Public Policy

  • July 15, 2024

    Okla. Tribes Agree To Share Hunting, Fishing Rights

    Oklahoma's Five Civilized Tribes say an agreement that will allow its members to use their tribal hunting and fishing licenses to access one another's territories strengthens their sovereign rights and gives them greater autonomy over the care and preservation of the land for future generations.

  • July 15, 2024

    North Carolina Cases To Watch In 2024: A Midyear Report

    The second half of 2024 will see the North Carolina Business Court tackle media rights in one of the country's largest collegiate athletic conferences while state justices weigh the scope of hospital immunity under the Tar Heel State's COVID-19 emergency law.

  • July 15, 2024

    DC Circ. Won't Rethink Revived DOJ Realtor Antitrust Probe

    The D.C. Circuit won't reconsider a ruling that allowed the U.S. Department of Justice to reopen an investigation into certain rules and policies of the National Association of Realtors, rejecting the trade group's request that the court correct "far-reaching and exceptionally important" legal errors.

  • July 15, 2024

    Neoprene Maker Tells 5th Circ. Louisiana Can Stall EPA Rule

    A Louisiana neoprene manufacturer is asking the Fifth Circuit to affirm a state regulator's decision to grant the company a two-year extension to comply with a final chemical emissions rule issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

  • July 15, 2024

    Widow To Pull $1.7M From Swiss Bank To Pay FBAR Penalties

    A logger's widow agreed to pull about $1.7 million from her Swiss bank account to pay down penalties that her late husband's estate owes the IRS for his failure to report offshore accounts, according to a filing Monday in a Colorado federal court.

  • July 15, 2024

    Diocese's Insurer Says No Coverage For Sex Abuse Claims

    An excess insurer for the Roman Catholic Bishop of Orange told a California federal court it owes no coverage for over 200 consolidated child sex abuse lawsuits, arguing that despite the primary insurer's insolvency, underlying limits must deplete before excess coverage kicks in.

  • July 15, 2024

    Auditor Says City Forced Him Out For Raising Red Flags

    Officials in New Haven, Connecticut, have accused the city's internal auditor of misconduct in retaliation for his numerous reports of financial irregularities, safety concerns and potential violations of local ordinances, forcing him out of his position in April, according to a whistleblower suit filed in state court last week.

  • July 15, 2024

    Ex-BigLaw Atty Wants Probation For Campaign Finance Scam

    A former BigLaw attorney asked a Massachusetts federal judge to sentence him to probation instead of prison for his campaign finance violation convictions linked to a failed 2018 congressional run, arguing that the conduct wasn't intended for personal enrichment but rather demonstrated his inexperience in campaigning and fundraising.

  • July 15, 2024

    Trump Running Mate Is Foe Of DOJ 'Political Prosecutions'

    Donald Trump announced Monday that his running mate will be Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, who over the last year has gone after the U.S. Department of Justice and Attorney General Merrick Garland for what he deems are political prosecutions of the former president.

  • July 15, 2024

    Waste Site Ruling Must Be Undone, Nuke Group Tells Justices

    The main trade group for the U.S. nuclear industry on Friday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a Fifth Circuit decision that barred the federal government from licensing a temporary nuclear waste storage facility in Texas, saying the erroneous ruling threatens to upend the industry.

  • July 15, 2024

    LendingTree Urges FCC To Narrow Lead Consent Rule

    Loan marketplace LendingTree is asking the Federal Communications Commission to add an exception to its new "lead generator" consent rule, saying that as it's currently constructed, the rule disadvantages small businesses competing with larger brand names.

  • July 15, 2024

    US Co. Says Feds Ignored Sales Issues To Lift Chemical Duty

    A chemical manufacturer that convinced the U.S. Department of Commerce to levy tariffs on an Austrian corrosion-inhibiting pigment in 2019 has sued the department for its recent decision to lift the tariffs, claiming Commerce overlooked an importer's influence over its U.S. customers.

