Public Policy

  • August 21, 2024

    FTC Fails 1st Test Of Rulemaking Push In Noncompetes Loss

    The Federal Trade Commission suffered its first definitive loss Tuesday in the push to ban employment noncompete agreements, although the decision probably isn't the final word given a likely appeal and two other pending challenges also viewed as a test of the agency's efforts to expand its rulemaking footprint.

  • August 21, 2024

    Legal, Policy Orgs Urge Justices To Toss FCA Interpretation

    Two groups are defending AT&T subsidiary Wisconsin Bell Inc. in its challenge to the use of the False Claims Act for E-Rate program reimbursement fraud, telling the Supreme Court in amicus briefs Tuesday that the Seventh Circuit's ruling in the case would make the FCA's qui tam powers too expansive.

  • August 21, 2024

    8th Circ. Reboots Fed Swipe Fee Suit After High Court Ruling

    An Eighth Circuit panel on Wednesday remanded a suit challenging Federal Reserve debit card swipe fee rules, ordering new proceedings in the case after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was not untimely after all.

  • August 21, 2024

    USPTO Argues Not All New Rules Call For Public Comments

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office told the U.S. Supreme Court that forcing the agency to solicit public comments before instituting a new home address requirement for registering trademarks would be too much work.

  • August 21, 2024

    Judge Skeptical Ex-Murder Suspect Can Sue Embattled DA

    A Colorado federal judge appeared to have doubts Wednesday about the prospects of a malicious prosecution lawsuit brought by a man initially charged with the murder of his wife, asking how the lawsuit can defeat immunity for police and prosecutors.

  • August 21, 2024

    10th Circ. Says Ex-Prosecutor Still Hasn't Proven Immunity

    A Tenth Circuit panel on Wednesday said a former Denver deputy district attorney had not yet proven that she was entitled to qualified immunity in a malicious-prosecution case dating back more than a decade, the second time the appeals court has reversed a procedural win for the prosecutor.

  • August 21, 2024

    Signal Peak Can't Hasten DOI's Coal Mine Review, Judge Says

    A D.C. federal judge ruled Wednesday that it would be premature to order federal regulators to speed up their environmental review of Signal Peak Energy LLC's planned expansion of a Montana coal mine, saying the federal government still has time to make good on its deadlines.

  • August 21, 2024

    Prometheum Plans To Support Two More Crypto 'Securities'

    A cryptocurrency startup approved to safeguard crypto securities said Wednesday that it plans to support the tokens UNI and ARB when it launches in the fall, indicating it believes the digital assets implicate securities laws.

  • August 21, 2024

    Ga. City Asks Full 11th Circ. To Review Race Bias Suit Revival

    A southern Georgia city is urging the full Eleventh Circuit to reconsider a panel decision that revived a white city manager's lawsuit claiming it unlawfully fired him to hire a Black woman, arguing the panel improperly extended the alleged discriminatory intent of one Black city commissioner onto other Black commissioners.

  • August 21, 2024

    Dartmouth's Refusal To Bargain Is Illegal, Hoops Union Says

    The union representing men's basketball players at Dartmouth College accused the university of illegally refusing to negotiate, according to an unfair labor practice charge obtained by Law360 on Wednesday, as the school aims to challenge in federal court whether collegiate athletes are employees under federal labor law.

  • August 21, 2024

    Hunters, Breeder Want Puppy Import Ban Paused During Suit

    Hunting groups and a breeder urged a Michigan federal court Wednesday to pause a health policy that bars them from bringing puppies younger than six months old into the U.S., arguing the ban will harm them if it remains active during their legal challenge.

  • August 21, 2024

    Judge Bars DOD Policy Blocking HIV-Positive Enlistees

    A Virginia federal judge has struck down a U.S. Department of Defense policy barring HIV-positive people from joining the military, saying the DOD had failed to take current scientific evidence on HIV treatment and transmission into account.

