Public Policy

  • May 17, 2024

    Menendez Bribery Trial: 5 Things To Know About Week 1

    Explosive opening statements, closed-door jury questioning and an FBI agent's recount of the moment he found a treasure trove of gold bars and cash highlighted the first week of trial in the government's second corruption case against U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez.

  • May 17, 2024

    Ga. Judge In 2020 Election Cases To Take Senior Status

    U.S. District Judge Steve Jones of the Northern District of Georgia, who has presided over high-profile cases involving the 2020 election, voting rights and abortion, will take senior status on Jan. 1, 2025, according to an update Friday.

  • May 17, 2024

    Wash. Energy Codes Challenged Again After 9th Circ. Decision

    In the wake of a Ninth Circuit ruling that forced Washington officials to revisit regulations on natural gas appliances used in new construction, a group of natural gas companies, homeowners and construction interests are claiming the state's apparent fix is again out of step with federal law.

  • May 17, 2024

    Trade Commission Affirms Harm From Indian Steel Cylinder

    The U.S. International Trade Commission has determined that nonrefillable steel cylinders imported into the U.S. from India have harmed U.S. producers through unfair prices and government-backed subsidies, allowing the U.S. Department of Commerce to place anti-dumping and countervailing duties on the goods.

  • May 17, 2024

    Nancy Pelosi's Would-Be Kidnapper Sentenced To 30 Years

    A California federal judge sentenced David DePape on Friday to 30 years in prison for attempting to kidnap then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and for assaulting her husband, saying his actions will likely deter people from entering public service, so "we will never know what we have lost because of this crime."

  • May 17, 2024

    Trump's Potential Witness Could Be Defense 'Dynamite'

    As Donald Trump's hush money trial in Manhattan nears its end, experts say criminal defense attorney Robert Costello, who once advised the former president's ex-fixer and key prosecution witness Michael Cohen, has surfaced as a potentially bombshell witness for the defense.

  • May 17, 2024

    Tilray To Raise Money For Deals Amid US Pot Policy Change

    Cannabis lifestyle and consumer packaged goods company Tilray Brands Inc. on Friday said it plans to raise money to fund future acquisitions and expansion, in an announcement that comes just one day after President Joe Biden revealed that his administration is formally relaxing restrictions on marijuana.

  • May 17, 2024

    Kitchenware Cos. Seek Duties On Chinese Disposable Pans

    A group of domestic companies that produce disposable aluminum pans is pushing for tariffs on Chinese imports, telling U.S. trade officials that its overseas rivals are using unfair trade practices to get ahead of the competition.

  • May 17, 2024

    Day After High Court Win, 'Full Strength' CFPB Sues Fintech

    Fresh off its landmark victory at the U.S. Supreme Court, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Friday filed its first contested enforcement action in months while its director separately pledged to push full-speed ahead with the agency "firing on all cylinders."

  • May 17, 2024

    NJ Courts Chief Warns Plan To Pick Appeals Bench A 'Mistake'

    Chief Justice Stuart Rabner of the New Jersey Supreme Court on Friday defended how the state judiciary assigns appeals court judges, criticizing a proposal to move the power to appoint appellate judges from the chief justice to the state Senate and the governor's office.

  • May 17, 2024

    Many Plans Already In Front Of 11th Circ. Trans Health Ruling

    The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision that a county health plan's coverage exclusion for gender transition surgery violated federal anti-discrimination law likely won't have a big impact on plans because they have already made adjustments for the U.S. Supreme Court ruling the appeals court applied, experts say.

  • May 17, 2024

    AG Garland Held In Contempt By House Committees

    Two House committees voted late Thursday to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt for not turning over audio recordings of the president and his ghostwriter speaking with special counsel Robert Hur for his investigation into President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents.

  • May 16, 2024

    Buckle Up: CFPB's High Court Win Will Thaw Frozen Docket

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is walking away from the U.S. Supreme Court with its funding and rulebook intact, a victory that caps off years of constitutional wrangling over how the agency was set up and will usher in a wave of activity that has financial services attorneys bracing for impact.

