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Public Policy
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June 26, 2025
Stewart Clarifies Settled Expectations In Denying Intel IPRs
Leaders at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office discretionarily denied 13 more petitions for inter partes review on Thursday, where the acting director offered more guidance on how she's deciding when a patent owner can rest on settled expectations that its patent wouldn't be challenged.
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June 26, 2025
FTC OKs $1.6B Gas Station Deal, With Divestiture Of 35 Stores
The Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday an agreement resolving antitrust concerns regarding Alimentation Couche-Tard's proposed $1.57 billion acquisition of 270 fuel stations from grocery chain Giant Eagle, requiring the Canadian convenience store company to divest 35 gas stations.
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June 26, 2025
Phillip Morris Moves To Arbitrate Rivals' Tobacco Deal Suit
Philip Morris USA is urging a Washington state judge to force arbitration in a dispute with R.J. Reynolds and other tobacco companies over deals delineating billions of dollars in annual payments owed to states under Big Tobacco's 1998 master settlement agreement.
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June 26, 2025
DHS Releases Grant Funds After Chicago Suit Targets 'Pause'
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has released at least some of the counterterrorism grant fund reimbursements it had recently suspended for Chicago and certain other cities, but Chicago officials say the move isn't enough to end a lawsuit it launched over the allegedly unconstitutional pause.
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June 26, 2025
Ex-NY Gov. Aide Hit With New PPE Fraud Scheme Charges
A federal grand jury Wednesday tacked on charges against a former top aide to two New York governors in a case accusing her of secretly acting as a Chinese government agent, alleging she illegally steered government contracts during the COVID-19 pandemic to businesses she was secretly connected to.
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June 26, 2025
NY Court Suppresses Evidence Due To Cannabis Law Change
A man's guilty plea to possessing cocaine was vacated Thursday after a New York appeals court allowed suppression of evidence gleaned from a police search prompted by a cannabis smell, because the state barred this exact practice days after his indictment.
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June 26, 2025
Calif. FAIR Plan Fire Policy Is Unlawful, Court Rules
Fire insurance offered by California's insurer of last resort does not meet the minimum coverage standards laid out in the state insurance code, a California state court ruled, finding the policy's definition of "direct physical loss" and its smoke damage provision to be unlawfully restrictive.
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June 26, 2025
Judge Questions DOJ's Justification For $820M Grant Cuts
A D.C. federal judge on Thursday expressed frustration with the U.S. Department of Justice's scant explanation for canceling more than $820 million in public safety grants disbursed through the agency's Office of Justice Programs.
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June 26, 2025
NY Looks To Snuff Out Pot Shop's Labor Peace Law Spat
New York cannabis regulators fought a dispensary operator's challenge to a state law making companies sign on to labor peace agreements with unions to have a license, telling a federal judge Thursday that the business can't show harm from the pact because it doesn't have employees.
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June 26, 2025
EPA Illegally Ended Environmental Justice Grants, Groups Say
Environmental groups, a Native American village and other local governments have alleged in a proposed class action in D.C. federal court that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency unlawfully stopped a $3 billion climate grant program created by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
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June 26, 2025
Cable Biz Wants Notice Before FCC Waives Top-4 Rule
The cable industry criticized the Federal Communications Commission's handling of a recent waiver of its rule blocking broadcasters from owning more than one top-four TV station in a single market, telling FCC officials they should ask for the public's views before making any exceptions.
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June 26, 2025
CSBS Issues Money Transmitter Guidance on Virtual Currency
The Conference of State Bank Supervisors on Thursday released advisory guidance on how to consider virtual currency when calculating a licensee's tangible net worth under the Money Transmission Modernization Act, the first set of recommendations to be published under the CSBS board of directors' newly established process for issuing nonbinding, advisory guidance.
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June 26, 2025
Immigrants Tell 1st Circ. DHS Can't Justify Parole Program Ax
A class of nearly 500,000 immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela told the First Circuit on Wednesday that the Trump administration can't show that a Massachusetts federal judge abused her discretion in blocking the government's rescission of temporary Biden-era removal protections.