  • July 15, 2024

    Coca-Cola Docs Would Clarify Soda Risk, Mexican Group Says

    A Mexican consumer advocacy group has asked a Georgia federal judge to force the Coca-Cola Company to hand over internal documents about the company's alleged efforts to manufacture scientific research that misled soda buyers about the dangerous health effects of sugary beverages.

  • July 15, 2024

    EEOC Commissioner Sonderling To Depart Agency

    EEOC Commissioner Keith Sonderling announced Monday he will leave the agency in August when his term ends, wrapping up a seven-year tenure with the federal government to return to the private sector.

  • July 15, 2024

    Trump Classified Docs Case Canned Over Special Counsel Law

    A Florida federal judge on Monday tossed the criminal case against former President Donald Trump over his allegedly illegal retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, ruling that the appointment of a special prosecutor for the case is unconstitutional.

  • July 12, 2024

    Law360 Names 2024's Top Attorneys Under 40

    Law360 is pleased to announce the Rising Stars of 2024, our list of 158 attorneys under 40 whose legal accomplishments belie their age.

  • July 12, 2024

    House GOP Wants Push For Special Counsel Tapes Sped Up

    U.S. House Judiciary Committee Republicans asked a D.C. federal judge on Friday to order U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to hand over audiotapes of President Joe Biden's and his ghostwriter's interviews with special counsel Robert Hur in Biden's classified documents investigation, saying "the clock on the 118th Congress [is] ticking."

  • July 12, 2024

    Mississippi Judge Benches Favre's NY Atty In Fraud Suit

    A Mississippi judge found Thursday that retired quarterback Brett Favre's New York-based defense attorney in a massive welfare fraud lawsuit routinely violated the state's civil procedure codes and barred him and other non-local counsel from making any more filings.

  • July 12, 2024

    Loper Bright Is Shaking Up Dozens Of Regulatory Fights

    In the two weeks since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference, the landmark decision has emerged as a live issue in dozens of administrative challenges, with federal courts already pausing agency regulations expanding LGBTQ+ rights in education and healthcare and with a wave of parties seeking to use the new decision to win their cases.

  • July 12, 2024

    DHS Says Recent High Court Rulings Doom CBP App Claims

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Friday that a pair of recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings addressing the issue of standing mean that two organizations lack the standing to challenge its requirement that migrants use a smartphone app to submit applications.

  • July 12, 2024

    NC Justices Asked To Take Up 'Double Odor' Pot Test Appeal

    Police should not be able to establish probable cause to search a vehicle based on the smell of cannabis and a perceived "cover scent," such as cologne, according to a petition filed to the North Carolina Supreme Court which described this kind of conduct as a "stealthy encroachment" on constitutional rights.

  • July 12, 2024

    FirstEnergy Denied 6th Circ. Appeal In Doc Dispute

    Scandal-plagued utility company FirstEnergy Corp. lost another attempt to shield internal investigation documents from a class of investors as well as its former CEO on Friday when an Ohio federal judge denied the company's request to appeal the dispute to the Sixth Circuit on a "logically fallacious" premise.

  • July 12, 2024

    Texas Courts Block Protections For Transgender Students

    Two Texas federal judges have blocked the U.S. Department of Education from enforcing protections for transgender students in Lone Star State schools while lawsuits against the rules are litigated, with one judge saying the measures provide "extra privileges to the transgender student based on subjective feelings of discomfort."

  • July 12, 2024

    Red State AGs Slam SEC 'Overreach' In Crypto Co. Challenge

    Seven Republican state attorneys general have told a Texas federal judge that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's alleged crypto policy of "rulemaking by district court enforcement action" threatens their ability to protect consumers as the court weighs a yet-to-launch crypto exchange's preemptive challenge to the securities regulator.

