 100 amendments ahead of the Senate banking committee's Thursday markup of its latest proposal to regulate crypto markets, with Democrats proposing the lion's share of changes in an effort to add ethics language and beef up provisions addressing crypto's use in illicit finance.

  • May 13, 2026

    Judge Challenges DOJ On Trump Records Act Defiance

    A Trump administration attorney couldn't say whether the White House would follow Presidential Records Act requirements before disposing of records after an Office of Legal Counsel opinion unilaterally called the law unconstitutional last month.

  • May 13, 2026

    Mom Seeks $20M, Alleging State's 'Epic' Failure Before Killing

    The Connecticut Department of Children and Families committed a "failure of epic proportions" when a father took custody of a 7-month-old he murdered five days later by throwing the boy into a river, an attorney for the slain infant's mother argued Wednesday in a $20 million lawsuit against the state.  

  • May 13, 2026

    Oversight Bill For FCC's High Cost Program Signed Into Law

    The Rural Broadband Protection Act, which aims to establish a vetting process for internet service providers who are taking part in the Federal Communications Commission's "high cost" program, has finally made it into law after being filed several times over the last couple of years.

  • May 13, 2026

    Empire Wind Seeks Permanent End To Stop-Work Order

    The developers of a $4 billion offshore wind energy project that should power half a million New York homes once it's finished believe it's time for a D.C. federal judge to once and for all tell the Trump administration that it cannot interfere with its construction.

  • May 13, 2026

    Squires Hits Pause On Unpopular Examiner Sign-Off Policy

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director has paused a policy requiring that supervisory patent examiners sign off on some first actions by examiners who have signatory authority, a policy that's been unpopular with examination staff since its rollout in the fall, Law360 has learned.

  • May 13, 2026

    4th Circ. Says Prison Misconduct Sank Sentence Cut Bid

    The Fourth Circuit has ruled that a Virginia man convicted of illegal ammunition possession should be made to serve an entire federal sentence, despite being eligible for a reduction under recently revised sentencing guidelines.

  • May 13, 2026

    1st Circ. Doubts Trump Admin's 3rd-Country Removal Policy

    The First Circuit on Wednesday questioned the sufficiency of a country's diplomatic assurances that a noncitizen won't be persecuted or tortured if the Trump administration deports them there, and whether such assurances eliminate obligations to provide notice to the deportee.

  • May 13, 2026

    2nd Circ. Backs Fed Reserve's Power To Cut Master Accounts

    The Federal Reserve has broad discretion to cut financial institutions off from master accounts, the Second Circuit ruled Wednesday, rejecting a Puerto Rico bank's argument that it has a statutory right to what is commonly referred to as "bank accounts for banks."

  • May 13, 2026

    NCAA Says Injunction Mooted WVU Players' Eligibility Suit

    The NCAA has asked a West Virginia federal judge to toss the antitrust suit of four football players, arguing that the athletes lack standing because a preliminary injunction that allowed them to play during the 2025-26 season remedied their alleged injuries.

  • May 13, 2026

    Pa. School OK To Remove List Of 'Infamous' Strikebreakers

    A divided Pennsylvania appeals panel on Wednesday held that administrators at a Pennsylvania university were allowed to remove a list of "infamous" strike-breaking union faculty members from a public bulletin board, even though the posting itself was legally protected.

  • May 13, 2026

    4th Circ. Judge Flags Energy Shortage Harms In Pipeline Fight

    A Fourth Circuit judge on Wednesday appeared less than pleased with counsel for a collection of environmental groups during a hearing to consider halting construction on an interstate pipeline, calling attention to the "one sentence" devoted to the public harm of ongoing energy shortages.

  • May 13, 2026

    Arbitrators See Global Stakes In Trump BigLaw EO Fight

    Ahead of a D.C. Circuit hearing on Thursday in the Trump administration's effort to revive executive orders imposed against four BigLaw firms, an official at the College of Commercial Arbitrators told Law360 this week there are several things arbitrators are going to be watching for.

  • May 13, 2026

    HealthSplash CEO Found Guilty In $450M Medicare Fraud Trial

    A Florida federal jury found a former healthcare company executive guilty on Wednesday of swindling Medicare out of $450 million with software that created false prescriptions for orthotic braces.

  • May 13, 2026

    CMS To Keep $1.3B From Calif., Halt New Hospice Enrollment

    The federal government on Wednesday announced it will defer more than $1.3 billion in Medicaid funds from California and halt new Medicare enrollments for hospices and home health agencies, saying it was part of an effort to crack down on fraudulent activity.

  • May 13, 2026

    SEC's New Enforcement Chief Touts 'Back To Basics' Message

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new head of enforcement affirmed Wednesday that he fully supports Chairman Paul Atkins' focus on "quality over quantity" regarding cases, amid a dramatic decrease in original enforcement actions at the agency.

  • May 13, 2026

    Full 5th Circ. Weighs Jackson, Mississippi, Lead Poisoning Claims

    The full Fifth Circuit on Tuesday weighed whether to keep intact a lawsuit alleging the city of Jackson, Mississippi, poisoned its residents by allowing lead to leach into the water supply, asking what level of lead in the water would constitute "shocking the conscience."

