Public Policy

  • June 21, 2024

    NCAA Teams May Suffer Without Int'l Student Pay Regs

    The historic $2.77 billion settlement to address college athletes' alleged lost compensation on name, image and likeness deals could have an adverse effect on university team rosters if the federal government fails to level the playing field for international athletes.

  • June 21, 2024

    Treasury Unveils Rules Curtailing Outbound Tech Investments

    The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Friday proposed rules to implement President Joe Biden's executive order aimed at restricting American investments in certain technologies that China is developing, including artificial intelligence systems, that are deemed threats to national security.

  • June 21, 2024

    FDIC Approves 1st Industrial Bank Application In Years

    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Friday that it has approved plans from Thrivent Financial to create Thrivent Bank, making it the first new industrial bank to receive a green light from the agency during the Biden administration.

  • June 21, 2024

    Texas Medical Board Adopts Abortion Records Requirement

    Texas doctors who determine that an abortion is necessary during a pregnant patient's health crisis will face new recordkeeping requirements under a final rule issued Friday by the state's medical board.

  • June 21, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Backs Subsidy Duties For Canadian Wind Towers

    A Canadian wind tower manufacturer can't get a break on countervailing duties despite being upfront about errors in its sales data, with the Federal Circuit ruling Friday that the errors raise the possibility of additional mistakes.

  • June 21, 2024

    NY Judge Says Feds, MTA Fully Vetted Congestion Pricing

    A Manhattan federal judge has said federal and New York transportation agencies meticulously analyzed congestion pricing's potential impacts on traffic, air quality and other factors, rejecting local residents and community groups' claims that the Big Apple's now-paused congestion pricing was improperly approved.

  • June 21, 2024

    Claims Trimmed In Neb. Tribe's Debt Collection Suit

    A federal judge partially dismissed a Nebraska tribe's challenge to the Indian Health Service that claims the federal government repeatedly tried to collect millions on an already paid debt, saying its allegations over the validity of the 2017 agreement are barred by the Contract Disputes Act's one-year statute of limitations.

  • June 21, 2024

    Union Tells 1st Circ. It's Fit To Bring Debt Cap Challenge

    A U.S. government workers' union challenging the constitutionality of the debt ceiling urged the First Circuit to ignore the Biden administration's argument that union members couldn't explain how it harms them, saying it's reasonable to expect their paychecks will be suspended when it is reimposed.

  • June 21, 2024

    Tube Co. Blames Denied Duty Refund Claim On CBP Error

    A steel importer told the U.S. Court of International Trade on Friday that customs officials refused to honor a waiver for $241,000 worth of national security tariffs based on an import classification issue that they allegedly created.

  • June 21, 2024

    DC Better Match For Net Neutrality Suits, 6th Circ. Told

    A public interest group urged the Sixth Circuit to move lawsuits over the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules to the D.C. Circuit, saying the lottery that put the cases in Cincinnati was not enacted to keep litigation out of D.C.

  • June 21, 2024

    Off The Bench: ACC-FSU Rematch, Supreme Win For Fla. Tribe

    In this week's Off The Bench, the next round of venue tug-of-war begins between the Atlantic Coast Conference and Florida State University, the U.S. Supreme Court hands Florida and the Seminole Tribe a lucrative gaming win, and Roger Goodell and Jerry Jones defend the NFL's handling of its Sunday Ticket package.

  • June 21, 2024

    Teamsters Say Calif. Pot Shop's Deal Was With 'Sham' Union

    The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is asking to intervene as a defendant in a cannabis retailer's suit challenging the constitutionality of California's requirement that the retailer enter a labor peace agreement with a "bona fide" labor organization, saying the union the shop contracted is a sham that does nothing to organize workers.

  • June 21, 2024

    Calif. Gov. Backs Return Of 2,800 Acres To Shasta Nation

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom has thrown his support behind the return of more than 2,800 acres of ancestral land seized through eminent domain more than a century ago to the Shasta Indian Nation, marking the largest tribal land effort in the state's history.

