Public Policy

  • February 04, 2025

    Trump Trans Care Order Usurps Congress' Power, Suit Says

    The Trump administration overstepped when it issued an executive order cutting off gender-affirming care for people under 19, a group of transgender adolescents, young adults and their families told a Maryland federal court Tuesday, arguing the president is trying to usurp Congressional authority by forcing federally funded hospitals to discriminate.

  • February 04, 2025

    4th Circ. Keeps NC Judge's Ballot Battle In State Court

    The Fourth Circuit will let a North Carolina state court decide the fate of a contested associate justice race that remains unresolved months after the election, but the panel left the door open for a district court to decide any leftover federal constitutional issues.

  • February 04, 2025

    5th Circ. Backs Biden's Gov't Contractor Wage Hike

    The Fifth Circuit upended on Tuesday a ruling that blocked an executive order increasing the minimum wage for federal contractors to $15 per hour, saying former President Joe Biden acted within his authority when he put forward the regulation because it was intended to promote economy and efficiency.

  • February 04, 2025

    11th Circ. Urged To Adopt 'Consensus' On Officers' Immunity

    A Georgia woman who was subjected to a strip and cavity search while visiting her husband in prison urged the full Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday to build on its prior ruling that her rights had been violated and to sweep away the prison officials' defenses of qualified immunity.

  • February 04, 2025

    External Revenue Service Could Help Solve Unpaid Duty Issue

    President Donald Trump's call for a new agency designed to collect trade revenue, billed as the External Revenue Service, may be more than a flashy concept and could tackle lingering inefficiencies associated with duty collection, experts say.

  • February 04, 2025

    Trump To Sign 'Keeping Men Out Of Women's Sports' Order

    President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order Wednesday that will ban transgender female athletes from competing in women's sports, according to an announcement from Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C.

  • February 04, 2025

    NJ Wildlife Regulator Is Unconstitutional, Ex-Legislator Argues

    A former New Jersey state senator urged an appeals court Tuesday to revive his nonprofit company's suit challenging the constitutionality of the state's hunting and fishing regulatory agency, arguing it's the only policymaking body in the state controlled by a single private organization.

  • February 04, 2025

    Coinbase Taps BigLaw Firms In Bid To End Crypto 'Debanking'

    Crypto exchange Coinbase urged regulators Tuesday to clarify that banks can offer crypto custody and execution services, submitting a letter featuring a report from three BigLaw firms asserting that federal laws and regulations already allow banks to wade further into digital asset activities.

  • February 04, 2025

    Lawmakers Hit Replay On Bill For Singers' Radio Royalties

    Lawmakers in Congress have reintroduced legislation that would require radio broadcasters to pay artists when playing their music, a measure that would address what the recording industry has called a legal loophole in which songwriters and publishers get paid — but not performers and labels — when radio stations play their music.

  • February 04, 2025

    Don't Let Trump's Changes Touch Patent Office, IP Attys Urge

    U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order shake-ups have drawn the ire of intellectual property lawyers, who are complaining about how the prospect of mass resignations of federal workers, a hiring freeze and the end of telework policies will impact their work in front of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

  • February 04, 2025

    Auto Cos., Mass. AG Make Final Case In 'Right To Repair' Fight

    The stagnated four-year battle over a Massachusetts law requiring vehicle manufacturers to provide open access to vehicle telematics software saw its final salvos Tuesday as attorneys for an automotive industry group and the state clashed over the merits of the federal preemption case.

  • February 04, 2025

    White House Lacks Authority To Issue NEPA Regs, Judge Says

    The White House Council on Environmental Quality has no authority to issue binding National Environmental Policy Act regulations, a North Dakota judge has ruled, scrapping challenged regulations the Biden administration had enacted.

  • February 04, 2025

    Ex-NJ Mayor Gets Probation For Defying Public Office Ban

    The former mayor of the third-largest city in New Jersey has been sentenced to three years of probation for trying to retake the mayoral office in 2022, in violation of a 2017 judicial order banning him from running for or holding public office, the state attorney general and the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability announced Tuesday.

