Public Policy

  • November 22, 2024

    Split DC Circ. Punts On FINRA's Constitutionality

    A partially divided D.C. Circuit panel on Friday blocked the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority from removing Alpine Securities Corp. from its membership rolls while the corporation sues in federal court to challenge the agency's constitutionality, which the appeals court declined to remark on.

  • November 22, 2024

    Ex-NFL Player Scott Turner Picked For Trump's HUD Secretary

    Donald Trump announced Friday that he nominated retired NFL player and former executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council Scott Turner to serve as secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

  • November 22, 2024

    Pam Bondi's 'Greatest Hits' As Florida Attorney General

    In her eight years as attorney general of Florida, Pam Bondi — who has been tapped by President-elect Donald Trump as attorney general — took on pill mills and telemarketing scams targeting the state's large elderly population, while also leading GOP state efforts to battle the Obama administration.

  • November 22, 2024

    Texas Justices Say Court Bungled Ruling In Abortion Case

    The Texas Supreme Court said Friday a lower appellate court tried to "prematurely drag the judiciary into highly contentious and politicized debates" around abortion without analyzing a key standing issue, jeopardizing Planned Parenthood's and other abortion rights groups' bid to invalidate the controversial Texas Heartbeat Act.

  • November 22, 2024

    Europe's Antitrust Enforcer Puts Apple E-Book Probe To Bed

    The European Union's antitrust enforcer is dropping its probe into whether Apple's requirement that e-books and audiobooks be bought through in-app purchases in its App Store broke the bloc's competition rules.

  • November 22, 2024

    Cruz Decries 'Unlawful' Activities In $42.5B Broadband Fund

    Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, issued a scathing statement Friday warning the U.S. Commerce Department to discontinue what he contends are "unlawful" activities in administering the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program.

  • November 22, 2024

    High Court Bar's Future: Sullivan & Cromwell's Morgan Ratner

    Morgan L. Ratner has emerged as a leader of the U.S. Supreme Court bar's next generation, and she attributes her ascent to brilliant mentors, a laid-back argument style, an aversion to overconfidence and a firm commitment to clear principles in every case — even if that means reluctantly telling the chief justice, as she once did, that a hypothetical cat stuck in a tree shouldn't be saved.

  • November 22, 2024

    CFTC Advisers: Current Rules Work For Tokenized Collateral

    A U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission advisory group on Friday brought the commodities regulator a step closer to clarifying the use of certain tokenized assets as collateral, voting to tell the commission that existing rules can apply to the use of blockchain-based, noncash collateral.

  • November 22, 2024

    Texas Lacks Reason To Stop Migrant Transport, Groups Say

    Immigrant advocacy groups asked a Texas federal judge to end a COVID-19-era executive order that allowed law enforcement officers to pull over people suspected of transporting unauthorized migrants, saying the pandemic is no longer a justification for it.

  • November 22, 2024

    Democratic SEC Member To Step Down Amid GOP Takeover

    U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission member Jaime Lizárraga said Friday that he plans to step down before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, a day after SEC Chair Gary Gensler announced his plans to leave, further clearing the way for new Republican Party leadership.

  • November 22, 2024

    State Immigration Powers May Strengthen Under Bondi's Lead

    Individual states may have more power to craft and enforce immigration laws under the incoming Trump administration, with the president-elect's new nominee for the nation's top prosecutor having previously expressed support for Arizona's "show me your papers" law.

  • November 22, 2024

    Detainees Ask To Show Jury Inside Of Colo. ICE Facility

    Immigrant detainees have asked a Colorado federal judge to allow them to show jurors the inside of a detention facility near Denver run by private prison company Geo Group, arguing that a tour is the best way for jurors to understand key issues in a human trafficking class action involving $1-a-day wages.

  • November 22, 2024

    Trump Picks Teamsters-Backed Ore. Rep. For Labor Secretary

    President-elect Donald Trump announced Friday evening that he plans to nominate Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon to lead the U.S. Department of Labor.

