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Public Policy
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December 06, 2024
DC Circ. Won't Revisit Retroactive FARA Registration
The D.C. Circuit rejected a bid asking the en banc court to reconsider a panel ruling that bars the federal government from suing to compel former foreign agents to retroactively register their onetime foreign influence.
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December 06, 2024
Boston City Councilor Indicted In Bonus Kickback Scheme
A Boston city councilor stole thousands of dollars in public funds through a bonus kickback scheme she orchestrated with a relative she hired to work in her office, federal prosecutors said Friday.
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December 06, 2024
Trump Adds Border Hardliners To Homeland Security Team
President-elect Donald Trump rolled out three more picks to staff his homeland security team whose backgrounds indicate the incoming administration is poised to proceed apace with its planned border crackdown.
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December 06, 2024
DC Circ. Upholds TikTok Sale-Or-Ban Law
A D.C. Circuit panel on Friday upheld a federal law giving TikTok until January to cut ties with its Chinese parent company or face a ban in the U.S., ruling that the statute survives constitutional scrutiny.
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December 05, 2024
Trump Taps Musk Ally David Sacks As 'AI & Crypto Czar'
President-elect Donald Trump announced Thursday that he has selected David O. Sacks, a tech investor who worked alongside Elon Musk and entrepreneur Peter Thiel in the early days of PayPal, to be the newly created "White House AI & Crypto Czar."
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December 05, 2024
Internet Archive Won't Take E-Book Fair Use To Justices
The Internet Archive on Wednesday said it will not ask the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on whether its practice of distributing copyrighted e-books for free without permission from some of the world's biggest publishers is excused by the Copyright Act's fair use doctrine.
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December 05, 2024
Feds Defend Asylum Rule And 'Manifestation' Standard
The Biden administration on Wednesday defended its recent rule curtailing asylum at the southern border, telling a D.C. federal court that it acted reasonably in putting the "onus" on noncitizens to express a fear of persecution or torture.
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December 05, 2024
Texas Lt. Gov. Wants Ban On Hemp-Derived THC Products
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has unveiled legislation that looks to ban all forms of consumable THC, including hemp products that "might include unremovable, nonintoxicating trace amounts of delta-9 THC."
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December 05, 2024
Ally Visa Seekers Say Feds Are Trying To Add Delay To Delay
A certified class of Afghans and Iraqis who aided U.S. troops and are waiting for the government to process their already unreasonably delayed special immigrant visas told a D.C. federal judge on Wednesday the government shouldn't be able to add even more time to the plan to deliver their visas.
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December 05, 2024
Rocket Mortgage Sues HUD, Hits Back At DOJ Race Bias Suit
Rocket Mortgage, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, has punched back against housing discrimination claims brought by the U.S. government, countersuing in Colorado federal court to challenge what it argues are "conflicting and irreconcilable" mandates at play.
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December 05, 2024
Frontier Pays $3.5M To End Calif. AG's Illegal Dumping Probe
The California subsidiary of telecom company Frontier Communications will pay $3.5 million to end an investigation into the improper disposal of batteries, aerosol cans and other hazardous waste at warehouses and field service facilities dating back to 2008, the Golden State's attorney general announced Thursday.
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December 05, 2024
CFTC Flags AI Compliance Obligations In New Advisory
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Thursday issued a staff advisory outlining its registrants' compliance obligations under the Commodity Exchange Act regarding the myriad of ways they may be using artificial intelligence, with the agency's chair painting the guidance as a first step ahead of potential policies.
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December 05, 2024
Freddie Mac Beats Suit Over Payoff Statement Fees, For Now
A Washington federal judge has tentatively let Freddie Mac off the hook in borrowers' proposed class action alleging loan servicer Nationstar Mortgage illegally charged fees for payoff statements, ruling Thursday that Freddie Mac can't be liable for conduct it didn't authorize — even if it did own one loan at issue.
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December 05, 2024
'Texas Two-Step,' Exec Bonus Bankruptcy Bills Reintroduced
Lawmakers in the U.S. Senate this week renewed efforts to pass two bankruptcy bills that would bolster rights for employees and crack down on the controversial use of so-called Texas two-step bankruptcies.
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December 05, 2024
Vidal Sends Nokia's Patent Challenges Back To PTAB, Again
The head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has again vacated a Patent Trial and Appeal Board refusal to hear three patent challenges by Nokia, saying the board needs to take a look at the case a third time.
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December 05, 2024
DOJ Is Eyeing Foreign Patent Litigation Funding, GAO Says
The U.S. Department of Justice is examining the role foreign countries might be playing in funding patent litigation in the U.S., the Government Accountability Office said in a report released Thursday exploring the benefits and pitfalls of the proliferation of third-party intellectual property litigation financing.
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December 05, 2024
Providers' $2.8B BCBS Antitrust Deal Gets Judge's Initial OK
An Alabama federal judge has given his initial approval for a $2.8 billion settlement inked between Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and a proposed class of medical providers in a more than 12-year-old antitrust case targeting association rules.
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December 05, 2024
Gov't Efficiency Push Is A 'New Day,' House Speaker Says
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., spoke excitedly Thursday about the new government efficiency operation helmed by billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and touted the budding bipartisan lineup of a congressional caucus that will work with it.
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December 05, 2024
Amazon Says Section 230 Shields Against Casino App Suit
Amazon said Wednesday a federal judge should toss a proposed class action accusing the e-commerce giant of promoting and selling "social casino" apps that enable illegal gambling, arguing the company is immune under a federal law regulating internet content because it did not create the games.
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December 05, 2024
Man Says NC Failed To Prove He Had Cannabis, Not Hemp
A North Carolina man is appealing his conviction for possession and intent to distribute cannabis, saying the state failed to show evidence that the material they seized from him was cannabis as opposed to legal hemp.