  • February 04, 2025

    NY Advocates Urge Pols To Enact Sentencing Reforms

    New York lawmakers on Tuesday joined former prisoners and families of incarcerated people in Albany to urge elected officials and Gov. Kathy Hochul to enact bills that would reshape state sentencing laws that critics say are both too harsh and ineffective in deterring crime.

  • February 04, 2025

    RI Says Flavored Vape Ban Is 'Rational,' And Must Stand

    The state of Rhode Island is urging a federal court to throw out a suit by two retailers challenging the state's ban on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes, saying the plaintiffs can't show that there's no rational basis for the law.

  • February 04, 2025

    Apple Asks DC Circ. To Pause Google Search Case For Appeal

    Apple has asked the D.C. Circuit to pause the remedies phase of the landmark monopolization case targeting Google's search dominance, arguing it needs to intervene to protect its contracts with Google that are worth billions of dollars each year.

  • February 04, 2025

    Cherokee Nation, Group Spar Over Ark. Casino License Docs

    A federal district court is set to determine if the officers of a ballot issue committee backing an Arkansas amendment that revoked a Cherokee Nation business' casino license and the public affairs firm must hand over documentation in the dispute.

  • February 04, 2025

    Wash. Gov. Orders Look At Data Centers' Tax Revenue Impact

    Washington's governor issued an executive order directing the state's Department of Revenue to create a work group to examine the impact of data centers on the state's tax revenue and economy and recommend policies to address tax revenue needs in relation to other priorities.

  • February 04, 2025

    Southern Glazer's Wants FTC Unfair Pricing Suit Canned

    Southern Glazer's asked a California federal judge Monday to dismiss the Federal Trade Commission's first price discrimination lawsuit in 25 years, arguing that even if the "mistaken economic theory" undergirding it holds true, dissents from the FTC's Republicans illustrate why the case fails anyway.

  • February 04, 2025

    Docs Say DEA Didn't Put All Documents In Pot Hearing Record

    A group of doctors who had petitioned to halt the Drug Enforcement Administration's hearings on whether to reschedule cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act are asking the D.C. Circuit to order the agency to add documents to the record that they say have been wrongly excluded.

  • February 04, 2025

    Trump Names Sen. Cruz Aide To Lead NTIA

    The White House is nominating Arielle Roth, a top aide to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and an outspoken critic of what she called the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's "woke social agenda," to head up the agency.

  • February 04, 2025

    DOJ Criminal Division Leader Joins White & Case's DC Shop

    White & Case LLP announced on Tuesday it was growing its white collar team with the addition of partner Brent Wible, who told Law360 Pulse that it was time for him to step back into private practice following a five-year stint with the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • February 04, 2025

    Walmart Gets Arbitration In Fla. Delivery Fee Tax Fight

    An accusation that Walmart unlawfully charged Florida customers sales tax on delivery fees will go to arbitration, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, saying shoppers agreed to arbitration when they accepted the terms of use of the retailer's website.

  • February 04, 2025

    Boeing Supplier Tells 5th Circ. To Ax Texas Biz Records Law

    Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems Inc. cited U.S. Supreme Court precedent in urging the Fifth Circuit to uphold a lower court finding that a Texas statute requiring businesses to immediately comply with the state's demand to examine business records is facially unconstitutional.

  • February 04, 2025

    GOP Judge Too Late To Alter Election Rules, NC Court Told

    A Republican judge is trying to retroactively change election rules in North Carolina by asking a trial court to throw out scores of ballots cast in his race for a seat on the state Supreme Court, according to his Democratic challenger and state election officials.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    No, Litigation Funders Are Not 'Fleeing' The District Of Del.

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    A recent study claimed that litigation funders have “fled” Delaware federal court due to a standing order requiring disclosure of third-party financing, but responsible funders have no problem litigating in this jurisdiction, and many other factors could explain the decline in filings, say Will Freeman and Sarah Tsou at Omni Bridgeway.

