White House Told To Obey Records Law, Not Trump's Policy

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Presidential Records Act is likely constitutional and ordered White House staff to comply with it, while rejecting the Trump administration's new recordkeeping policy as insufficient.

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Top 4 Most Surprising Moments In Musk-OpenAI Trial

By Dorothy Atkins

The high-profile trial over Elon Musk's challenge to OpenAI's for-profit conversion wrapped Monday with a quick jury verdict in favor of OpenAI and its executives, but the three-week trial drew some surprising moments for those in the courtroom who had front row seats to the fight between billionaires.

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Trump-IRS Settlement A 'Corrupt Sham,' Capitol Cops Say

By Jack McLoone

The settlement of President Donald Trump's $10 billion tax leak suit against the Internal Revenue Service — creating a $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund" — is a "corrupt sham," a pair of police officers present during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot told a D.C. federal court Wednesday.

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DOJ Unseals Charges Against Ex-Cuban Prez Raul Castro

By Carolina Bolado

The U.S. Department of Justice unsealed charges Wednesday against former Cuban President Raúl Castro over the deaths in 1996 of four Cuban Americans whose planes were shot down by the Cuban government, in a move that attorneys said could signal the beginning of the end for the Cuban regime.

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Georgia Supreme Court Justices Fend Off Challengers

By Kelcey Caulder

Georgia Supreme Court Justices Sarah Hawkins Warren and Charlie Bethel persuaded state voters to give them new six-year terms on the state's highest court, withstanding bids to unseat them from former state Sen. Jen Jordan and attorney Miracle Rankin. 

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2 Fla. County Courts Requiring AI Disclosure In Court Filings

By Sarah Martinson

Two Florida circuit courts in Miami-Dade and Broward counties are requiring attorneys and self-represented litigants to disclose when they use generative text tools to prepare their court filings and to certify they checked the generated content for accuracy.

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Gang 'Type' Crimes Don't Link To Activity, Ga. Justices Say

By Parker Quinlan

The Georgia Supreme Court has vacated a state appellate court ruling against a man convicted under a state gang prevention law, finding that a jury in his case was given an incorrect instruction on a central element of the law and how his conduct could be related to gang activity.

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Analysis

Go West: Ex-CFPB Chief Poised To Make Mark Next In Calif.

By Jon Hill

Former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra's next act in government is poised to unfold on a new stage in California, but financial firms will likely recognize the script. Watch this space, attorneys tell Law360.

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Bank Ratings Would Focus More On Financial Risk Under Plan

By Jon Hill

Federal regulators have unveiled a proposal to revamp a key ratings system used for grading the condition of banks, outlining changes that could make it harder to penalize banks on exams for governance and compliance issues unless they pose a clear financial threat.

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Texas AG Sues ISS Over ESG Considerations

By Sarah Jarvis

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. on Wednesday for allegedly advising shareholders based on environmental, social and governance considerations rather than the objective advice it advertises, in violation of a Texas consumer law.

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Fed Pitches Formal Plan To Offer Fintechs 'Payment Accounts'

By Jon Hill

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday moved closer to giving financial technology firms a new route to accessing its payment rails, advancing a formal proposal to create a special type of "payment account" while calling for a pause on some pending full-account decisions.

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States Push FDIC To Include Them In Stablecoin Reviews

By Aislinn Keely

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. faces calls to coordinate with fellow federal agencies and include state banking regulators in its coming application process for stablecoin issuers under its supervision.

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Binance Libel Suit Doesn't Show Actual Malice, Dow Jones Says

By Bonnie Eslinger

Dow Jones urged a New York federal judge to toss a defamation suit brought by Binance over a Wall Street Journal article saying the cryptocurrency exchange fired internal investigators who uncovered transactions that purportedly went to sanctioned Iranian-backed entities, arguing that Binance hadn't shown the article was published with actual malice.

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4th Circ. OKs Pipeline Work During Green Groups' Permit Suit

By Abigail Harrison

A Fourth Circuit panel refused to order Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. LLC to halt construction on an interstate pipeline, saying in an order Monday that environmental groups failed to persuade the judges that a recently issued discharge permit was arbitrary and capricious.

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DC Judge Questions Red Snapper Season Expansion Plan

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. federal judge on Wednesday seemed wary of administration attorneys' claims that a new fishery permitting regime exempting four southeastern states from recreational red snapper catch limits this year would help data collection for future limits.

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FERC Erred Over Utility's Tax Deferral Method, DC Circ. Told

By Ganesh Setty

Wholesale transmission customers of American Electric Power Co. Inc. units told the D.C. Circuit this week that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission wrongly allowed the utility giant to depart from an established method to allocate carried-forward tax allowances, increasing those customers' rates.

