SEC, FDA Enter Info-Sharing Pact To Bolster Enforcement

By Rae Ann Varona

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. Food and Drug Administration are looking to bolster information-sharing related to FDA-regulated products in a bid to help each other in their respective oversight and compliance efforts, according to a three-year memorandum of understanding the agencies announced Monday.

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Judge Rejects AstraZeneca's Attack On Colo. 340B Law

By Zach Dupont

A Colorado federal judge on Monday granted the state's motion to dismiss AstraZeneca's complaint challenging a state law that expands distribution of drugs discounted through a federal program, finding that the state law isn't preempted or unconstitutional.

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6th Circ. Splits On Tenn. Social Media Age-Verification Law

By Emily Field

A split Sixth Circuit panel said a lower court should have blocked Tennessee's age-verification law for social media platforms while an internet industry group challenged the statute, finding the group had shown it would be harmed by compliance costs and the loss of free speech liberties.

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High Court Allows Trump To Continue Ballroom Construction

By Katie Buehler

A split U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that President Donald Trump can continue construction of a new White House ballroom while litigation over the project's legality continues. 

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Sec. Of State Can't Deport Students For Speech, Judge Says

By Britain Eakin

A California federal judge has ruled in a suit from Stanford University's student newspaper that provisions of federal immigration law the Trump administration used to cancel the visas of pro-Palestinian students and try to deport them violate the First Amendment and due process.

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House Passes Bill To Curb Secret Prosecutor Orders

By Courtney Bublé

The House passed a bipartisan bill via voice vote Monday afternoon to add transparency to prosecutors' use of nondisclosure orders for telephone service providers.

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New Report Rings Alarm On Threats To Judicial Independence

By Jack Karp

Verbal attacks on judges, disinformation about the courts and the defiance of court orders are undermining the independence of the federal judiciary and significantly affecting individual judges' ability to do their jobs, a report out Monday says.

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Brief

House Passes Bill Adding Texas, California Court Sites

By Courtney Bublé

The House voted 378-10 on Monday evening to expand access to federal courts in Texas and California, the two most populous states in the nation.

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Feds Say New USPS Mail-In Ballot Rule Isn't A 'Takeover'

By Julie Manganis

A new U.S. Postal Service rule compelling states to submit voters' names to the federal government and redesign envelopes in order to have mail-in ballots delivered in November imposes "modest" requirements and is not a "federal takeover of elections," the Trump administration told a Massachusetts federal judge in a weekend filing.

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GOP Asks Justices To Lift Block In Campaign Ad Pricing Case

By Katie Buehler

Republican fundraising committees have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift a Fourth Circuit order blocking the Federal Communications Commission from extending discounted television and radio advertising rates to committees that buy spots in coordination with political candidates, arguing the lower court prematurely jumped into the review process.

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5th Circ. Judges Cast Doubt On Fight Over La. LNG Permit

By Keith Goldberg

A Fifth Circuit panel on Monday expressed skepticism that environmental groups had standing to challenge Louisiana's approval of a preconstruction permit for a major liquefied natural gas export terminal in Cameron Parish.

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NY's Landmark Climate Change Superfund Law Blocked

By Hailey Konnath

A New York federal judge Monday held that New York's Climate Change Superfund Act is preempted by federal law and cannot be enforced, saying the Clean Air Act does not authorize the Empire State to roll out its own emissions compensation scheme.

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Oregon Packaging Law Survives Constitutional Challenge

By Tom Lotshaw

An Oregon federal judge ruled against a national trade association's challenge of an Oregon law that imposed recycling system costs on producers of packaging materials, rejecting arguments that it was unconstitutional.

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SC Panel Waives Scrutiny On Kirkland-Guided Data Center

By Nate Beck

South Carolina regulators have decided not to apply a law requiring construction approval to a 450-megawatt, natural gas-powered project proposed by a Kirkland & Ellis LLP-advised data center builder, despite calls from an environmental group for more scrutiny of the development.

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9 More Drug Cos. Make Pricing Agreements With US

By Craig Clough

Nine more branded drug manufacturers reached deals cutting prices on their medications, President Donald Trump announced Monday, with nearly 90% of such products now being covered by "most-favored nation" deals in the United States.

