Public Policy

  • December 11, 2024

    NC Elections Board Rejects GOP Protests To 60,000 Votes

    A divided North Carolina State Board of Elections on Wednesday voted to deny a consortium of election protests filed by Republican candidates seeking to discount more than 60,000 ballots from the Nov. 5 election, further cementing incumbent Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs' victory in her contested race with Judge Jefferson Griffin.

  • December 11, 2024

    Doctors Group Asks DC Circ. To Pause Pot Hearings

    A group of doctors who advise their patients on medical cannabis is asking the D.C. Circuit to put a stay on hearings set for January over whether to reschedule cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act, saying they were unfairly denied the chance to participate in those hearings.

  • December 11, 2024

    Lawmakers Push For Syria Sanctions Pause After Assad's Fall

    Two state representatives have asked federal government higher-ups to suspend certain sanctions on Syria after the recent collapse of Bashar al-Assad's government, saying the regime's fall shows the potential effectiveness of the targeted sanctions.

  • December 11, 2024

    More Facts Needed In RJ Reynolds Tax Row, Mich. Court Says

    More facts are needed on whether part of a $4.9 billion sale of trademarks by R.J. Reynolds to a Japanese company should be taxable in Michigan, a state court said Wednesday, declining to rule immediately.

  • December 11, 2024

    Border Protection Says It's Swamped With FOIA Requests

    U.S. Customs and Border Protection told a judge it is working to hand over records Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton requested months ago, but said a spike in document requests has made it "almost impossible" to meet Freedom of Information Act deadlines.

  • December 11, 2024

    Neb. Medical Pot Legalization Hit With New Legal Challenge

    A Republican former Nebraska state senator and opponent of cannabis reform has launched a new lawsuit aiming to invalidate a pair of ballot measures legalizing and regulating medical marijuana which supermajorities of Nebraskans approved on Election Day.

  • December 11, 2024

    EPA Gives States, Tribes Clearer Path To Water Permit Power

    States and Native American tribes have a clearer path to gaining the authority to set water pollution standards that may be even stronger than federal ones under a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule finalized Wednesday.

  • December 11, 2024

    FCC Eases Some Credit Rules For Rural Broadband Funds

    The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday changed letter of credit requirements for broadband subsidy programs in order to make it easier for rural providers to access capital.

  • December 11, 2024

    Feds, Illinois Sue East St. Louis For Sewage Pollution

    The federal government and state of Illinois sued the city of East St. Louis on Wednesday alleging its failure to operate the city's sewer system in compliance with the law has led to the pollution of local waterways with untreated sewage for years.

  • December 11, 2024

    Quick Party Shift Coming To NLRB As McFerran Vote Fails

    President-elect Donald Trump appears poised to have an immediate opening to seat a Republican majority at the National Labor Relations Board after the U.S. Senate narrowly voted down a push to give outgoing Democratic Chairman Lauren McFerran another term Wednesday.

  • December 11, 2024

    DA Says Allegheny County Pension System Risks Insolvency

    The Allegheny County employee retirement coffers could run out of money within 15 years, the Pennsylvania jurisdiction's top prosecutor warned in a lawsuit seeking to make the county and the retirement board fix the allegedly floundering system.

  • December 11, 2024

    White House Wants US Chips In Gov't Supply Chain

    The Biden administration is asking for suggestions on how best to encourage government contractors to "scale up their use" of American-made microchips in a new request for information Tuesday, looking to drive demand as the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act incentivizes new domestic supply.

  • December 11, 2024

    FCC Allows Full 6 GHz Band For Unlicensed Wireless Devices

    The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday opened two more slices of the 6 gigahertz airwaves to power unlicensed wireless uses ranging from augmented reality to body-worn technologies.

  • December 11, 2024

    Alabama Judge To Retire Jan. 2, Opening New Seat For Trump

    An Alabama federal judge informed President Joe Biden on Tuesday that he would be retiring Jan. 2, making him the second judge appointed by a Republican president to announce his retirement after Donald Trump won the presidential election this year.

  • December 11, 2024

    After Veto Threat, Courts Warn Need For More Judges Urgent

    Following President Joe Biden's veto threat of a bill to add more federal judgeships, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts warned Wednesday that there is an urgent need for more judges despite the White House's claim that there's no immediate need to create more seats.

  • December 11, 2024

    DC Circ. Lets Pipeline Safety Rule Remain Amid Agency Fix

    The D.C. Circuit has agreed to leave in place one of four new safety standards for gas transmission pipelines while the U.S. Department of Transportation works to amend them, after an industry group said not doing so could cause unnecessary repair costs.

  • December 11, 2024

    FBI Director Wray To Resign Before Trump's Inauguration

    FBI Director Christopher Wray said Wednesday he will resign in January at the end of President Joe Biden's term, averting what was expected to be his dismissal when President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

  • December 11, 2024

    Developer, Feds Ask Justices To Pass On Offshore Wind Case

    The federal government and Vineyard Wind 1 LLC are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a Massachusetts group's latest bid to block the large offshore wind farm taking shape in waters off Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.

  • December 11, 2024

    Ariz. Ending Local Taxes On Long-Term Residential Rentals

    Long-term rentals of residential property in Arizona will no longer be subject to local taxes or fees after Jan. 1 under recent legislation, the state Department of Revenue said Wednesday.

  • December 11, 2024

    CFPB's Chopra Won't Head For Exit Ahead Of Trump's Arrival

    Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra signaled Wednesday that he won't leave his post early unless and until the incoming Trump administration fires him next month, indicating that he plans to keep running the agency in the meantime.