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La. Defends Challenged LNG Project Air Permit At 5th Circ.

By Tom Lotshaw

A Louisiana regulator told the Fifth Circuit environmental groups have no ground to support their challenge of a preconstruction permit approved for a major liquefied natural gas export terminal in Cameron Parish.

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DOJ, Drugmakers Spar After Justices Snub 6 Negotiation Suits

By Jeff Overley

The U.S. Department of Justice is trying to have it both ways in drug pricing litigation, telling the U.S. Supreme Court not to intervene before additional circuits decide pending challenges and then using this week's nonintervention as ammunition against those challenges, drugmakers are arguing at appeals courts.

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1st Circ. Allows Transfer Of RI Youth Care Info To Texas Court

By Gianna Ferrarin

The First Circuit declined to halt a Texas federal court's order requiring a Rhode Island hospital to hand over records detailing its provision of gender-affirming care to minors, finding a Rhode Island agency failed to demonstrate that doing so would cause children in the state irreparable harm.

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FTC 'Close' To Final PBM Insulin Price Deal With OptumRx

By Bryan Koenig

Federal Trade Commission staffers have signaled that they're near a settlement with UnitedHealth Group Inc.'s OptumRx that would close out the agency's in-house case accusing pharmacy benefit managers of inflating insulin prices through rebate schemes.

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Antivax Health Workers Fight Uphill At 9th Circ. Over Firings

By Rachel Riley

Two Ninth Circuit panelists cast doubt Wednesday on an attempt by a group of former University of Washington employees to revive claims that they were wrongfully fired after they refused COVID-19 vaccination on religious grounds, with one judge remarking that unvaccinated workers "make the risk worse" in a healthcare setting.

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Brief

Pa. AG Aims To Revive Ban On Medicaid-Paid Abortions

By P.J. D'Annunzio

Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday plans to fight an appellate panel's ruling that Medicaid-funded abortions are a fundamental right to reproductive autonomy in the state.

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DC Circ. Orders FCC Response In News Distortion Dispute

By Christopher Cole

The D.C. Circuit ordered the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday to respond to a call from several former agency leaders for court action that would compel the FCC into rethinking its controversial policy against "news distortion."

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FTC Targets AI 'Nudify' Apps Under Revenge Porn Law

By Allison Grande

The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday sent warning letters to a dozen companies that offer artificial intelligence tools that allow people to "nudify" images, marking some of its first regulatory actions under a revenge porn law that went into force the day prior.

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States, DC Urge 10th Circ. To OK Colo. Social Media Law

By Mike Curley

A group of 43 states and the District of Columbia are asking the Tenth Circuit to reverse a trial court order blocking enforcement of a new Colorado law requiring warning labels for social media used by minors, saying that even under strict scrutiny, the law is justified to protect minors' mental health.

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Baltimore Bridge Wreck Civil Trial Will Stay The Course

By Linda Chiem

A Maryland federal judge on Wednesday refused an eleventh-hour request from the Dali cargo ship's owner and manager to delay a trial that's starting in less than two weeks to determine the scope of liability and damages over Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster, according to an attorney for certain claimants.

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DOT Taps Vornado Team For Penn Station Rebuild

By Grace Dixon

The U.S. Department of Transportation on Wednesday selected a master developer team to lead a major renovation of New York City's Penn Station, a team that includes Vornado Realty Trust, which controls a significant commercial footprint across adjacent blocks.

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Women Fencers Can't Advance Bias Suit Over Trans Eligibility

By David Steele

A Missouri federal judge ruled on Wednesday that three women fencers did not prove that they were discriminated against by the organizers of a tournament that permitted transgender women to compete, throwing out their proposed class action.

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House Passes Broad Housing Bill, But Senate Accord Unclear

By Nathan Hale

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 396-13 to pass a landmark housing bill on Wednesday, but questions remain about how the Senate will react to the latest version, particularly its handling of institutional investors in the single-family housing market.

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NC Voters To Weigh Income, Property Tax Limits

By Maria Koklanaris

North Carolina voters will decide in November on two proposed constitutional amendments aimed at curbing their income and property taxes after the state General Assembly approved sending the measures to the ballot Wednesday.

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Hong Kong Hikes Transaction Tax For High-End Homes

By Kevin Pinner

Hong Kong lawmakers adopted legislation Wednesday to hike the rate of a tax on residential real estate transactions valued above HK$100 million ($12.7 million).

