Public Policy

  • July 13, 2026

    Chicago Alderman Fired Staffer Over Ethics Report, Suit Says

    A Chicago alderman's former staffer has lodged a state court whistleblower claim alleging she was unlawfully terminated for reporting her ethical concerns around several financial matters, including a $6,000 cash campaign donation whose delivery she says she helped facilitate through her car trunk.

  • July 13, 2026

    EPA Floats New Permits For Proposed Coal Ash Regs

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday floated the idea of a new permit to help more companies benefit from coal ash disposal regulations it has pitched, and also proposed approving a coal ash permitting program that Alabama has submitted.

  • July 13, 2026

    Trump Cuts 3M Acres From Utah Monument Protections

    President Donald Trump on Monday rolled back federal protections on the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments in Utah, a move that environmental groups said they will fight to block in court.

  • July 13, 2026

    Regulators Caution On Bank Loans To Unauthorized Workers

    Federal regulators on Monday cautioned banks and credit unions about lending to "non-work authorized" individuals, issuing guidance that flags repayment concerns about such borrowers as part of President Donald Trump's push to curb banking access for unauthorized immigrants.

  • July 13, 2026

    TransDigm Won't Go Head To Head With DOJ On Stellant Deal

    Aircraft parts maker TransDigm has abandoned its $960 million plan to buy private equity-owned Stellant Systems after the U.S. Department of Justice told the companies it planned to take the matter to court if they decided to go through with it.

  • July 13, 2026

    Lawmakers Push Court For ICE Records On Visit Policy

    Democratic House members suing the Trump administration over its policy limiting congressional visits to immigration detention facilities are urging a federal judge to compel the administration to produce records on the policy by Aug. 13.

  • July 13, 2026

    NJ Aims To Protect Ratepayers With Nuclear Power Guidelines

    New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill on Monday signed into law a bill intended to ensure consumers don't bear the costs of nuclear power projects needed to help address the growing demand for electricity driven primarily by data center consumption.

  • July 13, 2026

    4th Circ. Says Manual Cellphone Searches At Border Are Legal

    The Fourth Circuit has ruled that manual searches of a cellphone at the border are legal because they are considered routine and do not require individualized suspicion by a border agent about whether a crime has occurred.

  • July 13, 2026

    EPA Says Calif. Can't Stop Congress From Reviewing Waivers

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency urged a California federal court to reject the Golden State's "futile" suit over the Trump administration's plan to have Congress undo Clean Air Act waivers, arguing that the law not only allows for such review, it prohibits the courts from getting involved.

  • July 13, 2026

    2nd Circ. Orders New Trial In NYPD Search, Prosecution Suit

    A Second Circuit panel on Monday ordered a new civil trial for four New York Police Department officers found liable for busting into an apartment without a warrant and arresting one of its occupants without cause, saying the district court erroneously refused to allow jurors to hear recordings of phone calls that cast doubt on the plaintiff's credibility.

  • July 13, 2026

    Custodia Urges Justices To Take Up Fed Master Account Fight

    Crypto-focused Custodia Bank is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up its challenge of a Tenth Circuit ruling that backed Federal Reserve banks' discretion to deny master accounts to otherwise eligible banks, arguing the decision empowers unappointed regional bank presidents to deny "disfavored" banks access to critical payment services.

  • July 13, 2026

    SEC Asked To Reopen Reporting Proposal After Email 'Error'

    Better Markets is asking the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to reopen the comment period for its semiannual reporting proposal after the agency allegedly directed prospective commenters to an incorrect email address, but an agency spokesperson said Monday the email address listed on the proposal was working.

  • July 13, 2026

    Senate Confirms SDTX Judge Pick Tied To Gun Group

    The Senate voted 46-44 Monday evening to confirm Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Arthur "Rob" Jones as a U.S. district judge to serve on the Southern District of Texas bench.

  • July 13, 2026

    SC City Urges Justices To Skip Beach-Gear Rental Case

    The city of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is opposing a bid from a beach equipment rental company asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review its challenge to city ordinances it says violate the Sherman Antitrust Act.

  • July 13, 2026

    FTC Secures $12M Settlement Over Edwards-JC Medical Deal

    California-based Edwards Lifesciences and Singapore's Genesis Medtech agreed to pay a combined $12 million to settle claims from the Federal Trade Commission that Edwards attempted to evade the Hart-Scott-Rodino notification and waiting period when it acquired medical device maker JC Medical from Genesis in 2024.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • Arguments Show Justices Vacillating On Geofence Warrants

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    Questions and statements by the justices during recent oral arguments in Chatrie v. U.S., probing the Fourth Amendment limits of geofence warrants, revealed a Supreme Court that is skeptical of the government’s most sweeping claims, uncomfortable with the petitioner’s broadest theories and searching for a narrow off-ramp, say attorneys at Rogers Joseph.

