Aerospace & Defense

  • February 20, 2024

    Liberal Justices Hint Chevron Deference Hanging By A Thread

    In the U.S. Supreme Court's latest battle royal over administrative powers, left-leaning justices at oral arguments Tuesday openly suggested that the landmark legal doctrine underpinning modern rulemaking might soon shrivel up, clearing the way for industry-led challenges to regulations on the books for decades.

  • February 20, 2024

    SEC Zeroes In On SolarWinds Exec In Revised Complaint

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has doubled down on its case accusing software provider SolarWinds Corp. of failing to warn the public about the cybersecurity vulnerabilities that gave rise to a 2020 hack, providing a New York federal court with more detail about the involvement of the company's chief information security officer in the alleged cover-up.

  • February 20, 2024

    GAO Says Army Was Fair In Awarding $169M IT Upgrade Deal

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office has denied a Maryland company's protest of a $169 million information technology infrastructure modernization deal for the U.S. Army, rejecting its claim that the Army assessed a competitor's strengths while overlooking the company's despite them having similarities.

  • February 20, 2024

    Amentum Can Claim Some COVID Leave Costs From Air Force

    The Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals has ruled that Amentum Services can partially claim increased costs under an Air Force contract based on California's COVID-19 sick leave laws but that sovereign immunity bars claims based on a military quarantine requirement.

  • February 20, 2024

    GOP, Democratic Reps. Team Up To Decry Punted FISA Vote

    The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act's controversial Section 702, which gives the government a backdoor to intercept American communications without a warrant, is set to expire soon, and a bipartisan group of lawmakers says it's time they be allowed to vote on a version of the reauthorization that would add privacy protections.

  • February 20, 2024

    Justices Deny 9/11 Widows' Challenge to Damage Distribution

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to revive a lawsuit from the widows of two 9/11 victims alleging a district court improperly allowed all immediate relatives to claim wrongful death damages despite state laws allowing relief only to heirs.

  • February 20, 2024

    Akin Hires Top BIS Commerce Department Counsel In DC

    Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP has hired the former U.S. Department of Commerce's chief counsel for the Bureau of Industry and Security, who has joined the firm as a partner in Washington, D.C., the firm announced Tuesday.

  • February 20, 2024

    Fox Rothschild AI Chief Talks 'Terrifying' Deepfakes, Biased AI

    Mark McCreary, the chief artificial intelligence and information security officer at Fox Rothschild, leads his firm's internal AI strategy and provides counsel to other law firms trying to bushwhack their path through the often murky AI legal landscape, rife with hallucinated case law citations and disturbingly real deepfakes.

  • February 20, 2024

    5th Circ. Pauses Transfer Order In SpaceX, NLRB Dispute

    The Fifth Circuit pressed pause on a Texas district court's order to transfer SpaceX's suit over the constitutionality of the NLRB's structure to California, staying the lower court's decision while the appeals court considers the company's petition for writ of mandamus.

  • February 20, 2024

    Justices Decline Bid For Unanimous Court-Martial Verdicts

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to take up a former U.S. Air Force sergeant's petition seeking to make court-martial rulings unanimous, leaving in place his divided guilty verdict on two counts of attempted sexual abuse.

  • February 20, 2024

    Navalny's Death Pushes Biden To Ramp Up Russian Sanctions

    The White House said Tuesday that it will introduce new sanctions on Russia later this week in response to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's death in custody, saying Russian President Vladimir Putin was ultimately responsible.

  • February 20, 2024

    Ransomware Group LockBit Hit By Coordinated Crackdown

    Two suspects linked to LockBit have been arrested and dozens of servers taken down as part of a global operation to disrupt the Russia-based ransomware group's activities, law enforcement agencies said Tuesday.

  • February 20, 2024

    Justices Pass On Bid To Hold UK Co. Liable For Cessna Crash

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear a bid seeking to hold an English aerospace firm liable for a Cessna crash that killed three people, passing on an opportunity to resolve what the petitioners called a circuit split or give credence to a "vociferous dissent" within the Ninth Circuit's published opinion.

