Public Policy

  • November 13, 2024

    Senate Fills Another Illinois Judge Seat

    The U.S. Senate voted 50-46 on Wednesday to confirm U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Hawley for a district judgeship for the Central District of Illinois.

  • November 13, 2024

    New Medical Exams No Longer Needed For Afghan Allies

    U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said Wednesday that Afghans who arrived as part of Operation Allies Welcome won't need to get new medical exams when they apply for their green cards.

  • November 13, 2024

    NLRB Outlaws Captive Audience Meetings

    The National Labor Relations Board issued an eagerly awaited decision Wednesday curbing a go-to tactic for employers battling union drives, holding that so-called captive audience meetings violate federal labor law. 

  • November 13, 2024

    Gibson Dunn 'Titan,' Ex-Solicitor General Theodore Olson Dies

    Theodore B. Olson, the founder of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP's appellate and constitutional law practice group and a former U.S. solicitor general, died Wednesday, the law firm announced.

  • November 12, 2024

    Ex-FDIC Head Urges Banks To 'Push Back' Against Examiners

    A former top Trump banking regulator on Tuesday called for bank executives to show "backbone" and push back when they are challenged with bad exam findings from their regulators, urging resistance as an antidote to perceived excesses in bank oversight.

  • November 12, 2024

    Trump Taps Elon Musk To Head New 'Gov't Efficiency' Dept.

    President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a newly created "Department in Government Efficiency" for his administration come January.

  • November 12, 2024

    Idaho Says Any Health Risk Could Be Used To Justify Abortion

    In his opening statement Tuesday in a trial weighing whether Idaho's abortion bans are forcing women to carry dangerous, nonviable pregnancies to term, a state attorney hypothetically quipped that to abortion rights advocates, even stepping on a "rusty nail" could be considered a health risk that could require an abortion.

  • November 12, 2024

    Future of Anti-Deepfake Federal Law Is Murky, Panel Says

    Panelists at a Los Angeles intellectual property conference that included attorneys and representatives of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the U.S. Copyright Office and Microsoft agreed Tuesday that any federal legislation on deepfake technology must strike the difficult balance of punishing bad actors without stifling innovation.

  • November 12, 2024

    DC Circ. Mulls Legality Of Gag Orders On X Corp. Subpoenas

    A D.C. Circuit panel grappled Tuesday with the federal government's authority to obtain sweeping nondisclosure orders preventing social media companies from notifying users when their accounts are targeted by subpoenas, with X Corp. arguing that such gag orders are illegal.

  • November 12, 2024

    Ga. Judge Tosses Feral Horses Island Enviro Suit

    A Georgia federal judge encouraged the National Park Service to better manage the feral horses of Cumberland Island, even as she dismissed a lawsuit alleging federal and state agencies mistreated the animals and allowed them to trample the habitat, eggs and nests of endangered sea turtles and piping plovers.

  • November 12, 2024

    5th Circ. Won't Reopen CFPB Payday Rule Fight

    The Fifth Circuit on Tuesday denied a bid from a lender to reopen an industry legal challenge to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's payday loan rule that previously foundered at the U.S. Supreme Court, clearing the way for the rule to take effect.

  • November 12, 2024

    Illinois Judge First Confirmation Of Lame Duck Session

    Kicking off the lame duck session, the Senate voted 51-44 on Tuesday night to confirm April Perry, a senior counsel at GE HealthCare, to the Northern District of Illinois.

  • November 12, 2024

    Trump Pick To Lead EPA Is Loyal, Would Learn On The Job

    President-elect Donald Trump prioritized loyalty and a demonstrated ability to carry out his priorities with his announcement that he intends to nominate a former congressman from New York state to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

  • November 12, 2024

    Trump Gathers Nat'l Security Team For Border, Defense Roles

    President-elect Donald Trump has chosen a slate of loyalists with hawkish approaches toward foreign policy and securing the U.S. border, creating a team of ideologically aligned officials as he seeks to ramp up deportations and end the war in Ukraine. Law360 takes a look at seven of his national security picks and the impact they will have on defense, immigration and foreign relations with rival nations.

  • November 12, 2024

    FTC Doubts It Overstepped On Editing Meta Decree

    The FTC spent its morning mulling whether it overstepped in trying to modify a 2020 consent decree with Facebook to impose new restrictions on the social media titan now known as Meta after finding that the company hadn't been keeping its data privacy promises.

  • November 12, 2024

    Wireless Group Backs Verizon In Fight Over FCC Privacy Fine

    A major wireless industry group has urged the Second Circuit to deep-six the Federal Communications Commission's nearly $47 million fine against Verizon for selling customers' location data, arguing the FCC read its authority to penalize the mobile giant too broadly.

  • November 12, 2024

    Trump Taps Ex-Jones Day Partner For White House Counsel

    President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that William J. McGinley, a former Jones Day partner who worked as assistant to both the president and Cabinet secretary during Trump's first term, will serve as White House counsel during the upcoming term.

