Public Policy

  • December 05, 2024

    Freddie Mac Beats Suit Over Payoff Statement Fees, For Now

    A Washington federal judge has tentatively let Freddie Mac off the hook in borrowers' proposed class action alleging loan servicer Nationstar Mortgage illegally charged fees for payoff statements, ruling Thursday that Freddie Mac can't be liable for conduct it didn't authorize — even if it did own one loan at issue.

  • December 05, 2024

    'Texas Two-Step,' Exec Bonus Bankruptcy Bills Reintroduced

    Lawmakers in the U.S. Senate this week renewed efforts to pass two bankruptcy bills that would bolster rights for employees and crack down on the controversial use of so-called Texas two-step bankruptcies.

  • December 05, 2024

    Vidal Sends Nokia's Patent Challenges Back To PTAB, Again

    The head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has again vacated a Patent Trial and Appeal Board refusal to hear three patent challenges by Nokia, saying the board needs to take a look at the case a third time.

  • December 05, 2024

    DOJ Is Eyeing Foreign Patent Litigation Funding, GAO Says

    The U.S. Department of Justice is examining the role foreign countries might be playing in funding patent litigation in the U.S., the Government Accountability Office said in a report released Thursday exploring the benefits and pitfalls of the proliferation of third-party intellectual property litigation financing.

  • December 05, 2024

    Providers' $2.8B BCBS Antitrust Deal Gets Judge's Initial OK

    An Alabama federal judge has given his initial approval for a $2.8 billion settlement inked between Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and a proposed class of medical providers in a more than 12-year-old antitrust case targeting association rules.

  • December 05, 2024

    Gov't Efficiency Push Is A 'New Day,' House Speaker Says

    House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., spoke excitedly Thursday about the new government efficiency operation helmed by billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and touted the budding bipartisan lineup of a congressional caucus that will work with it.

  • December 05, 2024

    Amazon Says Section 230 Shields Against Casino App Suit

    Amazon said Wednesday a federal judge should toss a proposed class action accusing the e-commerce giant of promoting and selling "social casino" apps that enable illegal gambling, arguing the company is immune under a federal law regulating internet content because it did not create the games.

  • December 05, 2024

    Man Says NC Failed To Prove He Had Cannabis, Not Hemp

    A North Carolina man is appealing his conviction for possession and intent to distribute cannabis, saying the state failed to show evidence that the material they seized from him was cannabis as opposed to legal hemp.

  • December 05, 2024

    Colo. Sheriff Says County Worker Rights Law Can't Touch Him

    A Colorado sheriff is suing the state to challenge application of a collective bargaining law to him, arguing in a complaint filed Wednesday in Denver District Court that applying the law to sheriffs interferes with their legal authority and independence.

  • December 05, 2024

    Okla. Court Says Tulsa Can Prosecute Indian Country Crime

    An Oklahoma Criminal Appeals Court will not dismiss a challenge by the city of Tulsa that questions its jurisdictional rights on reservation lands, saying the municipality's ability to prosecute crimes is centered in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said states can prosecute non-Indians for crimes against Indians on tribal land.

  • December 05, 2024

    3rd Circ. Unsure Pa. Regulator Had Right To Deny Project

    Third Circuit judges appeared wary on Thursday of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission's argument that its take on the necessity of a transmission project trumps a federal agency's determination, at one point questioning how any such project could be completed if the court accepted its argument.

  • December 05, 2024

    Wash. Gov.'s Executive Order Backs Tribal Salmon Initiative

    Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has, in an executive order, directed state agencies to cooperate with four sovereign tribal nations and Oregon to fulfill commitments to the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative, which aims to protect salmon and steelhead populations.

  • December 05, 2024

    Utah Defends Effort To Wrest Land From Feds At High Court

    Utah told the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday that its proposed lawsuit accusing the government of unconstitutionally hoarding and profiting from public lands in the state belongs before the justices and that the government's recent response strengthens its case.