  • November 22, 2024

    EPA Targets Stationary Combustion Turbine NOx Emissions

    The Biden administration isn't letting Donald Trump's presidential election victory block its air pollution agenda, as it proposed a rule Friday that would strengthen limits on emissions of nitrogen oxides from new gas-fired power plants and other sources.

  • November 22, 2024

    How A Purple Jacket Led To A Murder Exoneration And $13M

    To win compensation under a Massachusetts state law, lawyers for Michael J. Sullivan, who spent 26 years in prison, were required to prove he was innocent of the 1986 crime for which he was convicted. A couple of lucky breaks helped.

  • November 22, 2024

    New Design Patent Treaty Comes Out Of Riyadh

    Delegates from the world's major intellectual property groups signed a treaty Friday that would, if approved, establish new rules to facilitate the filing of design patents.

  • November 22, 2024

    Trump Taps Hedge Fund Billionaire Bessent To Head Treasury

    President-elect Donald Trump on Friday announced that he's selected Scott Bessent, a billionaire hedge fund manager and the founder of Key Square Group, to serve as secretary of the Treasury in his upcoming administration.

  • November 22, 2024

    Texas Panel Says Gender-Affirming Surgery Suit Too Late

    A Texas appellate court has backed a counselor's win in a lawsuit from a former client who came to regret undergoing a double mastectomy following the counselor's recommendation for gender-affirming surgery, finding the claims were time-barred.

  • November 22, 2024

    Dish To Pay $100K For Failing To Deploy 911 Location Tech

    Dish has agreed to pay $100,000 after the Federal Communications Commission said it failed to comply with vertical location rules to help 911 dispatchers find emergency callers.

  • November 22, 2024

    DOJ Antitrust Head Tracks 'More Aggressive' Criminal Cases

    The outgoing head of the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division used a speech celebrating the anniversary of a major initiative combating bid-rigging and other efforts by government contractors to bilk taxpayer-funded projects to also note that criminal antitrust enforcement more broadly has changed considerably in recent years.

  • November 22, 2024

    UK Enforcers Concerned Over Apple Mobile Browser Policies

    British competition enforcers said Friday that Apple's policies are holding back innovation in the mobile browser space and called for an investigation of the roles played by Apple and Google in the mobile ecosystem under new rules coming into force next year.

  • November 22, 2024

    Judge Trims Ariz. Reservation Shooting Lawsuit, For Now

    A federal district court judge dismissed a majority of claims in a wrongful death lawsuit lodged by the family of a Tohono O'odham Nation man who was shot and killed by Border Patrol agents, but left room for an amended complaint once a proper representative of his estate is appointed.

  • November 22, 2024

    New Congress Could Undo Rules On Drinking Water, Methane

    A consumer advocacy group is warning that Republicans may target a slew of recent and pending regulatory actions when they take control in Washington next year, saying they could make use of the Congressional Review Act to unwind new rules on competition, lead in drinking water, data protection and more.

  • November 22, 2024

    Hunting Groups Sue Colo. Wildlife Regulators Over Editorial

    Pro-hunting groups have said Colorado Parks and Wildlife commissioners violated the state's Open Meetings Law when they jointly authored a newspaper editorial promoting a measure to ban mountain lion, lynx and bobcat hunting, which voters rejected in November.

  • November 22, 2024

    Capital One 'Abuses' Cast Pall Over Discover Deal, Dems Say

    As the Biden administration winds down with Capital One's bid to buy Discover Financial still pending, progressive Democrats led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are putting renewed pressure on federal bank regulators reviewing the deal.