  • December 11, 2024

    Albertsons Sues Kroger In Chancery After Blocked Megadeal

    Grocery giant Albertsons, in a Wednesday lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery, said Kroger did not put forth its "best efforts" into getting their planned $24.6 billion megamerger cleared while also announcing official plans to nix the deal, moves that came just one day after two judges blocked the proposed acquisition.

  • December 10, 2024

    3rd Circ. Judge Unsure Subpoena Chills Anti-Abortion Donors

    A Third Circuit panel on Tuesday weighed whether an anti-abortion pregnancy center would suffer irreparable harm absent a court order blocking the enforcement of a subpoena seeking information about its donors, questioning whether donors would be imminently chilled if their names are disclosed to New Jersey investigators.

  • December 10, 2024

    Abu Ghraib Torture Plaintiffs Say CACI Shoudn't Get New Trial

    Former prisoners tortured at the Abu Ghraib military prison in Iraq, who were recently awarded $42 million in a case against defense contractor CACI, have pushed back at the company's request for a new trial, arguing it was rehashing arguments already rejected by the court.

  • December 10, 2024

    Property Manager At Center Of Gang Claims Sues Colo. AG

    A property management company caught up in a national controversy following allegations a Venezuelan gang had taken over some of its buildings in Aurora, Colorado, is suing the state to block probes by the state's attorney general into the company's management of its properties.

  • December 10, 2024

    Feds Propose Enviro Protections For Monarch Butterfly

    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a proposed rule on Tuesday that would list the monarch butterfly as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act and designate 4,395 acres of critical habitat in coastal California.

Expert Analysis

  • High Court 'Violent Crimes' Case Tangled Up In Hypotheticals

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    In Delligatti v. U.S., the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments next week on whether attempted murder constitutes a crime of violence, and because the court’s interpretive approach thus far has relied on hairsplitting legal hypotheticals with absurd results, Congress should repeal the underlying statute, say attorneys at Patterson Belknap.

  • Dissecting New Circuit Split Over SEC's Proxy Adviser Rule

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    The Sixth Circuit recently upheld the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's partial rescission of enhanced conflict-of-interest disclosure requirements for proxy voting advice businesses, creating a circuit split over broader questions concerning the standard for assessing the legality of agency actions in general, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.

  • Tracking The Slow Movement Of AI Copyright Cases

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    The tech community may be expecting a prompt resolution on whether products generated by artificial intelligence are a fair use of copyrighted works, but legal history shows that a response to this question — at the heart of over 30 pending cases — will take years, say attorneys at White & Case.

  • Federal Salary History Ban's Reach Is Limited

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    Though a newly effective Office of Personnel Management rule takes important steps by banning federal employers from considering job applicants' nonfederal salary histories, the rule's narrow applicability and overconfidence in the existing system's fairness will likely not end persistent pay inequities, says Margaret House at Kalijarvi Chuzi.

  • Call For Input Shows How Banks, Fintechs Can Address Risks

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    A recent request for information by federal banking regulators suggests that watchdogs are zeroing in on the bank-fintech partnerships they have long perceived as risky to consumers, but analyzing the publication can help companies anticipate regulators’ chief concerns and take steps to avoid becoming enforcement targets, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • How Property Insurance Coverage Shrank After The Pandemic

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    Insurers litigating property claims are leveraging rulings that provided relief in the COVID-19 context to reverse the former majority rule on physical loss or damage in all contexts, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Considering Chevron's End Through A State Tax Lens

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    States took the lead in encouraging Chevron's demise, turning away from Chevron-type deference in state tax administration ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision, a trend likely to accelerate as courts take a more active role in interpreting tax laws, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • NYC Hotel Licensing Law's Costs May Outweigh Its Benefits

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    A hotel licensing bill recently approved by New York's City Council could lead to the loss of many nonunionized hotels that cannot afford to comply, says Stuart Saft at Holland & Knight.

  • The Unfolding Potential of Green Hydrogen In Brazil

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    A new federal law in Brazil establishing a legal framework for hydrogen development is the country's latest step toward creating a favorable environment for green hydrogen production, but significant challenges — including high production costs, technological hurdles and a lack of infrastructure — remain, says David Andrew Taylor at Almeida Advogados.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata

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    Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • How New OCC Priorities Will Affect Bank Compliance

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    With the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency recently releasing a new bank supervision plan for fiscal year 2025, all banks, not only those primarily supervised by the OCC, should consider how compliance with its guidelines creates opportunities and challenges, says Andrew Karp at Cadwalader.

  • SEC Rulemaking Radar: The View From Election Day

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seems poised to tackle many of the remaining items on its most recent Regulatory Flexibility Agenda by early 2025, despite the presidential election and the potential for a new chair to be nominated soon, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • What FTC's 'Bitcoin ATM' Report Tells Us About Crypto Scams

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent insights into bitcoin ATM scams highlight the technical evolution of fraudsters, the application of old scams to new technology, and the persistent financial impact on victims, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • A Shift In Control Of Congress May Doom These Enviro Regs

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    If the election leads to a change in control of Congress, lawmakers will likely use the lookback provision of the Congressional Review Act to challenge the Biden administration's late-term regulatory efforts — including recent initiatives on air pollutant source classification, lead pipe removal and hydrofluorocarbon emissions, say attorneys at Jones Walker.

  • How The Presidential Election Will Affect Workplace AI Regs

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    The U.S. has so far adopted a light-handed approach to regulating artificial intelligence in the labor and employment area, but the presidential election is unlikely to have as dramatic of an effect on AI regulations as it may on other labor and employment matters, say attorneys at Littler.

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