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Public Policy
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May 16, 2024
DOL Unveils Long-Delayed Abandoned Retirement Plan Rules
After being sidelined for more than a decade, a plan for expanding U.S. Department of Labor rules for terminating retirement plans abandoned by employers are moving forward again, the agency reported Thursday, along with a long-delayed role in the process for bankruptcy trustees.
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May 16, 2024
New BLM Plans Sunset Federal Coal Leasing In Wyo., Mont.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Thursday unveiled court-ordered, revised resource management plans for coal-rich areas of Montana and Wyoming that end future coal leasing in the regions, a move blasted by congressional representatives of those states.
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May 16, 2024
Oil & Gas Groups Challenge DOI Overhaul Of Leasing Regs
A coalition of oil and gas groups has slapped the U.S. Department of the Interior with a lawsuit in Wyoming federal court seeking to unravel the agency's final rule boosting bonding requirements, royalty rates and minimum bids for its onshore federal oil and gas leasing program.
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May 16, 2024
Firm Seeks To Force IRS To Process Worker Retention Credits
A tax advisory firm helping businesses apply for the pandemic-era employee retention credit has asked an Arizona federal court to force the IRS to resume processing claims, saying the moratorium in place since September violates the Administrative Procedure Act.
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May 16, 2024
No Relief For Struggling SPACs Under Buyback Tax Proposal
Special-purpose acquisition companies won't get sought-after relief from a new 1% tax on stock buybacks under a recent Treasury Department proposal that otherwise provides helpful clarity on the tax's implications for the subdued SPAC market, lawyers say.
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May 16, 2024
Judge Ends ICE's 'Knock And Talk' Immigrant Arrest Tactic
A California federal court has struck down U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's policy of entering immigrants' private property without authorization for arrest, ruling that the practice violated the immigrants' Fourth Amendment protections against unlawful seizure.
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May 16, 2024
Conn. Justices Snatch Debt Collection Practice Of Law Case
The Connecticut Supreme Court has opted to hear a case that questions whether the state's banking commissioner or its judicial branch has the power to regulate debt collection activities that occur under the purview of law firms, leapfrogging the case over the state's intermediate appellate court and into the state's highest court.
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May 16, 2024
Ohio Justice Seeks To Add Appeals Judge To Party Label Suit
Ohio Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner asked a federal judge to let her amend her challenge to a new state law requiring certain judicial candidates to list their political party affiliation beside their name on the ballot, arguing that her claims also apply to an intermediate appellate judge.
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May 16, 2024
Calif. Bar Halts Plans To Develop New Bar Exam
The State Bar of California has shelved a plan to develop its own online bar exam, a shift that could save the cash-strapped organization up to $4 million per year, but drew opposition from law school deans concerned about its ambitious rollout timeline.
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May 16, 2024
Nantucket Accused Of Biased Car-Rental Licensing
A Nantucket couple has sued the island town's government in Massachusetts federal court, alleging it enforced an illegal and racially biased bylaw enacted 27 years ago to shut down their car rental business.
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May 16, 2024
Coverage Recap: Day 14 Of Trump's NY Hush Money Trial
Law360 reporters are providing live updates from the Manhattan criminal courthouse as Donald Trump goes on trial for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments ahead of the 2016 election. Here's a recap from Thursday, day 14 of the trial.
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May 16, 2024
Ga. High Court Candidate Can't Stop Abortion Remarks Probe
Georgia Supreme Court candidate John Barrow can't pause a state ethics commission's investigation into his pro-abortion rights comments on the campaign trail, a federal judge ruled on Thursday, tossing Barrow's lawsuit and citing several flaws right out of the gate.
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May 16, 2024
DC Judge Mulls Dominion's DQ Bid For Pro-Trump Mich. Atty
Lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems pursuing defamation claims against former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne fought Thursday to disqualify the Michigan attorney representing him, insisting to a D.C. federal judge that disqualification is the most appropriate remedy for the lawyer's leak of Dominion's confidential discovery documents.
