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Public Policy
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July 26, 2024
Texas Justices Announce Fees For Statewide Business Court
The Texas Supreme Court said Friday that actions filed in and removed to the business court will cost $2,500, unveiling the fee schedule for the state's latest venue.
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July 26, 2024
Fed Closes Loop On Now-Shuttered Crypto Bank Silvergate
The Federal Reserve said Friday that it has concluded an enforcement action requiring Silvergate Bank to close out its operations safely and smoothly, tying up a loose thread from the California-based crypto bank's move to shut itself down after tanking last year.
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July 26, 2024
NFL Leads Sports & Betting Cases To Watch For Rest Of 2024
Significant cases involving major American pro sports organizations have earned extra attention as the second half of 2024 begins, as have cases involving young professional athletes, college recruits and youth sports participants. Still, the NFL remains king with its footprint all over the list of must-follow cases for the rest of the year.
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July 26, 2024
How Being A Female Litigator May Aid Harris' Presidential Bid
Female litigators regularly confront implicit biases and double standards when it comes to "their appearance, voice, attire, demeanor and their advocacy," according to the author of an American Bar Foundation research report on first chair trial lawyers.
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July 26, 2024
Insurance Trade Group Challenges FTC's Noncompete Ban
The American Property Casualty Insurance Association backed a tax preparation company and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's challenge to the Federal Trade Commission's ban on noncompete agreements, telling a Texas federal court that the rule would "significantly disrupt the insurance producer landscape."
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July 26, 2024
Cannabis Litigation To Watch: Delta-8 And Residency Rules
In the first half of 2024, a series of lawsuits taking aim at state hemp restrictions and another set of suits challenging purported residency criteria in state cannabis licensure programs were briefed in multiple appellate courts across the country.
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July 26, 2024
Illinois Cases To Watch In 2024: Midyear Report
Illinois attorneys say they are considering the path forward for Springfield corruption prosecutions following a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, as well as paying attention to what comes next in Motorola Solutions' trade secret contempt fight and potential new guidelines for music copyright cases. Here are the cases to watch in Illinois for the rest of 2024.
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July 26, 2024
Colorado Cases To Watch 2024: A Midyear Report
Colorado is at the forefront of state challenges to Kroger's $24 billion proposed merger with Albertsons, regulators are defending a high-cost lending crackdown, and state justices could change how insurers navigate bad faith suits. Here are some of the Colorado cases to watch in the second half of 2024.
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July 26, 2024
How Barrett Became The High Court's Justice To Watch
Justice Amy Coney Barrett has revealed a unique trifecta of caution toward overly broad opinions, devotion to the factual record and concern for the practical effects of court rulings that separates her from the other right-leaning justices and contains the potential to broker more moderate rulings in future terms.
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July 26, 2024
Texas Federal Judge Blocks DOL Investment Advice Rule
A Texas federal judge granted a bid from insurance industry groups to freeze U.S. Department of Labor regulations that expand who qualifies as a fiduciary under federal benefits law, saying the agency's new rule "suffers from many of the same problems" as a previous DOL rule the Fifth Circuit invalidated in 2018.
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July 26, 2024
NLRB Finalizes Rollback Of Trump-Era Union Election Rules
The National Labor Relations Board on Friday finalized its rule rolling back Trump-era changes to union election procedures, restoring policies blocking union representation elections when an employer is alleged to have tainted the vote and insulating unions from removal if an employer voluntarily recognizes them.
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July 26, 2024
EU Frees Up €1.5B Of Frozen Russian Assets To Aid Ukraine
The European Union's executive branch said Friday that it is freeing up €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) of revenue generated from immobilized Russian assets to aid Ukraine in defending itself against the Russian invasion.
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July 25, 2024
DOJ Watchdog Criticizes Barr But Clears Him Of Wrongdoing
The U.S. Department of Justice's watchdog on Thursday chided former Attorney General William Barr for violating DOJ policies via his handling of information regarding an election fraud investigation in Pennsylvania during the 2020 presidential election, though it said he didn't technically commit misconduct.
