Speaking Engagements
Georgetown Law 2025 Advanced eDiscovery Institute
November 21, 2025 | 8:30 AM – 9:30 AM ET
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The Pepper Center for Public Services
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Strategies helps businesses and individuals solve the complexities of dealing with the government at every level. Our team of specialists concentrate exclusively on government affairs, representing clients nationwide who need assistance with public policy, advocacy, and government relations strategies.
This unique program provides innovative and affordable opportunities to startups and early-stage emerging companies with a solid technology or scientific foundation. We help companies that have a quality management team in place and do not have other significant legal representation.
eMerge’s lawyers and technologists work together to deliver strategic end-to-end eDiscovery and data management solutions for litigation, investigations, due diligence, and compliance matters. We help clients discover the information necessary to resolve disputes, respond to investigations, conduct due diligence, and comply with legal requirements.
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Articles + Publications October 10, 2025
Key Takeaways: FAA Chicago Drone Restrictions
The FAA’s October 2025 TFR Over Chicago
Effective October 1, 2025, the FAA implemented a TFR for nongovernmental drones operating over most of Chicago following a request by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The FAA and DHS cited “special security reasons” while Operation “Midway Blitz,” an immigration enforcement operation, remains underway in the city. The TFR affects virtually all nongovernmental drone operators within its bounds, regardless of the operators’ proximity to immigration personnel. Specifically, the TFR covers a 15-nautical-mile radius from downtown Chicago and extends from the surface to 400 feet above ground level (AGL). Since nongovernmental drones are generally prohibited from flying above 400 feet AGL, the TFR acts as a de facto ban on operating such drones.
While the TFR is currently set to expire at 7:00 p.m. CDT on October 12, 2025, it is unclear whether the FAA will extend the TFR’s duration while federal immigration operations remain ongoing in Chicago. It remains to be seen if similar TFRs will be implemented in other cities.
Collateral Impact on Commercial Operators
Importantly, the FAA’s TFR is not limited to journalists. The TFR also affects unrelated industries that have come to heavily rely on drones. For example, photography and videography performed by drones is now a standard practice for marketing residential and commercial property listings. Operators cannot proceed with shoots inside the area restricted by the TFR, even in neighborhoods far from any immigration enforcement activity. Additionally, construction firms increasingly use drones for surveying, inspections, and project monitoring. These operations, often time-sensitive, are stalled for the duration of the TFR. Similarly, videographers, event planners, and marketers who use drones for weddings, filmmaking, festivals, and tourism promotion face the same disruption. For these businesses, the TFR is not a matter of civil liberties, but rather results in lost opportunity and operational cost.
The FAA’s Role and Authority
The FAA has a statutory mission to regulate and oversee civil aviation safety, including through its operation of the National Airspace System (NAS). TFRs are one of the tools the FAA relies upon to fulfill its statutory mission, particularly when it comes to drones. TFRs are routinely imposed around presidential visits, major sporting events, or high-risk incidents. Their rationale is straightforward: a blanket ban is easier to enforce and avoids the operational challenges of separating “safe” from “unsafe” drone flights in real time. From a regulatory perspective, the TFR represents the FAA exercising its existing legal authority to prioritize safety.
The First (and Fourth and Fifth) Amendment Perspective
The TFR implicates several constitutional concerns. As to the First Amendment, civil liberties organizations have raised concerns regarding the potential overuse of TFRs. By grounding all civilian drones in a particular TFR, the TFR may limit the ability of journalists and community groups to observe and document government activity from otherwise publicly accessible spaces.
While the government can impose reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions on speech, a TFR ban lasting weeks and covering areas that might be far beyond federal immigration enforcement activity raises questions about proportionality. This is particularly true where drone imagery has become an important tool for the public and media to report on law enforcement, protests, and public events.
Because the FAA uses its expertise to regulate aviation safety for those in the air and on the ground, as a practical matter it receives a significant amount of deference in determining the necessity and scope of TFRs. However, this deference may unintentionally restrict speech and press freedoms. Courts have not yet fully resolved how far federal airspace restrictions can go without infringing on First Amendment protections.
Moreover, depending on the manner in which law enforcement enforces a TFR against those operating drones over private property, such enforcement may give rise to seizure and takings issues under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, respectively. It may also result in a reassessment of where property owner’s rights end and the NAS begins.
Navigating the Potential Conflict
The TFR highlights two key conflicts:
Practical Guidance for Clients
For drone operators and businesses, compliance with the TFR is mandatory. But there are ways to mitigate its impact and prepare for similar restrictions in the future:
Conclusion
The FAA’s Chicago drone TFR underscores a growing challenge in the law applicable to U.S. airspace use: how to balance legitimate security concerns with the increasing reliance on drones in everyday commerce and the public’s right to information. For now, operators must comply with the TFR and adjust accordingly. But the larger policy question remains unsettled — as drones become more central to journalism, business, and civic life, finding the right balance between safety, constitutional freedoms, and economic activity will be critical.
Speaking Engagements
Georgetown Law 2025 Advanced eDiscovery Institute
November 21, 2025 | 8:30 AM – 9:30 AM ET
Firm Events
2025 Mid-Atlantic Health Care IT Forum
                            November 19, 2025  |  3:30 PM – 7:00 PM ET
                            
                                                                    
Troutman Pepper Locke Philadelphia Office – Philadelphia Conference Center                                
                                                                    
31st Floor, 3000 Two Logan Square, Philadelphia, PA 19103, Eighteenth and Arch Streets                                
                                                    
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2025 ACG Deal Crawl
                            November 19 – 20, 2025
                            
                                                                    
JW Marriott Charlotte                                
                                                                    
600 S College Street, Charlotte, NC 28202                                
                                                    
Speaking Engagements
Restructuring in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
                            November 17, 2025  |  1:30 PM – 2:30 PM ET
                            
                                                                    
Offices of CohnReznick                                
                                                                    
New York, NY                                
                                                    
Leading the energy evolution.
Learn more
From compliance to the courtroom, we have you covered.
Learn more
Helping you focus on what matters – improving human health.
Learn more
Trusted advisors to leading insurers for 100+ years.
Learn more
Unlocking value in the middle market and beyond.
Learn more
Full-service legal advice from coast to coast.
Learn more
Applying radical applications of common sense
Explore More
Our standard-setting client experience program.
Explore more
Delivering life-changing help to those most in need.
Explore More
Our firm’s greatest asset is our people.
Explore More
Market-leading eDiscovery and data management services.
Explore more
The Pepper Center for Public Services
Explore more
Strategies helps businesses and individuals solve the complexities of dealing with the government at every level. Our team of specialists concentrate exclusively on government affairs, representing clients nationwide who need assistance with public policy, advocacy, and government relations strategies.
This unique program provides innovative and affordable opportunities to startups and early-stage emerging companies with a solid technology or scientific foundation. We help companies that have a quality management team in place and do not have other significant legal representation.
eMerge’s lawyers and technologists work together to deliver strategic end-to-end eDiscovery and data management solutions for litigation, investigations, due diligence, and compliance matters. We help clients discover the information necessary to resolve disputes, respond to investigations, conduct due diligence, and comply with legal requirements.
Stay ahead of the curve and in touch with our latest thinking on the issues that are top of mind across our practices and industry sectors.
Change happens fast in today’s turbulent world. Stay on top of the latest with our industry-specific channels.
Take a closer look at how we partner with clients to help them realize their goals.