Public Policy

  • January 09, 2025

    CFPB Hit With 2nd Suit Over Medical Debt Reporting Rule

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been hit with a second lawsuit challenging its new rule that would wipe billions of dollars in medical debt off consumer credit reports, with ACA International filing a complaint in Texas federal court arguing healthcare markets are outside the agency's regulatory authority.

  • January 09, 2025

    Amgen Says Enbrel Protected By Legit Patents, Rulings

    Amgen has asked a Virginia federal judge to permanently toss the latest version of a proposed class action accusing it of illegally entrenching and expanding patent rights to stave off cheaper competition for Enbrel, arguing the blockbuster arthritis treatment is protected by legitimate patents and court rulings of validity.

  • January 09, 2025

    Fla. Condos Tied To Sanctioned Russians Transferred To Feds

    The U.S. government has taken ownership of two Florida luxury condominiums allegedly tied to Russians sanctioned for their roles in the annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea in 2014 and for their involvement in the properties being used to launder rental proceeds.

  • January 09, 2025

    5th Circuit Wrong To Toss Subsidy Fund, FCC Tells High Court

    The Federal Communications Commission urged the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn last year's Fifth Circuit decision gutting the FCC's multibillion-dollar subsidy fund, arguing the appeals court got it wrong in finding Congress unlawfully relinquished its taxing powers.

  • January 09, 2025

    AT&T Settles Suit Over Faux Pine Tree Antennas

    AT&T is dropping its suit against the city of Walla Walla, Washington, over a 65-foot-tall utility pole that was slated to look like a pine tree, agreeing to use a separate location just outside the city limits.

  • January 09, 2025

    Inventor Group Warns Of Issa's Return As House IP Panel Chair

    Policy outfit US Inventor Inc. has spoken out against the return of Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., to head the U.S. House subcommittee overseeing intellectual property in the new Congress, warning on Thursday Issa's leadership role will have distressing affects on American startups and innovators while benefiting foreign competitors in other countries like China.

  • January 09, 2025

    Colo. Oil Co. Says Unfair Order Threatens Its Demise

    Oil and gas operator K.P. Kauffman Co. Inc. is asking a Colorado state judge to scrap a $5.8 million penalty against it, claiming regulators unlawfully imposed an unfair order that threatens to drive it into insolvency and bankruptcy.

  • January 09, 2025

    Biden's Title IX Gender Identity Rule Struck By Ky. Judge

    A Kentucky federal judge on Thursday struck down the Biden administration's expansion of Title IX to include gender identity, saying the rule "impermissibly redefines discrimination on the basis of sex" in excess of U.S. Department of Education authority.

  • January 09, 2025

    ND Voting Laws May Be Undone In 8th Circ., Justices Told

    Two local North Dakota Republican Party officials are urging the Supreme Court to take up their bid to reverse a lower court's ruling over newly created subdistricts for Native American voters, arguing that the "highly unusual" procedural posture of similar suits in the Eighth Circuit are likely to be overturned.

  • January 09, 2025

    Wash. Justices Won't Review $160M Seattle Property Tax Win

    Seattle can keep $160 million in property taxes for waterfront improvements, after Washington's Supreme Court declined to review a lower appellate court's ruling rejecting property owners' bid to recalculate the tax to reflect the hit property values had taken from COVID-19.

  • January 09, 2025

    Kroger Drops FTC Constitutionality Fight After Nixed Merger

    Kroger on Thursday voluntarily dismissed its case challenging the constitutionality of the Federal Trade Commission's in-house court, after the agency dropped its administrative case targeting the grocery chain's abandoned deal for Albertsons.

  • January 09, 2025

    4th Circ. Asked To Pause NC High Court Ballot Challenge

    North Carolina election officials have asked the Fourth Circuit to press pause on a Republican judge's efforts to plow ahead with his state Supreme Court challenge seeking to throw out votes in his race for an associate justice seat, while his Democratic challenger called for expediency.

  • January 09, 2025

    Senate Dems Help Push Sweeping Immigration Bill Toward Vote

    A majority of Senate Democrats joined Republicans Thursday to pave the way for a vote on a bill that would require detention for theft-related crimes by unauthorized immigrants, while bestowing broad powers on state attorneys general over federal immigration matters.

  • January 09, 2025

    Ill. Captive Meetings Ban Flouts 1st Amendment, Groups Say

    If Florida couldn't outlaw corporate diversity training without violating the First Amendment, then Illinois can't outlaw so-called captive audience meetings, a libertarian think tank and business group told an Illinois federal judge, saying Illinois' law restricts employers' freedom of speech as much as Florida's now-stricken statute did.

  • January 09, 2025

    CFPB Taps First Open Banking Industry Standards Setter

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has given Financial Data Exchange Inc. the green light to set standards for open banking in a first of its kind approval aimed at giving customers more control over their financial data.

  • January 09, 2025

    Supreme Court Declines To Halt Trump's NY Sentencing

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday denied Donald Trump's request to halt New York criminal proceedings in his hush money case, clearing the way for a state judge to sentence the president-elect on Friday, days before he takes the oath of office.

  • January 09, 2025

    New Mexico Justices Say Local Gov'ts Can't Restrict Abortion

    New Mexico's highest court on Thursday struck down four local ordinances that restricted abortion access in the state, chastising the cities and counties behind them for running afoul of state laws on reproductive health and medical licensing.

  • January 09, 2025

    Grocers Say Nothing Left To Fight In Colo. Merger Challenge

    Kroger and Albertsons told a Denver District Court that the state's challenge to its merger should be dismissed now that the deal is dead, arguing in a motion that the state always knew that decisions in other lawsuits could render its claim moot.

