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Public Policy
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August 19, 2024
Kroger Flips Script, Challenges FTC's Constitutionality
Kroger went on the offensive Monday, a week before Oregon federal court proceedings kick off in the Federal Trade Commission's challenge to its purchase of Albertsons, in a lawsuit going after the constitutionality of the agency's in-house court, also set to contest the merger.
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August 19, 2024
Texas Says Biden's River Barrier Claims Insist On Jury Trial
Texas told the Fifth Circuit that a federal judge got it wrong by denying its right to jury trial in a fight over the state's use of a border barrier in the Rio Grande, saying in a Monday brief that the government's claims carry a right for a jury trial.
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August 19, 2024
FERC Can't OK Calif. Hydropower Permit Delays, DC Circ. Told
A Northern California water district has told the D.C. Circuit that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission wrongly concluded that the state water board did not waive its Clean Water Act permitting authority with regard to two hydroelectric dam projects, adding that it is not blocked from arguing so.
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August 19, 2024
FCC Yanks Phone Co.'s Authorization After Getting No Answer
The Federal Communications Commission says a telecom is no longer allowed to operate in the United States after it failed to live up to the commitments it made to the federal government and then ghosted the agency when it tried to get in touch.
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August 19, 2024
Red States Seek To Block Interior Mining Violation Rule
A coalition of Republican-led states has asked a D.C. federal court to block the U.S. Department of the Interior from implementing a rule that strengthens requirements for states to respond to federal and citizen notifications of possible violations of federal mining law.
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August 19, 2024
9th Circ. Told Psilocybin Petition Is Backed By Precedent
A Ninth Circuit panel on Monday dissected opposing arguments from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and a Seattle doctor over whether there is precedent to allow the dispensing of psilocybin — a psychedelic compound — to treat terminally ill patients.
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August 19, 2024
California Rips Challenge To Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation
California officials have urged a federal judge to toss a lawsuit from trade groups challenging new regulations requiring large commercial truck and bus fleets to start transitioning to electric and be completely zero-emission by 2036 and beyond, saying the mandates haven't even been enforced yet.
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August 19, 2024
9th Circ. Agrees Nursing Home Must Pay Fees In COVID Case
The Ninth Circuit has ruled that a nursing home must pay plaintiffs' legal fees in an appeal over the remand of a suit accusing it of causing two dozen patients' COVID-19 deaths, saying the home knew the court had already issued a precedential ruling on the issue.
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August 19, 2024
ND Tribe Says State Has No Right To Riverbed Mineral Rights
The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation says North Dakota has no claim to mineral rights beneath a portion of the Missouri River within the tribe's reservation, arguing that despite a federal opinion that held the property belongs to the tribe, the state has allegedly issued oil and gas leases for the site.
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August 19, 2024
2nd Circ. Keeps Macquarie Suit Alive After High Court Remand
The Second Circuit on Monday once again greenlighted an investor lawsuit accusing Macquarie Infrastructure Corp. of hiding the expected impact of a high-sulfur fuel ban on its oil storage business, saying that the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Macquarie's favor had little impact on the circuit court's earlier ruling that the case should move forward.
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August 19, 2024
Conn. Agencies Defend Rebuff Of Utility's $131M Rate Increase
Three Connecticut agencies, including its utility rate watchdog, have defended the state's rejection of United Illuminating Co.'s proposed three-year rate increase of $131 million, saying in Connecticut state court that regulators properly trimmed the company's request to $23 million in its first year from its $90 million request.
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August 19, 2024
FCC Partly Grants Globalstar Bid For 26 New Satellites
The Federal Communications Commission has partly granted Globalstar's application for more than two dozen new satellites, allowing 17 to launch for now but deferring action on the rest until a debris reduction plan is approved.
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August 19, 2024
UnitedHealthcare Says Humana Can't Access Its Records
UnitedHealthcare has asked the Texas high court to review a decision requiring it to turn over Medicare plan documents for the state's teachers to a competing insurer, arguing that recent updates to the Public Information Act were too broadly interpreted by a lower appellate court.
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August 19, 2024
NY Appeals Court Sides With DirecTV In Nexstar Fee Spat
A New York state appeals court upheld DirecTV's summary judgment win against Nexstar in a spat over station licensing fees, even giving the satellite TV giant more than it won in the trial court by ruling that the judge there incorrectly denied some of DirecTV's claims.
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August 19, 2024
Colo. Justices To Weigh On Minimum Wage Claims' Timing
The Colorado Supreme Court said Monday it will clear up whether the Colorado Wage Claim Act's shorter statute of limitations applies to claims brought under the state's Minimum Wage Act.
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August 19, 2024
Groups Urge EPA To Ban Dispersants Used In Deepwater Spill
Two advocacy groups on Monday petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to immediately stop using two chemical dispersants that were used after the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster and that they say cause a variety of health problems including cancer.
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August 19, 2024
Boston Defeats Suit By Fired Police Commissioner
A Boston police commissioner who was fired over decades-old abuse allegations had plenty of chances to give his side of the story, a Massachusetts federal court said Monday in rejecting claims he was defamed and stigmatized by the city's ex-mayor.
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August 19, 2024
Harris' Plan To 'Ban' Price-Gouging Met With Pushback
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, has unveiled a proposal to crack down on high grocery prices, stating as part of her economic agenda that she would implement a first-ever federal ban on price-gouging — yet market participants aren't so sure that's the right approach.
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August 19, 2024
Net Neutrality Akin To Federal Law Rewrite, 6th Circ. Told
A pair of think tanks told the Sixth Circuit it should reject the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules in part because the agency's decision to hold back its legal authority in some areas, like rate regulation, shows why the regime lacks statutory authority in the first place.
