Public Policy

  • July 13, 2026

    NJ Justices Revamp Test For Certain Zoning Variances

    The New Jersey Supreme Court revised a decades-old legal test governing use variances for "inherently beneficial" projects, ruling Monday that applicants must show that a proposed development will not substantially impair a municipality's zoning plan before a zoning board balances the project's public benefits against its downsides.

  • July 13, 2026

    Judge Halts Ohio Hemp Law In Dormant Commerce Fight

    An Ohio federal judge on Monday ordered state officials to stop enforcing a new law that reclassified hemp products as marijuana, although the order's scope is limited to the products manufactured and sold by the hemp interests that challenged the policy.

  • July 13, 2026

    GOP States Back Bid To Restore Voter Database Expansion

    A group of Republican-led states is calling on the D.C. Circuit to stay a lower court decision vacating the Trump administration's changes to a database used to verify voters' citizenship or immigration statuses, saying that a number of state laws cannot be executed if Social Security number searches are not allowed.

  • July 13, 2026

    2nd Circ. Rejects Bid To End NYC's Congestion Pricing

    The Second Circuit on Monday upheld New York City's congestion pricing, rejecting two suburban counties' claims that Manhattan's congestion pricing tolls are discriminatory and unconstitutionally restrict motorists' right to travel.

  • July 13, 2026

    Solar Co. Loses Challenge To Validity Of Conn. Panel Seats

    A Connecticut state court judge has turned away a solar developer's argument that three commissioners were sitting illegally on the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority when they ruled in favor of an Avangrid Inc. unit as part of a dispute over a power purchase agreement.

  • July 13, 2026

    Ill. Conforms Property Tax Law With High Court Takings Case

    Illinois updated parts of its property tax code to clarify that tax authorities cannot keep more than a debtor owes under a bill approved by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

  • July 13, 2026

    Judge OKs Pause On Reviewing CFPB Layoff Plan

    A D.C. federal court has approved a joint bid from the Trump administration and a union that represents Consumer Financial Protection Bureau staffers to pause weighing a response to the administration's plan to lay off about half of the agency's remaining workforce, after the parties argued the president's nominee to head the agency should be given the chance to review the plan if he is confirmed.

  • July 13, 2026

    States Win Vacatur Of Remain-In-Mexico Termination Memos

    A Texas federal judge granted Texas and Missouri's push to block the Biden-era termination of the Remain in Mexico policy, which required asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico while their claims were processed, and ruled a nationwide vacatur was appropriate.

  • July 13, 2026

    FCC Ditches Lifeline Obligations In Hundreds Of Counties

    The Federal Communications Commission has announced a list of counties across the country in which eligible telecommunications carriers will no longer be required to advertise and offer Lifeline-supported voice service.

  • July 13, 2026

    Cannabis Co. Says Mich. City Forced Illegal License Waiver

    A marijuana dispensary in Michigan's Upper Peninsula told a federal court that a Michigan municipality changed cannabis licensing rules midway through the process and committed fraud and breach of contract.

  • July 13, 2026

    Hemp Co. Tells 7th Circ. To Leave RICO Case Buried

    Hemp product maker Urb Cannabis and its affiliates are urging the Seventh Circuit to leave intact the dismissal of a hemp seller's suit alleging that Urb's products were illegal and led to a police raid on his store, saying the racketeering claims are insufficient and fail to describe the conspiracy or identify its members.

  • July 13, 2026

    Blanche Hearing To Proceed After Graham's Death

    The Senate Judiciary Committee will still hold the confirmation hearing for Todd Blanche's nomination to be attorney general on Wednesday, despite the death of committee member Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., over the weekend. 

  • July 13, 2026

    Families Cite Geofence Ruling In Newborn Blood Testing Case

    A group of parents suing the state of Michigan over the way newborn blood samples are collected and stored has asked a federal judge to revive its claims by citing recently decided U.S. Supreme Court precedent over the use of bulk cellphone data by police.

