Public Policy

  • July 26, 2024

    Feds Invest $240M In Pacific Tribal Fish Hatchery Efforts

    Hatcheries that produce Pacific salmon and steelhead will get $240 million in federal funding as the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Commerce Department look to restore fish in the Columbia River Basin and mitigate the impacts of dams on tribes, the U.S. government said.

  • July 26, 2024

    Power Groups Join Bid To Stay EPA Plant Rule At High Court

    Utility and coal industry groups have joined dozens of red states in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to block implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rule curbing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

  • July 26, 2024

    Cuomo Harassment Document Fight Heads To NY Appeals Court

    A Manhattan judge on Friday allowed both the New York attorney general and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo to appeal parts of a decision requiring the state to produce unredacted transcripts of some witness interviews in the sexual harassment investigation that led to Cuomo's resignation.

  • July 26, 2024

    Texas Justices Announce Fees For Statewide Business Court

    The Texas Supreme Court said Friday that actions filed in and removed to the business court will cost $2,500, unveiling the fee schedule for the state's latest venue.

  • July 26, 2024

    Fed Closes Loop On Now-Shuttered Crypto Bank Silvergate

    The Federal Reserve said Friday that it has concluded an enforcement action requiring Silvergate Bank to close out its operations safely and smoothly, tying up a loose thread from the California-based crypto bank's move to shut itself down after tanking last year.

  • July 26, 2024

    NFL Leads Sports & Betting Cases To Watch For Rest Of 2024

    Significant cases involving major American pro sports organizations have earned extra attention as the second half of 2024 begins, as have cases involving young professional athletes, college recruits and youth sports participants. Still, the NFL remains king with its footprint all over the list of must-follow cases for the rest of the year.

  • July 26, 2024

    How Being A Female Litigator May Aid Harris' Presidential Bid

    Female litigators regularly confront implicit biases and double standards when it comes to "their appearance, voice, attire, demeanor and their advocacy," according to the author of an American Bar Foundation research report on first chair trial lawyers.

  • July 26, 2024

    Insurance Trade Group Challenges FTC's Noncompete Ban

    The American Property Casualty Insurance Association backed a tax preparation company and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's challenge to the Federal Trade Commission's ban on noncompete agreements, telling a Texas federal court that the rule would "significantly disrupt the insurance producer landscape."

  • July 26, 2024

    Cannabis Litigation To Watch: Delta-8 And Residency Rules

    In the first half of 2024, a series of lawsuits taking aim at state hemp restrictions and another set of suits challenging purported residency criteria in state cannabis licensure programs were briefed in multiple appellate courts across the country.

  • July 26, 2024

    Illinois Cases To Watch In 2024: Midyear Report

    Illinois attorneys say they are considering the path forward for Springfield corruption prosecutions following a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, as well as paying attention to what comes next in Motorola Solutions' trade secret contempt fight and potential new guidelines for music copyright cases. Here are the cases to watch in Illinois for the rest of 2024.

  • July 26, 2024

    Colorado Cases To Watch 2024: A Midyear Report

    Colorado is at the forefront of state challenges to Kroger's $24 billion proposed merger with Albertsons, regulators are defending a high-cost lending crackdown, and state justices could change how insurers navigate bad faith suits. Here are some of the Colorado cases to watch in the second half of 2024.

  • July 26, 2024

    How Barrett Became The High Court's Justice To Watch

    Justice Amy Coney Barrett has revealed a unique trifecta of caution toward overly broad opinions, devotion to the factual record and concern for the practical effects of court rulings that separates her from the other right-leaning justices and contains the potential to broker more moderate rulings in future terms.

  • July 26, 2024

    Texas Federal Judge Blocks DOL Investment Advice Rule

    A Texas federal judge granted a bid from insurance industry groups to freeze U.S. Department of Labor regulations that expand who qualifies as a fiduciary under federal benefits law, saying the agency's new rule "suffers from many of the same problems" as a previous DOL rule the Fifth Circuit invalidated in 2018.

  • July 26, 2024

    NLRB Finalizes Rollback Of Trump-Era Union Election Rules

    The National Labor Relations Board on Friday finalized its rule rolling back Trump-era changes to union election procedures, restoring policies blocking union representation elections when an employer is alleged to have tainted the vote and insulating unions from removal if an employer voluntarily recognizes them.

