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Public Policy
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February 18, 2025
Florida Racial Gerrymandering Suit Can Proceed, Panel Rules
A Florida three-judge panel declined to toss a federal gerrymandering lawsuit against the state's House of Representatives and secretary of state, ruling that a trio of civic groups plausibly alleged that race was a predominant factor motivating the formation of several voting districts.
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February 18, 2025
Howard Lutnick Wins Senate Nod To Lead Commerce Dept.
The Senate voted 51-45 Tuesday evening to confirm longtime Wall Street financier Howard Lutnick to be secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
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February 18, 2025
DEA Skewed Pot Hearings Against Reform, DC Circ. Told
A group of doctors who support easing federal marijuana restrictions told the D.C. Circuit Monday that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration stacked the deck against reform when it unilaterally drew up a list of participants allowed to testify at rulemaking hearings.
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February 18, 2025
Developer Sues To Force Fla. Village Into Dispute Resolution
A developer whose plans to build workforce housing in Bal Harbour, Florida, have been thwarted by the upscale village has sued the village, claiming it failed to participate in a dispute resolution proceeding required under a state law allowing property owners to challenge government actions.
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February 18, 2025
Judiciary Dems Denounce Ethics Watchdog Changes At DOJ
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday objected to what they said is a plan for political appointees at the Department of Justice to oversee agency ethics decisions instead of career officials.
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February 18, 2025
Dems Push Corporate Transparency Act Legitimacy To Courts
Congress has the authority to establish a nationwide registry of the beneficial owners of legal entities by passing the Corporate Transparency Act, a group of Democratic legislators said in similar amicus briefs filed in appellate courts.
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February 18, 2025
Airbnb, Owners Sue New Orleans Over Short-Term Ordinances
Airbnb and a group of New Orleans property owners have brought a new lawsuit against the city challenging 2023 restrictions on short-term rentals and a set of requirements passed in October mandating that platforms verify that rental hosts are following city rules.
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February 18, 2025
Colo. Property Owner Sued For Substandard Conditions
A proposed class of Denver tenants has claimed in Colorado state court that property manager Centerspace LP neglected its apartment building to the point that it became uninhabitable over the previous three years.
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February 18, 2025
Trump Trans Order Is Unconstitutional 'End-Run,' Judge Says
A Washington federal judge has further explained her temporary block on President Donald Trump's executive order targeting funding for gender-affirming care for young people, saying the edict threatens a broad swath of congressionally approved research spending and "amounts to an end-run around the separation of powers."
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February 18, 2025
Okla. Civil Rights Groups Spar Over Race Theory Law Docs
Oklahoma is fighting a bid by civil rights' groups to force public school officials to hand over documents related to a controversial bill that bans the teaching of certain racial and gender topics in public classrooms, arguing the request is premature and the discovery they seek is without limitation.
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February 18, 2025
Telecoms Hope New Ag Secretary Pushes Permit Reform
Builders of cable systems and cell towers called for the new secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help remove what they perceive as unnecessary hurdles to broadband deployment projects.
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February 18, 2025
Ferguson, DOJ Keep Biden-Era Merger Guides For 'Stability'
Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson announced Tuesday that the agency would continue, for now, to use Biden-era merger review guidelines despite them being derided by business interests because he said they are largely "a restatement" of older policies.
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February 18, 2025
State AGs Can't Yet Block Musk From Accessing Agency Data
A Washington, D.C., federal judge on Tuesday denied a motion from 14 state attorneys general for an emergency order to stop Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency from accessing data systems at seven federal agencies or enacting mass firings of those agencies' employees.
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February 18, 2025
'ComEd Four' Look To Halt Case After Trump FCPA Order
Four former Commonwealth Edison CEO executives and lobbyists convicted of conspiring to bribe ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan asked a federal judge on Monday to stay all proceedings in their case, citing an executive order from President Donald Trump they claim could lead to the dropping of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act charges.