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June 26, 2025
Ex-Trump Atty Chesebro Disbarred In NY For Fake Elector Plot
President Donald Trump's former attorney Kenneth Chesebro, the so-called "architect" in the plot to use fake electors to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results, has been disbarred from practicing law in the state of New York, according to a unanimous decision issued on Thursday.
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June 26, 2025
Alaska Foster Kids Win Class Status In Child Welfare Suit
An Alaskan federal judge has ruled that foster children as a class can sue the director of the state's Department of Family and Community Services in her official capacity, finding merit in their claims that statewide practices put all kids in custody at serious risk of harm.
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June 26, 2025
Mass. Court Lets Man Try Again To Escape Ankle Monitor
A convicted rapist in Massachusetts who spent nearly 16 years in prison will get a second shot at challenging how long he must wear a GPS monitor now that he's been released, after a state appellate court on Thursday ruled a lower court did not properly weigh his constitutional rights.
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June 26, 2025
Wash. High Court Says State CBAs Are Private Until Funded
The agency that negotiates Washington state employees' union contracts can reject public records requests for bargaining-related documents until the contracts are finalized and funded, the Washington Supreme Court held in an 8-1 vote Thursday, upholding a Washington Court of Appeals decision.
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June 26, 2025
Judge 'Cannot Justify' Ga.'s Social Media Age Limit Law
A federal judge on Thursday declared unconstitutional Georgia's new restrictions on minors' use of social media, halting enforcement of the measures on First Amendment grounds just weeks before they were to take effect.
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June 26, 2025
5th Circ. Revives Biz Records Law, Citing Review Safeguard
The Fifth Circuit on Thursday tossed a permanent injunction blocking a Texas statute requiring businesses to immediately comply with the state's demand to examine business records, saying the Texas Supreme Court recently "harmonized" the law in a way that addresses Spirit AeroSystems Inc.'s constitutional challenge.
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June 26, 2025
FCC Votes To Slash Rules At June Meeting
Most of what the Federal Communications Commission did at its monthly meeting Thursday was vote away rules that it no longer deems useful to keeping the agency and the various telecommunications sectors under its purview running smoothly.
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June 26, 2025
Wireless Cos. Ask FCC To Overturn Subsidy Rulings
Two wireless companies have asked the Federal Communications Commission to reverse the Universal Service Administrative Co.'s decisions denying some of the federal subsidies the companies received for providing low-income households with broadband discounts.
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June 26, 2025
Md. Judge Won't Rush Abrego Garcia's Bid To Avoid Removal
A federal judge declined Thursday to rule immediately on Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia's emergency request to bar the government from quickly deporting him once he's released from detention in his criminal case in Tennessee, expressing concern about her jurisdiction.
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June 26, 2025
GOP Sens. Aim To Finalize Crypto Market Bill By Sept. 30
Republican senators pledged Thursday to finish their digital asset market structure legislation by the end of September, stressing the urgency of delivering on President Donald Trump's aim to make the U.S. the cryptocurrency capital of the world.
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June 26, 2025
10 Years Later: Obergefell Attorneys, In Their Own Words
Marking the decade anniversary of the Obergefell opinion, Law360 asked the attorneys who argued the case at the Supreme Court what it was like being at the center of such a monumental case, how a ruling favoring same-sex marriage changed the legal landscape over the past decade, and the remaining legal appetite to overturn it.
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June 26, 2025
No Work Needed For Military Leave Pay, Wash. Justices Say
Washington state public employees are entitled to paid military leave even if they are not scheduled to work because they are on active duty during an extended military leave of absence, the state's Supreme Court ruled Thursday, saying the state's paid military leave statute is unambiguous.