  • May 16, 2024

    6th Circ. Still Won't Rethink Sanctions Against Trump Attys

    The Sixth Circuit on Thursday once again denied a bid from former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell and other attorneys to reconsider sanctions issued against them after they challenged the 2020 presidential election results in Michigan, holding that the attorneys must seek permission for future filings given their history of "meritless motions."

  • May 16, 2024

    No Double Jeopardy In Philly Execs' Embezzlement Case

    Two former Philadelphia nonprofit executives convicted for an embezzlement scheme weren't subject to double jeopardy when a judge rescheduled trial after several jurors left, the Third Circuit ruled Thursday, reasoning that the court had no other choice.

  • May 16, 2024

    New Immigration Rule To Speed Up Hearing Process For Some

    The United States will speed up the resolution of immigration cases for some single adults who are not citizens and attempt to cross between southern border ports of entry in a change that also largely rescinds a rule finalized in the last weeks of the Trump administration.

  • May 16, 2024

    Klobuchar Reintroduces Sweeping Antitrust Reform Bill

    Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., reintroduced sweeping legislation Thursday aimed at restoring competition by strengthening antitrust laws to help enforcers better deal with harmful conduct and mergers, garnering support from the American Antitrust Institute, Consumer Reports and others.

  • May 16, 2024

    DC Circ. Mulls Rolling Back Pipeline Safety Regs Over Cost

    The industry group challenging a handful of pipeline safety standards told a D.C. Circuit panel on Thursday that there will be "no fight" between it and the government on one of the regulations if the court simply rules that two terms that the agency maintains have the same definition do mean the same thing.

  • May 16, 2024

    Thomas, Alito: Two Originalists, Two Takes On CFPB Case

    U.S. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — often birds of a feather — butted heads Thursday over the original meaning and purpose of the U.S. Constitution's appropriations clause in a decision upholding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's unique funding scheme, highlighting what experts describe as the pair's different approaches to originalism.

  • May 16, 2024

    FCC Told Rural Aid Can't Lean Too Much On Broadband Maps

    Wireless providers are calling out flaws in the Federal Communications Commission's national broadband map, telling the agency to require more certification from providers to verify that they can actually serve areas they say they can before allocating broadband deployment funding.

  • May 16, 2024

    FTC Can't Make Albertsons, Kroger Produce Divestiture Docs

    An administrative law judge on Thursday denied the Federal Trade Commission's "premature" bid to compel Kroger and Albertsons to fork over documents related to negotiations for the companies' expanded divestiture plan amid the commission's in-house challenge to the grocers' merger.

  • May 16, 2024

    Judge Questions Colo.'s Power Over Out-Of-State Banks

    A Colorado federal judge on Thursday asked U.S. banking regulators why the state should be able to cap interest rates for loans made to residents by out-of-state financial institutions, questioning why it was "consistent with federalism" to let an individual state have that far of a reach.

  • May 16, 2024

    'That Is A Lie!' Trump Atty Assails Cohen In Fraud Trial Cross

    Donald Trump's lawyer lashed out at central prosecution witness Michael Cohen on Thursday during a second day of cross-examination in New York state's criminal fraud case, attacking his credibility and key testimony linking Trump to crimes.

  • May 16, 2024

    Judge Irked By 'Smart' Attys And 'Silly' Doc Retention Policies

    The chief judge of the U.S. Court of International Trade scolded Chinese tire companies on Thursday for complaining about having to provide information the federal government requested to reassess antidumping duties after the companies won an order for that reassessment.

  • May 16, 2024

    Investigate Pro-Gaza Reddit Post, GOP Pols Tell USPTO

    An anonymous Reddit post purportedly from a patent examiner confessing "mixed feelings" about issuing a patent to an Israeli defense contractor, citing the country's ongoing bombardment of Gaza, has attracted the attention of Republicans in Congress and the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office herself.

