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Public Policy
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December 18, 2024
Divided SEC Approves PCAOB's $400M Budget
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will receive the nearly $400 million it requested to fund its operations in 2025, despite the objections of Republican members of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday who expressed concern about the auditing watchdog's growing budget.
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December 18, 2024
Funding Bill Takes In Broadband, Ticketing, Privacy
A congressional spending package that would fund the federal government through March is set to include a slew of bipartisan proposals aimed at digital security, online pricing transparency and rural broadband access.
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December 18, 2024
NJ Court Orders AG To Give Up Control Of Paterson Police Dept.
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin exceeded his authority last year when he took over police department operations in the city of Paterson and reassigned the police chief to a training post outside the city, a state appellate court ruled Wednesday.
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December 18, 2024
EDNY US Atty Peace To Resign Before Trump Inauguration
Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace, who has headed the federal prosecution office in the Eastern District of New York since 2021, announced his resignation Wednesday ahead of the incoming Donald Trump administration.
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December 18, 2024
DHS Pushes Through Rule To Hasten Some Removals
A new U.S. Department of Homeland Security regulation will allow asylum officers to quickly decide if migrants are barred from asylum because of national security or public safety concerns, paving the way for swift removals of those individuals.
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December 18, 2024
11th Circ. Doubtful Of FCC's Marketing Consent Clampdown
Eleventh Circuit judges appeared skeptical Wednesday of the Federal Communications Commission's legal justification for a marketing rule that requires selecting businesses on an individual basis through comparison shopping sites before the businesses can reach out to consumers.
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December 18, 2024
Wash. City Settles Road Rage Shooting Suit For $15M
A Puget Sound municipality has agreed to pay $14.9 million to a restaurant owner who was paralyzed in a road-rage shooting, an attorney for the entrepreneur announced Wednesday, claiming that the same gun used to injure his client was given to the shooter by police days earlier.
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December 18, 2024
Judge Wants To Know If Colo. Kroger Merger Fight Is Moot
A Colorado state judge wants to know whether two recent decisions blocking the proposed $24.6 billion merger of The Kroger Co. and Albertsons Cos. Inc. has mooted Attorney General Phillip J. Weiser's challenge to the transaction, according to a briefing plan approved Tuesday.
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December 18, 2024
Democrats Blocked Again On Confirming DC Judges
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., tried and failed to fast-track the confirmation of 10 D.C. judicial nominees, making it unlikely these vacancies will be filled before the new year starts.
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December 18, 2024
Ex-Fla Rep. Charged Again For Foreign Agent Violations
Former Florida Rep. David Rivera, who is battling an indictment in Miami over lobbying work for Venezuela, faces additional criminal charges in D.C. federal court, after a grand jury indicted him on charges he failed to register as a foreign agent when he lobbied on a Venezuelan businessman's behalf.
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December 18, 2024
Colo. Judge Tosses County Challenge To State Sanctuary Law
A Colorado judge has dismissed six counties' challenge against two state laws limiting local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, ruling the limits were well within the Legislature's power and that the counties lack standing to sue under the state and federal constitutions.
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December 18, 2024
CVS Fueled Opioid Epidemic In Rush For Profits, Feds Say
The U.S. Department of Justice unveiled a suit Wednesday accusing CVS, the nation's largest pharmacy chain, of knowingly filling invalid prescriptions for powerful opioids and ignoring internal pleas from its pharmacists as it allegedly put profits over safety.
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December 18, 2024
Conn. AG Can't Close Courtroom In Ghost Gun Hearing
A Connecticut state judge won't close the courtroom for a damages hearing in a suit by the state against an online shop selling so-called ghost gun kits, saying the public's interest in the facts of the case outweighs the state's concerns about an undercover investigator's safety.
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December 18, 2024
SBA Wants To Speed Up Late Subcontract Payments
The U.S. Small Business Administration on Wednesday proposed a rule intended to speed up payments to federal small business subcontractors, requiring prime contractors to more promptly report late payments to agencies and cooperate to resolve the issue.
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December 18, 2024
FTC Wants Express Scripts' Defamation Suit Tossed
The Federal Trade Commission told a Missouri federal court that Express Scripts Inc. has no basis to challenge an interim agency report that only offered "qualified conclusions" from an ongoing study about how pharmacy benefit managers affect prescription drug prices.
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December 18, 2024
States, Green Groups Drop Suits Over USPS Vehicle Plan
A coalition of states and cities and several environmental groups moved to dismiss their lawsuits challenging the U.S. Postal Service's multibillion-dollar plan to acquire its next-generation delivery vehicles.
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December 18, 2024
NC Lt. Gov. Wants Defamation Suit Kicked Back To State Court
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson has urged a federal judge to return his defamation suit against CNN to state court, arguing that his claims against the network are tied to those against a former porn store clerk such that the lower trial court is better suited to hear the case.
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December 18, 2024
EPA Greenlights California's Race To 100% ZEVs By 2035
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday authorized California's plan to require that all new light cars and trucks sold in the state be zero-emission vehicles by 2035, a move that was instantly slammed by the fossil fuel industry.
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December 18, 2024
Congress Passes $3B Funding For FCC's 'Rip And Replace'
The U.S. Senate cleared legislation Wednesday to fully fund the Federal Communications Commission's "rip and replace" telecom security program to the tune of $3.08 billion as part of a sweeping defense spending authorization.
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December 18, 2024
Cherokee Chief Urges Senate To Block Federal Recognition Bill
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians' principal chief is urging the U.S. Senate to reject legislation that would give federal recognition to a fellow North Carolina tribe, arguing that allowing the bill's passage would undermine the process to ensure that the decision is based on evidence and not politics.
