Public Policy

  • August 09, 2024

    Bond Denied For Ex-Ecuador Official Convicted In Bribery Plot

    A Florida federal judge denied bond to Ecuador's ex-comptroller Friday after a jury convicted him earlier this year of laundering more than $12 million in bribes received in a construction scandal, saying the record would not support releasing him from custody before he is sentenced.

  • August 09, 2024

    FDA Rejects Latest Effort To Treat PTSD With MDMA

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has rejected a new drug application to treat post-traumatic stress disorder with the psychedelic drug MDMA, an entactogen also known as ecstasy or molly, the company that backed the effort announced Friday.

  • August 09, 2024

    5 Immigration Policy Developments Of 2024: A Midyear Report

    President Joe Biden addressed competing election year priorities by curbing asylum and boosting protections for foreign spouses of U.S. citizens, while his administration implemented higher immigration fees and overhauled the H-1B lottery process. Here, Law360 takes a look at five of the most significant immigration policy developments of 2024 so far.

  • August 09, 2024

    RNC, Ariz. Lawmakers Ask Justice Kagan To Halt Voting Order

    The Republican National Committee and the leaders of Arizona's House and Senate want Justice Elena Kagan to block a district court's injunction that bars the state from prohibiting individuals without proper citizenship documentation from voting, saying the order is an "unprecedented abrogation" of the state legislature's sovereign authority.

  • August 09, 2024

    Biz Groups Urge Keeping CFPB's $8 Late Fee Cap On Ice

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Bankers Association and other trade group plaintiffs have urged a Texas federal judge to leave in place an injunction staying the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's rule capping most credit card late fees at $8, saying the lowered fee would not serve as a sufficient deterrent for consumers.

  • August 09, 2024

    DC Circ. Revives EPA Worker's Allergy Accommodation Suit

    The D.C. Circuit on Friday revived a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency employee's lawsuit alleging the agency mishandled his complaint about being seated next to a co-worker whose perfume triggered his severe allergies.

  • August 09, 2024

    Rural Broadband Cos. Worry FCC Deadlines Are Too Tight

    The Federal Communications Commission should seriously consider pushing back deadlines for certain federally funded rural broadband projects so that they mesh with those of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, a group of broadband service providers have told the agency.

  • August 09, 2024

    The Long Road To Legalizing Pot In Florida And South Dakota

    Voters in Florida and South Dakota will have the opportunity this Election Day to legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 and over, and while the two efforts vary in their particulars, they both follow years of work by legalizers to craft a proposal that could gain court approval.

  • August 09, 2024

    Dem Lawmakers Ask OpenAI To Disclose Safety Processes

    Two members of Massachusetts' congressional delegation are calling on OpenAI to provide information about its safety processes and how it handles whistleblowers and conflicts of interest, in a letter to the company.

  • August 09, 2024

    Colony Ridge Mortgage Co. Says It Was 'Office Geek' For Site

    A Texas mortgage company pushed Friday to be released from a lawsuit accusing a Houston-area real estate developer and lender of predatory lending practices, telling a federal judge that it never met with the Hispanic consumers allegedly preyed on through the scheme and that the company was "just doing paperwork."

  • August 09, 2024

    DC Circ. Says Animal Group Can't File Perdue False Ad Suit

    The Animal Legal Defense Fund doesn't have standing to sue the U.S. Department of Agriculture over labels the agency approved for Perdue poultry products that the advocacy group says mislead customers into believing the animals have access to the outdoors, the D.C. Circuit ruled Friday.

  • August 09, 2024

    'Outrageous': Dems Grill JPMorgan Over Potential New Fees

    Two Senate Banking Committee Democrats have ripped into JPMorgan Chase & Co. over an executive's recent warning that it may hike some costs for customers in response to pending fee rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, calling it an "outrageous" threat and demanding more details from the megabank.

  • August 09, 2024

    Congress Pushed To Revamp FCC Programs After Court Loss

    Free market advocates want lawmakers to overhaul the Federal Communications Commission's array of telecom subsidies to turn them into a much smaller, "voucher-like" program after the Fifth Circuit found the existing system unconstitutional.

