Public Policy

  • July 02, 2024

    Mass. Panel Won't Cut Tax Value Over Denied Building Permits

    The owner of commercial property in Massachusetts failed to show that local denials of building permits impacted the tax value of the property, a state panel said in a decision released Tuesday, rejecting the owner's appeal of a local assessment.

  • July 02, 2024

    Sentencing Relief Law Gets Another Supreme Court Look

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to consider whether a sentencing reduction provision in the First Step Act can apply to defendants whose sentences prior to the 2018 law are vacated and who are resentenced with the statute in effect.

  • July 02, 2024

    Interior Dept. OKs Atlantic Shores South Wind Project

    The U.S. Department of the Interior on Tuesday said it's approving the Atlantic Shores South offshore wind project, the ninth such commercial-scale project given a green light by the Biden administration.

  • July 02, 2024

    Commerce Finds No Proof Of Mexican Coolants' Duty Evasion

    The U.S. Department of Commerce found little evidence to support claims that Chinese cooling chemicals were being mixed in Mexico to dodge duties on a particular refrigerant, the agency announced following its preliminary circumvention inquiry.

  • July 02, 2024

    FTC Challenges Tempur Sealy's $4B Mattress Firm Deal

    The Federal Trade Commission moved Tuesday to block Tempur Sealy International Inc.'s planned $4 billion purchase of Mattress Firm Group Inc., saying the world's largest mattress supplier intends to use the deal to block its rivals from accessing the largest retail mattress chain in the U.S.

  • July 02, 2024

    Top Federal Tax Cases Of 2024: Midyear Report

    In the first half of the year, the U.S. Supreme Court torpedoed the Chevron doctrine of judicial deference to federal agencies and affirmed the denial of a tax refund to a business owner's estate related to a life insurance payout, while the U.S. Tax Court reversed itself regarding a rule for conservation easements. Here, Law360 reviews federal court decisions from the past six months that tax attorneys should know.

  • July 02, 2024

    Thomas Laments Cert Denial In OSHA Standard Setting Fight

    The U.S. Supreme Court said Tuesday it will not review the Sixth Circuit's split decision that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's authority to set workplace safety standards is constitutional, although Justice Clarence Thomas warned against the "far-reaching" grant of that power to an agency.

  • July 02, 2024

    Trump's NY Sentencing Pushed To Sept. After Immunity Ruling

    A New York judge on Tuesday delayed Donald Trump's criminal sentencing from July 11 until Sept. 18 to give prosecutors and the former president's attorneys time to argue over whether the U.S. Supreme Court's immunity decision vacates his conviction.

  • July 02, 2024

    Supreme Court Won't Hear Ill. Gun Ban Dispute

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to review a Seventh Circuit decision upholding laws by the state of Illinois and a Chicago suburb banning the sale of assault weapons.

  • July 02, 2024

    Justices Order Post-Rahimi Review For Felon Gun Ban

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered lower courts to review a series of cases that challenged as unconstitutional federal gun restrictions, including those for felons and drug users, in light of its ruling this term that allowed bans for domestic abusers.

  • July 02, 2024

    High Court Agrees To Review FDA's Flavored E-Cig Denial

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday granted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's petition to review a Fifth Circuit decision overturning its denial of a flavored e-cigarette marketing application.

  • July 02, 2024

    Justices Will Hear Texas' Porn Site Age Check Law

    The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case challenging a Texas law that requires people accessing websites containing explicit material to provide age verification before they can see the content, the nation's high court said Tuesday.

  • July 02, 2024

    High Court Vacates Tribes' Legislative Privilege Dispute

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday vacated and remanded two North Dakota tribes' challenge to a lower court's ruling that held the state's lawmakers are immune from civil discovery in a voting rights lawsuit, with instructions to the Eighth Circuit to dismiss the case as moot.

  • July 01, 2024

    High Court's 1-2 Punch Sets Up Long-Standing Regs For KO

    By ending its term with a stinging combination against federal agencies, the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative bloc left behind a bruised bureaucracy and a regulatory system that's now vulnerable to a barrage of incoming attacks.

  • July 01, 2024

    Giuliani Wants Bankruptcy Converted To Allow For Liquidation

    Rudy Giuliani on Monday asked a New York federal bankruptcy judge to convert his voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy to a Chapter 7 proceeding, which would allow him to liquidate his assets to pay his debts.

  • July 01, 2024

    Trump Seeks To Vacate NY Verdict, Citing Immunity Decision

    Former President Donald Trump's attorneys asked the New York state judge overseeing his hush money case to delay sentencing and consider setting aside the jury's guilty verdict in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity Monday.

  • July 01, 2024

    Red States Get Biden Admin's LNG Export Pause Halted

    A Louisiana federal judge Monday stayed the Biden administration's pause on reviewing applications to export liquified natural gas to countries without free trade agreements, slamming the U.S. Department of Energy's decision as appearing to be "completely without reason or logic and is perhaps the epiphany of ideocracy."

  • July 01, 2024

    What To Know: The High Court's Ruling On Social Media Regs

    Rather than settling a circuit split over state laws curbing content moderation on the largest social media platforms, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday remanded the cases — a decision many attorneys and First Amendment experts are viewing as a win for free speech online.