  • January 09, 2025

    Colo. Urges 10th Circ. Not To Vacate Air Emissions Plan

    Colorado told the Tenth Circuit that a green group challenging an air emissions permitting program in the state misled a panel of judges during oral arguments by asserting that eliminating the program would resolve its concerns.

  • January 09, 2025

    Indiana House Bill Would Abolish Property Taxes

    Indiana would disallow the assessment of tangible property beginning in 2026 and end the imposition of property taxes beginning in 2027 under a bill introduced Thursday in the state House of Representatives. 

  • January 09, 2025

    Alito-Trump Phone Call Sparks Unanswered Calls For Recusal

    Democratic lawmakers' calls for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to recuse from considering Donald Trump's bid to stay sentencing in his New York hush money case due to a phone call the pair had shortly before the emergency application was filed went unaddressed Thursday.

  • January 09, 2025

    5 Questions Attys Have About Supreme Court's TikTok Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Friday in TikTok's challenge to a law requiring the wildly popular social media platform to be divested from its Chinese parent company over national security concerns or face a nationwide ban, in an unusual First Amendment case attorneys say also raises broad procedural and legal questions.

  • January 09, 2025

    Feds Award Millions To Tribes For Safe Water, Homes, Climate

    With a week left in its term, the Biden administration has doled out millions to states and tribal communities throughout the country to boost efforts toward more reliable water sources, to take on housing health and safety hazards and to continue the ongoing battle against climate change.

  • January 09, 2025

    9th Circ. To Vote On Rehearing Asylum 'Metering' Case

    A Ninth Circuit judge has called for a vote on whether the full court should rehear a split panel decision that border officials are required under federal immigration law to inspect asylum-seekers at the southern border.

  • January 09, 2025

    Calif. Insurance Chief Blocks Policy Cancellation In Fire Zones

    Insurance companies can't cancel or refuse to renew homeowners coverage for policyholders in the immediate vicinity of the Los Angeles wildfires for one year, the California Department of Insurance announced as fires continue to ravage Southern California.

Expert Analysis

  • A View Into NY's New Business Interruption Insurance Law

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    In response to businesses' economic challenges during the pandemic, New York recently allowed the issuance of stand-alone business interruption insurance coverage, and while pricing and insurer participation questions remain, the product stands to benefit business owners and the state economy, say attorneys at Saxe Doernberger.

  • Rank-And-File DOJ Attorneys Will Keep Calm And Carry On

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    Career prosecutors at the U.S. Department of Justice often pride themselves on their ability to remain apolitical in order to ensure consistency and keep the department’s mission afloat, and the incoming Trump administration is unlikely to upend this tradition, says Michael Landman at Bird Marella.

  • 7 Ways To Prepare For An I-9 Audit Or Immigration Raid

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    Because immigration enforcement is likely to surge under the upcoming Trump administration, employers should take steps to ensure their staff is trained in employment eligibility verification requirements and what to do in the event of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement I-9 audit or workplace raid, say attorneys at Littler.

  • Unpacking Arguments From High Court's Rural Hospital Case

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    During oral arguments in Advocate v. Becerra, the U.S. Supreme Court justices focused questions on the meaning of being "entitled to" supplementary security income assistance, and there's reason for optimism that the likely split decision will break in favor of hospitals, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • Args In 2 High Court Cases May Foretell Clarity For Employers

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    Mary Anna Brand at Maynard Nexsen examines possible employment implications of two cases argued before the Supreme Court this fall, including a higher bar for justifying employees as overtime exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and earlier grants of prevailing party status for employee-plaintiffs seeking attorney fees.

  • How Boards And Officers Should Prep For New Trump Admin

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    In anticipation of President-elect Donald Trump's proposed tariffs and mass deportation campaign, company officers and board members should pursue proactive, comprehensive contingency planning to not only advance the best interests of the companies they serve, but to also properly exercise their fiduciary duty of care, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • Implementing Human Rights Due Diligence

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    The Bureau of Industry and Security’s recent removal of a Canadian surveillance provider from its export blacklist, after just eight months, illustrates the importance of integrating human rights due diligence into the vetting process by asking a few targeted questions, say attorneys at Cravath.

  • California Supreme Court's Year In Review

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    Attorneys at Horvitz & Levy highlight notable decisions on major questions from the California Supreme Court's last term, including voter initiatives, hostile work environment and the economic loss rule.

  • 3 Changes Community Banks Should Expect Under Trump

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    A second Trump administration promises a sea change for regional and community banks, including shifts in the regulatory environment, Community Reinvestment Act rules and the M&A landscape, say attorneys at Manatt.

  • DC Circ. Decision Opens Door To NEPA Regulation Litigation

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    A recent D.C. Circuit decision in Marin Audubon Society v. Federal Aviation Administration could open the door to more litigation over the White House Council on Environmental Quality's National Environmental Policy Act regulations, and could affect how many agencies conduct and interpret environmental assessments, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • The Challenges Of Abandoned Retirement Plans In Ch. 7

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    The Department of Labor's rule for unwinding retirement accounts when plan sponsors file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy was intended to alleviate trustees' administration issues, but practical challenges, like unresolved fee and identification matters, could hinder its implementation, say David Goodrich at Golden Goodrich and Nancy Simons at Stretto.

  • How CFIUS' Updated Framework Affects Global Investors

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    The recent change to the monitoring and enforcement regulations governing the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States will broaden administrative practices around nonnotified transaction investigations, increase the scope of information demands from the committee and accelerate its ability to impose mitigation on parties, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

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

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    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

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    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

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    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.

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