Public Policy

  • March 04, 2025

    FCC Dismisses Bid To Revisit Local Unbundling Rules

    The Federal Communications Commission has dismissed a petition to restore local telecom unbundling rules, reiterating the agency's 2020 reasons for lifting a number of restrictions on local incumbents and restating that those limitations are no longer necessary.

  • March 04, 2025

    Trump's Mexico, Canada Tariffs To Face Legal Tests, Pros Say

    President Donald Trump placed 25% tariffs on all goods from Canada and Mexico on Tuesday, citing drug trafficking as the core reason he used untested emergency tariff powers, a course of action that will face legal scrutiny, tax professionals told Law360.

  • March 04, 2025

    NY Judicial Complaints Hit New High Amid Public 'Anger'

    New York's judicial watchdog on Tuesday reported a record number of complaints against judges in 2024, receiving about as many grievances as the state court system has judges.

  • March 04, 2025

    Pa. Justices Wary Of 'Limitless Liability' Without Damages Cap

    Pennsylvania's $250,000 damages limit on injury claims involving state entities is too low in cases involving catastrophic injuries, the lawyer for a woman hit by a bus told the state Supreme Court on Tuesday, drawing questions from the justices about the potential for state agencies to be crippled by "limitless liability."

  • March 04, 2025

    Trump Asks 2nd Circ. To Take Over Hush Money Appeal

    President Donald Trump asked the Second Circuit to take over his New York state court appeal of his hush money conviction, saying the "extraordinary" case implicated official acts from his first term.

  • March 04, 2025

    FERC Enforcement Case Is Constitutionally Valid, DOJ Says

    The Trump administration has told a North Carolina federal judge that a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission market manipulation case against an energy-efficiency aggregator complies with a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision curbing the enforcement authority of federal agencies.

  • March 04, 2025

    HHS Cuts Hit Attys Tackling Medicare Appeals Backlog

    The Department of Health and Human Services is terminating more than a dozen attorneys charged with reducing a massive backlog of Medicare appeals at an internal administrative board. The cuts may slow an already cumbersome administrative process.

  • March 04, 2025

    Calif. Bar Staff Asks Board To Ditch Meazure's July Exam

    The State Bar of California recommended to its board of trustees to forgo its current partnership with bar exam administer ProctorU Inc., doing business as Meazure Learning, ahead of the July 2025 test following the disastrous rollout of its February exam, which prompted a nationwide class action filed in California federal court last week.

  • March 04, 2025

    Kan. Man Says 80s Pot Conviction Can't Block Gun Purchase

    A man who was convicted of a cannabis crime in 1984 is suing the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, alleging he was wrongly denied an application to purchase a firearm even though he completed his sentence in 1987 and his conviction was expunged in 2018.

  • March 04, 2025

    Career DOJ Atty, Civil Division Chief Of Staff Joins Jenner

    Jenner & Block LLP has hired the former chief of staff of the Justice Department's Civil Division, who is joining the firm after spending her entire career in public service, the firm announced Tuesday. 

  • March 04, 2025

    Colo. Biotech, Founders Owe SEC $14.3M Over Fraud Claims

    A Colorado federal judge has ordered a biotech startup and two of its founders to pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission roughly $14.3 million and barred them from serving as officers and directors of public companies after finding that they fraudulently raised over $10 million by overstating their own investments in the company.

  • March 04, 2025

    Holland & Hart Adds Alaska US Rep And Her Chief Of Staff

    Holland & Hart LLP has expanded its federal affairs group with Alaska's former U.S. representative, who is joining the team in Anchorage alongside her prior chief of staff, the firm announced Monday.

  • March 04, 2025

    IRS Crypto Summons Broke Privacy Law, 5th Circ. Told

    The IRS failed to comply with privacy law in seeking a cryptocurrency executive's third-party bank records, the executive told the Fifth Circuit, saying the agency never notified his attorney even though it was aware he was represented by counsel.

  • March 04, 2025

    Justices Doubt Mexico Can Pin Cartel Deaths On US Gun Cos.

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared highly skeptical of a suit by the Mexican government that seeks to hold Smith & Wesson and other American gunmakers liable for cartel violence, with justices from both sides of the ideological spectrum suggesting that the claims are too speculative.

  • March 04, 2025

    Court Can't Review Nix Of Venezuela Protected Status, DHS Says

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security told a California federal court it lacks authority to review a recent decision to scrap existing deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, and urged the court to reject a push to have it put on hold.

  • March 04, 2025

    New Crowell & Moring Group To Advise On Gov't Procurement

    Crowell & Moring LLP has launched a new governmental consulting group to provide companies with guidance on how to obtain and carry out federal procurements, the firm announced Tuesday.

  • March 04, 2025

    Ore. House OKs Extending Medical Provider Taxes

    Oregon would extend the sunset on medical provider and insurance assessments, worth more than $5 billion over four years and used to help fund state healthcare programs, under legislation approved by the state House of Representatives.

  • March 04, 2025

    USCIS Plans To Ask Noncitizens For Social Media Handles

    U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Tuesday that it plans to examine social media accounts of anyone trying to enter the country, as well as noncitizens applying for immigration benefits.

  • March 04, 2025

    CFPB Drops Zelle Fraud Prevention Suit Against Big Banks

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday abandoned its lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase and other major banks over digital payment fraud on Zelle, the latest Biden-era enforcement action to be dropped by the agency's Trump-appointed interim leadership.

  • March 04, 2025

    High Court Says EPA Went Too Far With SF Water Permit

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with San Francisco in its attempt to escape the terms of a federal sewer and wastewater system permit that the city challenged as too vague and difficult to comply with.

