Public Policy

  • July 09, 2024

    Aetna Beats Blue Cross In NC Health Plan Contract Battle

    An administrative judge affirmed North Carolina's switch of its employee and retiree health plan to Aetna, reasoning Blue Cross Blue Shield failed to prove state officials made errors favoring the competitor when evaluating bids.

  • July 09, 2024

    3rd Circuit Questions DuPont Family Trust's ERISA Status

    In a hearing Tuesday about a dispute between the DuPont family and its domestic workers over trust money, Third Circuit judges quizzed both sides on the level of involvement needed from trustees or the family for the fund to be considered a plan covered by the Employment Retirement Income Security Act.

  • July 09, 2024

    Philly EB-5 Investors Can Seek Visa Outside Court, Court Says

    The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday found three Chinese EB-5 investors who sought to fast-track a visa by putting their money into a Philadelphia transit project can still do so without litigation in a decision backing a trial court ruling dismissing their case.

  • July 09, 2024

    Bill Would Approve Largest Tribal Water Rights Settlement

    A bipartisan group of Arizona federal lawmakers has introduced legislation that, if approved, would authorize the country's largest Native American water rights settlement and resolve claims by the Navajo Nation and the San Juan Southern Paiute and Hopi tribes.

  • July 09, 2024

    Texas Refinery Says EPA Needs To Rule On CAA Exception

    A small refinery based in Sugar Land, Texas, says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency did not meet its deadline to rule on whether the refinery can get an exemption to federal renewable fuel requirements, telling a Texas federal court Monday the agency was damaging its business.

  • July 09, 2024

    Boeing, DOJ Say 737 Max Families Can't Rush Monitor Pick

    Boeing has told a Texas federal judge that 737 Max crash victims' families cannot rush the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee the company's safety and compliance efforts, saying its new tentative plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice adequately addresses the monitorship issue.

  • July 09, 2024

    Dems Request Special Counsel To Probe Justice Thomas Gifts

    Two Democratic senators have asked U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a special counsel to investigate whether U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' failure to disclose various gifts received during his tenure on the high court amounts to chargeable ethics violations or tax crimes.

  • July 09, 2024

    Experts Lose EPA Scientific Panel 'Echo Chamber' Lawsuit

    The D.C. Circuit has tossed a lawsuit alleging that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency illegally created a scientific "echo chamber" by not selecting experts with an industry background to serve on an air quality advisory committee.

  • July 09, 2024

    FTC Says Drug Middlemen Inflate Costs, Squeeze Pharmacies

    The Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday that its study of pharmacy benefit managers has shown that six large companies now control 95% of all prescriptions filled in the U.S., allowing them to profit at the expense of patients and independent pharmacies.

  • July 09, 2024

    Menendez Atty Accuses Feds Of 'Trickery' As Trial Nears End

    The bribery case against Sen. Bob Menendez is being "fudged" to compensate for pervasive gaps in evidence, his counsel told a federal jury in Manhattan at the start of defense closing arguments Tuesday.

  • July 09, 2024

    2nd Circ. Urged To Toss Cannabis Dormant Commerce Suit

    New York cannabis regulators have urged the Second Circuit to disregard a California lawyer's efforts to upend the state's licensing program, arguing that the dormant commerce clause doesn't apply to marijuana, a substance that Congress has not permitted to be traded between states.

  • July 09, 2024

    House Dems Seek Info From DOI Over Alleged Shale Cartel

    House Democrats sitting on the House Natural Resources Committee penned a letter Tuesday seeking information from the U.S. Department of the Interior concerning eight oil companies accused of colluding with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Companies to artificially inflate gas prices.

  • July 09, 2024

    CIT Finds Labor Issues Don't Justify Penalty Evasion Ruling

    The U.S. Court of International Trade backed U.S. Customs and Border Protection's decision not to penalize an importer that allegedly threatened workers against speaking with officials investigating potential duty evasion, saying the purported misconduct hadn't hampered the probe.

