Public Policy

  • January 07, 2025

    Osage Nation Asks Court To Confirm Reservation Boundaries

    The Osage Nation has urged an Oklahoma federal court to acknowledge its reservation's continued existence, arguing that a conclusion the Tenth Circuit reached 15 years ago saying the tribe's boundaries were disestablished was based entirely on extratextual factors.

  • January 07, 2025

    NC Justices Pause Certification Of Contested Top Court Race

    North Carolina's top court on Tuesday stopped the state Board of Elections from certifying the results of a hotly contested associate justice race, granting a temporary stay to the losing Republican candidate in the midst of his ballot challenge seeking to throw out scores of votes.

  • January 07, 2025

    Ga. County Officials Want Election Denier's Arrest Suit Stayed

    A host of Floyd County, Georgia, officials and the law firm of the county attorney have asked a federal judge to stay a lawsuit brought against them by an election denier who alleged they conspired to have him jailed after he lobbied for the county attorney to be fired.

  • January 07, 2025

    Judge Looks To Finally Resolve Mass. 'Right To Repair' Suit

    A long-stalled fight over Massachusetts' expanded "right to repair" law requiring open access to vehicle telematics software appears to be on a fast track after a new judge took over the case and said Tuesday she plans to rule in the near future.

  • January 07, 2025

    Trump Threatens Denmark With Tariffs In Greenland Feud

    President-elect Donald Trump issued a new tariff threat on Tuesday, this time vowing to take action against Denmark if it does not relinquish control of Greenland to the U.S., a proposal he floated at several points during his first term.

  • January 07, 2025

    Menendez's Wife Fears His Sentencing Would Taint Her Trial

    The wife of former Sen. Robert Menendez asked a New York federal judge on Tuesday to delay her trial on bribery charges, scheduled for Feb. 5, to avoid having it commence within one week of the sentencing of her husband and co-defendant.

  • January 07, 2025

    No Problem With $217M Dam Repair Tax, Mich. Panel Says

    A Michigan appellate panel on Monday said a $217 million special assessment levied on property owners for dam repairs and lake level restoration after devastating 2020 floods was established through a legally sound process, ruling the owners were never entitled to have a pseudo-judicial review of the tax.

  • January 07, 2025

    Religious Schools Ask 1st Circ. To Gut 'Poison Pill' Law

    Two religious schools in Maine asked a First Circuit panel on Tuesday to strike down a "poison pill" passed by state lawmakers to blunt a U.S. Supreme Court decision affirming that the schools may participate in a government tuition program.

  • January 07, 2025

    Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump Special Counsel Report

    A Florida federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the publication of a report by special counsel Jack Smith regarding his two now-dismissed prosecutions of Donald Trump, after lawyers for the president-elect said Smith was trying to continue a political crusade now that he can no longer pursue criminal charges.

  • January 07, 2025

    Trump Can't Halt Sentencing In NY Case, Appeals Judge Says

    A New York appellate judge Tuesday declined to freeze proceedings in Donald Trump's criminal hush money case, clearing the way for the president-elect to be sentenced as scheduled on Friday following his guilty verdict and just days before his inauguration.

  • January 07, 2025

    CFTC Chair Behnam To Step Down When Trump Takes Office

    U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Rostin Behnam announced Tuesday that he will resign his chairmanship on Inauguration Day in order to make way for new agency leadership under incoming President Donald Trump, who has yet to name Behnam's successor.

  • January 07, 2025

    CFPB Adopts Rule To Take Medical Debt Off Credit Reports

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau moved ahead Tuesday with plans to restrict the use of medical debt information in credit scoring and lending, finalizing a rule that it said will take an estimated $49 billion in unpaid medical bills off consumers' credit reports.

  • January 06, 2025

    9th Circ. Urged To Extend Freeze On Calif. Social Media Law

    Tech trade group NetChoice is pressing the Ninth Circuit to stop California from beginning enforcement of a new social media addiction law on Feb. 1, arguing that the lower court "flouted" precedent when it refused to find that restricting minors' access to personalized feeds violates the First Amendment.

  • January 06, 2025

    S.D. Fla. US Atty Will Leave Before Trump Takes Office

    Markenzy Lapointe, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, announced Monday that he will resign Jan. 17 ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration.

  • January 06, 2025

    Victoria's Secret Hit With $5M Suit Over Fitting Room Denial

    A nonbinary Victoria's Secret customer hit the clothing company and a store manager with a $5 million civil rights lawsuit in New York state court Monday, alleging the manager discriminated against them by refusing to let them use a fitting room and telling them they were "in fact, male."

  • January 06, 2025

    Live Nation Can't Get Intermission In Calif. Antitrust Case

    A California federal judge overseeing a private antitrust case against Live Nation denied the company's bid Monday to pause the case for a government enforcement action, saying that the suit was filed first and that exceptions to the "first to file" rule do not apply.

  • January 06, 2025

    Another Building Contractor Agrees To End No-Hire Pacts

    The Federal Trade Commission said Monday that Planned Building Services has agreed not to enforce terms in its contracts that prevent building owners from hiring the service contractor's workers, in a second recent case targeting the building services industry.

  • January 06, 2025

    Biden Signs DC Football Stadium Bill Into Law

    President Joe Biden on Monday gave Washington, D.C., government control over a site that could become home to a new stadium for the NFL's Commanders.

  • January 06, 2025

    New Rules Won't Lift Political Clouds Over Hydrogen Projects

    The Biden administration's new rules to make hydrogen production tax credits more accessible for project developers and investors may not move the needle much for the industry given President-elect Donald Trump's vow to at least partially repeal the statute that created the credits.

  • January 06, 2025

    Booksellers Say End Of Arkansas Law Means Win In Texas

    A group of booksellers pointed to an Arkansas judge's ruling striking down a law creating a penalty for the distribution of certain books to minors Monday as it urged a Texas federal judge to reject a bid for a pretrial win in a dispute over a similar law in that state.

  • January 06, 2025

    NJ Justices Ponder 'Compactness' In Voter Map Dispute

    The criteria for "compactness" was the focus of nearly four hours of argument Monday before the New Jersey Supreme Court regarding the question of whether new ward maps in the state's second-largest city were configured in violation of voters' civil rights.

  • January 06, 2025

    Boeing, DOJ Given More Time To Rework 737 Max Plea Deal

    The U.S. Department of Justice and The Boeing Co. have until mid-February to rework a plea agreement in the American aerospace giant's 737 Max criminal conspiracy case, a Texas federal judge ruled Saturday, ensuring that the incoming Trump administration will oversee final negotiations on any potential new deal.

  • January 06, 2025

    Mass. US Atty To Depart Role Before Trump's Inauguration

    Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy will step down from the job Jan. 17 ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, his office announced Monday evening.

  • January 06, 2025

    FCC Requires Reports Following TV Program 'Blackouts'

    The Federal Communications Commission has voted to require multichannel video program distributors to report when programming "blackouts" occur due to impasses in carriage talks with broadcasters.

  • January 06, 2025

    FCC Chief Floats Spectrum Sale To Fund Network Security

    The outgoing head of the Federal Communications Commission on Monday proposed to quickly get a spectrum auction off the ground with proceeds going toward a key U.S. network security program.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • 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.

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