Public Policy

  • February 26, 2025

    Enviro Group Says Chemours Is Dumping PFAS In Ohio River

    A nonprofit has asked a West Virginia federal court to stop Chemours from releasing a "forever chemical" into public drinking water sources along the Ohio River.

  • February 26, 2025

    Wash. Judge Says Officials Are Immune To Energy Code Suit

    A Seattle federal judge has thrown out a building industry coalition's renewed legal challenge to Washington regulations that discourage natural gas appliances in new construction, ruling the state officials named as defendants are protected because they aren't responsible for enforcing the rules.

  • February 26, 2025

    Pittsburgh Official Fights Bid To Revive Israel Divestment Vote

    A proposed ballot measure in Pittsburgh seeking to ban the city from doing business with Israel in the wake of the recent Gaza hostilities is facing multiple challenges, including one from the city controller who said passing the initiative would significantly disrupt the city's operations.

  • February 26, 2025

    GOP-Led House Panel Pushes Easier Rules On Capital Raising

    A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee invited input Wednesday on a slew of deregulatory bills that seek to ease rules governing private and public securities offerings, drawing plaudits from the Republican majority and mixed responses from Democrats.

  • February 26, 2025

    38 AGs Push For Crackdown On Organized Retail Crime

    A bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from 38 states and territories is urging Congress to take legislative action against organized retail crime, warning in a new letter that the problem has reached unprecedented levels and is straining state enforcement resources.

  • February 26, 2025

    Ariz. Sen. OKs Extending Property Tax Oversight Commission

    Arizona would extend the life of its Property Tax Oversight Commission by eight years under legislation approved Wednesday by the state Senate.

  • February 26, 2025

    US Chamber Wants Calif. Climate Disclosure Regs Blocked

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups have asked a California federal judge to block the state's corporate climate disclosure rules, arguing companies are already suffering harm due to laws that are "so overinclusive, they flunk any First Amendment test."

  • February 26, 2025

    Trump Says FCC Right To Probe '60 Minutes' Interview Editing

    President Donald Trump on Wednesday repeated his claim that CBS doctored a "60 Minutes" interview with Kamala Harris last year, likely costing him votes in the November election, and said the Federal Communications Commission is looking "very strongly" into the matter.

  • February 26, 2025

    Banks' Fight Over CFPB Open Banking Rule Put On Pause

    A Kentucky federal judge agreed Tuesday to pause a banking industry challenge to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's open banking rule, giving the agency's new leadership time to review what it wants to do with the Biden-era measure.

  • February 26, 2025

    Top Dem Urges Trump To Leave Independent Agencies Alone

    The top Democrat on the House Administration Committee urged President Donald Trump on Wednesday to rescind his executive order seeking to assert more control over independent agencies, which the congressman says is an "unprecedented violation" of law.

  • February 26, 2025

    Committee Advances Conn. Appeals Judge's Nom To Top Court

    The Connecticut legislature's joint judiciary committee on Wednesday advanced the nomination of Appellate Court Chief Judge William H. Bright Jr. to the state's Supreme Court and send the names of a dozen other hopefuls — including attorneys from Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP and Shipman & Goodwin LLP — to the full legislature for consideration.

  • February 26, 2025

    DOJ Says RealPage Can't Ditch Antitrust Claims

    The U.S. Department of Justice and a group of states are urging a North Carolina federal judge to reject a move by RealPage Inc. and a group of landlords to escape claims that use of the company's software paves the way for collusion on setting rental prices.

  • February 26, 2025

    Michigan Counties Say Firm's Client Solicitations Merit DQ

    Michigan counties sought to disqualify plaintiff firm Visser & Associates PLLC Tuesday, telling a federal judge that the lawyers went back on their word by soliciting potential class members in a suit claiming the government entities improperly kept a surplus of foreclosed home sales.

