Federal Regulation
Current trend: Holding · Category: Politics · Last updated: August 20, 2026
Current situation
Regulators remain active across technology, finance and antitrust despite ongoing legal challenges. The current administration has taken a hands-off approach, though challenged by federal judges. The overall impact has been relatively minor, as most major regulatory rollbacks have been stayed by judges, leading to stalemates as they work through the courts. The biggest exception is corporate mergers and acquisitions and investigations. There has been a definite pullback in enforcement actions. Some recent regulatory pushes in the FDA have been milder than originally thought.
Why we're watching
Regulatory decisions increasingly shape competition, AI, technology, healthcare, banking and energy.
What to watch for next
Major Supreme Court rulings, FTC/DOJ actions, SEC rules, Congressional legislation
Signal history
- 2026-08-20 — The Dept. of Agriculture is attempting to roll back a rule that blocks road construction, and by extension most logging and mining activity, on tens of millions of acres of public forest land. It has been in effect for 25 years. The move is welcomed by governors in Wyoming, Utah, and Montana, which saw the rules as holding back economic growth, employment, and fire suppression. This is just a proposal, and the Department is accepting public comments through September. Any rule changes related to national forests will surely be challenges by environmental groups. There is little doubt that should it come to pass, the groups would sue the government and halt any material changes for years.
- 2026-08-19 — ABC took the rare step of suing the Federal Communications Commission on First Amendment grounds. The FCC had ordered an early review of all eight licenses owned by ABC. The FCC cited the network’s diversity and inclusion practices as a reason. The move by ABC could lead to a protracted fight with regulators. ABC is owned by deep-pocketed Disney, and has the resources for a lengthy battle...at least until a new administration comes to power. The lawsuit likely means there will be no changes to ABC programming, and may encourage others to push back aggressively against what they see as overreach by the government.
- 2026-08-07 — FCC repeals national TV ownership cap The FCC's repeal of the national TV ownership cap is a major shift towards greater media consolidation. This will likely serve to reduce diversity in local markets.
- 2026-07-31 — States are battling the federal government over prediction markets A federal judge blocked a Minnesota state law that would have banned most prediction markets from operating and advertising in the state.
- 2026-07-24 — Justice Department to Speed Up Merger Reviews The Justice Department plans to announce a new model to streamline merger reviews and allow some deals to clear antitrust scrutiny earlier. This should result in more announced deals, potentially benefitting some investors and private equity partners.
- 2026-07-17 — US Judge Says Trump Administration Cannot Revoke Grants That Conflict With Its Priorities The judge said the agencies could not terminate grants based on program goals and agency priorities identified after grants were awarded. This puts some funding terminations in doubt.
- 2026-07-16 — FTC Seeks Public Comment on Policy Statement Addressing AI Accuracy Input could influence future regulation of AI.