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TOP NEWS Trump 'Tweetpedoed' Immigration Bill After House Punts
As the birdsong of President Donald Trump’s Twitter feed continued Friday morning, it kept up a familiar refrain for many Republicans; saying something — this time that "tweetpedoed" a delayed immigration bill, in the words of one legislator — that makes it more difficult to get legislation passed.
Analysis Trump's Immigration Executive Order Puts Flores In Spotlight
The fate of President Donald Trump's executive order aimed at reversing the policy of separating immigrant families in detention rests in the hands of the same California federal judge who 20 years ago presided over the Flores agreement, which mandated that immigrant children cannot be held for longer than 20 days in adult detention facilities.
Analysis High Court's Lucia Ruling Opens ALJs To Political Influence
The U.S. Supreme Court’s finding that U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission administrative law judges need to be appointed by the president or the head of the agency potentially leaves the judges open to heightened political influence, legal experts said Friday.
Feature In His Own Words: How Texas Judge Is Mulling ACA Case
A once-obscure Texas federal judge who rocketed to prominence after being handpicked to hear lawsuits against the Obama administration is now overseeing his biggest case yet: an existential challenge to the Affordable Care Act. In an interview with Law360, U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor explained how he's approaching the momentous legal battle.
Feature The Top Benefits Cases Of 2018: Midyear Report
The Fifth Circuit invalidated the U.S. Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule, the defense bar notched gains in its quest to defeat two waves of Employee Retirement Income Security Act class actions, and the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Sixth Circuit to stop relying on a worker-friendly presumption related to pension vesting. Here’s a look at the most significant benefits rulings of the first half of 2018.
Analysis Biggest Enviro Law Rulings Of 2018: Midyear Report
Federal courts in the first half of 2018 issued several rulings that will have major repercussions in the environmental law arena, from a U.S. Supreme Court decision clarifying which courts should hear litigation over Clean Water Act jurisdictional issues to two circuit court opinions clarifying that groundwater can be subject to Clean Water Act permitting requirements. Here, Law360 looks at some of the biggest environmental law rulings thus far in 2018.
Biggest Energy Regulatory Moves Of 2018: Midyear Report
It's been a half-year of regulatory upheaval for the U.S. energy industry, from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission crafting major electricity and pipeline policy changes to the Environmental Protection Agency ramping up its rollback of Obama-era energy and environmental rules. Here's a list of significant energy-related regulatory moves from the first half of 2018.
Feature 1 Year On, Pa. Judges Grapple With Revamped Enviro Rights
It's been one year since the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed that the public's right to clean air and pure water was on equal footing with more fundamental concepts like the right to free speech, and experts say that judges are still grappling with how to apply the idea in high-stakes environmental litigation.
NJ Utility Regulator Rejects $111M Transmission Project
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities on Friday unanimously rejected a FirstEnergy Corp. unit’s petition to construct a $111 million, 10-mile electric transmission line in Monmouth County, siding with a state administrative law judge’s determination that the company hasn’t proven the project is necessary to the public.
EPA Floats TSCA Guidance On Confidentiality, Animal Testing
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday issued new Toxic Substances Control Act policies on animal testing, confidential business information and mercury reporting requirements, meeting deadlines set by Congress in 2016.
Minn. Power Grid Law Withstands Constitutional Challenge
A Minnesota federal judge threw out LSP Transmission Holdings' challenge to a state law that provided existing utilities in Minnesota the right of first refusal to build and operate new transmission lines, deciding that the law did not violate the Constitution’s dormant commerce clause.
House Passes Sweeping Opioid Treatment, Medicare Bill
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a sweeping anti-opioid abuse bill Friday with broad bipartisan support, rolling together dozens of other pieces of legislation passed over the last two weeks.
RI Becomes The Latest State To Legalize Sports Betting
Rhode Island's governor signed into a law Friday a budget that clears the way for in-person sports gambling at two casinos, making the state the latest early adopter of a practice legalized by the U.S. Supreme Court in May.