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May 16, 2024
Fla. Seeks To Halt Biden's ACA Trans Discrimination Rule
Florida urged a federal court to stop recently finalized regulations clarifying gender identity-based discrimination under the Affordable Care Act from taking effect, saying the new rules would force the state to abandon its health and safety laws or lose funding from the federal government.
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May 16, 2024
Mayer Brown Recruits Akin Gump Public Policy Pro In LA
Mayer Brown LLP has brought back a public policy and regulatory expert from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, where he spent over a decade leading its California public law and policy practice.
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May 16, 2024
HUD Calls Pa. Medical Marijuana Housing Suit Premature
A Pennsylvania housing authority and two would-be residents acted hastily in suing the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, since HUD hadn't formally threatened to pull the authority's funding over a state court order to offer assistance to medical marijuana users, a HUD lawyer told a federal judge Thursday.
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May 16, 2024
Biden Admin Proposes To Loosen Restrictions On Marijuana
President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that his administration has formally recommended relaxing restrictions on marijuana, marking the most significant federal policy shift on cannabis since the drug was criminalized more than 50 years ago.
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May 16, 2024
Senate Confirms South Dakota State Judge To Federal Bench
The Senate voted 90-4 on Thursday to confirm Judge Camela C. Theeler to the District of South Dakota.
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May 16, 2024
Menendez Bribery Case Criminalizes Gifts, Jury Told
Prosecutors are trying to criminalize friendship, gifts and advocacy, the counsel for one of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez's co-defendants said Thursday in an opening statement in the corruption trial in Manhattan federal court.
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May 16, 2024
Justices Say CFPB Is Constitutionally Funded
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is constitutionally funded, rejecting a payday lender-backed challenge that threatened to incapacitate the agency and throw a wrench in the Biden administration's financial regulatory agenda.
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May 16, 2024
Treasury Provides Extra Relief For Bonus Energy Tax Credits
The U.S. Treasury Department provided additional safe harbors Thursday that clean energy project developers can use to qualify for bonus tax credits for domestically sourcing their steel and aluminum parts in response to the Biden administration's new trade restrictions on solar products from China.
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May 16, 2024
Biden To Restore Tariffs On Bifacial Solar Panel Imports
The Biden administration is lifting a tariff exemption that was granted in 2019 for bifacial solar modules, saying Wednesday that the move will help ensure that imports from China don't undercut U.S. solar manufacturing.
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May 15, 2024
Trump Taking Criminal Gag Order Appeal To NY's High Court
Former president Donald Trump wants New York's highest court to review a gag order intended to stop him from criticizing witnesses and others involved in his criminal fraud trial, according to a docket entry Wednesday, just a day after a lower appellate court refused to overturn the order.
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May 15, 2024
Calif. Atty Tells 4th Circ. Dormant Commerce Applies To Pot
A California lawyer who has filed lawsuits challenging state and local cannabis licensure programs spearheaded an appeal at the Fourth Circuit asking it to find that the dormant commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution applies to federally illegal marijuana.
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May 15, 2024
3 Things To Know About CFTC's Election Betting Proposal
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has proposed to ban the trading of event contracts tied to things like election outcomes, sporting events and the Academy Awards. Here are three things to know about a proposal that is likely to be closely watched by industry insiders, some of whom are already wrapped up in litigation with the agency over this very issue.
Expert Analysis
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Georgia's Foreign Lobbying Bill Is Not A FARA Copycat
Though a recently passed bill in Georgia aims to mirror the transparency goals of the federal Foreign Agents Registration Act by imposing state-specific disclosure requirements for foreign lobbyists, the legislation’s broad language and lack of exemptions could capture a wider swath of organizations, say attorneys at Holtzman Vogel.
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FTC Noncompete Ban Signals Rising Labor Focus In Antitrust
The Federal Trade Commission’s approval this week of a prohibition on noncompete agreements continues antitrust enforcers’ increasing focus on labor, meaning companies must keep employee issues top of mind both in the ordinary course of business and when pursuing transactions, say attorneys at Skadden.