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3rd Circ. Says History Backs NJ Telehealth License Rule

By Carla Baranauckas

The Third Circuit on Monday upheld New Jersey's requirement that out‑of‑state physicians obtain a state medical license before consulting with in-state patients via telemedicine, concluding that the rule fits a centuries‑old tradition of regulating medical practice and does not trigger strict First Amendment scrutiny.

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AGs, WGA Slam Paramount's Bid For $1.9B Merger Suit Bond

By Lauren Berg

The Writers Guild of America and Democratic attorneys general urged a California federal judge Monday to reject Paramount Skydance Corp.'s bid to make them put up a $1.9 billion bond, saying it was the studio's idea to pause closing its planned $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery.

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Parler Backers Hijacked Social Media Co. From CEO, Jury Told

By Cara Salvatore

Stakeholders of defunct microblogging app Parler, including hedge fund scion Rebekah Mercer and former deputy FBI director Dan Bongino, allegedly schemed to strip the social app's cofounder of his CEO role and his 40% stake, a Nevada jury heard in opening arguments in a $100 million contract trial Monday.

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Feds' Crackdown Targets Commercial Trucking Fraud

By Linda Chiem

The Trump administration said Monday it is immediately shutting down 110 commercial driver's license schools for certifying truck drivers who can't read or speak English, and pledged to aggressively prosecute accused "fraudsters" who knowingly put untrained or unskilled truck drivers on American roads.

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Mass. Panel OKs Home Value Despite Contamination Claim

By Sanjay Talwani

A Massachusetts homeowner claiming environmental contamination did not show that it diminished the property's taxable value, a state board said in a decision released Monday.

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Mass. Board Cites Comparable Sales, Cuts Home Valuation

By Sanjay Talwani

A Massachusetts home was overvalued, but not by as much as the owners argued, the state Appellate Tax Board said in a decision released Monday.

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Florida Wants Discovery Pause In Trump Library Transfer Suit

By Nate Beck

The state of Florida and The Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation on Monday sought to shut down discovery in a Florida federal lawsuit challenging the state's donation of a downtown Miami college site to President Donald Trump as a violation of the constitution's ban on domestic emoluments.

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NLRB Atty OKs Microsoft's Gaza Protest Firings

By Braden Campbell

Microsoft did not violate federal labor law by firing two workers who organized a protest of the war in Gaza at the company's Washington headquarters because the event didn't have a clear enough tie to their work, a National Labor Relations Board attorney said in a newly released advice memo.

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Erie Bus Dispatchers Aren't Union-Exempt Supervisors

By Matthew Santoni

Seven dispatchers at the Metropolitan Transit Authority for Erie, Pennsylvania, are not "supervisors" exempt from membership in the authority's labor union, since their roles in scheduling overtime or reporting rule infractions were constrained by their contract and only occasionally crossed the line into supervision, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled Monday.

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Controversial Tweak To Calif. Antitrust Law Heads To Newsom

By Lauren Berg

A bill that would expand California's Cartwright Act to allow the state to pursue monopoly and monopsony claims against a solo company, instead of requiring multicompany coordinated conduct, is headed to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk after state lawmakers passed a narrowed version of the controversial measure Sunday.

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DOGE Data-Privacy Suit Survives Reconsideration Bid

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. federal judge declined Friday to reconsider his March decision allowing a proposed class action accusing the Trump administration of unlawfully sharing federal employees' sensitive personal information with Department of Government Efficiency staffers to proceed, ruling that an "oversight" in his prior opinion wouldn't alter the result.

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Calif. Passes Bills To Limit Tracking Suits, Boost Privacy

By Allison Grande

California lawmakers have sent to the governor's desk legislation that would block private litigants from bringing website tracking lawsuits under a key provision of the state's wiretap law, as well as a separate pair of bills to expand protections under the state's data privacy law. 

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ChatGPT, Reddit, Roblox ID'd For Extra EU Digital Safeguards

By Bryan Koenig

The European Commission labeled ChatGPT, Reddit and Roblox on Monday as large enough to warrant extra rules for policing illegal content and other mandates, bringing the number of companies hit with Digital Services Act labels up to 28.

