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Public Policy
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April 24, 2024
Congress Didn't OK FCC's 'Disparate Impact' Ban, Critics Say
Business groups told the Eighth Circuit on Wednesday that the Federal Communications Commission's new rules against discrimination in broadband deployment should be overturned because Congress never intended that the agency use a sweeping "disparate impact" liability standard.
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April 24, 2024
Groups Back Intuit's 5th Circ. Challenge To FTC Over Ads
Business and conservative groups defended tax software giant Intuit Inc. in its Fifth Circuit constitutional challenge to the Federal Trade Commission's findings that the company engaged in deceptive advertising, saying the agency acts as both prosecutor and jury and that its administrative judges have unchecked power.
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April 24, 2024
Hawaii High Court Affirms Timeshare Property Tax Is Legal
Timeshares in Maui County, Hawaii, were properly taxed using a timeshare property classification because the classification is both constitutional and in line with the county's code, the state Supreme Court affirmed.
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April 24, 2024
Group Fights SpaceX's FCC Grants After Musk's Actions In War
A pro-Ukraine nonprofit is urging the Federal Communications Commission to halt spectrum assignments to Elon Musk's SpaceX and launch an investigation into the CEO's "erratic" behavior, arguing that his alleged meddling in U.S. foreign policy could disqualify him from exercising control over the company's Starlink satellite network system.
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April 24, 2024
Broken Promises Land Ga. Prison Officials In Contempt
A Georgia federal judge has slapped the state's prison officials with a contempt ruling imposing fines and appointing an independent monitor after finding the state Department of Corrections has for years flouted the terms of a settlement over its treatment of prisoners in its most punitive unit.
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April 24, 2024
Chamber Of Commerce Sues FTC Over New Noncompete Rule
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has lodged a promised lawsuit challenging the Federal Trade Commission's new rule banning noncompete agreements, contending the pacts are good for the economy and that the agency lacks authority to issue the regulation.
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April 24, 2024
Reggie Bush Scores Heisman Back After Nearly 15 Years
Nearly 15 years after being stripped of his records and awards, former University of Southern California running back and football legend Reggie Bush is getting his 2005 Heisman Trophy back, with the Heisman Trophy Trust citing "enormous changes" in the college football environment.
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April 24, 2024
Trump Considered 'Co-Conspirator' In Mich. Elector Probe
Former president Donald Trump and his lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis are considered unindicted co-conspirators in an alleged plot to cast Michigan's electoral votes for Trump following the 2020 election, a witness revealed Wednesday in criminal proceedings against the so-called false electors.
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April 24, 2024
Biden Admin Closes $362M Loan To Texas EV-Wiring Maker
The Biden administration has finalized a $362 million loan to help pay for a Texas automotive-wiring component plant, a move intended to boost the U.S. domestic supply chain for electric vehicles.
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April 24, 2024
Senate OKs Testimony And Evidence For Menendez Trial
U.S. senators and current and former staff members have received approval to testify at the bribery trial of Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, which begins in federal court in New York on May 13.
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April 24, 2024
EPA Floats $1B In School Bus, Truck Electrification Grants
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday said it would offer approximately $1 billion in grants to fund the electrification of school buses, garbage trucks and other heavy-duty commercial vehicles, another part of the Biden administration's efforts to decarbonize the U.S. transportation sector.
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April 24, 2024
Solar Panel Co. Loses Calif. Appeal Over PAGA Arbitration
A California appellate panel sided with a lower court as it ruled in a published opinion that a carveout in a home solar panel company's employment agreement did not require a former worker to arbitrate his individual Private Attorneys General Act claims, keeping his suit in court.
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April 24, 2024
Landlords Bring NY Rent Law Challenge To High Court Again
Thirteen New York property owners urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review their challenge to two 2019 changes to New York rental laws, arguing that the suit is the better-tailored vehicle Justice Clarence Thomas signaled interest in when denying a similar challenge in January.
