Feds Cut Colo. River Basin Water For 2 Years Amid Drought

By Crystal Owens

The U.S. Department of the Interior has finalized a 10-year framework for Colorado River operations that will reduce water delivery to Arizona, California and Nevada by 1.25 million acre-feet for two years, as reservoirs dive to lows not seen since their 1963 construction due to ongoing drought conditions.

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Nevada Challenges Feds' Plan For Colorado River Shortages

By Tom Lotshaw

Nevada on Monday asked a federal judge to block a framework for Colorado River water cuts the Trump administration finalized, arguing that a flawed review and analysis threaten to put shortages on the backs of it and two other lower basin states.

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Trump Threatens 50% Tariffs On Canadian Vehicles, Steel

By Jack McLoone

President Donald Trump on Monday escalated his trade war against Canada, saying he would implement 50% tariffs on vehicles and steel from the country in January, after a 50% levy took effect over the weekend on other goods imported from Canada.

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6th Circ. Upholds Mich. City's Pride Flag Ban

By Melanie Dorsey

The Sixth Circuit has affirmed a district court decision letting a city near Detroit bar Pride and other non-national flags from city-owned flagpoles, ruling that Hamtramck, Michigan, lawfully converted its flagpoles into a forum for government speech when it restricted which flags could be displayed. 

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Mich. Judicial Council Seeks Input On Long-Term Courts Strategy

By Susan Smiley

The Michigan Judicial Council heard input on its six-point strategic plan to improve the courts system Monday during a Zoom public forum.

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High Court Lifts Block On Mail-In Ballot Changes

By Katie Buehler

The Trump administration can proceed with plans to implement some new nationwide mail-in voting regulations ahead of this year's midterm elections, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday, but questions remain about the enforceability of proposed U.S. Postal Service restrictions.

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Legal Center Says DOJ Is Stonewalling Fund Records Request

By Jared Foretek

A voting rights nonprofit is accusing the U.S. Department of Justice of stonewalling a request for records on the Trump administration's attempted "anti-weaponization fund," claiming that the agency has spent the summer unlawfully ducking a Freedom of Information Act submission.

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Feds Scrap Biden-Era Policy On Credit-Access Programs

By Jon Hill

The Trump administration is withdrawing Biden-era guidance that encouraged banks and other lenders to offer specialized programs to boost credit access for underserved borrowers, according to a new Federal Register notice. 

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Trump Says Capital One Accounts Case Shouldn't Be Tossed

By Hailey Konnath

President Donald Trump and his businesses have urged a Florida federal court not to axe their suit against Capital One, doubling down on their argument that the bank surveilled them and unlawfully closed hundreds of accounts "for no reason other than politics."

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Analysis

SEC Crypto Offering Plan Leaves States, Platforms Guessing

By Aislinn Keely

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's long-awaited plan to boost cryptocurrency offerings would clear the way for crypto projects to raise capital from retail traders, but the proposal already faces major questions from how it permits secondary trading to the limits it puts on states.

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Brief

NCUA No Longer Leaderless As Crews Sworn In, Named Chair

By Jon Hill

The National Credit Union Administration said Monday that President Donald Trump's pick to lead the federal credit union regulator has now formally taken office, ending its brief leaderless stretch without any sitting chairman or board members at its helm.

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Enviro Groups' Drilling Suit Lacks Imminent Harm, Judge Says

By Lauren Berg

Environmental groups sued too early over a move last year by President Donald Trump to revive the prospect of Arctic oil and gas leasing in offshore areas that prior administrations deemed off-limits, an Alaska federal judge ruled Monday, saying the plaintiffs have not demonstrated a "substantial risk of imminent harm."

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Calif. Takes Trump Admin Pipeline Fight To 9th Circ.

By Keith Goldberg

California has asked the Ninth Circuit to review a district court's rejection of its bid to block the Trump administration's reopening of a controversial coastal oil pipeline, which a judge said was a valid use of federal emergency authority under the Defense Production Act.

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W.Va. Residents Say Coal Co. Polluted Town's Water Supply

By Tom Lotshaw

Eighteen residents of Gary, West Virginia, hit Taishan Resources LLC with a citizen suit that accuses the company of negligently operating a surface coal mine and contaminating the town's drinking water.

