Public Policy

  • November 25, 2024

    FCC To Bar Fla. Telecom From Aid After Fraud Conviction

    The Federal Communications Commission is looking to block a Florida-based wireless service provider from participating in any universal service programs for at least three years after it was convicted of conspiring to defraud the federal government through the agency's Lifeline Program for low-income phone users.

  • November 25, 2024

    Hemp Sellers Say Conn. Cannabis Laws Violate Constitution

    A dozen Connecticut hemp retailers filed a federal lawsuit against the governor and attorney general challenging a number of state laws meant to regulate so-called high-THC hemp products, claiming the statutes are so vague they are unconstitutional.

  • November 25, 2024

    Calif. Gov. Promises EV Tax Credit If Trump Axes Federal

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday said that he's preparing to save electric vehicle tax credits — at least for residents of his state — if the Trump administration and a Republican Congress eliminate federal ones.

  • November 25, 2024

    TMX Moves For Emergency Block On $52M Pa. Fine Hearing

    An affiliate of TMX Finance asked a Texas federal court to pause Pennsylvania regulators' efforts to enforce the state's anti-usury laws against it, claiming it faced a "Hobson's choice" of responding to an enforcement proceeding whose legality was being questioned, or waiving its arguments and facing a $52.7 million fine.

  • November 25, 2024

    Colo. Justices Take Up Political Donor Secrecy Case

    The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider whether election officials were allowed to fine a conservative political group for refusing to disclose its donors after it spent millions of dollars on state ballot questions in 2020.

  • November 25, 2024

    Calif. Board Seeks Comment On AI Rules Amid Pushback

    The California Privacy Protection Agency on Friday opened the public comment period for its latest rulemaking package proposing expansive draft rules regulating technologies fueled by artificial intelligence — including in the employment, education, healthcare, consumer protection, banking and insurance contexts — which business groups have already criticized as being overly broad and burdensome.

  • November 25, 2024

    Judge Vacates Minnesota Mediation Order In Land Dispute

    A federal district court judge on Monday vacated a mediation order in a dispute over more than 3,000 acres of land taken into trust for a Minnesota tribe after parties involved in the litigation said any settlement would require compromise on their legal positions or a voluntary remand.

  • November 25, 2024

    NJ Judge Allows Nonprofit To Join Affordable Housing Fight

    A New Jersey nonprofit is aligned with the state's government in a challenge to a new affordable housing obligation framework it adopted, but that alignment of goals does not mean the nonprofit should not also be allowed to intervene on the case, a Garden State judge said in an order.

  • November 25, 2024

    5th Circ. Upholds Miss. Ban On Medical Pot Ads

    Marijuana dispensaries do not have protections under the First Amendment to advertise their products because the drug is still illicit under federal law, the Fifth Circuit ruled, tossing a lawsuit that sought to upend the state's tight regulations on cannabis ads.

  • November 25, 2024

    4th Circ. Stands By HELOC 'Offset' Ruling Against PNC

    The full Fourth Circuit has declined to reconsider a panel decision that extended protections under the Truth In Lending Act by barring banks from dipping into a cardholder's deposit account to cover outstanding payments on a home equity line of credit without the borrower's consent.

  • November 25, 2024

    Commerce Limits Nuclear Program-Tied Exports To Pakistan

    The U.S. Department of Commerce on Monday issued a final rule imposing new licensing requirements on exports, reexports and transfers of certain items intended for Pakistan that the Middle Eastern country may be able to use for its nuclear weapons program.

  • November 25, 2024

    DC Circ. Won't Rehear Allowing H-1B Spousal Work Permits

    The District of Columbia Circuit has denied a petition to reconsider its decision upholding an Obama-era program allowing some spouses of highly skilled foreign workers to obtain work permits.

