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Public Policy
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July 18, 2024
9th Circ. Revives Fired Doctor's COVID Vax Religious Bias Suit
The Ninth Circuit revived a doctor's claims that Washington State University failed to accommodate his religious beliefs when it fired him from his residency for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, ruling Thursday that U.S. Supreme Court precedent necessitates another look at his case.
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July 18, 2024
NTIA Gives FCC Routing Security Plan The Thumbs Up
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration says it's speaking for the Biden administration in throwing its weight behind the Federal Communications Commission's plan to impose new security rules regarding the crucial routing technology used by the internet.
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July 18, 2024
Ex-Seattle Port Police Chief Seeks Up To $20M In Firing Trial
The Port of Seattle's former police chief told a Washington state jury on Thursday that $14 million to $20 million from his former employer would be a "reasonable range" of damages for robbing him of his law enforcement career as punishment for complaining about unfairness in workplace misconduct investigations.
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July 18, 2024
9th Circ. Signals Support For Alaska Salmon Fishery
A Ninth Circuit panel on Thursday leaned toward allowing government-approved commercial salmon fishing in Southeast Alaska, with one judge saying the economic hardship indigenous communities would face without fishing outweighs the "enormous uncertainty" of impacts on a small population of orca whales that feed on the fish.
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July 18, 2024
Judge 'Not Optimistic' Houston Firm's PPP Suit Will Succeed
A Texas federal judge said Thursday he would give a Houston law firm another chance to make its case that the U.S. Small Business Administration was wrong in denying the firm's bid for loan forgiveness under a COVID-19-era relief program, but noted he was "not really optimistic" the firm would be able to succeed with its suit.
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July 18, 2024
Commerce Finalizes More Triple-Digit Mattress Duties
The U.S. Department of Commerce has announced its final determinations in anti-dumping investigations covering mattresses from four countries, with rates between 4.61% and 344.70%, and cleared Indonesian producers of countervailing duties, finding they benefited minimally from subsidies.
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July 18, 2024
State PUCs Urged To Keep Eye On Broadband Projects
States need to step up and do more to ensure that telecommunication companies working on Rural Digital Opportunity Fund projects within their borders do the work they committed to doing on time, according to a former Federal Communications Commission official.
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July 18, 2024
Live Nation Previews Part Of Case Against DOJ Suit
Live Nation and Ticketmaster have teed up part of their fight against an antitrust lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice and multiple state attorneys general, arguing that the state law claims are "threadbare" and that a chunk of the DOJ case amounts to trying to force them to deal with competitors.
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July 18, 2024
Menendez Appeal Could Make Hay From Bribery Case Law
Sen. Robert Menendez's planned "aggressive" appeal will almost certainly include broadsides against his novel foreign-agent conviction and attempt to capitalize on the U.S. Supreme Court's proven appetite for bribery cases, experts say.
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July 18, 2024
Enviro Groups Deploy Chevron Ruling In Pipeline Case
Environmental groups suing the federal government over the reissuance of a nationwide Clean Water Act permit that can be used for oil and gas pipelines told a D.C. federal judge Thursday that the recent overturning of the Chevron deference bolsters their effort to get the permit thrown out.
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July 18, 2024
FCC Votes On Party Lines To Subsidize Wi-Fi For Students
The Federal Communications Commission voted along a partisan divide Thursday to expand a federal school and library subsidy to cover Wi-Fi services for students to remedy gaps in broadband access.
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July 18, 2024
Miner Seeks Atty Fees After 4th Circ. DOL Judges Ruling
A former miner urged the Fourth Circuit to approve approximately $21,000 in attorney fees in his case seeking benefits for his black lung disease, saying he has been unable to reach a settlement with an engineering company that challenged the appointment of two U.S. Department of Labor administrative law judges.
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July 18, 2024
Xcel's Silence Led To $2.6M Storm Penalty, Gas Co. Says
A natural gas marketing company is suing the Colorado Public Utilities Commission and Xcel Energy in state court to invalidate a nearly $2.6 million penalty for its failure to ship enough gas during a historic 2021 winter storm, alleging Xcel didn't notify it of the regulatory proceedings.