  • August 09, 2024

    Marketer Seeking Dismissal Of Mass. Data Privacy Suit

    Texas-based online marketing company InMarket Media LLC is asking a Massachusetts federal judge to toss a proposed class action by two women who say the company secretly collected and sold location data through its apps, arguing in a motion to dismiss that the court lacks jurisdiction over the company.

  • August 09, 2024

    Immigrants In Ind. Jail Resist ICE Bid To Dodge Detention Suit

    Immigrant detainees challenging conditions at an Indiana county jail resisted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's attempt to duck claims that it kept paying the county to detain immigrants, even though the prison's sanitation and medical services fell short of federal standards.

  • August 09, 2024

    Former Syrian Prison Chief Accused Of US Immigration Fraud

    Federal grand jurors in California have charged a former Syrian official with covering up his time running a Syrian prison where political dissidents were physically abused on U.S. immigration applications.

  • August 09, 2024

    Wash. AG Says Kroger Refusing To Delay Merger For Ruling

    The Washington Attorney General's Office told a state court that Kroger will not agree to put off closing its planned merger with Albertsons until after a final ruling in the state's merger challenge, but the companies say they've already agreed not to finalize the deal until litigation plays out in another state.

  • August 09, 2024

    CFTC's Proposed Election Trading Ban Garners Mixed Feedback

    The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has fielded a range of comments on its proposed rule to ban trading on the outcome of elections, with certain politicians and advocacy groups throwing their weight behind the measure and others accusing the agency of overstepping its authority.

  • August 09, 2024

    Colo. Panel Says Vail Resorts' Land Spat With Town Is Moot

    The Colorado Court of Appeals has ruled against Vail Resorts in its suit challenging a local ordinance that allegedly blocked the company's development of 23.3 acres of land that was subsequently taken by the town via eminent domain.

  • August 09, 2024

    DC Circ. Makes Case For Restarting FERC Gas Policy Revamp

    The D.C. Circuit's recent wipeout of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approvals of gas infrastructure projects is a sign that the agency should restart a stalled effort to update its decades-old pipeline approval policy, FERC watchers say.

  • August 09, 2024

    Highway Contractor, Exec Charged With $100M Price-Fixing

    Federal prosecutors announced the indictment of an Oklahoma highway runoff contracting business and two of its employees for their involvement in a price-fixing, bid-rigging and market allocation conspiracy that impacted over $100 million in publicly funded construction contracts in the state.

  • August 09, 2024

    NY Counties Say Cayuga Nation's 911 Suit Not An Emergency

    Two New York counties have urged a federal district court to toss the Cayuga Nation's lawsuit accusing the counties of refusing to forward the reservation's 911 calls to the tribe's police department unless it pays, arguing the tribe's civil rights protection claims are not enforceable.

  • August 09, 2024

    RFK Jr. Can Stay On State's Ballot, NJ Secretary Of State Says

    New Jersey Secretary of State Tahesha Way has said Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s independent presidential bid does not violate the state's "sore loser" law, rejecting an election attorney's challenge to Kennedy's placement on the Garden State's ballot.

  • August 09, 2024

    Judge Nixes Ex-Defender's Bias Suit, But Calls For Reform

    A former public defender in North Carolina failed to show how her equal protection and due process rights were violated during an allegedly botched internal investigation of her sexual harassment claim, a federal judge ruled Friday in a candid opinion that nevertheless called out what he described as a "flawed" dispute resolution process for judiciary employees.

  • August 09, 2024

    Pa. Firm Seeks Over $790K In Employee Retention Credit

    The Internal Revenue Service has failed to pay Ostroff Injury Law PC the more than $790,000 it is owed in pandemic-era employee retention credits, the Pennsylvania firm alleges in a federal court complaint, despite satisfying two separate tests the firm says qualify it for the relief.

