Public Policy

  • July 11, 2024

    Judge Won't Permit Florida's Trans Care Ban Pending Appeal

    A federal judge denied Florida's request Thursday to pause a court order blocking a state law that bans or restricts gender-affirming care for transgender minors and adults while it challenges the ruling at the Eleventh Circuit, finding the state hasn't shown it would be harmed by the law's stagnation.

  • July 11, 2024

    Texas AG Claims He's About To Be Impeached Again

    In a social media post about an upcoming Texas House committee meeting, Attorney General Ken Paxton said "weak-kneed" establishment Republicans and Democrats are conspiring on a second impeachment effort to try to remove him from office — a claim the committee chair called "farfetched fantasy."

  • July 11, 2024

    SF Fed Sues Troubled PPP Lender, Founder For Nearly $67M

    The San Francisco arm of the Federal Reserve has sued one of the largest Paycheck Protection Program lenders in Puerto Rico federal court seeking to recover nearly $67 million, alleging the lender has defaulted on the terms of roughly $4.3 billion in credit it advanced for PPP loans.

  • July 11, 2024

    Commerce Aims To Codify Duty Probe Practices For NMEs

    The U.S. Department of Commerce proposed regulations on Thursday to formalize practices developed since the 1990s to assess duties on imports from nonmarket economies, including denying lower tariff rates to businesses determined to be heavily controlled by their governments.

  • July 11, 2024

    Fire Fee Reversal Risks 'Chaos' For Cities, Detroit Says

    The city of Detroit urged Michigan Supreme Court justices to leave in place a decision that said its fire inspection fees are not a disguised unlawful tax because reversing it could send municipalities into "chaos" over their permit and license fee practices.

  • July 11, 2024

    3 Defenses The IRS Can Fall Back On After Chevron's Demise

    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to eliminate federal agencies' ability to rely on the 40-year-old Chevron doctrine to defend their interpretations of ambiguous laws will likely trigger more litigation against the IRS. But that doesn't mean the agency is completely defenseless against such suits. Here, Law360 explores three defense options for the IRS following Chevron's demise.

  • July 11, 2024

    Calif. Nabs $50M Deal With Oil Traders In Gas Price-Rigging Suit

    California secured a $50 million settlement with oil trading companies Vitol and SK Energy, resolving allegations that the companies schemed to artificially inflate gas prices in the Golden State after an Exxon Mobil Corp. refinery exploded in 2015, California's attorney general announced Wednesday.

  • July 11, 2024

    FERC 'Waiting For Me To Die' With Late Order, Utility Atty Says

    Counsel for the Louisiana Public Service Commission told the Fifth Circuit on Thursday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is "waiting for me to die" as it delays issuing a compliance order to System Energy Resources Inc., saying the agency was doing irreparable harm to consumers.

  • July 11, 2024

    4 Big Gender-Affirming Care Decisions From 2024's 1st Half

    The U.S. Supreme Court allowed an Idaho law banning gender-affirming care for minors to become effective, the Eleventh Circuit upheld a trial court win for a transgender public safety employee in a healthcare discrimination suit and a Florida federal judge blocked as unconstitutional a state law restricting gender-affirming care for minors and adults.

  • July 11, 2024

    9th Circ. Signals Dr.'s Vax-Refusal Case Deserves New Chance

    Ninth Circuit judges signaled Thursday that they were likely to revive a doctor's case claiming he was wrongfully fired from his Washington State University residency for refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccination, with two judges questioning if the school went far enough to accommodate his religious beliefs.

  • July 11, 2024

    DACA Recipient, Credit Union Settle Home Loan Bias Suit

    A beneficiary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program has reached a settlement with an Oregon credit union to end claims that he was unlawfully denied a home equity loan based on his immigration status.

  • July 11, 2024

    Feds Seek Input On 37 GHz Sharing Plans

    Federal regulators intend to ask for the public's input in August about a possible revamp of the lower 37 gigahertz airwaves, the U.S. Department of Commerce said.

  • July 11, 2024

    Trade Court Backs Nonevasion Finding For Aluminum Tariffs

    The U.S. Court of International Trade blessed U.S. Customs and Border Protection's remand determination that aluminum extrusion importers weren't evading tariffs, saying CBP explained it couldn't maintain its original evasion finding after reviewing data it had initially disregarded.