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9th Circ. Tough On HP 401(k) Forfeiture Suit Revival Bid

By Kellie Mejdrich

The Ninth Circuit appeared reluctant Wednesday to revive a suit alleging that HP Inc. violated federal benefits law by using forfeited 401(k) funds to defray employer-side contribution obligations, with judges questioning whether plan participants backed up allegations that the tech company hadn't been sufficiently loyal or prudent.

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Bayer Curbs Seed Loyalty Program Amid DOJ Antitrust Inquiry

By Gina Kim

Bayer CropScience has agreed to back off, for the next seven years, from implementing requirements in its loyalty program where it was accused of tying discounts to sales targets that independent seed companies had to meet, according to the U.S. Department of Justice's announcement made Wednesday.

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FTC Looks For Ways To Avoid 'Litigating The Fix'

By Matthew Perlman

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson said Wednesday that last-minute settlement proposals in merger cases put enforcers in a tough spot and ultimately hurt the merger review process, as the agency considers ways to avoid litigating the offers in court.

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Social Media Not Proven To Harm Mental Health, Judge Told

By Cara Salvatore

A statistics expert for Meta sought Wednesday to undermine the claim that social media has driven a rise in mental health conditions among teens, saying the New Mexico attorney general's key witness on the topic didn't consider alternative factors like widening access to mental health care.

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Bad AI Citation Sanction Slashed Amid 7th Circ. Guidance

By Hailey Konnath

An Indiana federal judge Wednesday rejected a magistrate judge's recommendation that an attorney be sanctioned $7,500 for including faulty, artificial intelligence-generated legal citations in a discovery brief, pointing to recent Seventh Circuit guidance and sanctioning him $2,000 instead.

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2nd Circ. Pick Questioned At Hearing On Role As Trump Lawyer

By Courtney Bublé

Matthew Schwartz, a nominee for the Second Circuit, was questioned by Democratic senators Wednesday about whether his current job as the president's personal attorney while his nomination process is underway poses a conflict of interest.

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Watchdog Targets Convicted Ex-Legislator's Law License

By Aaron Keller

An attorney and onetime Connecticut lawmaker should be temporarily suspended after a criminal conviction for receiving campaign funds during a law firm party and further disciplined for charging an immigration client a $30,000 flat fee, some of which he called his firm's "pocket money," state ethics authorities have said.

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Brief

ITC Clears Way For Duties On Imported Chassis

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. International Trade Commission found chassis imported from Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam and sold at unfair prices to be harming U.S. industry, setting the stage Wednesday for the U.S. Department of Commerce to order duties against the products.

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EU Lawmakers Agree To Include Safeguards In US Trade Deal

By Dylan Moroses

The Parliament and Council of the European Union reached a provisional agreement Wednesday morning to strengthen safeguards to the trade deal reached last year with the U.S., according to a press release.

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UK Extends Cut To Fuel Tax As War In Iran Raises Prices

By Kevin Pinner

The U.K. will extend a tax cut of 5 pence (7 cents) per liter of fuel through the rest of the year to address higher prices linked to the war in Iran, the government said Wednesday.

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Immigration Board Says Late Venue Shift Lacked Good Cause

By Elaine Briseño

The Board of Immigration Appeals shifted a case involving Brazilian nationals back to Boston after finding the immigration judge granted a change of venue without proper consideration and should have limited off-the-record discussions.

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GEO Says Wash. Detention Center Access Is ICE's Call

By Tom Lotshaw

The GEO Group Inc. said Washington state conveniently ignored the fact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement denied health inspectors access to a detention center when the state asked a federal judge to require the company to let them in.

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Analysis

DOJ's Embrace Of Data Sets Off Compliance 'Arms Race'

By Phillip Bantz

The U.S. Department of Justice's increased reliance on advanced data analytics and data-mining whistleblowers to detect fraud is shrinking the amount of time that companies have to find and report potential wrongdoing to the government in order to receive leniency for voluntary self-disclosure, experts say.

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Comey Wants Arraignment Pushed For Dismissal Bid

By Phillip Bantz

Former FBI Director James Comey asked a North Carolina federal court Wednesday to postpone his arraignment on charges alleging he threatened President Donald Trump, telling a judge that he is preparing to seek to have the case thrown out on constitutional grounds.

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Connecticut Challenges Tribal Recognition Repetitioning Rule

By Crystal Owens

Connecticut is asking a federal court to block the Interior Department from accepting any requests from Indigenous nations seeking to reapply for federal recognition under a revised rule finalized last year, claiming it's the product of an unlawful procedure and is arbitrary and capricious in its substance and application.