  • June 21, 2024

    Hawaii DOT Settles Kids' Suit Over Fossil Fuel Use

    The Hawaii Department of Transportation has agreed to implement "transformative changes" to the state's transportation system to achieve zero emissions in all ground transportation and interisland sea and air transportation by 2045, as part of a settlement reached with a group of young people.

  • June 21, 2024

    Recovery Home Co. Sues Over Denial By Town's Zoning Panel

    A New Jersey township's zoning board has been accused in New Jersey federal court of discriminating against recovering drug addicts and alcoholics by refusing to allow a recovery home to continue to operate in a residential area.

  • June 21, 2024

    Ohio House Bill Would Tax Car Condos As Residential Parcels

    Ohio would classify car condominiums as residential property for property tax purposes under a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives.

  • June 21, 2024

    Ayahuasca Church Is Not Tax-Exempt, DC Circ. Affirms

    An Iowa church that used a psychedelic drug in its rites was correctly denied tax-exempt status, the D.C. Circuit affirmed Friday, saying the church's main purpose is using a federally illegal drug for which it lacked approval for religious use.

  • June 21, 2024

    Attys Accused Of Judge Shopping Must Share Public Remarks

    Attorneys accused of judge shopping two 2022 suits challenging an Alabama law criminalizing some gender-affirming care for transgender youths have been given 48 hours to turn over any public statements, releases or other information they or their organizations have shared about the disciplinary proceedings, just days ahead of a Monday hearing.

  • June 21, 2024

    Rip And Replace 'Ruinous' Without Fed Funds, Carriers Say

    A rural telecoms trade group is warning the Federal Communications Commission of potentially "ruinous" financial predicaments for small carriers if the "rip and replace" program targeting Chinese-made telecommunications equipment isn't fully funded soon, saying in a new filing that carriers are considering reducing service because of the lack of funding.

  • June 21, 2024

    Ex-Chicago Alderman Burke Can't Delay Sentencing

    Former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke can't postpone his Monday sentencing on charges of racketeering, extortion and bribery to await a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the scope of federal bribery law, an Illinois federal judge ruled Friday, saying that decision will have "little or no impact" on Burke's fate.

  • June 21, 2024

    Atty Convicted Of Pot Bribe Wins Bail At 1st Circ.

    A suspended Massachusetts attorney convicted last fall of attempting to bribe a police chief to help his client secure a cannabis license will remain free pending his appeal, the First Circuit ruled Friday, reversing a district judge's decision.

  • June 21, 2024

    Feds Seek To Nix Atty's Charges As 2nd Atty Heads To Prison

    Prosecutors moved Friday to dismiss charges against a Georgia attorney for fraudulently obtaining federal pandemic-relief loans meant for businesses, with the pending dismissal — based on her completion of a pretrial diversion program — coming after a Florida attorney and alleged accomplice received a prison sentence of more than six years.

  • June 21, 2024

    5th Circ. Knocks Out National Block On ACA Preventive Care

    The Fifth Circuit on Friday struck down a national injunction against Affordable Care Act requirements forcing insurers to cover a range of preventive treatments, but kept a block in place that prevents its application to the individuals and businesses in Texas that sued.

  • June 21, 2024

    Pa. Justices Will Weigh If 'Skill Games' Are Slot Machines

    The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania will take up a case and decide whether the "Pennsylvania Skill Games" that combine a chance-based game mode with a secondary memory game fall under the state's definition of "slot machines," potentially affecting many storefronts and bars where the game machines have proliferated.

  • June 21, 2024

    Rebar Co. Says Feds Spurned Data For Info 'On The Internet'

    A Turkish rebar company pressed the U.S. Court of International Trade to order U.S. trade officials to reassess its countervailing duties, saying officials incorrectly excluded a commissioned study from the review for a report posted online.

Expert Analysis

  • Does Expert Testimony Aid Preliminary IPR Responses?

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    Dechert attorneys analyze six years of patent owners' preliminary responses to inter partes review petitions to determine whether the elimination of the presumption favoring the petitioner as to preinstitution testimonial evidence affected the usefulness of expert testimony in responses.