  • December 05, 2024

    NC Town Sues Duke Energy Over Climate Change 'Deception'

    A small town in North Carolina is suing Duke Energy for what officials characterized as a decades-long "deception campaign" about climate change, including allegedly misleading residents about the dangerous effects of fossil fuels and delaying the transition to cleaner energy.

  • December 05, 2024

    Detroit Needs More Evidence In Census Row, Judge Says

    A Michigan federal judge gave the city of Detroit another chance Thursday to prove the U.S. Census Bureau undercounted the city's population and negatively impacted its federal funding, telling the city it wouldn't have standing to sue the federal government without such evidence.

  • December 05, 2024

    Migrants Told 'Asylum No Longer Exists,' Report Says

    U.S. border agents are mistreating asylum-seeking families under President Joe Biden's June border restrictions, denying them access to asylum and returning them to Mexico in violation of domestic and international law, Human Rights Watch said Thursday in a new report.

  • December 05, 2024

    US Trade Gap Fell By $10B In Oct. As Imports And Exports Dipped

    The United States' trade deficit for goods and services trade dropped $10 billion from September to October, with imports decreasing more than exports, according to a Bureau of Economic Analysis report released Thursday.

  • December 05, 2024

    Sens. Urge DOD To Beef Up Telecom Security After Cyberattack

    The U.S. Department of Defense may not be doing enough to protect unclassified information from being intercepted by foreign spies, a bipartisan pair of U.S. senators have said.

  • December 05, 2024

    NCAA's NIL Settlement 'Illegal' In Many States, Lawmakers Say

    The National Collegiate Athletic Association's $2.78 billion settlement with athletes over name, image and likeness compensation, now awaiting final court approval, would be "illegal" in several states because of their current NIL laws, a group of current and former lawmakers said Thursday.

  • December 05, 2024

    Charter Settles For $1.1M After FCC Emergency Alert Probe

    Charter has agreed to pay $1.1 million to end an investigation by the Federal Communications Commission into whether the cable giant failed to properly keep emergency alert devices online during an FCC test of the system last fall.

  • December 05, 2024

    Covington Helps Take Calif. Court Reporter Shortage To Court

    Covington & Burling LLP is among the counsel for groups petitioning the California Supreme Court to address the state's court reporter shortage by mandating the use of electronic recording when court reporters are unavailable.

  • December 05, 2024

    Boies Tells 1st Circ. Cannabis Precedent Is Outdated

    The premises undergirding a 19-year-old U.S. Supreme Court precedent on cannabis policy have changed so dramatically in the intervening years that its holdings no longer apply to the current marijuana landscape, litigator David Boies told a First Circuit panel during oral arguments Thursday.

  • December 05, 2024

    Carriers Must Shield Networks From Attacks, FCC Chair Says

    The head of the Federal Communications Commission called Thursday for "urgent action" from U.S. telecom carriers to protect their networks in the wake of the recent Salt Typhoon cyberattack, and said the agency could soon rule that telecoms are affirmatively required under law to try to prevent such intrusions.

  • December 05, 2024

    Ga. Judge Tosses GOP Election Suit Against Fulton County

    A Georgia state court judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to make Fulton County hire Republican poll workers for last month's general election because the plaintiffs failed to show at a court appearance earlier this week.

  • December 05, 2024

    Disgruntled Dems Move On From Appellate Noms Deal

    While some Democrats have gripes about the deal Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer made with Republicans before Thanksgiving on judicial confirmations, they grudgingly concede the deal helps them fill as many seats as possible even if it means leaving choice circuit seats for President-elect Donald Trump to fill.

Expert Analysis

  • 9 Considerations Around Proposed Connected Vehicle Ban

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    Stakeholders should consider several aspects of the U.S. Department of Commerce's recent proposal to ban U.S. imports and sales of vehicles incorporating certain connectivity components made in China or Russia, including exempted transactions and vehicle hardware imports, say attorneys at Blank Rome.

