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Public Policy
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September 24, 2024
Calif. Gov.'s Emergency Hemp Intoxicant Ban Wins Approval
California retailers are no longer allowed to sell hemp products containing tetrahydrocannabinol after the Golden State's Office of Administrative Law on Monday approved Gov. Gavin Newsom's emergency ban, a move a leading hemp trade group has vowed to challenge.
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September 24, 2024
Red States Back Florida In CWA Permit Program Fight
Nineteen red states have told the D.C. Circuit in a friends of the court brief that it should restore Florida's power to administer a Clean Water Act permitting program for dredging approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency but nixed by a D.C. federal judge.
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September 24, 2024
Eighth Circ. Poised To Weigh FCC's Anti-Redlining Rule
The Federal Communications Commission is headed to court in St. Louis this week to defend new rules aimed at preventing discrimination in broadband deployment as industry groups opposing the rules fret that enforcement could begin any time.
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September 24, 2024
Texas Fair Gun Ban Stands, State Appeals Court Says
A Texas appeals court has rejected Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's bid for emergency relief prohibiting the State Fair of Texas from enforcing its new policy banning firearms on fairgrounds, handing the state a loss in a Tuesday order and keeping the ban in place ahead of the fair's opening Friday.
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September 24, 2024
Google Expert Targets DOJ's Ad Tech 'Mistakes And Omissions'
A Nobel Economics Prize-winning auctions expert on Tuesday criticized the U.S. Justice Department's monopolization case targeting Google's online advertising placement technology, telling a Virginia federal court that it was based on a fundamental misunderstanding of how the allegedly harmful auctions work.
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September 24, 2024
Cox Sues RI Over Use Of Broadband Deployment Dollars
Cox Communications is suing the state of Rhode Island over its plan for using federal Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment Program funding, saying in a new complaint that the plan uses "flawed internet speed data" to justify providing redundant high-speed service in affluent areas that are already well-connected.
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September 24, 2024
DC Circ. Open To Industry Challenge To TSCA Reporting Rule
A D.C. Circuit panel on Tuesday seemed receptive to two trade associations' challenge to new federal regulations aimed at increasing Toxic Substances Control Act transparency, pressing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on a facet of the rule that opponents say would lead confidential chemical information to be divulged.
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September 24, 2024
Neb. Advocates Bash Effort To Upend Medical Cannabis Vote
Marijuana advocates are urging a Nebraska state judge to toss a lawsuit aiming to block state residents from voting on measures that could legalize medical cannabis and establish a state regulatory system, calling the suit a baseless attack on the "integrity, credibility, and accuracy of Nebraska's election officials."
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September 24, 2024
1st Circ. Affirms Tossing Of IRS Crypto Doc Seizure Case
A New Hampshire federal court correctly dismissed a bitcoin investor's claim that the IRS violated his privacy and property rights when it seized his records from the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, the First Circuit ruled Tuesday, agreeing that he lacked a reasonable expectation that his account information would be kept private.
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September 24, 2024
Conn. Officials Want Nursing School Students' Claims Nixed
Pointing to the state's interests in regulating professions and the principle of sovereign immunity, Connecticut officials accused of "overreach" for withholding licenses from students at a shuttered nursing school say a federal judge must dismiss proposed class claims by affected students.
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September 24, 2024
Texas AG, County Officials Spar Over Voter Registration Suits
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is urging a federal judge to send his lawsuits challenging two counties' voter registration initiatives back to state courts, emphasizing that his office has learned one county sent an unsolicited registration application to a person who died more than 40 years ago.
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September 24, 2024
Novo Nordisk Tells Sens. Ozempic Costs Are Linked To PBMs
Novo Nordisk's CEO argued Tuesday that the high prices of the company's diabetes and weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy primarily stem from the actions of pharmacy benefit managers, earning support from many members of a Senate committee and frustrating others who wanted more direct answers on the Danish drugmaker's own responsibilities.
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September 24, 2024
NLRB Office Signs Off On Near $450K Deal With Musk Brother
A Colorado nonprofit co-founded by Elon Musk's brother settled a union's unfair labor practice claims for close to $450,000, according to a National Labor Relations Board announcement Tuesday, with the organization agreeing to pay thousands to laid-off workers and make supervisors undergo federal labor law training.