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July 25, 2024
Bank-Fintech Risks Put In Spotlight As Agencies Urge Caution
Federal regulators urged banks on Thursday to be mindful of a host of potential risks when partnering with outside firms to provide deposit products and services, guidance that comes in the wake of a high-profile fintech bankruptcy that has cast a pall over the banking-as-a-service business model.
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July 25, 2024
Boeing's 737 Max Plea Deal: Monitorship, Gov't Contracts
Boeing will be branded with a felony criminal conviction after pleading guilty to conspiring to defraud U.S. regulators over the 737 Max 8's development, an ignominious distinction with fresh complications for the embattled American aerospace titan as it overhauls its corporate culture under a compliance monitorship.
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July 25, 2024
Meta, Snap Can't Ignore Murder Case Subpoenas, Court Says
Social media companies' ability to access and use their customers' information means they fall outside the scope of the Stored Communications Act, a California appellate court has ruled, rejecting Meta Platforms Inc. and Snap Inc.'s argument that the SCA's disclosure limitations mean they can't comply with subpoenas in a murder case.
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July 25, 2024
Justice Kagan Floats Committee To Enforce High Court Ethics
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan said Thursday that the high court "should" and "could" create a mechanism like a committee of lower-court judges to enforce a code of conduct, while acknowledging the "complications" in deciding who should be the enforcers.
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July 25, 2024
11th Circ. Revives FCA Dispute Over Small Biz Contracts
The Eleventh Circuit on Thursday revived a whistleblower False Claims Act case alleging new owners of a construction firm fraudulently secured orders under a program for disadvantaged small businesses, saying those owners should have told the Small Business Administration about the ownership switch.
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July 25, 2024
Iowa Says Blocking Its Immigration Law Flouts High Court
Iowa told the Eighth Circuit on Thursday that a federal judge contorted U.S. Supreme Court precedent by granting the Biden administration's request to block a law criminalizing previously deported noncitizens' entry into the state.
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July 25, 2024
Trump Judge Won't Exit Over 'Nothingburger' Atty Encounter
The New York judge who ordered Donald Trump to pay $465 million in penalties in his civil fraud case Thursday rejected the former president's demand that he step down from the case, saying a brief hallway encounter with an attorney acquaintance was a "nothingburger" that did not influence his decision.
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July 25, 2024
Ninth Circ. Vacates, Remands BIA Sexual Misconduct Dispute
The Ninth Circuit vacated and remanded a lower court's ruling that the Bureau of Indian Affairs isn't liable for the actions of one of its officers who sexually assaulted a Northern Cheyenne woman, saying conflicting statements create a factual dispute regarding whether the officer was acting within the scope of his employment.
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July 25, 2024
SEC Seeks To Narrow Attack On Nasdaq Board Diversity Rule
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission told the Fifth Circuit Thursday that conservative groups objecting to a Nasdaq rule mandating the disclosure of board diversity data can no longer complain about the exchange's offer to help companies recruit applicable candidates because that offer has expired, mooting at least one aspect of a broader attack against the rule.
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July 25, 2024
FCC Keeps Chin Up, But Chevron Woes Won't Soon Fade
After the U.S. Supreme Court term stampeded over long-established elements of administrative law this summer, the future of several major Federal Communications Commission initiatives was cast into doubt, but the agency says it's still optimistic it can navigate the new challenges.
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July 25, 2024
Sports Court Confirms US Figure Skating Win In Beijing
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has rejected appeals filed by the Russian figure skating team challenging the rankings in the team event during the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing, a decision that means the U.S. team members will finally be able to collect their gold medals.
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July 25, 2024
Newsom Cites High Court In Ordering Encampments Cleared
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday ordered state agencies to start removing homeless encampments on state property while providing outreach services to homeless residents following a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gave governments broader authority to ban camping in public.
