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Public Policy
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August 28, 2024
Covering Up For Mayor Not Fire Chief's Job, 6th Circ. Says
Covering up alleged misconduct to help a Michigan mayor pursue reelection was not part of an ex-fire chief's official job duties, a Sixth Circuit panel said Tuesday, finding the fire chief's refusal to lie was protected speech and denying the mayor immunity.
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August 28, 2024
Judge Stays Enbridge's Bid For Quick Win In Pipeline Fight
Enbridge Energy's bid for a quick win in its challenge to Michigan over the company's Line 5 pipeline must wait until Michigan officials' appeal of a ruling to the Sixth Circuit that seeks to overturn an immunity order is resolved, a federal district court judge said.
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August 28, 2024
For Native Voters, Mail Delivery Is A Big Obstacle, Reports Say
Despite a modest uptick in turnout, Native American voters' participation in elections trails other racial and ethnic groups, two new reports say, most likely due to the unavailability of reliable mail delivery services in areas with large Indigenous populations.
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August 28, 2024
SEC Omits 'Swing Pricing' Plan From Fund Disclosure Rules
A divided U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday agreed to require more detailed and frequent disclosures from mutual funds, though regulators dropped plans — at least for now — to implement a controversial "swing pricing" provision.
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August 28, 2024
Ga. Appeals Court Says Worker Should Get Pandemic Aid
The Georgia Court of Appeals overturned a superior court order affirming the denial of pandemic unemployment assistance benefits to a college student who worked part-time at a Chick-fil-A, saying both the trial court and the Georgia Department of Labor's review board wrongly found he quit his job for personal reasons.
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August 28, 2024
TikTok Lawsuit, Kids' Privacy Bills Push Cos. 'Back To Basics'
The federal government's lawsuit challenging TikTok's policing of kids on its platform and mounting efforts to boost online protections for teens is ramping up pressure on a broad range of website operators, highlighting the importance for companies to think beyond existing legal frameworks to avoid growing legal scrutiny.
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August 28, 2024
Trump Prosecutor Restarts Precarious Road To DC Trial
The revised federal indictment accusing Donald Trump of scheming to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss is crafted in a way that experts say should allow it to survive scrutiny under the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling granting broad immunity to former presidents for official acts, but the justices could have the final say.
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August 28, 2024
Biden's Latest Judge Nominees Include Pick For Northern NY
President Joe Biden announced judicial nominees on Wednesday for federal district courts in New York, New Mexico and Arizona.
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August 28, 2024
DC Circ. Rejects Challenges To Nuke Waste Storage Site
A D.C. Circuit panel rejected a slew of challenges to federal regulators' approval of a temporary nuclear waste storage site in New Mexico, ruling that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission was right to include forward-looking terms about federally owned spent nuclear fuel in the license.
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August 28, 2024
Trim Advised In White Homeowners' Claims Against NC City
A magistrate judge in North Carolina recommended that a federal court trim a discrimination claim from a lawsuit lodged by white homeowners challenging Asheville's Human Relations Commission appointments, ruling that the relevant statute only applies to people who are members of minorities.
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August 28, 2024
Pa. Ex-Cop Faces Feb. Trial On Trimmed Jan. 6 Charges
A D.C. federal judge set a February date for Joseph Fischer's Jan. 6 Capitol attack trial, clearing the way for the former Pennsylvania cop to be tried by prosecutors after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the obstruction of Congress charge in his case.
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August 28, 2024
Justices Won't Revive Student Debt Relief Plan Right Now
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to reinstate President Joe Biden's latest student loan debt relief program, leaving the $475 billion plan on ice until the Eighth Circuit decides whether the administration has the authority to continue its new push to reduce student loan bills for millions of people.
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August 28, 2024
Farella Braun Can Pursue Unpaid SVB Fees From FDIC
Farella Braun & Martel LLP can go after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for $49,000 in legal fees owed by Silicon Valley Bank's parent after the agency was appointed as the bank's receiver, a California federal judge ruled Wednesday.
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August 28, 2024
Congress Urged To Address Trump Financial Conflicts
After possible financial conflicts of interest caused consternation during President Donald Trump's first term, an ethics watchdog is calling for a series of legislative reforms to prevent them from recurring if he's reelected.
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August 28, 2024
DOL Backs IBM Retirees' Bid To Revive Suit At 2nd Circ.
The U.S. Department of Labor urged the Second Circuit to revive a proposed class action alleging IBM shorted retirees on pension payments through the use of outdated mortality data, stating the lower court's ruling tossing the case "flies in the face" of U.S. Supreme Court precedent.
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August 28, 2024
Ex-Defender Opposes Bid To Fix Record In Harassment Case
A former assistant public defender in North Carolina who lost her suit accusing the judiciary of botching her sexual harassment complaint has called out mistakes in the trial transcripts but opposed the government's method for correcting them, calling the proposal "fundamentally unfair."
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August 28, 2024
Tenn. High Court Says Pot Smell A Factor In Probable Cause
Tennessee's highest court has ruled that notwithstanding the federal legalization of hemp, which smells like marijuana, a drug-sniffing police dog's signal that cannabis odor is present can still be a factor in giving law enforcement probable cause for a vehicle search.
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August 28, 2024
DLA Piper Adds Williams & Jensen Public Policy Ace In DC
DLA Piper has continued its recent expansion of the firm's government affairs and public policy practice with the addition of another Williams & Jensen PLLC attorney.