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July 18, 2024
Term Extension For Ga. Utility Commish Unlawful, Suit Says
Georgia's Secretary of State was hit with a lawsuit Tuesday from a voter and two advocacy groups challenging a recent law that extended the terms of the state's utility regulatory commission while their elections were suspended by voting rights litigation.
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July 18, 2024
Alstom Wants Las Vegas Train's 'Buy America' Waiver Voided
Train manufacturer Alstom alleges in a new federal lawsuit that it was unfairly shut out of competing for a lucrative supply contract for Las Vegas' proposed high-speed passenger rail line when the project recently scored a Buy America waiver for foreign-made trainsets from rival manufacturer Siemens.
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July 18, 2024
Creek Citizenship Case Paused Amid Tribal Court Controversy
The Muscogee (Creek) Nation Supreme Court has paused a dispute between descendants of those once enslaved by the tribe and its citizenship board after the two plaintiffs accused the tribe's national council of illegally appointing special justices to the panel as part of a targeted campaign against them.
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July 18, 2024
FordHarrison Accused Of Terrorizing Conn. Library Workers
Multistate employment law firm FordHarrison LLP has been dragged into existing feuds between a Connecticut library and two of its employees, with new state court lawsuits accusing the firm of misrepresenting state law and inflicting emotional distress by demanding the employees retract claims allegedly made at a public hearing.
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July 18, 2024
Air Transport Co. Sued In Del. Over Director Removal Rule
Stockholders of air transport venture Blade Air Mobility Inc. have sued the company in Delaware's Court of Chancery for an order invalidating a Blade director election provision described as allowing "backdoor" board removal of incumbents without legal authority.
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July 18, 2024
6th Circ. Looks To Wash Hands Of Waters Of US Appeal
An exasperated Sixth Circuit panel on Thursday looked for an easy way to dispatch Kentucky and industry groups' appeal of the dismissal of their challenges to a federal government rule defining the scope of the Clean Water Act.
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July 18, 2024
Democrats Float Prison Environmental Health Bill
Congressional Democrats on Thursday proposed legislation that would fund programs to improve air quality, water quality, temperature, mold, contagious diseases and other issues in federal prisons.
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July 18, 2024
Ind. Tax Board Says German Cultural Center Not Tax-Exempt
The Indiana Board of Tax Review determined that an event center owned by an organization that promotes German culture doesn't qualify for a property tax exemption because the property is used for social purposes rather than cultural preservation.
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July 18, 2024
Court Denies Bid To Halt NYC Crackdown On Illicit Pot Shops
A New York federal judge on Thursday rejected a bid from 27 retailers to halt city officials' enforcement efforts aimed at closing stores that sell cannabis without a license, saying the shops were unlikely to prevail on claims their due process rights were violated.
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July 18, 2024
FCC Caps Prison Phone Rates To Be 'Just And Reasonable'
The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday placed new caps on prison phone rates under the Martha Wright-Reed Act, enacted to make sure that rates for incarcerated people and their families are "just and reasonable."
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July 18, 2024
NY Courts Limit Access To Ethics Data, Violating Own Rules
After a decade of widespread noncompliance with income and gift reporting rules, the New York court system's Ethics Commission has refused to publicly release all judges' annual financial disclosures, which safeguard against conflicts of interest, corruption and ethics lapses.
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July 18, 2024
Texas Can't Nix EEOC Guidance Over Gender Identity
A Texas federal judge refused to grant the state attorney general's request to do away with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's enforcement guidance over gender identity, saying the state needs to file a new lawsuit and not piggyback on a case that was closed two years ago.
Expert Analysis
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How Uyghur Forced Labor Law Affects Importing Companies
Amid a growing focus on forced labor in supply chains and a likely increase in enforcement under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, companies may face costly import delays unless they develop and implement compliance best practices, say Thad McBride and Lauren Gammer at Bass Berry.
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Series
Glassblowing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
I never expected that glassblowing would strongly influence my work as an attorney, but it has taught me the importance of building a solid foundation for your work, learning from others and committing to a lifetime of practice, says Margaret House at Kalijarvi Chuzi.
