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Public Policy
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May 16, 2024
New Immigration Rule To Speed Up Hearing Process For Some
The United States will speed up the resolution of immigration cases for some single adults who are not citizens and attempt to cross between southern border ports of entry in a change that also largely rescinds a rule finalized in the last weeks of the Trump administration.
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May 16, 2024
Klobuchar Reintroduces Sweeping Antitrust Reform Bill
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., reintroduced sweeping legislation Thursday aimed at restoring competition by strengthening antitrust laws to help enforcers better deal with harmful conduct and mergers, garnering support from the American Antitrust Institute, Consumer Reports and others.
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May 16, 2024
DC Circ. Mulls Rolling Back Pipeline Safety Regs Over Cost
The industry group challenging a handful of pipeline safety standards told a D.C. Circuit panel on Thursday that there will be "no fight" between it and the government on one of the regulations if the court simply rules that two terms that the agency maintains have the same definition do mean the same thing.
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May 16, 2024
Thomas, Alito: Two Originalists, Two Takes On CFPB Case
U.S. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — often birds of a feather — butted heads Thursday over the original meaning and purpose of the U.S. Constitution's appropriations clause in a decision upholding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's unique funding scheme, highlighting what experts describe as the pair's different approaches to originalism.
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May 16, 2024
FCC Told Rural Aid Can't Lean Too Much On Broadband Maps
Wireless providers are calling out flaws in the Federal Communications Commission's national broadband map, telling the agency to require more certification from providers to verify that they can actually serve areas they say they can before allocating broadband deployment funding.
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May 16, 2024
FTC Can't Make Albertsons, Kroger Produce Divestiture Docs
An administrative law judge on Thursday denied the Federal Trade Commission's "premature" bid to compel Kroger and Albertsons to fork over documents related to negotiations for the companies' expanded divestiture plan amid the commission's in-house challenge to the grocers' merger.
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May 16, 2024
Judge Questions Colo.'s Power Over Out-Of-State Banks
A Colorado federal judge on Thursday asked U.S. banking regulators why the state should be able to cap interest rates for loans made to residents by out-of-state financial institutions, questioning why it was "consistent with federalism" to let an individual state have that far of a reach.
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May 16, 2024
'That Is A Lie!' Trump Atty Assails Cohen In Fraud Trial Cross
Donald Trump's lawyer lashed out at central prosecution witness Michael Cohen on Thursday during a second day of cross-examination in New York state's criminal fraud case, attacking his credibility and key testimony linking Trump to crimes.
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May 16, 2024
Judge Irked By 'Smart' Attys And 'Silly' Doc Retention Policies
The chief judge of the U.S. Court of International Trade scolded Chinese tire companies on Thursday for complaining about having to provide information the federal government requested to reassess antidumping duties after the companies won an order for that reassessment.
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May 16, 2024
Investigate Pro-Gaza Reddit Post, GOP Pols Tell USPTO
An anonymous Reddit post purportedly from a patent examiner confessing "mixed feelings" about issuing a patent to an Israeli defense contractor, citing the country's ongoing bombardment of Gaza, has attracted the attention of Republicans in Congress and the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office herself.
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May 16, 2024
Judge OKs Plan For Those Hit By Rescinded Trump Travel Ban
Immigration advocates who sued the federal government said they were celebrating "a glimmer of hope" this week after a federal judge OK'd a plan that would require immigration officials to reconsider visa applications for people denied entry into the U.S. because of a Trump-era travel ban affecting individuals from Muslim-majority countries.
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May 16, 2024
Trump Says 1890 Ruling Can't Be 'Pigeonholed' By Ga. DA
Former President Donald Trump has renewed his bid to have two of his Georgia election interference charges dropped under an 1890 U.S. Supreme Court case, arguing prosecutors are trying to "improperly pigeonhole" the ruling as irrelevant to his criminal case.
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May 16, 2024
EPA Doctor Not A Whistleblower For Slamming Lead Plan
A former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pediatrician and epidemiologist who publicly criticized the EPA's plan to reduce lead in drinking water as inadequate is not protected by federal whistleblower law, the Federal Circuit said Thursday.
