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Public Policy
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December 09, 2024
High Court Again Weighs Reach Of Federal Fraud Statutes
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday grappled with the question of whether using deceptive means to induce a business transaction with no contemplation of causing economic loss constitutes mail or wire fraud, the latest challenge in a line of cases that seeks to narrow the reach of federal fraud statutes.
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December 09, 2024
4th Circ. Joins Anti-Garamond Train As Typeface Loses Steam
Note from the federal appellate bench in Virginia's capital city on Monday: When attorneys correspond, judges in Richmond want Garamond to be gone — they think the typeface is small and wan, so please find another one, such as Times New Roman.
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December 09, 2024
Boeing Supplier Wins Bid To Block Texas Biz Records Inquiry
A Texas federal judge on Monday adopted a magistrate judge's recommendation granting Spirit AeroSystems Inc.'s bid to permanently enjoin a Texas statute requiring businesses to immediately comply with the state's demand to examine business records.
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December 09, 2024
Bill Aiding Not-So-Small Patent Applicants Advances
A federal measure that would allow patent applicants to avoid financial penalties for incorrectly seeking reduced fees for small applicants has made its way to President Joe Biden's desk.
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December 09, 2024
$82.5M Cheerleading Antitrust Deal, Atty Fee Gets Final OK
A Tennessee federal judge has granted final approval of an $82.5 million settlement between parents and Varsity Brands in a lawsuit that accused the apparel company of stifling competition and inflating prices, and also allowed $35 million of the award to pay for class counsel's fees.
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December 09, 2024
Vail Resorts Says Colo. District Can't Escape Debt Deal
A Colorado special district seeking to revive a lawsuit challenging an intergovernmental agreement from the early 2000s is only trying to avoid repaying millions of dollars in debt, Vail Resorts and another special district told a state appellate court.
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December 09, 2024
Key House Dem Thinks Biden Will Veto Bill To Add Judges
The House is poised to vote on a bipartisan bill to add the much-sought additional judgeships, but President Joe Biden's support is in question.
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December 09, 2024
Cops Can Search Car Over Raw Cannabis Odor, Ill. Justices Say
Illinois police can establish probable cause to search a vehicle based on the smell of raw cannabis alone, the state's highest court has ruled, saying that despite cannabis's legal status in the state, motorists face "stringent" rules when it comes to transporting it in cars.
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December 09, 2024
19 Republican AGs Win Order Against DACA Health Coverage
Nineteen states secured an order on Monday that bars the federal government from requiring them to comply with a regulation that extends federal health coverage to immigrants brought to the U.S. as children without authorization, blocking enforcement of a Biden administration rule.
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December 09, 2024
RealPage Says DOJ's Ended Multifamily Rental Criminal Probe
RealPage said the U.S. Department of Justice had ended a criminal probe into the multifamily rental housing industry's pricing practices, adding that the algorithmic pricing company was never identified as an investigation target.
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December 09, 2024
What's Next After Boeing 737 Max Deal Snags On DEI Clause
A Texas federal judge's recent rejection of Boeing's plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice underscores the increasing vulnerability of corporate and government diversity, equity and inclusion policies, experts say, spelling fresh complications for the embattled American aerospace titan and the legal saga over its 737 Max jets.
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December 09, 2024
Biden Proclaims 1st Indian Boarding School A National Monument
President Joe Biden on Monday issued a proclamation declaring the first Indian boarding school a national monument, saying that giving the Carlisle, Pennsylvania, site the designation will help to ensure that a shameful era of American history is never forgotten or repeated.
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December 09, 2024
With Ga. Judge, Biden Names Most Black Women To Bench
The Senate voted 48-44 on Monday evening to confirm Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany R. Johnson as a district judge for the Northern District of Georgia, making her the 40th Black woman confirmed to a lifetime federal judgeship under President Joe Biden.
