Public Policy

  • July 03, 2024

    Asylum-Seeking Families Split At Border Get $1.3M Deal OK'd

    An Arizona federal judge on Tuesday signed off on a $1.3 million settlement that the federal government reached with families who were separated at the southern border in 2018 amid the Trump administration's zero-tolerance policy that prosecuted migrants who entered the U.S. illegally. 

  • July 03, 2024

    No 'Unfettered Discretion' For Zoning Boards: Mich. Justices

    The Michigan Supreme Court has held that conditionally rezoning a property is only valid if the property's proposed use is already allowed under a town's ordinances, instructing a trial court to determine whether a racing dragway is a permitted use under a township's commercial zone.

  • July 03, 2024

    FCC Says Assurance Failed Blind Customer On Accessibility

    T-Mobile unit Assurance made one of its blind customers spend the better part of three years going back and forth with it about getting an accessible device, which it was required to provide under the Federal Communications Commission's rules for the Lifeline subsidy program, the FCC said.

  • July 03, 2024

    Cannabis Cos. To Take Constitutional Challenge To 1st Circ.

    A group of cannabis businesses challenging the federal prohibition on marijuana gave notice of appeal Wednesday to the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

  • July 03, 2024

    Judge Trims Retailer's Defenses In Long COVID EEOC Suit

    A Colorado federal judge struck several of an appliance retailer's affirmative defenses Wednesday in a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit alleging it wrongfully terminated a worker who asked for more time off to deal with long COVID symptoms.

  • July 03, 2024

    Texas Court Puts FTC's Noncompete Ban On Hold

    A Texas federal judge on Wednesday blocked the Federal Trade Commission from enforcing its rule banning noncompete agreements against tax preparation company Ryan LLC and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and suggested the regulation should be shot down.

  • July 03, 2024

    2nd Circ. Backs NY Campaign Finance Laws Favoring Parties

    The Second Circuit on Wednesday rejected a constitutional challenge to New York state campaign finance laws that created a stricter set of rules for candidate-nominating independent bodies than for more established political parties.

  • July 03, 2024

    NC Solicitor General Faces GOP Roadblock To 4th Circ. Bench

    President Joe Biden's selection of North Carolina Solicitor General Ryan Y. Park for a Fourth Circuit seat tops off a distinguished resume that includes a Harvard Law degree and a stint at Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP, but he still faces an uphill road to the bench amid pushback from Tar Heel State senators.

  • July 03, 2024

    Contentious Ala. Gender Care Case Partly Paused

    Favoring "judicial efficiency," an Alabama federal court has partially granted the Biden administration's opposed motion to stay a case challenging the state's ban on gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth while the U.S. Supreme Court reviews a similar Tennessee ban, though some briefing, including for summary judgment, was permitted to proceed.

  • July 03, 2024

    Solar Biz Says Duty Circumvention Probe Ignored Contractors

    A solar importer urged the trade court to unwind the U.S. Department of Commerce's expansion of duties on Chinese solar products to Cambodian goods, alleging flaws with how the department assessed how much manufacturing occurred in Cambodia. 

  • July 03, 2024

    9th Circ. Says Carjacking Is Not Reason For Removal

    The Ninth Circuit has ruled the 2006 carjacking conviction of a Salvadoran immigrant isn't enough to deport him because carjacking alone "is not a categorical crime of violence" under federal law.

  • July 03, 2024

    Feds Call Delayed Asylum Bid Reasonable Amid Backlogs

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is urging a Florida federal court to rule that it's not unreasonable for one man's asylum application to still be processing after four years and counting in light of the asylum backlogs at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

  • July 03, 2024

    Feds Must Act On Right Whale Protections, Green Groups Say

    Conservation groups are pushing a D.C. federal judge to order the National Marine Fisheries Service to act on a proposal meant to reduce the number of vessels killing and injuring North Atlantic right whales, saying its inaction is helping push the imperiled species toward extinction.