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Ex-Ga. Deputies Can't Escape Stun Gun Death Suit, Court Told

By David Aaro

The sister of a man who died after being shot with a stun gun during a confrontation with law enforcement nearly a decade ago told a Georgia federal court the sheriff's deputies can't win summary judgment in a lawsuit she filed since her claims were "quintessentially" for a jury.

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DOJ Says Federal Law Permits Challenge Of Denver Gun Ban

By Rachel Konieczny

The Trump administration urged a Colorado federal judge Monday not to toss its challenge of the city of Denver's ordinances that ban assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, contending a federal law allows the administration to seek injunctive relief.

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Trump Opening 1st Round Of Tariff-Free Ground Beef Tuesday

By Jack McLoone

The first 100,000 of a total 300,000 metric tons of ground beef that can be imported into the U.S. without an added tariff can enter into the country starting Sept. 1, according to a proclamation published Monday.

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States Ask Fed. Circ. To Revive Their Temporary Tariff Claims

By Jack McLoone

Two dozen states pushed the Federal Circuit on Monday to revive their specific claims against now-expired temporary tariffs while simultaneously pushing the panel to otherwise back the U.S. Court of International Trade's ruling that the tariffs were illegal.

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Brief

Thai Spray Foam Imports Face US Circumvention Probe

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. Department of Commerce said Monday it will determine whether spray foam systems assembled in Thailand with Chinese components are circumventing U.S. duties placed on a foam-making chemical, a month after a similar investigation was opened into Canadian systems.

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Brief

Commerce Probing Indian Polymer For Possible Duties

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. Department of Commerce said Monday that it is investigating whether Indian imports of a type of polymer used to handle dangerous chemicals are being sold in the U.S. at unfair prices.

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Brief

EU Sets Evidence Standard For Steel Duty Anti-Evasion Rule

By Jack McLoone

The European Commission on Monday established the types of evidence that those that import steel into the bloc will need to provide to satisfy new rules requiring clearer information about the country of origin for such products.

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Judge, Citing COVID Impacts, Cuts SC Mall Tax Value By $17M

By Sanjay Talwani

A South Carolina judge cut $17 million from the tax value of a shopping mall, favoring the owner's income analysis and agreeing that the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the viability of malls nationwide.

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9th Circ. Faults Notice Errors In Jamaican's Deportation Case

By Ganesh Setty

A Jamaican citizen's due process rights were violated when the federal government failed to properly notify him about its appeals of decisions granting him withholding of removal, the Ninth Circuit ruled, noting that he's been in immigration detention since 2021.

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9th Circ. Revives Salvadoran's Bid For Torture Protection

By Ganesh Setty

The Ninth Circuit has faulted the Board of Immigration Appeals for creating a "quantitative evidence" requirement in assessing a Salvadoran's bid under the Convention Against Torture to avoid deportation to El Salvador, saying that no such requirement exists.

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Trump Admin Fights Broad Block Of New Birthright Order

By Jared Foretek

The Trump administration is asking a Maryland federal judge to limit any forthcoming injunction of the White House's new birthright citizenship order to a narrow temporary restraining order applying only to new order's "alien-enemy" and "birth-tourism" categories, after the judge said Friday that plaintiffs challenging the order face irreparable harm.

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State Dept. Must Detail Efforts To Restart Visa Processing

By Britain Eakin

A New York federal judge said Monday she wants to know what steps the government is taking to process immigrant visa applications it halted in January, when it paused immigrant visa issuance for people from 75 countries over public charge concerns.

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NY, Okla. Tribes Decry Trump Renaming Lake Ontario

By Crystal Owens

Tribal nation leaders have called for President Donald Trump to rescind his executive order to rename Lake Ontario, saying he can't assert ownership over Indigenous culture or "erase it through irresponsible political action."

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Fiber, Labor Shortages Spur Call To Delay Rural Connections

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Broadband providers have reiterated their call for a one-year extension of the Federal Communications Commission's deadline to complete projects under a rural funding program, citing increasing fiber scarcity and the ongoing skilled labor shortage.