  • Legislation Most Likely To Pass In Lame Duck Session

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    As Congress begins its five-week post-election lame duck session, attorneys at Greenberg Traurig break down the legislative priorities and which proposals can be expected to pass.

  • Predicting Shareholder Activism Trends In New Trump Admin

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    While President-elect Donald Trump has promised tax policies, deregulation and lax antitrust enforcement — which all fuel shareholder activism — a closer look at his first administration's track record suggests that his second presidency might be a mixed bag for activist investors and companies alike, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • What Trump's 2nd Presidency Could Mean For Crypto Sector

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    Trump's second term will bring a fundamental shift from the Biden administration's approach to crypto-asset regulation and banking supervision, with the most significant changes likely taking effect in the first two quarters of 2025 and broader policy shifts emerging over the next year, say attorneys at Cahill.

  • Promoting Diversity In The Selection Of ADR Neutrals

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Choosing neutrals from diverse backgrounds is an important step in promoting inclusion in the legal profession, and it can enhance the legitimacy and public perception of alternative dispute resolution proceedings, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Opinion

    Preserving The FCA Is Crucial In Trump's 2nd Term

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    While the Trump administration may pursue weaker False Claims Act enforcement, it remains an essential tool in safeguarding public funds and maintaining corporate accountability, so now is not the time to undermine ethical behavior, or reduce protections and incentives for whistleblowers, says Adam Pollock at Pollock Cohen.

  • Series

    Playing Ultimate Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    In addition to being fun, ultimate Frisbee has improved our legal careers by emphasizing the importance of professionalism, teamwork, perseverance, enthusiasm and vulnerability, say Arunabha Bhoumik and Adam Bernstein at Regeneron. 

  • High Court 'Violent Crimes' Case Tangled Up In Hypotheticals

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    In Delligatti v. U.S., the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments next week on whether attempted murder constitutes a crime of violence, and because the court’s interpretive approach thus far has relied on hairsplitting legal hypotheticals with absurd results, Congress should repeal the underlying statute, say attorneys at Patterson Belknap.

  • Dissecting New Circuit Split Over SEC's Proxy Adviser Rule

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    The Sixth Circuit recently upheld the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's partial rescission of enhanced conflict-of-interest disclosure requirements for proxy voting advice businesses, creating a circuit split over broader questions concerning the standard for assessing the legality of agency actions in general, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.

  • Tracking The Slow Movement Of AI Copyright Cases

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    The tech community may be expecting a prompt resolution on whether products generated by artificial intelligence are a fair use of copyrighted works, but legal history shows that a response to this question — at the heart of over 30 pending cases — will take years, say attorneys at White & Case.

  • Federal Salary History Ban's Reach Is Limited

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    Though a newly effective Office of Personnel Management rule takes important steps by banning federal employers from considering job applicants' nonfederal salary histories, the rule's narrow applicability and overconfidence in the existing system's fairness will likely not end persistent pay inequities, says Margaret House at Kalijarvi Chuzi.

  • Call For Input Shows How Banks, Fintechs Can Address Risks

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    A recent request for information by federal banking regulators suggests that watchdogs are zeroing in on the bank-fintech partnerships they have long perceived as risky to consumers, but analyzing the publication can help companies anticipate regulators’ chief concerns and take steps to avoid becoming enforcement targets, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • How Property Insurance Coverage Shrank After The Pandemic

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    Insurers litigating property claims are leveraging rulings that provided relief in the COVID-19 context to reverse the former majority rule on physical loss or damage in all contexts, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Considering Chevron's End Through A State Tax Lens

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    States took the lead in encouraging Chevron's demise, turning away from Chevron-type deference in state tax administration ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision, a trend likely to accelerate as courts take a more active role in interpreting tax laws, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • NYC Hotel Licensing Law's Costs May Outweigh Its Benefits

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    A hotel licensing bill recently approved by New York's City Council could lead to the loss of many nonunionized hotels that cannot afford to comply, says Stuart Saft at Holland & Knight.

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