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February 18, 2025
DHS Campaign Warns Unauthorized Immigrants To Leave
A new U.S. Department of Homeland Security ad campaign warns people not to even think about entering the U.S. without authorization and to leave if they already have.
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February 18, 2025
White House Says City Can't Show Harm From Anti-DEI Orders
The Trump administration urged a Maryland federal court Tuesday not to block its executive orders curtailing diversity, equity and inclusion programs, saying the city of Baltimore and other challengers hadn't shown any of their funding has been affected by the orders.
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February 18, 2025
States Ask 5th Circ. To Rethink Contractor Wage Hike Ruling
Republican attorneys general in Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana called on the full Fifth Circuit to reconsider a panel's decision backing the Biden administration's contract worker minimum wage hike, saying the ruling contradicts at least 11 other precedential decisions.
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February 18, 2025
Calif. Bill Takes Aim At Online Hemp, Cannabis Sales
California state Senator Scott Wiener has introduced a bill to restrict the online sale of unlicensed hemp and cannabis products in the state, saying the illicit market is hampering the state's licensed, legal market for products.
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February 18, 2025
Calif. Insurance Chief Asks State Farm To Justify Rate Hikes
California's insurance commissioner asked State Farm General Insurance Co. to appear for an in-person "informal conference" later this month over its request for emergency rate hikes in the wake of the deadly Los Angeles wildfires in January, saying the insurer has not yet justified the move.
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February 18, 2025
NY Broadens Tax Break Guidelines For Development Projects
New York state broadened guidelines for determining whether some economic development projects may be eligible for property and sales tax exemptions based on the level of a project's on-site child care services under clarifying legislation signed by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.
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February 18, 2025
DC Court Asked To Block DOGE's Access To Taxpayer Data
A federal judge should block the U.S. Treasury Department's reported provision of taxpayer data to the Department of Government Efficiency, halt DOGE's access and order its software uninstalled from Treasury systems, unions and advocacy organizations said in a complaint.
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February 18, 2025
NY High Court Upholds Ethics Commission In Cuomo Case
New York's highest court on Tuesday affirmed the constitutionality of the state's recently revamped ethics commission in an order reversing a lower court ruling that sided with embattled former Gov. Andrew Cuomo amid an investigation related to his use of government employees to help him publish and promote a book.
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February 18, 2025
Ex-Goldman Atty Squires Expected To Be Named USPTO Head
John A. Squires — Goldman Sachs' longtime chief intellectual property counsel, co-founder of Fortress' IP Investment fund and current Dilworth Paxson LLP partner — is expected to be chosen as the Trump administration's nominee for U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director, about a half-dozen sources with knowledge of the agency said Tuesday.
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February 18, 2025
Proposed Tweaks To Del. Chancery Law Ignite DExit Firestorm
Stockholder attorneys in Delaware pushed back immediately against two state Senate measures that would amend corporation law provisions at the center of recent debate over shareholder class lawsuits, big court awards and recent corporate moves to purportedly more business-friendly states such as Texas and Nevada.
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February 18, 2025
5th Circ. Won't Rethink DOL Win In OT Threshold Dispute
The full Fifth Circuit refused to reconsider its decision finding the U.S. Department of Labor has the authority to create a salary threshold as part of its role in defining overtime exemptions, rejecting a Dairy Queen franchise owner's argument that the opinion conflicts with U.S. Supreme Court precedent.
Expert Analysis
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Scope And Nature Of Judicial Relief Will Affect Loper's Impact
The practical result of post-Loper Bright rulings against regulatory actions will depend on the relief courts grant — and there has been controversy in these types of cases over whether the ruling is applied just to the parties or nationwide, and whether the action can be left in place while it's corrected, says Steven Gordon at Holland & Knight.
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Trump's Day 1 Orders Augur Disruptions In Travel To US
While the orders President Donald Trump issued his first day in office didn't impose immediate entry bans as some speculated, they authorized greatly increased scrutiny of foreign nationals at U.S. consulates and ports of entry, and laid the groundwork for future actions that could significantly disrupt international travel, says Jennifer Kim at Moore & Van Allen.