  • July 09, 2024

    Veriwave Telco Faces FCC Action Over 'Tax Relief' Robocalls

    The Federal Communications Commission is moving to block robocalls about purported "tax relief" programs from a Delaware-based telecommunications company, announcing in an order Monday that Veriwave Telco had another 14 days to demonstrate compliance with the agency's rules or risk having downstream providers cut its traffic.

  • July 09, 2024

    Ex-DOJ Atty Tells Guo Jury Of Illicit Extradition Campaign

    Prominent Chinese Communist Party critic Miles Guo capped off his defense to $1 billion fraud charges Tuesday with testimony from a former U.S. Department of Justice attorney, who admitted to participating in a plot to lobby the U.S. government for Guo's extradition to China.

  • July 09, 2024

    Judge Calls Cost Of DOJ's Assa Abloy Market Study 'Insane'

    A D.C. federal judge took the U.S. Department of Justice and its monitoring trustee to task Tuesday for their pursuit of an open-ended look at Assa Abloy's books to check for anticompetitive harms from a 2023 merger, excoriating budget estimates pricing the investigation at a minimum of $1.7 million.

  • July 09, 2024

    5th Circ. Indicates Skepticism In Brett Favre Defamation Case

    The Fifth Circuit on Tuesday seemed skeptical that comments made by former NFL star Shannon Sharpe about Brett Favre's alleged involvement in a massive Mississippi welfare fraud scheme amounted to defamation, pressing Favre's attorney over why the retired NFL quarterback didn't sue over Sharpe's more emotionally charged statements.

  • July 09, 2024

    Maryland, SC Tell 4th Cir. PFAS Suits Belong In State Courts

    Federal district courts properly determined that lawsuits Maryland and South Carolina filed against 3M over alleged contamination stemming from the manufacture, use and disposal of a wide range of consumer products containing so-called forever chemicals can proceed within their respective state courts, the two states told the Fourth Circuit.

  • July 09, 2024

    Alaska Senators Condemn District Judge After Resignation

    Alaska's two Republican senators reprimanded the federal judge from their state who was found by a special committee to have created a hostile work environment and had an "inappropriately sexualized relationship" with one of his clerks, and has resigned.

  • July 09, 2024

    Ex-NLRB Atty Rejoins Ogletree After In-House Stint

    After a busy month of expansion, management-side labor and employment firm Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC announced Monday that it is welcoming a shareholder back to the firm following his in-house stint with wholesale grocery distributor UNFI.

  • July 09, 2024

    Ex-NRA Finance Chief Agrees To 10-Year NY Nonprofit Ban

    A former chief financial officer of the National Rifle Association has agreed not to serve as a fiduciary of a New York nonprofit for 10 years as part of a settlement in the state attorney general's suit in state court alleging he and other executives misused donor money, according to deal terms disclosed Tuesday.

  • July 09, 2024

    5th Circ. Skeptical Of Nixing ESG Rule Despite Chevron's End

    A Fifth Circuit panel appeared unlikely Tuesday to knock out a Biden administration rule allowing retirement plan advisers to consider environmental, social and governance factors when choosing investments, although one judge seemed to support vacating a lower court's decision upholding the regulation in light of the Chevron doctrine's demise.

  • July 09, 2024

    'ComEd Four' To Renew Acquittal Bid After Bribery Ruling

    An Illinois federal judge effectively pushed the next ruling in the criminal case against former Commonwealth Edison CEO Anne Pramaggiore and her three co-defendants to at least winter, as the defendants vowed to renew their acquittal bid in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling finding that federal bribery law doesn't criminalize rewards given after an official act.

  • July 09, 2024

    Fla. Agrees To Stronger CWA Protections For Piney Point Site

    Conservation groups said they've reached an agreement with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to settle litigation over a phosphogypsum facility in Manatee County, with state regulators agreeing to a draft Clean Water Act permit for the site.

