Public Policy

  • January 03, 2025

    Calif. Panel Says PAGA Suits Always Have Individual Claims

    A delivery worker's individual claims against Target's shipping partner under California's Private Attorneys General Act belong in arbitration, a state appellate panel said, disagreeing with a trial court's decision that her suit only had representative claims.

  • January 02, 2025

    FTC Asks 5th Circ. To Revive Noncompete Ban

    The Federal Trade Commission told the Fifth Circuit on Thursday the agency is authorized to make rules like the one that would ban enforcement of most employee noncompetes, arguing that a Texas district court took a "cramped view" of the agency's authority to promulgate rules that define unfair competition methods.

  • January 02, 2025

    Calif. Judge Ices Social Media Addiction Law For 30 Days

    A California federal judge Thursday blocked the state from beginning its enforcement of a new law designed to bar online platforms from using algorithms to deliver addictive feeds to children, finding there was "great value" in giving the Ninth Circuit 30 days to consider his decision to largely uphold the measure. 

  • January 02, 2025

    Ex-Bank Chair Asks 7th Circ. To Halt FDIC Enforcement Order

    An Illinois community bank's onetime chairman has asked the Seventh Circuit for an emergency stay of professional sanctions ordered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. after an in-house proceeding that he argues was unconstitutional and wrongly decided.

  • January 02, 2025

    Judicial Conference Closes Thomas Gift Probe With No Action

    The Judicial Conference of the United States will not refer ethics complaints accusing U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of unlawfully failing to disclose decades of luxury gifts and travel to the U.S. Department of Justice for further investigation, according to letters released Thursday.

  • January 02, 2025

    DC Kept Disabled People In Restrictive Care Too Long: Ruling

    After 15 years of litigation, a D.C. federal judge ruled this week that the District of Columbia has been violating a federal law that prohibits the segregation of people with disabilities by refusing to remove people from Medicaid-funded nursing homes into less restrictive forms of care.

  • January 02, 2025

    Election Officials Push To Certify NC High Court Race Results

    The North Carolina State Board of Elections should be allowed to move forward with certifying the results of the state Supreme Court race after a Republican candidate sought to block copious ballots, state officials and incumbent state Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs said Wednesday.

  • January 02, 2025

    Anchorage Residents Look To Block Tribal Casino Project

    A group of Anchorage residents has sued the acting chairwoman of the National Indian Gaming Commission and the Native village of Eklutna in Alaska federal court, claiming plans to build a 58,000-square-foot casino will ruin their rural neighborhood.

  • January 02, 2025

    NTIA Clarifies Use Of Broadband Funds For Alternative Techs

    The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has dropped more information to make the way forward clearer for states that want to use their federal broadband dollars to fund alternative means of connecting people, such as satellites.

  • January 02, 2025

    Issa Again Selected To Lead House IP Subcommittee

    Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., will again lead the House subcommittee overseeing intellectual property in the upcoming Congress, a role in which he has sponsored bills seeking to limit how many patents can be asserted in biosimilar cases and require disclosure of litigation funding.

  • January 02, 2025

    New Jersey Judge Won't Block Affordable-Housing Law

    A New Jersey state judge has refused to block a state law that aims to determine how much affordable housing must be developed, ruling that the municipalities challenging the law are obligated under the state's constitution "to provide realistic opportunities for low- and moderate-income housing."

  • January 02, 2025

    Epic Tells 9th Circ. Google's Legal 'Reckoning Long Overdue'

    Epic Games Inc. has slammed Google's Ninth Circuit appeal of an injunction requiring the tech giant to open up its Android Play Store to rival app distributors, defending the ruling and a jury's liability verdict and arguing that Google's appeal is a meritless attempt to avoid a "reckoning long overdue."

  • January 02, 2025

    Rep. Jordan Picks Wis. Lawmaker For House Antitrust Panel

    Republicans are moving to install a frequent critic of President Joe Biden's Federal Trade Commission at the head of the House of Representatives' antitrust subcommittee, naming Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., to the post Tuesday.

