Public Policy

  • June 13, 2024

    Trade Groups Join EPA Vehicle Emissions Rule Fight

    A coalition of trade associations and auto dealers on Thursday called for the D.C. Circuit to vacate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's final rule requiring reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from cars, trucks and vans.

  • June 13, 2024

    6th Circ. Skeptical Of Takings Theory In Mich. Dam Collapse

    Property owners whose homes were damaged in flooding caused by a hydroelectric dam collapse met pushback from Sixth Circuit judges Thursday, in their case arguing local governments must compensate them for their losses under a Fifth Amendment takings theory.

  • June 13, 2024

    Biden Picks CFTC's Goldsmith Romero For FDIC Chair

    The White House said Thursday that President Joe Biden will nominate Christy Goldsmith Romero, a Democratic member of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, for the top job at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

  • June 13, 2024

    Mass. High Court Approves Tipped Wage Ballot Measure

    Massachusetts' highest court on Thursday gave its blessing to a November ballot question asking voters to increase the state's minimum wage for tipped workers, finding that pairing the measure with a provision to allow tip pooling is part of an overall public policy goal to boost wages for all service industry employees.

  • June 13, 2024

    FTC Urged To Get Moving On Stalled Privacy Rulemaking

    Nearly three dozen consumer advocacy groups are calling on the Federal Trade Commission to stop dragging its feet on efforts announced almost two years ago to craft sweeping data privacy and security rules, arguing that time is running out for the agency to clamp down on companies' "historic" drive to amass personal information and track consumers online. 

  • June 12, 2024

    Oklahoma Justices Toss Tulsa Race Massacre Survivors' Suit

    The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre in the affluent Black community of Greenwood in 1921, acknowledging as legitimate their "grievance with the social and economic inequities" created by the decimation, but finding that it falls outside public nuisance doctrine.

  • June 12, 2024

    Senate Confirms 2 FERC Nominees, Puts 3rd Nominee On Deck

    The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed two nominees to fill vacant commissioner slots at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and scheduled a Thursday vote for a third nominee.

  • June 12, 2024

    Tillis Told Drug Patents Are Too Complex For Easy Answers

    When and how generic drugs enter the marketplace varies widely among different drugs and isn't necessarily related to how many patents are covering those drugs, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said Wednesday in a report requested by a top member of the U.S. Senate's Intellectual Property Subcommittee.

  • June 12, 2024

    Menendez Wanted Certain Case Scrutinized, US Atty Testifies

    New Jersey U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger took the stand Wednesday in the bribery trial against onetime friend Sen. Robert Menendez, telling a New York federal jury he had to rebuff the senator's request for a "careful" look at a case against one of the men alleged to have bribed Menendez.

  • June 12, 2024

    Senate Dems Admonish Roberts As Ethics Reform Stalls

    Several senior Democratic senators chided Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday for failing to take responsibility for or address the U.S. Supreme Court's ethics issues, vowing to continue fighting Republican opposition and to pass court reform legislation unless the chief justice makes improvements.

  • June 12, 2024

    FTC Tells DC Circ. It Can Modify $5B Meta Privacy Deal

    The Federal Trade Commission told the D.C. Circuit on Wednesday that it has the authority to reopen its in-house proceedings in order to revise a $5 billion privacy settlement with Meta Platforms, saying the courts do not have oversight of the agency's administrative order.

  • June 12, 2024

    DeSantis Doesn't Have To Turn Over Judicial Advisers' Info

    A Florida appeals court on Wednesday affirmed the dismissal of a petition to force Gov. Ron DeSantis to turn over information about the conservative advisers he consults to vet judicial nominees, but refused to affirm the lower court's conclusion that executive privilege shielded the governor from producing the documents.

  • June 12, 2024

    6th Circ. Judge Asks If Ad Limit Fight Destined For High Court

    Sixth Circuit judges wondered if Republicans will have to take their challenge to limits on political parties' spending on candidate campaign ads to the U.S. Supreme Court for relief, questioning Wednesday if there's wiggle room to depart from a 20-year-old high court case upholding the limits.

  • June 12, 2024

    House IP Panel Eyes Transparency For Litigation Funders

    A congressional committee on Wednesday began discussing whether to require more transparency of third-party litigation funding agreements to stem what lawmakers say are abusive patent lawsuits and national security concerns if hostile foreign governments meddle with cases anonymously.