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The Implications Of E-Cigarette Cos. Taking Suits To 5th Circ.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. R.J. Reynolds over the definition of an "adversely affected" person under the Tobacco Control Act, and the justices' ruling will have important and potentially wide-ranging implications for forum shopping claims, says Trillium Chang at Zuckerman Spaeder.
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Del. Dispatch: Lessons From Failed Albertsons-Kroger Merger
The allegations in Albertsons' lawsuit against Kroger following the grocery stores' blocked merger demonstrate how a target company can best ensure that a buyer timely and effectively complies with its obligations to pursue the necessary regulatory approvals for a deal, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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Series
Adventure Photography Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Photographing nature everywhere from Siberia to Cuba and Iceland to Rwanda provides me with a constant reminder to refresh, refocus and rethink the legal issues that my clients face, says Richard Birmingham at Davis Wright.
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How Views On Healthcare Price Transparency Are Changing
Regulators' attitudes toward price transparency regulation have shifted over the past several years in ways that may seem contradictory, and research into detailed rate information published by hospitals and health plans has yielded mixed results, says Matthew List at Charles River Associates.
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What Vinyl Acetate's Prop 65 Listing Means For Cos.
California's recent move to add vinyl acetate to the Proposition 65 list of carcinogens, with enforcement starting later this year, will have sweeping compliance and risk implications for businesses in the retail, food and beverage, paint, adhesive, industrial manufacturing, and personal care product industries, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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How Cos. Can Respond To CFPB Digital Asset Safeguard Plan
Though the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposal to regulate online payment platforms via existing federal laws would create new challenges, digital payment companies that engage with the rulemaking process could help shape a win-win regulatory framework that protects consumer data and ensures the sector’s growth, says Allison Raley at Arnall Golden.
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Navigating The Potential End Of GLP-1 Drug Shortages
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's determination of whether GLP-1 products are in shortage may affect how compounders provide these products and spur a range of litigation including patent disputes and unfair competition suits, say attorneys at Goodwin.
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High Court Could Further Limit Deference With TCPA Fax Case
The Supreme Court's decision to hear McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates v. McKesson, a case involving alleged junk faxes that centers whether district courts are bound by Federal Communications Commission rules, offers the court a chance to possibly further limit the judicial deference afforded to federal agency interpretations of statutes, says Samantha Duke at Rumberger Kirk.
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Politicized OIGs Could Target Federal Employees, Contractors
After President Donald Trump fired nearly 20 inspectors general last week, it’s worth exploring how the administration could use Offices of Inspectors General to target federal employees and contractors, why it would be difficult to fight this effort, and one possible bulwark against the politicization of these watchdogs, says Sara Kropf at Kropf Moseley.
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Future Of Crypto-Asset Classification Is In 2nd Circ.'s Hands
A definitive ruling from the Second Circuit in a rare interlocutory appeal in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's ongoing court battle with Coinbase could finally establish clear guidelines on the classification of digital assets, influencing how they are regulated and traded in the U.S., say attorneys at Manatt.
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5 Ways To Create Effective Mock Assignments For Associates
In order to effectively develop associates’ critical thinking skills, firms should design mock assignments that contain a few key ingredients, from messy fact patterns to actionable feedback, says Abdi Shayesteh at AltaClaro.
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Overseas Investment Rule Calls For Compliance Caution
Investors should be leery of who and what they are investing in now that the federal outbound investment regime, effective Jan. 2, has extended the governement's regulatory reach to businesses and parties not previously subject to trade restrictions, says Thaddeus McBride at Bass Berry.
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Opinion
Revised Fla. Rules Of Civil Procedure Will Modernize Litigation
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
The landmark amendments to the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure that took effect on Jan. 1 may require significant adjustments to practice and case management approaches, but the changes should ultimately reduce the cost and burden of modern litigation, and foster a more efficient and equitable justice system, says retired Florida state judge Ralph Artigliere.