Public Policy

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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."

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • July 18, 2024

    Ind. Tax Board Agrees With $2M Valuation Of Unfinished Home

    An Indiana local assessor correctly valued an unfinished mansion at $2.2 million in 2021 and $2.4 million in 2022, a state review board determined after agreeing with the assessor's cost approach.

  • July 18, 2024

    Trade Court Dumps Tile Duties Set After Secretive Meeting

    A U.S. Court of International Trade judge overturned duties on marble-topped tile from China on Thursday, holding that federal officials failed to divulge the specifics of a closed-door meeting with a U.S. tile producer related to their investigation.

  • July 18, 2024

    NJ Gov., Ex-Elections Chief Spar Over Push To Resign

    Garden State Gov. Phil Murphy told a New Jersey state judge Thursday claims from the former elections chief that his civil rights were violated when he was pushed to resign allegedly in retaliation for a satirical article should be tossed, arguing there is nothing in the law that prevents him from asking a state official to resign.

  • July 18, 2024

    Judge With Lake Property Exits $217M Dam Repair Tax Suit

    A Michigan federal judge said he would step aside in a fight over a $217 million tax assessment to fund dam reconstruction because he's part of the assessment district, though he warned that hundreds of plaintiffs could have their own conflicts.

  • July 18, 2024

    Vermont Suit Accuses PBMs Of Price-Fixing

    Vermont's attorney general filed suit against pharmacy benefit managers Express Scripts and CVS Wednesday, accusing the companies of abusing their market power to drive up prescription costs for consumers and squeezing out price competition from small pharmacies.

  • July 18, 2024

    Most Top US Cos. To Report Tax Under Aussie Bill, Study Says

    Australia's Senate is expected to consider adoption next month of the world's most extensive public country-by-country reporting rules, which would require 51% of large U.S. multinational corporations to disclose tax arrangements retroactively from July 1, according to a study published Thursday.

  • July 18, 2024

    Final IRS Rules Require Beneficiaries To Take Distributions

    Beneficiaries of retirement account owners who died after starting to take distributions must continue taking the distributions annually, the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday in final regulations on required minimum distributions that rejected feedback saying the requirement was overly complex.

  • July 18, 2024

    Police Dept. Beats Cop's Suit Over Political Rally Attendance

    A California police department defeated an officer's lawsuit alleging he was unlawfully fired after attending a "Stop the Steal" rally in early 2021, with a federal judge finding he was fired based on social media posts that violated department policies, not his political activities.

  • July 18, 2024

    Colo. Judge Ends Voter Intimidation Case Midtrial

    A Colorado federal judge on Thursday put an abrupt end to a bench trial in a lawsuit accusing members of a 2020 election denier group of illegal voter intimidation, concluding there was not enough evidence to back up the claims brought by voting rights groups.

  • July 18, 2024

    Ex-BigLaw Atty Gets Nearly 2 Years For Election Crimes

    A former BigLaw attorney was sentenced to 21 months in prison Thursday after being convicted of campaign finance violations tied to a failed run for U.S. Congress, with a Boston federal judge citing the defendant's legal acumen and experience as a law clerk as evidence he "should have known" better.

  • July 18, 2024

    CFPB Eyes Loan Treatment For 'Earned Wage' Cash Advances

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau moved Thursday to apply federal truth-in-lending requirements to the growing market for fintech cash advances, issuing a proposed rule that would classify many "earned wage access" products as consumer loans needing clear pricing disclosures.

  • July 17, 2024

    EPA Disputes High Court Link To Texas Clean Air Act Case

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency argued that the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling blocking a federal plan to reduce cross-state pollution does not impact the EPA's decision to reject state plans submitted by Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

  • July 17, 2024

    DOI Rejects Calif. Tribal Members' Lineal Descent Claims

    The U.S. Department of the Interior is backing its bid to dismiss a D.C. federal court lawsuit brought by family members who seek control of the California Valley Miwok Tribe, highlighting its argument that their claims have already been decided in several prior cases.

  • July 17, 2024

    PJM Jumps Into 3rd Circ. Row Over Transmission Project

    A Pennsylvania commission's request to have the Third Circuit reinstate its rejection of a power transmission project would impinge on PJM Interconnection's federally mandated planning process, the regional grid operator said in an amicus brief filed Wednesday.

  • July 17, 2024

    MTA Sued For Bus Service Cuts After Congestion Plan Nixed

    New York City's Public Advocate hit the Metropolitan Transportation Authority with a proposed state court class action Wednesday aimed at reversing bus service cuts implemented after Gov. Kathy Hochul abruptly canceled plans for congestion pricing, slashing billions in anticipated revenue for the MTA.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    After Chevron: Opportunities For Change In FHFA Practices

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of the Chevron doctrine should lead to better cooperation between the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Congress, and may give the FHFA a chance to embrace transparency and innovation and promote sustainable housing practices, says Mehdi Sinaki at Michelman & Robinson.

  • Constitutional Protections For Cannabis Companies Are Hazy

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    Cannabis businesses are subject to federal enforcement and tax, but often without the benefit of constitutional protections — and the entanglement of state and federal law and conflicting judicial opinions are creating confusion in the space, says Amber Lengacher at Purple Circle.

  • Supreme Court's ALJ Ruling Carries Implications Beyond SEC

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    In its recent Jarkesy opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the types of cases that can be tried before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's in-house administrative law judges, setting the stage for challenges to the constitutionality of ALJs across other agencies, say Robert Robertson and Kimberley Church at Dechert.

  • Opinion

    A Tale Of 2 Trump Cases: The Rule Of Law Is A Live Issue

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision this week in Trump v. U.S., holding that former President Donald Trump has broad immunity from prosecution, undercuts the rule of law, while the former president’s New York hush money conviction vindicates it in eight key ways, says David Postel at Henein Hutchison.

  • USPTO Disclaimer Rule Would Complicate Patent Prosecution

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    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's proposed changes to terminal disclaimer practice could lead to a patent owner being unable to enforce a valid patent simply because it is indirectly tied to a patent in which a single claim is found anticipated or obvious in view of the prior art, say attorneys at Sterne Kessler.

  • 2nd Circ. ERISA Ruling May Help Fight Unfair Arb. Clauses

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    The Second Circuit recently held that a plaintiff seeking planwide relief under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act cannot be compelled to individual arbitration, a decision that opens the door to new applications of the effective vindication doctrine to defeat onerous and one-sided arbitration clauses, say Raphael Janove and Liana Vitale at Janove.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Various Paths For Labor And Employment Law

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    Labor and employment law leans heavily on federal agency guidance, so the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to toss out Chevron deference will ripple through this area, with future workplace policies possibly taking shape through strategic litigation, informal guidance, state-level regulation and more, says Alexander MacDonald at Littler.

  • Series

    Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.

  • What NYC's Green Fast Track Means For Affordable Housing

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    New York City's Green Fast Track for Housing initiative, which went into effect last month, aims to speed up the environmental review process for modest residential developments and could potentially pave the way for similar initiatives in other cities, say Vivien Krieger and Rachel Scall at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Series

    After Chevron: No Deference, No Difference For SEC Or CFTC

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    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.

  • Opinion

    Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron

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    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.

  • Justices' Bribery Ruling: A Corrupt Act Isn't Necessarily Illegal

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    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.

  • 3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron

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    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.

  • Takeaways From New HHS Substance Use Disorder Info Rules

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    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.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Expect Few Changes In ITC Rulemaking

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    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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