  • February 20, 2024

    Extraditing Assange For Political Offenses Breaches Int'l Law

    Extraditing Julian Assange to face espionage charges in the U.S. would be a fundamental breach of international laws that protect "pure political offenses," lawyers for the WikiLeaks founder argued at his last-ditch appeal in London on Tuesday.

  • February 19, 2024

    Assange Poised To Make Final Bid To Halt Extradition To US

    Julian Assange will make what could be his final legal challenge on Tuesday in his long-running battle to avoid being sent to the U.S. on espionage charges arising from the publication of classified documents more than a decade ago.

  • February 16, 2024

    Nat'l Security Bar Kills Ex-Raytheon Worker's Retaliation Suit

    The Fifth Circuit on Thursday refused to revive an engineer's claims that he was fired by defense contractor Raytheon for raising concerns about a naval system, saying that reviewing the case would implicate the Pentagon's protected decision to revoke his security clearance.

  • February 16, 2024

    You Want Judge Reyna To Have Coffee With Your Brief

    U.S. Circuit Judge Jimmie V. Reyna on Friday told intellectual property attorneys that the best way to establish credibility at the Federal Circuit is through a well-written brief, saying otherwise they put him in a bad position and deprive him of coffee.

  • February 16, 2024

    Judge Wary Of Boeing's Bid To Duck Birth Defect Suit

    A Washington state judge pressed Boeing on Friday to explain why it should get a "free pass" in a lawsuit over birth defects allegedly caused by factory workers' chemical exposure, questioning the aerospace giant's argument that it didn't have a duty to workers' future children based on foreseeable harm.

  • February 16, 2024

    Ex-FBI Field Boss Gets 28 Months For Foreign Payouts

    A former FBI field office supervisor was sentenced Friday to 28 months in prison for failing to disclose a $225,000 payment that he received from a former Albanian intelligence official while overseeing counterintelligence matters at the bureau.

  • February 16, 2024

    House Lawmakers Unveil $66.3B Military, Border Bill

    A bipartisan group of U.S. House of Representatives lawmakers introduced legislation on Friday that would provide $66.32 billion to support Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as well as enact border reforms.

  • February 16, 2024

    Camp Lejeune Plaintiffs Seek Appeal Of Jury Trial Denial

    Two plaintiffs suing the federal government over water contamination at Camp Lejeune are asking a North Carolina federal court to allow them to appeal a judges' decision striking their bid for a jury trial, saying the issue is a novel question of law that should be answered sooner rather than later.

  • February 15, 2024

    Ex-ArentFox Client Tentatively Denied Conflict Case Discovery

    A California state judge tentatively ruled on Thursday that government contractor Peraton Corp. cannot get discovery for ArentFox Schiff's work for a business rival around the time it represented Peraton, saying since the discovery bid relates to an arbitration provision in Peraton's retainer, what happened after it was inked is irrelevant.

  • February 15, 2024

    FCC Wants Licensing Revamp To Help Hatch Space Industries

    The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday proposed ways to streamline federal licensing needed to support an array of services in space, including manufacturing and parts assembly.

  • February 15, 2024

    SpaceX Heads To Texas After Musk's Tesla Pay Package Axed

    Elon Musk announced Wednesday that he is taking SpaceX's business incorporation from Delaware to Texas, after Delaware's chancellor last month struck down his proposed $55 billion Tesla pay package.

  • February 15, 2024

    House Committee Blasts VA, Oracle For E-Record Failures

    Lawmakers on Thursday rebuked the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Oracle Corp. for inadequate fixes to electronic medical records systems that they say continue to threaten the health and safety of thousands of veterans, who are not being advised of the risk.

Expert Analysis

  • SEC Focus On Perks Offers Insights On Cooperation

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent settlement with Stanley Black & Decker is the latest example of the SEC's continued focus on executive perquisites and highlights what type of cooperation may be required to avoid a civil money penalty, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Trends Emerge In High Court's Criminal Law Decisions

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    In its 2022-2023 term, the U.S. Supreme Court issued nine merits decisions in criminal cases covering a wide range of issues, and while each decision is independently important, when viewed together, key trends and takeaways appear that will affect defendants moving forward, says Kenneth Notter at MoloLamken.