  • July 13, 2026

    DHS Revives Plan For NJ Immigrant Detention Center

    The U.S. government told a federal judge that it's actually still considering plans to turn a New Jersey warehouse into an immigrant detention center, a week after it reported it no longer intended to pursue the challenged project.

  • July 13, 2026

    CBP Sends Another $15B In Tariff Refunds To Treasury

    Customs and Border Protection finalized over $15 billion more worth of tariff refunds in just under two weeks, according to a Monday declaration filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade.

  • July 13, 2026

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    The Delaware Chancery Court last week handled disputes involving corporate control, post-closing competition, executive departures, arbitration awards and shareholder litigation.

  • July 13, 2026

    Health Org. Can't Halt FTC Texas Suit Over Trans Youth Care

    A D.C. federal court declined to bar the Federal Trade Commission from pursuing a consumer protection suit in Texas against the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, finding WPATH failed to show those proceedings threatened the court's injunction of a related investigation by the FTC.

  • July 13, 2026

    Alaska Tribal Health Group Drops $390M Suit After Deal

    The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium is looking to nix its $390 million challenge to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over seven years of alleged unpaid contract support cost claims after the parties reached a settlement in the dispute.

  • July 13, 2026

    Ex-Lawmaker's Atty License Pulled After Fraud Conviction

    Former Connecticut state Sen. Dennis A. Bradley will lose his law license on an interim basis later this week while a court considers imposing a lengthier suspension over his March 27 wire fraud conviction.

  • July 13, 2026

    NY Times Says Gov't Can't Justify Concealing Boat Strike Videos

    The New York Times told a New York federal judge that the U.S. Department of Defense's "vague and implausible" justification for withholding footage from several military strikes on boats in the Pacific and Caribbean is countered by its decision to release clips from the footage on social media.

  • July 13, 2026

    Mass. Judge Hints At Fee Award In DOD Grant Cap Case

    The U.S. Department of Defense was "not substantially justified" in moving forward with a unilaterally imposed reimbursement limit for grant-funded research support costs, a Massachusetts federal judge said Monday while weighing whether to award legal fees to a group that successfully challenged the cap.

  • July 13, 2026

    Hawaii To Expand First-Time Homebuyer Tax Break

    Hawaii will increase the individual income tax deduction amount that can be claimed for a taxpayer's contribution to a first-time homebuyer account under a bill approved by Democratic Gov. Josh Green.

  • July 13, 2026

    Trump-IRS Settlement Result Of Sham Suit, Judge Rules

    President Donald Trump's $10 billion suit against his own Internal Revenue Service and the resulting settlement deal lacked a legitimate controversy, given Trump's control over both the agency and the U.S. Department of Justice, a Florida district judge said Monday in an order barring Trump or others from citing the deal.

  • July 13, 2026

    $725M Liquid Nails Deal Would Harm Market, FTC Tells Judge

    Loctite maker Henkel's planned $725 million acquisition of Liquid Nails would create a construction adhesives market behemoth with a "staggering" 80% retail share, the Federal Trade Commission told a Manhattan federal judge Monday as it challenges the deal.

  • July 13, 2026

    US Sets Tariff Rate Quotas For Sugar, Syrups

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture set the tariff-rate quotas on Monday for imports of both raw cane sugar and certain refined sugars that will be subject to lower tariff rates for the 2027 fiscal year.

Expert Analysis

  • Ch. 11 Ruling Raises Bar For Avoiding Default Interest

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    Following a New York bankruptcy court's recent decision in 33 Mako, solvent debtors may find it significantly harder to avoid paying contractual default interest to oversecured lenders under Section 506(b) of the Bankruptcy Code, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Courts Can Survive The Tech Revolution

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    Colorado Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter and Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Lino Lipinsky de Orlov discuss how artificial intelligence has already fundamentally altered the legal system and offer tips for courts navigating deepfakes, hallucinations and a gap in access to AI tools.