  • May 13, 2026

    Mich. Panel Revives FOIA Suit, Finds Defense Frivolous

    A Michigan appellate panel partly revived a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against a Detroit-area prosecutor's office, ruling that the office failed to adequately justify withholding records related to threats against the prosecutor and her staff, while also finding that one of its legal defenses was frivolous and sanctionable. 

Expert Analysis

  • 3 Federal Policy Trends Shaping Data Center Power

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    With the White House, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Congress each pushing energy policies that will influence how data centers are sited, powered and interconnected for years to come, industry stakeholders should understand compliance obligations, consider possible downstream effects, and evaluate off-grid and self-supply energy options, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • NY Tax Talk: Calculating Tiered Partnership Income

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    Attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland discuss how the potential impact recent New York City Tax Appeals Tribunal decision in Matter of Cantor Fitzgerald holding that the entity approach should be used by tiered partnerships to compute unincorporated business tax liability, why the issue of the proper approach remains unsettled and the broader implications for federal conformity and administrative agency deference.

  • FDA Guidance May Move Goalposts For Form 483 Responses

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    New draft guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration provides formal insight on how drug manufacturers are expected to respond to Form 483s, raising some concerns about the agency's timelines and expectations, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Understanding The SEC's Consequential Crypto Guidance

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent interpretive release — its most comprehensive statement ever on the application of the federal securities laws to crypto-assets — reimagines the Howey test to resolve long-standing questions over what is a security, but leaves many issues unresolved, say attorneys at Cahill.

  • Ohio Case Reflects States' Aggressive Criminal Antitrust Turn

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    The Ohio Attorney General's Office’s recent bid-rigging indictment of an online auctioneer is the latest signal that states, through attorneys general pursuing more kickback cases and legislators expanding the reach of antitrust laws, are shedding their historical reluctance to wield their criminal antitrust enforcement powers, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Justices' Geofence Ruling May Test 4th Amendment's Future

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    When the U.S. Supreme Court decides in Chatrie v. U.S. whether law enforcement may use geofence warrants to compel Google to disclose location history data, the ruling is likely to become an important statement about the future of Fourth Amendment law in data-driven investigations, says Duncan Levin at Levin & Associates.

  • Series

    NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1

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    In the first quarter of 2026, New York's banking developments were headlined by initiatives to expand oversight of financial institutions and strengthen consumer protection laws, including a new framework for buy now, pay later lenders, a sweeping debt collection rule and a revised corporate self-disclosure program for financial crimes, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Seeking A Policy Fix As Merger Reporting Fight Continues

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    A recently announced request by the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice for public comment on the Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger reporting requirements, as litigation challenging the commission's updated requirements continues, suggests the government's willingness to address how best to support modern merger enforcement without unduly burdening filing parties, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • What New Fla. Citizens Bill Means For Surplus Lines Insurers

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    A Florida bill recently passed by the Legislature as part of a continued effort to depopulate Citizens Property Insurance, the state's insurer of last resort, creates an additional pathway for commercial policies to be written by surplus lines insurers, but also presents concerns of unnecessary regulation, say attorneys at Troutman.

  • What Voluntary Calif. Carbon Reports Show About Compliance

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    While the enforcement of California's S.B. 261 is currently paused due to a Ninth Circuit injunction, more than 130 companies have nonetheless chosen to voluntarily publish climate-related financial risk disclosures, providing a useful snapshot of how the market is interpreting the law's requirements in practice, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • PTAB Memo Recenters Discretion On US Manufacturing

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    Read alongside recent Federal Circuit decisions, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires' memo on patent denial considerations emphasizes domestic manufacturing in a way that the International Trade Commission does not require, says Brandon Theiss at Volpe Koenig.

  • Why MDLs Slow Down — And How To Speed Them Up

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    Multidistrict litigation has become central to mass tort practice, but as MDLs grow in size and complexity, so do delays and costs — so tools like the new federal rule governing MDLs, targeted use of special masters and strategically deployed Lone Pine orders are more essential than ever, say attorneys at Ice Miller.

  • What A Court Doc Audit Reveals About Erroneous Filings

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    My audit of 1,522 court documents from last month found that over 95% contained at least one verifiable error, with fewer than 1% showing clear indicators of artificial intelligence use — highlighting above all else that lawyers may want to focus most on strengthening their review processes, says Elliott Ash at ETH Zurich.

  • Regulators' Basel Pitch May Bring Banks Capital Relief

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    The prudential banking agencies' new proposals to implement the so-called Basel III endgame rules — which would modify the approach to risk-based capital, among other notable changes — represent a fundamental directional shift in bank capital requirements aimed at increasing lending capacity, says Chen Xu at Debevoise.

  • How SEC And CFTC Are Attempting To End Their 'Turf War'

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    Through coordinated examinations and a shared aim to end duplicative regulation, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's recent memorandum of understanding could represent a significant shift in the regulatory landscape for market participants subject to the jurisdiction of both agencies, say attorneys at Jenner.

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