Public Policy

  • July 24, 2024

    Copyright Protections For Safety Standards Stall In US House

    The U.S. House failed to advance legislation to let the private groups that set standards for a variety of safety matters keep copyright protections when their works are incorporated by reference into laws as long as the standards are still available for free online.

  • July 24, 2024

    Feds Say Immigration Orgs Can't Sue Over 2020 Asylum Rule

    The federal government told a D.C. federal judge that two immigration advocacy groups have no standing to press their legal challenge to a Trump-era rule that narrowed asylum eligibility, saying the overhaul does not directly regulate the organizations.

  • July 24, 2024

    Navajo Coal Co. Appeals FINRA Arbitration Order In $11M Fight

    A Navajo coal-mining company has wasted no time in appealing a Pennsylvania federal judge's order refusing to grant the tribe-owned business's bid to halt arbitration proceedings against a private equity firm in an $11 million dispute over their financing agreement.

  • July 24, 2024

    Watchdog Clears DOJ In 'Unusual' Roger Stone Sentencing

    The Justice Department did not bow to political pressure to push for a more lenient sentence for former President Donald Trump's longtime adviser Roger Stone, but the way in which the department handled the sentencing was "highly unusual" and the result of a U.S. attorney's poor leadership, according to a watchdog report released Wednesday.

  • July 24, 2024

    Patent Cap In Drug Pricing Bill Seen As Having Muted Effect

    The U.S. Senate recently passed a bill aiming to lower drug prices by limiting the number of patents that can be asserted in cases over biosimilars, but attorneys say the measure's numerous exceptions make it unlikely to have a major effect on litigation or consumer costs.

  • July 24, 2024

    CFPB Warns Of Anti-Whistleblower Risk In NDAs That 'Muzzle'

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau cautioned Wednesday that banks and other financial firms risk violating federal law if they require their employees to sign broad nondisclosure agreements that don't clearly allow them to talk freely with regulators or law enforcement.

  • July 24, 2024

    Ex-AT&T Exec Wants Madigan Bribery Charges Dropped

    A former AT&T executive who's accused of scheming to illegally influence former Illinois House speaker Michael Madigan's policy decisions argued that the U.S. Supreme Court's recent bribery ruling warrants chopping a conspiracy and bribery charge from his case.

  • July 24, 2024

    Ga. Sheriff Wants $11M Groping Arrest Suit Tossed

    A Georgia sheriff accused of using excessive force against a man who says he was falsely accused of groping the lawman's wife asked a federal judge Tuesday to dismiss the civil rights claims against him, arguing he was well within his rights to tackle the man and take him into custody.

  • July 24, 2024

    CFIUS Reviews Slumped In 2023, Penalties Increased

    The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States experienced a significant drop in the number of cases it reviewed in 2023, but levied a record number of penalties last year, according to an annual report to Congress.

  • July 24, 2024

    IRS Sets Criteria For Carbon Capture Credit Life Cycle Report

    The Internal Revenue Service detailed standards and procedures Wednesday for a written report on a carbon sequestration facility's greenhouse gas emissions that project owners must submit and get agency approval on before claiming the carbon oxide tax credit.

  • July 24, 2024

    Pa. Judge Won't 'Chase' Deadline-Flouting ADA Case Attys

    A Pennsylvania federal judge on Wednesday told attorneys in an Americans with Disabilities Act case against Tommy Bahama that he wasn't going to "chase" lawyers flouting scheduling orders, warning that the consequences might hurt more than just complying with the plan.

  • July 24, 2024

    Nonprofit Sues Former CFO Over Alleged $40M Embezzlement

    The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy on Wednesday sued its former CFO William Anthony Smith and his wife, mother and sister over their purported involvement in a scheme to steal almost $40 million from the nonprofit, claiming they used the money to fund a lavish lifestyle and buy plane tickets for professional athletes.

  • July 24, 2024

    ICE Contractor Hit With Class Action Over Family Separations

    A father and son who were separated for six years under the Trump administration's policy of "zero tolerance" for unlawful border crossings have brought a proposed class action against the private contractor responsible for transporting children, seeking to make it pay for the emotional trauma families have endured.

  • July 24, 2024

    3rd Circ. Says ​NJ Temp Worker Law Is Constitutional

    Staffing industry groups can't halt a New Jersey law strengthening protections for temporary workers because it doesn't discriminate between out-of-state and in-state companies and is therefore constitutional, the Third Circuit ruled Wednesday, affirming a district court's ruling.

  • July 24, 2024

    Where Biden Stands On Judicial Noms Compared To Trump

    With President Joe Biden now set to be a one-term president, it appears he can match President Donald Trump's record on district court nominees, but it's not likely he will on nominees to circuit courts.

  • July 24, 2024

    Parts Of Klehr Harrison Bills Not Privileged, Pa. Panel Finds

    Pennsylvania journalists can view the subject lines of invoice requests sent to the Pennsylvania Office of General Counsel by outside law firms, including Klehr Harrison, with a state appeals court panel determining the information falls under the state's Right-to-Know Law and is not privileged, nor is it protected by a court order.

  • July 24, 2024

    EPA Moving Toward New Regulations For 5 Chemicals

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday kicked off the process to fast-track new health risk evaluations for five chemicals, including vinyl chloride, a substance that raised alarm after the Norfolk Southern train wreck in East Palestine, Ohio, last year.

  • July 24, 2024

    5th Circ. Strikes Down FCC's Universal Service Fund

    The full Fifth Circuit struck down the Federal Communications Commission's system for subsidizing telecommunications service for rural and low-income users as unconstitutional Wednesday, reversing a panel decision and triggering a circuit split with three other appeals courts that upheld the fee regime.