  • July 03, 2024

    Atty's COVID Relief Fraud Case Ends After Diversion Program

    A Georgia federal judge has tossed charges against an attorney over a fraudulent scheme involving federal pandemic-relief business loans, granting on Wednesday the government's motion to dismiss after the attorney completed a pretrial diversion program.

  • July 03, 2024

    Giuliani Creditors Say Conversion Motion 'Just Games'

    A New York bankruptcy judge will hear arguments next week over whether to convert Rudy Giuliani's Chapter 11 to a liquidation, a move his creditors denounced as gamesmanship with the bankruptcy system.

  • July 03, 2024

    FCC Relying On Iffy Broadband Marketing Data, Co-Ops Say

    Rural broadband providers are telling the Federal Communications Commission that more changes are needed for the agency's national broadband maps to accurately determine where federal funding would have the biggest impact in building out network infrastructure in hard-to-reach areas.

  • July 03, 2024

    After Chevron Deference: What Lawyers Need To Know

    This term, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference, a precedent established 40 years ago that said when judges could defer to federal agencies' interpretations of law in rulemaking. Here, catch up with Law360's coverage of what is likely to happen next.

  • July 03, 2024

    Berkeley Research Group Hires Aprio Partner

    Berkeley Research Group, the expert services and consulting firm, has hired a new director in its government contracts practice who recently joined the firm in Washington, D.C., according to a recent announcement.

  • July 03, 2024

    Biden's New Picks Include NC Solicitor General For 4th Circ.

    President Joe Biden announced four new judicial nominees on Wednesday, including one for the Fourth Circuit.

  • July 02, 2024

    Immigration Attys Cautiously Optimistic After Chevron Ruling

    The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that courts no longer have to defer to federal agencies' interpretations of ambiguous statutes could help some immigrants fight removal orders while serving as a buffer against partisan challenges to executive immigration actions.

  • July 02, 2024

    IT Workers Say Chevron's End Dooms Spouse Work Permits

    Ex-information technology workers told the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning decades-old precedent instructing judges about when they can defer to federal agencies' interpretations of law buoys their challenge to an Obama-era program allowing work permits for some spouses of highly skilled foreign workers.

  • July 02, 2024

    Tribal Nations Want In On Red States' Water Rule Dispute

    Seven tribal nations are asking a North Dakota federal court for permission to intervene in a group of red states' challenge to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule revision that considers tribal rights in addressing water quality standard regulations, arguing that their rights to aquatic resources could be harmed should the law be overturned.

  • July 02, 2024

    Apple Says It's Too Early For Discovery In DOJ Antitrust Case

    There's no need to get the ball rolling on discovery in the U.S. Department of Justice's case accusing Apple of monopolizing the smartphone market until the New Jersey federal court overseeing the case decides if it's going to dismiss it entirely, the tech giant argued.

  • July 02, 2024

    Wash. Court OKs Anti-Masker's School Recall Sanctions

    Washington appellate judges said Tuesday an Evergreen State man waited too long to appeal $30,000 in sanctions and ruled the trial court was justified in pinning most of the blame on him — instead of his attorneys — for filing baseless recall petitions to dissuade school board members from complying with a state COVID-19 mask mandate. 

  • July 02, 2024

    Chamber, Pharma Slam Colorado Drug Price Controls

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a prominent pharmaceutical industry group have urged a Colorado federal court to bar a state review board from setting price controls on prescription drugs, arguing that the practice is "irreconcilable" with federal patent law.

Expert Analysis

  • Managing Legal Risks After University Gaza Protests

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    Following the protests sparked by the war in Gaza, colleges and universities should expect a long investigative tail and take steps to mitigate risks associated with compliance issues under various legal frameworks and institutional policies, say Wiley's Diana Shaw and Colin Cloherty.

  • Live Nation May Shake It Off In A Long Game With The DOJ

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    Don't expect a swift resolution in the U.S. Department of Justice's case against Live Nation, but a long litigation, with the company likely to represent itself as the creator of a competitive ecosystem, and the government faced with explaining how the ticketing giant formed under its watch, say Thomas Kliebhan and Taylor Hixon at GRSM50.

