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Public Policy
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December 04, 2024
CFTC Hits $17.1B Enforcement Record With FTX-Linked Deals
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission secured a record annual enforcement haul of more than $17.1 billion in fiscal year 2024, including a historic $12.7 billion judgment against failed crypto exchange FTX and its affiliated trading firm Alameda Research, the agency announced Wednesday.
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December 04, 2024
DEA Judge Sets Pot Rescheduling Hearings
The Drug Enforcement Administration will kick off six weeks of hearings in late January on the merits of the attorney general's proposal to loosen restrictions on marijuana, an agency administrative law judge said Wednesday.
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December 04, 2024
NY Judge Says ICE Must Open Files Over 'No Release' Policy
A New York federal judge has ordered the U.S. government to produce files on eight noncitizens that the New York Civil Liberties Union says show the government is breaking its promise to stop preventing people suspected of civil immigration offenses from posting bail.
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December 04, 2024
9th Circ. Open To Reviving Wash. Profs' Email Privacy Suit
A Ninth Circuit panel on Wednesday expressed support for two University of Washington professors who allege their constitutional rights were violated by a state ethics board probe of their emails, with one judge saying he was troubled by the state's contention the professors' claims were merely speculative.
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December 04, 2024
Building Contractor Agrees To End No-Hire Pacts
Guardian Service Industries Inc. has agreed to stop enforcing no-hire agreements in its contracts that prevent building owners and managers from hiring the service contractor's employees after pressure from the Federal Trade Commission and state enforcers.
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December 04, 2024
RealPage Says DOJ's Antitrust Markets 'Hide The Ball'
RealPage has urged a North Carolina federal court to throw out the government's antitrust case against it, arguing that enforcers have not shown that use of its software is raising rental rates in any part of the country and that landlords use it to offer competitive rents.
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December 04, 2024
Rep. Raskin's Judiciary Hopes Rise After Nadler Drops Out
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland is one step closer to becoming the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, after New York Rep. Jerry Nadler dropped his bid for the job on Wednesday.
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December 04, 2024
Hoopa Valley Tribe Wants In On Trinity River Water Row
The Hoopa Valley Tribe is looking to intervene in a challenge to the Bureau of Reclamation over its operation of California's Trinity River water flows in an effort to dismiss the case, arguing that the litigation can't proceed without it, due to its federal property interests in the dispute.
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December 04, 2024
Frontier To Pay $288K FCC Fine Over Broadband Data
Frontier Communications has agreed to pay almost $288,000 to end a Federal Communications Commission probe into a Wisconsin agency's claims that the internet service provider submitted inaccurate information to the FCC during a challenge to data used in mapping national broadband service, according to a consent decree made public Wednesday.
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December 04, 2024
Trump Nominates SpaceX Mission Leader As NASA Chief
President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated Jared Isaacman, the commander of two landmark private space missions and CEO of a payment processing firm, as NASA's next administrator, saying Isaacman would "drive NASA's mission of discovery and inspiration."
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December 04, 2024
Uber Didn't Have To Collect Tax Pre-Wayfair, Court Told
Uber was not required before the Wayfair decision to collect and remit millions in sales taxes on behalf of drivers and customers who use its app, an attorney for the ride-hailing company told a Georgia appellate panel Wednesday, urging the panel to overturn a trial court.
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December 04, 2024
Feds Say 5th Circ. Ruling Can't Save Iowa's Immigration Law
The Biden administration told the Eighth Circuit on Wednesday that a recent Fifth Circuit decision barring federal border agents from removing Texas' wire barriers has no relevance to its challenge to Iowa's law criminalizing the presence of previously deported noncitizens.
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December 04, 2024
Ft. Lauderdale Agrees To $1.97M Deal With Floyd Protester
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has agreed to pay $1.97 million and implement a change in police department policies in a federal lawsuit brought by a protester who was shot in the face with a less-than-lethal projectile during a demonstration over the death of George Floyd in May 2020.
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December 04, 2024
SEC Taps New Co-Leaders For Crypto Enforcement Unit
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has promoted the assistant director of its crypto and cyber enforcement unit and a counsel to an outgoing Democratic commissioner to co-lead the regulator's crypto enforcement efforts ahead of a coming administration shake-up that could change the agency's approach to the digital asset industry.
