EPA Repeals Power Plant Greenhouse Gas Rule

By Keith Goldberg

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday finalized the rescission of a Biden-era rule that limited greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, and separately suggested that the agency shouldn't be regulating greenhouse gases emitted by the electricity sector.

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9th Circ. Rejects Challenge To Wash. Abortion Coverage Law

By Rachel Riley

Revisiting a church's First Amendment challenge to a Washington law mandating that certain health insurance plans include abortion coverage, a divided Ninth Circuit panel Monday concluded that the Cedar Park Assembly of God failed to point to evidence that Washington's Reproductive Parity Act targets religious conduct.

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Supreme Court Blocks USPS Mail Ballot Rules For Midterms

By Katie Buehler and Julie Manganis

The U.S. Postal Service cannot enforce new mail-in ballot regulations ahead of this year's midterm elections, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday, agreeing with an earlier First Circuit order that maintained a prohibition on the purported election integrity measures taking effect.

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Mich. Justices Keep Judge Off Ballot, But 2 Urge Law Change

By Melanie Dorsey

The Michigan Supreme Court has declined to hear a Kalamazoo, Michigan, district court judge's challenge to her removal from the November ballot over an inaccurate affidavit of identity, leaving intact an appellate ruling that state election officials were required to reject her candidacy.

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Kennedy Center Says Only Trump Name Can Avert Bankruptcy

By Vince Sullivan

The board of trustees of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts intends to vote Tuesday on a pair of resolutions that say the facility is facing bankruptcy "within weeks" without fundraising efforts from President Donald J. Trump, which the documents say would probably only come if the center reapplies his name to the building.

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Chamber Tells Justices Plane Forfeiture Should Be Blocked

By Mike Curley

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reaffirm the Eighth Amendment's excessive fines clause and find that the state of Alaska's seizure of a $95,000 plane over a six-pack of beer is out of proportion to the alleged harm.

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DOJ Derides Anti-Weaponization Fund Discovery

By Jared Foretek

The Justice Department is asking a Virginia federal judge to reverse a magistrate judge's order compelling discovery in a suit challenging the Trump administration's "anti-weaponization fund," claiming the plaintiffs lack standing and are merely attempting to set out on a fishing expedition that would intrude on executive privilege.

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NY Flags AI Models As Cyber Risk Review Factor For Banks

By Jon Hill

A top New York regulator is urging the state's banks and insurers to stay on top of evolving cybersecurity threats, flagging the launch of powerful new artificial intelligence models as the kind of major market development that can necessitate updating their risk assessments.

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Big Biz Coalition Backs Litigation Funding Disclosure Rule

By Ryan Boysen

Big U.S. businesses and insurers like Amazon, Anthropic, Chubb and Walmart asked the federal judiciary on Monday to tighten disclosure requirements for litigation finance, claiming the lack of guardrails allows funders to operate "in the shadows."

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Crypto Bill Faces Wide Criticism Ahead Of Initial Vote

By Aislinn Keely

Senate Republicans on Monday faced obstacles to securing support for their final draft of the Clarity Act ahead of a Tuesday procedural vote to move the crypto bill forward, as Democrats, banking organizations, state law enforcers and even some crypto interests criticized the new version of the legislation as coming up short in key areas.

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Judge Blocks Construction At Toxic Calif. ICE Detention Site

By Nate Beck

A California federal judge Monday ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to stop work on its conversion of a former agricultural research site into a detention facility, finding the agency offered no proof that it examined risks from prior hazardous waste violations at the property before starting construction.

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NextEra, Dominion Offer $1B Va. Plan Ahead Of $67B Merger

By Al Barbarino

NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy on Monday unveiled a benefits package aimed at winning support for their $67 billion proposed merger, including up to $1 billion in annual spending with Virginia suppliers for five years.

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NY Village Can Pursue PFAS Claims Against Local Cos.

By Mike Curley

A New York federal judge won't let a group of manufacturing and industrial companies out of a suit by the Village of Nyack alleging they contaminated the water supply with so-called forever chemicals, saying the allegations in the complaint make a plausible claim under state and federal environmental law.