  • Surveying The CFTC Campaign To Control Prediction Markets

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    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is simultaneously asserting exclusive jurisdiction over prediction markets and signaling aggressive enforcement within them, a combination that will reshape the regulatory landscape for event contract platforms — pending the outcome of several court cases throughout the country and a likely circuit split, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.

  • FinCEN Rule Could Reshape AML Priorities Across Finance

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    Financial institutions should prepare for a proposed Financial Crimes Enforcement Network rule that would heighten scrutiny of anti-money laundering requirements and encourage responsible use of technology, potentially reorienting compliance, governance decisions and enforcement exposure for organizations across the financial sector, not just banks, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • Opinion

    The SEC Should Institute A New Enforcement Scorecard

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    Amid controversy over the recent release of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's annual enforcement statistics, the SEC should use a new scorecard that measures how well the Division of Enforcement detects and stops intentional fraud in order to refocus on its core mission of investor protection, says Peter Chan at Baker McKenzie.

  • Series

    Speed Jigsaw Puzzling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My passion for speed puzzling — I can complete a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle in under 50 minutes — has sharpened my legal skills in more ways than one, with both disciplines requiring patience, precision and the ability to keep the bigger picture in mind while working through the details, says Tazia Statucki at Proskauer.

  • Rebuttal

    Pro Codes Act Does Not Pose Constitutional Concerns

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    A recent Law360 guest article that raises constitutional alarms concerning the proposed Pro Codes Act, under consideration in the U.S. House of Representatives, overstates the potential harm to standards development organizations and mischaracterizes existing law, says James Gourley at Carstens Allen.

  • High Court's Cox Ruling Leaves ISP Copyright Rules Intact

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    Though some commentators predicted a cataclysmic impact from the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Cox v. Sony, in actuality the decision correctly maintains the status quo for internet providers' copyright infringement liability, says Courtney Sarnow at CM Law.

  • FTC Focus: Ad Deal Signals Viewpoint Suppression Is A Risk

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent settlement of an antitrust case accusing major ad agency holding companies of colluding on brand safety standards underscores the risk of industry coordination on politically or socially sensitive issues and signals heightened viewpoint suppression scrutiny for companies and antitrust practitioners, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Navigating The Annulment Of NY Wetlands Permitting Rules

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    A New York state court's recent unprecedented annulment of the state's wetlands regulations brings uncertainty about the standards for determining and classifying wetlands jurisdiction and assessing compliance with permitting requirements as next steps are determined, say attorneys at Foley Hoag.

  • Banks Face Cloudy Rate Horizons As Opt-Outs Spread

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    Banks and fintechs are grappling with a fragmented, fast-changing consumer lending landscape as more states consider opting out of preemption under the Depository Institutions and Monetary Control Act, which may ultimately lead to a decrease in interstate lending and access to credit, says Marc Franson at Chapman and Cutler.

  • How Oregon Ruling Affects Federal Gender Care Crackdown

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    In a favorable development for healthcare providers, an Oregon federal court recently vacated certain U.S. Department of Health and Human Services restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors, but the government's broader campaign against this care, including proposed rulemaking and agency investigations, leaves significant uncertainty, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • AI Data Center Boom May Spur Wave Of Toxic Tort Suits

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    Nascent litigation matters against data center operators, set against limited government regulation and a growing body of public health research, suggests we may be on the cusp of an era of mass toxic tort claims, with a liability framework firmly rooted in precedent from other industries, says Benjamin Heller at RFZ Law.

  • A Core Weakness In The Challenge To Birthright Citizenship

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    The government’s recent oral arguments against birthright citizenship in Trump v. Barbara would have the Supreme Court use modern immigration classifications as markers for a constitutional boundary that is not expressed in the Fourteenth Amendment, making the theory easier to administer but weaker as a matter of text and history, says attorney Tara Kennedy.

  • Bet On Prediction Market Regulation To Accelerate

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    Watershed developments concerning prediction markets — such as the first insider trading charges, major speeches from U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission leadership, and the introduction of rulemaking and legislation — dominated the first quarter of 2026, a trend that will likely continue throughout the rest of the year, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Opinion

    Financial Meltdown Fears Don't Warrant Private Credit Regs

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    Recent withdrawals from business development companies have resurfaced theories that private credit growth poses a crisis-level risk to the financial system, but arguments that more regulation is needed should be viewed with beady and careful eyes, says James Deeken at Akin.

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