  • August 21, 2024

    US Army Escapes Nebraska Tribe's Repatriation Suit

    A federal district court judge won't order the U.S. Army to repatriate the remains of two Native American children from a boarding school cemetery in Pennsylvania, saying provisions of a law designed to protect Indigenous burial sites don't apply to the 180 children entombed there for more than a century.

  • August 21, 2024

    Fla. High Court Rejects Petition Against Abortion Measure Info

    Florida's high court Wednesday rejected a petition from a group challenging the financial impact statement attached to a measure legalizing abortion up to 24 weeks that's slated to appear on the state's ballot in November, saying they never initially challenged a committee's authority to revise a statement they considered flawed.

  • August 21, 2024

    Split 5th Circ. Revives Cameroonian Anglophone's Asylum Bid

    A split Fifth Circuit has revived a Cameroonian nurse's asylum bid, saying in a published opinion that the Board of Immigration Appeals disregarded evidence he offered to prove that the Cameroonian military wanted him dead for purportedly being an English-speaking separatist.

  • August 21, 2024

    Ga. Strip Clubs Push High Court For Tax-Free Dances

    A coalition of Georgia strip clubs labored to convince the state's highest court Wednesday that a nearly decade-old tax on their businesses, used by the state to fund child trafficking prevention efforts, is unconstitutional by infringing upon their First Amendment rights to put on nude dances.

  • August 21, 2024

    Daughter Keeps $9.2M Win In Father's Med Mal Death Suit

    A Georgia appeals court affirmed a $9.2 million wrongful death verdict in favor of a woman whose father died of complications following surgery, rejecting the medical center's argument that the evidence couldn't support the verdict.

  • August 21, 2024

    Feds Chide Iowa's 'Implausible' Immigration Law Defense

    The Biden administration is urging the Eighth Circuit to reject Iowa's defense of a state law criminalizing the presence of previously deported noncitizens in the state, suggesting Iowa is mischaracterizing the law in an effort to skirt U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

  • August 21, 2024

    Minn. Justices OK Denial Of Homestead Tax Break

    A Minnesota property was correctly denied a homestead classification and property tax break because the owner did not live at the home as required, the state Supreme Court said Wednesday, affirming a state tax court decision.

  • August 21, 2024

    EPA Urges 8th Circ. Not To Delay Power Plant Effluent Rule

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and green groups on Tuesday asked the Eighth Circuit not to block the implementation of a rule that set new wastewater standards for coal-fired power plants, as utility companies, trade groups and nearly two dozen states that oppose the rule have urged.

  • August 21, 2024

    Dems At DNC Push For High Court Reform

    Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday made the case at an event adjacent to the Democratic National Convention that U.S. Supreme Court reform is an issue that everyday Americans should care about and championed the progress made thus far. 

  • August 21, 2024

    Oath Keepers Atty Pleads Guilty In Jan. 6 Case

    A former attorney for the far-right Oath Keepers group pled guilty Wednesday to charges connected to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, copping to entering restricted Capitol grounds and advising Oath Keepers affiliates to delete incriminating digital evidence following the riot.

  • August 21, 2024

    Paxton Issues Warrants To Texas Counties In Election Inquiry

    Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Wednesday that his office had executed multiple search warrants in Frio, Atascosa, and Bexar counties as part of an ongoing investigation into election integrity.

  • August 21, 2024

    Oregon Judge Grants EPA Partial Win In Water Pollution Suit

    An Oregon federal judge rejected a conservation group's contention that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must step in and act because Oregon has effectively submitted no total maximum daily load plans to set appropriate pollution limits for hundreds of impaired waterways, some of which have been considered impaired for decades.

  • August 21, 2024

    Ohio Justice Pulls Appeals Judge Into Party Label Challenge

    Ohio Court of Appeals Chief Judge Thomas J. Osowik is now ensnared in state Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner's challenge to a state law requiring candidates for Ohio's appellate courts to list their political party affiliation on the ballot, appearing as a defendant in a retooled version of her complaint.

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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