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Public Policy
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June 18, 2024
Feds Ease Green Card Process For Mixed-Status Families
President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that certain foreigners who are married to U.S. citizens and their children can apply for green cards without leaving the U.S.
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June 18, 2024
Treasury Finalizes Labor Rules For Bonus Energy Tax Credits
The U.S. Treasury Department released final labor rules Tuesday for clean energy projects seeking to significantly boost the value of their tax credits, emphasizing due diligence by developers and announcing that more IRS resources will go toward enforcement of the rules.
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June 17, 2024
Iowa's Controversial Immigration Law Temporarily Blocked
An Iowa federal judge Monday temporarily blocked a controversial state law empowering local officials to arrest and remove previously deported individuals, even if they're now authorized to be in the country, ruling that the measure is trumped by federal law and therefore invalid.
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June 17, 2024
'What Am I Supposed To Do?': Epic-Apple Doc Row Irks Judge
A California federal judge presiding over Epic Games' high-stakes antitrust compliance fight against Apple expressed frustration Monday with the parties' disagreement over the scope of Apple's document production, asking counsel repeatedly "What am I supposed to do?" and "Do I need to get somebody on the stand to explain this?"
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June 17, 2024
T-Mobile To Consider Changing 'Price Lock' Ads After Dispute
T-Mobile said it will look into modifying "Price Lock" advertising claims after AT&T told the National Advertising Division that the ads mislead consumers by suggesting that T-Mobile locks in a certain price, when it only offers a free month of home internet service under certain conditions if the price goes up.
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June 17, 2024
US Surgeon General To Seek Warning Label On Social Media
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy has called on lawmakers to require social media companies to put warnings on their sites that say young people who use them have more mental health issues, according to an opinion article published on Monday.
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June 17, 2024
Mich. Judge Unsure If Town's Pot Co. Shutdown Broke Lease
A commercial landlord will have to go to trial on claims of unpaid rent against a combination medical marijuana grow and sign-making company, a Michigan state judge ruled, saying a jury must decide if the local government's decision to force the cannabis shop out voids the lease.
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June 17, 2024
DC Circ. Gives FERC More Clarity On Scope Of Climate Reviews
A recent D.C. Circuit decision not only endorses the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's current approach to reviewing the climate change impacts of gas infrastructure projects, but may also help trim environmental reviews by federal agencies across the board.
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June 17, 2024
Ad Tech Judge Says No 'Moving Target' Damages, No Jury
A Virginia federal judge refused to consider the government's "late-arriving" math on how much federal agencies were overcharged by Google's digital advertising placement technology, according to an order unsealed Friday, a decision that allowed Google to successfully short-circuit the U.S. Department of Justice's damages claim and avoid a jury trial sought by the agency.
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June 17, 2024
Mifepristone Ruling Means End Of Texas DACA Suit, Feds Say
A Texas-led coalition of states doesn't have standing to challenge the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program after the U.S. Supreme Court's blockbuster decision rejecting a challenge to the abortion drug mifepristone, the Biden administration told the Fifth Circuit on Monday.
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June 17, 2024
McConnell Denounces Judicial Nominee For District Of Ore.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., took to the Senate floor on Monday to criticize Magistrate Judge Mustafa Taher Kasubhai, a nominee for a district court judgeship in the District of Oregon whose confirmation vote is teed up for Tuesday.
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June 17, 2024
Toss Universal Service Fund Challenge, FCC Urges 5th Circ.
The Federal Communications Commission on Monday urged the Fifth Circuit to throw out a challenge to the agency's telecom subsidy system after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a pair of similar cases.
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June 17, 2024
Cocoa Trade Case May Hinge On Justices' Mifepristone Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent narrow ruling on standing in a case over access to the abortion medication mifepristone may figure prominently in upcoming oral arguments in a dispute involving imported cocoa allegedly harvested via forced child labor before the U.S. Court of International Trade, a judge said Monday.
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June 17, 2024
HUD Freed From Pa. Pot Patients' Suit Over Housing Rebuff
Unless the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development fulfills its threat to withhold a Pennsylvania county housing agency's funding for complying with a state court order to admit licensed medical marijuana patients, a lawsuit by the county agency and two potential tenants is premature, a federal judge ruled Monday.
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June 17, 2024
Maryland Gov. Moore Grants Sweeping Marijuana Pardons
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore on Monday announced that he had signed an executive order pardoning more than 175,000 convictions for possession of marijuana and marijuana paraphernalia.
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June 17, 2024
Google Says Texas Took Opposing Positions On Key Law
Google told a Texas federal court the state attorney general's office made arguments in the case accusing the tech giant of monopolizing display advertising technology that directly contradict arguments the state is making in a case challenging the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
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June 17, 2024
Farm Cos. To Pay $475K To End Wash. AG's Sex Assault Suit
A pair of agricultural companies agreed to pay $470,000 to resolve Washington state's lawsuit accusing them of standing by as a supervisor sexually harassed and assaulted female employees and firing those who complained, the state attorney general announced Monday.
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June 17, 2024
Ginnie Mae, HUD Want Bank's Loan Lien Suit Sent To Dallas
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Ginnie Mae pushed for the transfer of Texas Capital Bank's suit in Texas federal court over a vacated loan lien, arguing that the bank is contractually required to file its suit in a different division within the same district.
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June 17, 2024
EEOC Went Too Far With Pregnant Worker Rule, Judge Says
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission overstepped its authority by requiring workplace accommodations for "purely elective abortions," a Louisiana federal judge ruled Monday, handing two states and several religious groups a temporary reprieve from agency regulations implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
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June 17, 2024
Iowa Seeks To Mute 'Ag-Gag' Law First Amendment Challenge
Iowa on Friday asked a federal district court to dismiss animal rights' and community advocacy groups' First Amendment challenge to the state's "ag-gag" law that's designed to thwart undercover investigations of animal treatment.