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Pa. Warns Data Center Growth Could Overwhelm Supply

By Nate Beck

The Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission said in a Monday report that the state's electric grid by 2030 will carry a risk of outage nearly six times greater than a reliability standard for the region allows, based on the likeliest scenario to follow a rush of data center-driven electricity demand.

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DOJ Suit Over NY Medicaid Program Is 'Baseless,' Court Told

By Gianna Ferrarin

New York officials and the state's chosen steward for managing its $10 billion Medicaid home-care program fired back at U.S. Justice Department allegations that the bidding process for that contract was a sham, telling a federal court the suit is politically motivated and legally deficient.

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Feds Want Justices To Skip Google 'Settled Expectations' Row

By Adam Lidgett

The federal government is telling the U.S. Supreme Court that Google didn't meet the appropriate standard to get the Federal Circuit to look at the company's challenge to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's policy of using the age of patents as a reason not to review them.

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6th Circ. Revives Prisoner's Book Censorship Lawsuit

By Susan Smiley

The Sixth Circuit revived a lawsuit brought by a Michigan prisoner challenging prison officials for confiscating a book written by his sister, reversing a trial court decision that had granted summary judgment to the defendant after finding the prisoner failed to exhaust his administrative remedies under the Prison Litigation Reform Act.

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Senators Draw Battle Lines Over Sweeping College Sports Bill

By Alex Lawson

U.S. senators on Monday made public statements on their positions either for or against a bill aimed at comprehensively regulating college sports, forecasting a bitter fight over the bill's passage in the upper chamber.

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NY AG, CFTC Tussle Over Prediction Markets, Gambling Laws

By Stewart Bishop

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Monday asked a New York federal judge to find that the federal regulator has exclusive jurisdiction over prediction markets and put a stop to efforts by the state of New York to subject event contract providers such as Coinbase and Gemini to state gambling laws.

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Aetna Tells 5th Circ. DOL Can't Block Aramark Suit Arbitration

By Kellie Mejdrich

Aetna Life Insurance Co. urged the Fifth Circuit on Monday against the U.S. Department of Labor's argument that uniform company Aramark Services Inc.'s health claims dispute with the insurer should remain in court, arguing a Texas judge erred in declining to enforce the parties' binding arbitration agreement.

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NY Housing Chief Says Rent Suit Must Yield To State Case

By Isaac Monterose

The commissioner of the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal asked a federal court to abstain from hearing a suit challenging changes to a renovation program for rent-stabilized units and to dismiss the case, arguing in part that the state government has a related New York state court rent-stabilization suit against one of the plaintiffs.

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Accenture Pays $25M To End DOJ's Suit Over DEI Practices

By Gina Kim

Accenture will pay $25 million to settle allegations its employment and hiring decisions discriminated against workers based on race or sex, the federal government announced Monday, closing another chapter in the Trump administration's efforts against diversity, equity and inclusion practices. 

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Software Co. Urges Justices To Pause Thryv Order

By Katherine Smith

A Vermont software company has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to pause a D.C. Circuit mandate enforcing a Thryv remedy issued by the National Labor Relations Board, arguing that the high court will likely grant its upcoming petition challenging the circuit court's decision to uphold the mandate.

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FTC's Meador Wants To Reassert Standalone Authority

By Bryan Koenig

The Federal Trade Commission's Mark Meador on Monday sketched out an ambitious vision for the agency to use its unilateral authority to combat unfair methods of competition, despite rarely being invoked over the decades.

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FTC's View Of Construction Adhesives Market Won The Day

By Matthew Perlman

A New York federal court found the Federal Trade Commission was right to focus on the retail market for various types of construction adhesives when asking to block Loctite-maker Henkel's planned $725 million acquisition of Liquid Nails, in an opinion made public Friday.

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SpaceXAI Drops Apple In Antitrust Claims For OpenAI Deal

By Spencer Brewer

SpaceXAI on Monday dropped its claims that Apple breached antitrust laws by signing a deal with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into the iPhone but kept its claims against OpenAI Foundation intact.