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August 19, 2024
Even Kids Use 'Unfair' Like CFPB Policy Does, 5th Circ. Told
Scholars from top law schools urged the Fifth Circuit to reverse a Texas federal court's decision to strike a policy expanding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's antidiscrimination oversight capabilities, arguing that even "schoolchildren" could agree with the agency's legal position.
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August 19, 2024
Philly To Pay $25M For Breaking Prison Conditions Settlement
A federal judge has ordered Philadelphia to set aside $25 million to ramp up recruitment and retention efforts for the city's Department of Prisons, just over a month after the court found the city in contempt of a settlement in a lawsuit over prison conditions.
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August 19, 2024
CFTC's Pham Wants More Credit For Firms In Wash Trade Deal
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Monday ordered two Raizen units to pay $750,000 to settle charges they carried out illegal wash sales on sugar contracts worth more than $1 billion, but Commissioner Caroline Pham said the companies should have gotten more credit for self-reporting and remediating.
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August 19, 2024
DOJ Waited Too Long On Chats Deletions, Google Says
Google urged a Virginia federal judge Friday to reject the Justice Department's request to sanction the search giant over a policy of deleting internal chats, arguing that the request came too late and that the government isn't missing any evidence for its advertising technology monopolization suit.
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August 19, 2024
Fair Use Dooms Santos Suit Over Jimmy Kimmel's Prank Videos
A New York federal judge said Monday that the fair use exception to copyright law is fatal to former U.S. Rep. George Santos' suit against ABC and Jimmy Kimmel over video clips that the late-night TV show host tricked the ex-congressman into making.
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August 19, 2024
NIH Program To Use Tribal Research To Combat Opioid Crisis
The National Institutes of Health is investing $268 million over the next seven years in a program that will employ Indigenous research methods to help combat opioid use and the overdose crisis plaguing Indian Country with an additional focus on pain management and mental health and wellness.
Expert Analysis
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Series
After Chevron: No Deference, No Difference For SEC Or CFTC
The Chevron doctrine did not fundamentally alter the interplay between the courts and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the development of the securities and commodities laws — and its demise will not do so either, says Dan Berkovitz at Millennium Management.
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Opinion
Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron
The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.
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Justices' Bribery Ruling: A Corrupt Act Isn't Necessarily Illegal
In its Snyder v. U.S. decision last week, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a bribery law does not criminalize gratuities, continuing a trend of narrowing federal anti-corruption laws and scrutinizing public corruption prosecutions that go beyond obvious quid pro quo schemes, say Carrie Cohen and Christine Wong at MoFo.
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3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron
The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
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Roundup
After Chevron
In the month since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 26 different rulemaking and litigation areas.
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Takeaways From New HHS Substance Use Disorder Info Rules
A new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rule continues the agency's efforts to harmonize complex rules surrounding confidentiality provisions for substance use disorder patient records, though healthcare providers will need to remain mindful of different potentially applicable requirements and changes that their compliance structures may require, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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Series
After Chevron: Expect Few Changes In ITC Rulemaking
The U.S. Supreme Court's opinion overruling the Chevron doctrine will have less impact on the U.S. International Trade Commission than other agencies administering trade statutes, given that the commission exercises its congressionally granted authority in a manner that allows for consistent decision making at both agency and judicial levels, say attorneys at Polsinelli.
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Opinion
Reform NEPA To Speed Mining Permits, Clean Energy Shift
It is essential to balance responsible regulatory oversight with permit approvals for mining projects that are needed for the transition to renewable energy — and with the National Environmental Policy Act being one of the leading causes of permit delays, reform is urgently needed, say Ana Maria Gutierrez and Michael Miller at Womble Bond.
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Series
Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2
The second quarter of 2024 in California, which saw efforts to expand consumer protection legislation and enforcement actions in areas of federal focus like medical debt and student loans, demonstrated that the state's role as a trendsetter in consumer financial protection will continue for the foreseeable future, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
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6 PTAB Events To Know From The Last 6 Months
The first half of 2024 brought a flurry of Patent Trial and Appeal Board developments that should be considered in post-grant strategies, including proposed rules on discretionary denial and director review, and the first decisions of the Delegated Rehearing Panel, say attorneys at Fish & Richardson.
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Key Takeaways From High Court's Substitute Expert Decision
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Smith v. Arizona decision, holding that the confrontation clause generally bars prosecutors’ use of a substitute expert witness at trial, will have the most impact in narcotics and violent crime cases, but creative defense lawyers may find it useful in white collar cases, too, say Joshua Naftalis and Melissa Kelley at Pallas Partners.
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Opinion
Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem
The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.
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How Generative AI May Aid Merger Clearance Process
Generative artificial intelligence capable of analyzing and searching large datasets stands to revolutionize the merger clearance process, including by significantly reducing the time and effort required to respond to Hart-Scott-Rodino second requests, say Kenneth Koch and Brian Blush at BDO USA.
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Proposed Customer ID Rule Could Cost Investment Advisers
A rule recently proposed by FinCEN and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to make financial advisers collect more customer information parallels an anti-money laundering and counterterrorism rule proposed this spring, but firms may face new compliance costs when implementing these screening programs, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.
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What Passage Of House Crypto Bill Could Mean For Industry
While the prospects of the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, which recently passed the House in a bipartisan fashion, becoming law remain murky, the manner of its passage may give crypto markets a real cause for hope, say Neel Maitra and Dale Beggs at Dechert.