Public Policy

  • June 18, 2024

    Company, States Battle In Court Over At-Home Rape Kits

    A fight is brewing in federal and state courts between a company that purports to be the nation's only purveyor of self-administered sexual assault DNA collection kits and state attorneys general who believe it is misleading sexual assault victims.

  • June 18, 2024

    Cuomo's Ex-Aide Details Sex Harassment Claims In New Suit

    Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's onetime executive assistant has filed a civil lawsuit in New York state court, accusing Cuomo of "outrageous sex discrimination and retaliation" roughly two years after related misdemeanor charges over the alleged misconduct were dropped.

  • June 18, 2024

    Charges Dropped In NYC Mayor Straw Donor Case

    A New York state judge on Tuesday dismissed charges against a former development consultant and state employee, who was accused of being part of a conspiracy to funnel straw donor funds to New York City Mayor Eric Adams' 2021 campaign, after prosecutors agreed to drop the case.

  • June 18, 2024

    No Reason To Move Net Neutrality Suits To DC Circ., ISPs Say

    Nearly a dozen industry groups are calling on the Sixth Circuit to reject an effort by the Federal Communications Commission to move a raft of lawsuits over the FCC's net neutrality rules to the D.C. Circuit.

  • June 18, 2024

    Ayahuasca Church Says DOJ Should Pay $2.2M Legal Fees

    A Phoenix-based church that secured a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice allowing it to legally use ayahuasca for its religious practices is now asking an Arizona federal court to make the government pay $2.2 million, covering the costs of litigating the case and giving its attorneys an "appropriate" bonus.

  • June 18, 2024

    SEC's Ether Orders Spur Hope For Crypto, Caution From Attys

    The crypto industry received a step toward clarity when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's approval of exchange-traded products holding the token ether signified the cryptocurrency isn't a security subject to SEC regulation, but attorneys say they remain cautious when counseling clients on how to deal in the asset.

  • June 18, 2024

    Failure To Return Remains Violates Human Rights, Court Told

    A nonprofit tribal organization and a South Carolina tribe are backing a challenge to the U.S. Army that seeks to repatriate the remains of two Native American children from an Indian boarding school cemetery in Pennsylvania, arguing that failure to do so constitutes a continuing human rights violation.

  • June 18, 2024

    USPTO Hears Array Of Ideas For Altering Director Review

    Numerous groups have offered suggestions to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on the process where the agency's director reviews Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions, from adjusting which cases are subject to review to barring the director from personally making decisions.

  • June 18, 2024

    Nuke Regulator Asks High Court To Review Atomic Waste Rule

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a contentious Fifth Circuit decision that barred it from issuing a license to a temporary nuclear waste storage facility in Texas, saying that the circuit court widened circuit splits and upended decades of agency practice.

  • June 18, 2024

    Anticompetitive Rules Hinder BEAD Fund, Critic Claims

    The success or failure of the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program lies in the "devilish details," according to one free-market think tank, which says that rules encouraging rate regulation and favoring "gold-plated" fiber technology could soon "cause havoc" if oversight is not rigorous enough.

  • June 18, 2024

    Seattle Can't Stop Firefighters' COVID Vaccine Suit

    Firefighters who sued over Seattle's COVID-19 vaccine mandate have offered sufficient evidence to allege they faced religious discrimination, according to a federal magistrate judge who trimmed some claims on Tuesday but refused to toss the lawsuit.

  • June 18, 2024

    Chastened Boeing CEO Vows Fixes In Harsh Senate Hearing

    Boeing's chief steadfastly defended the company's commitment to safety, even as he acknowledged a breakdown in how certain managers responded to whistleblowers who had flagged past questionable design or manufacturing practices, as he endured a grueling public hearing before a Senate panel Tuesday.

  • June 18, 2024

    Colo. Justices Iffy On Cake's Message In Baker's Speech Suit

    The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday pressed a Christian cake baker on whether requiring him to make a pink cake with blue frosting to celebrate a customer's gender transition counts as "compelled speech" under a recent high court ruling, with some justices skeptical that such a cake has inherent meaning.