  • February 26, 2025

    Solicitor General Pick Says Trump Won't Skirt Court Orders

    President Donald Trump's pick for U.S. Solicitor General told senators Wednesday that he saw no "plausible scenario" in which the president would defy a court order despite contrary suggestions from members of his administration, frustrating Democrats during a committee hearing on three U.S. Department of Justice nominees.

  • February 26, 2025

    Justices Open To Nixing Higher Hurdle For Heterosexual Bias

    The U.S. Supreme Court hinted Wednesday that it will find heterosexual bias claims should not be held to a stricter burden of proof when it decides if an Ohio agent discriminated against a worker because she's straight, with Justice Samuel Alito noting "radical agreement" among the parties that the Sixth Circuit held her to a higher standard than other Title VII plaintiffs.

  • February 26, 2025

    In-Office Lobbying Ban Is Legal, Fla. Tells 11th Circ.

    The Florida Commission on Ethics defended a voter-approved state ban on lobbying by public officials to the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday, arguing that the ban carefully balances protecting elected officials' speech with the government's interest in preventing corruption.

  • February 26, 2025

    Trump Proposes 'Gold Card' To Replace EB-5 Investor Visa

    President Donald Trump said a "gold card" visa with an investment threshold of $5 million could replace the long-standing EB-5 investor program.

  • February 26, 2025

    CVS Ordered To Comply With FTC's PBM Subpoena

    A D.C. federal judge is ordering CVS to turn over new materials in the Federal Trade Commission's investigation into its pharmacy benefit manager Caremark Rx, saying that just because producing updated documents would cost the company more doesn't mean it faces an "undue burden."

  • February 26, 2025

    DA Willis Loses 'Absurd' Bid To Nix Trump Probe Subpoenas

    A Georgia state judge has denied Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis' bid to quash multiple subpoenas against her from a state Senate committee investigation into her prosecution of President Donald Trump in an election interference case, finding that her argument would set "an absurd" precedent.

  • February 26, 2025

    DC Judge Extends Order Keeping Special Counsel In Place

    A D.C. federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to keep the fired head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel in the post for another three days while the court deliberates the merits of the federal employment watchdog's claims that President Donald Trump lacks the authority to remove him from office without cause.

  • February 26, 2025

    Wilcox Says Current Law Mandates Reinstating Her To NLRB

    If President Donald Trump wants to declare that he can remove federal agency officials for any reason, he'll need to take that up with the U.S. Supreme Court, former National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox said, saying present-day law grants certain agency officials job protections.

  • February 26, 2025

    Trump Can't Enact Birthright Citizenship Order During Appeal

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Wednesday left in place a block on President Donald Trump's would-be order restricting birthright citizenship, rejecting a bid by the administration to implement the executive action while it appeals the matter to the First Circuit.

  • February 26, 2025

    Tax Overhaul Designer Named Top Tax Adviser To Treasury

    An attorney who worked for Exxon Mobil and helped design the 2017 tax overhaul in President Donald Trump's first term has been appointed to serve as a top tax adviser to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Treasury announced Wednesday.

  • February 26, 2025

    Dems Oppose Using Federal Prisons For Trump Deportations

    Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee urged the Trump administration to rethink a plan to tap the staff- and resource-strapped federal prison system to hold detained immigrants as it pushes for mass deportations.

  • February 26, 2025

    Former Customs Official Rejoins Cassidy Levy Kent

    A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection branch chief said she plans to leverage her recent experience in the government for clients as she rejoins Cassidy Levy Kent LLP.

Expert Analysis

  • Patent Policy Changes To Track Under New Gov't Leadership

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    The new federal government will likely bring pivotal shifts in U.S. patent policy through legislation and initiatives that reflect a renewed focus on strengthening intellectual property rights, fostering innovation and enhancing the nation's competitive edge, says PK Chakrabarti at Butzel Long.

