Public Policy

  • June 13, 2024

    DOE Can't Limit Water Usage In Dishwashers, Shoppers Say

    Two men sued the U.S. Department of Energy in Texas federal court over the agency's new rules that govern how efficiently household appliances need to manage water usage, saying in a Thursday complaint that the agency surpassed its statutory authority and flouted a previous Fifth Circuit decision.

  • June 13, 2024

    FAA Chief Vows Diligent Boeing Oversight In Senate Hearing

    The Federal Aviation Administration's chief told a Senate panel Thursday that the regulator has diligently stepped up oversight of Boeing's manufacturing since January's harrowing midair door plug blowout on a 737 Max 9 jet, an incident that prompted multiple probes into Boeing's safety culture and quality control.

  • June 13, 2024

    North Carolina Lawmakers Mull Outlawing 'Gas Station Heroin'

    A bill to make the drug tianeptine a scheduled substance in the Tar Heel state that passed in the North Carolina House of Representatives this week has been kicked over to the state Senate for consideration.

  • June 13, 2024

    SEC's Gensler Rethinking AI Advising, Crypto Custody Regs

    U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler told senators Thursday that the agency could rewrite a pair of proposals governing broker-dealers' use of artificial intelligence and the handling of customers' cryptocurrency assets in the wake of "robust" feedback from both supporters and naysayers.

  • June 13, 2024

    GOP Lawmakers Want China Patent Data Amid Tech Pact Talks

    Republican lawmakers are urging the U.S. Commerce Department to provide a full accounting of whether the U.S. government has funded research that resulted in Chinese patents, arguing they need the data to assess potential national security risks as the Biden administration negotiates a new science and technology agreement with China.

  • June 13, 2024

    Tribes Fight BC's Consultation Policy On Aboriginal Rights

    Indigenous nations along British Columbia's U.S. border want a say in projects they claim will threaten the environment and their quality of life after the Canadian province announced plans earlier this year to develop a policy to clarify how tribes located outside the country are consulted on such endeavors.

  • June 13, 2024

    Turkish Jet Co. To Pay $285K For Russia Charter Flights

    A Turkish aviation company will pay the U.S. Department of Commerce $285,000 to resolve export violations stemming from two private charter flights the company made to Russia in a U.S.-made Gulfstream plane, the agency announced Thursday.

  • June 13, 2024

    Green Groups Challenge EPA Approval Of La. Well Authority

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's decision to give Louisiana authority over some underground injection wells, which can be used for carbon capture and sequestration, violated the Safe Drinking Water Act, green groups said in a new lawsuit.

  • June 13, 2024

    Ford Asks To Defend EPA's Heavy-Duty Truck Emissions Rule

    Ford Motor Co. has urged the D.C. Circuit to let it intervene in defense of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's final rule establishing greenhouse gas emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles such as delivery trucks, dump trucks, public utility trucks and buses.

  • June 13, 2024

    Pennsylvania Gov. Sued For More Public Defense Funding

    Defendants facing charges in Pennsylvania sued Gov. Josh Shapiro and the state Legislature Thursday over their alleged failure to ensure that people who can't afford an attorney in their criminal cases receive effective and free representation.

  • June 13, 2024

    Red Roof Had 'Revolving Door' For Trafficking, Ga. Jurors Told

    A former Red Roof Inn Inc. employee and the leader of a nonprofit testified Thursday about sex trafficking they saw take place at two metro Atlanta Red Roof Inn locations as part of a landmark civil trial in which 11 women allege the company knew trafficking was taking place at the locations and did nothing to stop it.

  • June 13, 2024

    Verizon Opposes AT&T's FirstNet As 4.9 GHz Band Manager

    Verizon is done letting proxies speak for it in the war of words over a plan to make AT&T's FirstNet the national manager of the 4.9 gigahertz public safety band, telling the Federal Communications Commission in a new filing that the idea would disrupt the public safety spectrum marketplace.

  • June 13, 2024

    Georgia DA Willis Moves To Ax Trump Appeal In DQ Fight

    A prosecutor from Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis' office wants a Georgia appellate court to nix an appeal that seeks to disqualify Willis from her election interference case against former President Donald Trump, claiming the appeal rests on flimsy evidence.

  • June 13, 2024

    Contentious Del. Corporate Law Changes Sail Through Senate

    After triggering rare public dissent, a multipart Delaware General Corporation Law amendment that would let boards cede some governance rights to big stockholders whisked through the state's Senate on Thursday without debate or an opposing vote, with a House vote expected as early as next week.

  • June 13, 2024

    FERC Gains Full Bench With 3rd Nominee Confirmation

    The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed former Massachusetts Undersecretary for Energy and Climate Solutions Judy W. Chang to fill a vacant commissioner slot at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, giving the agency a full complement of five commissioners.

  • June 13, 2024

    Justice Thomas Failed To Disclose More Trips, Dems Say

    U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas failed to disclose more private jet trips gifted by billionaire and Republican donor Harlan Crow, according to new information released Thursday by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

  • June 13, 2024

    'Solid' Ethics Master Gets Closer To New Jersey Bench

    The New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday advanced the nomination of a Garden State Supreme Court-appointed special ethics master to the state court bench, as well as the reappointment of 14 sitting judges.

  • June 13, 2024

    Bond Denial Upheld For Army Construction Project

    An Illinois federal judge affirmed an arbitration award relieving two insurers of covering a $1.8 million bond issued to a subcontractor retained for a U.S. Army construction project, upholding the arbitrator's finding that the status of the project wasn't accurately represented at the time of bond procurement.

  • June 13, 2024

    Ex-DLA Piper Atty, Md. Registered Lobbyist Joins Saul Ewing

    A longtime DLA Piper attorney and registered lobbyist with more than 30 years backing clients before Maryland regulators is joining Saul Ewing LLP, the firm has announced.

  • June 13, 2024

    Senate Panel OKs Fix For Federal Courts' 'Genuine Crisis'

    The Senate Judiciary Committee voted out unanimously on Thursday a bipartisan bill to create 66 new and temporary judgeships to alleviate the federal courts' workload.

  • June 13, 2024

    Conn. Justices Side With Ritzy Borough In Legal Notice Case

    The borough of Fenwick, Connecticut, provided adequate legal notice of zoning changes that would allow for short-term home rentals, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday, rejecting arguments that officials published their decision in a newspaper that does not substantially circulate in the affluent community.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • What's Extraordinary About Challenges To SEC Climate Rule

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    A set of ideologically diverse legal challenges to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate disclosure rule have been consolidated in the Eighth Circuit via a seldom-used lottery system, and the unpredictability of this process may drive agencies toward a more cautious future approach to rulemaking, say attorneys at Thompson Coburn.

  • 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.

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