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Public Policy
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October 29, 2024
FERC Botched Pacific NW Pipeline Approval, 5th Circ. Told
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was wrong to approve a controversial TC Energy Corp. pipeline expansion project in the Pacific Northwest, Washington and Oregon officials and environmental groups told the Fifth Circuit.
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October 29, 2024
FCC Denies Another Bid To Shelve Prison Phone Rate Caps
The Federal Communications Commission has rejected another bid to delay new prison phone rate caps, this time from a company that sought a narrow hold while the FCC weighs its request to reconsider certain limitations on provider revenue.
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October 29, 2024
Feds Tell High Court To Deny Va.'s Bid To Revive Voter Purge
The U.S. Supreme Court must leave in place a court order prohibiting Virginia from removing suspected noncitizens from its voting rolls this close to Election Day, the federal government and advocacy groups argued Tuesday, contending the risk of erroneously stripping eligible voters of their rights outweighs any purported harm to the state.
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October 29, 2024
ICE Accused Of Withholding $300M In Nixed Immigrant Bonds
A New York resident hit the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with a proposed class action in New York federal court Tuesday, accusing the agency of systemically failing to return more than $300 million in bonds paid to secure the release of immigrants whose detention proceedings were later dismissed.
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October 29, 2024
Justice, Challenger Split On Backgrounds For The Bench
Judge Patrick O'Grady, campaigning for the Michigan Supreme Court, says the current bench is sorely lacking the type of prior judicial experience he would bring. But sitting Justice Kyra Bolden argues the diversity of backgrounds among justices makes the court stronger.
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October 29, 2024
Ex-Development Director Asks 4th Circ. For Wage Ruling Redo
A former development director for a North Carolina city urged the Fourth Circuit to rethink its opinion affirming the city's win on her unpaid overtime claims, saying it's not clear from the record that she was classified as exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
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October 29, 2024
Mich. Top Court Won't Halt Ethics Claims Against Trump Allies
Michigan's Supreme Court has refused to stop disciplinary proceedings against Sidney Powell and other lawyers who advanced former President Donald Trump's election fraud claims.
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October 29, 2024
Bannon Released From Prison As Election, NY Trial Loom
Former President Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon was released from federal prison Tuesday after serving a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress, a week before Election Day and a month and a half ahead of his next criminal trial in New York.
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October 29, 2024
Pa. DA Says ATF's Pot Patients Ban Doesn't Fit With Bruen
A Pennsylvania district attorney is urging a federal judge not to throw out his suit challenging a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives policy blocking medical cannabis patients from buying or owning firearms, saying the U.S. Supreme Court's recent precedent preempts the restriction.
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October 29, 2024
Court Closure Sought Over Taunts By Florida Gun Shop Owner
The Connecticut Attorney General's Office urged a state judge to protect the identity of its investigator in filings and to close the courtroom during their testimony at trial in a lawsuit alleging a Florida company deceptively sold do-it-yourself gun kits, saying anonymity is needed because of the owner's online taunts.
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October 29, 2024
GOP Rep. Roy Opposes Efforts To Stop 'Judge Shopping'
A Republican on the House Judiciary Committee is threatening to withhold support for legislation bolstering the operation of the federal courts if the Administrative Office of the Courts doesn't stop considering measures aimed at ending "judge shopping."
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October 29, 2024
PBM Group Federal Affairs VP Joins Akin In Lobbying Role
A former Capitol Hill health policy advocate who worked in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and guided federal and state stakeholders through the implementation of the Affordable Care Act has joined Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP's lobbying team.
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October 29, 2024
UK, EU Finish Negotiations Over Antitrust Cooperation Pact
The U.K. government announced Tuesday that it had concluded negotiations with the European Union on a deal to boost cooperation between British and European competition enforcement authorities.
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October 29, 2024
Senate Panel Targets 'Clever' Pharma Pricing
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday railed against drugmakers and pharmacy benefit managers for allegedly causing the high cost of prescription drugs, arguing that "Big Pharma" has used anticompetitive tactics through patenting to fleece American patients.
