Public Policy

  • July 14, 2026

    Feds Say Fishing, Research Can Coexist In Marine Monument

    The Trump administration has urged a D.C. federal court to toss a lawsuit lodged by environmental groups over allowing commercial fishing in a protected marine area off the coast of Massachusetts, arguing the interests of both groups can coexist.

  • July 14, 2026

    Patent Eligibility Bill Divides Senators Over Health Costs

    Several U.S. senators expressed strong support at a hearing Tuesday for a bill aimed at expanding which inventions are eligible for patents, while others appeared to have reservations about the potential effect of the proposed changes on healthcare costs.

  • July 14, 2026

    Blanche Called Anti-Weaponization Fund 'Mistake,' Per Durbin

    Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Tuesday the anti-weaponization fund created as part of the president's settlement with the IRS was "a mistake," according to Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., after his meeting with Blanche.

  • July 14, 2026

    Judge Says Vanda-FDA Appointments Fight Likely Ripe

    A D.C. federal judge said he likely had jurisdiction to hear Vanda Pharmaceuticals' latest challenge to the Food and Drug Administration's structure for reviewing new drug applications, but wondered if a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision might doom the company's challenge on the merits.

  • July 14, 2026

    Prosecutors Urge NC High Court To Uphold Felon Gun Ban

    Groups representing North Carolina's district attorneys and other law enforcement leaders are urging the North Carolina Supreme Court to uphold a state law barring people convicted of felonies from owning firearms, saying the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that such laws do not violate the Second Amendment.

  • July 14, 2026

    Pittsburgh Says Fire Truck Tie-Ups Drove Up Prices

    The city of Pittsburgh has filed antitrust claims against multiple fire equipment companies, alleging municipalities are paying more as a result of mergers and acquisitions that have concentrated most of the market under just two corporate umbrellas.

  • July 14, 2026

    7th Circ. Says TCPA Do-Not-Call Limit Doesn't Cover Texts

    The Telephone Consumer Protection Act's do-not-call restrictions do not apply to text messages, a Seventh Circuit panel declared Tuesday, roughly six weeks after the panel expressed skepticism during oral arguments that "telephone call" could also mean "text message."

  • July 14, 2026

    Medical Device Co. Settles FCA Claims

    A company that sells compression devices to reduce swelling in patients with certain medical conditions will pay $551,000 to settle allegations that it obtained Medicare reimbursement with falsified medical records, the U.S. attorney's office in Massachusetts announced Tuesday.

  • July 14, 2026

    CVS Caremark Settles Out Of FTC Suit Over Insulin Pricing

    The Federal Trade Commission reached a settlement on Tuesday with CVS Caremark that includes a number of changes to its business practices, the second deal in a case accusing the country's largest pharmacy benefit managers of inflating insulin prices through unfair rebate schemes.

  • July 14, 2026

    Google Is Wrong, 'Settled Expectations' Is Legal, Justices Told

    Software company VirtaMove has argued that the U.S. Supreme Court should ignore Google's challenge to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's policy of using the age of patents as a reason to not review them, saying Google's fight is based on a false foundation.

  • July 14, 2026

    Writers Guild Joins Fray Against Paramount-Warner Merger

    The Writers Guild of America's East and West branches piled Tuesday against Paramount Skydance's proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery in a California federal court complaint adding buy-side claims of harming screenwriters to state attorneys general allegations focused on film distribution and basic cable.

  • July 14, 2026

    Mich. Says DOJ Is Mischaracterizing Climate Antitrust Suit

    Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has asked a federal judge for permission to respond to the U.S. Department of Justice's statement of interest supporting dismissal of key portions of the state's antitrust lawsuit against some of the world's largest oil companies, arguing the federal government's filing mischaracterizes the case and conflicts with its own public statements on antitrust enforcement. 

  • July 14, 2026

    8th Circ. Upholds K-9 Sniff Search In Iowa Meth Bust

    The Eighth Circuit has ruled that an Iowa man who pled guilty to drug possession did not have his constitutional rights violated when a police dog discovered narcotics and firearms in his car, finding that the precipitating traffic stop was not unreasonably delayed by the canine's search.