  • July 26, 2024

    EU Frees Up €1.5B Of Frozen Russian Assets To Aid Ukraine

    The European Union's executive branch said Friday that it is freeing up €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) of revenue generated from immobilized Russian assets to aid Ukraine in defending itself against the Russian invasion.

  • July 25, 2024

    DOJ Watchdog Criticizes Barr But Clears Him Of Wrongdoing

    The U.S. Department of Justice's watchdog on Thursday chided former Attorney General William Barr for violating DOJ policies via his handling of information regarding an election fraud investigation in Pennsylvania during the 2020 presidential election, though it said he didn't technically commit misconduct.

  • July 25, 2024

    Bank-Fintech Risks Put In Spotlight As Agencies Urge Caution

    Federal regulators urged banks on Thursday to be mindful of a host of potential risks when partnering with outside firms to provide deposit products and services, guidance that comes in the wake of a high-profile fintech bankruptcy that has cast a pall over the banking-as-a-service business model.

  • July 25, 2024

    Boeing's 737 Max Plea Deal: Monitorship, Gov't Contracts

    Boeing will be branded with a felony criminal conviction after pleading guilty to conspiring to defraud U.S. regulators over the 737 Max 8's development, an ignominious distinction with fresh complications for the embattled American aerospace titan as it overhauls its corporate culture under a compliance monitorship.

  • July 25, 2024

    Meta, Snap Can't Ignore Murder Case Subpoenas, Court Says

    Social media companies' ability to access and use their customers' information means they fall outside the scope of the Stored Communications Act, a California appellate court has ruled, rejecting Meta Platforms Inc. and Snap Inc.'s argument that the SCA's disclosure limitations mean they can't comply with subpoenas in a murder case.

  • July 25, 2024

    Justice Kagan Floats Committee To Enforce High Court Ethics

    U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan said Thursday that the high court "should" and "could" create a mechanism like a committee of lower-court judges to enforce a code of conduct, while acknowledging the "complications" in deciding who should be the enforcers.

  • July 25, 2024

    11th Circ. Revives FCA Dispute Over Small Biz Contracts

    The Eleventh Circuit on Thursday revived a whistleblower False Claims Act case alleging new owners of a construction firm fraudulently secured orders under a program for disadvantaged small businesses, saying those owners should have told the Small Business Administration about the ownership switch.

  • July 25, 2024

    Iowa Says Blocking Its Immigration Law Flouts High Court

    Iowa told the Eighth Circuit on Thursday that a federal judge contorted U.S. Supreme Court precedent by granting the Biden administration's request to block a law criminalizing previously deported noncitizens' entry into the state.

  • July 25, 2024

    Trump Judge Won't Exit Over 'Nothingburger' Atty Encounter

    The New York judge who ordered Donald Trump to pay $465 million in penalties in his civil fraud case Thursday rejected the former president's demand that he step down from the case, saying a brief hallway encounter with an attorney acquaintance was a "nothingburger" that did not influence his decision.

  • July 25, 2024

    Ninth Circ. Vacates, Remands BIA Sexual Misconduct Dispute

    The Ninth Circuit vacated and remanded a lower court's ruling that the Bureau of Indian Affairs isn't liable for the actions of one of its officers who sexually assaulted a Northern Cheyenne woman, saying conflicting statements create a factual dispute regarding whether the officer was acting within the scope of his employment.

  • July 25, 2024

    SEC Seeks To Narrow Attack On Nasdaq Board Diversity Rule

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission told the Fifth Circuit Thursday that conservative groups objecting to a Nasdaq rule mandating the disclosure of board diversity data can no longer complain about the exchange's offer to help companies recruit applicable candidates because that offer has expired, mooting at least one aspect of a broader attack against the rule.

Expert Analysis

  • The Show Must Go On: Noncompete Uncertainty In Film, TV

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    The Federal Trade Commission has taken action to ban noncompetes while the entertainment industry is in the midst of a massive shift away from traditional media, so it is important for studio heads and content owners alike to understand the fate of the rule and their options going forward, say Christopher Chatham and Douglas Smith at Manatt.

