Public Policy

  • December 16, 2024

    Menendez Prosecutors Say 'Chat Chains' Were Admitted In Error

    Federal prosecutors in the government's case against former Sen. Bob Menendez on Monday notified the New York federal court of another evidentiary blunder, this time saying they mistakenly admitted "long chat chains" that included "small portions of material" that should've been excluded.

  • December 16, 2024

    TikTok Brings Sale-Or-Ban Fight To High Court

    TikTok asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to stay a federal law that would force its owners to divest from the wildly popular social media app or shut its U.S. operation down just before Donald Trump's inauguration, saying his administration should get a say in the app's fate.

  • December 16, 2024

    Report Finds CBP Still Separating Some Children In Detention

    A court-appointed juvenile care monitor told a California federal judge the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol was continuing to routinely hold children separately from parents or trusted adults at a Donna, Texas, facility this September, in what could be the monitor's final report.

  • December 16, 2024

    USPTO Chief Of Staff Steps Up To Acting Deputy Director

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced Monday Shirin Bidel-Niyat, the agency's chief of staff, is its newest acting deputy director, stepping into the role as office leadership is shaken up by the departure of former Director Kathi Vidal.

  • December 16, 2024

    'Plans Do Matter,' Tempur Sealy Says In Final Merger Hearing

    Tempur Sealy made its final push Monday in support of its $4 billion planned Mattress Firm purchase, telling a judge during closing arguments that the Federal Trade Commission hadn't shown that the company planned to deviate from its intent for Mattress Firm to remain autonomous. 

  • December 16, 2024

    Merger Enforcers End Year On Upswing

    The Biden administration's antitrust enforcers have boasted that one side effect of their aggressive approach to merger enforcement has been helping stop problematic deals from being cut in the first place, but the agencies also scored key court rulings blocking transactions in their final year that could have a more enduring effect.

  • December 16, 2024

    NY Judge Denies Trump's 1st Immunity Dismissal Motion

    The New York state judge overseeing President-elect Donald Trump's hush money case denied the first of his immunity-based dismissal motions on Monday, finding that the trial evidence in the criminal case was not tainted by "official acts" evidence from his first term in office.

  • December 16, 2024

    Feds, Ute Tribe Wrestle Over 19th Century Laws In Land Fight

    The federal government and the legal team representing the Ute Indian Tribe clashed over the interpretation of two 19th-century laws during a hearing in Washington, D.C., federal court Monday, as the tribe seeks to restore lands within its Utah reservation to trust status.

  • December 16, 2024

    Congress Sends Biden Another Bill To Help Federal Courts

    The House voted 390-0 Monday evening in favor of a bipartisan bill to make permanent 10 judgeships across the country, including in Texas, Florida and California, and the bill now goes to the president's desk.

  • December 16, 2024

    Ex-Ill. Rep. Says He Got ComEd, AT&T Work With Madigan's Help

    Former Illinois state Rep. Eddie Acevedo testified Monday that he obtained consulting work from utilities ComEd and AT&T with former House Speaker Michael Madigan's help, but pushed back on prosecutors' suggestion that he performed little to no work for the pay.

  • December 16, 2024

    House Clears Bills To Promote Broadband, Wireless

    The U.S. House passed three bills Monday aimed at easing broadband deployment and bolstering U.S. leadership in wireless industries.

  • December 16, 2024

    Colo. Justices Revoke Decision On Eviction Jury Trials

    The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday rescinded its October ruling that tenants facing eviction are entitled to jury trials if there are factual disputes, after a tenant revealed in her rehearing petition that she was sent an eviction notice in the mail and wasn't personally served.

  • December 16, 2024

    High Court Faces Dueling Views Over EPA Rule Fights

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday was presented with dueling arguments over whether the bulk of judicial challenges to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency air pollution rules should remain in the D.C. Circuit or can be heard in other, regional circuit courts.

  • December 16, 2024

    DC Circ. Skeptical That EPA Moved Too Early On Particulates

    Judges on the D.C. Circuit seemed unlikely to buy arguments from industry groups and a coalition of Republican-led states challenging a February U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule on particulate matter, grilling an attorney for the challengers on the agency's Clean Air Act authority during oral arguments Monday.

  • December 16, 2024

    Mich. Judge Troubled By Scope Of Feds' CTA Data Collection

    A federal judge in Michigan said new disclosure requirements for small businesses seem burdensome and intrusive during a Monday hearing focused on the privacy implications of the currently blocked anti-money laundering law.