  • January 02, 2025

    DOJ Says Hur Tapes Are Protected From GOP Contempt Effort

    Two U.S. Department of Justice legal opinions made public on New Year's Eve further explain the Biden administration's positions opposing attempts by Republicans to obtain the audio recordings of President Joe Biden and his ghostwriter speaking with special counsel Robert Hur for his investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents.

  • January 02, 2025

    Colo. Justices To Mull Whether Hertz Qualifies As An Insurer

    The Colorado Supreme Court will consider whether a rental car company offering insurance coverage to customers qualifies as an insurer under the state's insurance statutes, thereby potentially exposing it to additional liability for claims that it denied coverage in bad faith.

  • January 02, 2025

    Uber Can't Hold Off Seattle Driver Deactivation Law

    A Washington federal judge denied Uber's bid to temporarily bar the city of Seattle from enforcing new app-based worker account deactivation rules against it, finding the day before the challenged ordinance took effect that the company is unlikely to succeed in its claims of a First Amendment violation.

  • January 02, 2025

    Oregon, California Tribes Ask Court To Block Casino Project

    Three tribes are asking a D.C. federal court to block the Interior Department from issuing a final decision that would take land into trust for an Oregon casino project, arguing that the agency's lack of tribal consultation on the endeavor will cause damage to their economic and governmental interests.

  • January 02, 2025

    DC US Atty Matthew Graves Stepping Down Jan. 16

    Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney for D.C. who led the federal investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, said he'll be stepping down as the capital's top federal prosecutor four days before President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration.

  • January 02, 2025

    Ill. Atty Can't Avoid Prison Pending Bribery Appeal

    An Illinois attorney set to serve time for bribing former Chicago alderman Edward Burke must still report to prison while he asks the Seventh Circuit to review his conviction and 32-month sentence, a federal judge said.

  • January 02, 2025

    Bankrupt Pa. City Must Remit Casino Revenue, County Argues

    Pennsylvania's Delaware County has asked the Third Circuit to undo a bankruptcy court's ruling that the financially ailing city of Chester is excused from paying the county revenue from gambling taxes because of the city's Chapter 9 proceedings, despite an ordinance mandating that the county get a cut of the money.

  • January 02, 2025

    9th Circ. Won't Revive Nonprofit's Union Dues Deduction Fight

    The Ninth Circuit refused to reinstate a conservative nonprofit's suit accusing Teamsters unions representing Washington state employees of committing constitutional violations by allegedly ignoring the nonprofit's mail containing dues revocation cards, concluding that refusal to accept such mail isn't a state action, and the unions aren't state actors.

  • January 02, 2025

    Tempur Sealy Ups Floor Space Promise In FTC Merger Case

    Tempur Sealy is increasing its commitments to preserve floor space for rivals' mattresses in Mattress Firm stores, attempting to beat the Federal Trade Commission's merger challenge by extending the current floor space "slot" distribution after a Texas federal judge noted that prior commitments were below current allotments.

  • January 02, 2025

    Reps. Titus, Omar To Co-Chair Congressional Cannabis Caucus

    Democratic Reps. Dina Titus and Ilhan Omar announced Thursday that they have been appointed to co-chair the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, succeeding Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Barbara Lee, who are retiring at the end of the week.

  • January 02, 2025

    Biden Lauds Bipartisanship In Confirming Record No. Of Judges

    With less than three weeks left in office, President Joe Biden on Thursday celebrated putting 235 lifetime judges on the federal bench.

  • January 02, 2025

    Eli Lilly Slams Suit Alleging Shortage Of Weight-Loss Drug

    Eli Lilly is seeking permission to join a legal fight over whether compounding pharmacies can keep making copycat versions of the company's lucrative weight-loss and diabetes drug, telling a federal court Wednesday that its interests aren't adequately represented by federal regulators.