  • How Act 126 Will Jump-Start Lithium Production In Louisiana

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    Louisiana's recent passage of Act 126, which helps create a legal and regulatory framework for lithium brine production and direct lithium extraction in the state, should help bolster the U.S. supply of this key mineral, and contribute to increased energy independence for the nation, say Marjorie McKeithen and Justin Marocco at Jones Walker.

  • 5 Steps For Gov't Contractor Affirmative Action Verification

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    As the federal contractor affirmative action program certification deadline approaches, government contractors and subcontractors should take steps to determine their program obligations, and ensure any required plans are properly implemented and timely registered, say Christopher Wilkinson at Perkins Coie and Joanna Colosimo at DCI Consulting.

  • Boeing Saga Underscores Need For Ethical Corporate Culture

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    In the wake of recent allegations about Boeing’s safety culture, and amid the U.S. Department of Justice’s new whistleblower incentives, business leaders should reinvigorate their emphasis on compliance by making clear that long-term profitability requires ethical business practices, says Maxwell Carr-Howard at Dentons.

  • A Closer Look At Feds' Proposed Banker Compensation Rule

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    A recently proposed rule to limit financial institutions' ability to award incentive-based compensation for risk-taking may progress through the rulemaking process slowly due to the sheer number of regulators collaborating on the rule and the number of issues under consideration, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • 2 Regulatory Approaches To Psychedelic Clinical Trials

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    Comparing the U.S. and Canada's regulatory frameworks for clinical trials of psychedelic drugs can be useful for designing trial protocols that meet both countries' requirements, which can in turn help diversify patient populations, bolster data robustness and expedite market access, say Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell and Sabrina Ramkellawan at AxialBridge.

  • Why Jurors Balk At 'I Don't Recall' — And How To Respond

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    Jurors often react negatively to a witness who responds “I don’t remember” because they tend to hold erroneous beliefs about the nature of human memory, but attorneys can adopt a few strategies to mitigate the impact of these biases, say Steve Wood and Ava Hernández at Courtroom Sciences.

  • How Federal And State Microfiber Pollution Policy Is Evolving

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    Growing efforts to address synthetic microfiber pollution may create compliance and litigation issues for businesses in the textile and apparel industries, so companies should track developing federal and state legislation and regulation in this space, and should consider associated greenwashing risks, says Arie Feltman-Frank at Jenner & Block.

  • Series

    Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Atop the list of ways fishing makes me a better lawyer is the relief it offers from the chronic stress of a demanding caseload, but it has also improved my listening skills and patience, and has served as an exceptional setting for building earnest relationships, says Steven DeGeorge​​​​​​​ at Robinson Bradshaw.

  • Best Practices For Responding To CBP's Solar Questionnaire

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    U.S. Customs and Border Protection's recently introduced questionnaire to solar importers imposes significant burdens, with the potential for supply chain disruptions and market consolidation, but taking certain steps can assist companies in navigating the new requirements, say Carl Valenstein and Katelyn Hilferty at Morgan Lewis.

  • Exploring Alternatives To Noncompetes Ahead Of FTC Ban

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    Ahead of the Sept. 4 effective date for the Federal Trade Commission's noncompete ban, employers should seek new ways to protect their proprietary and other sensitive information, including by revising existing confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements, says Harvey Linder at Culhane.

  • Parsing Controversial Del. General Corporation Law Proposals

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    In response to issues raised in three recent high-profile Delaware Court of Chancery decisions, many amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law were quickly proposed that, if enacted, would bring significant changes likely to be hotly debated — and litigated — for the foreseeable future, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • A Look At US-EU Consumer Finance Talks' Slow First Steps

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    The unhurried and informal nature of planned discussions between the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the European commissioner for justice and consumer protection suggests any coordinated regulatory action on issues like AI and "buy now, pay later" services is still a ways off, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • Opinion

    It's Time To Defuse The Ticking Time Bomb Of US Landfills

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    After recent fires at landfills in Alabama and California sent toxic fumes into surrounding communities, it is clear that existing penalties for landfill mismanagement are insufficient — so policymakers must enact major changes to the way we dispose of solid waste, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.

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