Public Policy

  • December 02, 2024

    Monsanto PCB Jury Is Told Cancer Link Isn't Solid

    A longtime Monsanto PCB expert told a Washington state court jury Monday that there is no solid evidence that the once-ubiquitous chemicals cause cancer in humans, saying "a cancer death here, a cancer death there" isn't conclusive.

  • December 02, 2024

    Government Mole Faces Tough Cross From Madigan's Atty

    An attorney for former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan got his chance Monday to question the ex-Chicago alderman who recorded his client while cooperating with the government, pushing him to admit that Madigan never explicitly conditioned his support on legal business for his law firm or told the alderman to vote against developers who didn't hire him for tax work.

  • December 02, 2024

    DC Circ. Asked To Spike 'Dangerous' NEPA Regulatons Ruling

    Environmental groups are asking the D.C. Circuit to overturn a panel's "demonstrably dangerous" ruling that the White House Council on Environmental Quality lacks the authority to issue legally binding regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act.

  • December 02, 2024

    SEC Crypto Cases To Face Review Under Trump

    President-elect Donald Trump's promises of a friendlier approach to the digital asset industry means a review is coming for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's controversial crypto suits, but experts agreed that this doesn't mean enforcement actions in the space will grind to a halt.

  • December 02, 2024

    Newsom Wants $25M For Expected Legal Fights With Trump

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday that he wants up to $25 million for litigation and legal fights he foresees with the administration of President-elect Donald Trump, kicking off the first day of a special session the state Legislature held at the governor's request after Trump's win.

  • December 02, 2024

    Meta Can't Dodge $25M Fine For Wash. Election Ads

    Facebook parent company Meta must pay $25 million in fines for repeatedly running afoul of Washington state's political advertising transparency law, a state appellate panel ruled Monday, finding the technology giant's free speech rights were not violated by being forced to comply with the law.

  • December 02, 2024

    Attys Issue Poaching Warning At Judicial Salary Hearing

    Noncompetitive salaries affect judicial morale, cause jurists to doff their robes for more lucrative careers in private practice and might lead attorneys to avoid seeking judicial appointments, judges and lawyers said Monday at a hearing of a Connecticut legislative commission considering a bid to give jurists a roughly $20,000 pay raise. 

  • December 02, 2024

    Ga. DNA Testing Law Hinders Death Row Inmates, Suit Says

    A Georgia law governing DNA testing used in capital crime cases is unconstitutional because it allows courts to decide whether death row inmates are using bids to reopen evidence as a means to delay their execution, according to a federal lawsuit.

  • December 02, 2024

    Mich. Justices To Mull Immigrant Org.'s Workers' Comp Fight

    The Michigan Supreme Court said Monday it would review whether a one-year filing deadline bars an immigrant legal aid organization from forcing the state to stop denying workers' compensation benefits based on immigration status.

  • December 02, 2024

    Bipartisan Bill Calls For AI Studies From Financial Regulators

    Leaders of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee want to codify their commitment to regulating and cultivating the use of artificial intelligence in the financial services industry with legislation introduced Monday that directs financial and housing regulators to produce reports on the use of AI in their respective sectors.

  • December 02, 2024

    Biden's Pardon Is Another Blow To Special Counsel Probes

    President Joe Biden's pardon of his son over the weekend marks the latest example of a special counsel investigation fizzling and raises doubts over the future use of such probes, which can drag on for years and cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

  • December 02, 2024

    ByteDance Says Ex-Worker Can't Avoid Counterclaims

    TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, says a former engineer shouldn't be able to dodge its counterclaims in a dispute stemming from his termination, arguing that just because he wants to drop his allegations doesn't mean those counterclaims are moot.

  • December 02, 2024

    Fla. Tribe Sues Eli Lilly, CVS, Others Over Insulin Price-Fixing

    The Miccosukee Tribe in Florida is alleging drugmakers like Eli Lilly & Co. and pharmacy benefit managers like CVS illegally conspired to limit competition and artificially inflate the price of insulin drugs, according to a new lawsuit filed in New Jersey federal court.