Expert Analysis

  • 5 Ways SEC's Crypto Approach Could Change Under Trump

    Author Photo

    Given the Trump campaign's procrypto stance, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could take a number of different approaches to crypto policy in the next administration, including pausing registration-only enforcement actions and proposing tailored rules that take into account the differences between crypto-assets and traditional securities, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Health Policy Predictions For Trump's Second Administration

    Author Photo

    As President-elect Donald Trump's nominations for health policy and enforcement heads work their way through the confirmation process, healthcare organizations can look at nominee backgrounds, campaign statements and actions from Trump's previous presidency to predict incoming priorities, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Opinion

    FTC Actions In Oil Cases Go Against Its Own Rulemaking

    Author Photo

    Two recent Federal Trade Commission actions concerning the oil and gas industry appear to defy its own merger guidelines, with allegations that fall far short of the commission's own standard — raising serious questions about the agency's current approach, say attorneys at Clifford Chance.

  • How Global Data Center Regs May Influence US Policies

    Author Photo

    As regulators around the world react to the growth of data centers, and their increasing consumption of energy, water and land, international policies in this area may influence how the incoming U.S. administration regulates data centers in this country, say attorneys at HWG.

  • Series

    Flying Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Achieving my childhood dream of flying airplanes made me a better lawyer — and a better person — because it taught me I can conquer difficult goals when I leave my comfort zone, focus on the demands of the moment and commit to honing my skills, says Ivy Cadle at Baker Donelson.

  • Key Points From New Maritime Oil Price Cap Advisory

    Author Photo

    The Price Cap Coalition's updated advisory regarding the maritime oil industry's compliance with the Russian oil price cap highlights the role of governmental authorities, additional areas warranting due diligence and the need for training programs, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.

  • Post-Election Implications For The EPA's Methane Rules

    Author Photo

    Amid the U.S. Supreme Court's recent denial of requests to halt implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's methane rule in two suits, and given the outcome of the election, a complete reversal of the methane rule is expected, but state-level policymaking and enforcement will continue, says John Watson at Spencer Fane.

  • Opinion

    Justices Should Squash Bid To Criminalize Contract Breaches

    Author Photo

    In Kousisis v. U.S., the U.S. Supreme Court should reject the sweeping legal theory that breaches of contract can satisfy the property element of the mail and wire fraud statutes, which, if validated, would criminalize an array of ordinary conduct and violate basic constitutional principles, say attorneys at The Norton Law Firm.

  • 'Reverse Redlining' Suit Reveals Language Risks For Lenders

    Author Photo

    The Justice Department's case against consumer finance provider Colony Ridge highlights the government's focus on lending to consumers with limited English proficiency and the risks of generating marketing materials in other languages while conducting actual transactions in English, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • Trump Patent Policy May Be Headed In Unexpected Direction

    Author Photo

    While commentators have assumed that the patent policy of President-elect Donald Trump's second administration will largely mirror the pro-patent policy of his first, these predictions fail to take into account the likely oversized influence of Elon Musk, says Jorge Contreras at the University of Utah.

  • NLRB One-Two Punch Curbs Employer Anti-Organizing Tools

    Author Photo

    The National Labor Relations Board’s recent decisions in Siren Retail and Amazon, limiting employer speech about the impact of unionization and outlawing captive audience meetings, severely curtail employers' arsenal of tools to combat an organizing campaign — though this may soon change under a new administration, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • Mitigating Defamation Liability Risks Of AI-Generated Content

    Author Photo

    Until Congress and the courts provide clear guidance about defamation liability stemming from generative artificial intelligence tools, companies should begin building controls to prevent the creation of defamatory content, says Michael Gerrity at Accenture.

  • Key Requirements In New Maryland Pay Transparency Laws

    Author Photo

    Although several jurisdictions now require pay transparency in job advertisements, Maryland's new law is among the broadest in the country, both in terms of what is required and the scope of its applicability, says Sarah Belger at Quarles & Brady.

  • What Trump's Next Term May Mean For Biz Immigration

    Author Photo

    Leonard D'Arrigo at Harris Beach discusses the employment-based immigration policies businesses can potentially expect during President-elect Donald Trump’s second term, based on policies enacted during his first administration, statements made during his campaign and proposals in Project 2025.

  • Takeaways From Final Regulations For China Investment Ban

    Author Photo

    ​The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s final rule banning U.S. investment in emerging Chinese technology clarifies some key requirements, includes additional exceptions for covered transactions and attempts to address concerns that the rule will put U.S. businesses at a competitive disadvantage, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Public Policy archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!