Public Policy

  • October 21, 2024

    DC Moves To Buy NBA, NHL Arena In $800M Overhaul Plan

    Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser on Monday announced the introduction of legislation to buy Capital One Arena for $87.5 million to keep the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards in town, after months of negotiations with Sidley Austin LLP advising the arena owner.

  • October 21, 2024

    Judge Hints 'Contract' Key To Utility Cleanup Enforcement

    An Avangrid Inc. unit's responsibility or lack thereof for cleaning up a contaminated former power plant hinges on whether a partial consent order from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, or DEEP, is legally a contract, a state court judge signaled Monday. 

  • October 21, 2024

    3M Asks 2nd Circ. To Keep Vermont PFAS Case In Fed Court

    3M Co. is asking the Second Circuit to reverse an order remanding a suit by the state of Vermont over "forever chemical" contamination back to state court, saying that it filed for removal as soon as it learned that the claims involved products from a facility that made products for the military.

  • October 21, 2024

    Feds Say Texas Isn't Injured By DHS Spousal Parole Program

    The Biden administration is urging a Texas federal judge to find its Keeping Families Together program is lawful, arguing the Lone Star state doesn't have standing to challenge the regulation since it can't show it's being injured by the program.

  • October 21, 2024

    Boeing Machinists To Vote On New Tentative Wage Deal

    Approximately 33,000 Boeing employees represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers will vote Wednesday on a tentative new labor contract that includes a 35% wage increase over four years, potentially ending a more than monthlong strike that hampered Boeing's production and cash flow.

  • October 21, 2024

    Novartis Loses Challenge To Medicare Drug Price Talks

    A New Jersey federal judge on Friday tossed Novartis Pharmaceuticals' challenge to a Medicare drug price negotiation program, ruling the company is not required to participate, and that participating in the program does not violate its First Amendment rights.

  • October 22, 2024

    Post-Dobbs Ballot Questions May Spell Litigation With No End

    A record-setting number of abortion-related constitutional ballot questions this year has unleashed a wave of litigation over reproductive rights in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs decision. But they may just be the start of the legal battles over the ballot measures.

  • October 21, 2024

    Texas Asks Judge To Nix Rule Boosting Asylum Officer Power

    The Lone Star State urged a Texas federal court to vacate a policy empowering asylum officers to approve asylum requests filed at the border, arguing the Biden administration overstepped by imbuing "mere employees" with a power reserved for appointed officials.

  • October 21, 2024

    PAC Exec To Admit Pilfering From $28M Charitable Donor Haul

    A political action committee founder from Wisconsin accused of pilfering most of $28 million he raised through four PACs that were supposed to support veterans and firefighters is set to plead guilty to fraud charges, according to a Monday filing.

  • October 22, 2024

    The State Supreme Court Races To Watch In November

    With dozens of states holding elections next month for more than 80 seats on their courts of last resort, a number of races could prove critical for the courts' ideological balances and important cases relating to abortion, voting rights and possibly even the outcome of the presidential election.

  • October 21, 2024

    DJI Challenges DOD's Chinese Military Co. Designation

    Drone manufacturer DJI has challenged its listing as a Chinese military company in D.C. federal court, saying the U.S. Department of Defense's designation was supported by "scattershot" reasoning and has harmed the company's finances and reputation.

  • October 21, 2024

    Public Can Access Road Used By Thoreau, Mass. Court Says

    The public is still entitled to access portions of an 18th century road in the town of Concord once used by Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, a Massachusetts intermediate appellate court determined on Monday.

  • October 21, 2024

    Justices Pass On Cohen Suit Blaming Trump For Prison Stint

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a case brought against Donald Trump by his former personal attorney Michael Cohen, who claimed that he was vindictively put in prison for writing a memoir that painted the former president in a negative light.

  • October 21, 2024

    Fla. Dept.'s Ex-GC Says Gov.'s Office Directed TV Ad Letters

    The former general counsel for the Florida Department of Health said Monday that he was directed by Gov. Ron DeSantis' office to send out letters threatening television stations with criminal prosecution if they did not pull a campaign ad promoting an abortion rights ballot initiative.

