Public Policy

  • November 18, 2024

    Colo. Justices Should Plug Damages Cap 'Loophole,' Co. Says

    A construction company has urged Colorado's justices to find that a subcontractor's claim over a workplace fall is subject to a $15,000 damages cap, arguing in a petition that the sole proprietor opted out of workers' compensation benefits and can't make a "loophole" to sue for millions.

  • November 18, 2024

    Medical Group Wants Justices To Review IP Safe Harbor Fight

    A medical device trade group has said the U.S. Supreme Court should take up an appeal of a Federal Circuit decision Edwards Lifesciences said broadened a drug-development safe harbor to avoid patent infringement, saying the circuit court misread the provision.

  • November 18, 2024

    Feds Delay Rule That Hemp Be Tested At DEA-Licensed Labs

    Laboratories certified by the federal government to measure THC concentration in hemp aren't able to meet the demand, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has said, so the agency is allowing growers to once again get their products tested by unregistered labs.

  • November 18, 2024

    Alstom Wants Injunction In Dispute Over 'Buy America' Waiver

    Train manufacturer Alstom has urged a D.C. federal judge to block a pending federal disbursement for a $12 billion high-speed rail project, saying the payment could "irrevocably" allow the project to use trainsets that violate federal "Buy America" requirements.

  • November 18, 2024

    Dispute Over Biden Admin Voting Access Order Paused

    A Texas federal district court judge has paused a dispute over an executive order from the Biden administration that promotes easier access to voting after a conservative think tank said President-elect Donald J. Trump is likely to overturn the directive.

  • November 18, 2024

    Colo. Rugby Coach Cries Foul Over City's Revoked Job Offer

    A man who says he was "poached" for an assistant coaching position with the American Raptors professional rugby team near Denver has filed a breach of contract lawsuit alleging he was fired before he even began, without cause, and cheated out of his early termination payment.

  • November 18, 2024

    Friedman Kaplan Name Partner Larry Robbins Dies At 72

    Larry Robbins, a name partner at Friedman Kaplan Seiler Adelman & Robbins LLP known for counseling high-profile congressional witnesses like Marie Yovanovitch and Christine Blasey Ford through their Senate and House committee appearances, died earlier this month at age 72, the firm announced.

  • November 18, 2024

    5th Circ. Says Texas County Wrong To Close Court Hearings

    A Fifth Circuit panel has upheld a trial court's ruling that a Texas county improperly blocked the press and public from attending criminal pretrial proceedings known as magistrate hearings, finding that the practice violates the First Amendment and harms the two news outlets and an advocacy group that brought the lawsuit.

  • November 18, 2024

    Neb. Officials Urge Court To Void Medical Pot Legalization

    Nebraska officials are urging a state judge to void ballot measures to legalize and regulate medical marijuana after a decisive majority of voters approved them, saying that reformers' signature-verification methods were critically hampered by malfeasance and fraud.

  • November 18, 2024

    Snyder Aide Expands Suit Over Flint Water Crisis Prosecution

    An adviser to former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has been permitted to add new allegations to his lawsuit against the state's attorney general and special prosecutors over their handling of charges brought against him surrounding the Flint water crisis, while the judge delayed ruling on prosecutors' immunity.

  • November 18, 2024

    DC Judges, Council Urge Confirmation Of City's Bench Picks

    District of Columbia council members and chief judges are calling on the Senate to confirm the D.C. judicial nominees pending on the floor by the end of the year as the court system has repeatedly called attention to a vacancy crisis.

  • November 18, 2024

    11th Circ. Shelves Peanut Truck Co.'s Excise Tax Refund

    The Eleventh Circuit has overturned a decision awarding an excise tax refund to a manufacturer for selling wagons that dry and carry peanuts, saying the refund is reserved for vehicles that are specially designed for off-highway transportation — a test the peanut wagons failed.

  • November 18, 2024

    Justices Reject SC Agency's Appeal Of Google Subpoena

    The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to take up a South Carolina state agency's appeal of a Fourth Circuit decision requiring its compliance with a Google subpoena in a case accusing the tech giant of monopolizing key digital ad technology.