  • December 02, 2024

    9th Circ. Partially Upholds Block Of Idaho Abortion Travel Ban

    A split Ninth Circuit panel on Monday upheld part of a lower court's temporary injunction to an Idaho law that criminalizes helping minors travel out of state to receive abortions without parental permission, finding the "recruiting" portion of the law is unconstitutional. 

  • December 02, 2024

    SEC Taps Former Crypto Chief To Head Litigation Efforts

    The former acting chief of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission unit in charge of overseeing cybersecurity and cryptocurrency-related cases has been promoted to chief litigation counsel, expanding his oversight authority even as a more crypto-friendly administration is slated to enter the Oval Office in January. 

  • December 02, 2024

    EPA Pitches Partial Ban On Food Crop Pesticide Chlorpyrifos

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday it is proposing a rule to revoke tolerances over the use of chlorpyrifos on foods, a year after the Eighth Circuit said the agency hurriedly instituted a ban and didn't fulsomely consider the possibility of allowing some beneficial uses to continue.

  • December 02, 2024

    Gov't Owned Broadband Often Fails, Report Says

    A new report from an industry-backed think tank skewers government-owned broadband networks for purportedly relying on public resources to survive but operating inefficiently and competing unfairly against private internet service providers.

  • December 02, 2024

    Mexico Says Okla. Immigration Law Would Weaken Diplomacy

    Mexico has told the Tenth Circuit that it would be forced to expend diplomatic and consular resources to deal with the fallout of an Oklahoma law barring unauthorized immigrants from residing in the state if it was allowed to take effect.

  • December 02, 2024

    NC GOP-Led Senate OKs Reducing Income Tax Cap

    North Carolina's income tax cap would fall to 5%, instead of the 7% currently in the state constitution under a constitutional amendment approved Monday by the state Senate.

  • December 02, 2024

    Worker's Case Threatens 'Sea Change,' Conn. Justices Hear

    If the Connecticut Supreme Court sides with a workers' compensation claimant who is challenging a benefits determination, it would "create a sea change" that makes claims "drastically more expensive," the state's mental health agency told the justices Monday.

  • December 02, 2024

    'Pull The Plug': Broadband Program Wasteful, GOP Sen. Says

    The government's $42.5 billion program to deploy broadband to underserved locations throughout the U.S. should be stopped because it's wasting money hand over fist, according to a Republican senator.

  • December 02, 2024

    Wash. Airport Deportation Ban Unconstitutional, 9th Circ. Says

    Ninth Circuit judges have determined that a Washington county's ban on deportation flights departing from a Seattle-area airport was an unconstitutional interference with federal government operations, as well as a breach of a World War II-era agreement.

  • December 02, 2024

    Green Group Urges Justices To Save Wash. Port CWA Ruling

    A Washington state environmental group is urging the U.S. Supreme Court not to disturb a Ninth Circuit ruling that protects its right to sue over pollution discharges under the citizen enforcement provision of the Clean Water Act.

  • December 02, 2024

    5th Circ. Bars Feds From Messing With Texas' Wire Barriers

    A split Fifth Circuit panel said federal agents can't interfere with concertina razor wire barriers Texas erected to deter illegal border crossings, ruling that the federal government isn't immune from Texas' state law claims for trespass and conversion.

  • December 02, 2024

    Cargo Facility Merits Property Tax Break, Mass. Justices Told

    A property leased from the Massachusetts Port Authority to a for-profit cargo enterprise is exempt from property tax because the facility serves a public purpose, the lessee told the state's highest court Monday, urging reversal of a tax board decision.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Playing Ultimate Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    In addition to being fun, ultimate Frisbee has improved our legal careers by emphasizing the importance of professionalism, teamwork, perseverance, enthusiasm and vulnerability, say Arunabha Bhoumik and Adam Bernstein at Regeneron. 