  • July 12, 2024

    FCC Says Rural Areas Get New Funds After Charter Defaults

    Charter is going to be dropping some of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund census blocks it took responsibility for and taking the fines that come with doing so, according to the FCC, which says the good news is that those blocks are now open for more federal funding for another provider.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    After Chevron: Opportunities For Change In FHFA Practices

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of the Chevron doctrine should lead to better cooperation between the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Congress, and may give the FHFA a chance to embrace transparency and innovation and promote sustainable housing practices, says Mehdi Sinaki at Michelman & Robinson.

  • Constitutional Protections For Cannabis Companies Are Hazy

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    Cannabis businesses are subject to federal enforcement and tax, but often without the benefit of constitutional protections — and the entanglement of state and federal law and conflicting judicial opinions are creating confusion in the space, says Amber Lengacher at Purple Circle.

  • Supreme Court's ALJ Ruling Carries Implications Beyond SEC

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    In its recent Jarkesy opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the types of cases that can be tried before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's in-house administrative law judges, setting the stage for challenges to the constitutionality of ALJs across other agencies, say Robert Robertson and Kimberley Church at Dechert.

  • Opinion

    A Tale Of 2 Trump Cases: The Rule Of Law Is A Live Issue

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision this week in Trump v. U.S., holding that former President Donald Trump has broad immunity from prosecution, undercuts the rule of law, while the former president’s New York hush money conviction vindicates it in eight key ways, says David Postel at Henein Hutchison.

  • USPTO Disclaimer Rule Would Complicate Patent Prosecution

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    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's proposed changes to terminal disclaimer practice could lead to a patent owner being unable to enforce a valid patent simply because it is indirectly tied to a patent in which a single claim is found anticipated or obvious in view of the prior art, say attorneys at Sterne Kessler.

  • 2nd Circ. ERISA Ruling May Help Fight Unfair Arb. Clauses

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    The Second Circuit recently held that a plaintiff seeking planwide relief under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act cannot be compelled to individual arbitration, a decision that opens the door to new applications of the effective vindication doctrine to defeat onerous and one-sided arbitration clauses, say Raphael Janove and Liana Vitale at Janove.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Various Paths For Labor And Employment Law

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    Labor and employment law leans heavily on federal agency guidance, so the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to toss out Chevron deference will ripple through this area, with future workplace policies possibly taking shape through strategic litigation, informal guidance, state-level regulation and more, says Alexander MacDonald at Littler.

  • Series

    Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.

  • What NYC's Green Fast Track Means For Affordable Housing

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    New York City's Green Fast Track for Housing initiative, which went into effect last month, aims to speed up the environmental review process for modest residential developments and could potentially pave the way for similar initiatives in other cities, say Vivien Krieger and Rachel Scall at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Series

    After Chevron: No Deference, No Difference For SEC Or CFTC

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    The Chevron doctrine did not fundamentally alter the interplay between the courts and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the development of the securities and commodities laws — and its demise will not do so either, says Dan Berkovitz at Millennium Management.

  • Opinion

    Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.

  • Justices' Bribery Ruling: A Corrupt Act Isn't Necessarily Illegal

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    In its Snyder v. U.S. decision last week, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a bribery law does not criminalize gratuities, continuing a trend of narrowing federal anti-corruption laws and scrutinizing public corruption prosecutions that go beyond obvious quid pro quo schemes, say Carrie Cohen and Christine Wong at MoFo.

  • 3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Takeaways From New HHS Substance Use Disorder Info Rules

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    A new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rule continues the agency's efforts to harmonize complex rules surrounding confidentiality provisions for substance use disorder patient records, though healthcare providers will need to remain mindful of different potentially applicable requirements and changes that their compliance structures may require, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Expect Few Changes In ITC Rulemaking

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's opinion overruling the Chevron doctrine will have less impact on the U.S. International Trade Commission than other agencies administering trade statutes, given that the commission exercises its congressionally granted authority in a manner that allows for consistent decision making at both agency and judicial levels, say attorneys at Polsinelli.

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