  • July 09, 2024

    Fed's Powell Backs Do-Over For Basel Bank Capital Plan

    Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told senators on Tuesday that he supports a reproposal of federal regulators' Basel III endgame overhaul to big-bank capital requirements, suggesting the package is being rethought significantly enough to merit a whole new draft before it can be finalized.

Expert Analysis

  • 1st Gender Care Ban Provides Context For High Court Case

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    The history of Arkansas' ban on gender-affirming medical care — the first such legislation in the U.S. — provides important insight into the far-reaching ramifications that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti next term will have on transgender healthcare, says Tyler Saenz at Baker Donelson.

  • CFPB's New Registration Rule Will Intensify Nonbank Scrutiny

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recently finalized nonbank registration rule aimed at cracking down repeat offenders poses significant compliance challenges and enforcement risks for nonbank financial firms, and may be particularly onerous for smaller firms, say Ketan Bhirud and Emily Yu at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Series

    After Chevron: FCC-Regulated Entities Must Brace For Change

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    The Chevron doctrine was especially significant in the communications sector because of the indeterminacy of federal communications statutes, so the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of the doctrine could have big implications for those regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, bringing both opportunities and risks for companies, say Thomas Johnson and Michael Showalter at Wiley.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Uniform Tax Law Interpretation Not Guaranteed

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    The loss of Chevron deference will significantly alter the relationship between the IRS, courts and Congress when it comes to tax law, potentially precipitating more transparent rulemaking, but also provoking greater uncertainty due to variability in judicial interpretation, say Michelle Levin and Carneil Wilson at Dentons.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Environmental Law May Face Hurdles

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    The U.S. Supreme court's recent ruling overturning Chevron deference could prove to be as influential as the original 1984 decision, with far-reaching implications for U.S. environmental laws, including rendering recently promulgated regulations more vulnerable to challenges, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice

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    The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.

  • Why High Court Social Media Ruling Will Be Hotly Debated

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    In deciding the NetChoice cases that challenged Florida and Texas content moderation laws, what the U.S. Supreme Court justices said about social media platforms — and the First Amendment — will have implications and raise questions for nearly all online operators, say Jacob Canter and Joanna Rosen Forster at Crowell & Moring.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Good News For Gov't Contractors In Litigation

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    The net result of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision overturning Chevron deference is that individuals, contractors and companies bringing procurement-related cases against the government will have new pathways toward success, say Joseph Berger and Andrés Vera at Thompson Hine.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Scale Tips Favor Away From HHS Agencies

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    The loss of Chevron deference may indirectly aid parties in challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' interpretations of regulations and could immediately influence several pending cases challenging HHS on technical questions and agency authority, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Series

    After Chevron: FDA Overreach May Find Itself In Crosshairs

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of the Chevron doctrine is likely to unleash an array of challenges against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, focusing on areas of potential overreach such as the FDA's authority under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Realtor Settlement May Create New Antitrust Pitfalls

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    Following a recent antitrust settlement between the National Association of Realtors and home sellers, practices are set to change and the increased competition may benefit both brokers and homebuyers, but the loss of the customary method of buyer broker compensation could lead to new antitrust concerns, says Colin Ahler at Snell & Wilmer.

  • Navigating The New Rise Of Greenwashing Litigation

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    As greenwashing lawsuits continue to gain momentum with a shift in focus to carbon-neutrality claims, businesses must exercise caution and ensure transparency in their environmental marketing practices, taking cues from recent legal challenges in the airline industry, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State

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    On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Expect Limited Changes In USPTO Rulemaking

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling overturning Chevron deference will have limited consequences for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office given the USPTO's unique statutory features, but it is still an important decision for matters of statutory interpretation, especially those involving provisions of the America Invents Act, say Andrei Iancu and Cooper Godfrey at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • Preparing For CFPB 'Junk Fee' Push Into Mortgage Industry

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    As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau considers expanding its "junk fee" initiative into mortgage closing costs, mortgage lenders and third parties must develop plans now that anticipate potential rulemaking or enforcement activity in this space, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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