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What Employers Need To Know About Colorado's New AI Law
The Colorado AI Act, enacted in May and intended to regulate the use of high-risk artificial intelligence systems to prevent algorithmic discrimination, is broad in scope and will apply to businesses using AI for certain employment purposes, imposing numerous compliance obligations and potential liability, say Laura Malugade and Owen Davis at Husch Blackwell.
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What DOL Fiduciary Rule Means For Private Fund Managers
Attorneys at Ropes & Gray discuss how the U.S. Department of Labor's recently released final fiduciary rule, which revises the agency's 1975 regulation, could potentially cause private fund managers' current marketing practices and communications to be considered fiduciary advice, and therefore subject them to strict prohibitions.
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Best Practices For Chemical Transparency In Supply Chains
A flurry of new and forthcoming regulations in different jurisdictions that require disclosure of potentially hazardous substances used in companies' products and processes will require businesses to take proactive steps to build chemical transparency into their supply chains, and engage robustly and systematically with vendors, says Jillian Stacy at Enhesa.
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What 11th Circ. Fearless Fund Ruling Means For DEI In Courts
The Eleventh Circuit's recent backing of a freeze on the Fearless Fund's grants to women of color building new companies marks the latest major development in litigation related to diversity, equity and inclusion and may be used to question other DEI programs targeted at providing opportunities to certain classes of individuals, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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Opinion
Paid Noncompetes Offer A Better Solution Than FTC's Ban
A better alternative to the Federal Trade Commission's recent and widely contested noncompete ban would be a nationwide bright-line rule requiring employers to pay employees during the noncompete period, says Steven Kayman at Rottenberg Lipman.
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Opinion
Flawed Fintiv Rule Should Be Deemed Overreach In Tech Suit
A pending federal lawsuit over the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's unilateral changes to key elements of the America Invents Act, Apple v. Vidal, could shift the balance of power between Congress and federal agencies, as it could justify future instances of unelected officials unilaterally changing laws, say Patrick Leahy and Bob Goodlatte.
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Unpacking The Latest Tranche Of Sanctions Targeting Russia
Hundreds of new U.S. sanctions and export-control measures targeting trade with Russia, issued last week in connection with the G7 summit, illustrate the fluidity of trade-focused restrictions and the need to constantly refresh compliance analyses, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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How Associates Can Build A Professional Image
As hybrid work arrangements become the norm in the legal industry, early-career attorneys must be proactive in building and maintaining a professional presence in both physical and digital settings, ensuring that their image aligns with their long-term career goals, say Lana Manganiello at Equinox Strategy Partners and Estelle Winsett at Estelle Winsett Professional Image Consulting.
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High Court's Abortion Pill Ruling Shuts Out Future Challenges
The U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous ruling in U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine maintains the status quo for mifepristone access and rejects the plaintiffs' standing theories so thoroughly that future challenges from states or other plaintiffs are unlikely to be viable, say Jaime Santos and Annaka Nava at Goodwin.
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Navigating New Safe Harbor For Domestic Content Tax Credits
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s recent notice simplifying domestic content calculations for certain solar, onshore wind and battery storage projects, which directly acknowledges the difficulty for taxpayers in gathering data to support a domestic content analysis, should make it easier to qualify additional domestic content bonus tax credits, say attorneys at A&O Shearman.
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Justices' Bump Stock Ruling Skirted Deference, Lenity Issues
Despite presenting a seemingly classic case on agency deference, the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last week in Garland v. Cargill did not mention the Chevron doctrine, and the opinion also overlooked whether agency interpretations of federal gun laws should ever receive deference given that they carry criminal penalties, say Tess Saperstein and John Elwood at Arnold & Porter.
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5 Steps To Navigating State Laws On Healthcare Transactions
As more states pass legislation requiring healthcare-transaction notice, private equity investors and other deal parties should evaluate the new laws and consider ways to mitigate their effects, say Carol Loepere and Nicole Aiken-Shaban at Reed Smith.
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Firms Must Rethink How They Train New Lawyers In AI Age
As law firms begin to use generative artificial intelligence to complete lower-level legal tasks, they’ll need to consider new ways to train summer associates and early-career attorneys, keeping in mind the five stages of skill acquisition, says Liisa Thomas at Sheppard Mullin.