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May 16, 2024
Taliban Victim Says Asylum Priority Practice Needs To Go
A Pakistani asylum-seeker asked a New York federal court to rule that the federal government's practice of prioritizing the most recent asylum applications in a backlog is unlawful, saying in a lawsuit that the policy has caused indefinite uncertainty and hardships.
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May 16, 2024
Trade Court OKs Commerce's Cambodian Mattress Duties
The U.S. Court of International Trade on Thursday blessed the U.S. Department of Commerce's revised anti-dumping duty calculations for Cambodia-origin mattresses, saying Commerce provided better explanations a second time around including for why it used an Indian company's financial statements.
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May 16, 2024
Judge Calls Out 'Cancel Culture' In Prof's Suit Against Penn
A Pennsylvania federal judge said University of Pennsylvania leaders embraced "cancel culture" when they chastised an anthropology professor for handling remains from the 1985 MOVE house bombing in Philadelphia, allowing the professor's defamation case against the school to move forward.
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May 16, 2024
DC Judge Reluctantly Holds That Hyatt Forfeited Patents
A D.C. federal judge on Thursday found the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has sufficiently proven that inventor Gilbert Hyatt forfeited the right to receive certain patents based on decades of delay, but made clear that his finding was the result of a Federal Circuit mandate, not how he thought the case should be approached.
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May 16, 2024
Democrats Prod Justice Thomas on RV Loan, Tax Treatment
Two Senate Democrats have asked U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' attorney to respond to what they called a failure to answer their questions about the justice's $267,000 loan from a healthcare industry executive to finance a luxury recreational vehicle, saying the loan treatment could have violated federal tax laws.
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May 16, 2024
FCC To Pull Phone Co.'s Authorization To Operate In US
The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday it plans to revoke a telecom company's authorization to operate in the U.S. after the business failed to comply with an agreement with federal agencies stemming from a security review.
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May 16, 2024
La. Parties Split On How Voting Law Alters Consent Decree
A civil rights group told the Fifth Circuit on Thursday that a Louisiana state law enacted two weeks before the court reconsidered whether to dissolve a 30-year-old voting consent decree was enough to end its dispute, but disagreed with the state over the dissolution process for the consent decree determining how the state's high court justices are chosen.
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May 16, 2024
Senate Passes Bill To Block SEC Crypto Accounting Guidance
The U.S. Senate voted Thursday to send a bill overturning the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's controversial crypto accounting guidance to the president's desk, though without the necessary votes to override the White House's planned veto.
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May 16, 2024
FDIC's Gruenberg Scolded By Senators Over Agency Culture
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin Gruenberg on Thursday faced a second round of congressional reprimand from both sides of the political aisle over his agency's workplace misconduct scandal, but Senate Democrats seemed ready to let Gruenberg clean up the mess himself and continue his tenure.
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May 16, 2024
African Tax Admins Promote Use Of Voluntary Disclosures
Voluntary disclosure programs have been very effective when countries launch them in anticipation of complying with an international standard on automatic exchanges of financial account information, the African Tax Administration Forum said Thursday in guidance on the programs.
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May 16, 2024
DOL Unveils Long-Delayed Abandoned Retirement Plan Rules
After being sidelined for more than a decade, a plan for expanding U.S. Department of Labor rules for terminating retirement plans abandoned by employers are moving forward again, the agency reported Thursday, along with a long-delayed role in the process for bankruptcy trustees.
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May 16, 2024
New BLM Plans Sunset Federal Coal Leasing In Wyo., Mont.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Thursday unveiled court-ordered, revised resource management plans for coal-rich areas of Montana and Wyoming that end future coal leasing in the regions, a move blasted by congressional representatives of those states.
Expert Analysis
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How DEI Programs Are Being Challenged In Court And Beyond
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's affirmative action decision last year declaring the consideration of race in university admissions unconstitutional, employers should keep abreast of recent litigation challenging diversity, equity and inclusion training programs, as well as legislation both supporting and opposing DEI initiatives in the workplace, say attorneys at Skadden.
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An Energy Industry Case Study In Expropriation Risk
Andrés Chambouleyron at Berkeley Research breaks down how expropriation risk and damage mitigation calculations vary considerably by different energy sources, and uses Argentina as a case study for how energy investors might protect their interests.
