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Public Policy
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September 25, 2024
FCC Looks To Begin Georouting For Localized 988 Response
The Federal Communications Commission is set to require the georouting of calls to the 988 mental health line so they reach crisis centers within the caller's local area.
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September 25, 2024
DHS Gives Qatari Citizens Visa-Free Travel For Short Visits
U.S. Department of Homeland Security designated Qatar for a Visa Waiver Program, allowing its citizens and nationals to enter the U.S. for up to 90 days without obtaining a visa.
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September 25, 2024
Workplace Protections Bill For Judiciary Reintroduced
Lawmakers from both parties and chambers announced on Wednesday they've reintroduced a bill to increase workplace protections for federal judiciary employees.
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September 25, 2024
Expect More R&D Guidance Before Regs, IRS Atty Says
The Internal Revenue Service plans to release more guidance governing the tax treatment of research and development expenses before it formally issues proposed regulations that implement the 2017 federal tax law's changes to the incentive, an agency attorney said Wednesday.
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September 25, 2024
NJ Hemp Restrictions Draw Early Industry Challenge
A group of companies that manufacture and sell hemp products asked a New Jersey federal court Tuesday to block the enforcement of a new Garden State law restricting and regulating the sale of intoxicating hemp products.
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September 25, 2024
Senate Fills Wisconsin Judicial Vacancy On Second Try
The Senate voted 58-37 on Wednesday to confirm Byron Conway, attorney at Habush Habush & Rottier SC, for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, a seat that has been vacant since December 2019.
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September 25, 2024
Calif. Judge Says Fluoride In Water Risks Lowering Kids' IQ
A California federal judge on Tuesday agreed with green groups that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's current "optimal" level of fluoride in drinking water poses an unreasonable risk of lowering children's IQ and directed the EPA to act.
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September 25, 2024
Besieged NJ Prosecutor Says Gov. Can't Replace Him Yet
The former Warren County, New Jersey, prosecutor who retired under a cloud in April but withdrew his retirement days later said on Tuesday that Gov. Phil Murphy's move last week to nominate a permanent replacement won't work, because he hasn't actually resigned.
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September 25, 2024
FCC Closer To Opening Airwaves, But Auctions Still In Limbo
President Joe Biden's communications regulators are still pushing to get prized spectrum into the hands of private companies, but the window for regaining legal authority to auction the airwaves this year will soon close, and the next White House administration will face challenges too.
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September 25, 2024
NJ High Court To Review Judicial Privacy Law In Media Case
The New Jersey Supreme Court will consider whether a municipality overstepped by using the judicial privacy measure Daniel's Law to stop a journalist from publishing an article about the city's police director's address, according to a recently filed order.
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September 25, 2024
Texas Court Denies District's Attempt To Boost Valuations
A Texas trial court didn't err in throwing out a counterclaim brought by a local appraisal district to increase the assessed values of two multifamily properties, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday.
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September 25, 2024
NJ Bill Would Hike Threshold For Tax On Property Transfers
New Jersey would raise the threshold for the imposition of a controlling interest transfer tax or an additional fee on transfers of various kinds of real property under a bill introduced in the state Assembly.
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September 25, 2024
Mich. Justices Take Up Prosecutor's Outside Counsel Hires
The Michigan Supreme Court said Wednesday it will hear arguments in a dispute over the Macomb County prosecuting attorney's power to retain outside law firms for general legal advice.
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September 25, 2024
EU States Must Unify Divergent Biz Rules, Majority Says
The European Union must double down on unifying its divergent rules for businesses in a policy proposal next year because the bloc's main competitive advantage is its single market, almost three-quarters of EU countries told the bloc's executive arm.
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September 25, 2024
NYSE Cancels Proposal To Extend SPAC Merger Deadlines
The New York Stock Exchange has pulled a proposal that would have provided special purpose acquisition companies with more time to complete mergers while remaining listed, several months after it sought regulatory approval for the extension.
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September 25, 2024
Wyden Calls On 2025 Tax Bill To Include Partnership Reform
Lawmakers should consider next year how to revise partnership tax laws to better collect on large businesses' income without harming smaller entities as Congress debates over how to address expiring tax provisions, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden said Wednesday.
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September 25, 2024
Ex-NY Congressman Argues He Can Be A Fair Federal Judge
President Joe Biden's nominee for the Northern District of New York told lawmakers on Wednesday that his previous stint as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives won't impact his role as an objective federal judge.
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September 25, 2024
US Antitrust Holds Fast: No 'Environmental Justice' Goals
A top Federal Trade Commission official in her latest address to antitrust lawyers offered little comfort to U.S. companies seeking to collaborate on environmental initiatives.
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September 24, 2024
Bank Regulators, SEC Face GOP Inquiry Over Crypto Bulletin
House Republicans have called for the Federal Reserve and other agencies to turn over a host of documents for what the lawmakers say is an inquiry into the origins and behind-the-scenes policymaking impact of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's cryptocurrency accounting guidance.
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September 24, 2024
11th Circ. Weighs 'Good Cause' In Franchise Termination Suit
The Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday considered whether Hyundai Motor Corp. acted with "good cause" when it terminated a franchise owner's dealership contracts over sexual assault charges against the franchise owner's son, with arguments largely focused on whether the carmaker acted with "good cause."