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December 18, 2024
Texas Says Border Wall Panel Sales May Violate Injunction
Missouri and Texas asked a federal judge to probe whether the Biden administration is violating an order to use $1.4 billion of congressional funds to build the southern border wall, pointing to media reports that wall materials are being sold off.
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December 18, 2024
RJ Reynolds Asks Justices To Toss Forum Shopping Argument
R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reject the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's argument that the vape company engaged in forum shopping when it challenged denial of one of its applications in the Fifth Circuit, saying its Texas- and Mississippi-based co-petitioners make the Fifth Circuit the proper venue.
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December 18, 2024
Senate Sends $895B Defense Bill To Biden's Desk
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday easily passed an $895.2 billion defense policy and budget bill for 2025, despite criticism over a contentious clause effectively barring gender-affirming healthcare coverage for service members' transgender children.
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December 18, 2024
Justices' Homes Would Get Security Funds Under Resolution
More than $25 million to fund security upgrades to U.S. Supreme Court justices' homes is included in a stopgap measure to fund federal agencies through mid-March — a proposed allocation that comes two years after the arrest of an armed man outside the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
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December 18, 2024
Connecticut AG Gets Remand Of 'Forever Chemicals' Suit
A Connecticut federal judge has shipped one of the state's PFAS "forever chemicals" lawsuits back to state court, siding with the state attorney general's argument that the case targeted pollution from consumer products and civilian industrial sources that were not "inextricably commingled" with chemicals produced to military specifications.
Expert Analysis
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High Court 'Violent Crimes' Case Tangled Up In Hypotheticals
In Delligatti v. U.S., the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments next week on whether attempted murder constitutes a crime of violence, and because the court’s interpretive approach thus far has relied on hairsplitting legal hypotheticals with absurd results, Congress should repeal the underlying statute, say attorneys at Patterson Belknap.
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Dissecting New Circuit Split Over SEC's Proxy Adviser Rule
The Sixth Circuit recently upheld the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's partial rescission of enhanced conflict-of-interest disclosure requirements for proxy voting advice businesses, creating a circuit split over broader questions concerning the standard for assessing the legality of agency actions in general, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.
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Tracking The Slow Movement Of AI Copyright Cases
The tech community may be expecting a prompt resolution on whether products generated by artificial intelligence are a fair use of copyrighted works, but legal history shows that a response to this question — at the heart of over 30 pending cases — will take years, say attorneys at White & Case.
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Federal Salary History Ban's Reach Is Limited
Though a newly effective Office of Personnel Management rule takes important steps by banning federal employers from considering job applicants' nonfederal salary histories, the rule's narrow applicability and overconfidence in the existing system's fairness will likely not end persistent pay inequities, says Margaret House at Kalijarvi Chuzi.
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Call For Input Shows How Banks, Fintechs Can Address Risks
A recent request for information by federal banking regulators suggests that watchdogs are zeroing in on the bank-fintech partnerships they have long perceived as risky to consumers, but analyzing the publication can help companies anticipate regulators’ chief concerns and take steps to avoid becoming enforcement targets, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
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How Property Insurance Coverage Shrank After The Pandemic
Insurers litigating property claims are leveraging rulings that provided relief in the COVID-19 context to reverse the former majority rule on physical loss or damage in all contexts, say attorneys at Reed Smith.
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Considering Chevron's End Through A State Tax Lens
States took the lead in encouraging Chevron's demise, turning away from Chevron-type deference in state tax administration ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision, a trend likely to accelerate as courts take a more active role in interpreting tax laws, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.
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NYC Hotel Licensing Law's Costs May Outweigh Its Benefits
A hotel licensing bill recently approved by New York's City Council could lead to the loss of many nonunionized hotels that cannot afford to comply, says Stuart Saft at Holland & Knight.
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The Unfolding Potential of Green Hydrogen In Brazil
A new federal law in Brazil establishing a legal framework for hydrogen development is the country's latest step toward creating a favorable environment for green hydrogen production, but significant challenges — including high production costs, technological hurdles and a lack of infrastructure — remain, says David Andrew Taylor at Almeida Advogados.
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E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata
Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.
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How New OCC Priorities Will Affect Bank Compliance
With the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency recently releasing a new bank supervision plan for fiscal year 2025, all banks, not only those primarily supervised by the OCC, should consider how compliance with its guidelines creates opportunities and challenges, says Andrew Karp at Cadwalader.
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SEC Rulemaking Radar: The View From Election Day
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seems poised to tackle many of the remaining items on its most recent Regulatory Flexibility Agenda by early 2025, despite the presidential election and the potential for a new chair to be nominated soon, say attorneys at Goodwin.
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What FTC's 'Bitcoin ATM' Report Tells Us About Crypto Scams
The Federal Trade Commission's recent insights into bitcoin ATM scams highlight the technical evolution of fraudsters, the application of old scams to new technology, and the persistent financial impact on victims, say attorneys at DLA Piper.
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A Shift In Control Of Congress May Doom These Enviro Regs
If the election leads to a change in control of Congress, lawmakers will likely use the lookback provision of the Congressional Review Act to challenge the Biden administration's late-term regulatory efforts — including recent initiatives on air pollutant source classification, lead pipe removal and hydrofluorocarbon emissions, say attorneys at Jones Walker.
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How The Presidential Election Will Affect Workplace AI Regs
The U.S. has so far adopted a light-handed approach to regulating artificial intelligence in the labor and employment area, but the presidential election is unlikely to have as dramatic of an effect on AI regulations as it may on other labor and employment matters, say attorneys at Littler.