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Public Policy
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June 03, 2024
Clear Rate Faces 4 New FCC Complaints Over 'Slamming'
Michigan-based Clear Rate Communications is yet again in the Federal Communications Commission's crosshairs over allegations of "slamming," with the commission ordering the company to wipe new customers' charges for the third time this year.
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June 03, 2024
Ex-Official Says Menendez Sparked Fear Of Ag Industry 'Harm'
A former U.S. Department of Agriculture official conceded under cross-examination Monday that a phone call he received from U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez about an acquaintance's certification business for meat exported to Egypt was like dozens he received from lawmakers advocating for their constituents, but he said it still left him worried for the industry.
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June 03, 2024
Improper DHS Appointment Voids Asylum Rule, Groups Argue
Two immigrant advocacy groups suing the federal government over a Trump-era rule that narrowed asylum eligibility have told a D.C. federal judge that the changes must be vacated, arguing that former acting U.S. Department of Homeland Security chief Chad Wolf was improperly appointed, making the changes void.
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June 03, 2024
Congress' Crypto Votes Lay Groundwork For Next Session
Congress' sudden and surprisingly bipartisan momentum on crypto policy is unlikely to result in a signed law this year, but the agreements set the stage for proposals that could go the distance next session.
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June 03, 2024
Attys Raise Safety Concerns In Feds' Bid To End Flores Deal
Attorneys for human rights organizations in the long-running Flores litigation are opposing the Biden administration's bid to partially terminate an agreement in the case mandating safety standards for minors in immigration detention, saying it could weaken existing protections.
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June 03, 2024
DC Judge Axes Ariz. Tribe's $2.6M Veteran Care Claims
A D.C. federal court judge dismissed an Arizona tribe's bid to recoup nearly $2.6 million in Native American veteran care reimbursements from the federal government, saying the tribe has not plausibly alleged that the Indian Health Services' actions in withholding the funding caused any injury.
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June 03, 2024
Software Group Says IP Quality, Not Quantity, Is The Goal
Making sure patent standards are up to snuff, using artificial intelligence when looking into whether patents are viable and having the Patent Trial and Appeal Board maintain high standards when reviewing patents are goals federal patent officials should focus on, according to a trade collective of software businesses.
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June 03, 2024
Glycine Co. Couldn't Compel Cooperation, Trade Court Told
The U.S. Department of Commerce wrongly labeled an Indian glycine company as noncooperative after its unaffiliated suppliers declined to participate in a tariff review, the company said in a motion calling to unwind its penalty duty rate Monday.
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June 03, 2024
American Says 'Common Sense' Makes JetBlue Deal A Positive
An attorney for American Airlines appeared to run into turbulence during his First Circuit oral arguments Monday while contending that the mere presence of "upward pricing pressure" from the since-blocked Northeast Alliance joint venture with JetBlue is outweighed by deal benefits improperly ignored by the district court.
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June 03, 2024
Treasury Aims To Salvage Corp. Transparency Act At 11th Circ.
The Corporate Transparency Act is a valid exercise of congressional authority to curb money laundering under the commerce clause and the necessary and proper clause in the Constitution, the U.S. Treasury Department told the Eleventh Circuit on Monday in a bid to restore the law's reporting requirements.
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June 03, 2024
Public Stations Fight One-Size-Fits-All Definition Of Localism
The Federal Communications Commission might harm public TV stations if it applies the same definition of "locally originated content" to public outlets and its commercial counterparts, public broadcasting groups say.
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June 03, 2024
Feds Oppose Fla.'s Plea For Rushed CWA Appeal
The federal government on Monday told the D.C. Circuit it needs more time to decide whether it is going to appeal a lower court's decision to strip Florida of the power to administer a Clean Water Act permitting program.
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June 03, 2024
GAO Urges DEA To Streamline Religious Drug Use Requests
The U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a new report that the nation's drug enforcement agency needs to be more transparent about its process for reviewing religious exemption requests from churches that use controlled substances as sacraments.
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June 03, 2024
Drug Cos. Can Depose DC AG In Drug Price-Fixing Row
A Connecticut federal judge reluctantly ordered the District of Columbia Attorney General's Office to be deposed by the drug companies wrapped up in more than 40 states' claims over an alleged price-fixing conspiracy, noting that he would not have done so but for the case being remanded from a sprawling multidistrict litigation in Pennsylvania.