  • November 17, 2024

    Trump Names FCC's Carr As New Agency Chair

    President-elect Donald Trump has picked Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, as the agency's next chair, selecting a former general counsel of the agency and frequent critic of the current administration to lead the telecom regulator.

  • November 15, 2024

    Eli Lilly Says HHS Ignores Drug Discount Double-Dipping

    Eli Lilly & Co. claims the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is unlawfully blocking its efforts to crack down on hospitals the company alleges are double-dipping on medication discounts that are meant to benefit low-income patients, according to a lawsuit filed in D.C. federal court.

  • November 15, 2024

    Big Banks Still Need To Beef Up Controls, Fed Report Says

    The Federal Reserve said Friday that even as the banking system has remained "sound and resilient," large banks continue to grapple with governance and controls issues, while regional and small banks have seen increases in outstanding supervisory findings.

  • November 15, 2024

    DC Circ.'s White House NEPA Upheaval Sends Shockwaves

    The D.C. Circuit's recent decision declaring the White House Council on Environmental Quality lacks the authority to issue legally binding regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act shocked environmental attorneys and has the potential to ignite federal agency chaos, experts say.

  • November 15, 2024

    Jordan Says DOJ, FTC, CFTC Teed Up Actions Ahead Of Trump

    House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, lambasted three federal departments and their leaders, accusing them of either trying to push out enforcement actions or make last-minute hires during President Joe Biden's final days in office.

  • November 15, 2024

    Evian Wins Ax Of False Ad Suit As NY Judge Reverses Self

    A New York federal judge tossed, for now, a putative class action alleging Danone Waters of America deceptively labeled its Evian water bottles as "carbon-neutral," reversing his earlier decision that the representation could be misleading and ruling Thursday that Danone's website provided further explanation of what the term meant.

  • November 15, 2024

    X Sues To Block Calif.'s New Deepfake Political Ads Law

    X Corp. filed a lawsuit in California federal court seeking to block a new Golden State law aimed at combating artificial intelligence-generated deepfake political ads, claiming the regulation that takes effect in January is unconstitutional and violates Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

  • November 15, 2024

    Defense Policy Outlook Under The New Trump Administration

    Donald Trump's pending return to the White House is expected to bring significant changes to defense and national security policy, including a potentially larger but less diverse military, an increase in domestic sourcing and a more transactional relationship with allies.

  • November 15, 2024

    Group Sees Trend As Removals Of Mexicans Hit Record In Oct.

    October saw a record monthly number of Mexican nationals removed, reflecting an increasing trend of immigration judges issuing deportation orders for the group of immigrants, a Syracuse University data research group said Friday.

  • November 15, 2024

    HHS Likely To Limit Migrant Data After Flores Deal Ends

    A California federal judge indicated Friday that she can't force the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to provide human rights groups with regular data about children in low-security detention facilities now that the long-running Flores settlement has been replaced with a government regulation.

  • November 15, 2024

    Texas Staffing Co. Sues State Over Minority Contract Program

    An aerospace staffing agency has sued Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the state's comptroller in federal court over a program that sets aside a certain percentage of contracts for minority-owned businesses, saying the program unfairly prevents the staffing agency from submitting bids because the company doesn't meet racial requirements.

  • November 15, 2024

    Malcolm X's Family Says Feds, NYPD Hid Murder Involvement

    The daughters of civil rights leader Malcolm X on Friday claimed that the U.S. Department of Justice, FBI, CIA, New York City Police Department and other government agencies ignored threats against their father's life, hampered his efforts to protect himself and covered up governmental involvement in his 1965 assassination.

Expert Analysis

  • Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession

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    About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • 4 Ways To Prepare For DOD Cyber Certification Rule

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    Given the U.S. Department of Justice's increased scrutiny of contractor compliance with cybersecurity requirements, it is critical that contractors take certain steps now in response to the U.S. Department of Defense's proposed Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification implementation rule, say Townsend Bourne and Lillia Damalouji at Sheppard Mullin.

