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Public Policy
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September 18, 2024
Native, Black Groups Ask To Intervene In Voter Rights Suit
Several nonprofit groups supporting Native American and Black voters have joined to intervene in a conservative think tank's lawsuit in Texas federal court that looks to stop a Biden administration executive order promoting easier access to voting.
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September 18, 2024
Loper Bright Undercuts SEC Climate Rule, Fracking Cos. Say
Two fracking companies suing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over its climate disclosure rules have again urged the Eighth Circuit to vacate the measures, offering a diverging interpretation of how the U.S. Supreme Court's decision axing Chevron deference should apply.
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September 18, 2024
Rescheduling Pot Would Not Hasten Research, Report Says
A recently enacted law will continue to make it difficult for medical researchers to conduct studies on marijuana, even if federal restrictions are loosened on the drug, according to a new report published Monday by the Congressional Research Service.
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September 18, 2024
9th Circ. Won't Revive Gas Price-Fixing Suit Over Trump Pact
The Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of a proposed class action alleging price fixing between major oil producers as part of the Trump Administration's 2020 deal with Russia and Saudi Arabia to cut production, saying that subjecting the pact to judicial review would be inappropriately "second-guessing" executive branch foreign policy.
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September 18, 2024
Feds Say Afghan Allies Can't Sue Over Kids' Visa Denials
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security urged a Virginia federal judge to toss a suit from Afghan allies who claim their children's visa applications were arbitrarily denied, saying the suit has no legal leg to stand on.
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September 18, 2024
5th Circ. Axes Bargaining Order Against Legal Support Firm
The Fifth Circuit reversed a National Labor Relations Board bargaining order Wednesday against a legal support consulting firm, determining certain workers within the unit are supervisors who can't unionize under federal labor law.
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September 18, 2024
Fed's Powell Sees Final Basel Rule Less Than 1 Year Away
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that a revamped version of the Basel III endgame capital rules for big banks could be finalized before next summer, adding that the federal banking agencies will be "moving together" as the controversial rulemaking project enters its next phase.
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September 18, 2024
Removal Risk Rises With State Line Crossings, ACLU Says
Unauthorized immigrants in Texas who seek out-of-state medical care because of the state's near-total abortion ban are at risk of getting deported every time they pass through checkpoints where they could get arrested, the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday.
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September 18, 2024
USPTO Makes Patent Amendment Program Permanent
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Wednesday made permanent a pilot program that assists patent owners seeking to amend patent claims in America Invents Act reviews by providing preliminary feedback about proposed changes.
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September 18, 2024
House Seeks To Increase Judgeships After Senate OKs Bill
The chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts has introduced new judicial staffing legislation, a month after the Senate passed its own version of a bipartisan bill that seeks to create 66 new and temporary judgeships over the next decade in an effort to ease pressure on the overburdened federal judiciary.
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September 18, 2024
House Rejects 6-Month Federal Funding Bill
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday rejected a continuing resolution funding the federal government for six months, after a veto threat from President Joe Biden over the bill's funding levels and a contentious clause requiring citizenship checks for voter registration.
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September 18, 2024
Teamsters Won't Endorse Candidate In 2024 Election
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced Wednesday it will not endorse a candidate in the upcoming presidential election, citing its polling of members and a lack of commitment from major party candidates on issues key to the union.
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September 18, 2024
Colo. SG Urges Lawyers Not To Lose Sight Of Human Harm
Colorado Solicitor General Shannon Stevenson on Wednesday urged appellate lawyers to use their cases to keep judges "in touch with real people," lamenting that the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision on true threats ignored the profound impact a man's Facebook messages had on a stalking victim.
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September 18, 2024
Feds Oppose Bid To Block EPA Mercury Rule At High Court
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, several blue states and a coalition of green groups on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reject an effort to reverse the D.C. Circuit's decision allowing the EPA to implement a mercury air pollution rule.
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September 18, 2024
BIPA Doesn't Conflict With Kids Safety Law, Judge Rules
An Illinois federal judge on Tuesday rejected Meta's bid to dismiss a biometric privacy class action alleging it improperly stored Messenger and Messenger Kids users' facial geometries to apply bunny-ear and other filters, finding a federal child privacy law does not preempt the suit.
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September 18, 2024
NJ Steel Co. Says OSHA Review Agency Is Unconstitutional
A New Jersey steel fabrication company has told a New Jersey federal court that an independent federal commission shouldn't decide whether it has to pay nearly $350,000 in proposed penalties from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, arguing the commission's structure violates the separation of powers clause of the U.S. Constitution.
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September 18, 2024
Toss Atty Input Overboard, Says Org. In Blackbeard Image Spat
A marine research organization and a state cultural resources agency have urged the North Carolina Business Court to scrap testimony from attorneys from trial evidence in a contract battle over the use of images and video of Blackbeard's shipwreck.
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September 18, 2024
NC Panel Won't Undo Energy Rates In Solar Incentives Row
The North Carolina state appeals court has declined to unravel the state's revised energy rates for residents with rooftop solar power, saying that while the North Carolina Utilities Commission erred by concluding it was not required to conduct a cost-benefit investigation, it de facto carried out such an inquiry anyway.
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September 18, 2024
Bipartisan Bill Would Boost Acquisition Council's Authority
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers has introduced a bill to boost a federal advisory council that makes recommendations for mitigating risks within federal supply chains, giving the council more funding and the ability to issue binding removal orders for risky technologies.
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September 18, 2024
Senate Panel Backs Bill Easing Pot Rules For Federal Hires
A Democrat-backed bill that would curb federal agencies' ability to use past medical or recreational cannabis use as a factor in hiring and security clearance decisions was advanced out of a Senate committee Wednesday, paving the way for a vote before the whole chamber.