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Ill. Won't Hold Religious Docs To 'Aid-In-Dying' Law, For Now

By Gianna Ferrarin

Illinois agreed not to force a group of religious healthcare providers to refer patients to "medical aid in dying" services, a form of care recently legalized by the state allowing certain terminally ill individuals to seek prescriptions for lethal medication to bring about their death.

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Merck Loses HHS Suit Over Medicare Drug Price Program

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. federal judge shot down Merck's challenge to the Inflation Reduction Act's Drug Price Negotiation Program on Monday, ruling that the pharmaceutical giant's voluntary participation in connected Medicare and Medicaid programs meant that its inclusion in the negotiation program doesn't constitute an unconstitutional taking.

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Colo. Judge Certifies Class In Hospital Gender Care Suit

By Rachel Konieczny

A Colorado state judge granted class certification in transgender adolescents' lawsuit seeking to have Children's Hospital Colorado resume providing gender-affirming medical care for them and other transgender youth patients.

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USPTO Anonymous Reexam Proposal Spurs Concern, Praise

By Ryan Davis

A U.S. Patent and Trademark Office proposal to effectively end the ability to be completely anonymous when requesting patent reexaminations drew numerous concerns from industry and attorney groups, as well as supportive remarks from patent owners and calls for the office to go further.

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Brief

Fed. Circ. Agrees To Speed Up Args In COVID Vax Patent Case

By Elliot Weld

The Federal Circuit on Monday agreed to accelerate the schedule in a COVID-19 vaccine patent dispute between Moderna and Arbutus Biopharma Corp. by holding arguments in November.

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AGs Want Meta's Privilege Claims Reviewed In Bellwether Trial

By Dorothy Atkins

During a break in a jury trial Monday over states' claims Meta hid social media's harm, states' counsel urged a California federal judge to require Meta to re-review all of its attorney-client privilege designations, arguing that "it seems actually logically impossible" that Meta described the wrong standard in only a single document.  

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Social Media Giants Denied Pause Of Calif. Kids Algorithm Law

By Emily Field

A California federal judge on Friday again refused to block the Golden State law that bars social media companies from using algorithmic feeds to deliver content to children without parents' consent, telling Meta, Google and TikTok that predictive algorithms that show "interesting" content aren't protected free speech.

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Instagram Wants Teen 'Sessions,' Not Time, Tenn. Jury Told

By Cara Salvatore

Instagram's top data scientist told a Tennessee jury Monday that the company's goal is to increase the amount of "sessions" by teens, not their raw amount of time in the app, though he admitted the latter metric has been on the rise.

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Advocacy Groups Seek To Join ABC's Case Against FCC

By Christopher Cole

Two media advocacy groups said Monday they will seek to join a lawsuit that ABC recently filed in D.C. federal court against the Federal Communications Commission alleging First Amendment violations.

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Consumer Groups Urge DOT To Keep Airline Full-Fare Ad Rule

By Linda Chiem

Consumer advocates have asked the U.S. Department of Transportation to reconsider its plans to upend decades-old requirements that airlines display the total airfare more prominently than other components like taxes and fees, saying the Trump administration is effectively endorsing "drip pricing."

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White Nationalist Group Says Probes Violate Free Speech

By Isaac Monterose

A white nationalist association and other related parties have claimed that federal, state and local authorities are violating their constitutional free speech rights by conducting unfair investigations into the group's "whites-only" community in the state.

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NYC Fights Officers' Bid To Shield Dog Care Records

By MJ Koo

New York City has pushed back against a protective order sought by police dog handlers who allege the city owes them overtime for caring for their dogs at home, arguing in New York federal court that the workers have withheld key documents and failed to provide an adequate computation of their claimed damages.

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'History And Tradition' Allow For Religious Emails, USDA Says

By Katherine Smith

The U.S. Department of Agriculture urged a California federal court to toss a suit by federal workers and their labor union accusing the agency's secretary of sending "proselytizing" religious emails to employees, arguing the messages align with the "history and tradition" of public officials making references to religion.

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DOJ Backs Biotech Co. Against Red Cross At 1st Circ.