  • June 18, 2024

    Dems Ask For Update On Justice Thomas Gifts Investigation

    A pair of Democratic lawmakers have asked the judiciary's governing body for an update on its review of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' failure to disclose years of luxury gifts and travel he received from conservative billionaires.

  • June 18, 2024

    Green Group Insists It Can Fight Colo. Air Plan Approval

    The Center for Biological Diversity told the Tenth Circuit it didn't forfeit its challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's approval of a Colorado air emissions permitting program and that the agency is wrong to assert otherwise.

  • June 18, 2024

    Proposed Hemp Change In Line With Regs, Report Says

    A controversial proposed change to the statutory definition of hemp in the next Farm Bill would be broadly aligned with existing federal regulatory practices, according to a new report from Capitol Hill's policy research arm.

  • June 18, 2024

    Del. House Panel Splits On Senate-Passed Corp. Law Change

    A divided Delaware House committee released on Tuesday contested amendments to the state's general corporation law, sending the measure toward a full House vote after sometimes edgy testimony that included a committee chair's shutdown of an opposing law professor's reference to HBO's seamy corporate drama series "Succession."

  • June 18, 2024

    9th Circ. Nixes City's Win In Wash. Firefighter Vax Order Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday revived a lawsuit by a group of firefighters who claim the city of Spokane, Washington, violated their constitutional rights when it fired them for refusing to get COVID-19 vaccines and instead relied on first responders from nearby agencies who also hadn't gotten the shot, ruling they'd asserted a viable First Amendment claim.

  • June 18, 2024

    Circumvention Finding Twisted Trade Statute, Pipe Co. Says

    The U.S. Department of Commerce contorted its statutory authority to foist circumvention duties on a Vietnam-based pipe producer that has already cleared dumping and unfair subsidy allegations, the company said in a motion calling to roll back the levies.

  • June 18, 2024

    Democrats Punt On Spectrum Bill, Claiming GOP 'Obstruction'

    A Senate Democratic leader again delayed consideration of a bill Tuesday to renew the Federal Communications Commission's spectrum auction powers, saying the holdup was instigated by Republicans on the Senate Commerce Committee.

  • June 18, 2024

    Legalization Foe SAM Seeks Hearing On Pot Rescheduling

    A leading anti-marijuana-legalization advocacy organization on Tuesday formally submitted its request to the Drug Enforcement Administration to hold administrative hearings on the Attorney General's proposal to reschedule cannabis.

  • June 18, 2024

    9th Circ. Asked For En Banc Review In Youths' Climate Case

    Youth plaintiffs have asked the Ninth Circuit for en banc review of a panel's decision to toss their lawsuit against the federal government over the effects of climate change.

  • June 18, 2024

    Hospital Board Says Feds Underpaid Claims By $17M

    A Navajo Nation hospital board is suing the federal government, alleging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services underpaid its fiscal year 2016 funding request for contract support costs by $17.4 million without any legal justification.

  • June 18, 2024

    Split Pa. High Court Finds Rental Registry Suit Moot

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court tossed out landlords' appeal of Pittsburgh's 2015 ordinance requiring them to list their rental units in a public registry, because it had been replaced by a newer, narrower law, but two justices said they should have ruled on the case anyway to settle whether other governments could pass similar measures.

  • June 18, 2024

    Fed Should Vote Now On Basel Capital Hike Plan, Warren Says

    U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has accused Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell of "doing the bank industry's bidding" as federal regulators look to back off of significant proposed increases to big-bank capital requirements, saying he should instead put those increases to a board vote by the end of June.

Expert Analysis

  • Does Expert Testimony Aid Preliminary IPR Responses?

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    Dechert attorneys analyze six years of patent owners' preliminary responses to inter partes review petitions to determine whether the elimination of the presumption favoring the petitioner as to preinstitution testimonial evidence affected the usefulness of expert testimony in responses.

