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Public Policy
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June 18, 2024
Feds Ease Green Card Process For Mixed-Status Families
President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that certain foreigners who are married to U.S. citizens and their children can apply for green cards without leaving the U.S.
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June 18, 2024
Treasury Finalizes Labor Rules For Bonus Energy Tax Credits
The U.S. Treasury Department released final labor rules Tuesday for clean energy projects seeking to significantly boost the value of their tax credits, emphasizing due diligence by developers and announcing that more IRS resources will go toward enforcement of the rules.
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June 17, 2024
Iowa's Controversial Immigration Law Temporarily Blocked
An Iowa federal judge Monday temporarily blocked a controversial state law empowering local officials to arrest and remove previously deported individuals, even if they're now authorized to be in the country, ruling that the measure is trumped by federal law and therefore invalid.
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June 17, 2024
'What Am I Supposed To Do?': Epic-Apple Doc Row Irks Judge
A California federal judge presiding over Epic Games' high-stakes antitrust compliance fight against Apple expressed frustration Monday with the parties' disagreement over the scope of Apple's document production, asking counsel repeatedly "What am I supposed to do?" and "Do I need to get somebody on the stand to explain this?"
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June 17, 2024
T-Mobile To Consider Changing 'Price Lock' Ads After Dispute
T-Mobile said it will look into modifying "Price Lock" advertising claims after AT&T told the National Advertising Division that the ads mislead consumers by suggesting that T-Mobile locks in a certain price, when it only offers a free month of home internet service under certain conditions if the price goes up.
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June 17, 2024
US Surgeon General To Seek Warning Label On Social Media
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy has called on lawmakers to require social media companies to put warnings on their sites that say young people who use them have more mental health issues, according to an opinion article published on Monday.
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June 17, 2024
Mich. Judge Unsure If Town's Pot Co. Shutdown Broke Lease
A commercial landlord will have to go to trial on claims of unpaid rent against a combination medical marijuana grow and sign-making company, a Michigan state judge ruled, saying a jury must decide if the local government's decision to force the cannabis shop out voids the lease.
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June 17, 2024
DC Circ. Gives FERC More Clarity On Scope Of Climate Reviews
A recent D.C. Circuit decision not only endorses the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's current approach to reviewing the climate change impacts of gas infrastructure projects, but may also help trim environmental reviews by federal agencies across the board.
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June 17, 2024
Ad Tech Judge Says No 'Moving Target' Damages, No Jury
A Virginia federal judge refused to consider the government's "late-arriving" math on how much federal agencies were overcharged by Google's digital advertising placement technology, according to an order unsealed Friday, a decision that allowed Google to successfully short-circuit the U.S. Department of Justice's damages claim and avoid a jury trial sought by the agency.
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June 17, 2024
Mifepristone Ruling Means End Of Texas DACA Suit, Feds Say
A Texas-led coalition of states doesn't have standing to challenge the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program after the U.S. Supreme Court's blockbuster decision rejecting a challenge to the abortion drug mifepristone, the Biden administration told the Fifth Circuit on Monday.
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June 17, 2024
McConnell Denounces Judicial Nominee For District Of Ore.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., took to the Senate floor on Monday to criticize Magistrate Judge Mustafa Taher Kasubhai, a nominee for a district court judgeship in the District of Oregon whose confirmation vote is teed up for Tuesday.
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June 17, 2024
Toss Universal Service Fund Challenge, FCC Urges 5th Circ.
The Federal Communications Commission on Monday urged the Fifth Circuit to throw out a challenge to the agency's telecom subsidy system after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a pair of similar cases.
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June 17, 2024
Cocoa Trade Case May Hinge On Justices' Mifepristone Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent narrow ruling on standing in a case over access to the abortion medication mifepristone may figure prominently in upcoming oral arguments in a dispute involving imported cocoa allegedly harvested via forced child labor before the U.S. Court of International Trade, a judge said Monday.
