Public Policy

  • June 21, 2024

    Ayahuasca Church Is Not Tax-Exempt, DC Circ. Affirms

    An Iowa church that used a psychedelic drug in its rites was correctly denied tax-exempt status, the D.C. Circuit affirmed Friday, saying the church's main purpose is using a federally illegal drug for which it lacked approval for religious use.

  • June 21, 2024

    Attys Accused Of Judge Shopping Must Share Public Remarks

    Attorneys accused of judge shopping two 2022 suits challenging an Alabama law criminalizing some gender-affirming care for transgender youths have been given 48 hours to turn over any public statements, releases or other information they or their organizations have shared about the disciplinary proceedings, just days ahead of a Monday hearing.

  • June 21, 2024

    Rip And Replace 'Ruinous' Without Fed Funds, Carriers Say

    A rural telecoms trade group is warning the Federal Communications Commission of potentially "ruinous" financial predicaments for small carriers if the "rip and replace" program targeting Chinese-made telecommunications equipment isn't fully funded soon, saying in a new filing that carriers are considering reducing service because of the lack of funding.

  • June 21, 2024

    Ex-Chicago Alderman Burke Can't Delay Sentencing

    Former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke can't postpone his Monday sentencing on charges of racketeering, extortion and bribery to await a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the scope of federal bribery law, an Illinois federal judge ruled Friday, saying that decision will have "little or no impact" on Burke's fate.

  • June 21, 2024

    Atty Convicted Of Pot Bribe Wins Bail At 1st Circ.

    A suspended Massachusetts attorney convicted last fall of attempting to bribe a police chief to help his client secure a cannabis license will remain free pending his appeal, the First Circuit ruled Friday, reversing a district judge's decision.

  • June 21, 2024

    Feds Seek To Nix Atty's Charges As 2nd Atty Heads To Prison

    Prosecutors moved Friday to dismiss charges against a Georgia attorney for fraudulently obtaining federal pandemic-relief loans meant for businesses, with the pending dismissal — based on her completion of a pretrial diversion program — coming after a Florida attorney and alleged accomplice received a prison sentence of more than six years.

  • June 21, 2024

    5th Circ. Knocks Out National Block On ACA Preventive Care

    The Fifth Circuit on Friday struck down a national injunction against Affordable Care Act requirements forcing insurers to cover a range of preventive treatments, but kept a block in place that prevents its application to the individuals and businesses in Texas that sued.

  • June 21, 2024

    Pa. Justices Will Weigh If 'Skill Games' Are Slot Machines

    The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania will take up a case and decide whether the "Pennsylvania Skill Games" that combine a chance-based game mode with a secondary memory game fall under the state's definition of "slot machines," potentially affecting many storefronts and bars where the game machines have proliferated.

  • June 21, 2024

    Rebar Co. Says Feds Spurned Data For Info 'On The Internet'

    A Turkish rebar company pressed the U.S. Court of International Trade to order U.S. trade officials to reassess its countervailing duties, saying officials incorrectly excluded a commissioned study from the review for a report posted online.

  • June 21, 2024

    Ex-Mass. Pol Hit With New Charges In COVID Fraud Case

    A former Massachusetts state senator already accused of pandemic-related fraud has been charged alongside his sister with attempting to cover up a scheme to make him eligible for unemployment benefits, the U.S. attorney's office announced Friday.

  • June 21, 2024

    6th Circ. Says Counties Not On Hook For Mich. Dam Collapse

    A Sixth Circuit panel agreed that two Michigan counties can't be forced to compensate homeowners for destructive flooding caused by a dam's collapse, finding Thursday that the counties did not cause the damage to the homeowners' properties.

  • June 21, 2024

    Sens. Introduce 'Complementary' Bill To TikTok Ban

    A bipartisan bill introduced Thursday would require websites and apps to disclose to their users if they are owned wholly or partially by China, North Korea, Russia or Iran or if data collected through those sites or apps is accessible to those countries.

  • June 21, 2024

    5 ERISA Cases To Watch In 2024's Second Half

    The U.S. Department of Labor will be playing defense in the second half of 2024, battling injunction bids in Texas seeking to halt the agency's recently finalized retirement security regulations, as well as fighting to uphold a DOL rule tackling social and environmental factors in retirement plan investment decisions. Here, Law360 looks at five Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases that attorneys say they will have on their radar.