  • October 21, 2024

    Catalent CEO Defends Novo Deal, Will Stay On After Buyout

    Catalent CEO Alessandro Maselli told the medical company's customers Monday that Catalent will continue to support them following its planned $16.5 billion sale to Novo Holdings, seeking to assure clientele after Sen. Elizabeth Warren and advocacy groups pressured the Federal Trade Commission to scrutinize and potentially block the deal.

  • October 21, 2024

    Biden Admin Proposes Expanded OTC Birth Control Coverage

    The U.S. Department of Labor and two other agencies unveiled proposed regulations on Monday that for the first time would require private health insurers to cover the full cost of over-the-counter contraception, including male condoms and the morning-after pill.

  • October 21, 2024

    High Court Won't Revisit New-Deal Removal Ruling Yet

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to review a case challenging presidential removal protections for commissioners of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, passing up the opportunity to revisit a New Deal-era precedent at the center of the modern regulatory system.

  • October 21, 2024

    Ex-Morgan Lewis Atty Seeks Moderation In LA County DA Bid

    Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor and onetime partner at Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, is running on a "hard middle" platform as he looks to unseat progressive Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, the candidate told Law360 in an interview delving into his experience on both sides of the bar.

  • October 21, 2024

    High Court Will Review Clean Air Act Jurisdiction Cases

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review Tenth Circuit and Fifth Circuit rulings that reached different conclusions about whether legal challenges to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency air pollution rules belong in the D.C. Circuit.

  • October 21, 2024

    Justices Nix GOP States' Intervention In Asylum Rule Talks

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a group of Republican states' attempt to intervene in settlement talks between immigrant rights groups and the Biden administration over a rule limiting asylum at the southern border.

  • October 18, 2024

    Law360 MVP Awards Go To Top Attys From 74 Firms

    The attorneys chosen as Law360's 2024 MVPs have distinguished themselves from their peers by securing hard-earned successes in high-stakes litigation, complex global matters and record-breaking deals.

  • October 18, 2024

    Fintech Group Challenges CFPB's Buy Now, Pay Later Policy

    The Financial Technology Association on Friday asked a D.C. federal court to strike down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's first-ever rule directed at the fintech-dominated market for buy now, pay later loans, claiming that it violates procedural requirements and "misunderstands" relevant law. 

  • October 18, 2024

    Texas Federal Judge Owned Tesla Stock After Taking X Suit

    A Texas federal judge overseeing a high-profile case between X Corp. and a media watchdog bought and sold shares of Elon Musk's automotive company Tesla the same year that X filed the suit, according to financial disclosure reports.

  • October 18, 2024

    Justices Urged To Undo Ruling Against Horse Racing Law

    The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority has pressed the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate a Fifth Circuit ruling against a federal law delegating horse safety regulation to the horse-racing authority, arguing that the law's framework is regularly upheld by other courts, according to a petition.

  • October 18, 2024

    Oklahoma Brings Title X Funding Cut Fight To Justices

    Oklahoma is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Tenth Circuit's decision allowing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to cut Title X funding over the state's refusal to refer family planning patients for abortion care following the high court's Dobbs decision last year.

Expert Analysis

  • CFPB's Earned Wage Access Rule Marks Regulatory Shift

    Author Photo

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's newly issued interpretive rule on earned wage access products, classifying them as extensions of credit, marks a significant shift in their regulatory landscape and raises some important questions regarding potential fringe cases and legal challenges, say Erin Bryan and Courina Yulisa at Dorsey & Whitney.

  • How Calif. Justices' Prop 22 Ruling Affects The Gig Industry

    Author Photo

    The California Supreme Court's recent upholding of Proposition 22 clarifies that Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other companies in the gig industry can legally classify their drivers as independent contractors, but it falls short of concluding some important regulatory battles in the state, says Mark Spring at CDF Labor.

  • Look For Flags On Expert Claims After Sunday Ticket Reversal

    Author Photo

    A California federal judge’s recent reversal of a jury’s $4.7 billion antitrust verdict in the NFL Sunday Ticket case indicates that litigants may be inclined to challenge expert testimony admissibility under Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, and that judges may increasingly accept such challenges, say attorneys at Kutak Rock.