  • FTC Focus: How Scrutiny Of PBMs And Insulin May Play Out

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    Should Express Scripts' recent judicial challenge to the Federal Trade Commission succeed, any new targets could add litigation and choice of forum to their playbooks, and potential FTC court action on insulin could be forced to parallel venues as the issues between the commission and PBMs evolve, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Opinion

    AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys

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    The thing that’s so powerful about artificial intelligence is also what’s most scary about it — its ability to detect patterns may curtail young attorneys’ chance to practice the lower-level work of managing cases, preventing them from ever honing the pattern recognition skills that undergird creative lawyering, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.

  • A Look At How De Minimis Import Rules May Soon Change

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    The planned implementation of executive actions focused on the de minimis rule as it applies to shipments means companies should use this interval to evaluate the potential applicability and impact of Section 301, Section 201 or Section 232 duties on their products, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Key Takeaways From DOJ's New Corp. Compliance Guidance

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s updated guidance to federal prosecutors on evaluating corporate compliance programs addresses how entities manage new technology-related risks and expands on preexisting policies, providing key insights for companies about increasing regulatory expectations, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • What's In The Cards For CFTC's Election Betting Case

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    A D.C. federal judge's Sept. 12 ruling, allowing KalshiEx to offer derivative contracts trading on the outcome of the U.S. congressional elections over objections from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, could mark a watershed moment in the permissibility of election betting if upheld on appeal, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • What To Know About Latest Calif. Auto-Renewal Law Update

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    While businesses have about nine months to prepare before the recently passed amendment to California's automatic renewal law takes effect, it’s not too early to begin working on compliance efforts, including sign-up flow reviews, record retention updates and marketing language revisions, say Gonzalo Mon and Beth Chun at Kelley Drye.

  • The Key Changes In Revised FDIC Hiring Regulations

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    Attorneys at Ogletree break down the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s new rule, effective Oct. 1, that will ease restrictions on financial institutions hiring employees with criminal histories, amend the FDIC's treatment of minor offenses and clarify its stance on expunged or dismissed criminal records.

  • FDIC's Cautious Approach To Industrial Banks, Reaffirmed

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    Although the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. recently approved an industrial loan company's deposit insurance application and proposed new rules regarding parent companies, these developments do not represent a liberalization or modernization of the FDIC's regulatory framework, say Max Bonici and Andrew Bigart at Venable.

  • How Lucia, Jarkesy Could Affect Grocery Merger Challenge

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    While the Federal Trade Commission is taking a dual federal court and administrative tribunal approach to block Kroger's merger with Alberstons, Kroger's long-shot unconstitutionality claims could potentially lead to a reevaluation of the FTC's reliance on administrative processes in complex merger cases, say attorneys at Saul Ewing.

  • How NLRB Memo Balances Schools' Labor, Privacy Concerns

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    Natale DiNatale at Robinson & Cole highlights the recent National Labor Relations Board advice memorandum that aims to help colleges reconcile competing obligations under the National Labor Relations Act and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act as university students flock toward unionization.

  • Taking Stock Of FCC's New Spectrum Rule For Drones

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    While an order recently adopted by the Federal Communications Commission is intended to provide drones with rapid access to a limited amount of spectrum in the 5030-5091 megahertz band, the commission envisions an incremental approach to full usage that will play out over the course of the coming months and years, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • Basel Endgame Rules: A Change Is Coming

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    The Federal Reserve Board's recently announced recalibration of the Basel endgame proposal begins a critical chapter in the evolution of not only the safety and soundness of U.S. banks, but also of banks' abilities to lend and support American businesses and consumers, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • Ruling On Foreign Dividend Break Offers 2 Tax Court Insights

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    In Varian v. Commissioner, the U.S. Tax Court allowed a taxpayer's deduction for dividends from foreign subsidiaries, providing clarity on how the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision may affect challenges to Treasury regulations, and revealing a potential disallowance of foreign tax credits, say attorneys at Davis Polk.

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