Insights

Washington – August 21, 2025: The 2026 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized 49 Crowell & Moring lawyers as Best Lawyers and 33 lawyers as Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch. The publication also named partner Jason Murray as Lawyer of the Year for Antitrust Law in Los Angeles.

Washington – August 15, 2024: The 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized 42 Crowell & Moring lawyers as "Best Lawyers" and 29 lawyers as “Ones to Watch.”

The regulatory environment for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) is shifting rapidly, creating challenges and uncertainties for providers across the country—and especially those in New York. While the Trump administration has rolled back federal nurse staffing mandates, state-level requirements remain in full force, and new federal ownership disclosure rules are set to take effect in January 2026. Even as federal enforcement slows, state regulators appear primed to intensify oversight of nursing home operators by enhancing Certificate of Need (CON) review processes.

On June 27, 2025, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the USPSTF and its role in identifying preventive services for coverage under the ACA in Kennedy v. Braidwood Management.[1]In the case, the Supreme Court considered whether the Secretary of HHS’s appointment of USPSTF members without the advice and consent of the Senate complied with the Appointments Clause in Article II of the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court found that USPSTF members were “inferior Officers” under the Appointments Clause who did not require Senate confirmation because the Secretary of HHS had the authority to remove USPSTF members at will and “to directly review and block Task Force recommendations before they take effect.” The Supreme Court therefore affirmed that the USPSTF as currently structured may legally recommend preventive services for coverage without cost-sharing requirements under the ACA.

On March 27, 2025, HHS announced a “dramatic restructuring” of its various agencies and offices in accordance with President Trump's Executive Order, “Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative.” HHS also published a Fact Sheet.

The Supreme Court has taken up two trademark cases this term. In the first case, Andrei Iancu v. Erik Brunetti,18-302 (SCOTUS), the Court will review the government ban on Fuct and other "scandalous" trademarks. In the second, Mission Product Holdings Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC, Case No. 17-1657, cert. granted (Oct. 26, 2018), the Court will address the effect a trademark owner's bankruptcy on a licensee's right to continue to use a mark licensed before the bankruptcy was filed. This CLE will have oral arguments from both cases presented before a panel of judges.