  • July 14, 2026

    Texas 3% Corporate Law Unfit For Federal Courts, 5th Circ. Told

    A Southwest Airlines Co. shareholder told the Fifth Circuit that Texas' new corporate reform law cannot bar federal lawsuits just because a shareholder owns less than a certain amount of stock, saying the appellate court should revive his lawsuit.

  • July 14, 2026

    Fiber Group Tells FCC To Vet State Pole Dispute Policies

    Congress has given states the power to claw back control over pole attachment rules from the Federal Communications Commission through so-called reverse preemption, but a fiber broadband group says the agency needs to make sure those states have adequate regulations in place when it comes to settling disputes.

  • July 14, 2026

    Gov't Shouldn't Face Vax Suit Targeting Moderna, Group Says

    Conservative advocacy organization Eagle Forum Education & Legal Defense Fund on Tuesday urged the Federal Circuit to reject a proposal to shift a multibillion-dollar patent infringement case over the COVID-19 vaccine that is targeting Moderna to the federal government, saying doing so would reduce the crucial economic incentives that power innovation in the pharmaceutical industry.

  • July 14, 2026

    Top Enviro Policy Developments From The First Half Of 2026

    The first half of 2026 saw the repeal of a key rule underlying federal climate regulation, the rollback of pollution limits on industrial chemicals like ethylene oxide, and a blanket exemption from species protections for Gulf oil drillers. Here, Law360 takes a look at the top five developments in environmental policy and regulation so far this year.

  • July 14, 2026

    DOD Halts Cybersecurity Program Phase Over Cost, Alignment

    The Pentagon has suspended the next phase of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program, which is aimed at boosting cybersecurity standards across the defense industrial base while it reviews whether the program aligns with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's acquisition priorities. 

  • July 14, 2026

    Group Drops Fla. Detention Site Suit Following Closure

    An environmental advocacy nonprofit has voluntarily dismissed its Clean Air Act lawsuit challenging Florida's use of diesel generators at an immigrant detention center in the Everglades, following Gov. Ron DeSantis' announcement last month of the facility's closure.

  • July 14, 2026

    Norfolk Southern Asks High Court To Revisit Mallory Case

    Norfolk Southern said Tuesday that the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 Mallory ruling invited plaintiffs lawyers to wield state business-registration laws to sue out-of-state companies, and the dispute urgently needs to be revisited to stop litigants from unconstitutionally interfering with interstate commerce.

  • July 14, 2026

    DC Circ. Asked To Force FCC's Hand On Petition Against Fox

    An advocacy group urged the D.C. Circuit Tuesday to compel the Federal Communications Commission to review Fox's character fitness as a broadcast licensee after its Philadelphia TV station aired Fox News' 2020 cable election coverage rather than let stand a staff level decision dismissing the group's petition.

  • July 14, 2026

    Conservation Groups, Tribes Sue Over ESA 'Harm' Rollback

    Conservation organizations sued the National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Trump administration officials in California federal court Tuesday over their new definition of "harm" under the Endangered Species Act, while two Native American tribes filed a similar suit in Washington federal court.

  • July 14, 2026

    The Biggest Telecom Developments Of 2026: Midyear Report

    A key high court win for the Federal Communications Commission and its plans to reshape the regulatory code, reorder the nation's telecom priorities, and take broadcasters to task for purported leftward leanings all headlined a busy first half of 2026 in telecom law.

  • July 14, 2026

    Senate Finance Committee Approves ITC Commissioner Picks

    The Senate Finance Committee approved five nominees to serve as commissioners for the U.S. International Trade Commission on Tuesday.

  • July 14, 2026

    NY Gov. Signs Data Center Moratorium Executive Order

    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed an executive order that blocks any new hyperscale data center projects from being built in her state by temporarily pausing environmental permits for those types of projects, the governor's office announced Tuesday.

Expert Analysis

  • How Montgomery Ruling Will Affect Cos. Across Supply Chain

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    Since the U.S. Supreme Court's May 14 decision in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, the immediate focus has been on freight brokers and negligent carrier-selection claims, but the ripple effects may extend to shippers, logistics providers, insurers, transportation managers and other participants in the supply chain, say attorneys at Quintairos Prieto.

