Public Policy

  • November 14, 2024

    DC Circ. Won't Rethink Denial Of Church Tax Exemption

    The D.C. Circuit rejected a request to reconsider the tax status of an Iowa church that used a psychedelic drug in its rites, letting stand its decision that because the church uses a federally illegal drug, it isn't entitled to tax-exempt status.

  • November 14, 2024

    Capri, Tapestry Kill $8.5B Handbag Deal Amid FTC Battle

    Capri Holdings Ltd. and Tapestry Inc. have called off their $8.5 billion merger following an extended regulatory battle with the Federal Trade Commission, with the companies mutually agreeing to terminate the deal because it is "unlikely" to obtain the regulatory approvals needed to close on time, Capri said Thursday.

  • November 13, 2024

    Trump's Card Rate Cap Idea Could See Red State Pushback

    In a glimpse of potential future fault lines between red-state officials and the next Trump administration, West Virginia's top state attorney on Wednesday suggested litigation could be on the table if the White House bucks regulatory restraint to push ideas like capping credit card interest rates.

  • November 13, 2024

    Telecom Co. Lumen's Contract Breach Suit Survives, For Now

    A Colorado federal judge on Tuesday ruled that an engineering consulting firm is liable to telecommunications company Lumen Technologies for damages caused by a subcontractor's faulty structural analysis, but said she couldn't yet rule on whether Florida law and a two-year statute of limitation barred Lumen's claims against the firm.

  • November 13, 2024

    Chinese Hackers Stole Call Data From Telecom Cos., Feds Say

    The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency announced Wednesday that they have identified individuals associated with the Chinese government who have hacked into the networks of multiple telecommunications companies in search of private communications of people involved in government and political activity.

  • November 13, 2024

    UNC Tennis Player Narrows Prize-Money Suit Against NCAA

    A University of North Carolina tennis player is taking another swing at NCAA rules stopping college athletes from accepting prize money in outside tournaments, this time limiting the proposed class action to Division I tennis players rather than athletes in a slew of non-revenue generating college sports.

  • November 13, 2024

    Tempur Sealy Has 'Keys' To Merger, Mattress Firm CEO Says

    Mattress Firm's CEO told a Houston judge Wednesday that he has not had any involvement in Tempur Sealy's post-acquisition agreements with mattress suppliers, testifying that Tempur's board chairman and CEO is the one "driving" the deal.

  • November 13, 2024

    7th Circ. Won't Halt Ind. Gender-Affirming Care For Minors Ban

    A split Seventh Circuit reversed a lower court's preliminary injunction order Tuesday that stopped an Indiana law prohibiting its physicians from providing gender-affirming care through medication to minors, finding the plaintiff's view on the law would result in allowing parents to decline to take a seriously injured child to the hospital.

  • November 13, 2024

    Republic Bank's 'Dysfunction' Enabled Its Failure, FDIC Says

    The former Republic First Bank failed because of its inability to hold certain debt securities, its insufficient liquidity and an ineffective board and management team, according to a post-mortem review issued Wednesday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s watchdog.

  • November 13, 2024

    Wash. Attys Expect Gov. And AG Will Keep Them Busy

    Despite President-elect Donald Trump's anticipated de-emphasis of regulatory enforcement, Washington state antitrust and consumer protection attorneys are still expecting plenty of work in the coming years, as the new Democratic governor-attorney general duo are expected to step up local enforcement.

  • November 13, 2024

    Defenders, Prosecutors Clash On Proposed Wash. Case Caps

    As public defenders called on the Washington Supreme Court on Wednesday to adopt lightened caseload standards to stem the exodus of attorneys from the indigent defense field, prosecutors chalked up those concerns to career dissatisfaction and cautioned the court the updated rules would catapult local governments into budgetary crisis.

  • November 13, 2024

    Transport Co. Wants To End Calif. Family Separation Suit

    Transportation services provider MVM Inc. urged a California federal judge to toss a proposed class action by a father and son who were separated after crossing the border, arguing Tuesday the Trump-era separation policy was enacted by the U.S. government, and that MVM was simply executing its contractual duties.

  • November 13, 2024

    DOJ Doc Pushes For Strong Antitrust Compliance Programs

    Companies hoping antitrust compliance programs will mitigate or even eliminate U.S. Department of Justice criminal prosecution for bid-rigging, price-fixing and market allocation schemes need strong monitoring, remediation, oversight and responsibility, according to new guidance released Tuesday.

  • November 13, 2024

    Md. Electricity 'Greenwashing' Law Is A Muzzle, Judge Told

    A Maryland law attempting to crack down on electricity suppliers' "greenwashing" claims unconstitutionally mandates companies speak about their product in a way that conforms to what the state considers "sustainable energy," a renewable energy company and an advocacy organization argued in Maryland federal court.

  • November 13, 2024

    Cox Eyes Federal Suit After RI Court Tosses BEAD Case

    Cox Communications has signaled that it may sue in federal court after a Rhode Island state judge tossed on jurisdictional grounds its complaint accusing state officials of botching the rollout of federal broadband deployment dollars.