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September 24, 2024
Dish Owner Tells FCC Device Unlocking Good For Competition
Dish and its parent company EchoStar are leaning on the Federal Communications Commission to finalize requirements that mobile providers unlock a customer's device within 60 days of them signing up, so they can change carriers if they want.
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September 24, 2024
Justices' Immunity Ruling Could Foil Trump Charges, Sens. Told
The U.S. Supreme Court's prohibition on judges considering a former president's motive when deciding if an act is official and therefore protected from criminal prosecution may present one of the biggest roadblocks in the criminal cases filed against Donald Trump, a former U.S. Department of Justice attorney told lawmakers Tuesday.
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September 24, 2024
Mich. Justices Wonder If Pot Smell's Strength Justifies Search
Michigan's Supreme Court asked Tuesday whether a whiff of marijuana can justify searching a vehicle now that the drug is legal in the state, with one justice claiming his nose can distinguish between stale smells and more recent use, which could indicate impaired driving or illicit public consumption.
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September 24, 2024
Ala. Can Enforce Own Interstate Clean Air Plan, 11th Circ. Told
Alabama told an Eleventh Circuit panel Tuesday that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency overstepped its authority when denying the state's plan to implement rules limiting harmful interstate emissions under the Clean Air Act, saying the law gives states the "primary" authority to combat air pollution.
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September 24, 2024
Haitian Group Seeks Criminal Charges Against Trump And Vance
A Haitian advocacy organization filed an affidavit Tuesday seeking criminal prosecution of former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, for their false claims that Haitian immigrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, that have "wreaked havoc" on the city.
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September 24, 2024
11th Circ. Unleashes Swarm Of 'Hypos' In Fla. Pronoun Case
An Eleventh Circuit panel on Tuesday peppered attorneys with hypothetical scenarios as they attempted to hammer out the bounds of public school teachers' free speech protections in the classroom, in a case by transgender and nonbinary Florida educators that could ultimately affect other state employees.
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September 24, 2024
Md. Says Shipowner Liable For $2B Baltimore Bridge Rebuild
Maryland said the owner and manager of the cargo ship that slammed into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge must be held liable for the estimated $1.7 billion cost of rebuilding the bridge, claiming Tuesday that their negligence has caused "grievous impact" to Marylanders, the environment and the regional economy.
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September 24, 2024
FAA Chief Updates House Panel On Boeing Safety Culture Fix
The Federal Aviation Administration's chief told a House panel Tuesday that the agency has "dramatically" increased its oversight of Boeing, as lawmakers raised concerns about the pace of Boeing's safety culture overhaul amid an ongoing labor dispute with 33,000 workers.
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September 24, 2024
Ga. Election Board To Investigate Voter Eligibility Challenges
Georgia's increasingly tendentious State Election Board voted this week to open investigations into a handful of counties over their handling of voter registration challenges, at the urging of conservative activists who told the board that local election officials have ignored their calls for ineligible voters to be stricken from the rolls.
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September 24, 2024
'The Predators Are Back,' Mich. Tax Foreclosure Attys Warn
Lawyers for a proposed class accusing Michigan counties of unlawfully keeping proceeds of their tax-foreclosed home sales urged a federal judge Monday to bar a third-party claims firm and a "conspiring" Michigan attorney from trying to snatch away class members using tactics they called abusive and illegal.
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September 24, 2024
Colo. Justices Float Limits For Litigants' Public Records Asks
Colorado Supreme Court justices were skeptical Tuesday that litigants were blocked from using the state's public records law to request documents from agencies and boards they are suing, though they also expressed reservations about just how far such litigants could go.
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September 24, 2024
Dish Slams 'Entitled' Standard General Exec's Race Bias Suit
Dish Network has called for sanctions against Soo Kim, his hedge fund Standard General and their attorneys, calling Kim's racial discrimination suit against Dish, the Federal Communications Commission and a collection of other media players "an expensive temper tantrum."