  • July 11, 2024

    Florida Slams Racial Gerrymandering Suit

    Florida's secretary of state and House of Representatives have asked a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit challenging four congressional districts and seven House districts as racially gerrymandered, arguing that the challengers failed to show that race was the predominant factor in how the districts were drawn.

  • July 11, 2024

    Navy Can't Get Out Of Ex-Marine's PTSD Discrimination Suit

    A Washington federal judge won't let the U.S. Navy out of a suit from a former Marine alleging that he was discriminated against and terminated over his post-traumatic stress disorder, saying there is enough evidence that a fact-finder could determine his boss retaliated against him.

  • July 11, 2024

    ISP Group Says FCC Remote Learning Plan On Shaky Ground

    Internet service providers say the Federal Communications Commision needs to revisit a proposal to fund Wi-Fi hot spots for students after the U.S. Supreme Court recently overturned the Chevron doctrine, which gave wide judicial deference to agencies.

  • July 11, 2024

    Media Matters Fights Texas AG's Bid To Revive X Probe

    Media Matters for America is urging the D.C. Circuit to keep intact a court order prohibiting Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton from investigating the media watchdog over its reporting about the social media platform X, asserting that the D.C. courts are the correct place to litigate the "retaliatory" probe.

  • July 11, 2024

    Frontier Communications Fined $2.5M Over Quality Standards

    Connecticut's utility regulator has ordered Frontier Communications to pay nearly $2.5 million in penalties after finding that the company repeatedly violated mandates for maintenance, repair of service problems and filing reports with the state dating back to 2015.

  • July 11, 2024

    2nd Circ. Says Unreported Violence Doesn't Doom Asylum Bid

    The Second Circuit on Thursday said the Board of Immigration Appeals must reconsider an asylum bid from a Honduran woman claiming family abuse and rape by a criminal, finding that evidence of the difficulties women face in reporting violence and the government's ineffective response to such reports was ignored.

  • July 11, 2024

    Top NC Legal Industry Legislation Of 2024: A Midyear Report

    North Carolina lawmakers have instituted a streamlined process for state business court filings and are eying controls on attorney fees for debt collection lawsuits. Another closely watched measure eases the discipline process for attorneys with the expansion of records access and the ability to expunge certain ethics transgressions.

  • July 11, 2024

    Biden Taps Cohen Weiss Atty As PBGC Director

    President Joe Biden on Thursday tapped an attorney who most recently served as of counsel at Cohen Weiss & Simon LLP to head the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

  • July 11, 2024

    2 Of Alaska's 3 District Judge Seats Listed As 'Emergencies'

    Two of the three district judgeships on the District of Alaska have been listed as "judicial emergencies" following the recent resignation of Judge Joshua Kindred over findings of sexual misconduct.

  • July 11, 2024

    DOL Wants ERISA Investment Advice Regs Kept Afloat

    The U.S. Department of Labor is urging a Texas federal court to reject a bid from insurance industry groups to block its new regulations that broaden who qualifies as a fiduciary under federal benefits law, saying the groups are "grasping for a reason" to evade the law.

  • July 11, 2024

    Paxos Says SEC Won't Bring Case Over Binance Stablecoin

    Crypto trust company Paxos said Thursday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has told the firm it won't face an enforcement action over its issuance of crypto exchange Binance's stablecoin, BUSD.

  • July 11, 2024

    Senate Confirms Judge To Federal Claims Court

    The Senate voted 52-39 Thursday to confirm U.S. Magistrate Judge Robin M. Meriweather to the Court of Federal Claims for a term of 15 years.

Expert Analysis

  • How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case

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    The Trump campaign's recent scuffle over its bid to replace its counsel in a pregnancy retaliation suit offers a chance to remind attorneys that many troubles inherent in withdrawing from a case can be mitigated or entirely avoided by communicating with clients openly and frequently, says Christopher Konneker at Orsinger Nelson.

  • Opinion

    We Need A Legislative Path To Power Plant Emissions Cuts

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    With the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's newest regulation targeting power plant carbon emissions likely to be overturned by courts or a future administration, it's time for bipartisan legislation to preserve affordable, reliable electricity while substantially decarbonizing the sector by midcentury, say Jeffrey Holmstead at Bracewell and Samuel Thernstrom at the Energy Innovation Reform Project.