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April 24, 2024
Nev. Can't Shake Military Bias Suit Over Pensions, DOJ Says
The federal government's suit alleging Nevada and its public employees' retirement system overcharged service members for pension credits should remain in play, the U.S. Department of Justice said, arguing it put forward enough detail showing the state's policies harm military members.
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April 24, 2024
Trump Says 1890s Ruling Nixes Ga. False Filing Charges
Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday told a Georgia court a 134-year-old U.S. Supreme Court case requires the court to dismiss state charges that he made false filings in federal court in an alleged attempt to overturn the results of the last presidential election.
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April 24, 2024
Trump Can't Subpoena Daniels For Alleged Bias In NY Trial
A New York state judge rejected Donald Trump's "overbroad" subpoena seeking records that the former president said would show bias by adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of her testimony about an alleged hush money payment in 2016.
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April 24, 2024
EU Keeps Gibraltar, Panama, UAE On AML Blacklist
Gibraltar, Panama and the United Arab Emirates should remain on the European Union's blacklist of high-risk countries for money laundering, the European Parliament said, stopping the EU from following the lead of a global organization promoting standards for countries to fight those crimes.
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April 24, 2024
Biden's Latest Judge Picks Include Blocked US Atty Nom
President Joe Biden announced seven judicial nominee picks on Wednesday, including one for the Northern District of Illinois, which covers Chicago, whom he previously nominated to be U.S. attorney for the district, but has been held up by a Republican senator.
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April 23, 2024
Ex-Auditor, County Prosecutor Win Pennsylvania AG Primary
The race for Pennsylvania's next attorney general will pit an academic who was the state's fiscal watchdog against a Navy veteran serving as a county's top prosecutor, early primary election results showed Tuesday evening.
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April 23, 2024
Monsanto Judge Slashes $857M PCB Jury Verdict
A Washington state judge slashed a nearly $860 million PCB poisoning verdict against Monsanto by roughly half on Tuesday, while the company sought to avoid future losses by moving to sever an upcoming 14-plaintiff trial in another toxic tort stemming from the same Evergreen State school site.
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April 23, 2024
AGs Urged To Probe Anti-Abortion Centers' Privacy Claims
A watchdog group on Tuesday pressed the attorneys general from Idaho, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington to investigate certain "crisis pregnancy centers" that are allegedly misrepresenting their compliance with federal health privacy law, arguing that the organizations are exploiting consumers' misconception that the statute broadly protects their medical data.
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April 23, 2024
Maine Gov. Signs Bill Expanding Tribal Courts' Rights
Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills on Monday signed into law a bill that, so far, imposes the most significant change to the state's controversial Indian Claims Settlement Act since its passage more than two decades ago.
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April 23, 2024
New Ga. Law Restricts Social Media Use For Youth Under 16
A bill signed into law Tuesday by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp imposes new restrictions on minors' internet usage, including requiring social media companies to verify that users are 16 or older unless they receive approval from an individual's parents to use the service.
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April 23, 2024
TikTok Divestment Bill Heads To Biden's Desk
The Senate voted 79-18 on Tuesday night to pass a bill requiring ByteDance Ltd. to divest the popular social media app TikTok or face a ban in the U.S., which now goes to the president's desk.
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April 23, 2024
HHS Formalizes Flores Protections For Immigrating Minors
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will increase oversight of the treatment of children in immigration custody and fund the minors' legal costs, according to a final regulation released Tuesday that adopts congressional recommendations and the bedrock Flores agreement.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
SC's Courts Have It Wrong On Amazon Marketplace Sales Tax
The South Carolina Supreme Court should step in and correct the misguided change in tax law effectuated by lower court rulings that found Amazon owes state sales tax for marketplace sales made prior to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Wayfair v. South Dakota decision in 2018, says Hayes Holderness at the University of Richmond.
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What's In OCC's Proposed Freedom Of Information Act Update
In this article, Christine Docherty at Goodwin discusses the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's proposed amendments to its regulations implementing the Freedom of Information Act, and how these changes might align with guidance from other regulators.