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October 29, 2024
Ga. Judge Says Merger Of BioLab Fire Cases Imminent
A Georgia federal judge said Tuesday that within the week, she would likely consolidate most if not all of the nearly 20 lawsuits filed against chemical manufacturer BioLab Inc. in the aftermath of a massive industrial fire at its Conyers, Georgia plant last month.
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October 29, 2024
Besieged NJ Prosecutor Keeps Suit Over Resignation Alive
The former county prosecutor in Warren County, New Jersey, has partially defeated a motion to dismiss from Gov. Phil Murphy and Attorney General Matthew Platkin, and can pursue a state court claim that he never technically resigned before being replaced.
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October 29, 2024
2nd Circ. Says FBI Agents Immune From Suit Over No-Fly List
The Second Circuit on Tuesday upheld a lower court's decision finding immunity for FBI agents who were accused of placing four Muslim men on a no-fly database after they declined to become informants.
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October 29, 2024
Judge Rules Texas Grid Projects Law Unconstitutional
A Texas federal judge on Monday ruled that a right of first refusal law in Texas reserving new power line development for the state's incumbent transmission companies violates the U.S. Constitution's commerce clause.
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October 28, 2024
Google Shadow Attacks Divert Regulator Eyes, Microsoft Says
Like a shadow in the night, Google has been quietly organizing campaigns to attack Microsoft, mislead the public and divert antitrust regulatory scrutiny away from itself, a top attorney for the Washington tech giant claimed Monday in a fiery blog post.
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October 28, 2024
JPMorgan CEO Says Banks Must 'Fight Back' As Regs Mount
JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon said Monday that it's time for the banking industry to "fight back" against aggressive federal regulators, criticizing what he described as an "onslaught" of unnecessary, overly harsh rulemaking.
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October 28, 2024
Union Pacific Told To Face Injury Retrial With Reinstated Expert
Railroad giant Union Pacific must face retrial against an injured worker after a California appeals court ruled that an expert with decades of rail experience but no formal accident-analysis training was wrongly blocked from telling a jury how a freight train behaves when starting up.
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October 28, 2024
Apple Withholding Docs In Monopoly Row, Epic Says
Epic Games and Apple continued on in a discovery dispute in Epic's suit accusing Apple of monopolizing the iOS app distribution and in-app payment processing markets, with the video game company saying in a joint letter filed Friday that Apple is withholding "tens of thousands" of responsive documents.
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October 28, 2024
Casinos End Dispute With Fla. Tribe, Agree To Partner
Several Florida casino operators have promised to end litigation against Seminole Tribe of Florida over an agreement with the state government allowing the tribe to receive online sports bets, instead agreeing to partner with the tribe to offer and promote gambling through an app, the tribe announced Monday.
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October 28, 2024
CFPB Asks DC Circ. To Topple PayPal's Wallet Disclosure Win
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has urged the D.C. Circuit to reverse PayPal's latest win against an agency rule that subjected Venmo-style digital wallets to some of the same fee disclosure requirements as reloadable prepaid cards, defending its basis for regulating the two products similarly.
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October 28, 2024
Tech Groups Target Fla. Law To Restrict Kids On Social Media
A pair of tech industry trade associations are pressing a Florida federal court to strike down a new state law that would ban children under 13 and restrict 14- and 15-year-olds from social media, arguing that the measure would unconstitutionally stifle free speech and create new "honeypots" of personal data for hackers to exploit.
Expert Analysis
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Remedy May Be Google's Biggest Hurdle Yet In Antitrust Case
There are difficulties ahead in the remedies phase of the antitrust case against Google in District of Columbia federal court, including the search engine giant's scale advantage and the fast-moving nature of the tech industry, setting the stage for the most challenging of the proceedings so far, says Jonathan Rubin at MoginRubin.
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3 Ways To Limit Risks Of Black-Box AI In Financial Services
As regulators increasingly highlight the potential for artificial intelligence to make unfair consumer credit decisions, and require financial institutions to explain how these so-called black-box algorithms arrive at conclusions, companies should consider three key questions to reduce their regulatory risks from these tools, say Jeffrey Naimon and Caroline Stapleton at Orrick.