  • December 16, 2024

    Right-Wing Pair Can Be Charged For False Election Robocalls

    A Michigan appellate panel has upheld, for the second time, criminal charges against two right-wing conspiracy theorists who led a misinformation campaign that targeted Black voters, finding that even under a narrowed test from the state's top court, the pair likely knew the robocalls shared false information and were related to voting procedures.

  • December 16, 2024

    Canadian Finance Minister Resigns Amid Trump Tariff Threats

    Canada's deputy prime minister and minister of finance announced Monday that she is resigning from her post, citing conflicting views with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about how to respond to tariff threats under President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration.

  • December 16, 2024

    Conn. Utility Says PFAS Class Claims Belong With Regulators

    Most of the claims in a proposed class action against a Connecticut water company that allegedly failed to protect customers against "forever chemicals" cannot proceed because they needed to be heard first by state regulators, the utility argued in seeking to trim the complaint.

  • December 16, 2024

    11th Circ. Appears Wary Of Doc's New Trial Bid In $27.5M Case

    The Eleventh Circuit on Monday questioned whether a Georgia doctor and his medical practice should get a new trial in a $27.5 million False Claims Act case on the basis that he and an expert who wasn't allowed to testify at trial believed the thousands of treatments he billed for were medically necessary and could be covered by Medicare, saying that contention seems to contradict the doctor's prior statements. 

  • December 16, 2024

    Navajo President Cleared In VP Sexual Harassment Probe

    Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren has been cleared of allegations that he sexually harassed the tribe's Vice President Richelle Montoya during an August 2023 encounter, its attorney general announced, saying an outside firm hired to investigate the incident found that her reports don't violate any of the tribe's criminal laws.

  • December 16, 2024

    Cos. Urge Judge To Maintain Injunction On Transparency Law

    A Texas federal judge doesn't need to stay his preliminary injunction on the rollout of new corporate transparency rules while the U.S. government's appeal of his decision is pending at the Fifth Circuit, a business lobbying group and others said Monday.

  • December 16, 2024

    No 1st Amendment Right For Prison Interviews, 4th Circ. Says

    A South Carolina prison's policy of prohibiting interviews with inmates does not violate the First Amendment's free speech protections, the Fourth Circuit has said in a published decision.

  • December 16, 2024

    Albertsons Says Kroger 'Squandered' $25B Merger Bid

    The Kroger Co. Inc. "willfully squandered" opportunities to complete a now-blocked $24.6 billion mega-merger with Albertsons Cos. Inc., according to an unsealed five-count lawsuit in Delaware's Court of Chancery potentially seeking billions in damages.

  • December 16, 2024

    Wyden Bill Would Nix Tax Perks For Private Placement Plans

    U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden unveiled legislation Monday that would remove the tax benefits of a special type of private life insurance plan that he said high-net-worth individuals have been abusing to avoid paying taxes on their investments in the policies.

  • December 16, 2024

    ICE Contractor Claims Immunity From Family Separation Suit

    Transportation services provider MVM Inc. is arguing a father and son suing it for its role in a Trump administration policy that separated them and thousands of other immigrant families can't show it acted unlawfully or outside the bounds of a valid federal contract, dooming their litigation.

Expert Analysis

  • High Court 'Violent Crimes' Case Tangled Up In Hypotheticals

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    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.

  • Dissecting New Circuit Split Over SEC's Proxy Adviser Rule

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    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.

  • Tracking The Slow Movement Of AI Copyright Cases

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    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.

  • Federal Salary History Ban's Reach Is Limited

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    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.

  • Call For Input Shows How Banks, Fintechs Can Address Risks

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    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.

  • How Property Insurance Coverage Shrank After The Pandemic

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    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.

  • Considering Chevron's End Through A State Tax Lens

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    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.

  • NYC Hotel Licensing Law's Costs May Outweigh Its Benefits

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    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.

  • The Unfolding Potential of Green Hydrogen In Brazil

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    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.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata

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    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.

  • How New OCC Priorities Will Affect Bank Compliance

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    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.

  • SEC Rulemaking Radar: The View From Election Day

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    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.

  • What FTC's 'Bitcoin ATM' Report Tells Us About Crypto Scams

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    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.

  • A Shift In Control Of Congress May Doom These Enviro Regs

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    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.

  • How The Presidential Election Will Affect Workplace AI Regs

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    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.

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