Expert Analysis

  • Trump Rollback Of Biden Enviro Policies: What To Expect

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    Donald Trump's upcoming second presidential term will usher significant shifts in U.S. environmental and natural resource law and policy — and while the Biden administration is racing to secure its legacy, the incoming Trump administration is making plans to dramatically roll back most, if not all, of Biden's environmental initiatives, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • 5 Areas Congress May Investigate After GOP Election Wins

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    With Republicans poised to take control of Congress in addition to the executive branch next year, private companies can expect an unprecedented uptick in congressional investigations focused on five key areas, including cryptocurrency and healthcare, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.

  • US Intellectual Property-Based Sanctions Could Be Imminent

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    A recent presidential delegation suggests that regulators may be ready to wield the sanctions authority found in the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act, which has been unutilized for the first 22 months of its life, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Philly's Algorithmic Rent Ban Furthers Antitrust Policy Trends

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    A Philadelphia bill banning the use of algorithmic software to set rent prices and manage occupancy rates is indicative of growing scrutiny of this technology, and reflects broader policy trends of adapting traditional antitrust principles to respond to new technology, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • Takeaways From State Votes On Abortion In The 2024 Election

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    Attorneys at Epstein Becker discuss how 10 states voted on ballot initiatives to either protect or restrict access to abortion in the 2024 general election, and analyze overarching trends.

  • Trump's 2nd Term May Be A Boost To Banking Industry

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    President-elect Donald Trump's personnel appointments could be instrumental in reshaping the financial regulatory landscape during his second administration, likely allowing for greater merger activity and halting or undoing some of the Biden administration's more restrictive financial services policies, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Loper Bright Offers New Materiality Defense To FCA Liability

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bight Enterprises v. Raimondo, ending Chevron deference, may have created a new defense to False Claims Act liability by providing the opportunity to argue that a given regulation is not material to the government's payment decision, says Tanner Cook at Husch Blackwell.

  • A Look At 2024 NIL Rights And Economies In College Sports

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    Permutations in the arena of name, image and likeness affecting collegiate athletics have continued unabated this year, and practitioners and industry representatives should anticipate significant activity at schools and continuing legal changes at the state level, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • How Expanded Birth Control Coverage May Affect Employers

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    Employers should consider the potential impact of recently proposed regulations that would expand group health plans' required coverage of preventive services and contraceptives, including questions about how the agencies would implement their plans to eliminate the prescription requirement and alter the exceptions process, says Jennifer Rigterink at Proskauer.

  • Unpacking CFPB's Unwieldy Buy Now, Pay Later Guidance

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    Both the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent interpretive rule regarding buy now, pay later transactions, and its FAQ guidance, place providers in murky waters with the unenviable position of attempting to place a square, closed-end product in a round, regulatory framework meant for open-end products, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • 9 Considerations Around Proposed Connected Vehicle Ban

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    Stakeholders should consider several aspects of the U.S. Department of Commerce's recent proposal to ban U.S. imports and sales of vehicles incorporating certain connectivity components made in China or Russia, including exempted transactions and vehicle hardware imports, say attorneys at Blank Rome.

  • Legislation Most Likely To Pass In Lame Duck Session

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    As Congress begins its five-week post-election lame duck session, attorneys at Greenberg Traurig break down the legislative priorities and which proposals can be expected to pass.

  • Predicting Shareholder Activism Trends In New Trump Admin

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    While President-elect Donald Trump has promised tax policies, deregulation and lax antitrust enforcement — which all fuel shareholder activism — a closer look at his first administration's track record suggests that his second presidency might be a mixed bag for activist investors and companies alike, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • What Trump's 2nd Presidency Could Mean For Crypto Sector

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    Trump's second term will bring a fundamental shift from the Biden administration's approach to crypto-asset regulation and banking supervision, with the most significant changes likely taking effect in the first two quarters of 2025 and broader policy shifts emerging over the next year, say attorneys at Cahill.

  • Promoting Diversity In The Selection Of ADR Neutrals

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Choosing neutrals from diverse backgrounds is an important step in promoting inclusion in the legal profession, and it can enhance the legitimacy and public perception of alternative dispute resolution proceedings, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

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