  • March 03, 2025

    USAID Leader Details Toll On 'Critical' Aid Under Trump

    The U.S. Agency for International Development has been "wholly prevented" from delivering "critical" lifesaving services around the world, and that will lead to preventable death, destabilization and threats to national security "on a massive scale," according to memos from an agency leader made public Monday.

  • March 03, 2025

    DC Judge Calls For CFPB Official To Testify In Shutdown Suit

    A Washington, D.C., federal judge on Monday signaled skepticism of Trump administration claims that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau isn't going away, summoning a senior agency official to testify next week as she weighs a possible preliminary injunction.

  • March 03, 2025

    Calif. Jury Struggling To Reach Verdict In Judge's Murder Trial

    The murder trial of Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson took a dramatic turn on the fourth day of jury deliberations when jurors indicated they were at an impasse on whether Judge Ferguson is guilty of second-degree murder for shooting his wife to death in August 2023.

  • March 03, 2025

    TikTok And Reddit Face UK Probes Over Kids' Data Handling

    Britain's data protection watchdog on Monday stepped up its efforts to ensure that children are being protected online, launching investigations into how popular digital platforms TikTok, Reddit and Imgur gather and use minors' personal information.

  • March 03, 2025

    Ultragenyx Loses Bid To Toss Suit Over Henrietta Lacks' Cells

    A Maryland federal judge on Monday refused to toss a lawsuit lodged by the family of the late Henrietta Lacks against biotechnology company Ultragenyx for allegedly profiting off her stolen "immortal" cells, saying proof Ultragenyx engaged in intrastate business in Maryland would thwart its contention the lawsuit was filed too late.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q4

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    Douglas Thompson at Snell & Wilmer highlights a number of recent and pending issues, actions and potentially pivotal federal regulatory and legislative developments on deck that will affect California banks and financial institutions.

  • Opinion

    Congress Should Finally Add Clarity To Section 101

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    With both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate introducing bills to provide guidance on what qualifies as patentable subject matter under the Patent Act, Congress will hopefully put an end at last to 10 years of uncertainty surrounding the question, says David Carstens at Carstens Allen.

  • Hydrogen Regs Will Provide More Certainty — If They Survive

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    Newly finalized regulations implementing the Section 45V clean hydrogen tax credit allow producers more flexibility, and should therefore help put the industry on more solid footing — but the incoming Trump administration and Republican Congress will have multiple options for overturning or altering the regulations, say attorneys at Steptoe.

  • Top 10 Noncompete Developments Of 2024

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    Following an eventful year in noncompete law at both state and federal levels, employers can no longer rely on a court's willingness to blue-pencil overbroad agreements and are proceeding at their own peril if they do not thoughtfully review and carefully enforce such agreements, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • 5 E-Discovery Predictions For 2025 And Beyond

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    In the year to come, e-discovery will be shaped by new and emerging trends, from the adoption of artificial intelligence provisions in protective orders, to the proliferation of emojis as a source of evidence in contemporary litigation, say attorneys at Littler.

  • NY Plastic Pollution Verdict May Not Bode Well For Other Suits

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    The dismissal of New York state's public nuisance complaint against PepsiCo over pollution of the Buffalo River with the company's single use plastic bottles may not augur well for similar lawsuits filed by Baltimore and Los Angeles County, although tort law varies from state to state, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • Key Ethical Issues For Gov't Attys Moving To Private Practice

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    Transitioning from government service to private practice presents complex ethical challenges for attorneys, including navigating conflicts of interest, confidential information rules and post-employment restrictions, say attorneys at HWG.

  • Climate Disclosure Spotlight Shifts To 2 Calif. Laws

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    With Donald Trump's election spelling the all-but-certain demise of the proposed federal climate disclosure rules, new laws in California currently stand as the nation's only broadly applicable climate disclosure requirements — and their brevity is both a blessing and a curse, say attorneys at Davis Polk.

  • A Deep Dive Into DOJ's Proposed FARA Shake-Up

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recently published and long-awaited proposed amendments to the Foreign Agents Registration Act's implementing regulations, if adopted, would mark dramatic changes to the commercial exemption and new requirements for labeling informational materials, says Tessa Capeloto at Wiley.

  • Preparing For Mexican Drug Cartels' Terrorist Designation

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    In the event President-elect Donald Trump designates Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, businesses will need to consider how their particular industry is affected and evaluate previously legitimate practices given the cartels' involvement so many sectors of the economy, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • Final Hydrogen Tax Credit Regs Add Flexibility For Producers

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    The recently released final regulations implementing the Inflation Reduction Act's clean hydrogen production tax credit offer taxpayers greater flexibility, reducing risk and creating more certainty for investments in the industry, thus diminishing — but not eliminating — the risk of legal challenges to the regulations, say attorneys at Steptoe.

  • Where Payments Law And Regulation Are Headed In 2025

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    The Trump administration will likely bring significant changes to payments regulations in 2025, but maintaining internal compliance efforts in the absence of robust federal oversight will remain key as state authorities and private plaintiffs step into the breach, say attorneys at Stinson.

  • What To Expect From Federal Cybersecurity Policy In 2025

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    There are 12 cyber policy questions to keep an eye on as the new administration and Republican control of Congress present an opportunity to advance less regulatory approaches and revisit some choices from the prior administration, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • Republican Trifecta Amplifies Risks For Cos. In 3 Key Areas

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    Expected coordination between a Republican Congress and presidential administration may expose companies to simultaneous criminal, civil and congressional investigations, particularly with regard to supply chain risks in certain industries, government contracting and cross-border investment, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • 2 Cases May Signal Where FTC Is Headed On Labor Issues

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    Two recent Federal Trade Commission challenges to no-hire clauses in agreements between building service firms and their customers include comments by future FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson that may offer insight into the direction the FTC is headed on labor issues, says Michael Wise at Squire Patton.

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