5th Circ. Musn't Stay La. Real Estate Board Case, FTC Says
The Federal Trade Commission urged the Fifth Circuit not to pause an agency administrative trial challenging Louisiana Real Estate Appraisers Board regulations that control appraisal fees, arguing Friday that the appeals court has no jurisdiction over the board’s immunity from federal antitrust laws, absent a “final” order.
NJ Trooper Can't Revive Whistleblower Suit Over Porn Report
A New Jersey state appeals court Friday refused to revive a state trooper’s whistleblower suit alleging she was transferred to an unpopular unit after reporting a superior’s pornography use on the job, reasoning that the new assignment was actually a promotion.
Suit Alleging Race Bias In Boston PD Drug Tests Nears Verdict
A Massachusetts federal judge spent several hours in a Boston courtroom Friday discussing racial identity, implicit bias and the legal ramifications of drug-testing employees in a hearing that concluded the evidentiary portion of a long-running discrimination case against the Boston Police Department over false-positive results disproportionately affecting black people.
ITC Scraps Commerce’s Proposed Resin Tariffs On India
The U.S. International Trade Commission said Friday that subsidized Indian imports of a resin product used for non-stick pans were not harming domestic industries, tossing the U.S. Department of Commerce’s proposed countervailing duty of 3.6 percent.
E-Cigs, Liquids Subject To Tobacco Tax, Pa. Court Rules
A Pennsylvania appeals court ruled Friday that e-cigarettes and e-liquids are subject to the state Tobacco Products Tax Act’s 40 percent tax on tobacco products, regardless of whether the liquids have nicotine derived from tobacco.
Okla. Justices Nix Petition Challenging Teachers’ Pay Tax
Oklahoma’s Supreme Court on Friday tossed a referendum petition challenging a new law that raised taxes on oil, cigarettes and gasoline that will fund pay raises for teachers, saying that the summary of the petition was misleading and flawed.
NJ Assembly Approves Bill Protecting Tax Agreement With Pa.
The New Jersey Assembly has approved a bill that would prevent the state's governor from unilaterally withdrawing from an income tax agreement with Pennsylvania or any other state, spurred by a threat from the state's former governor.
Feature Privately Backed Rail And Transit Projects To Watch
Government officials and private developers are pushing ahead with mass transit modernization projects even as infrastructure investment budgets tighten and the political tug-of-war over rural versus urban transportation needs intensifies, industry observers say.
17 AGs Join Fight Against Trump's Move To Cancel TPS
More than a dozen state attorneys general on Friday voiced their support for a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s recent decision to cancel temporary protected status for immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti and Honduras, urging the district court to hear the immigrants’ claims.
Gov't Seeks To Nix Immigrants' Protected Status Class Action
The Trump administration did not create a new rule by ending temporary protected status for immigrants whose home countries are in crisis, the U.S. Department of Justice told a California federal judge Friday, arguing that meant the reversal couldn’t come under judicial review and a putative class action challenging the decision should be nixed.
New Native Americans Head OK'd By Senate
President Donald Trump’s choice to head the Administration for Native Americans at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been cleared by the full U.S. Senate, the chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs has announced.
Navajo Man Sues Utah, County Officials Over Election DQ
A Navajo Nation member has hit Utah and San Juan County officials with a federal lawsuit alleging that they denied him the ability to run as a candidate in an upcoming county commission election, contesting a decision to deny him a place on the ballot on residency grounds.
English-Only Rules In Today’s Multicultural Workplace
Several recent events — including a lawsuit against grocery chain Albertsons filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — highlight that many employers may not be well-acquainted with the nuances of the law regarding English-only rules, despite the high potential for such sensitive issues to create problems, says Alex Lee of Einhorn Harris Ascher Barbarito & Frost PC.
