Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Public Policy
-
June 24, 2024
Judge Blocks Part Of DOL Construction Prevailing Wage Rule
A Texas federal judge on Monday blocked parts of a U.S. Department of Labor rule changing how prevailing wages are determined for federally funded construction projects from going into effect, saying the department had overstepped its authority under the Davis-Bacon Act.
-
June 24, 2024
Broadband Advocates Urge FCC To Revisit Subsidy Fees
Advocates for broadband expansion are asking the Federal Communications Commission to revisit an April decision that exempted internet service providers, at least for now, from contributions to the FCC's telecom subsidy program.
-
June 24, 2024
IRS Finalizes Limits To Partnership Conservation Easements
The Internal Revenue Service finalized rules Monday that curb the conservation easement tax deduction claimed by certain partnerships, with some changes to last year's proposed version, such as limiting the opportunity for entities to adjust their tax returns to avoid the new restrictions.
-
June 24, 2024
Fintech Exec Gets 45 Months For Crypto Market Manipulation
A Florida federal judge on Monday sentenced the CEO of fintech company Hydrogen Technology Corp. to more than three years in prison for his role in a conspiracy to manipulate the market for Hydrogen's digital assets.
-
June 24, 2024
Red Roof Ignored Years Of Trafficking, Victim Tells Ga. Jurors
The corporate owners of two metro Atlanta Red Roof Inn locations knew about and ignored trafficking at the hotels, a woman who said she had been trafficked at the two hotels and others in the surrounding area for six years told Georgia federal jurors Monday.
-
June 24, 2024
NC Justice's Politician Dad Doesn't Merit DQ, Lawmakers Say
North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Phil Berger Jr. should not recuse himself from a constitutional challenge concerning the governor's appointment powers merely because his father is president pro tem of the state Senate, top lawmakers argue.
-
June 24, 2024
OCC Eyes Post-SVB Revamp To Recovery Planning Standards
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency moved Monday to beef up its enforceable guidelines on recovery planning for large banks, issuing a set of proposed changes that would include extending them to banks in the same size range as Silicon Valley Bank and other lenders that failed last year.
-
June 24, 2024
High Court Won't Take Up Michigan Tribal Tag Dispute
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a petition by a Native American man seeking to overturn a Michigan Supreme Court order that denied him the chance to appeal his traffic stop convictions stemming from a dispute over tribal-licensed tags.
-
June 24, 2024
AT&T Must Keep Basic Services Intact, Calif. Regulators Say
California regulators have required AT&T to maintain its commitment to basic phone service by denying its bid to withdraw as a "carrier of last resort," a decision that has prompted the company to pursue legislation that would maintain the designation only for rural communities that have limited options for telecom service.
-
June 24, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Amendments to Delaware's General Corporation Law topped the news out of the Court of Chancery again last week, as the hotly contested measure sailed through the state's legislature. Tesla and its shareholders continued their tug-of-war over attorney fees for Chancery litigation about Elon Musk's pay package, and new cases were filed involving biotechs, car rental companies, workout platforms, telecom towers, and a cargo ship fire in Brazil.
-
June 24, 2024
GOP Rep. Seeks To Revive 'Inherent Contempt' For Garland
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., plans to bring up a resolution this week to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in inherent contempt of Congress, a "long dormant" procedure as Republicans continue their investigations of the president.
-
June 24, 2024
US DOT Final Rule Ups Freight Rail Hazmat Disclosures
Freight railroads must provide more detailed, real-time information on trains transporting hazardous materials to state and local first responders, under a new U.S. Department of Transportation final rule announced Monday that was largely spurred by last year's fiery derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
-
June 24, 2024
Justices' Removal Notice Decision Unwinds 3 Migrants' Wins
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent endorsement of multipart removal notices resulted in the Monday vacatur of three circuit court decisions offering migrants another chance at fighting deportation after receiving notices that initially omitted important information about their removal hearings.
-
June 24, 2024
DOL Still Mulling Changes To Pension De-Risking Guidance
The U.S. Department of Labor told Congress in a new report Monday it hasn't ruled out changing guidance used by retirement plan managers when selecting an annuity provider for pension de-risking transactions, which involve the exchange of defined benefit pension plan liabilities for annuity insurance contracts.