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August 28, 2024
Palin Wins New NYT Libel Trial As 2nd Circ. Chides Rakoff
The Second Circuit granted Sarah Palin a new trial Wednesday in her defamation suit against The New York Times, holding that U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff biased the verdict in favor of the newspaper and "usurped" the jury's role by erroneously tossing the case during deliberations.
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August 27, 2024
No Section 230 Shield For TikTok's Algorithm, 3rd Circ. Says
The Third Circuit Tuesday revived a lawsuit alleging TikTok's algorithms recommended a "blackout challenge" to a 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl that led to her unintentional hanging death, saying the social media platform curates recommendations through its "For You Page" algorithm, which is not protected by a law shielding traditional publishers.
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August 27, 2024
Wells Fargo Says 'Good Faith' Efforts Ax Investors' Bias Suit
Wells Fargo & Co. urged a California federal judge Tuesday to toss a derivative lawsuit filed by a putative class of shareholders claiming the bank's board of directors failed to address its discriminatory lending and hiring practices, saying there's evidence of "good-faith" efforts to monitor compliance in those areas.
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August 27, 2024
CFPB Late Fee Rule Has Slim Ties To Fort Worth, Judge Says
A Texas federal judge had stern words for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce during a Tuesday hearing over a lawsuit challenging the CFPB's new credit card late fee rule in Fort Worth, saying that if judges' impartiality is in question "we need to just turn it in" as a country.
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August 27, 2024
USPTO Sued For Rejecting Blood Pressure Drug Patent
A small drug developer has hit the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office with a second lawsuit in Virginia federal court over the agency's latest rejection of the company's efforts to patent a different dosage of a drug the company markets to treat low blood pressure.
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August 27, 2024
DOJ Says Immigration Group Can't Join Oklahoma Suit
The federal government urged the Tenth Circuit to reject a Tulsa immigration nonprofit's efforts to join its suit against Oklahoma over a state law that would ban unauthorized immigrants from settling in the state.
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August 27, 2024
Alaskan Tribal Health Group Hits Feds With $390M Suit
The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium is asking a federal district court for at least $390 million in a challenge to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that claims the agency refused to pay certain contract support costs to operate its healthcare programs for seven years.
Expert Analysis
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3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron
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.
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Roundup
After Chevron
In the month since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 26 different rulemaking and litigation areas.
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Takeaways From New HHS Substance Use Disorder Info Rules
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.
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Series
After Chevron: Expect Few Changes In ITC Rulemaking
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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Opinion
Reform NEPA To Speed Mining Permits, Clean Energy Shift
It is essential to balance responsible regulatory oversight with permit approvals for mining projects that are needed for the transition to renewable energy — and with the National Environmental Policy Act being one of the leading causes of permit delays, reform is urgently needed, say Ana Maria Gutierrez and Michael Miller at Womble Bond.
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Series
Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2
The second quarter of 2024 in California, which saw efforts to expand consumer protection legislation and enforcement actions in areas of federal focus like medical debt and student loans, demonstrated that the state's role as a trendsetter in consumer financial protection will continue for the foreseeable future, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
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6 PTAB Events To Know From The Last 6 Months
The first half of 2024 brought a flurry of Patent Trial and Appeal Board developments that should be considered in post-grant strategies, including proposed rules on discretionary denial and director review, and the first decisions of the Delegated Rehearing Panel, say attorneys at Fish & Richardson.
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Key Takeaways From High Court's Substitute Expert Decision
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Smith v. Arizona decision, holding that the confrontation clause generally bars prosecutors’ use of a substitute expert witness at trial, will have the most impact in narcotics and violent crime cases, but creative defense lawyers may find it useful in white collar cases, too, say Joshua Naftalis and Melissa Kelley at Pallas Partners.
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Opinion
Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem
The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.
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How Generative AI May Aid Merger Clearance Process
Generative artificial intelligence capable of analyzing and searching large datasets stands to revolutionize the merger clearance process, including by significantly reducing the time and effort required to respond to Hart-Scott-Rodino second requests, say Kenneth Koch and Brian Blush at BDO USA.
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Proposed Customer ID Rule Could Cost Investment Advisers
A rule recently proposed by FinCEN and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to make financial advisers collect more customer information parallels an anti-money laundering and counterterrorism rule proposed this spring, but firms may face new compliance costs when implementing these screening programs, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.
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What Passage Of House Crypto Bill Could Mean For Industry
While the prospects of the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, which recently passed the House in a bipartisan fashion, becoming law remain murky, the manner of its passage may give crypto markets a real cause for hope, say Neel Maitra and Dale Beggs at Dechert.
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A Case Study For Calif. Cities In Water Utility Takeovers
With growing water scarcity and drier weather looming, some local governments in California have sought to acquire investor-owned water utilities by eminent domain — but the 2016 case of Claremont v. Golden State Water is a reminder that such municipalization attempts must meet certain statutory requirements, say attorneys at Nossaman.
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Series
NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2
The second quarter of 2024 saw less enforcement activity in the realm of New York financial services, but brought substantial regulatory and legislative developments, including state regulators' guidance on cybersecurity compliance and customer service processes for virtual currency entities, say James Vivenzio and Andrew Lucas at Perkins Coie.
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4 Important Events In Bank Regulation: A Midyear Review
The first six months of 2024 have been fairly stable for the banking industry, though U.S. Supreme Court decisions and proposals from regulators have significantly affected the regulatory standards applicable to insured depository institutions, says Christina Grigorian at Katten.