  • June 12, 2024

    ND Lawmakers Want In On Voting Rights Suit, 8th Circ. Told

    The North Dakota Legislative Assembly is asking the Eighth Circuit to reverse a lower court's order that denied its intervention in a bid to redraw the state's 2021 redistricting maps, arguing that two tribes' adopted voting map should be vacated and the lawmakers should be afforded a chance to come up with a remedial plan.

  • June 12, 2024

    '83 Wolfpack Suit May Throw NIL Peace For A Loop

    As the NCAA cheered a settlement aimed at marshaling payments to athletes for their names, images and likenesses last week, experts say a new suit from one of college basketball's most historic teams illustrates the shortcomings of a hasty effort to right past wrongs.

  • June 12, 2024

    USPTO Updates PTAB Review, Assignment Procedures

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has finalized its rule governing how draft Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions will be distributed within the agency, and has updated its policy for assigning cases within the PTAB, according to a Wednesday notice in the Federal Register and agency statement, respectively.

  • June 12, 2024

    FDIC Head Must Go To Change Status Quo, GOP Reps. Say

    House Republicans on Wednesday criticized Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chair Martin Gruenberg for not immediately resigning in the wake of a probe of the agency's workplace culture, but some Democrats took issue with the scope of a report on the investigation's findings while applauding his rumored successor.

  • June 12, 2024

    1st Circ. Finds PREPA Bondholders Have $8.5B In Valid Liens

    The First Circuit said Wednesday that bondholders of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority have valid liens worth $8.5 billion on the revenue of the utility, reversing a lower court's ruling but leaving it up to the bankruptcy court to determine what effect that has on the restructuring plan.

  • June 12, 2024

    Tribes Say Court Must Examine Spill Risks In Gold Mine Row

    Half a dozen tribes that oppose a large open-pit gold mine along the Kuskokwim River in southwest Alaska have urged a federal judge to vacate a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorization for the project, saying the government has wrongly interpreted environmental concerns.

  • June 12, 2024

    Chopra Rejects Fresh 'Earnings' Attack On CFPB Funding

    Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra told U.S. senators on Wednesday that an emerging line of attack on his agency's funding doesn't hold water, brushing aside a legal theory that has bubbled up in the aftermath of a recent U.S. Supreme Court defeat for critics of the agency.

  • June 12, 2024

    Teams Can't Prop Up Fox Philly TV License, Group Says

    The group of advocates calling for Fox's Philadelphia affiliate to lose its broadcast license over its parent company's 2020 election coverage is pushing back against claims from three of the city's sports teams, saying the station's sports content is beside the point.

  • June 12, 2024

    Wash. Urges 9th Circ. To Toss Pot Licensure Challenge

    Washington's cannabis authority has asked the Ninth Circuit to reject an effort by an out-of-state retailer to block the state's social equity program from awarding retail licenses, arguing that a motion for preliminary injunction is moot now that the trial court has tossed the entire lawsuit with prejudice.

  • June 12, 2024

    New Border Rules 'Blatantly' Flout US Asylum Law, Suit Says

    Immigrant rights groups sued the Biden administration Wednesday in Washington, D.C., federal court over a new policy that largely halts asylum for migrants crossing the border in between ports of entry, saying the policy echoes unlawful Trump-era asylum bans.

  • June 12, 2024

    Texas Anesthesia Co. Appealing To Duck FTC Suit To 5th Circ.

    U.S. Anesthesia Partners Inc. gave notice Wednesday that it will ask the Fifth Circuit to review a Texas federal judge's mid-May decision refusing to toss Federal Trade Commission allegations of a monopolistic "roll-up" of Lone Star State anesthesia practices.

Expert Analysis

  • 8 Questions To Ask Before Final CISA Breach Reporting Rule

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    The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s recently proposed cyber incident reporting requirements for critical infrastructure entities represent the overall approach CISA will take in its final rule, so companies should be asking key compliance questions now and preparing for a more complicated reporting regime, say Arianna Evers and Shannon Mercer at WilmerHale.