Expert Analysis
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A Preview Of AI Priorities Under The Next President
For the first time in a presidential election, both of the leading candidates and their parties have been vocal about artificial intelligence policy, offering clues on the future of regulation as AI continues to advance and congressional action continues to stall, say attorneys at Mintz.
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DOJ Must Overcome Hurdles In RealPage Antitrust Case
The U.S. Department of Justice's recent claims that RealPage's pricing software violates the Sherman Act mark a creative, and apparently contradictory, shift in the agency's approach to algorithmic price-fixing that will face several key challenges, say attorneys at Clifford Chance.
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What To Know About CFPB Stance On Confidentiality Terms
A recent circular from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau represents a growing effort across government agencies to address overbroad confidentiality agreements, and gives employers insight into the bureau's perspective on the issue as it relates to the Consumer Financial Protection Act, say Holly Williamson and Elizabeth King at Hunton.
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Opinion
To Lower Drug Prices, Harris Must Address Patent Thickets
If Vice President Kamala Harris is serious about her pledge to address high drug prices, she must begin by closing loopholes that allow pharmaceutical companies to develop patent thickets that can deter generic or biosimilar companies from entering the market, says Tahir Amin at the Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge.
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How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations
Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.
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ESA Ruling May Jeopardize Gulf Of Mexico Drilling Operations
A Maryland federal court's recent decision in Sierra Club v. National Marine Fisheries Service, vacating key Endangered Species Act analyses of oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico, may create a gap in guidance that could expose operators to enforcement risk and even criminal liability, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
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The State Law Landscape After Justices' Social Media Ruling
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent NetChoice ruling on social media platforms’ First Amendment rights, it’s still unclear if state content moderation laws are constitutional, leaving online operators to face a patchwork of regulation, and the potential for the issue to return to the high court, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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What's Next For Federal Preemption In Financial Services
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's review of its preemption interpretations and growing pressure from state regulators signal potential changes ahead for preemption in U.S. financial services, and the path forward will likely involve a reevaluation of the entire framework, say attorneys at Clark Hill.
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Avoiding Corporate Political Activity Pitfalls This Election Year
As Election Day approaches, corporate counsel should be mindful of the complicated rules around companies engaging in political activities, including super PAC contributions, pay-to-play prohibitions and foreign agent restrictions, say attorneys at Covington.
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Opinion
Congress Must Do More To Bolster ERISA Protections
As the Employee Retirement Income Security Act turns 50 this month, we applaud Congress for championing a statute that protects worker and retiree rights, but further action is needed to ban arbitration clauses in plan provisions and codify regulations imperiled by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Chevron ruling, say Michelle Yau and Eleanor Frisch at Cohen Milstein.
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Increased Scrutiny Raises Int'l Real Estate Transaction Risks
Recently proposed regulations expanding the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' oversight, a White House divestment order and state-level legislative efforts signal increasing scrutiny of real estate transactions that may trigger national security concerns, say Luciano Racco and Aleksis Fernández Caballero at Foley Hoag.
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Navigating Cybersecurity Rule Changes For Gov't Contractors
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
As federal contractors evaluate the security of their IT systems, they should keep in mind numerous changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulations and the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement recently promulgated to meet new cyber threats, says William Stowe at KBR.
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Financial Incentives May Alleviate Affordable Housing Crisis
There is a wide array of financial incentives and assistance that the government can provide to both real estate developers and individuals to chip away at the housing affordability problem from multiple angles, say Eric DeBear and Madeline Williams at Cozen.
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How Fund Advisers Can Limit Election Year Pay-To-Play Risks
With Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz now the Democratic candidate for vice president, politically active investment advisers should take practical steps to avoid triggering strict pay-to-play rules that can lead to fund managers facing mutli-year timeouts from working with public funds after contributing to sitting officials, say attorneys at Dechert.
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FTC Focus: What Access To Patent Settlements Would Mean
Settling parties should adopt a series of practice tips, including specifying rationales to support specific terms, as the Federal Trade Commission seeks to expand its access to settlements before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, say Shannon McGowan and David Munkittrick at Proskauer.