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June 17, 2024
HUD Freed From Pa. Pot Patients' Suit Over Housing Rebuff
Unless the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development fulfills its threat to withhold a Pennsylvania county housing agency's funding for complying with a state court order to admit licensed medical marijuana patients, a lawsuit by the county agency and two potential tenants is premature, a federal judge ruled Monday.
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June 17, 2024
Maryland Gov. Moore Grants Sweeping Marijuana Pardons
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore on Monday announced that he had signed an executive order pardoning more than 175,000 convictions for possession of marijuana and marijuana paraphernalia.
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June 17, 2024
Google Says Texas Took Opposing Positions On Key Law
Google told a Texas federal court the state attorney general's office made arguments in the case accusing the tech giant of monopolizing display advertising technology that directly contradict arguments the state is making in a case challenging the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
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June 17, 2024
Farm Cos. To Pay $475K To End Wash. AG's Sex Assault Suit
A pair of agricultural companies agreed to pay $470,000 to resolve Washington state's lawsuit accusing them of standing by as a supervisor sexually harassed and assaulted female employees and firing those who complained, the state attorney general announced Monday.
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June 17, 2024
Ginnie Mae, HUD Want Bank's Loan Lien Suit Sent To Dallas
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Ginnie Mae pushed for the transfer of Texas Capital Bank's suit in Texas federal court over a vacated loan lien, arguing that the bank is contractually required to file its suit in a different division within the same district.
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June 17, 2024
EEOC Went Too Far With Pregnant Worker Rule, Judge Says
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission overstepped its authority by requiring workplace accommodations for "purely elective abortions," a Louisiana federal judge ruled Monday, handing two states and several religious groups a temporary reprieve from agency regulations implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
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June 17, 2024
Iowa Seeks To Mute 'Ag-Gag' Law First Amendment Challenge
Iowa on Friday asked a federal district court to dismiss animal rights' and community advocacy groups' First Amendment challenge to the state's "ag-gag" law that's designed to thwart undercover investigations of animal treatment.
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June 17, 2024
OECD Tax Plan Is Developing Nations' Best Choice, Prof Says
Developing countries could gain more revenue from the OECD's multilateral plan to tax the digital economy than the U.N. Tax Committee's bilateral alternative because they have small treaty networks, many customers and few large companies, an academic argued Monday during an Oxford University panel.
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June 17, 2024
DOL Says Insurers Can't Block ERISA Retirement Advice Regs
The U.S. Department of Labor urged a Texas federal court to reject a group of insurers' bid to halt the implementation of recently finalized regulations expanding which types of retirement investment advice fall under the purview of federal benefits law, arguing the challengers' request wasn't justified.
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June 17, 2024
Feds, Tribes Say It's Too Soon To Reopen Monument Suit
The federal government, tribes and conservation groups are fighting a bid by Utah and farming associations to lift a more than three-year stay in a challenge to the Bears Ears National Monument, arguing that the state is already involved in litigation that attempts to nullify the presidential proclamation that established it.
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June 17, 2024
Feds Say Bannon Must Go To Prison During Appeals
The U.S. government on Monday urged the D.C. Circuit to reject Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon's bid to stave off his four-month prison sentence for contempt of Congress, arguing that Bannon cannot show that the full D.C. Circuit or U.S. Supreme Court would take up his case.
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June 17, 2024
Colo. Justices To Review Prefiling Interest Cap Dispute
The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review whether a state court can let prefiling interest exceed the state's $1 million economic damages cap under the Health Care Availability Act, in a suit over a man's injuries at birth.
Expert Analysis
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8 Fla. Statutes That Construction Cos. Should Prepare For
In this article, Jason Lambert at Hill Ward discusses a number of recent bills out of the Florida Legislature targeting construction companies in the Sunshine State that have been sent to the governor for signature, at least some of which will have broad impacts that affected companies should prepare for ahead of the July 1 effective date.
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Game-Changing Decisions Call For New Rules At The NCAA
From a newly formed college players union to coaches transferring at the drop of a hat, the National College Athletic Association needs an overhaul, including federal supervision, says Frank Darras at DarrasLaw.