  • Terror Funding Suit Could Affect Inherited Jurisdiction In NY

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    Depending on how New York’s highest court answers two questions certified from the Second Circuit in a case litigating companies’ liability for terrorist attacks, foreign companies with no relevant New York contacts may be subject to suit in state courts by virtue of an asset purchase, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • Perspectives

    A Judge's Pitch To Revive The Jury Trial

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    Ohio state Judge Pierre Bergeron explains how the decline of the jury trial threatens public confidence in the judiciary and even democracy as a whole, and he offers ideas to restore this sacred right.

  • How To Recognize And Recover From Lawyer Loneliness

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    Law can be one of the loneliest professions, but there are practical steps that attorneys and their managers can take to help themselves and their peers improve their emotional health, strengthen their social bonds and protect their performance, says psychologist and attorney Traci Cipriano.

  • Opinion

    Litigation Funding Disclosure Should Be Mandatory

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    Despite the Appellate Rules Committee's recent deferral of the issue of requiring third-party litigation funding disclosure, such a mandate is necessary to ensure the even-handed administration of justice across all cases, says David Levitt at Hinshaw.

  • Recalling USWNT's Legal PR Playbook Amid World Cup Bid

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    As the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team strives to take home another World Cup trophy, their 2022 pay equity settlement with the U.S. Soccer Federation serves as a good reminder that winning in the court of public opinion can be more powerful than a victory inside the courtroom, says Hector Valle at Vianovo.

  • Regulating AI: An Overview Of Federal Efforts

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    The U.S. has been carefully managing a national policy and regulatory ecosystem toward artificial intelligence, but as AI technology continues to expand into our everyday lives, so too has its risks and the need for regulation, says Jennifer Maisel at Rothwell Figg.

  • Prepping For PFAS Approval Under EPA's New Framework

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    Under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recently announced framework for addressing new per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and new uses of PFAS, entities should prepare for increased scrutiny and develop the necessary data prior to submitting premanufacture or significant new use notices, say David Edelstein and Charles Dennen at Archer & Greiner.

  • Contract Disputes Recap: Timeliness, Evidence, Fact-Finding

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    Edward Arnold and Bret Marfut at Seyfarth Shaw look at three recent opinions from three stages of government contract claims litigation about avoiding untimeliness by ticking procedural boxes, supporting factual positions at the summary judgment stage and how the appellate boards review default terminations.

  • California's PFAS Bans May Have National Ripple Effects

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    As California moves to phase out per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances from many categories of consumer products, other states may soon follow — so manufacturers would be well advised take action now, or risk losing substantial market share, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.

  • What's Causing EU-US Impasse On Steel And Aluminum

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    The EU and the U.S. have made limited progress in negotiating for a Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum, and they face high obstacles to meeting the fast-approaching October deadline, say attorneys at Akin.

  • Perspectives

    Mallory Gives Plaintiffs A Better Shot At Justice

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    Critics of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern claim it opens the door to litigation tourism, but the ruling simply gives plaintiffs more options — enabling them to seek justice against major corporations in the best possible court, say Rayna Kessler and Ethan Seidenberg at Robins Kaplan.

  • Why Justices' SuperValu Ruling Wasn't Quite A 'Seismic Shift'

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    Notwithstanding an early victory lap by the relators' bar, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in U.S. v. SuperValu Inc. was a win for both whistleblowers and sophisticated companies, but unfortunately left “subjective belief” to be interpreted by lower courts and future litigants, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.

  • Gov't Contractors Should Prep For Increased AI Scrutiny

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    As the U.S. Department of Defense considers how artificial intelligence development can be helpful or harmful to U.S. national defense, government contractors and industry actors can prepare for emerging guidance and requirements by looking at lessons learned from prior cybersecurity measures, say attorneys at Wiley.

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