  • How Justices Upended The Administrative Procedure Act

    Author Photo

    In its recent Loper Bright, Corner Post and Jarkesy decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed the Administrative Procedure Act in ways that undermine Congress and the executive branch, shift power to the judiciary, curtail public and business input, and create great uncertainty, say Alene Taber and Beth Hummer at Hanson Bridgett.

  • How Corner Post Affects Enviro Laws' Statutes Of Limitations

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board has helped to alter the fundamental underpinnings of administrative law — and its plaintiff-centric approach may have implications for some specific environmental laws' statutes of limitations, say Chris Leason and Liam Martin at Gallagher and Kennedy.

  • Opinion

    DOL's Impending Mental Health Act Regs Should Be Simplified

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Department of Labor should consider revising these six issues in its forthcoming Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act regulations to ease the significant compliance hurdles for group health plan sponsors, says Alden Bianchi at McDermott.

  • Parsing FY 2024 DOJ Criminal Healthcare Fraud Enforcement

    Author Photo

    While the U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Division's strike force on healthcare fraud enforcement action shows an impressive doubling of criminal indictments, a closer look at the data offers important clues about underlying trends, including the comparably modest, accompanying increase in associated intended loss, say Roderick Thomas and Kathleen Cooperstein at Wiley.

  • Haste Is Priority For Participation In New Green Card Program

    Author Photo

    Immigration practitioners should determine their clients' eligibility under the Biden administration’s new policy to help certain noncitizens, particularly those married to U.S. citizens, to apply for green cards, and do so without delay given uncertainty tied to the upcoming election, says Brad Brigante at Brigante Law.

  • How Gov't AI Protections May Affect Contractors' Data Rights

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Senate’s proposed National Defense Authorization Act for 2025, which includes provisions to maintain the government's data rights when contracting for artificial intelligence, should prompt contractors to examine how to protect their own rights when the current data rights framework is applied to AI, say Tyler Evans and Caitlin Conroy at Steptoe.

  • Jarkesy May Thwart Consumer Agencies' Civil Penalty Power

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy not only implicates future SEC administrative adjudications, but those of other agencies that operate similarly — and may stymie regulators' efforts to levy civil monetary penalties in a range of consumer protection enforcement actions, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Trump's Best Hush Money Appeal Options Still Likely To Fail

    Author Photo

    The two strongest potential arguments former President Donald Trump could raise in appealing his New York hush money conviction seem promising at first, but precedent strongly suggests they will still ultimately fail — though, of course, Trump's unique position could lead to surprising results, says former New York Supreme Court Justice Ethan Greenberg, now at Anderson Kill.

  • Tips For Tax Equity-Tax Credit Transfers That Pass IRS Muster

    Author Photo

    Although the Internal Revenue Service has increased its scrutiny of complex partnership structures, which must demonstrate their economic substance and business purpose, recent cases and IRS guidance together provide a reliable road map for creating legitimate tax equity structures, say Ian Boccaccio and Michael Messina at Ryan Tax.

  • How Cos. With Chinese Suppliers Should Prep For Biotech Bill

    Author Photo

    A proposed bill to prohibit government-affiliated life sciences companies from contracting with Chinese biotech companies of concern may necessitate switching to other sources for research and supplies, meaning they should begin evaluating supply chains now due to the long lead times of drug development, say John O'Loughlin and Christina Carone at Weil Gotshal.

  • Opinion

    Texas Judges Ignored ERISA's Core To Stall Fiduciary Rule

    Author Photo

    Two recent rulings from Texas federal courts, which rely on a plainly wrong reading of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to effectively strike a forthcoming rule that would impose functional fiduciary duties onto sellers of investment services, may expose financially unsophisticated 401(k) participants to peddlers of misleading advice, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.

  • Inside OCC's Retail Nondeposit Investment Products Refresh

    Author Photo

    In addition to clarifying safe and sound risk management practices generally, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's revised booklet on retail nondeposit investment products updates its guidance around certain sales practices in light of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's adoption of Regulation Best Interest, say attorneys at Debevoise.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Public Policy archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!