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June 03, 2024
DOL Fights Injunction Bid In Data-For-Insurance Fight
The U.S. Department of Labor pushed back against two companies' permanent injunction bid in a lawsuit that had challenged a now-vacated finding from the agency that a data-for-insurance health plan offering wasn't covered by federal benefits law, arguing a Texas federal court should instead end proceedings in the case.
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June 03, 2024
Trump's NY Gag Orders Likely Lifted With Verdict
Despite claims by former President Donald Trump that he is still limited in what he can say about jurors and witnesses following his guilty verdict, the gag orders imposed on him likely evaporated at the end of the Manhattan trial, lifting a threat of further contempt if he goes on the attack ahead of his sentencing this summer.
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June 03, 2024
Ga. Sheriff Wants Bookstore Suit Over Jail Book Policy Tossed
A Georgia sheriff and jail commander asked a Georgia federal judge to toss a lawsuit brought against them by a bookstore that alleges the jail instituted an unconstitutional and arbitrary policy of only allowing books into the county jail from "authorized retailers."
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June 03, 2024
Slipshod Shipping Cost Analysis Lands Commerce Remand
The U.S. Department of Commerce must check its work on duties covering mobile lift equipment after the U.S. Court of International Trade deemed its shipping cost data analysis a "mixed bag" that could have led to a different rate.
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June 03, 2024
Las Vegas Newspaper Fights Rival's Bid To Set Trial Date
The Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Las Vegas Sun are at each other's throats over setting a trial date in a yearsold dispute accusing the Review-Journal, formerly owned by the now-deceased conservative and billionaire Sheldon Adelson, of trying to drive its more liberal rival out of business.
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June 03, 2024
Missouri Judge OKs Cannabis Tax By Both City And County
Both a city in Missouri and the county that surrounds it can collect a tax on marijuana dispensaries, a state circuit judge found.
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June 03, 2024
Minn. Biz Groups Fight Ban On Required Anti-Union Meetings
A Minnesota company and two business groups are challenging the state's nearly year-old ban on so-called captive audience meetings, saying Minnesota can't exempt workers from sitting through mandatory meetings about their employers' views on unionization without violating the U.S. Constitution.
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June 03, 2024
Santos Can't Toss Identity Theft Claims, Feds Tell Court
Federal prosecutors told the Eastern District of New York that their claims of identity theft against former U.S. Rep. George Santos are specific enough to proceed to trial in September, saying they've provided the necessary transactional documents and the government isn't obligated to preview more trial evidence.
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June 03, 2024
Ga. Prison Official Aided Stabbing, Ex-Inmate Says
A former Georgia prison inmate has accused the state of complicity in his stabbing at the hands of another inmate who was not only allowed to work as an orderly in a mental health unit, but was given the green light to carry out the attack by a state corrections officer.
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June 03, 2024
Denver Oil Refinery Air Permit Is Valid, EPA Tells 10th Circ.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defended its refusal to object to the renewal of a Denver oil refinery's air pollution permit, telling the Tenth Circuit that the Center for Biological Diversity failed to show the permit would allow the refinery to emit harmful amounts of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide.
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June 03, 2024
Amazon, Wondery Want Out Of ICE Doc's Defamation Suit
Amazon.com LLC, Wondery LLC and Morbid: A True Crime Podcast LLC asked a Georgia federal judge on Friday to dismiss a former immigration prison doctor's lawsuit alleging he was defamed by the release of a true-crime podcast episode that accused him of performing forced hysterectomies on detainees.
Expert Analysis
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HHS Opioid Rule Generally Benefits Providers And Patients
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' newly effective rule, the first substantial change to opioid treatment programs and delivery standards in over 20 years, significantly expands access and reduces stigma around certain medications, though the rule is narrow in scope and does have some limitations, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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5th Circ. Clarifies What Is And Isn't A 'New Use' Of PFAS
The Fifth Circuit's March 21 decision in Inhance Technologies v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, preventing the EPA from regulating existing uses of PFAS under "significant new use" provisions of the Toxic Substances Control Act, provides industry with much-needed clarity, say Joseph Schaeffer and Sloane Wildman at Babst Calland.