What New FWS Take Guidance Means For Permit Applicants
New guidance from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service clarifies when habitat modification triggers an incidental take permit, who decides whether a permit is needed and who takes the risk, creating significant implications for private project proponents considering whether to seek an incidental take permit and prepare a habitat conservation plan, say attorneys with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.
Cheers To 80 Years Of The Food, Drug, And Cosmetic Act
Eighty years ago, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. In recognition of this anniversary, attorneys at Epstein Becker Green review how the act came to be, how it has evolved, and how the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is enforcing its authority under the act to address the demands of rapidly evolving technology.
Real Estate Investors, Quintuple Your Deductions Under TCJA
Tax reform, and specifically Internal Revenue Code Section 199A, has created new planning opportunities for real estate investors and brokers. Although the provision is quite complex, there are huge potential savings available to commercial real estate investors, says Steve Moskowitz of Moskowitz LLP.
Roundup
Originally signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 25, 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act turns 80 this year. Here, attorneys most familiar with the statute provide different perspectives on the law’s impact and development over the course of its history.
Tax Relief Under Tax Cuts And Jobs Act? Not For Debtors
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has been lauded as being generally beneficial to corporate taxpayers — but not so for corporate debtors, whose ability to reorganize and emerge under a Chapter 11 plan has been significantly and negatively impacted by the change, say Scott Grossman and Kenneth Zuckerbrot of Greenberg Traurig LLP.
Energy Storage: Are We There Yet?
2018 has proven to be a turning point for energy storage in the U.S. Affordable, reliable batteries, ambitious state capacity goals and a major policy shift from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have created an ideal environment for energy storage to grow at a fast rate, say Paul Kraske and Zahir Rahman of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.
New Steel Measures Are A Test For ITC Sunset Reviews
The U.S. government regularly conducts “sunset reviews” to determine whether an existing anti-dumping or countervailing duty order should be revoked. The agency that reviews these orders tends to lean heavily in favor of keeping the duties — but the recently imposed steel tariffs make continuation of these other trade remedies harder to justify, says Jay Campbell of White & Case LLP.
High Court Kills Quill, But What's Left?
While much attention will be paid to the decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, the questions that the U.S. Supreme Court has left for another day are just as important, say attorneys at Morrison & Foerster LLP.
The Wayfair Brief: What You Should Know
Alston & Bird LLP submitted an amicus brief on behalf of Americans for Tax Reform in South Dakota v. Wayfair. Two of the firm's attorneys, Clark Calhoun and Andrew Yates, analyze the fine points of the U.S. Supreme Court's majority and dissenting opinions in this case and offer recommendations for states and online retailers going forward.
The Best Firms For Women And Minority Attorneys
It's the rare law firm that is consistently ahead of the pack on hiring and promoting women and minorities, according to Law360's annual headcount survey. Here are the firms leading the way in building a more diverse attorney workforce. BigLaw Bias & Harassment: Lawyers In Their Own Words
As part of our recent Satisfaction Survey, we asked our readers whether they'd faced harassment or discrimination based on race or sex, and many of the responses were jarring. Here's what they had to say.
How Highly Successful Attorneys Prepare For A Day In Court
Preparing for trials or oral arguments can be the busiest and most stressful times of attorneys' careers. Here, some of the industry's most successful litigators share how they get ready to face a judge or jury. Latham, Gibson Dunn Among Latest Firms To Raise Salaries
At least seven law firms ended the week by sharing their plans to raise associate base salaries to match the top-of-the-market pay scale recently set by Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP. Feature GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week
The Trump administration suggested combining the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Education as part of a broader reorganization of federal agencies, a judge deemed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as unlawfully structured and the Federal Trade Commission’s newly minted chairman said the agency will conduct hearings to refocus its enforcement mission. Podcast Law360's Pro Say: Trump's Family Separation Scandal
Immigrant families have been separated by the thousands along the Southern border under a Trump administration zero-tolerance policy. On this week's Pro Say podcast we discuss the complex legal dynamics at play, as well as the executive order signed by President Donald Trump that may not provide the relief it promises.
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