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Oregon Says Lifeline Integrity 'Robust' As FCC Probe Ensues

By Christopher Cole

Oregon told the Federal Communications Commission that its Lifeline phone subsidy program has shown low error rates as the FCC probes state programs that have opted out of a federal system to verify enrollees.

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'Reality Check' Needed For E-Rate, Says Ex-FCC Commish

By Christopher Cole

A former member of the Federal Communications Commission pushed Monday for a complete review of the E-Rate program for school and library telecom discounts, asking if instead of helping students learn, it's "doing harm."

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Mass. Police Department Opposes FCC Drone Restriction

By Nadia Dreid

A Massachusetts police chief is asking the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider banning people from buying foreign-made military-grade drones, saying law enforcement can use them to find missing people much more quickly than human search groups.

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Brief

FCC Names New Enforcement Bureau Chief

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission has named Hunter Deeley as its new Enforcement Bureau chief.

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Brief

FCC Fines Undersea Cable Cos. For Expired Landing Licenses

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission inked a deal with a submarine cable company and its three co-licensees to end an investigation into their failure to renew their licenses on time, with the quartet agreeing to split a $45,000 fine.

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Paul Hastings Hires Longtime FTC Mergers Atty In DC

By Jack Rodgers

An attorney from the Federal Trade Commission, who worked with the agency for nearly 20 years and was most recently deputy assistant director in the Mergers I Division, has joined Paul Hastings LLP, the firm announced Monday.

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Holland & Knight Adds Duo From McDermott Lobbying Arm

By Christine DeRosa

Holland & Knight LLP has grown its federal government affairs practice in the nation's capital with the addition of an attorney and senior director from McDermott+, the now-closed consulting and lobbying affiliate of McDermott Will & Schulte, the firm said Monday.

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What DOJ Fraud Division Rule Resolves, And What It Doesn't

The U.S. Department of Justice’s recently published final rule answers many outstanding questions about the newly created National Fraud Enforcement Division, but overlapping mandates could result in parallel investigations and diverging viewpoints between multiple sets of prosecutors, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

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Q3 Numbers Refine Picture Of SEC Enforcement Trajectory

A snapshot of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s third-quarter enforcement actions suggest the program may be smaller than in prior years, but that it is increasingly concentrated around market abuse and individual misconduct, especially related to insider trading, say Adrienna Huffman, Jan Jindra and Erik Johannesson at The Brattle Group.

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Opinion

Justices Gave Energy Industry A Needed Constitutional Reset

Energy companies must understand the regulatory and compliance implications of two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings reaffirming that agencies must derive their legitimacy from faithfully executing the law, says Brunini Grantham's Curt Hébert, former member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

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Ex-Clifford Chance Attys Fight Bid To Toss Clawback Suit

By Ryan Boysen

The two partners facing a $6 million clawback demand by Clifford Chance LLP have again asked a federal judge to decide whether English or New York law should govern the arbitration, claiming the firm's partnership agreement is unclear.

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How Did Litigants Fare In Judge Albright's 55 Patent Trials?

By Dani Kass

U.S. District Judge Alan Albright oversaw more than 50 patent trials between his 2018 arrival on the bench and planned Monday departure, and in a surprise for many attorneys, there was a near-even split between victories for patent owners and accused infringers.

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Roundup

Defamation Litigation Roundup: NYT, J&J, Azerbaijan

By Theresa Schliep

In this month's review of defamation fights, Law360 details a jury verdict against The New York Times in a suit involving its reporting on a shooting in Alabama, and highlights a judge's decision to spare researchers from a suit by a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary over their talc research.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week saw disputes over a $200 million federal grant, a $1.7 billion software take-private deal, the ouster of Better.com founder Vishal Garg and a proposed $4 million settlement stemming from an electric vehicle company's SPAC merger.

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Roundup

Hub Hires: MassBar, Kirkland, Troutman

By Chris Villani

Massachusetts' legal landscape saw a sizzling summer finish, with several major firms making hires. Kirkland added a veteran white collar defense attorney, Troutman bolstered its real estate team and Day Pitney nabbed an experienced corporate attorney.

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