  • A Refresher On Calculating Political Advertising Costs

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    With election season well underway, it is important for broadcasters, political candidates, time buyers and others concerned with how the cost of broadcast political advertising is determined to know what the Federal Communications Commission factors into lowest unit calculations, and how the commission has defined "commercial advertisers," says Gregg Skall at Telecommunications Law Professionals.

  • 'Outsourcing' Ruling, 5 Years On: A Warning, Not A Watershed

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    A New York federal court’s 2019 ruling in U.S. v. Connolly, holding that the government improperly outsourced an investigation to Deutsche Bank, has not undercut corporate cooperation incentives as feared — but companies should not completely ignore the lessons of the case, say Temidayo Aganga-Williams and Anna Nabutovsky at Selendy Gay.

  • Series

    Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My ongoing military experience as a judge advocate general in the National Guard has shaped me as a person and a lawyer, teaching me the importance of embracing confidence, balance and teamwork in both my Army and civilian roles, says Danielle Aymond at Baker Donelson.

  • Big Business May Come To Rue The Post-Administrative State

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    Many have framed the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions overturning Chevron deference and extending the window to challenge regulations as big wins for big business, but sand in the gears of agency rulemaking may be a double-edged sword, creating prolonged uncertainty that impedes businesses’ ability to plan for the future, says Todd Baker at Columbia University.

  • Reading Between The Lines Of Justices' Moore Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent Moore v. U.S. decision, that the Internal Revenue Code Section 965 did not violate the 16th Amendment, was narrowly tailored to minimally disrupt existing tax regimes, but the justices' various opinions leave the door open to future tax challenges and provide clues for what the battles may look like, say Caroline Ngo and Le Chen at McDermott.

  • Series

    After Chevron: A Sea Change For Maritime Sector

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    The shipping industry has often looked to the courts for key agency decisions affecting maritime interests, but after the U.S. Supreme Court's Loper Bright ruling, stakeholders may revisit important industry questions and coordinate to bring appropriate challenges and shape rulemaking, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Opinion

    Post-Chevron, Good Riddance To The Sentencing Guidelines

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of the Chevron doctrine may signal the end of the U.S. sentencing guidelines, which is good news given that they have accomplished the opposite of Congress’ original intent to bring certainty, proportionality and uniformity to sentencing, say attorneys Mark Allenbaugh, Doug Passon and Alan Ellis.

  • Opinion

    Proposed Terminal Disclaimers Rule Harms Colleges, Startups

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    Universities and startups are ill-suited to follow the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s recently proposed rule on terminal disclaimers due to their necessity of filing patent applications early prior to contacting outside entities for funds and resources, say attorneys at Sterne Kessler.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Impact On CFPB May Be Limited

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo is likely to have a limited impact on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's regulatory activities, and for those who value due process, consistency and predictability in consumer financial services regulation, this may be a good thing, says John Coleman at Orrick.

  • A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates

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    Hourly rates for partners, associates and support staff continued to rise in the first half of this year, and this growth shows no signs of slowing for the rest of 2024 and into next year, driven in part by the return of mergers and acquisitions and the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, says Chuck Chandler at Valeo Partners.

  • Series

    After Chevron: 7 FERC Takeaways From Loper Bright

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    Following the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of the Chevron doctrine, it's likely that the majority of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's orders will not be affected, but the commission has nonetheless lost an important fallback argument and will have to approach rulemaking more cautiously, says Norman Bay at Willkie Farr.

  • Opinion

    Discount Window Reform Needed To Curb Modern Bank Runs

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    We learned during the spring 2023 failures that bank runs can happen extraordinarily fast in light of modern technology, especially when banks have a greater concentration of large deposits, demonstrating that the antiquated but effective discount window needs to be overhauled before the next crisis, says Cris Cicala at Stinson.

  • Opinion

    Cell Tech Patent Holdup Is Stalling Automaker Innovation

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    Courts and Congress should seek to stem anticompetitive harm caused by standard-essential patent holders squeezing automakers with unfairly high royalties for cellular connectivity technology, says Charles Haake at Alliance for Automotive Innovation.

  • Series

    After Chevron: USDA Rules May Be Up In The Air

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    The Supreme Court's end of Chevron deference may cause more lawsuits against U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations, like the one redefining "unfair trade practices" under the Packers and Stockyards Act, or a new policy classifying salmonella as an adulterant in certain poultry products, says Bob Hibbert at Wiley.

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