  • July 24, 2024

    USCIS Updates Immigrant Entrepreneur Requirements

    Immigrant entrepreneurs hoping to take advantage of the international entrepreneur parole program will now have to meet higher investment and revenue thresholds, according to an updated U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services regulation.

  • July 24, 2024

    Hemp Cos. Get Stay Of DEA Subpoenas Seeking Records

    A Texas federal judge on Wednesday stayed enforcement of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration subpoenas seeking financial and other records from a group of hemp and vape sellers, who had argued earlier this week that the subpoenas were overbroad and unlinked to any federal investigation.

  • July 23, 2024

    Knives Out For Another Pro-Agency Landmark After Chevron

    Only weeks after U.S. Supreme Court conservatives took a hatchet to the judicial deference shown to federal agencies, right-leaning lawyers are imploring the justices to rock the administrative law realm again by gutting a New Deal-era precedent at the heart of the modern regulatory system.

  • July 23, 2024

    Kroger And Colo. Talks To Avoid Merger Hearing Stall Out

    Negotiations between Kroger Co. and Colorado enforcers to avoid an injunction hearing in the state's challenge to a $24 billion merger with Albertsons appeared to have stalled, prompting the grocers Tuesday to pitch a state judge on other options to avoid the fast-approaching proceeding.

  • July 23, 2024

    'Not Doing Enough': Banks Grilled Over Zelle Fraud, Scams

    Senate Democrats on Tuesday confronted bank executives over a new staff report that found three of the nation's largest banks have declined to reimburse customers in recent years for close to $900 million in payments reported as fraudulent or scam-related that were sent on Zelle, the largest U.S. peer-to-peer payment platform.

  • July 23, 2024

    Lack Of Quorum Dooms EEOC Pregnancy Regs, Co. Says

    A Texas industrial sales company sued the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Monday, challenging the constitutionality of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which echoes federal disability law in requiring employers to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers on the job.

  • July 23, 2024

    BIA Wraps Up Search For Brothers' Ancestral Records

    Two elderly brothers' dispute with the Bureau of Indian Affairs over allegations the agency failed to turn over ancestral information that could prove the brothers' lineage to an Alaska Native village may be resolved soon. 

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    After Chevron: No Deference, No Difference For SEC Or CFTC

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    The Chevron doctrine did not fundamentally alter the interplay between the courts and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the development of the securities and commodities laws — and its demise will not do so either, says Dan Berkovitz at Millennium Management.

  • Opinion

    Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.

  • Justices' Bribery Ruling: A Corrupt Act Isn't Necessarily Illegal

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    In its Snyder v. U.S. decision last week, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a bribery law does not criminalize gratuities, continuing a trend of narrowing federal anti-corruption laws and scrutinizing public corruption prosecutions that go beyond obvious quid pro quo schemes, say Carrie Cohen and Christine Wong at MoFo.

  • 3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Roundup

    After Chevron

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    In the month since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 26 different rulemaking and litigation areas.

  • Takeaways From New HHS Substance Use Disorder Info Rules

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    A new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rule continues the agency's efforts to harmonize complex rules surrounding confidentiality provisions for substance use disorder patient records, though healthcare providers will need to remain mindful of different potentially applicable requirements and changes that their compliance structures may require, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Expect Few Changes In ITC Rulemaking

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's opinion overruling the Chevron doctrine will have less impact on the U.S. International Trade Commission than other agencies administering trade statutes, given that the commission exercises its congressionally granted authority in a manner that allows for consistent decision making at both agency and judicial levels, say attorneys at Polsinelli.

  • Opinion

    Reform NEPA To Speed Mining Permits, Clean Energy Shift

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    It is essential to balance responsible regulatory oversight with permit approvals for mining projects that are needed for the transition to renewable energy — and with the National Environmental Policy Act being one of the leading causes of permit delays, reform is urgently needed, say Ana Maria Gutierrez and Michael Miller at Womble Bond.

  • Series

    Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2

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    The second quarter of 2024 in California, which saw efforts to expand consumer protection legislation and enforcement actions in areas of federal focus like medical debt and student loans, demonstrated that the state's role as a trendsetter in consumer financial protection will continue for the foreseeable future, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 6 PTAB Events To Know From The Last 6 Months

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    The first half of 2024 brought a flurry of Patent Trial and Appeal Board developments that should be considered in post-grant strategies, including proposed rules on discretionary denial and director review, and the first decisions of the Delegated Rehearing Panel, say attorneys at Fish & Richardson.

  • Key Takeaways From High Court's Substitute Expert Decision

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Smith v. Arizona decision, holding that the confrontation clause generally bars prosecutors’ use of a substitute expert witness at trial, will have the most impact in narcotics and violent crime cases, but creative defense lawyers may find it useful in white collar cases, too, say Joshua Naftalis and Melissa Kelley at Pallas Partners.

  • Opinion

    Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem

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    The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.

  • How Generative AI May Aid Merger Clearance Process

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    Generative artificial intelligence capable of analyzing and searching large datasets stands to revolutionize the merger clearance process, including by significantly reducing the time and effort required to respond to Hart-Scott-Rodino second requests, say Kenneth Koch and Brian Blush at BDO USA.

  • Proposed Customer ID Rule Could Cost Investment Advisers

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    A rule recently proposed by FinCEN and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to make financial advisers collect more customer information parallels an anti-money laundering and counterterrorism rule proposed this spring, but firms may face new compliance costs when implementing these screening programs, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • What Passage Of House Crypto Bill Could Mean For Industry

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    While the prospects of the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, which recently passed the House in a bipartisan fashion, becoming law remain murky, the manner of its passage may give crypto markets a real cause for hope, say Neel Maitra and Dale Beggs at Dechert.

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