-
June 24, 2024
Landlord Says Insurer Botched Coverage For $1M State Deal
A Colorado landlord is accusing an insurance broker and carrier of secretly adding an endorsement to its policy to bar coverage for a $1 million settlement the landlord entered into to resolve a state investigation over alleged misuse of tenant funds.
-
June 24, 2024
Google's Brin, Pichai Must Face Texas Ad Tech Depos
Google CEO Sundar Pichai is bound for the deposition chair for four hours of testimony while company co-founder Sergey Brin is facing two and a half hours after a Texas federal judge refused Friday to spare the executives from a state enforcer antitrust lawsuit targeting the search giant's digital advertising placement technology.
-
June 24, 2024
Trump Mar-A-Lago Case Is Unlawfully Funded, Fla. Judge Told
An attorney defending Donald Trump against the federal government's accusation that he illegally retained classified documents at Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House in 2021 told a Florida judge Monday the criminal indictment should be dismissed against the former president, saying that the case isn't lawfully funded.
-
June 24, 2024
NM Sued Over Sustainable Building Credit Award Process
A New Mexico apartment complex alleges that the state violated its due process rights after it was denied sustainable building tax credits for most of its units, according to a complaint filed in federal court.
-
June 24, 2024
Justices Pass On Conn. School Vaccine Mandate Fight
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a Second Circuit decision that largely upheld the dismissal of a suit challenging a Connecticut law passed during the COVID-19 pandemic that revoked religious exemptions to student vaccine mandates.
-
June 24, 2024
Construction Super Says Name Was Secretly Used On Permits
A unit of construction engineering firm Structural Group Inc. improperly used the name of a licensed construction supervisor on at least half a dozen Massachusetts projects in which he was not involved, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in Norfolk County Superior Court.
-
June 24, 2024
GOP States Can't Freeze PWFA Regs During 8th Circ. Appeal
A coalition of Republican attorneys general can't pause implementation of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's fresh Pregnant Workers Fairness Act regulations while they appeal the dismissal of their suit, an Arkansas federal judge ruled, saying the states hadn't presented any new arguments to justify the respite.
-
June 24, 2024
Paper Bag Imports Found To Have Harmed US Industry
The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled that paper shopping bags from eight countries harmed the domestic industry, providing the final green light for the U.S. Department of Commerce to enact countervailing and anti-dumping duties on the products.
-
June 24, 2024
Justices Affirm 6th Circ. Decision Allowing Bump Stocks
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected the government's appeal of a Sixth Circuit decision blocking the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' ban on so-called bump stocks, after finding in a separate case that the ATF rule went beyond the agency's authority.
-
June 24, 2024
Justices Pass On Rutgers COVID-19 Vax Mandate Case
The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to review a split Third Circuit ruling that Rutgers University students cannot challenge the school's COVID-19 vaccine policy because, under the high court's 1905 precedent in Jacobson v. Massachusetts, there is no fundamental right to refuse vaccinations.
-
June 24, 2024
Blumenauer Predicts Cannabis Rescheduling Before Year-End
U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., a longtime champion of cannabis reform in Congress who is retiring this year, told cannabis attorneys on Monday that he was optimistic marijuana would be moved to Schedule III under the federal Controlled Substances Act before the end of the year.
Expert Analysis
-
Key Priorities In FDIC Report On Resolving Big Bank Failures
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s report last month on the resolvability of large financial institutions contains little new information, but it does reiterate key policy priorities, including the agency's desire to enhance loss-absorbing capacity through long-term debt requirements and preference for single-point-of-entry resolution strategies, say attorneys at Freshfields.
-
Best Practices For Space Security In Our Connected World
NASA's recently published space security guide is another indication that cyber-resilience has become a global theme for the space and satellite sector, as well as a useful reference for companies and organizations reviewing their cybersecurity frameworks or looking to partner with the U.S. agency, says Hayley Blyth at Bird & Bird.