  • June 21, 2024

    Feds Offer $850M To Slash Methane From Oil And Gas

    The Biden administration on Friday unveiled the latest prong of its multifaceted plan to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector: $850 million worth of federal funding for projects that monitor, measure and reduce emissions from oil and gas infrastructure.

  • June 21, 2024

    High Court Opens Expert Testimony Basis To Confrontation

    The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday that Arizona prosecutors may have violated a criminal defendant's Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses testifying against him by presenting a substitute expert witness at trial, and sent the case back down to state court for further proceedings.

  • June 21, 2024

    Justices Keep Domestic Abusers Disarmed, Clarify Bruen

    The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a Texas man's constitutional challenge to a federal law prohibiting people subject to domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms Friday, providing limited guidance to lower courts on how to apply the high court's Second Amendment historical analogue test.

  • June 21, 2024

    Justices Strengthen Jury Trial Rights For Stiffer Sentences

    The constitutional rights to due process and trial by jury extend to a pivotal prong of a prominent sentencing enhancement for recidivism, the U.S. Supreme Court held in a Friday decision that casts doubt on many incarcerations and promises to reshape future trials.

  • June 21, 2024

    Justices Say No Feds, No Dice In Texas-NM Water Deal

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday ruled that Texas, New Mexico and Colorado improperly excluded the federal government from an agreement that resolved a Rio Grande water sharing dispute, rejecting the states' argument that the conflict was theirs alone to settle.

  • June 20, 2024

    TikTok Says Alternatives To 'Dangerous' Ban Were Ignored

    TikTok said Thursday that federal lawmakers likely didn't even consider its "exhaustive, multi-year efforts" to address national security concerns before deciding to ban the social media platform, slamming the law as "unprecedented" and warning that it sets "a dangerous precedent."

  • June 20, 2024

    Del. House Sends Controversial Corp. Law Changes To Gov.

    Delaware legislation that would allow corporate boards to cede some governance rights to chosen stockholders cleared the state's House by a wide margin late Thursday, heading to Gov. John Carney after debate that saw dire predictions for either outcome.

  • June 20, 2024

    Colo. Prosecutor Says Ex-DA Undermined Her Leadership

    An elected Colorado prosecutor facing disciplinary charges regarding her handling of a high-profile murder case pushed back on charges she was a negligent manager, telling a disciplinary panel Thursday she inherited a backlog of cases from a predecessor she said tried to undermine her office.

  • June 20, 2024

    Menendez Jury Sees Slides Lowell Presented To SDNY Brass

    Sen. Robert Menendez's lawyers grilled a witness in his bribery trial Thursday about a meeting in which Abbe Lowell, the politician's ex-lawyer, tried to convince U.S. Attorney Damian Williams not to indict Menendez — but were stymied by flurries of objections.

  • June 20, 2024

    Ex-DEA Heads Echo GOP AGs' Call For Pot Rescheduling Hearing

    A group of former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration leaders and Republican attorneys general have formally requested administrative hearings on the U.S. attorney general's proposal to reschedule cannabis, according to separate letters sent this week that distinctly echo each other.

  • June 20, 2024

    Patent Owners, Challengers Spar Over PTAB Rule Proposal

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's scaled-back package of Patent Trial and Appeal Board rules has drawn a mixed reaction from legal and industry groups, which offered praise and concern about both the proposal and the topics it does not address.

  • June 20, 2024

    5th Circ. Starts Clock For Redo Bid In CFPB Payday Rule Case

    The Fifth Circuit said Wednesday that payday lender trade groups will have an opportunity to ask for another shot at litigating the validity of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's payday lending rule after their constitutional challenge fell flat at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    The FTC's Noncompete Rule Is Likely Dead On Arrival

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    The Federal Trade Commission's April 23 noncompete ban ignores the consequences to the employees it claims to help — but the rule is unlikely to go into effect provided the ideological makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court remains the same, say Erik Weibust and Stuart Gerson at Epstein Becker.