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December 09, 2024
10th Circ. Affirms Nix Of Atty's Racing Expense Deductions
The Tenth Circuit affirmed Monday the U.S. Tax Court's determination that a Denver personal injury lawyer shouldn't be allowed to deduct about $300,000 for his car racing-related costs as advertising, despite his claims that his races helped him drum up business.
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December 09, 2024
Judge Eyes Far Less Trial Time In Meta Case Than FTC Wants
The Federal Trade Commission likely has to cram much more trial in much less time than it had planned after a D.C. federal judge suggested Monday that the agency's social media monopolization case against Meta Platforms Inc. can't go much past the first week of June 2025.
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December 09, 2024
LendingTree Pushes FCC Again To Rework Lead Consent Rule
Loan marketer LendingTree is making one more effort to persuade the Federal Communications Commission to trim the scope of its lead generation consent rule in hopes of seeing changes before the regulations take effect in January.
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December 09, 2024
Amazon Says FTC Lacks Authority To Bring Antitrust Case
Amazon has told a Washington federal court that the Federal Trade Commission is overstepping its authority by bringing its antitrust case directly in court without pursuing an in-house case targeting the e-commerce giant's treatment of sellers on its platform.
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December 09, 2024
2nd Circ. Mulls If DirecTV Has Standing In Retransmission Fight
The Second Circuit is set to decide whether DirecTV's refusal to ink retransmission deals with two companies that it says were illegally collaborating with Nexstar Media Group means that it doesn't have injury to bring an antitrust suit accusing the companies of trying to fix prices.
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December 09, 2024
DC Circ. Unsure Of Wading Into FERC Grid Plan Fight
D.C. Circuit judges appeared reluctant on Monday to entertain the legality of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's 2023 rejection of a grid operator's plan to manage certain transmission project costs, given that the agency later approved related projects in May.
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December 09, 2024
Colo. Litigants Can Use Open Records Law, Justices Rule
The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday decided that litigants suing government entities are entitled to use the state's public records law to obtain documents, siding with serial pro se public records attorney Matt Roane in his bid to obtain documents connected to his 2020 lawsuit against a county over alleged open meetings violations.
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December 09, 2024
Congress Set To Let FCC Borrow $3B For 'Rip And Replace'
Lawmakers are considering funding a $3.08 billion shortfall in the program to rid U.S. networks of Chinese-made equipment by letting the Federal Communications Commission borrow the money from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, repaid with spectrum auctions.
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December 09, 2024
EPA Finalizes Bans On Two Carcinogenic Chemicals
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a pair of final rules on Monday banning all uses of trichloroethylene and all consumer uses of perchloroethylene, which are cancer-causing chemical solvents used in brake cleaner and adhesive products.
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December 09, 2024
Pressure Growing For Biden To Pardon Native Activist
As President Joe Biden nears the end of his term, calls to pardon a Native American activist serving a life sentence in the 1975 slayings of two FBI agents are again ramping up, with the chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs asking Biden to "right a historic wrong."
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December 09, 2024
Ill. Congresswoman Denies Undue Influence From Madigan
U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski was called to the witness stand Monday in the racketeering trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, where she testified that while she received multiple job recommendations from Madigan as a former senior aide to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, those candidates were only hired if they were qualified.
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December 09, 2024
16 EU Members Call For Revamped Tobacco Taxation
The European Commission needs to prioritize an overhaul of the bloc's tobacco taxation rules in the upcoming term, a group of 16 member countries said Monday, arguing that major changes in the industry since the rules last updated have left countries to fend for themselves, fragmenting the tax regime.
Expert Analysis
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Use The Right Kind Of Feedback To Help Gen Z Attorneys
Generation Z associates bring unique perspectives and expectations to the workplace, so it’s imperative that supervising attorneys adapt their feedback approach in order to help young lawyers learn and grow — which is good for law firms, too, says Rachael Bosch at Fringe Professional Development.
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Opinion
Congress Can And Must Enact A Supreme Court Ethics Code
As public confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court dips to historic lows following reports raising conflict of interest concerns, Congress must exercise its constitutional power to enact a mandatory and enforceable code of ethics for the high court, says Muhammad Faridi, president of the New York City Bar Association.