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Handling Customer Complaints In Bank-Fintech Partnerships
As regulators mine consumer complaint databases for their next investigative targets, it is critical that fintech and bank partners adopt a well-defined and monitored process for ensuring proper complaint handling, including by demonstrating proficiency and following interagency guidance, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
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Trump's NY Civil Fraud Trial Spotlights Long-Criticized Law
A New York court’s recent decision holding former President Donald Trump liable for fraud brought old criticisms of the state law used against him back into the limelight — including its strikingly broad scope and its major departures from the traditional elements of common law fraud, say Mark Kelley and Lois Ahn at MoloLamken.
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Opinion
New Mexico Fire Victims Deserve Justice From Federal Gov't
Two years after the largest fire in New Mexico's history — a disaster caused by the U.S. government's mismanagement of prescribed burns — the Federal Emergency Management Agency must remedy its grossly inadequate relief efforts and flawed legal interpretations that have left victims of the fire still waiting for justice, says former New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas.
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Opinion
$175M Bond Refiled By Trump Is Still Substantively Flawed
The corrected $175 million bond posted by former President Donald Trump on Thursday to stave off enforcement of the New York attorney general's fraud judgment against him remains substantively and procedurally flawed, as well as inadequately secured, says Adam Pollock of Pollock Cohen.
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Opinion
Requiring Leave To File Amicus Briefs Is A Bad Idea
A proposal to amend the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure that would require parties to get court permission before filing federal amicus briefs would eliminate the long-standing practice of consent filing and thereby make the process less open and democratic, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation and DRI Center.
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Opinion
Streamlined Mine Regulation Is Key For The Energy Transition
Mining is essential for obtaining the critical minerals required for a transition to greener energy and transportation technologies, but inefficient permitting processes are making it harder to mine these essential materials that will enable a more environmentally sound future, says Scot Anderson at Womble Bond.
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2 Recent Suits Show Resiliency Of Medicare Drug Price Law
Though pharmaceutical companies continue to file lawsuits challenging the Inflation Reduction Act, which enables the federal government to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices, recent decisions suggest that the reduced drug prices are likely here to stay, says Jose Vela Jr. at Clark Hill.
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4 Ways To Motivate Junior Attorneys To Bring Their Best
As Gen Z and younger millennial attorneys increasingly express dissatisfaction with their work and head for the exits, the lawyers who manage them must understand and attend to their needs and priorities to boost engagement and increase retention, says Stacey Schwartz at Katten.
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A Look At Recent Challenges To SEC's Settlement 'Gag Rule'
Though they have been unsuccessful so far, opponents of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's so-called gag rule, which prevents defendants from denying allegations when settling with the SEC, are becoming increasingly vocal and filing more challenges in recent years, say Mike Blankenship and Regina Maze at Winston & Strawn.
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How 3 Unfolding Cases Could Affect The Energy Industry
Three judicial decisions now in the pipeline — Texas' challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's methane regulations, Delaware's climate suit against big energy companies, and a case before the Supreme Court of Texas on royalty lease interpretation — could have important implications for the energy industry, say Michelle Scheffler and Rachael Cox at Skadden.
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The Tricky Implications Of New Calif. Noncompete Laws
Two new California noncompete laws that ban certain out-of-state agreements and require employers to notify certain workers raise novel issues related to mergers and acquisitions, and pose particular challenges for technology companies, says John Viola at Thompson Coburn.
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Series
Illinois Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1
In the first quarter of 2024, Illinois lawmakers proposed a stack of bills aimed at modernizing money transmission, digital assets and banking laws, with a particular focus on improving consumer protections and better defining the state’s authority to regulate digital services, say James Morrissey and Mark Svalina at Vedder Price.
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Defense Attys Must Prep For Imminent AI Crime Enforcement
Given recent statements by U.S. Department of Justice officials, white collar practitioners should expect to encounter artificial intelligence in federal criminal enforcement in the near term, even in pending cases, say Jarrod Schaeffer and Scott Glicksman at Abell Eskew.