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Ex-Perrigo VP Escapes Some Price-Fixing Claims From AGs

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut federal judge has tossed most of the claims against a former Perrigo executive in sprawling generic-drug price-fixing litigation brought by state enforcers, holding there is insufficient evidence he entered into antitrust conspiracies related to more than a dozen dermatological drugs, but teeing up a handful of other claims for trial.

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Paramount Says Warner Bros. Deal Is Good For Competition

By Matthew Perlman

Paramount has told a California federal court its planned $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery will be good for competition, arguing that challenges of the deal from state enforcers and the Writers Guild of America are misguided.

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Apple Urges High Court To Nix App Store Contempt Order

By Craig Clough

Apple urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to overturn a Ninth Circuit ruling that upheld a civil contempt order stemming from its decision to charge commissions to developers' transactions that steer users to cheaper outside payment methods to make purchases, saying it shouldn't be punished for violating the "spirit" of an injunction.

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Facebook Third-Party Apps Took User Data, Jury Told

By Cara Salvatore

A technology expert testified Monday in New Mexico's data privacy trial against Meta that Facebook third-party app developers "rampantly" farmed user data and that the social media giant closed investigations of dubious developers without action.

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Wash AG Fights T-Mobile's Bid To Undo Data Breach Ruling

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

The Washington State Office of the Attorney General asked a King County Superior Court judge to deny T-Mobile's bid for reconsideration of a recent ruling finding it is liable for more than 722,000 violations of a state data breach notification law.

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Cop Pitches Nationwide Class In Flock Privacy Lawsuit

By Kelcey Caulder

Flock's surveillance network invades the privacy of the public and enables law enforcement employees to track people for improper reasons, according to a proposed class action filed in Georgia federal court.

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Counties, Animal Nonprofit Hit With Suit Over Euthanized Cat

By David Aaro

A pair of Georgia counties and an animal welfare nonprofit are facing a negligence suit from a woman who said she was given the cold shoulder and barred from public events after she complained that her cat had been wrongly euthanized.

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Abbott To Pay $385M To End FCA Claims Over Infant Formula

By Emily Field

The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday said that Abbott Laboratories has agreed to pay nearly $385 million to end False Claims Act allegations over the manufacture of contaminated infant formula at locations in Michigan and Arizona.

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FCC Crafts Spectrum Plan For Drone 'Dominance'

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission's staff has agreed to waive agency rules for a federal testing program it says will give a boost to the "dominance" of the U.S. drone industry.

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Trade Court OKs ITC's Freight Coupler Duty Determination

By Dylan Moroses

The U.S. International Trade Commission provided sufficient explanation for including a major U.S. producer and importer of Mexican freight rail couplers as part of the domestic industry during the course of its duty investigations, according to an opinion published Monday by the U.S. Court of International Trade.

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CBP Says Stiiizy Redesigned Vapes Still Fall Under Import Ban

By Elliot Weld

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has ruled Stiiizy had not shown its redesigned vape products can get around a limited importation ban issued by the U.S. International Trade Commission.

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Brief

Commerce Sets Early Duty Rate On Chinese Tin Mill Imports

By Dylan Moroses

Chinese tin mill products entering the U.S. could face an over 66% countervailing duty after the U.S. Department of Commerce found in a preliminary determination that those products have been subsidized, according to a notice published Monday.

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Brief

Trump Says He Will Remove Tariffs On Irish Whiskey

By Dylan Moroses

President Donald Trump said Sunday that the U.S. is planning to remove tariffs on whiskey imported from Ireland.

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IRS Asks 6th Circ. To Uphold Revamped Microcaptive Rules

By Zak Kostro

The Internal Revenue Service asked the Sixth Circuit to affirm a Tennessee federal court's ruling that a set of revised IRS rules requiring taxpayers to disclose some microcaptive insurance arrangements doesn't violate the Administrative Procedure Act, saying the U.S. Treasury Department acted within its authority in promulgating the regulations.

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Canada To Prioritize Advance Tax Rulings For $1B Projects

By Kevin Pinner

The Canada Revenue Agency will prioritize handling requests for advance income tax rulings linked to investments of at least CA$1 billion ($719 million) into the country, the agency said Monday.