  • July 01, 2024

    Menendez's Sister Testifies Storing Cash Was Family Practice

    An older sister of Sen. Robert Menendez who fled Cuba with their parents testified at the lawmaker's bribery trial on Monday that storing cash at home was a practice instilled by their father because of his deep distrust of banks.

  • July 01, 2024

    SEC's High Court Loss May Sting For Banking Enforcement

    The U.S. Supreme Court's latest rebuke to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is poised to complicate enforcement for the federal banking agencies, providing new ammunition for challenges to the validity of their administrative proceedings, attorneys say.

  • July 01, 2024

    High Court Test Could Reshape Ga. Trump Case, Experts Say

    The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that former President Donald Trump is immune from prosecution for official acts will likely reshape the criminal case against him in Georgia, although Peach State courts will have to grapple with how to test which of his alleged actions were official.

  • July 01, 2024

    TCPA Needs Update To Fight Scam Texts, FCC Chair Says

    If Congress wants the Federal Communications Commission to do more about scam texts, it should consider updating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for the first time in more than 30 years to account for the changing times, the head of the agency has told members of the House.

  • July 01, 2024

    FCC Urged To Delay Broadcast Reporting Rule During Lawsuit

    Religious broadcasters and advocacy groups are urging the Federal Communications Commission to halt collection of workforce race and gender demographics at television and radio broadcasters while a challenge to a reinstated rule proceeds in the Fifth Circuit.

  • July 01, 2024

    Washington State, Tribes Can Wade Into Water Regs Dispute

    A D.C. federal judge said Washington state and five Native American tribes can intervene in a business group's lawsuit trying to overturn the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's decision to reestablish water quality standards for the Evergreen State that it had rolled back during the Trump administration.

  • July 01, 2024

    Juror Didn't Taint Trial Before Removal, Colo. Justices Say

    The Colorado Supreme Court said Monday that a trial judge's rejection of a Black defendant's challenge to a juror for alleged racial bias did not infringe on the defendant's rights, according to a majority decision that concluded the error was harmless because the juror was ultimately sent home.

Expert Analysis

  • The Legal Issues Raised In Minn. Rate Exportation Opt-Out Bill

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    A recent Minnesota House bill would amend state law by opting out of the federal interest rate preemption and introduce several legal gray areas if passed, including issues regarding loan location, rates on credit card loans and values of state charters, says Karen Grandstrand at Fredrikson & Byron.

  • Rebuttal

    Time For Congress To Let Qualified Older Pilots Keep Flying

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    While a previous Law360 guest article affirmed the current law requiring airline pilots to retire at age 65, the facts suggest that the pilots, their unions, the airlines and the flying public will all benefit if Congress allows experienced, medically qualified aviators to stay in the cockpit, say Allen Baker and Bo Ellis at Let Experienced Pilots Fly.

  • Does Expert Testimony Aid Preliminary IPR Responses?

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    Dechert attorneys analyze six years of patent owners' preliminary responses to inter partes review petitions to determine whether the elimination of the presumption favoring the petitioner as to preinstitution testimonial evidence affected the usefulness of expert testimony in responses.

  • Fostering Employee Retention Amid Shaky DEI Landscape

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    Ongoing challenges to the legality of corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs are complicating efforts to use DEI as an employee retention tool, but with the right strategic approach employers can continue to recruit and retain diverse talent — even after the FTC’s ban on noncompetes, says Ally Coll at the Purple Method.

  • Are Concessions In FDA's Lab-Developed Tests Rule Enough?

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    Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new policy for laboratory-developed tests included major strategic concessions to help balance patient safety, access and diagnostic innovation, the new rule may well face significant legal challenges in court, say Dominick DiSabatino and Audrey Mercer at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 5 Climate Change Regulatory Issues Insurers Should Follow

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    The climate change landscape for insurers has changed dramatically recently — and not just because of the controversy over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related risk disclosure rules, says Thomas Dawson at McDermott.

  • How New Rule Would Change CFIUS Enforcement Powers

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    Before the May 15 comment deadline, companies may want to weigh in on proposed regulatory changes to enforcement and mitigation tools at the disposal of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, including broadened subpoena powers, difficult new mitigation timelines and higher maximum penalties, say attorneys at Venable.

  • What's Extraordinary About Challenges To SEC Climate Rule

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    A set of ideologically diverse legal challenges to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate disclosure rule have been consolidated in the Eighth Circuit via a seldom-used lottery system, and the unpredictability of this process may drive agencies toward a more cautious future approach to rulemaking, say attorneys at Thompson Coburn.

  • 8 Questions To Ask Before Final CISA Breach Reporting Rule

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    The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s recently proposed cyber incident reporting requirements for critical infrastructure entities represent the overall approach CISA will take in its final rule, so companies should be asking key compliance questions now and preparing for a more complicated reporting regime, say Arianna Evers and Shannon Mercer at WilmerHale.

  • Series

    Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

  • Key Priorities In FDIC Report On Resolving Big Bank Failures

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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.

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