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What To Make Of Dueling Corporate Transparency Act Rulings
Although challenges to the Corporate Transparency Act abound — as highlighted by recent federal court decisions from Alabama and Oregon taking opposite positions on its constitutionality — the act is still law, so companies should comply with their filing requirements or face the potential consequences, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.
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Series
The Pop Culture Docket: Justice Lebovits On Gilbert And Sullivan
Characters in the 19th century comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan break the rules of good lawyering by shamelessly throwing responsible critical thought to the wind, providing hilarious lessons for lawyers and judges on how to avoid a surfeit of traps and tribulations, say acting New York Supreme Court Justice Gerald Lebovits and law student Tara Scown.
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California's AI Safety Bill Veto: The Path Forward
California Gov. Gavin Newsom's veto of a bill that sought to impose stringent regulations on advanced artificial intelligence model development has sparked a renewed debate on how best to balance innovation with safety in the rapidly evolving AI landscape, say Bobby Malhotra and Carson Swope at Winston & Strawn.
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Staying Off The CFPB's Financial Services Offender Registry
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's soon-to-launch registry of financial services companies that have faced public enforcement orders is designed to ratchet up long-term scrutiny of entities that could become repeat offenders, so companies should take their new compliance and filing requirements seriously, say Andrea Mitchell and Chris Napier at Mitchell Sandler.
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New TCPA Rule Faces Uncertain Future Post-Loper Bright
The Federal Communications Commission's new rule aiming to eliminate lead generators' use of unlawful robocalls is now in doubt with the U.S. Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision, and the Eleventh Circuit's Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC is poised to be a test case of the agency's ability to enforce the Telephone Consumer Protection Act post-Chevron, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.
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A Look At Calif.'s New AI Law For Health Insurers
A newly enacted California law prohibits artificial intelligence tools from making medical necessity determinations for healthcare service plans or disability insurers, addressing core questions that have arisen around AI's role in coverage decisions, say attorneys at DLA Piper.
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New HHS Research Misconduct Rules Bring Seismic Changes
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' new rule regarding research misconduct investigations brings significant changes that focus on remediation, appeals and confidentiality, while other changes could result in institutions causing undue harm to scientists accused of such misconduct, say attorneys at Cohen Seglias.
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To Report Or Not To Report Others' Export Control Violations
A recent Bureau of Industry and Security enforcement policy change grants cooperation credit to those that report violations of the Export Administration Regulations committed by others, but the benefits of doing so must be weighed against significant drawbacks, including the costs of preparing and submitting a report, says Megan Lew at Cravath.
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Earned Wage Access Laws Form A Prickly Policy Patchwork
Conflicting earned wage access laws across the country, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recently issued rule, mean providers must adopt a proactive compliance approach and adjust business models where needed, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
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What FDIC Expansion Of Change In Bank Control Could Mean
A recent Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. proposal pertaining to the Change in Bank Control Act has the potential to create uncertainty around investments by mutual fund complexes in banking organizations, which represent a stable source of capital for the banking industry, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.
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HSR Amendments Intensify Merger Filing Burdens, Data Risk
The antitrust agencies' long-awaited changes to premerger notification rules under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act stand to significantly increase the time and cost involved in preparing an initial HSR notification, and will require more proactive attention to data issues, says Andrew Szwez at FTI Technology.
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Deadline Extension Highlights PFAS Reporting Complexities
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent extension of reporting and recordkeeping timelines for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances under the Toxic Substances Control Act offers relief to the regulated community, but the unprecedented volume of data required means that businesses must remain diligent in their data collection efforts, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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Can SEC's Consolidated Audit Trail Survive Post-Chevron?
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is currently in a showdown at the Eleventh Circuit over its authority to maintain a national market system and require that the industry spend billions to maintain its consolidated audit trail, a case that is further complicated by the Loper Bright decision, says Daniel Hawke at Arnold & Porter.