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City Of London Urges Tax Restraint To Protect Growth

By Josh White

The Labour government shouldn't risk growth by raising taxes on financial and professional services at a time when the economy is fragile, the City of London Corp. said Monday.

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Lawsuits Challenge New Ill. Taxes On Digital Ads, Social Media

By Sanjay Talwani

Newly enacted taxes in Illinois on digital advertising and social media platforms violate federal law and the U.S. Constitution and should be struck down, an industry group charged in a pair of lawsuits in state court.

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1st Circ. Rejects Judge's Standing Order On Deportations

By Carolyn Muyskens

The First Circuit struck down a federal district judge's standing order that prohibited U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from deporting criminal defendants unless the government resolved or permanently dropped the pending charges.

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NY Pardon Ends High Court Fight Over Immigration Detention

By Elaine Briseño

A dispute before the U.S. Supreme Court over whether noncitizens subject to removal proceedings because of criminal convictions are entitled to bond hearings was rendered moot after the immigrant at the center of the case received a pardon.

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Bove Rejects Recusal Bid Tied To DOJ Whistleblower Claims

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. Circuit Judge Emil Bove declined Monday to recuse himself in a Third Circuit immigration case, saying the attorneys for the petitioner are "recycling a failed pre-confirmation political smear" on him.

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NY-Led States, Cities Sue Over Trump Public Charge Rule

By Britain Eakin

A coalition of Democratic-led states and local governments sued the Trump administration on Monday, alleging that its revamped criteria for determining who is likely to become a public charge is arbitrary, will have a chilling effect and could worsen public health outcomes.

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DOJ Says Supreme Court Ruling Dooms Syria TPS Suit

By Tom Lotshaw

The Trump administration said a New York federal judge must dismiss a proposed class action challenging its termination of temporary protected status for Syria after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block the termination.

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Conn. Budget Official Deserves 10-Year Sentence, Feds Say

By Aaron Keller

Federal prosecutors say former Connecticut budget official Konstantinos Diamantis deserves to spend between roughly 10 and 12½ years in prison after being convicted of accepting bribes, committing extortion and lying to federal agents, arguing "his greed, corruption and abject lack of integrity" require time behind bars.

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ND Opposes Tribes' Bid To Keep Court-Imposed Voting Map

By Crystal Owens

North Dakota is seeking to dissolve a 2011 court-approved remedial legislative map that was put in place while a Voting Rights Act dispute brought by two tribal nations made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, calling the tribes' request for a deferral "astonishing."

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Tribes, Gaming Group Weigh In On Contested Project

By Corey Rothauser

Four California tribes and a gaming trade group have urged a Washington, D.C., federal judge to reject the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians' attempt to restore a federal determination that a 160-acre site in Vallejo is eligible for gaming, arguing the tribe knowingly invested millions of dollars despite repeated warnings that the determination remained under review.

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Verizon Backs AT&T Transition Plan For IP Networks

By Nadia Dreid

Verizon says it approves of AT&T's plan for the Federal Communications Commission to establish an "interim, conditional pathway" to encourage local phone companies to switch away from legacy networks to internet-based ones.

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Certifying Body Lied About Being US-Based, FCC Says

By Nadia Dreid

Derycom Certification Services lied about its ties to China in order to receive the Federal Communications Commission's authorization to serve as a telecommunication certification body, which requires an organization to be based in the United States, the agency said.

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FCC Eyes Reg Waiver For Maritime Locating Devices

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission is looking at waiving restrictions on maritime equipment to allow for a new device for rescues at sea.

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Neb. Justices Again Reject Challenge To Medical Marijuana

By Sam Reisman

The Nebraska Supreme Court has rejected another effort to void medical marijuana legalization ballot initiatives that voters approved by large margins, saying the cannabis reform opponent who brought the suit lacked standing to bring his complaint.

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Jushi Opposes Pot Shop's Summary Bid On Antitrust Claims

By Jonathan Capriel

Cannabis giant Jushi Holdings and others are asking a federal court to toss a lawsuit alleging they made a $10 million deal to keep a rival out of town, arguing they did not participate in anticompetitive behavior and that the small, underfunded shop was never going to open regardless of anything they did.