By Matthew Perlman

The U.S. Department of Justice is continuing to back a biotech company that accuses the American Red Cross of blocking competition for blood platelet testing, telling the First Circuit the nonprofit is not part of the government and is not immune from the antitrust claims.

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Google Says Publishers Can't Get 'Fake Privilege' Discovery

By Bryan Koenig

Google urged a New York federal judge not to grant additional discovery to a group of publishers targeting its advertising placement technology dominance in a wider multidistrict litigation, arguing claims of insufficient detail into corporate policies allegedly hiding evidence are belied by the volume of information already cited.

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Transit Stabbing Victim's Estate Sues North Carolina City

By Hayley Fowler

The estate of a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who was fatally stabbed last year on a light rail train car in Charlotte, North Carolina, has filed a wrongful death suit in state court, alleging the city and its private security contractor failed to put reasonable safety measures in place.

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DOJ Seeks To Beat UC Researchers' Challenge Of Grant Axings

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Department of Justice argued on Friday that the Trump administration should prevail over University of California researchers' challenges of the termination of their grants, telling a California federal judge that the First Amendment doesn't apply to competitively awarded grants.

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Aviation Cos. Urge FCC To Pull Ligado Network Order

By Nadia Dreid

The FCC ought to revoke its controversial 2020 order giving Ligado Networks permission to build a mobile satellite network because the company won't be able to build it in a way that meets the "stringent conditions" the agency gave it, a coalition of groups and companies tells the agency.

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US Cos. Protest Being Left Out Of Quartz Surface Tariff Probe

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. International Trade Commission wrongfully ignored wide domestic opposition to a safeguard investigation and ultimate establishment of tariffs on imports of quartz surface products, a group of American companies told the U.S. Court of International Trade, seeking an order spiking the tariff.

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Ukraine Says Tatneft Appeal Over $173M Stay Should Be Axed

By Joyce Hanson

Ukraine has pressed the D.C. Circuit to nix an appeal by a large Russian oil company that seeks to overturn a lower court's stay order in the business's suit to enforce a $173 million arbitral award against the country, saying its domestic law prohibits it from paying the award.

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Biz Lobby Urges OECD To Cut Platform Reporting's Threshold

By Kevin Pinner

The OECD's model rules for platforms to report information to tax authorities shouldn't have a transaction-based threshold that excludes some sellers from platforms' reporting requirements, the official lobby for businesses at the organization said in response to a consultation.

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Slovakia's PM Aims To Abolish Financial Transaction Tax

By Kevin Pinner

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico has asked his cabinet to prepare legislation to repeal the country's atypical financial transaction tax, which has faced "massive criticism" since its introduction, he said Monday on social media.

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Feds Propose New $103K Fee For H-1B Visa Petitions

By Ganesh Setty

The Trump administration proposed a new rule Monday that would impose a roughly $103,000 fee for all H-1B visa petitions subject to government caps, separate from the $100,000 fee President Donald Trump announced last year via executive proclamation.

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11th Circ. Says Sudden Snatching Is A Deportable Crime

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

The Eleventh Circuit has denied a Trinidad and Tobago native's petition to review a decision deeming him removable for his conviction for robbery by sudden snatching, saying the crime is indeed a deportable offense.

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4th Circ. Says Vacated Drug Conviction Can't Bar Admissibility

By Gina Kim

The Fourth Circuit concluded Monday that a Mexico native's since-vacated marijuana conviction in North Carolina state court does not render her inadmissible in the U.S., departing from a long-standing framework that considered vacated convictions valid for immigration purposes unless they're vacated due to substantive or procedural defects. 

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Fla. College Protest Rule Blocked In 'ICEBreakers' Suit

By David Minsky

A Florida federal judge blocked a Miami college's rule restricting protest activities after it was used to discipline several students who staged a brief public demonstration against immigration tactics, finding that the regulation likely violates the First Amendment.

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Judge Says ICE Skirted Review In CAT Removal Reversal

By Britain Eakin

A Maryland federal judge ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of a Mexican national who testified against drug cartel members, saying the government violated his due process rights by revoking his removal protection after trying to deport him unsuccessfully twice prior.