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September 24, 2024
Cat In The Hat, 'Trashy' Books Mulled In Redo Of Library Row
The full Fifth Circuit on Tuesday pressed a group of library patrons on whether Texas libraries already routinely engage in viewpoint discrimination through the process of weeding out outdated or unpopular library books during a lengthy discussion of hypotheticals surrounding The Cat in the Hat and the books that 19th-century Americans considered "trashy."
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September 24, 2024
3 Takeaways From Gensler's Big Day Before The House
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler appeared before the U.S. House of Representative for potentially the last time on Tuesday, where he stuck up for his agency's actions in the crypto space and hinted at the possible revival of share buyback rules.
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September 24, 2024
DC Judge Rebuffs Trump's Bid To Delay Immunity Briefing
The District of Columbia federal judge overseeing the election interference case against former President Donald Trump on Tuesday shot down his "new and sundry" efforts to push back briefing on the issue of presidential immunity, allowing the government to file a lengthy brief on the issue and remarking that this "is simply how litigation works."
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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.
Expert Analysis
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Tips For Tax Equity-Tax Credit Transfers That Pass IRS Muster
Although the Internal Revenue Service has increased its scrutiny of complex partnership structures, which must demonstrate their economic substance and business purpose, recent cases and IRS guidance together provide a reliable road map for creating legitimate tax equity structures, say Ian Boccaccio and Michael Messina at Ryan Tax.
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How Cos. With Chinese Suppliers Should Prep For Biotech Bill
A proposed bill to prohibit government-affiliated life sciences companies from contracting with Chinese biotech companies of concern may necessitate switching to other sources for research and supplies, meaning they should begin evaluating supply chains now due to the long lead times of drug development, say John O'Loughlin and Christina Carone at Weil Gotshal.
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Opinion
Texas Judges Ignored ERISA's Core To Stall Fiduciary Rule
Two recent rulings from Texas federal courts, which rely on a plainly wrong reading of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to effectively strike a forthcoming rule that would impose functional fiduciary duties onto sellers of investment services, may expose financially unsophisticated 401(k) participants to peddlers of misleading advice, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.
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Inside OCC's Retail Nondeposit Investment Products Refresh
In addition to clarifying safe and sound risk management practices generally, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's revised booklet on retail nondeposit investment products updates its guidance around certain sales practices in light of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's adoption of Regulation Best Interest, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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5 Defense Lessons From Prosecutors' Recent Evidence Flubs
The recent dismissal of Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter charges, and the filing of an ethics complaint against a former D.C. prosecutor, both provide takeaways for white collar defense counsel who suspect that prosecutors may be withholding or misrepresenting evidence, say Anden Chow at MoloLamken and Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.
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Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Is My Counterclaim Bound To Fall?
A Pennsylvania federal court’s recent dismissal of the defendants’ counterclaims in Morgan v. Noss should remind attorneys to avoid the temptation to repackage a claim’s facts and law into a mirror-image counterclaim, as this approach will often result in a waste of time and resources, says Matthew Selmasska at Kaufman Dolowich.
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Loper Fuels Debate Over Merchant Cash Advances As Credit
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent rejection of the Chevron doctrine in Loper Bright may escalate a Florida federal court dispute between the Revenue Based Finance Coalition and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over whether merchant cash advances should be considered credit under the Dodd-Frank Act, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
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Bank M&A Continues To Lag Amid Regulatory Ambiguity
Bank M&A activity in the first half of 2024 continued to be lower than in prior years, as the industry is recovering from the 2023 bank failures, and regulatory and macroeconomic conditions have not otherwise been prime for deals, say Robert Azarow and Amber Hay at Arnold & Porter.
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FTC's Drug Middlemen Probe Highlights Ongoing Scrutiny
The Federal Trade Commission's interim staff report on its inquiry into pharmacy benefit managers suggests that the industry will remain under an enforcement microscope for the foreseeable future due to concerns about how PBMs affect drug costs and accessibility, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
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How High Court Ruling Is Shaping Homelessness Policies
The U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson to allow enforcement of local ordinances against overnight camping is already spurring new policies to manage homelessness, but the court's ruling does not grant jurisdictions unfettered power, say Kathryn Kafka and Alex Merritt at Sheppard Mullin.
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DOJ Paths To Limit FARA Fallout From Wynn's DC Circ. Win
After the D.C. Circuit’s recent Attorney General v. Wynn ruling, holding that the government cannot compel retroactive registration under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, the U.S. Department of Justice has a few options to limit the decision’s impact on enforcement, say attorneys at MoFo.
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Series
Playing Dungeons & Dragons Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Playing Dungeons & Dragons – a tabletop role-playing game – helped pave the way for my legal career by providing me with foundational skills such as persuasion and team building, says Derrick Carman at Robins Kaplan.
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A Look At The Regulatory Scrutiny Facing Liquid Restaking
Recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement actions highlight the regulatory challenges facing emerging financial instruments like liquid restaking tokens and services, say Daniel Davis and Alexander Kim at Katten.
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Del. Dispatch: Director Caremark Claims Need Extreme Facts
The Delaware Court of Chancery recently dismissed Caremark claims against the directors of Centene in Bricklayers Pension Fund of Western Pennsylvania v. Brinkley, indicating a high bar for a finding of the required element of bad faith for Caremark liability, and stressing the need to resist hindsight bias, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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Series
After Chevron: Challenges Loom For PBGC Actions
After Loper Bright, two recent actions taken by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. already under scrutiny seem destined to be challenged and resolved under the new standard of judicial deference, which will greatly affect employers with potential withdrawal liability exposure, say Robert Perry and David Pixley at Jackson Lewis.