  • Wave Of Final Rules Reflects Race Against CRA Deadline

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    The flurry of final rules now leaping off the Federal Register press — some of which will affect entire industries and millions of Americans — shows President Joe Biden's determination to protect his regulatory legacy from reversal by the next Congress, given the impending statutory look-back period under the Congressional Review Act, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Unpacking The Bill To Extend TCJA's Biz-Friendly Tax Breaks

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    Attorneys at Skadden examine how a bipartisan bill currently being considered by the U.S. Senate to save the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's tax breaks for research and development costs, and other expiring business-friendly provisions, would affect taxpayers.

  • 'Beauty From Within' Trend Poses Regulatory Risks For Cos.

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    Companies capitalizing on the current trend in oral supplements touting cosmetic benefits must note that a product claim that would be acceptable for an externally applied cosmetic may draw much stronger scrutiny from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration when applied to a supplement, say Natalie Rainer and Katherine Staba at K&L Gates.

  • Perspectives

    Criminal Defendants Should Have Access To Foreign Evidence

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    A New Jersey federal court recently ordered prosecutors to obtain evidence from India on behalf of the former Cognizant Technology executives they’re prosecuting — a precedent that other courts should follow to make cross-border evidentiary requests more fair and efficient, say Kaylana Mueller-Hsia and Rebecca Wexler at UC Berkeley School of Law.

  • How Cos. Can Prep For New Calif. Privacy Regulations

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    The California Privacy Protection Agency has been very active in the first quarter of 2024 and continues to exercise its rulemaking authority with proposed draft regulations, so retailers should prepare for California Consumer Privacy Act enforcement and figure out how best to comply, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • Fed. Circ. Defines Foreign IP Damages, Raises New Questions

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    In Brumfield v. IBG, the Federal Circuit recently clarified which standard determines the extraterritoriality of the patent statute after the U.S. Supreme Court's WesternGeco decision, opening a new avenue of damages for foreign activities resulting from certain domestic activities while also creating some thorny questions, say Amol Parikh and Ian Howard at McDermott.

  • EPA Chemical Safety Rule Raises Questions About Authority

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    Stakeholders should consider the practical and economic costs of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recently finalized rule imposing novel board reporting regulations for certain chemical plants and refineries, which signals that the agency may seek a role in regulating corporate governance, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Series

    Being An Equestrian Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Beyond getting experience thinking on my feet and tackling stressful situations, the skills I've gained from horseback riding have considerable overlap with the skills used to practice law, particularly in terms of team building, continuing education, and making an effort to reset and recharge, says Kerry Irwin at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Bracing For The CFPB's War On Mortgage Fees

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    As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau homes in on the legality of certain residential mortgage fees, the industry should consult the bureau's steady stream of consumer lending guidance for hints on its priorities, say Nanci Weissgold and Melissa Malpass at Alston & Bird.

  • Deciding What Comes At The End Of WTO's Digital Tariff Ban

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    Companies that feel empowered by the World Trade Organization’s recent two-year extension of the ban on e-commerce tariffs should pay attention to current negotiations over what comes after the moratorium expires, as these agreements will define standards in international e-commerce for years to come, say Jan Walter, Hannes Sigurgeirsson and Kulsum Gulamhusein at Akin Gump.

  • DOE Funding And Cargo Preference Compliance: Key Points

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    Under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the U.S. Department of Energy will disburse more than $62 billion in financing for innovative energy projects — and recipients must understand their legal obligations related to cargo preference, so they can develop compliance strategies as close to project inception as possible, say attorneys at White & Case.

  • Georgia's Foreign Lobbying Bill Is Not A FARA Copycat

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    Though a recently passed bill in Georgia aims to mirror the transparency goals of the federal Foreign Agents Registration Act by imposing state-specific disclosure requirements for foreign lobbyists, the legislation’s broad language and lack of exemptions could capture a wider swath of organizations, say attorneys at Holtzman Vogel.

  • FTC Noncompete Ban Signals Rising Labor Focus In Antitrust

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    The Federal Trade Commission’s approval this week of a prohibition on noncompete agreements continues antitrust enforcers’ increasing focus on labor, meaning companies must keep employee issues top of mind both in the ordinary course of business and when pursuing transactions, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Breaking Down EEOC's Final Rule To Implement The PWFA

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    Attorneys at Littler highlight some of the key provisions of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's final rule and interpretive guidance implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which is expected to be effective June 18, and departures from the proposed rule issued in August 2023.

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