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Breaking Down EEOC's Final Rule To Implement The PWFA
Attorneys at Littler highlight some of the key provisions of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's final rule and interpretive guidance implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which is expected to be effective June 18, and departures from the proposed rule issued in August 2023.
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4 Ways To Refresh Your Law Firm's Marketing Strategy
With many BigLaw firms relying on an increasingly obsolete marketing approach that prioritizes stiff professionalism over authentic connection, adopting a few key communications strategies to better connect with today's clients and prospects can make all the difference, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law.
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What 3rd Circ. Trust Ruling Means For Securitization Market
Mercedes Tunstall and Michael Gambro at Cadwalader break down the Third Circuit's March decision in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. National Collegiate Master Student Loan Trust, as well as predict next steps in the litigation and the implications of the decision for servicers and the securitization industry as a whole.
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Breaking Down DOJ's Individual Self-Disclosure Pilot Program
The U.S. Department of Justice’s recently announced pilot program aims to incentivize individuals to voluntarily self-disclose corporate misconduct they were personally involved in, complementing a new whistleblower pilot program for individuals not involved in misconduct as well as the government's broader corporate enforcement approach, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.
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Cos. Must Prepare For Calif. Legislation That Would Ban PFAS
Pending California legislation that would ban the sale or distribution of new products containing intentionally added per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances could affect thousands of businesses — and given the bill's expected passage, and its draconian enforcement regime, companies must act now to prepare for it, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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How To Prepare As Employee Data Reporting Deadlines Near
As filing deadlines approach, government contractors and private companies alike should familiarize themselves with recent changes to federal and California employee data reporting requirements and think strategically about registration of affirmative action plans to minimize the risk of being audited, say Christopher Durham and Zev Grumet-Morris at Duane Morris.
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FDA Warning Letter Tightens Reins On 'Research Only' Labels
A recent warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to Agena Bioscience alleged the company’s diagnostic devices were labeled for research use only, but improperly promoted for human clinical purposes, signifying a reinforcement — and a potential narrowing — of the agency's policy on products labeled “research only,” say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
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Opinion
Seafarer Detention Under Ship Pollution Law Must Have Limits
The U.S. Coast Guard should reinstate limits on the number of days that foreign crew members may be forced to remain in the country while the U.S. Department of Justice investigates alleged violations of shipping pollution laws, in order to balance legitimate enforcement interests and seafarer welfare, say attorneys at Blank Rome.
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Perspectives
Justices' Forfeiture Ruling Resolves Nonexistent Split
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in McIntosh v. U.S., holding that a trial court’s failure to enter a preliminary criminal forfeiture order prior to sentencing doesn’t bar its entry later, is unusual in that it settles an issue on which the lower courts were not divided — but it may apply in certain forfeiture disputes, says Stefan Cassella at Asset Forfeiture Law.
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Behind Indiana's Broad New Healthcare Transactions Law
The high materiality threshold in Indiana's recently passed healthcare transaction law, coupled with the inclusion of private equity in its definition of healthcare entities, makes it one of the broadest state review regulations to date, say attorneys at DLA Piper.
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What Cos. Are Reporting Under New SEC Cybersecurity Rule
Four months after its effective date, 14 companies have made disclosures under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's mandatory cybersecurity incident reporting rule, and some early trends are emerging, including a possible rush to file, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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Opinion
SC's Courts Have It Wrong On Amazon Marketplace Sales Tax
The South Carolina Supreme Court should step in and correct the misguided change in tax law effectuated by lower court rulings that found Amazon owes state sales tax for marketplace sales made prior to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Wayfair v. South Dakota decision in 2018, says Hayes Holderness at the University of Richmond.
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What's In OCC's Proposed Freedom Of Information Act Update
In this article, Christine Docherty at Goodwin discusses the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's proposed amendments to its regulations implementing the Freedom of Information Act, and how these changes might align with guidance from other regulators.