Public Policy

  • October 16, 2024

    Monsanto's Appellate Bid To Stop Seattle PCB Trial Flops

    A Washington appellate commissioner won't overrule a lower court's decision to forge ahead with a pending Monsanto PCB poisoning trial, rejecting the company's request to pause until the state Supreme Court decides a similar case, concluding that she would be improperly "substituting" her judgment for the trial court's by pausing the case.

  • October 16, 2024

    Ga. DA Wants Nixed Charges Restored In Trump Election Suit

    The Fulton County District Attorney's Office asked the Georgia Court of Appeals on Tuesday to reinstate six criminal charges against former President Donald Trump and five of his co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case.

  • October 16, 2024

    Justices Question EPA's Authority For 'Vague' SF Water Permit

    The U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments on Wednesday appeared genuinely torn about what to make of San Francisco's challenge to a Clean Water Act permit issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which the city argues is impermissibly vague and difficult to comply with.

  • October 16, 2024

    Ex-Alderman Can't End Supervised Release For Tax Crime

    A former Chicago alderman and attorney who was convicted of tax evasion cannot terminate his court-ordered supervised release, an Illinois federal judge said Wednesday.

  • October 16, 2024

    Fla. Sued Over Threats To TV Stations For Airing Abortion Ad

    The sponsor of a ballot initiative that would enshrine the right to abortion in the Florida Constitution sued the state Wednesday over letters threatening television stations with criminal prosecution if they did not pull a campaign ad promoting the initiative.

  • October 16, 2024

    Draft Of Recognition Rule Nearly Set For Review, Court Told

    A draft of an Interior Department's final rule on federal recognition for Native American tribes is expected to land before the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs no later than Nov. 15, Secretary Deb Haaland told a D.C. federal court.

  • October 16, 2024

    Calif. Community Flood Insurance Project Secures New Funds

    California's water regulation authority will support a novel flood insurance program aimed at providing a tiny Central Valley town with coverage in the event of a major flood event, the state's insurance commissioner said Wednesday.

  • October 16, 2024

    Feds Pan ComEd Four's Effort To Avoid Convictions

    Prosecutors urged an Illinois federal judge Wednesday to reject an acquittal bid brought by Commonwealth Edison's former CEO and three co-defendants in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling narrowing the scope of federal bribery law, arguing that not only is their motion untimely, but the government proved quid pro quo bribery at trial last year.

  • October 16, 2024

    NYSE Seeks To Curb Reverse Splits In Latest Crackdown

    The New York Stock Exchange wants to limit companies' ability to rely on reverse stock splits to raise their share prices and avoid delisting, submitting a proposal shortly after regulators approved a Nasdaq plan to rein in such splits.

  • October 16, 2024

    Caremark, Optum Say FTC Insulin Case Gets PBMs All Wrong

    Caremark Rx, Express Scripts and OptumRx continue to attack the Federal Trade Commission's in-house case accusing the country's three largest pharmacy benefit managers of artificially inflating insulin prices by relying on unfair rebate schemes, arguing the agency's case lacks authority, facts and the right targets.

  • October 16, 2024

    Court Tosses Suit Against NJ Cops For Medical Pot Seizure

    A New Jersey federal judge tossed a civil rights action Tuesday against a police officer who seized medical marijuana from a registered patient, noting that police could not determine at the time whether the marijuana was lawfully purchased.

  • October 16, 2024

    NY Urges Sotomayor Not To Block Broadband Price Cap Law

    New York is fighting the telecommunications industry's effort to halt its new law capping broadband prices for low-income residents, telling U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to reject a petition that would stay the law's implementation pending a forthcoming certiorari bid challenging the law.

  • October 16, 2024

    Trump Mostly Denied 'Speculative' Jan. 6 Document Bids

    A D.C. federal judge on Wednesday largely denied Donald Trump's request for documents from a slew of federal agencies as he defends against election interference charges, calling the motion mostly "speculation."

  • October 16, 2024

    EPA Defends Rejection Of Smog Rule Reconsideration Pleas

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told the D.C. Circuit it reasonably rejected petitions by U.S. Steel Corp. and Hybar LLC to reconsider its so-called Good Neighbor Plan to curb cross-state ozone pollution after courts stayed the rule for some affected states.

  • October 16, 2024

    DC Circ. Urged To Let Feds Fix Pipeline Safety Rules

    A pipeline industry group urged a D.C. Circuit panel to reconsider its August decision throwing out a handful of new safety standards for gas transmission pipelines, warning that federal regulators' implementation of the court's mandate could lead to millions of dollars of unnecessary repair costs for pipeline operators.