  • November 13, 2024

    TikTok Asks To Keep NC AG's Addiction Complaint Redacted

    TikTok Inc. is asking a North Carolina state court to keep redacted portions of a complaint by the state alleging that it targets youth to make them compulsive and addicted users, saying parts of the complaint include information from confidential documents and trade secrets.

  • November 13, 2024

    Copyright Chief: Fair Use A Tough Issue In Upcoming AI Report

    An upcoming report from the U.S. Copyright Office addressing questions of infringement and training artificial intelligence models with copyrighted material will address fair use, Shira Perlmutter, the office's director, told a U.S. Senate oversight panel Wednesday.

  • November 13, 2024

    Boston Says Celebrity Chef Owes $1.6M In Taxes

    The city of Boston is taking celebrity chef Barbara Lynch to court, alleging that for more than a decade she has failed to pay over $1.6 million in personal property taxes for her group of restaurants, which she is in the process of closing and attempting to sell.

  • November 13, 2024

    Detroit Fire Fee Ruling Concerns Mich. Justice

    A Michigan Supreme Court justice on Wednesday said he was troubled by a lower appellate ruling he said seemed to imply that municipalities can work around a state law barring sneaky taxes, in this case by stating a charge for fire prevention services is really just the cost of a permit allowing property owners to do business in Detroit.

  • November 13, 2024

    EPA Tells DC Circ. That Mercury Rule Is Sound

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told the D.C. Circuit that opponents of its rule strengthening standards for mercury and other toxic air emissions at power plants are seeking to hamstring the agency with a too-narrow interpretation of the Clean Air Act.

  • November 13, 2024

    Judge Won't Rethink Mootness Of Air Force Vax Mandate Suit

    A Georgia federal judge on Tuesday refused to reconsider his finding that a challenge by U.S. Air Force personnel to the military's now-rescinded COVID-19 vaccination mandate on religious grounds is moot, holding there is no live controversy to keep the case going.

  • November 13, 2024

    Trump Is Poised, Once Again, To Jolt US Trade Policy

    Donald Trump's first stint in the White House saw steep tariffs against China and other trade partners, and with the Biden administration having largely maintained and even expanded those levies, the president-elect is well-positioned to further pull those levers.

  • November 13, 2024

    Space Activities Need Licensing Latitude, Chamber Says

    The Federal Communications Commission could stifle in-space manufacturing growth if it decides to license new space stations only for individual services instead of broader, category-wide uses, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said.

  • November 13, 2024

    FTX Prosecutors Tout Tech Chief's 'Outstanding Cooperation'

    Manhattan federal prosecutors urged a lenient sentence for former FTX technology chief Zixiao "Gary" Wang, telling the court on Wednesday that his "outstanding cooperation" was instrumental in securing the lightning-fast indictment and ultimate conviction of founder Sam Bankman-Fried for an $11 billion fraud that sank the crypto exchange.

  • November 13, 2024

    Outgoing DOJ Antitrust Head Wants To Unstack Healthcare

    The U.S. Department of Justice's top antitrust official looked to the future Tuesday, of both healthcare and his own exit with the change in presidential administration, as he defended the Biden era's more aggressive, nuanced approach to merger enforcement that wouldn't allow massive insurers and others to stack up the industry like Tetris.

Expert Analysis

  • A Look At Similarities Between SOX And SEC's Cyber Rule

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    Just as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act paved the way for greater transparency and accountability in financial reporting, the SEC's cybersecurity rule is doing much the same for cybersecurity, ensuring that companies are resilient in the face of growing cyber threats, says Padraic O'Reilly at CyberSaint.

  • Opinion

    Efficiency Dept. Should Consolidate Antitrust Enforcement

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    President-elect Donald Trump's planned Department of Government Efficiency should transfer the authority of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition into the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, because there is no justification for two federal entities to enforce antitrust and competition laws, says retired judge Susan Braden.

  • What To Expect Next From Federal Health Tech Regulation

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    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.

  • In SF Water Case, Justices Signal How Loper May Be Applied

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    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.

  • Trump Rollback Of Biden Enviro Policies: What To Expect

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    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.

  • 5 Areas Congress May Investigate After GOP Election Wins

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    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.

  • US Intellectual Property-Based Sanctions Could Be Imminent

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    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.

  • Philly's Algorithmic Rent Ban Furthers Antitrust Policy Trends

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    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.

  • Takeaways From State Votes On Abortion In The 2024 Election

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    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.

  • Trump's 2nd Term May Be A Boost To Banking Industry

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    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.

  • Loper Bright Offers New Materiality Defense To FCA Liability

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    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.

  • A Look At 2024 NIL Rights And Economies In College Sports

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    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.

  • How Expanded Birth Control Coverage May Affect Employers

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    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.

  • Unpacking CFPB's Unwieldy Buy Now, Pay Later Guidance

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    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.

  • 9 Considerations Around Proposed Connected Vehicle Ban

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    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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