  • November 25, 2024

    Payments To Exxon Unit Taxable, Australian Panel Says

    Exxon Mobil unit Esso is liable for tax on monthly payments it received for processing its Australian business partners' petroleum and on an AU$23.4 million ($15.5 million) lump sum payment, a panel at the Federal Court of Australia said, overturning an earlier judgment at the same court.

  • November 25, 2024

    Housing Project Will Pollute Public Water, Conn. City Says

    The construction of 16 houses in Ledyard, Connecticut, will contaminate the groundwater and endanger the drinking water supply for people living on the site, the city of Groton's water department said in an appeal of the project's approval to the state court.

  • November 25, 2024

    Condo Boards Likely Safe From Corporate Transparency Law

    New corporate reporting requirements under an anti-money laundering law likely do not apply to condominium associations, a Massachusetts federal judge ruled.

  • November 25, 2024

    Jack Smith Drops Trump's Federal Cases

    Special counsel Jack Smith on Monday moved to drop the federal prosecutions of President-elect Donald Trump in D.C. and Florida, citing long-standing Justice Department policy barring the prosecution of a sitting president while insisting that the government "stands fully behind" the merits of the charges.

  • November 25, 2024

    Insurance Mogul Denied 'Custom Detention' After Plea Deal

    A convicted insurance mogul who pled guilty to a $2 billion fraud scheme has lost his bid for a temporary reprieve from county jail after turning himself in, with a federal magistrate judge citing concerns about equity if he were to grant such a "custom detention order" for the billionaire.

  • November 25, 2024

    Trump 2.0 Expected To Maintain Tech Antitrust Cases

    President-elect Donald Trump has promised dramatic changes with his pending second term, but antitrust practitioners are anticipating a return to normal after four years of an aggressive Biden administration that's seemed skeptical of big business on the whole, though they also don't expect enforcement to be lax.

  • November 25, 2024

    CNN Calls NC Lt. Gov.'s Defamation Suit 'Political Theater'

    The defamation suit against CNN brought by Mark Robinson, North Carolina's lieutenant governor and an unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate, must be thrown out for being simply "political theater," the news outlet said.

  • November 25, 2024

    Justices Pass On Ex-Atty's Puerto Rico Bribery Appeal

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review the bribery convictions of a former attorney who solicited and accepted payments from an environmental contractor to influence three Puerto Rican mayors and helped the contractor secure government contracts worth millions of dollars.

  • November 25, 2024

    Tax Hikes Will Make It Harder To Hire, UK Industry Chief Says

    Businesses will hire fewer workers as a result of raising employers' National Insurance contributions, a payroll levy, that was introduced in the autumn budget, the chief of one of Britain's most influential industry groups said Monday.

  • November 25, 2024

    SDNY's Williams To Resign Before Trump Takes Office

    Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Monday he will resign Dec. 13, clearing the way for President-elect Donald Trump's nominee, former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chair Jay Clayton, to run the office next year.

  • November 25, 2024

    High Court Refuses To Review FDA Cigarette Warning Rule

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said that it won't take up a challenge to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration rule requiring larger warnings on cigarette boxes, in a suit brought by tobacco companies.

  • November 25, 2024

    Justices Reject Patent Case Challenging Newman Suspension

    The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to hear an appeal by a company that owns a background check patent invalidated for claiming only an abstract idea and that argued it was deprived of a fair hearing at the Federal Circuit due to the suspension of U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman.

  • November 25, 2024

    Justices Won't Review Mich. Gun Range Ban

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a proposed gun range's challenge to a Michigan town's zoning denial, denying its petition over Second Amendment protections for firearm training.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Colorado Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3

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    In the third quarter of 2024, Colorado's banking and financial services sector faced both regulatory updates and changes to state law due to recent federal court decisions — with consequences for local governments, mortgage lenders, state-chartered trust companies and federally chartered lenders serving Colorado consumers, says Sarah Auchterlonie at Brownstein Hyatt.