  • Fostering Employee Retention Amid Shaky DEI Landscape

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    Ongoing challenges to the legality of corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs are complicating efforts to use DEI as an employee retention tool, but with the right strategic approach employers can continue to recruit and retain diverse talent — even after the FTC’s ban on noncompetes, says Ally Coll at the Purple Method.

  • Are Concessions In FDA's Lab-Developed Tests Rule Enough?

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    Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new policy for laboratory-developed tests included major strategic concessions to help balance patient safety, access and diagnostic innovation, the new rule may well face significant legal challenges in court, say Dominick DiSabatino and Audrey Mercer at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 5 Climate Change Regulatory Issues Insurers Should Follow

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    The climate change landscape for insurers has changed dramatically recently — and not just because of the controversy over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related risk disclosure rules, says Thomas Dawson at McDermott.

  • How New Rule Would Change CFIUS Enforcement Powers

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    Before the May 15 comment deadline, companies may want to weigh in on proposed regulatory changes to enforcement and mitigation tools at the disposal of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, including broadened subpoena powers, difficult new mitigation timelines and higher maximum penalties, say attorneys at Venable.

  • What's Extraordinary About Challenges To SEC Climate Rule

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    A set of ideologically diverse legal challenges to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate disclosure rule have been consolidated in the Eighth Circuit via a seldom-used lottery system, and the unpredictability of this process may drive agencies toward a more cautious future approach to rulemaking, say attorneys at Thompson Coburn.

  • 8 Questions To Ask Before Final CISA Breach Reporting Rule

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    The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s recently proposed cyber incident reporting requirements for critical infrastructure entities represent the overall approach CISA will take in its final rule, so companies should be asking key compliance questions now and preparing for a more complicated reporting regime, say Arianna Evers and Shannon Mercer at WilmerHale.

  • Series

    Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

  • Key Priorities In FDIC Report On Resolving Big Bank Failures

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    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s report last month on the resolvability of large financial institutions contains little new information, but it does reiterate key policy priorities, including the agency's desire to enhance loss-absorbing capacity through long-term debt requirements and preference for single-point-of-entry resolution strategies, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • Best Practices For Space Security In Our Connected World

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    NASA's recently published space security guide is another indication that cyber-resilience has become a global theme for the space and satellite sector, as well as a useful reference for companies and organizations reviewing their cybersecurity frameworks or looking to partner with the U.S. agency, says Hayley Blyth at Bird & Bird.

  • Opinion

    SEC Doesn't Have Legal Authority For Climate Disclosure Rule

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    Instead of making the required legal argument to establish its authority, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related disclosure rule hides behind more than 1,000 references to materiality to give the appearance that its rule is legally defensible, says Bernard Sharfman at RealClearFoundation.

  • What 100 Federal Cases Suggest About Changes To Chevron

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    With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overturn or narrow its 40-year-old doctrine of Chevron deference, a review of 100 recent federal district court decisions confirm that changes to the Chevron framework will have broad ramifications — but the magnitude of the impact will depend on the details of the high court's ruling, say Kali Schellenberg and Jon Cochran at LeVan Stapleton.

  • FTC Noncompete Rule May Still Face Historical Hurdles

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    The Federal Trade Commission's final rule banning noncompetes might face challenges that could have been avoided with more cautious consideration of the commission's long history of failed lawsuits that went beyond the agency's statutory authority, as well as the mountain of judicial precedent justifying noncompete agreements in employment contracts, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • A Look At Subchapter V As Debt Limit Expiration Looms

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    If proposed legislation to extend Subchapter V’s debt eligibility ceiling sunset date in June is passed, bankruptcy professionals can seek ways to work with their local jurisdictions to advocate for code changes and guidance that bring more efficiencies and clarity to the process, say Matthew Brash at Newpoint Advisors and Melinda Bennett at Stretto.

  • Opinion

    SEC Should Be Allowed To Equip Investors With Climate Info

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new rule to require more climate-related disclosures will provide investors with much-needed clarity, despite opponents' attempts to challenge the rule with misused legal arguments, say Sarah Goetz at Democracy Forward and Cynthia Hanawalt at Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change.

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