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December 05, 2024
Colo. Sheriff Says County Worker Rights Law Can't Touch Him
A Colorado sheriff is suing the state to challenge application of a collective bargaining law to him, arguing in a complaint filed Wednesday in Denver District Court that applying the law to sheriffs interferes with their legal authority and independence.
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December 05, 2024
Okla. Court Says Tulsa Can Prosecute Indian Country Crime
An Oklahoma Criminal Appeals Court will not dismiss a challenge by the city of Tulsa that questions its jurisdictional rights on reservation lands, saying the municipality's ability to prosecute crimes is centered in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said states can prosecute non-Indians for crimes against Indians on tribal land.
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December 05, 2024
3rd Circ. Unsure Pa. Regulator Had Right To Deny Project
Third Circuit judges appeared wary on Thursday of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission's argument that its take on the necessity of a transmission project trumps a federal agency's determination, at one point questioning how any such project could be completed if the court accepted its argument.
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December 05, 2024
Wash. Gov.'s Executive Order Backs Tribal Salmon Initiative
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has, in an executive order, directed state agencies to cooperate with four sovereign tribal nations and Oregon to fulfill commitments to the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative, which aims to protect salmon and steelhead populations.
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December 05, 2024
Utah Defends Effort To Wrest Land From Feds At High Court
Utah told the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday that its proposed lawsuit accusing the government of unconstitutionally hoarding and profiting from public lands in the state belongs before the justices and that the government's recent response strengthens its case.
Expert Analysis
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What To Expect Next From Federal Health Tech Regulation
Healthcare organizations should pay close attention to federal health information technology regulators' recent guidance concerning barriers to accessing electronic health information, which signals that more enforcement in this area is likely forthcoming, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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In SF Water Case, Justices Signal How Loper May Be Applied
Skeptical questions from U.S. Supreme Court justices during oral argument in San Francisco v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offer hints of how the court intends to apply limits on agency regulatory autonomy established last term in Loper Bright, says Karen Cullinane at Goldberg Segalla.
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Trump Rollback Of Biden Enviro Policies: What To Expect
Donald Trump's upcoming second presidential term will usher significant shifts in U.S. environmental and natural resource law and policy — and while the Biden administration is racing to secure its legacy, the incoming Trump administration is making plans to dramatically roll back most, if not all, of Biden's environmental initiatives, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.
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5 Areas Congress May Investigate After GOP Election Wins
With Republicans poised to take control of Congress in addition to the executive branch next year, private companies can expect an unprecedented uptick in congressional investigations focused on five key areas, including cryptocurrency and healthcare, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.
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US Intellectual Property-Based Sanctions Could Be Imminent
A recent presidential delegation suggests that regulators may be ready to wield the sanctions authority found in the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act, which has been unutilized for the first 22 months of its life, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Philly's Algorithmic Rent Ban Furthers Antitrust Policy Trends
A Philadelphia bill banning the use of algorithmic software to set rent prices and manage occupancy rates is indicative of growing scrutiny of this technology, and reflects broader policy trends of adapting traditional antitrust principles to respond to new technology, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.
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Takeaways From State Votes On Abortion In The 2024 Election
Attorneys at Epstein Becker discuss how 10 states voted on ballot initiatives to either protect or restrict access to abortion in the 2024 general election, and analyze overarching trends.
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Trump's 2nd Term May Be A Boost To Banking Industry
President-elect Donald Trump's personnel appointments could be instrumental in reshaping the financial regulatory landscape during his second administration, likely allowing for greater merger activity and halting or undoing some of the Biden administration's more restrictive financial services policies, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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Loper Bright Offers New Materiality Defense To FCA Liability
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bight Enterprises v. Raimondo, ending Chevron deference, may have created a new defense to False Claims Act liability by providing the opportunity to argue that a given regulation is not material to the government's payment decision, says Tanner Cook at Husch Blackwell.
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A Look At 2024 NIL Rights And Economies In College Sports
Permutations in the arena of name, image and likeness affecting collegiate athletics have continued unabated this year, and practitioners and industry representatives should anticipate significant activity at schools and continuing legal changes at the state level, say attorneys at Pillsbury.
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How Expanded Birth Control Coverage May Affect Employers
Employers should consider the potential impact of recently proposed regulations that would expand group health plans' required coverage of preventive services and contraceptives, including questions about how the agencies would implement their plans to eliminate the prescription requirement and alter the exceptions process, says Jennifer Rigterink at Proskauer.
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Unpacking CFPB's Unwieldy Buy Now, Pay Later Guidance
Both the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent interpretive rule regarding buy now, pay later transactions, and its FAQ guidance, place providers in murky waters with the unenviable position of attempting to place a square, closed-end product in a round, regulatory framework meant for open-end products, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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9 Considerations Around Proposed Connected Vehicle Ban
Stakeholders should consider several aspects of the U.S. Department of Commerce's recent proposal to ban U.S. imports and sales of vehicles incorporating certain connectivity components made in China or Russia, including exempted transactions and vehicle hardware imports, say attorneys at Blank Rome.
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Legislation Most Likely To Pass In Lame Duck Session
As Congress begins its five-week post-election lame duck session, attorneys at Greenberg Traurig break down the legislative priorities and which proposals can be expected to pass.
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Predicting Shareholder Activism Trends In New Trump Admin
While President-elect Donald Trump has promised tax policies, deregulation and lax antitrust enforcement — which all fuel shareholder activism — a closer look at his first administration's track record suggests that his second presidency might be a mixed bag for activist investors and companies alike, say attorneys at Sidley.