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Mich. Cannabis Regulators Seek Exit From Buyout Suit

By Jonathan Capriel

Michigan cannabis regulators are asking a federal court to dismiss an entrepreneur's lawsuit that claims they coordinated with JARS Holdings to push him out of the cannabis business while smearing his professional reputation, arguing that JARS, not the agency, is the source of his harm.

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McGuireWoods Consulting Adds New Energy Group Co-Head

By Jack Rodgers

McGuireWoods Consulting LLC, the lobbying subsidiary of law firm McGuireWoods LLP, has hired a longtime energy industry government affairs leader who most recently worked as co-leader of Arnold & Porter LLP's energy and infrastructure industry group, the firm announced Monday.

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Former Trump Assistant To Co-Lead Covington Policy Practice

By Jack Rodgers

Covington & Burling LLP said Monday the firm has hired a former assistant to President Donald Trump, who served in the president's first administration as director of the Domestic Policy Council and most recently owned a federal consulting business in Washington, D.C.

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Intersecting Investigation Risks Loom In Next Congress

Taken together, two July D.C. Circuit decisions and a recent U.S. Department of Justice opinion on executive privilege may affect the procedural defenses and privilege protections available to targets of oversight in the upcoming Congress, and companies should begin preparing now, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

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Loper Bright Unlikely To Upend DEA Rescheduling Challenges

As cannabis industry stakeholders await a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration ruling on broader cannabis rescheduling, the U.S. Supreme Court's 2024 decision in Loper Bright to eliminate judicial deference to agency decisions should not dramatically affect cannabis rescheduling litigation risk, but it could marginally strengthen proponents' hand if the DEA denies rescheduling, say attorneys at Dentons.

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FTC Focus: A Shift In The Pricing Disclosure Terrain

Recent state and Federal Trade Commission developments spotlight materially different ways in which personalized pricing might be addressed, which could result in an increasingly fragmented regulatory landscape in which businesses face differing disclosure obligations and substantive restrictions depending upon the jurisdiction, say attorneys at Proskauer.

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The Deep Split Over Mandatory Detention, And What's Next

The government’s mandatory detention policy for noncitizens who entered the U.S. without inspection has led to a spate of decisions this year, with nine circuits rejecting the government's reading of the Immigration and Nationality Act against two that have accepted it, making the issue ripe for U.S. Supreme Court review, says attorney Kemal Hepsen.

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Money Transmission Issue Looms For Prediction Markets

The circuit split recently created by the Ninth Circuit's ruling in Kalshi v. Assad has implications reaching beyond gaming regulation as, depending on the ultimate characterization of prediction market event contracts, platforms may face differing obligations under federal and state money transmission laws, say attorneys at Manatt.

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Indiana Atty Hit With $10K Sanction Over False Citations

By Andrea Keckley

An Indiana federal judge on Friday adopted a magistrate judge's recommendation to sanction a local attorney $10,000 after finding that five briefs in a consumer credit case included citations to nonexistent cases.

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Jackson Lewis Removes Ex-Atty's Bias Suit To Federal Court

By Patrick Hoff

Jackson Lewis PC has moved a former associate's suit accusing the firm of refusing to accommodate her temporary work restrictions following her medical leave to California federal court, saying state court wasn't the right venue for dispute.

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State Farm Attorney Sanctioned $999.99 For AI Hallucinations

By Jonathan Capriel

An attorney for State Farm who filed several motions citing nonexistent cases and fabricated quotes generated by AI software must pay a $999.99 sanction, a Los Angeles judge ruled, an amount one cent below the threshold that would have triggered a mandatory notice to the State Bar of California under state law.

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Brief

Ex-Moses & Singer Partner Gets 10 Months For Tax Crimes

By Craig Clough

A Connecticut federal judge Monday sentenced a former Moses & Singer LLP partner to 10 months of imprisonment and ordered him to pay more than $3.1 million for failing to file personal income tax returns, the U.S. attorney's office announced.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week saw disputes over allegedly fabricated board approvals at a telecom infrastructure startup, insider trading and child safety at Roblox Corp. and ownership of artificial intelligence technology used in legal proceedings.

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