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September 18, 2024
Fla. Judge Keeps Tribe's CWA Permitting Power Row On Hold
A Florida federal judge on Wednesday further extended his pause of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians' lawsuit claiming the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency improperly granted Florida authority over a Clean Water Act permitting program, while the D.C. Circuit considers an appeal in a similar case.
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September 18, 2024
House Panel Easily Passes Mandate For AM Radio In Cars
Congress has inched closer to passing a mandate on the auto industry to keep putting AM radio devices in cars, with a key House committee overwhelmingly approving the bipartisan bill Wednesday and brushing past some lawmakers' concerns about over-regulation.
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September 18, 2024
Groups Seek To Sway FCC's Campaign Ad AI Disclosure Plan
Consumer advocates want the Federal Communications Commission to strengthen its planned rules to require broadcasters to disclose the use of artificial intelligence in political ads, while the effort continues to draw strong conservative opposition.
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September 18, 2024
No Rehearing For 10th Circ. Methane Rule Challenge
A Tenth Circuit panel rejected a request to reconsider its decision to throw out a ruling that partially invalidated an Obama-era rule limiting venting, flaring and leaks from oil and gas wells on federal land.
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September 18, 2024
Mich. Town Wants Stay During Appeal Over $2B Battery Plant
A central Michigan township has asked a federal judge to pause enforcement while it appeals a previous ruling finding local officials violated a development agreement by trying to withdraw support for a more than $2 billion battery components plant to be built by Gotion Inc.
Expert Analysis
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A Preview Of AI Priorities Under The Next President
For the first time in a presidential election, both of the leading candidates and their parties have been vocal about artificial intelligence policy, offering clues on the future of regulation as AI continues to advance and congressional action continues to stall, say attorneys at Mintz.
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DOJ Must Overcome Hurdles In RealPage Antitrust Case
The U.S. Department of Justice's recent claims that RealPage's pricing software violates the Sherman Act mark a creative, and apparently contradictory, shift in the agency's approach to algorithmic price-fixing that will face several key challenges, say attorneys at Clifford Chance.
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What To Know About CFPB Stance On Confidentiality Terms
A recent circular from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau represents a growing effort across government agencies to address overbroad confidentiality agreements, and gives employers insight into the bureau's perspective on the issue as it relates to the Consumer Financial Protection Act, say Holly Williamson and Elizabeth King at Hunton.
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Opinion
To Lower Drug Prices, Harris Must Address Patent Thickets
If Vice President Kamala Harris is serious about her pledge to address high drug prices, she must begin by closing loopholes that allow pharmaceutical companies to develop patent thickets that can deter generic or biosimilar companies from entering the market, says Tahir Amin at the Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge.
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How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations
Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.
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ESA Ruling May Jeopardize Gulf Of Mexico Drilling Operations
A Maryland federal court's recent decision in Sierra Club v. National Marine Fisheries Service, vacating key Endangered Species Act analyses of oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico, may create a gap in guidance that could expose operators to enforcement risk and even criminal liability, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
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The State Law Landscape After Justices' Social Media Ruling
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent NetChoice ruling on social media platforms’ First Amendment rights, it’s still unclear if state content moderation laws are constitutional, leaving online operators to face a patchwork of regulation, and the potential for the issue to return to the high court, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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What's Next For Federal Preemption In Financial Services
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's review of its preemption interpretations and growing pressure from state regulators signal potential changes ahead for preemption in U.S. financial services, and the path forward will likely involve a reevaluation of the entire framework, say attorneys at Clark Hill.
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Avoiding Corporate Political Activity Pitfalls This Election Year
As Election Day approaches, corporate counsel should be mindful of the complicated rules around companies engaging in political activities, including super PAC contributions, pay-to-play prohibitions and foreign agent restrictions, say attorneys at Covington.
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Opinion
Congress Must Do More To Bolster ERISA Protections
As the Employee Retirement Income Security Act turns 50 this month, we applaud Congress for championing a statute that protects worker and retiree rights, but further action is needed to ban arbitration clauses in plan provisions and codify regulations imperiled by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Chevron ruling, say Michelle Yau and Eleanor Frisch at Cohen Milstein.
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Increased Scrutiny Raises Int'l Real Estate Transaction Risks
Recently proposed regulations expanding the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' oversight, a White House divestment order and state-level legislative efforts signal increasing scrutiny of real estate transactions that may trigger national security concerns, say Luciano Racco and Aleksis Fernández Caballero at Foley Hoag.
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Navigating Cybersecurity Rule Changes For Gov't Contractors
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
As federal contractors evaluate the security of their IT systems, they should keep in mind numerous changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulations and the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement recently promulgated to meet new cyber threats, says William Stowe at KBR.
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Financial Incentives May Alleviate Affordable Housing Crisis
There is a wide array of financial incentives and assistance that the government can provide to both real estate developers and individuals to chip away at the housing affordability problem from multiple angles, say Eric DeBear and Madeline Williams at Cozen.
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How Fund Advisers Can Limit Election Year Pay-To-Play Risks
With Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz now the Democratic candidate for vice president, politically active investment advisers should take practical steps to avoid triggering strict pay-to-play rules that can lead to fund managers facing mutli-year timeouts from working with public funds after contributing to sitting officials, say attorneys at Dechert.
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FTC Focus: What Access To Patent Settlements Would Mean
Settling parties should adopt a series of practice tips, including specifying rationales to support specific terms, as the Federal Trade Commission seeks to expand its access to settlements before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, say Shannon McGowan and David Munkittrick at Proskauer.