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Feds Seek Circuit Court Reversals In Sanctuary Policy Battle

By Ganesh Setty

The Trump administration has asked separate federal circuit courts to review lower court decisions rejecting its challenges to various state and local sanctuary immigration policies, arguing to the Tenth Circuit that such policies from Colorado and Denver affirmatively obstruct federal immigration enforcement.

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DOJ Says House Dems Can't Sue Over ICE Visit Notice Rule

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. Department of Justice has urged a federal appeals court to throw out a lawsuit brought by House Democrats challenging a policy that requires seven days' notice for congressional oversight visits to immigration detention facilities.

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9th Circ. Sends Juneau Trust Fight Back After DOI Reversal

By Crystal Owens

A Ninth Circuit panel on Monday remanded a dispute over a 787-square-foot parcel in downtown Juneau after the U.S. Department of the Interior changed its position on the land-into-trust decision for an Alaskan tribal government.

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FCC's Trusty Sees Need For Fresh Look At Universal Service

By Christopher Cole

Since taking a seat on the Federal Communications Commission more than a year ago, Olivia Trusty says her travels around some of the most rural parts of the country have convinced her of a need to bring the FCC's universal service programs up to date.

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Brief

AT&T, Duke Energy To Arbitrate Pole Rate Dispute

By Nadia Dreid

AT&T and Duke Energy are headed for arbitration in the hopes of settling their dispute over the rates the power company charges the telecom behemoth for pole attachments, the Federal Communications Commission has said.

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DHS Must Face Bias Suit Over Candidate's Ayahuasca Use

By Patrick Hoff

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security can't escape a lawsuit alleging it unlawfully nixed an applicant's job offer because her religious practice includes consuming the psychoactive tea ayahuasca, a Florida federal judge ruled Friday, rejecting the agency's assertion that the court can't review its hiring decisions on national security grounds.

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Mass. Retailers Sue To Block Kratom Sales Emergency Ban

By Julie Manganis

Four Massachusetts store owners have asked a judge to find that the state's public health commissioner exceeded his authority with a one-year emergency ban on the sale of all kratom products set to take effect this week.

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Arnold & Porter Adds Financial Services Partner In DC

By Alison Knezevich

Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP said Monday it added a Washington, D.C., partner who represents banks, financial services companies and other clients before federal and state agencies.

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NY Bill Would Boost Litigation Risk For Cosmetics Cos.

The Beauty Justice Act, now pending in the New York Legislature, would not only present compliance challenges for companies making cosmetics and personal care products, but could also be used by private plaintiffs to bring consumer fraud, false advertising, toxic exposure and product liability claims, says Kadeejah Kelly-Previl at Faegre Drinker.

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Prepping To Use Crypto Collateral Under Ohio Ownership Law

Ohio's digital asset law should ease the path to using cryptocurrency as collateral, and as the October effective date approaches, lenders should update their loan documentation and diligence processes to take advantage of the new control-based perfection rules, say attorneys at Kegler Brown.

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NC Dental Review Change Counters Tougher National Trend

North Carolina’s elimination of its prior review requirement for dental management agreements departs sharply from the national trend toward expanded corporate practice of medicine oversight, but stakeholders should not view this regulatory shift as a relaxation of compliance expectations, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

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What Cos. Should Do During Stay Of Nasdaq Delisting Rule

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently approved — and subsequently stayed — Nasdaq's $5 million market value threshold for continued listing, giving companies additional time to evaluate financing opportunities, communicate with investors and consider strategic alternatives, says Joseph Lucosky at Lucosky Brookman.

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Galindo Law Files For Ch. 11 After Camp Lejeune Fee Fight

By Ben Zigterman

A Houston-based personal injury law firm sought bankruptcy relief on Monday with more than $50 million in liabilities after a mass tort litigation marketing company sued for over $9 million in fees related to finding potential victims of water contamination at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.

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Attys Ask Court To Toss Suit Alleging They Stole 1,000 Cases

By Spencer Brewer

Multiple attorneys asked a Texas federal court to toss claims that they conspired to hijack 1,000 cases filed by hurricane survivors who had hired and built cases with a different firm, claiming the firm that brought the suit failed to plead a viable RICO claim.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court last week saw a wave of lawsuits involving corporate oversight, take-private deals, financing transactions, bankruptcy fallout, stockholder voting rights and disputes over control.

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