  • High Court's FCC Fine Ruling Reframes Agency Enforcement

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Federal Communications Commission v. AT&T sweeps aside uncertainty about what kinds of regulatory enforcement trigger a Seventh Amendment right, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • How Maine's Expanded Health Deal Reviews Complicate M&A

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    A pair of recently approved Maine competition laws establish notice and approval requirements for certain healthcare transactions and expand state antitrust oversight, creating new hurdles for dealmakers as states take a more aggressive role in policing healthcare consolidation, especially involving private equity, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Opinion

    Congress Must Resolve Growing Subchapter V Uncertainty

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    Congress must pass a bill to permanently restore the Subchapter V debt limit and clarify several other key points of the law to prevent a practical restructuring tool from becoming a costly procedural morass, says Ted Gavin at Gavin Solmonese.

  • CFTC Policy Substantially Expands Self-Reporting Incentives

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    A recent U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission policy moves from a mitigation-centered model to prioritizing declination for early self-reporting and full cooperation, reflecting a deliberate effort to harmonize voluntary self-disclosure incentives across the federal enforcement authorities, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • Opinion

    Exxon Shareholders Were Right To Save New Voting Program

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    Following Exxon shareholders’ recent vote that rejected a bid to dismantle the company’s new retail voting program, other companies should replicate it as a way to lower the friction for shareholders who already vote with the board to keep doing so without wrestling a ballot every spring, says J.W. Verret at the Antonin Scalia Law School.

  • Series

    Choral Singing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Singing in the New York City Bar Chorus — a hobby partly inspired by the late U.S. District Judge Richard Owen, who infused my clerkship year with opera music — has improved my legal career by refining my abilities to listen, exude confidence and develop emotional intelligence, says Bonnie Baker at Friedman Kaplan.

  • What Ratings Overhaul May Mean For Banking Industry

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    Proposed revisions to the bank rating system commonly known as CAMELS could constrain examiner discretion and tie supervisory outcomes more closely to measurable financial risk, potentially saving compliance costs, reducing the frequency of ratings downgrades and spurring a more growth-oriented banking system, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Series

    Illinois Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2

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    The last three months were particularly consequential for Illinois banking law, with a federal court ruling reshaping the Interchange Fee Prohibition Act, the state filling enforcement gaps, significant legislative activity and a revision to the community bank leverage ratio, say attorneys at Riley Safer.

  • Attorney Mental Health Is An Ethical Obligation In The AI Era

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    As attorneys cope with the increasing unpredictability that artificial intelligence and constant policy changes have created, particularly in practice areas where they carry the emotional weight of clients’ most consequential life events, otherwise soft discussions about self-care are a matter of professional competence, says attorney Jack Jrada.

  • Md. Ruling Reflects Classic Administrative Law Principle

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    A Maryland federal court's recent decision in Columbus v. Kennedy significantly limits how far the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services can go in reshaping the Affordable Care Act through regulation, highlighting a principle that will likely be applied in similar Administrative Procedure Act challenges, says Michael King at Brownstein Hyatt.

  • DOJ China Container Indictments Signal Global Cartel Risk

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent announcement that it had indicted Chinese manufacturers for conspiring to drive up the price of shipping containers sold in the U.S. illustrates the Antitrust Division's interest in pursuing overseas cartel conduct, especially in China, signaling that multinational companies with employees abroad should strengthen antitrust compliance to avoid running afoul of U.S. national security policy, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • More Cos. Will Copy SpaceX's Shareholder Proposal Opt-Out

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    For more than 80 years, the shareholder proposal looked like a federal right guaranteed to all public company investors, but after SpaceX opted out before its recent initial public offering, other companies are likely to follow, says Mohsen Manesh at the University of Oregon School of Law.

  • How DOJ Is Approaching Monitorship After Signaling Limits

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    As the U.S. Department of Justice keeps more monitors in place than expected, a look at the matters in which prosecutors are maintaining oversight reveals the sort of companies enforcers might trust to self-remediate, and also those that may receive independent supervision, say attorneys at Kendall Brill.

  • Opinion

    DHS' World Cup Influencer Warning Overreads Visa Law

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    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s reported position that foreign influencers covering the 2026 World Cup need work visas if their content is monetized runs contrary to both legislative intent and long-standing precedent that structure the visa inquiry around labor market substitution, says Jun Li at Reid & Wise.

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