  • Building US-Japan Relationships In The M&A Market

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    The prospect of U.S.-Japanese mergers and acquisitions presents stronger competition to U.S. investors in the global M&A markets, while also opening up an additional exit route for sellers looking to offload strategic assets, says Nick Wall at A&O Shearman.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession

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    About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • 4 Ways To Prepare For DOD Cyber Certification Rule

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    Given the U.S. Department of Justice's increased scrutiny of contractor compliance with cybersecurity requirements, it is critical that contractors take certain steps now in response to the U.S. Department of Defense's proposed Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification implementation rule, say Townsend Bourne and Lillia Damalouji at Sheppard Mullin.

  • FTC Focus: How Scrutiny Of PBMs And Insulin May Play Out

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    Should Express Scripts' recent judicial challenge to the Federal Trade Commission succeed, any new targets could add litigation and choice of forum to their playbooks, and potential FTC court action on insulin could be forced to parallel venues as the issues between the commission and PBMs evolve, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Opinion

    AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys

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    The thing that’s so powerful about artificial intelligence is also what’s most scary about it — its ability to detect patterns may curtail young attorneys’ chance to practice the lower-level work of managing cases, preventing them from ever honing the pattern recognition skills that undergird creative lawyering, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.

  • A Look At How De Minimis Import Rules May Soon Change

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    The planned implementation of executive actions focused on the de minimis rule as it applies to shipments means companies should use this interval to evaluate the potential applicability and impact of Section 301, Section 201 or Section 232 duties on their products, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Key Takeaways From DOJ's New Corp. Compliance Guidance

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s updated guidance to federal prosecutors on evaluating corporate compliance programs addresses how entities manage new technology-related risks and expands on preexisting policies, providing key insights for companies about increasing regulatory expectations, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • What's In The Cards For CFTC's Election Betting Case

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    A D.C. federal judge's Sept. 12 ruling, allowing KalshiEx to offer derivative contracts trading on the outcome of the U.S. congressional elections over objections from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, could mark a watershed moment in the permissibility of election betting if upheld on appeal, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • What To Know About Latest Calif. Auto-Renewal Law Update

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    While businesses have about nine months to prepare before the recently passed amendment to California's automatic renewal law takes effect, it’s not too early to begin working on compliance efforts, including sign-up flow reviews, record retention updates and marketing language revisions, say Gonzalo Mon and Beth Chun at Kelley Drye.

  • The Key Changes In Revised FDIC Hiring Regulations

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    Attorneys at Ogletree break down the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s new rule, effective Oct. 1, that will ease restrictions on financial institutions hiring employees with criminal histories, amend the FDIC's treatment of minor offenses and clarify its stance on expunged or dismissed criminal records.

  • FDIC's Cautious Approach To Industrial Banks, Reaffirmed

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    Although the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. recently approved an industrial loan company's deposit insurance application and proposed new rules regarding parent companies, these developments do not represent a liberalization or modernization of the FDIC's regulatory framework, say Max Bonici and Andrew Bigart at Venable.

  • How Lucia, Jarkesy Could Affect Grocery Merger Challenge

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    While the Federal Trade Commission is taking a dual federal court and administrative tribunal approach to block Kroger's merger with Alberstons, Kroger's long-shot unconstitutionality claims could potentially lead to a reevaluation of the FTC's reliance on administrative processes in complex merger cases, say attorneys at Saul Ewing.

  • How NLRB Memo Balances Schools' Labor, Privacy Concerns

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    Natale DiNatale at Robinson & Cole highlights the recent National Labor Relations Board advice memorandum that aims to help colleges reconcile competing obligations under the National Labor Relations Act and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act as university students flock toward unionization.

  • Taking Stock Of FCC's New Spectrum Rule For Drones

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    While an order recently adopted by the Federal Communications Commission is intended to provide drones with rapid access to a limited amount of spectrum in the 5030-5091 megahertz band, the commission envisions an incremental approach to full usage that will play out over the course of the coming months and years, say attorneys at Wiley.

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