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End Of Acquitted Conduct Sentencing Can Spark More Reform
The U.S. Sentencing Commission’s recent end to factoring acquitted conduct into federal sentences could signal the start of a more constitutionally sound advisory scheme, but Congress and the Supreme Court must first authorize the commission to resolve two constitutional errors baked into its guidelines, say Mark Allenbaugh at SentencingStats.com and Alan Ellis at the Law Offices of Alan Ellis.
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Manufacturers Should Pay Attention To 'Right-To-Repair' Laws
Oregon’s recently passed "right-to-repair" statute highlights that the R2R movement is not going away, and that manufacturers of all kinds need to be paying attention to the evolving list of R2R statutes in various states and consider participating in the process, says Courtney Sarnow at Culhane.
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Opinion
Viral Deepfakes Of Taylor Swift Highlight Need For Regulation
As the nation grapples with addressing risk from artificial intelligence use, the recent circulation of AI-generated pornographic images of Taylor Swift on the social platform X highlights the need for federal legislation to protect nonconsenting subjects of deepfake pornography, say Nicole Brenner and Susie Ruiz-Lichter at Squire Patton.
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Opinion
Time To Fix NYC's Broken Property Assessment System
A New York appellate court's decision to revive Tax Equity Now New York v. City of New York may force the city to revamp its outdated and unfair real estate tax assessment system, which could be fixed with a couple of simple changes, says Seth Feldman at Romer Debbas.
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New Federal Bill Would Drastically Alter Privacy Landscape
While the recently introduced American Privacy Rights Act would eliminate the burdensome patchwork of state regulations, the proposed federal privacy law would also significantly expand compliance obligations and liability exposure for companies, especially those that rely on artificial intelligence or biometric technologies, says David Oberly at Baker Donelson.
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How Cos. Can Comply With New PFAS Superfund Rule
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new rule designating two per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances as "hazardous substances" under the Superfund law will likely trigger additional enforcement and litigation at sites across the country — so companies should evaluate any associated reporting obligations and liability risks, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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How EB-5 Regional Centers Can Prepare For USCIS Audits
In response to the recently announced U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services guidelines that require EB-5 regional center audits every five years to verify their compliance with immigration and securities laws, regional centers should take steps to facilitate a seamless audit process, say Jennifer Hermansky and Miriam Thompson at Greenberg Traurig.
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Social Media Free Speech Issues Are Trending At High Court
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision examining what constitutes state action on social media can be viewed in conjunction with oral arguments in two other cases to indicate that the court sees a need for more clarity regarding how social media usage implicates the First Amendment, say attorneys at Kean Miller.
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Opinion
CFPB Could, And Should, Revise Open Banking Rulemaking
In light of continued global developments in open banking, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should evaluate whether it actually should use its proposed rule on Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act to amplify personal financial data rights in the U.S., says Brian Fritzsche at the Consumer Bankers Association.
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How Cos. Can Protect IP In Light Of FTC Noncompete Rule
While several groups are challenging the Federal Trade Commission’s recently approved rule banning noncompetition agreements, employers should begin planning other ways to protect their valuable trade secrets, confidential information and other intellectual property, says Thomas Duston at Marshall Gerstein.
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Understanding The IRC's Excessive Refund Claim Penalty
Taxpayers considering protective refund claims pending resolution of major questions in tax cases like Moore v. U.S., which is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, should understand how doing so may also leave them vulnerable to an excessive refund claim penalty under Internal Revenue Code Section 6676, say attorneys at McDermott.
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Why RWI Insurers Should Consider Excluding PFAS
As regulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances escalates, carriers providing representations and warranties insurance should reconsider providing PFAS coverage on a case-by-case basis, say Dave Bartoletti and Ina Avalon at Taft Stettinius.
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Don't Use The Same Template For Every Client Alert
As the old marketing adage goes, consistency is key, but law firm style guides need consistency that contemplates variety when it comes to client alert formats, allowing attorneys to tailor alerts to best fit the audience and subject matter, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.