  • High Court 'Violent Crimes' Case Tangled Up In Hypotheticals

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    In Delligatti v. U.S., the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments next week on whether attempted murder constitutes a crime of violence, and because the court’s interpretive approach thus far has relied on hairsplitting legal hypotheticals with absurd results, Congress should repeal the underlying statute, say attorneys at Patterson Belknap.

  • Dissecting New Circuit Split Over SEC's Proxy Adviser Rule

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    The Sixth Circuit recently upheld the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's partial rescission of enhanced conflict-of-interest disclosure requirements for proxy voting advice businesses, creating a circuit split over broader questions concerning the standard for assessing the legality of agency actions in general, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.

  • Tracking The Slow Movement Of AI Copyright Cases

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    The tech community may be expecting a prompt resolution on whether products generated by artificial intelligence are a fair use of copyrighted works, but legal history shows that a response to this question — at the heart of over 30 pending cases — will take years, say attorneys at White & Case.

  • Federal Salary History Ban's Reach Is Limited

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    Though a newly effective Office of Personnel Management rule takes important steps by banning federal employers from considering job applicants' nonfederal salary histories, the rule's narrow applicability and overconfidence in the existing system's fairness will likely not end persistent pay inequities, says Margaret House at Kalijarvi Chuzi.

  • Call For Input Shows How Banks, Fintechs Can Address Risks

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    A recent request for information by federal banking regulators suggests that watchdogs are zeroing in on the bank-fintech partnerships they have long perceived as risky to consumers, but analyzing the publication can help companies anticipate regulators’ chief concerns and take steps to avoid becoming enforcement targets, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • How Property Insurance Coverage Shrank After The Pandemic

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    Insurers litigating property claims are leveraging rulings that provided relief in the COVID-19 context to reverse the former majority rule on physical loss or damage in all contexts, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Considering Chevron's End Through A State Tax Lens

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    States took the lead in encouraging Chevron's demise, turning away from Chevron-type deference in state tax administration ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision, a trend likely to accelerate as courts take a more active role in interpreting tax laws, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • NYC Hotel Licensing Law's Costs May Outweigh Its Benefits

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    A hotel licensing bill recently approved by New York's City Council could lead to the loss of many nonunionized hotels that cannot afford to comply, says Stuart Saft at Holland & Knight.

  • The Unfolding Potential of Green Hydrogen In Brazil

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    A new federal law in Brazil establishing a legal framework for hydrogen development is the country's latest step toward creating a favorable environment for green hydrogen production, but significant challenges — including high production costs, technological hurdles and a lack of infrastructure — remain, says David Andrew Taylor at Almeida Advogados.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata

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    Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • How New OCC Priorities Will Affect Bank Compliance

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    With the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency recently releasing a new bank supervision plan for fiscal year 2025, all banks, not only those primarily supervised by the OCC, should consider how compliance with its guidelines creates opportunities and challenges, says Andrew Karp at Cadwalader.

  • SEC Rulemaking Radar: The View From Election Day

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seems poised to tackle many of the remaining items on its most recent Regulatory Flexibility Agenda by early 2025, despite the presidential election and the potential for a new chair to be nominated soon, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • What FTC's 'Bitcoin ATM' Report Tells Us About Crypto Scams

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent insights into bitcoin ATM scams highlight the technical evolution of fraudsters, the application of old scams to new technology, and the persistent financial impact on victims, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • A Shift In Control Of Congress May Doom These Enviro Regs

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    If the election leads to a change in control of Congress, lawmakers will likely use the lookback provision of the Congressional Review Act to challenge the Biden administration's late-term regulatory efforts — including recent initiatives on air pollutant source classification, lead pipe removal and hydrofluorocarbon emissions, say attorneys at Jones Walker.

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