  • How Trump Presidency May Influence NLRB's Next Phase

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    Attorneys at Paul Hastings discuss how last year’s key National Labor Relations Board developments may progress once President-elect Donald Trump takes office, including the wave of lawsuits challenging the board’s constitutionality and two landmark board decisions that upset decades of precedent.

  • Series

    Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q4

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    Douglas Thompson at Snell & Wilmer highlights a number of recent and pending issues, actions and potentially pivotal federal regulatory and legislative developments on deck that will affect California banks and financial institutions.

  • Opinion

    Congress Should Finally Add Clarity To Section 101

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    With both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate introducing bills to provide guidance on what qualifies as patentable subject matter under the Patent Act, Congress will hopefully put an end at last to 10 years of uncertainty surrounding the question, says David Carstens at Carstens Allen.

  • Hydrogen Regs Will Provide More Certainty — If They Survive

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    Newly finalized regulations implementing the Section 45V clean hydrogen tax credit allow producers more flexibility, and should therefore help put the industry on more solid footing — but the incoming Trump administration and Republican Congress will have multiple options for overturning or altering the regulations, say attorneys at Steptoe.

  • Top 10 Noncompete Developments Of 2024

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    Following an eventful year in noncompete law at both state and federal levels, employers can no longer rely on a court's willingness to blue-pencil overbroad agreements and are proceeding at their own peril if they do not thoughtfully review and carefully enforce such agreements, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • 5 E-Discovery Predictions For 2025 And Beyond

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    In the year to come, e-discovery will be shaped by new and emerging trends, from the adoption of artificial intelligence provisions in protective orders, to the proliferation of emojis as a source of evidence in contemporary litigation, say attorneys at Littler.

  • NY Plastic Pollution Verdict May Not Bode Well For Other Suits

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    The dismissal of New York state's public nuisance complaint against PepsiCo over pollution of the Buffalo River with the company's single use plastic bottles may not augur well for similar lawsuits filed by Baltimore and Los Angeles County, although tort law varies from state to state, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • Key Ethical Issues For Gov't Attys Moving To Private Practice

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    Transitioning from government service to private practice presents complex ethical challenges for attorneys, including navigating conflicts of interest, confidential information rules and post-employment restrictions, say attorneys at HWG.

  • Climate Disclosure Spotlight Shifts To 2 Calif. Laws

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    With Donald Trump's election spelling the all-but-certain demise of the proposed federal climate disclosure rules, new laws in California currently stand as the nation's only broadly applicable climate disclosure requirements — and their brevity is both a blessing and a curse, say attorneys at Davis Polk.

  • A Deep Dive Into DOJ's Proposed FARA Shake-Up

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recently published and long-awaited proposed amendments to the Foreign Agents Registration Act's implementing regulations, if adopted, would mark dramatic changes to the commercial exemption and new requirements for labeling informational materials, says Tessa Capeloto at Wiley.

  • Preparing For Mexican Drug Cartels' Terrorist Designation

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    In the event President-elect Donald Trump designates Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, businesses will need to consider how their particular industry is affected and evaluate previously legitimate practices given the cartels' involvement so many sectors of the economy, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • Final Hydrogen Tax Credit Regs Add Flexibility For Producers

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    The recently released final regulations implementing the Inflation Reduction Act's clean hydrogen production tax credit offer taxpayers greater flexibility, reducing risk and creating more certainty for investments in the industry, thus diminishing — but not eliminating — the risk of legal challenges to the regulations, say attorneys at Steptoe.

  • Where Payments Law And Regulation Are Headed In 2025

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    The Trump administration will likely bring significant changes to payments regulations in 2025, but maintaining internal compliance efforts in the absence of robust federal oversight will remain key as state authorities and private plaintiffs step into the breach, say attorneys at Stinson.

  • What To Expect From Federal Cybersecurity Policy In 2025

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    There are 12 cyber policy questions to keep an eye on as the new administration and Republican control of Congress present an opportunity to advance less regulatory approaches and revisit some choices from the prior administration, say attorneys at Wiley.

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