  • 'Skinny Label' Arguments Spotlight Induced Infringement Risk

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    Recent oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in Hikma Pharmaceuticals v. Amarin Pharma highlight the uncertain boundary between lawful generic competition through so-called skinny labels and induced patent infringement, with potential implications for patent holders’ communication, enforcement and causation strategies across industries, says Anton Hopen at Trenam.

  • What Jury Holdouts Can Teach Trial Lawyers About Strategy

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    Though a hung jury can be a disappointment, a psychological understanding of jury holdouts can help trial lawyers shape their damages arguments and understand leadership and group composition as a function of jury selection, says Clint Townson at Townson Litigation.

  • 'Mobile' Sources For On-Site Generation May Be A Risky Bet

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    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering treating large on-site generators used at data centers as mobile rather than stationary sources under the Clean Air Act, a significant policy change that would leave developers that adopt this solution at risk of regulatory reversals, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • AI Investment Advice May Fail Investor Protection Rules

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    Based on an ongoing study of artificial intelligence platforms' investment advice given to retail investors, direct access to AI may not yield recommendations for typical households that are suitable under relevant securities rules, raising new and important issues in the regulation of financial markets, says Bruce Carlin at Rice University.

  • Startup Founder Disputes Increasingly Turn On Governance

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    Recent Delaware developments suggest that as courts place increasing emphasis on board process, independence and oversight in founder-led startups, the growing intersection of governance, technology risk and investor oversight is accelerating both the emergence and escalation of founder disputes, says mediator Frank Burke.

  • 3 AI Adoption Mistakes GCs Should Avoid

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    The pressure in-house legal teams face to quickly adopt artificial intelligence tools, combined with budget constraints and the need to evaluate a crowded market of options, sets the stage for implementation mistakes that are often difficult to undo, says former 23andMe general counsel Guy Chayoun.

  • Series

    Playing Basketball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My grandfather used to say "I wear your jersey" as shorthand for wholly committing to support someone with loyalty and integrity — ideals that have shaped my life on the basketball court and in legal practice, says Tracy Schimelfenig at Schimelfenig Legal.

  • AG Watch: Reconciling 2 Maryland Data Privacy Statutes

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    In-house counsel should map the interplay between the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act's strictly necessary standard to deliver a requested service, and the Protection From Predatory Pricing Act's exemption of consent-based pricing within loyalty programs, before the state attorney general begins enforcement on the latter in October, says Erek Barron at Mintz.

  • EPA Listing Signals New Scrutiny Of Drugs In Drinking Water

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    The recent publication of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's latest draft drinking water contaminant list highlights pharmaceuticals as a category of concern, marking the start of a process that could shape future research priorities, monitoring requirements, and federal and state actions, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • New Cuba Sanctions Raise Risks For Foreign Banks, Cos.

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    President Donald Trump's bold move leveling secondary sanctions against Cuba expands enforcement risk for foreign banks and companies with no U.S. nexus, signaling that non-U.S. businesses should reassess related transactions, counterparties and exposure as regulators test this broader authority, say attorneys at Troutman.

  • SEC Clarifies 'Baby Shelf' Restrictions For Small Cos.

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    For smaller public companies looking to access the capital markets, the so-called baby shelf requirements can be a significant limitation, but recent guidance from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission helps to alleviate the effect of subsequent baby shelf restrictions on an at-the-market facility, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • Nexstar Offers A Cautionary Tale On State-Level Deal Scrutiny

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    State-enforcement challenges to the $6.2 billion Nexstar-Tegna merger remind legal practitioners that federal approval isn't always sufficient to deliver certainty on closing, integration and timetable assumptions, says Brett Story at Britehorn Securities.

  • How 'Bundling' Enforcement Is Parsing Efficiency, Access

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    Recent antitrust enforcement actions have taken a selective view of companies' bundling of products or services — challenging it when it shuts out rivals, but tolerating it when it creates efficient scale — making the real test now less about lower prices than about whether competition is being blocked, says attorney Alan Kusinitz.

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