  • October 16, 2024

    Bipartisan Judgeships Bill In House Keeps Gaining Support

    A Republican on the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday urged the House to pass his bipartisan bill to add 66 new and temporary judgeships to address the "overwhelming caseloads" in the federal courts.

  • October 16, 2024

    Red States Defend Texas' Standing To Protest Family Parole

    Republican states backed Texas' attack on a Biden administration program easing green card access for U.S. citizens' unauthorized family members, telling a Texas federal court that it must give special consideration to Texas' standing to challenge the federal program.

  • October 16, 2024

    Justices Won't Block EPA Power Plant Rule

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday rebuffed pleas to block implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's latest effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions from power plants while it's being challenged in court, but three justices indicated they had concerns with the rule's legality.

  • October 16, 2024

    Construction Co., Gov't Drop $4M Retention Credit Suit

    A former construction business' suit against the Internal Revenue Service seeking nearly $4 million in employee retention credit refunds was dismissed by a Florida federal judge Wednesday after the company and the federal government agreed to drop the case.

  • October 16, 2024

    House Panel Presses DOL For Contractor Probes Data

    The U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce on Wednesday pressed the U.S. Department of Labor to disclose data over its independent contractor misclassification investigations, saying that the department continues to hold on to the information even after receiving a subpoena.

  • October 16, 2024

    2 SDNY Terror Finance Cases Against Binance Stay Separate

    Two suits claiming Binance unlawfully fostered terrorist activity, filed in the wake of the cryptocurrency platform's $4.3 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, will proceed separately in the Southern District of New York, a Manhattan federal judge said Wednesday.

  • October 16, 2024

    Ga. Says Challenge Of Voter Removal Law Can't Stand

    Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger asked a federal judge Tuesday to toss a challenge to how the state removes voters from its rolls, telling the court that the power to enforce the new law resides with the county, rather than state government.

  • October 15, 2024

    Would-Be Wash. Justices Butt Heads On High Court's Record

    A municipal judge running for an open seat on the Washington State Supreme Court criticized the high court's bench during a candidate forum Tuesday for not doing enough to support trial courts statewide, drawing pushback from both his opponent and a sitting justice who's seeking re-election unopposed.

  • October 15, 2024

    Boeing Judge Wants DEI Monitor Pick Info Before Plea Ruling

    The Texas federal judge overseeing prosecutors' criminal case against The Boeing Co. on Tuesday said he needs more information on a provision of the proposed plea deal regarding how the U.S. Department of Justice would select an independent monitor in compliance with the agency's diversity and inclusion policies.

  • October 15, 2024

    CFPB Funding Shouldn't Stop Texas' Fraud Suit, Judge Says

    A Houston federal magistrate judge has endorsed allowing the state of Texas to proceed with a real estate fraud suit against land developer Colony Ridge, rejecting objections tied in part to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding from Federal Reserve "earnings."

Expert Analysis

  • Aviation Watch: Boeing Plea Agreement May Not Serve Public

    Author Photo

    The proposed plea agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice and Boeing — the latest outgrowth of the company's 737 Max travails — is opposed by crash victims' families, faces an uncertain fate in court, and may ultimately serve no beneficial purpose, even if approved, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.

  • Opinion

    Bill Is Key To Protecting US Economy From Patent Piracy

    Author Photo

    It is critical that Congress pass a recently introduced bill that would protect U.S. investors from intellectual property theft by restoring court-ordered injunctions as the default remedy in patent infringement cases to ensure inventors get the justice they deserve, says Andrei Iancu at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • Managing Sanctions Defense Across Multiple Jurisdictions

    Author Photo

    Companies called before multiple regulators to account for the same conduct in this era of increased global sanctions and import-control enforcement should consider national differences in law and policy, and proactively coordinate their responses in certain key areas, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Series

    Colorado Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3

    Author Photo

    In the third quarter of 2024, Colorado's banking and financial services sector faced both regulatory updates and changes to state law due to recent federal court decisions — with consequences for local governments, mortgage lenders, state-chartered trust companies and federally chartered lenders serving Colorado consumers, says Sarah Auchterlonie at Brownstein Hyatt.

  • Building US-Japan Relationships In The M&A Market

    Author Photo

    The prospect of U.S.-Japanese mergers and acquisitions presents stronger competition to U.S. investors in the global M&A markets, while also opening up an additional exit route for sellers looking to offload strategic assets, says Nick Wall at A&O Shearman.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Public Policy archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!