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Ballot Group Backs Ark. In 8th Circ. Gaming Permit Dispute

By Crystal Owens

A ballot group at the center of a voter referendum that revoked an Arkansas gaming permit for Cherokee Nation Entertainment is backing the state's right to enforce the ballot measure in the Eighth Circuit, arguing that state and Prohibition-era Supreme Court precedent confirms there's no protectable property interest in the license.

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DOJ Looks To Nix Dish's Requirement To Operate 5G Network

By Nadia Dreid

Now that it's sold off all its spectrum, Dish isn't going to be able to build the nationwide 5G network that it promised the U.S. Department of Justice it would as part of the T-Mobile-Sprint merger, so the DOJ is asking a D.C. federal court to nix that part of their agreement.

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FCC Revamps How Broadband Maps Can Be Challenged

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission overhauled broadband data collection rules on Wednesday, with an aim of making its map of national broadband deployment more accurate while also cutting unnecessary regulatory burdens.

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Brief

FCC Clears Nokia Routers After DOD Security Review

By Nadia Dreid

Nokia will still be able to import some of its foreign made routers after receiving the Federal Communications Commission's blessing and conditional approval and exemption from the agency's covered list of equipment the agency has deemed a national security risk.

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FCC Advances Anti-Robocall Plan To 'Know' Call Providers

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday proposed new rules that would require phone network operators to "know" the other network operators they do business with as a way of stemming the flow of scam and unwanted calls.

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Va. Gov.'s Cannabis Bill Veto Keeps State In Legal Limbo

By Sam Reisman

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger's veto of legislation to tax and regulate the sale of adult-use cannabis will keep the commonwealth in a state of cannabis legal limbo for the foreseeable future.

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Missouri Budtenders Say Dispensary Group Mishandled Tips

By Mike Curley

A proposed class of budtenders for dispensaries run by GL Partners Inc. is suing in Missouri federal court, alleging the dispensaries are violating federal labor laws by sharing tips with managerial staff and otherwise mishandling them to use as petty cash or to balance cash registers.

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Series

Law School's Missed Lesson: Diagnose Before Arguing

Law school often skips over explicitly teaching students how to determine what kind of problem a case presents before they commit to a particular doctrinal path, which risks building arguments that are internally coherent but externally misaligned, says Melanie Oxhorn at Kobre & Kim.

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Big Issues Linger After Senate Prediction Market Trading Ban

Whether the Senate can — or should — extend prediction market trading restrictions beyond itself will test not only the boundaries of insider trading law, but also the structural limits of legislative power in an era where information itself has become a tradable asset, say attorneys at Benesch.

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Revised Fed Principles Balance Risk And Remediation

The Federal Reserve's recently updated supervisory principles sharpen standards for enforcement actions while rewarding self-identification and remediation, signaling a more transparent approach that could reduce uncertainty and reshape how banks manage examination risk and regulator engagement going forward, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

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Data Center Developer Lessons From Maine's Vetoed Ban

The regulatory and political dynamics that recently led Maine’s governor to veto a popular bipartisan bill proposing a temporary data center development ban offer a useful template that developers can use to help their projects survive other states' attempts at moratoriums, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

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Engaging With FDA's New Complete Response Letter Policy

A citizen petition filed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month puts renewed focus on the agency's practice of releasing complete response letters in near real time, materially altering the context in which life sciences companies communicate with investors regarding regulatory developments, say attorneys at Debevoise.

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OpenAI Says ChatGPT Misuse Is Users' Responsibility

By Emily Sawicki

OpenAI has asked a federal judge in Chicago to end an insurance company's suit alleging it practices law without a license, arguing the complaint should be directed toward individuals who misuse the company's ChatGPT bot to file faulty motions, and not the generative AI platform itself.

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Hagens Berman Says Apple Smear Job Can't Stop Withdrawal

By Bonnie Eslinger

Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP urged a California federal judge to allow one of its named plaintiffs to withdraw from an Apple iCloud antitrust case, saying Apple Inc.'s filed opposition is rife with "misdirection and ad hominem" attacks and not about the merits of the dispute but "smearing opposing counsel."

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Atty Withdrawals Not Limited To Fee Conflicts, ABA Says

By Emily Sawicki

Lawyers whose clients fail to hold up their end of valid engagement agreements are clear to cease their representation, so long as certain criteria are met, according to the American Bar Association's ethics committee's latest guidance, published Wednesday.

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Mich. Supreme Court Mulls Remote Court Access Rules

By Susan Smiley

The Michigan Supreme Court held administrative hearings on Wednesday concerning several proposed amendments to Michigan court rules, including adding more specific guidelines for remote hearings, making language services free for civil cases, and allowing law students and recent law graduates to appear on behalf of indigent people in all Michigan courts.

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