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Energy And AI: Key Issues And Future Challenges
Artificial intelligence promises new technical advantages for the energy industry, but it is also responsible for vast, and growing, energy consumption — so the future of AI and energy will require balancing technological advancement with regulatory oversight, environmental responsibility and infrastructure development, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Opinion
Transpo Board Should Broaden Ex Parte Rules Further
The Surface Transportation Board's 2018 ex parte rule reform was an important step in increasing agency engagement with stakeholders — but the board should build on that progress by expanding the windows for communications in informal rulemakings, encouraging more communications with staff, and making other changes, say Matthew Warren and Allison Davis at Sidley.
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The Regulatory Headwinds Facing Lab-Developed Tests
Though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's final rule regarding regulation of laboratory-developed tests outlines a four-year plan for ending enforcement discretion, and though this rule is currently being challenged in courts, manufacturers should heed compliance opportunities immediately as enforcement actions are already on the horizon, say attorneys at Kirkland & Ellis.
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3 High Court Rulings May Shape Health Org. Litigation Tactics
Three separate decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court's most recent term — Loper Bright, Corner Post and Jarkesy — will likely strengthen healthcare organizations' ability to affirmatively sue executive agencies to challenge regulations governing operations and enforcement actions, say attorneys at McDermott.
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Opinion
The Big Issues A BigLaw Associates' Union Could Address
A BigLaw associates’ union could address a number of issues that have the potential to meaningfully improve working conditions, diversity and attorney well-being — from restructured billable hour requirements to origination credit allocation, return-to-office mandates and more, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.
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Opinion
It's Time For A BigLaw Associates' Union
As BigLaw faces a steady stream of criticism about its employment policies and practices, an associates union could effect real change — and it could start with law students organizing around opposition to recent recruiting trends, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.
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Why DOJ's Whistleblower Program May Have Limited Impact
The U.S. Department of Justice’s new whistleblower pilot program aims to incentivize individuals to report corporate misconduct, but the program's effectiveness may be undercut by its differences from other federal agencies’ whistleblower programs and its interplay with other DOJ policies, say attorneys at Milbank.
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CFPB's Earned Wage Access Rule Marks Regulatory Shift
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's newly issued interpretive rule on earned wage access products, classifying them as extensions of credit, marks a significant shift in their regulatory landscape and raises some important questions regarding potential fringe cases and legal challenges, say Erin Bryan and Courina Yulisa at Dorsey & Whitney.
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How Calif. Justices' Prop 22 Ruling Affects The Gig Industry
The California Supreme Court's recent upholding of Proposition 22 clarifies that Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other companies in the gig industry can legally classify their drivers as independent contractors, but it falls short of concluding some important regulatory battles in the state, says Mark Spring at CDF Labor.
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Look For Flags On Expert Claims After Sunday Ticket Reversal
A California federal judge’s recent reversal of a jury’s $4.7 billion antitrust verdict in the NFL Sunday Ticket case indicates that litigants may be inclined to challenge expert testimony admissibility under Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, and that judges may increasingly accept such challenges, say attorneys at Kutak Rock.
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How Justices Upended The Administrative Procedure Act
In its recent Loper Bright, Corner Post and Jarkesy decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed the Administrative Procedure Act in ways that undermine Congress and the executive branch, shift power to the judiciary, curtail public and business input, and create great uncertainty, say Alene Taber and Beth Hummer at Hanson Bridgett.
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How Corner Post Affects Enviro Laws' Statutes Of Limitations
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board has helped to alter the fundamental underpinnings of administrative law — and its plaintiff-centric approach may have implications for some specific environmental laws' statutes of limitations, say Chris Leason and Liam Martin at Gallagher and Kennedy.
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Opinion
DOL's Impending Mental Health Act Regs Should Be Simplified
The U.S. Department of Labor should consider revising these six issues in its forthcoming Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act regulations to ease the significant compliance hurdles for group health plan sponsors, says Alden Bianchi at McDermott.