  • The Effects Of New 10-Year Limitation On Key Sanctions Laws

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    Recently enacted emergency appropriations legislation, doubling the statute of limitations for civil and criminal economic sanctions violations, has significant implications for internal records retention, corporate transaction due diligence and government investigations, say attorneys at Greenberg Traurig.

  • FEPA Cases Are Natural Fit For DOJ's Fraud Section

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s recent announcement that its Fraud Section would have exclusive jurisdiction over the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act — a new law that criminalizes “demand side” foreign bribery — makes sense, given its experience navigating the political and diplomatic sensitivities of related statutes, say James Koukios and Rachel Davidson Raycraft at MoFo.

  • Opinion

    DOJ Messaging App Warnings Undermine Trust In Counsel

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    The U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division's increasingly ominous warnings to defense and in-house counsel about the consequences of not preserving ephemeral messaging and messages sent using collaboration tools could erode confidence and cooperation, says Mark Rosman at Proskauer.

  • Using A Children's Book Approach In Firm Marketing Content

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    From “The Giving Tree” to “Where the Wild Things Are,” most children’s books are easy to remember because they use simple words and numbers to tell stories with a human impact — a formula law firms should emulate in their marketing content to stay front of mind for potential clients, says Seema Desai Maglio at The Found Word.

  • A Changing Regulatory Landscape For Weight Loss Drugs

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    As drugs originally approved to treat diabetes become increasingly popular for weight loss purposes, federal and state regulators and payors are increasing their focus on how these drugs are prescribed, and industry participants should pay close attention to rapidly evolving compliance requirements, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • The State Of Play In DEI And ESG 1 Year After Harvard Ruling

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    Almost a year after the U.S. Supreme Court decided Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, attorney general scrutiny of environmental, social and governance-related efforts indicates a potential path for corporate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to be targeted, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Compliance Considerations For New Data Protection Law

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    Sam Castic at Hintze Law discusses how to determine if your organization is covered by the newly enacted Protecting Americans' Data from Foreign Adversaries Act, the scope of the law's restrictions, and how to go about compliance as its June 23 effective date approaches.

  • Proposed Semiconductor Buy Ban May Rattle Supply Chains

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    The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council's recent proposed rulemaking clarifies plans to ban government purchases of semiconductors from certain Chinese companies, creating uncertainty around how contractors will be able to adjust supply chains that are already burdened and contracted to capacity, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • CFPB Poised To Up The Ante After Supreme Court Victory

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    When the U.S. Supreme Court emphatically ruled last week that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure did not violate the Constitution, the agency boasted that it was "here to stay," signaling that it is moving full steam ahead with its regulatory, enforcement and supervisory agenda, says Jim Sandy at McGlinchey Stafford.

  • Opinion

    NEPA Final Rule Unlikely To Speed Clean Energy Projects

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    A recent final rule from the White House Council on Environmental Quality purports to streamline federal environmental reviews to accelerate the construction of renewable energy infrastructure — but it also expands consideration of climate change and environmental justice, creating vast new opportunities for litigation and delay, says Thomas Prevas at Saul Ewing.

  • Diving Deep Into Sweeping NY Financing Bill — And Its Pitfalls

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    A New York bill seeking to impose state usury limits onto a broader variety of financing arrangements and apply lender licensing requirements to more diverse entities would present near-insurmountable compliance challenges for lenders and retailers, say Kate Fisher and Tom Quinn at Hudson Cook.

  • Opinion

    USPTO's Proposed Disclaimer Rule Would Harm Inventors

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    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s recently proposed rule on terminal disclaimers will make the patent system less available to inventors and will unfairly favor defendants in litigation, say Stephen Schreiner at Carmichael IP and Sarah Tsou at Omni Bridgeway.

  • What The FTC Report On AG Collabs Means For Cos.

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    The Federal Trade Commission's April report on working with state attorneys general shows collaboration can increase efficiency and consistency in how statutes are interpreted and enforced, which can minimize the likelihood of requests for inconsistent injunctive relief that can create operational problems for businesses, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.

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