  • November 12, 2024

    Fed Bans Ex-Bank Leaders Over Alleged COVID Relief Fraud

    The Federal Reserve Board of Governors announced Tuesday that it has prohibited two former top brass with Nano Banc from future participation in the banking industry, alleging they fraudulently obtained loans and grants through the federal CARES Act.

  • November 12, 2024

    Colo. Justices Pass On School ADA Fight Over Veteran's Dog

    The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a bid by a state university to review an appellate finding that the school may have pried too deeply with its inquiries into a veteran's service dog and relied on an outdated rationale for seeking additional info.

  • November 12, 2024

    Comerica Sues CFPB To Stop 'Ultra Vires' Benefits Card Probe

    Comerica Bank has sued the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in a Texas federal court, accusing it of carrying out an overreaching and unlawful investigation into the bank's handling of a government program for distributing federal benefits via debit cards.

  • November 12, 2024

    Don't Let Broadband Maps Overstate Rural Overlap, FCC Told

    Rural telecoms are again urging the Federal Communications Commission to beware of overstated provider overlap in its National Broadband Map when allocating federal deployment funding, arguing that the map should be used as part of a holistic process to determine where money should be spent and not the sole determinant.

  • November 12, 2024

    SEC Quietly Shelves Private Fund Rules After 5th Circ. Loss

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has formally withdrawn rules that would have increased agency oversight of hedge funds and private equity funds after declining to appeal a Fifth Circuit decision that vacated the rules, which would have required fund advisers to disclose detailed information about their operations.

  • November 12, 2024

    Split DC Circ. Says White House Can't Issue NEPA Regs

    A divided D.C. Circuit determined Tuesday that the White House Council on Environmental Quality lacks the authority to issue legally binding regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act, finding there is no statutory language showing Congress empowered it to do so.

  • November 12, 2024

    Mich. High Court Snapshot: 3M's PFAS Fight, Detroit Fire Fees

    The Michigan Supreme Court returns to the bench Wednesday in a packed oral argument sitting, including a major case on the viability of state PFAS regulations in a challenge brought by 3M Co.

  • November 12, 2024

    Ex-ComEd Exec Asked If Madigan Hires Truly An 'Exchange'

    Defense attorneys got their chance Tuesday to grill an ex-Commonwealth Edison executive who testified the utility hired people who did little to no work at the behest of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, asking if it truly traded those jobs for Madigan's action on ComEd legislation or if the company was just building goodwill with a key decision-maker.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Basel Endgame Rules: A Change Is Coming

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    The Federal Reserve Board's recently announced recalibration of the Basel endgame proposal begins a critical chapter in the evolution of not only the safety and soundness of U.S. banks, but also of banks' abilities to lend and support American businesses and consumers, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • Ruling On Foreign Dividend Break Offers 2 Tax Court Insights

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    In Varian v. Commissioner, the U.S. Tax Court allowed a taxpayer's deduction for dividends from foreign subsidiaries, providing clarity on how the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision may affect challenges to Treasury regulations, and revealing a potential disallowance of foreign tax credits, say attorneys at Davis Polk.

  • How Loper Bright Is Affecting Pending FCC Litigation

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    Pending challenges against Federal Communications Commission orders at the Sixth and Eleventh Circuits following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bright highlight that counsel must be familiar with the statutes, regulations and precedent relevant to the FCC to best navigate the rapidly changing compliance landscape, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • What PCOAB's Broadened Liability Rule Means For Auditors

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent vote agreeing to lower the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's liability standard, allowing the board to charge individual auditors whose mere negligence leads firms into PCOAB violations, may erode inspection cooperation, shrink the talent pool and have anticompetitive outcomes, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • USPTO Guidance Suggests 2 Strategies For AI Inventions

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    Analyzing the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's recent guidance, it appears that there are at least two paths for establishing that an artificial intelligence invention is eligible for protection, and that which strategy to use may turn on how broadly the invention is applied, says William Morriss at Frost Brown.

  • Employer Tips For PUMP Act Compliance As Law Turns 2

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    Enacted in December 2022, the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act requires employers to provide reasonable break time and a private space for employees to express breast milk, but some companies may still be struggling with how to comply, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • 4 Takeaways From The FDIC's Proposed Recordkeeping Rule

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    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s new proposed rule would impose recordkeeping and other compliance requirements on custodial deposit accounts with transactional features, and practitioners should be aware of four important factors, including who is affected and who is exempt, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Series

    Round-Canopy Parachuting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Similar to the practice of law, jumping from an in-flight airplane with nothing but training and a few yards of parachute silk is a demanding and stressful endeavor, and the experience has bolstered my legal practice by enhancing my focus, teamwork skills and sense of perspective, says Thomas Salerno at Stinson.

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