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Assigning Liability In Key Bridge Collapse May Be Challenging
In the wake of a cargo ship's collision with Baltimore's Key Bridge last month, claimants may focus on the vessel's owners and the agencies responsible for the design and maintenance of the bridge — but allocating legal liability to either private or governmental entities may be difficult under applicable state and federal laws, says Clay Robbins at Wisner Baum.
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Highlights From The 2024 ABA Antitrust Spring Meeting
U.S. merger enforcement and cartels figured heavily in this year's American Bar Association spring antitrust meeting, where one key takeaway included news that the Federal Trade Commission's anticipated changes to the Hart-Scott-Rodino form may be less dramatic than many originally feared, say attorneys at Freshfields.
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What FERC's Disclosure Demands Mean For Cos., Investors
Two recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission orders reflect the commission's increasingly meticulous approach to reviewing corporate structures in applications for approval of proposed consolidations, acquisitions or changes in control — putting the onus on the regulated community to track and comply with ever-more-burdensome disclosure requirements, say attorneys at Willkie.
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IRS Sings New Tune: Whistleblower Form Update Is Welcome
In a significant reform at the Internal Revenue Service's Whistleblower Office, the recently introduced revisions to the Form 211 whistleblower award application use new technology and a more intuitive approach to streamline the process of reporting allegations of tax fraud committed by wealthy individuals and companies, says Benjamin Calitri at Kohn Kohn.
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Strategies For Challenging A Fla. Grand Jury Report's Release
A Florida grand jury’s recent report on potential wrongdoing related to COVID-19 vaccines should serve as a reminder to attorneys to review the myriad legal mechanisms available to challenge the lawfulness of a grand jury report’s publication and expunge the names of their clients, says Cary Aronovitz at Holland & Knight.
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Macquarie Ruling Raises The Bar For Securities Fraud Claims
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last week in Macquarie Infrastructure v. Moab Partners — holding that a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule does not forbid omissions in company disclosures unless they render other statements false — is a major setback for plaintiffs pursuing securities fraud claims against corporations, say attorneys at Skadden.
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Tenn. Law Protecting Artists From AI Raises Novel Issues
Tennessee recently enacted a law that extends the right of publicity protection to individuals' voices in an attempt to control the proliferation of artificial intelligence in the music industry, presenting fascinating questions about the First Amendment, the fair use doctrine and more, say attorneys at Davis Wright.
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Consumer Privacy Takeaways From FTC Extraterritorial Action
With what appears to be its first privacy-related consent agreement with a non-U.S. business, the Federal Trade Commission establishes that its reach is extraterritorial and that consumer internet browsing data is sensitive data, and there are lessons for any multinational business that handles consumer information, say Olivia Greer and Alexis Bello at Weil.
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FDIC Bank Merger Reviews Could Get More Burdensome
Recently proposed changes to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. bank merger review process would expand the agency's administrative processes, impose new evidentiary burdens on parties around competitive effects and other statutory approval factors, and continue the trend of long and unpredictable processing periods, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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Calif. Housing Overhaul May Increase Pressure On Landlords
Two recently enacted California laws signal new protections and legal benefits for tenants, but also elevate landlords' financial exposure at a time when they are already facing multiple other hardships, says Laya Dogmetchi at Much Shelist.
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A Look At Ex Parte Seizures 8 Years Post-DTSA
In the eight years since the Defend Trade Secrets Act was enacted, not much has changed for jurisprudence on ex parte seizures, but a few seminal rulings show that there still isn’t a bright line on what qualifies as extraordinary circumstances warranting a seizure, say attorneys at Finnegan.
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Series
Whitewater Kayaking Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Whether it's seeing clients and their issues from a new perspective, or staying nimble in a moment of intense challenge, the lessons learned from whitewater kayaking transcend the rapids of a river and prepare attorneys for the courtroom and beyond, says Matthew Kent at Alston & Bird.
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Navigating Kentucky's New Consumer Privacy Law
On April 4, Kentucky passed a new law that imposes obligations on affected businesses relating to the collection, use and sale of personal data — and those operating within the state must prepare for a new regulatory landscape governing the handling of consumer data, say Risa Boerner and Martha Vázquez at Fisher Phillips.