Expert Analysis
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High Court Paves Middle Ground For Proceedings Obstruction
The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Fischer sensibly leaves the door open for prosecutors to make more nuanced assessments as to whether defendants' actions directly or tangentially impair the availability or integrity of anything used in an official proceeding, without criminalizing acts such as peaceful demonstrations, say attorneys at Perry Law.
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How High Court Approached Time Limit On Reg Challenges
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board effectively gives new entities their own personal statute of limitations to challenge rules and regulations, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh's concurrence may portend the court's view that those entities do not need to be directly regulated, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.
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Series
Florida Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2
The second quarter of 2024 brought two notable bills that will affect Florida's banking and finance community across many issues, including virtual currency abandonment, cancellation of financial services on the basis of political opinions, and the exemption amount of motor vehicles, say Joshua Prever and Andrew Balthazor at Holland & Knight.
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Series
After Chevron: FTC's 'Unfair Competition' Actions In Jeopardy
While the U.S. Supreme Court's decision ending Chevron deference will have limited effect on the Federal Trade Commission's merger guidelines, administrative enforcement actions and commission decisions on appeal, it could restrict the agency's expansive take on its rulemaking authority and threaten the noncompete ban, say attorneys at Baker Botts.
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How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts
As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.
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Series
After Chevron: Opportunities For Change In FHFA Practices
The U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of the Chevron doctrine should lead to better cooperation between the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Congress, and may give the FHFA a chance to embrace transparency and innovation and promote sustainable housing practices, says Mehdi Sinaki at Michelman & Robinson.
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Constitutional Protections For Cannabis Companies Are Hazy
Cannabis businesses are subject to federal enforcement and tax, but often without the benefit of constitutional protections — and the entanglement of state and federal law and conflicting judicial opinions are creating confusion in the space, says Amber Lengacher at Purple Circle.
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Supreme Court's ALJ Ruling Carries Implications Beyond SEC
In its recent Jarkesy opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the types of cases that can be tried before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's in-house administrative law judges, setting the stage for challenges to the constitutionality of ALJs across other agencies, say Robert Robertson and Kimberley Church at Dechert.
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Opinion
A Tale Of 2 Trump Cases: The Rule Of Law Is A Live Issue
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision this week in Trump v. U.S., holding that former President Donald Trump has broad immunity from prosecution, undercuts the rule of law, while the former president’s New York hush money conviction vindicates it in eight key ways, says David Postel at Henein Hutchison.
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USPTO Disclaimer Rule Would Complicate Patent Prosecution
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's proposed changes to terminal disclaimer practice could lead to a patent owner being unable to enforce a valid patent simply because it is indirectly tied to a patent in which a single claim is found anticipated or obvious in view of the prior art, say attorneys at Sterne Kessler.
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2nd Circ. ERISA Ruling May Help Fight Unfair Arb. Clauses
The Second Circuit recently held that a plaintiff seeking planwide relief under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act cannot be compelled to individual arbitration, a decision that opens the door to new applications of the effective vindication doctrine to defeat onerous and one-sided arbitration clauses, say Raphael Janove and Liana Vitale at Janove.
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Series
After Chevron: Various Paths For Labor And Employment Law
Labor and employment law leans heavily on federal agency guidance, so the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to toss out Chevron deference will ripple through this area, with future workplace policies possibly taking shape through strategic litigation, informal guidance, state-level regulation and more, says Alexander MacDonald at Littler.
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Series
Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.
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What NYC's Green Fast Track Means For Affordable Housing
New York City's Green Fast Track for Housing initiative, which went into effect last month, aims to speed up the environmental review process for modest residential developments and could potentially pave the way for similar initiatives in other cities, say Vivien Krieger and Rachel Scall at Cozen O'Connor.
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Series
After Chevron: No Deference, No Difference For SEC Or CFTC
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.