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Blocked JetBlue-Spirit Deal Illustrates New Antitrust Approach
The U.S. Department of Justice’s recent successful block of a merger between JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines demonstrates antitrust enforcers’ updated and disparate approach to out-of-market benefits versus out-of-market harms, say Lisa Rumin and Anthony Ferrara at McDermott.
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At 'SEC Speaks,' A Focus On Rebuilding Trust Amid Criticism
At the Practising Law Institute's SEC Speaks conference last week, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission leadership highlighted efforts to rebuild and restore trust in the U.S. capital markets by addressing investor concerns through regulatory measures and enforcement actions, emphasizing the need for cooperation from market participants, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.
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Series
Fla. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1
Early 2024 developments that could have a notable impact on Florida's finance community include progress on a bill that would substantially revise the state Securities and Investor Protection Act, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's final rule capping late fees for larger credit card issuers, say Benjamin Weinberg and Megan Riley at Leon Cosgrove.
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The Pros And Cons Of NIST's Proposed March-In Framework
Recent comments for and against the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s proposed guidance on march-in rights — which permit the government to seize federally funded patents — highlight how the framework may promote competition, but could also pose a risk to contractors and universities, say Nick Lee and Paul Ragusa at Baker Botts.
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What Minority Biz Law Ruling Could Mean For Private DEI
A Texas federal court’s recent decision to strike down key provisions of the Minority Business Development Act illustrates the wide-reaching effects of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision across legal contexts, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
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Opinion
Federal MDL Rule Benefits From Public Comments
The new Federal Rule of Civil Procedure concerning multidistrict litigation that was approved this week by the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules incorporates ideas from public comments that will aid both plaintiffs and defense attorneys — and if ultimately adopted, the rule should promote efficient, merits-driven MDL case management, say Robert Johnston and Gary Feldon at Hollingsworth.
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Weisselberg's Perjury At Trial Spotlights Atty Ethics Issues
Former Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg’s recent guilty plea for perjury in the New York attorney general's civil fraud trial should serve as a reminder to attorneys of their ethical duties when they know a client has lied or plans to lie in court, and the potential penalties for not fulfilling those obligations, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.
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Practicing Law With Parkinson's Disease
This Parkinson’s Awareness Month, Adam Siegler at Greenberg Traurig discusses his experience working as a lawyer with Parkinson’s disease, sharing both lessons on how to cope with a diagnosis and advice for supporting colleagues who live with the disease.
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Texas Hair Bias Ruling Does Not Give Employers A Pass
A Texas state court’s recent decision, holding that a school could discipline a student with locs for refusing to cut his hair, should not be interpreted by employers as a license to implement potentially discriminatory grooming policies, says Dawn Holiday at Jackson Walker.
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When Trade Secret Protection And Nat'l Security Converge
The Trump administration's anti-espionage program focused on China is over, but federal enforcement efforts to protect trade secrets and U.S. national security continue, and companies doing business in high-risk jurisdictions need to maintain their compliance programs to avoid the risk of being caught in the crosshairs of an investigation, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.
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Opinion
Aviation Watch: Not All Airline Mergers Hurt The Public
The U.S. Department of Justice's actions to block recent attempted airline mergers have been touted as serving the interests of the consumers — but given the realities of the deregulated air travel market, a tie-up like the one proposed between JetBlue and Spirit might have been a win for the public, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.
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The Merger Cases That Will Matter At ABA Antitrust Meeting
While the American Bar Association's Antitrust Spring Meeting this week will cover all types of competition law issues in the U.S. and abroad, expect the federal agencies' recent track record in merger enforcement to be a key area of focus on the official panels and in cocktail party chatter, say attorneys at Freshfields.
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How Banks Should Respond To Calif. AG's Overdraft Warning
Banks and credit unions should heed recent guidance from California’s attorney general, along with warnings by consumer regulators of all stripes, regarding unfair fee practices by properly disclosing their fees and practices, and ensuring the amounts charged mirror federal benchmarks, say Brett D. Watson and Madeline Suchard at Cozen O'Connor.