Expert Analysis

  • What Chevron's End Means For How Congress Does Business

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, overturning the Chevron doctrine, will have a far-reaching impact across the entire public policy life cycle, beginning with how Congress writes its laws and extending through agency implantation and judicial review, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • How 5 States' Deal Notification Laws Are Guiding Healthcare

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    Healthcare transaction notification laws at various stages of implementation in California, Illinois, Indiana, Oregon and Washington are shaping sector mergers and acquisitions, with significant transparency, continuity of care and compliance implications as providers tackle complex regulatory requirements, says Melesa Freerks at DLA Piper.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Dance The Legal Standard Two-Step

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    From rookie brief writers to Chief Justice John Roberts, lawyers should master the legal standard two-step — framing the governing standard at the outset, and clarifying why they meet that standard — which has benefits for both the drafter and reader, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Examining Chancery's Relaxed New Confidential Filing Rules

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    The Delaware Court of Chancery’s overhauled Rule 5.1, which governs confidential filings, risks permitting nonconfidential information to be shielded from public review unless and until a challenge notice is filed — but several potential solutions could help to override this issue, says Delaware attorney Daniel J. McBride.

  • Recent Settlement Shows 'China Initiative' Has Life After Death

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    Though the U.S. Department of Justice shuttered its controversial China Initiative two years ago, its recent False Claims Act settlement with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation demonstrates that prosecutors are more than willing to civilly pursue research institutions whose employees were previously targeted, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • How Orange Book Antitrust Scrutiny Is Intensifying

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    Pharmaceutical patent holders should be reviewing Orange Book listing practices, as the Federal Trade Commission takes a more aggressive antitrust approach with actions such as the Teva listing probe, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration calls attention to potentially improper listings, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • What To Know As Children's Privacy Law Rapidly Evolves

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    If your business hasn't been paying attention to growing state and federal efforts to protect children online, now is the time to start — there is no sign of this regulation slowing down, and more aggressive enforcement actions are to be expected in the coming year, says Susan Rohol at Willkie Farr.

  • Opinion

    OFAC Sanctions Deserve To Be Challenged Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision opens the door to challenges against the Office of Foreign Assets Control's sanctions regime, the unintended consequences of which raise serious questions about the wisdom of what appears to be a scorched-earth approach, says Solomon Shinerock at Lewis Baach.

  • Behind The Delay Of Final HSR Premerger Filing Rules

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    Erin Toomey at Epiq discusses the wait for the final version of the revised Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger filing requirements that were first introduced in June 2023, the factors that might be behind the delay, and how to plan for the potential data-focused rule change

  • What Cos. Should Know About New Global Plastics Regs

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    As the global regulatory landscape for plastics and recycling changes rapidly — with new policies coming into effect in California, at the federal level, in the European Union and at the United Nations — businesses that operate across jurisdictions must stay informed to remain compliant, mitigate legal risk and achieve stewardship goals, say attorneys at O'Melveny.

  • How Calif. Ruling Alters Worker Arb. Agreement Enforcement

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    The California Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Ramirez v. Charter Communications should caution employers that while workers’ arbitration agreements will no longer be deemed unenforceable based on their number of unconscionable provisions, they must still be fair and balanced, says Sander van der Heide at CDF Labor.

  • Opinion

    After Jarkesy, IRS Must Course-Correct On Captive Insurance

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy decision has profound implications for other agencies, including the IRS, which must stop ignoring due process and curtailing congressional intent in its policing of captive insurance arrangements, says Peter Dawson at the 831(b) Institute.

  • Congress Quietly Amends FEPA: What Cos. Should Do Now

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    Last week, Congress revised the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act — passed last year to criminalize demand-side foreign bribery — to address inconsistencies and better harmonize the law with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and companies should review their compliance programs accordingly, say Mark Mendelsohn and Benjamin Klein at Paul Weiss.

  • Why FDIC Banks May Want To Consider Fed Membership

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    With the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. recently ratcheting up bank supervision and proposing idiosyncratic new policies, state-chartered nonmember banks may want to explore the benefits of becoming Federal Reserve members and consider practical steps to make the switch, say Max Bonici and Connor Webb at Venable.

  • Dissecting Treasury's Call For Input On AI In Financial Sector

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    The U.S. Department of the Treasury's request for comments on the potential benefits and challenges AI may pose to the financial services sector, which asks how stakeholders are addressing and mitigating increased fraud risks, reflects the federal government's continued interest in AI's effects across the economy, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

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