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June 17, 2024
OECD Tax Plan Is Developing Nations' Best Choice, Prof Says
Developing countries could gain more revenue from the OECD's multilateral plan to tax the digital economy than the U.N. Tax Committee's bilateral alternative because they have small treaty networks, many customers and few large companies, an academic argued Monday during an Oxford University panel.
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June 17, 2024
DOL Says Insurers Can't Block ERISA Retirement Advice Regs
The U.S. Department of Labor urged a Texas federal court to reject a group of insurers' bid to halt the implementation of recently finalized regulations expanding which types of retirement investment advice fall under the purview of federal benefits law, arguing the challengers' request wasn't justified.
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June 17, 2024
Feds, Tribes Say It's Too Soon To Reopen Monument Suit
The federal government, tribes and conservation groups are fighting a bid by Utah and farming associations to lift a more than three-year stay in a challenge to the Bears Ears National Monument, arguing that the state is already involved in litigation that attempts to nullify the presidential proclamation that established it.
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June 17, 2024
Feds Say Bannon Must Go To Prison During Appeals
The U.S. government on Monday urged the D.C. Circuit to reject Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon's bid to stave off his four-month prison sentence for contempt of Congress, arguing that Bannon cannot show that the full D.C. Circuit or U.S. Supreme Court would take up his case.
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June 17, 2024
Colo. Justices To Review Prefiling Interest Cap Dispute
The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review whether a state court can let prefiling interest exceed the state's $1 million economic damages cap under the Health Care Availability Act, in a suit over a man's injuries at birth.
Expert Analysis
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A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence
The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.
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To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef
To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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What Junk Fee Law Means For Biz In California And Beyond
Come July 1, companies doing business in California must ensure that the price of any good or service as offered, displayed or advertised is inclusive of all mandatory fees and other charges in compliance with S.B. 478, which may have a far-reaching impact across the country due to wide applicability, say Alexandria Ruiz and Amy Lally at Sidley Austin.
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EPA Heavy-Duty Vehicle GHG Rules Face Bumpy Road Ahead
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for owners and operators of heavy-duty vehicles are facing opposition from both states and the transportation industry, and their arguments will mirror two pending cases challenging the EPA's authority, says Grant Laizer at Adams and Reese.
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8 Steps Companies Should Take After An Internal Investigation
Given the U.S. Department of Justice’s increasing focus on corporate compliance and remediation of misconduct, companies must follow through in several key ways after an internal investigation to ensure history does not repeat itself, say Jonathan Aronie and Joseph Jay at Sheppard Mullin.
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Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?
Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.
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Opinion
US Solar Import Probe's Focus On China Is Misguided
The U.S. Department of Commerce's recent anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigation focuses on the apparent Chinese ownership of solar device importers in four Southeast Asian countries — a point that is irrelevant under the controlling statute, says John Anwesen at Lighthill.
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DC Circ. Ruling Heightens HHS Contract Pharmacy Challenges
The D.C. Circuit's recent ruling that the Section 340B program does not bar manufacturers from restricting deliveries of discounted drugs to contract pharmacies represents a second strike against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' current contract pharmacy policy and raises the stakes surrounding an upcoming Seventh Circuit ruling on the same issue, say attorneys at Foley Hoag.
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Ohio Tax Talk: The Legislative Push For Property Tax Relief
As Ohio legislators attempt to alleviate the increasing property tax burden, four recent bills that could significantly affect homeowners propose to eliminate replacement property tax levies, freeze property taxes for longtime homeowners, adjust homestead exemptions annually for inflation, and temporarily expand the homestead exemption, say Raghav Agnihotri and Rachael Chamberlain at Frost Brown.
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Aviation Watch: Mostly Smooth Landing For New FAA Law
The recently signed Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act enhances air safety in several key ways, including strengthened passenger rights and cockpit voice recorder requirements, but an expansion of slot exemptions at Reagan National Airport is a notable misstep, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.
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Series
In The CFPB Playbook: Regulatory Aims Get High Court Assist
Newly emboldened after the U.S. Supreme Court last month found that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding is constitutional, the bureau has likely experienced a psychic boost, allowing its already robust enforcement agenda to continue expanding, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.
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NY Public Campaign Funding May Attract Scrutiny From Feds
The upcoming elections across New York this year will be the first under the state’s public campaign finance program — which may broaden federal prosecutors' purview to target state election fraud and corruption, says Jarrod Schaeffer at Abell Eskew.
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FTC Theories Of Harm After Anesthesia Co. Ruling
As Federal Trade Commission litigation against U.S. Anesthesia Partners proceeds following a Texas federal court's recent decision to dismiss a private equity sponsor from the suit, the case attempts to incorporate and advance some of the commission's theories of competitive harm from the final 2023 Merger Guidelines, say attorneys at Mintz.
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National Security And The Commercial Space Sector: Part 2
Strategy documents recently published by the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Space Force confirm the importance of the commercial space sector to the DOD, but say little about achieving the institutional changes needed to integrate commercial capabilities in support of national security in space, say Jeff Chiow and Skip Smith at Greenberg Traurig.
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FTC Hearing On Fake Review Rule Stressed Compliance Costs
The Federal Trade Commission is likely to finalize its proposed rule to prohibit marketers from using deceptive practices in their product reviews after an informal hearing covered arguments over whether costs of implementing the rule, such as review moderation and software maintenance, would be minimal, says Jeffrey Edelstein at Manatt.