Public Policy

  • January 03, 2025

    FCC Hits Broadband Co. With $56K Fine For Default

    The Federal Communications Commission has ordered an Illinois broadband provider to shell out more than $56,000 for allegedly defaulting on obligations under a federal program to expand high-speed internet service in unserved regions.

  • January 03, 2025

    Conn. Politician's Jail Dates Loom In Ballot Fraud Case

    A Connecticut ex-politician will be allowed to self-surrender for three upcoming weekends behind bars in Rhode Island after he admitted to running a ballot fraud scheme, a federal judge has ruled ahead of the first report-to-jail date, Jan. 10.

  • January 03, 2025

    Ore., Calif. Tribes Can't Stop Casino Project

    A D.C. federal district court judge denied a bid by three tribes to block the U.S. Department of the Interior from issuing a determination that would greenlight a casino project in Oregon, saying the environmental impact statement for the endeavor does not constitute a final agency action.

  • January 03, 2025

    FCC Says Cash On Way Soon For 'Rip And Replace'

    The Federal Communications Commission says the additional $3.08 billion for its "rip and replace" program to get Chinese telecommunications equipment out of the nation's networks is on its way and will soon close a wide gap between what was originally allocated for the program and what telecoms say they need.

  • January 03, 2025

    Menendez Cites 'Good Deeds' In Bid To Avoid Prison

    Former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez has asked a Manhattan federal judge not to sentence him to prison after he was convicted of bribery and corruption in July, saying a "lifetime of good deeds and good character" and a low likelihood of future offenses merit leniency.

  • January 03, 2025

    Biden Honors Del. Jurist For Role In Brown V. Board Ruling

    President Joe Biden issued a top civilian award, posthumously, to former Chancellor Collins J. Seitz of Delaware Chancery Court, father of the state's current chief justice, for his role in decisions woven into the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • A Look At 2024 NIL Rights And Economies In College Sports

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    Permutations in the arena of name, image and likeness affecting collegiate athletics have continued unabated this year, and practitioners and industry representatives should anticipate significant activity at schools and continuing legal changes at the state level, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • How Expanded Birth Control Coverage May Affect Employers

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    Employers should consider the potential impact of recently proposed regulations that would expand group health plans' required coverage of preventive services and contraceptives, including questions about how the agencies would implement their plans to eliminate the prescription requirement and alter the exceptions process, says Jennifer Rigterink at Proskauer.

  • Unpacking CFPB's Unwieldy Buy Now, Pay Later Guidance

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    Both the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent interpretive rule regarding buy now, pay later transactions, and its FAQ guidance, place providers in murky waters with the unenviable position of attempting to place a square, closed-end product in a round, regulatory framework meant for open-end products, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • 9 Considerations Around Proposed Connected Vehicle Ban

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    Stakeholders should consider several aspects of the U.S. Department of Commerce's recent proposal to ban U.S. imports and sales of vehicles incorporating certain connectivity components made in China or Russia, including exempted transactions and vehicle hardware imports, say attorneys at Blank Rome.

  • Legislation Most Likely To Pass In Lame Duck Session

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    As Congress begins its five-week post-election lame duck session, attorneys at Greenberg Traurig break down the legislative priorities and which proposals can be expected to pass.

  • Predicting Shareholder Activism Trends In New Trump Admin

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    While President-elect Donald Trump has promised tax policies, deregulation and lax antitrust enforcement — which all fuel shareholder activism — a closer look at his first administration's track record suggests that his second presidency might be a mixed bag for activist investors and companies alike, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • What Trump's 2nd Presidency Could Mean For Crypto Sector

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    Trump's second term will bring a fundamental shift from the Biden administration's approach to crypto-asset regulation and banking supervision, with the most significant changes likely taking effect in the first two quarters of 2025 and broader policy shifts emerging over the next year, say attorneys at Cahill.

  • Promoting Diversity In The Selection Of ADR Neutrals

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Choosing neutrals from diverse backgrounds is an important step in promoting inclusion in the legal profession, and it can enhance the legitimacy and public perception of alternative dispute resolution proceedings, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Opinion

    Preserving The FCA Is Crucial In Trump's 2nd Term

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    While the Trump administration may pursue weaker False Claims Act enforcement, it remains an essential tool in safeguarding public funds and maintaining corporate accountability, so now is not the time to undermine ethical behavior, or reduce protections and incentives for whistleblowers, says Adam Pollock at Pollock Cohen.

  • Series

    Playing Ultimate Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    In addition to being fun, ultimate Frisbee has improved our legal careers by emphasizing the importance of professionalism, teamwork, perseverance, enthusiasm and vulnerability, say Arunabha Bhoumik and Adam Bernstein at Regeneron. 

  • 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.

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