  • Fostering Employee Retention Amid Shaky DEI Landscape

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    Ongoing challenges to the legality of corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs are complicating efforts to use DEI as an employee retention tool, but with the right strategic approach employers can continue to recruit and retain diverse talent — even after the FTC’s ban on noncompetes, says Ally Coll at the Purple Method.

  • Are Concessions In FDA's Lab-Developed Tests Rule Enough?

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    Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new policy for laboratory-developed tests included major strategic concessions to help balance patient safety, access and diagnostic innovation, the new rule may well face significant legal challenges in court, say Dominick DiSabatino and Audrey Mercer at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 5 Climate Change Regulatory Issues Insurers Should Follow

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    The climate change landscape for insurers has changed dramatically recently — and not just because of the controversy over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related risk disclosure rules, says Thomas Dawson at McDermott.

  • How New Rule Would Change CFIUS Enforcement Powers

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    Before the May 15 comment deadline, companies may want to weigh in on proposed regulatory changes to enforcement and mitigation tools at the disposal of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, including broadened subpoena powers, difficult new mitigation timelines and higher maximum penalties, say attorneys at Venable.

  • What's Extraordinary About Challenges To SEC Climate Rule

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    A set of ideologically diverse legal challenges to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate disclosure rule have been consolidated in the Eighth Circuit via a seldom-used lottery system, and the unpredictability of this process may drive agencies toward a more cautious future approach to rulemaking, say attorneys at Thompson Coburn.

  • 8 Questions To Ask Before Final CISA Breach Reporting Rule

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    The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s recently proposed cyber incident reporting requirements for critical infrastructure entities represent the overall approach CISA will take in its final rule, so companies should be asking key compliance questions now and preparing for a more complicated reporting regime, say Arianna Evers and Shannon Mercer at WilmerHale.

  • Series

    Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

  • Key Priorities In FDIC Report On Resolving Big Bank Failures

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    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s report last month on the resolvability of large financial institutions contains little new information, but it does reiterate key policy priorities, including the agency's desire to enhance loss-absorbing capacity through long-term debt requirements and preference for single-point-of-entry resolution strategies, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • Best Practices For Space Security In Our Connected World

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    NASA's recently published space security guide is another indication that cyber-resilience has become a global theme for the space and satellite sector, as well as a useful reference for companies and organizations reviewing their cybersecurity frameworks or looking to partner with the U.S. agency, says Hayley Blyth at Bird & Bird.

  • Opinion

    SEC Doesn't Have Legal Authority For Climate Disclosure Rule

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    Instead of making the required legal argument to establish its authority, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related disclosure rule hides behind more than 1,000 references to materiality to give the appearance that its rule is legally defensible, says Bernard Sharfman at RealClearFoundation.

  • What 100 Federal Cases Suggest About Changes To Chevron

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    With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overturn or narrow its 40-year-old doctrine of Chevron deference, a review of 100 recent federal district court decisions confirm that changes to the Chevron framework will have broad ramifications — but the magnitude of the impact will depend on the details of the high court's ruling, say Kali Schellenberg and Jon Cochran at LeVan Stapleton.

  • FTC Noncompete Rule May Still Face Historical Hurdles

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    The Federal Trade Commission's final rule banning noncompetes might face challenges that could have been avoided with more cautious consideration of the commission's long history of failed lawsuits that went beyond the agency's statutory authority, as well as the mountain of judicial precedent justifying noncompete agreements in employment contracts, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • A Look At Subchapter V As Debt Limit Expiration Looms

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    If proposed legislation to extend Subchapter V’s debt eligibility ceiling sunset date in June is passed, bankruptcy professionals can seek ways to work with their local jurisdictions to advocate for code changes and guidance that bring more efficiencies and clarity to the process, say Matthew Brash at Newpoint Advisors and Melinda Bennett at Stretto.

  • Opinion

    SEC Should Be Allowed To Equip Investors With Climate Info

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new rule to require more climate-related disclosures will provide investors with much-needed clarity, despite opponents' attempts to challenge the rule with misused legal arguments, say Sarah Goetz at Democracy Forward and Cynthia Hanawalt at Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change.

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