  • Series

    Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

  • Key Priorities In FDIC Report On Resolving Big Bank Failures

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    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s report last month on the resolvability of large financial institutions contains little new information, but it does reiterate key policy priorities, including the agency's desire to enhance loss-absorbing capacity through long-term debt requirements and preference for single-point-of-entry resolution strategies, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • Best Practices For Space Security In Our Connected World

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    NASA's recently published space security guide is another indication that cyber-resilience has become a global theme for the space and satellite sector, as well as a useful reference for companies and organizations reviewing their cybersecurity frameworks or looking to partner with the U.S. agency, says Hayley Blyth at Bird & Bird.

  • Opinion

    SEC Doesn't Have Legal Authority For Climate Disclosure Rule

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    Instead of making the required legal argument to establish its authority, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related disclosure rule hides behind more than 1,000 references to materiality to give the appearance that its rule is legally defensible, says Bernard Sharfman at RealClearFoundation.

  • What 100 Federal Cases Suggest About Changes To Chevron

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    With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overturn or narrow its 40-year-old doctrine of Chevron deference, a review of 100 recent federal district court decisions confirm that changes to the Chevron framework will have broad ramifications — but the magnitude of the impact will depend on the details of the high court's ruling, say Kali Schellenberg and Jon Cochran at LeVan Stapleton.

  • FTC Noncompete Rule May Still Face Historical Hurdles

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    The Federal Trade Commission's final rule banning noncompetes might face challenges that could have been avoided with more cautious consideration of the commission's long history of failed lawsuits that went beyond the agency's statutory authority, as well as the mountain of judicial precedent justifying noncompete agreements in employment contracts, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • A Look At Subchapter V As Debt Limit Expiration Looms

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    If proposed legislation to extend Subchapter V’s debt eligibility ceiling sunset date in June is passed, bankruptcy professionals can seek ways to work with their local jurisdictions to advocate for code changes and guidance that bring more efficiencies and clarity to the process, say Matthew Brash at Newpoint Advisors and Melinda Bennett at Stretto.

  • Opinion

    SEC Should Be Allowed To Equip Investors With Climate Info

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new rule to require more climate-related disclosures will provide investors with much-needed clarity, despite opponents' attempts to challenge the rule with misused legal arguments, say Sarah Goetz at Democracy Forward and Cynthia Hanawalt at Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change.

  • 8 Fla. Statutes That Construction Cos. Should Prepare For

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    In this article, Jason Lambert at Hill Ward discusses a number of recent bills out of the Florida Legislature targeting construction companies in the Sunshine State that have been sent to the governor for signature, at least some of which will have broad impacts that affected companies should prepare for ahead of the July 1 effective date.

  • Game-Changing Decisions Call For New Rules At The NCAA

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    From a newly formed college players union to coaches transferring at the drop of a hat, the National College Athletic Association needs an overhaul, including federal supervision, says Frank Darras at DarrasLaw.

  • End Of Acquitted Conduct Sentencing Can Spark More Reform

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    The U.S. Sentencing Commission’s recent end to factoring acquitted conduct into federal sentences could signal the start of a more constitutionally sound advisory scheme, but Congress and the Supreme Court must first authorize the commission to resolve two constitutional errors baked into its guidelines, say Mark Allenbaugh at SentencingStats.com and Alan Ellis at the Law Offices of Alan Ellis.

  • Manufacturers Should Pay Attention To 'Right-To-Repair' Laws

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    Oregon’s recently passed "right-to-repair" statute highlights that the R2R movement is not going away, and that manufacturers of all kinds need to be paying attention to the evolving list of R2R statutes in various states and consider participating in the process, says Courtney Sarnow at Culhane.

  • Opinion

    Viral Deepfakes Of Taylor Swift Highlight Need For Regulation

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    As the nation grapples with addressing risk from artificial intelligence use, the recent circulation of AI-generated pornographic images of Taylor Swift on the social platform X highlights the need for federal legislation to protect nonconsenting subjects of deepfake pornography, say Nicole Brenner and Susie Ruiz-Lichter at Squire Patton.

  • Opinion

    Time To Fix NYC's Broken Property Assessment System

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    A New York appellate court's decision to revive Tax Equity Now New York v. City of New York may force the city to revamp its outdated and unfair real estate tax assessment system, which could be fixed with a couple of simple changes, says Seth Feldman at Romer Debbas.

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