Expert Analysis

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

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    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • EU Inquiry Offers First Insight Into Foreign Subsidy Law

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    The European Commission's first in-depth investigation under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation into a public procurement process, and subsequent brief on regulatory trends, sheds light on the commission's approach to such cases, as well as jurisdictional, procedural and substantive issues under the regulation, says Matthew Hall at McGuireWoods.

  • What The NIL Negotiation Rules Injunction Means For NCAA

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    A Tennessee federal court's recent preliminary injunction reverses several prominent and well-established NCAA rules on negotiations with student-athletes over name, image and likeness compensation and shows that collegiate athletics is a profoundly unsettled legal environment, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • Md. May See Vigorous Resale Price Maintenance Enforcement

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    In Maryland, indications of a new focus on resale price maintenance agreements are significant because state prosecution in this area has been rare, particularly outside California, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • What 2 Years Of Ukraine-Russia Conflict Can Teach Cos.

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    A few key legal lessons for the global business community since Russia's invasion of Ukraine could help protect global commerce in times of future conflict, including how to respond to disparate trade restrictions and sanctions, navigate war-related contract disputes, and protect against heightened cybersecurity risks, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Takeaways From EPA's New Methane Emission Rules

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    Attorneys at V&E examine two new Clean Air Act rules for the oil and gas industry, explaining how they expand methane and volatile organic compound emission reduction requirements and amplify U.S. Environmental Protection Agency enforcement risks.

  • Uncertainty Surrounds Patent Eligibility Restoration Bill

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    A recent U.S. Senate hearing regarding the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act, a bill that aims to overhaul patent eligibility law and establish clearer statutory exclusions, marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing patent eligibility debate, but the law’s fate remains uncertain as discussions continue, say attorneys at Marshall Gerstein.

  • CSA Case Could Shift Intrastate Commercial Cannabis

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    In Canna Provisions v. Merrick Garland, cannabis companies argue that the Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional as applied to intrastate commercial cannabis activity; the Massachusetts federal court's eventual decision will be important to the cannabis industry for several reasons, including that the threat of federal enforcement would disappear overnight, says Hilary Bricken at Husch Blackwell.

  • How AI May Be Used In Fintech Fraud — And Fraud Detection

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    Recent enforcement actions in the fintech and finance industries show that the government is increasingly pursuing fraud enabled by artificial intelligence — at the same time it’s using AI innovations to enforce regulations and investigate fraud, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Antitrust Enforcers' Views On Info Exchanges Are Evolving

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    As antitrust enforcers' views on information exchanges between competing companies have matured in response to technological advances, companies would do well to reconsider whether the exchanges in which they participate meet the most recent compliance benchmarks, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • Takeaways From Groundbreaking Data Transfer Order

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    A recent first-of-its-kind executive order and related proposed rulemaking lay the groundwork for important outbound U.S. data protections, but they may have unintended consequences related to the types of data and the subjects within their scope, say attorneys at Kirkland.

  • Takeaways From NLRB Advice On 'Outside' Employment

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    Rebecca Leaf at Miles & Stockbridge examines a recent memo from the National Labor Relations Board’s Division of Advice that said it’s unlawful for employers to restrict secondary or outside employment, and explains what companies should know about the use of certain restrictive covenants going forward.

  • FARA Enforcement May Soon Be In The Halls Of Higher Ed

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    Given Congress’ increased attention to rising foreign influence on U.S. college campuses, the U.S. Department of Justice may soon turn the Foreign Agents Registration Act spotlight on educational institutions and groups, which will need to review their possible obligations under the statute, says Tessa Capeloto at Wiley.

  • What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks

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    Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.

  • How FinCEN Proposal Expands RE Transaction Obligations

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    Against a regulatory backdrop foreshadowing anti-money laundering efforts in the real estate sector, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's proposed rule significantly expands reporting requirements for certain nonfinanced residential real estate transfers and necessitates careful review, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

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