  • Patent Policy Changes To Track Under New Gov't Leadership

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    The new federal government will likely bring pivotal shifts in U.S. patent policy through legislation and initiatives that reflect a renewed focus on strengthening intellectual property rights, fostering innovation and enhancing the nation's competitive edge, says PK Chakrabarti at Butzel Long.

  • How Trump Presidency May Influence NLRB's Next Phase

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    Attorneys at Paul Hastings discuss how last year’s key National Labor Relations Board developments may progress once President-elect Donald Trump takes office, including the wave of lawsuits challenging the board’s constitutionality and two landmark board decisions that upset decades of precedent.

  • Series

    Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q4

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    Douglas Thompson at Snell & Wilmer highlights a number of recent and pending issues, actions and potentially pivotal federal regulatory and legislative developments on deck that will affect California banks and financial institutions.

  • Opinion

    Congress Should Finally Add Clarity To Section 101

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    With both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate introducing bills to provide guidance on what qualifies as patentable subject matter under the Patent Act, Congress will hopefully put an end at last to 10 years of uncertainty surrounding the question, says David Carstens at Carstens Allen.

  • Hydrogen Regs Will Provide More Certainty — If They Survive

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    Newly finalized regulations implementing the Section 45V clean hydrogen tax credit allow producers more flexibility, and should therefore help put the industry on more solid footing — but the incoming Trump administration and Republican Congress will have multiple options for overturning or altering the regulations, say attorneys at Steptoe.

  • Top 10 Noncompete Developments Of 2024

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    Following an eventful year in noncompete law at both state and federal levels, employers can no longer rely on a court's willingness to blue-pencil overbroad agreements and are proceeding at their own peril if they do not thoughtfully review and carefully enforce such agreements, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • 5 E-Discovery Predictions For 2025 And Beyond

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    In the year to come, e-discovery will be shaped by new and emerging trends, from the adoption of artificial intelligence provisions in protective orders, to the proliferation of emojis as a source of evidence in contemporary litigation, say attorneys at Littler.

  • NY Plastic Pollution Verdict May Not Bode Well For Other Suits

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    The dismissal of New York state's public nuisance complaint against PepsiCo over pollution of the Buffalo River with the company's single use plastic bottles may not augur well for similar lawsuits filed by Baltimore and Los Angeles County, although tort law varies from state to state, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • Key Ethical Issues For Gov't Attys Moving To Private Practice

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    Transitioning from government service to private practice presents complex ethical challenges for attorneys, including navigating conflicts of interest, confidential information rules and post-employment restrictions, say attorneys at HWG.

  • Climate Disclosure Spotlight Shifts To 2 Calif. Laws

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    With Donald Trump's election spelling the all-but-certain demise of the proposed federal climate disclosure rules, new laws in California currently stand as the nation's only broadly applicable climate disclosure requirements — and their brevity is both a blessing and a curse, say attorneys at Davis Polk.

  • A Deep Dive Into DOJ's Proposed FARA Shake-Up

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recently published and long-awaited proposed amendments to the Foreign Agents Registration Act's implementing regulations, if adopted, would mark dramatic changes to the commercial exemption and new requirements for labeling informational materials, says Tessa Capeloto at Wiley.

  • Preparing For Mexican Drug Cartels' Terrorist Designation

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    In the event President-elect Donald Trump designates Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, businesses will need to consider how their particular industry is affected and evaluate previously legitimate practices given the cartels' involvement so many sectors of the economy, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • Final Hydrogen Tax Credit Regs Add Flexibility For Producers

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    The recently released final regulations implementing the Inflation Reduction Act's clean hydrogen production tax credit offer taxpayers greater flexibility, reducing risk and creating more certainty for investments in the industry, thus diminishing — but not eliminating — the risk of legal challenges to the regulations, say attorneys at Steptoe.

  • Where Payments Law And Regulation Are Headed In 2025

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    The Trump administration will likely bring significant changes to payments regulations in 2025, but maintaining internal compliance efforts in the absence of robust federal oversight will remain key as state authorities and private plaintiffs step into the breach, say attorneys at Stinson.

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