-
Opinion
SEC Doesn't Have Legal Authority For Climate Disclosure Rule
Instead of making the required legal argument to establish its authority, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related disclosure rule hides behind more than 1,000 references to materiality to give the appearance that its rule is legally defensible, says Bernard Sharfman at RealClearFoundation.
-
What 100 Federal Cases Suggest About Changes To Chevron
With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overturn or narrow its 40-year-old doctrine of Chevron deference, a review of 100 recent federal district court decisions confirm that changes to the Chevron framework will have broad ramifications — but the magnitude of the impact will depend on the details of the high court's ruling, say Kali Schellenberg and Jon Cochran at LeVan Stapleton.
-
FTC Noncompete Rule May Still Face Historical Hurdles
The Federal Trade Commission's final rule banning noncompetes might face challenges that could have been avoided with more cautious consideration of the commission's long history of failed lawsuits that went beyond the agency's statutory authority, as well as the mountain of judicial precedent justifying noncompete agreements in employment contracts, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.
-
A Look At Subchapter V As Debt Limit Expiration Looms
If proposed legislation to extend Subchapter V’s debt eligibility ceiling sunset date in June is passed, bankruptcy professionals can seek ways to work with their local jurisdictions to advocate for code changes and guidance that bring more efficiencies and clarity to the process, say Matthew Brash at Newpoint Advisors and Melinda Bennett at Stretto.
-
Opinion
SEC Should Be Allowed To Equip Investors With Climate Info
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new rule to require more climate-related disclosures will provide investors with much-needed clarity, despite opponents' attempts to challenge the rule with misused legal arguments, say Sarah Goetz at Democracy Forward and Cynthia Hanawalt at Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change.
-
8 Fla. Statutes That Construction Cos. Should Prepare For
In this article, Jason Lambert at Hill Ward discusses a number of recent bills out of the Florida Legislature targeting construction companies in the Sunshine State that have been sent to the governor for signature, at least some of which will have broad impacts that affected companies should prepare for ahead of the July 1 effective date.
-
Game-Changing Decisions Call For New Rules At The NCAA
From a newly formed college players union to coaches transferring at the drop of a hat, the National College Athletic Association needs an overhaul, including federal supervision, says Frank Darras at DarrasLaw.
-
End Of Acquitted Conduct Sentencing Can Spark More Reform
The U.S. Sentencing Commission’s recent end to factoring acquitted conduct into federal sentences could signal the start of a more constitutionally sound advisory scheme, but Congress and the Supreme Court must first authorize the commission to resolve two constitutional errors baked into its guidelines, say Mark Allenbaugh at SentencingStats.com and Alan Ellis at the Law Offices of Alan Ellis.
-
Manufacturers Should Pay Attention To 'Right-To-Repair' Laws
Oregon’s recently passed "right-to-repair" statute highlights that the R2R movement is not going away, and that manufacturers of all kinds need to be paying attention to the evolving list of R2R statutes in various states and consider participating in the process, says Courtney Sarnow at Culhane.
-
Opinion
Viral Deepfakes Of Taylor Swift Highlight Need For Regulation
As the nation grapples with addressing risk from artificial intelligence use, the recent circulation of AI-generated pornographic images of Taylor Swift on the social platform X highlights the need for federal legislation to protect nonconsenting subjects of deepfake pornography, say Nicole Brenner and Susie Ruiz-Lichter at Squire Patton.
-
Opinion
Time To Fix NYC's Broken Property Assessment System
A New York appellate court's decision to revive Tax Equity Now New York v. City of New York may force the city to revamp its outdated and unfair real estate tax assessment system, which could be fixed with a couple of simple changes, says Seth Feldman at Romer Debbas.
-
New Federal Bill Would Drastically Alter Privacy Landscape
While the recently introduced American Privacy Rights Act would eliminate the burdensome patchwork of state regulations, the proposed federal privacy law would also significantly expand compliance obligations and liability exposure for companies, especially those that rely on artificial intelligence or biometric technologies, says David Oberly at Baker Donelson.
-
How Cos. Can Comply With New PFAS Superfund Rule
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new rule designating two per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances as "hazardous substances" under the Superfund law will likely trigger additional enforcement and litigation at sites across the country — so companies should evaluate any associated reporting obligations and liability risks, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.