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December 04, 2024
Outgoing FCC Chief Lacerates With A Grin At 'Telecom Prom'
Lawyers who gathered for the telecom bar's marquee yearly dinner Tuesday were treated to the traditional night of sardonic wit as the outgoing head of the Federal Communications Commission took aim at the new power structure looming in Washington, D.C.
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December 04, 2024
Mass. Justices Probe Extent Of State Immunity In 2 Cases
The Massachusetts high court on Wednesday mulled how far immunity extends for public employees and state agencies, with one justice questioning why the state is proposing that children in foster care should face the same legal standard as prison inmates.
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December 04, 2024
LPGA, USGA Restrict Trans Golfer Eligibility
Golfers who were not "assigned female at birth" or who transitioned after going through male puberty have been banned from competition by the Ladies Professional Golf Association and the United States Golf Association under new policies governing transgender players announced by the organizations Wednesday.
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December 04, 2024
Trump Chooses Vance Adviser To Lead Army
President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated Daniel Driscoll, a former soldier, venture capitalist and adviser to incoming Vice President JD Vance, to lead the U.S. Army.
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December 04, 2024
EPA Finalizes Changes To Chemical Review Process
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday finalized a rule to improve the efficiency of its new chemical review process that also makes per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as "forever chemicals," ineligible for exemptions that allow for shorter, less robust chemical reviews.
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December 04, 2024
Pitt, UPMC Say Fired Doctor Didn't State How DEI Broke Law
A fired University of Pittsburgh medical school program director's article criticizing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives isn't protected activity, since he did not specify in suing that Pitt or the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center used DEI initiatives to discriminate, the institutions' lawyers told a federal judge Wednesday.
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December 04, 2024
Ex-Trump Atty Chesebro Looks To Invalidate Ga. Plea Deal
Kenneth Chesebro, a former attorney for President-elect Donald Trump and one of four Trump co-defendants to strike a plea deal with Georgia prosecutors, sought to overturn his agreement in a filing on Wednesday.
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December 04, 2024
Treasury Finalizes Broad Energy Investment Tax Credit Regs
The U.S. Treasury Department released final regulations Wednesday for the clean energy investment tax credit, which includes notable changes to the proposed energy property definition to include functional components in calculating the incentive's value, such as a biogas facility's upgrading equipment.
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December 04, 2024
DuPont Asks Court For Pause In $1 Billion Pollution Suit
Chemours and E.I. du Pont de Nemours urged a New Jersey state court to pause a small town's billion-dollar lawsuit over pollution from the former DuPont Chambers Works facility in order to appeal a recent ruling, arguing clarity from the Appellate Division is necessary.
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December 04, 2024
Reed Smith Adds State Tax Partner To San Francisco Office
Reed Smith LLP added a partner to its national state tax practice who will work out of its San Francisco office, according to the firm.
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December 04, 2024
Justices Seem To Back Ban On Transgender Youth Care
The U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority on Wednesday seemed poised to greenlight a Tennessee ban on minors receiving gender-affirming care, despite arguments from the court's liberal block that finding the law constitutional would fly in the face of the court's equal-protection precedents.
Expert Analysis
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Aviation Watch: Boeing Plea Agreement May Not Serve Public
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.
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Opinion
Bill Is Key To Protecting US Economy From Patent Piracy
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.
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Managing Sanctions Defense Across Multiple Jurisdictions
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.
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Series
Colorado Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3
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.
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Building US-Japan Relationships In The M&A Market
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.
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Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession
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.
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4 Ways To Prepare For DOD Cyber Certification Rule
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.
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FTC Focus: How Scrutiny Of PBMs And Insulin May Play Out
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.
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Opinion
AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys
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.
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A Look At How De Minimis Import Rules May Soon Change
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.
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Key Takeaways From DOJ's New Corp. Compliance Guidance
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.
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What's In The Cards For CFTC's Election Betting Case
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.
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What To Know About Latest Calif. Auto-Renewal Law Update
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.
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The Key Changes In Revised FDIC Hiring Regulations
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.
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FDIC's Cautious Approach To Industrial Banks, Reaffirmed
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.