Expert Analysis
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How AI May Reshape The Future Of Adjudication
As discussed at a recent panel at Texas A&M, artificial intelligence will not erase the human element of adjudication in the next 10 to 20 years, but it will drive efficiencies that spur private arbiters to experiment, lead public courts to evolve and force attorneys to adapt, says Christopher Seck at Squire Patton.
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What Money Transmitters Need To Know About New Colo. Law
Colorado's new Money Transmission Modernization Act updates standards for the licensing, supervision and regulation of money transmitters while codifying an agent-to-payee exemption, and represents another step toward standardizing these rules across state governments, say Sarah Auchterlonie and Joel Herberman at Brownstein Hyatt.
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How States Are Taking The Lead On Data Center Regulation
While support for data center growth is a declared priority for the current administration, federal data center policy has been slow to develop — so states continue to lead in attracting and regulating data center growth, say attorneys at Steptoe.
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Justices' Charter School Tie Delays Church-State Reckoning
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent deadlock in Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board v. Drummond, blocking the creation of the nation’s first religious charter school, preserved the separation of church and state for now, but offered little reassurance about its continued viability, says Jeffrey Sultanik at Fox Rothschild.
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When Legal Advocacy Crosses The Line Into Incivility
As judges issue sanctions for courtroom incivility, and state bars advance formal discipline rules, trial lawyers must understand that the difference between zealous advocacy and unprofessionalism is not just a matter of tone; it's a marker of skill, credibility and potentially disciplinary exposure, says Nate Sabri at Perkins Coie.
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Opinion
It's Time To Expand The WARN Act Liability Exception
With layoffs surging across several industries, Congress should amend the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act to address an exception-based disparity that prevents directors and officers from taking all reasonable steps to save a company before being required to provide workers with a mass-layoff notice, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.
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Texas Bill Could Still Boost Property Rights In Gov't Disputes
The passage of a bill in Texas that would provide litigants with access to a greater swath of judicial remedies in immunity disputes with government entities and officials would be an invaluable boon for property rights, says Nathan Vrazel at Munsch Hardt.
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Two Bills Promise A Crypto Revamp, But Not A Done Deal Yet
Recent efforts in Congress toward an updated regulatory framework for digital assets have led to two bills — the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act — that represent the most consequential legislative developments yet in the push for coherent, pro-innovation, reliable regulation for the industry, but both face multiple hurdles, says Mike Katz at Manatt.
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Opinion
NJ Should Align With Federal Rule On Expert Testimony
The time is right to amend Rule 702 of the New Jersey Rules of Evidence to align it with the recently amended Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence and clarify the standard for admissibility of expert testimony, says Timothy Freeman at Tanenbaum Keale.
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Recent Reports Shed Light On Section 340B's Effectiveness
Recent analyses of the Section 340B program's effectiveness in helping patients afford drugs in Minnesota reinforce concerns about the program's lack of transparency and underscore the need for further evaluation of whether legislative reform should be enacted, say William A. Sarraille at the University of Maryland, and Andrée-Anne Fournier and Molly Frean at Analysis Group.
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Opinion
Congress Should Pass IP Reform, Starting With 3 Patent Bills
Congress is considering a trio of bipartisan bills to fix patent law problems that have cropped up over the past two decades, and it shouldn't stop there — addressing two other intellectual property issues is critical for America's economy, says retired Judge Kathleen O'Malley at the Council for Innovation Promotion.
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Perspectives
The Reforms Needed To Fight Sexual Abuse By Prison Staff
Prisoners sexually assaulted by corrections staff, such as the California women who recently won a consent decree against FCI Dublin, often delay reporting out of fear of retaliation by their abusers, but several practical reforms could empower prisoners to disclose abuse while the evidence necessary to indict perpetrators is still available, says Jaehyun Oh at Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law.
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Colo. Antitrust Law Signals Growing Scrutiny Among States
Colorado's recently enacted Uniform Antitrust Pre-Merger Notification Act makes it the second state to add such a requirement, reflecting a growing trend and underscoring the need for merging parties to plan for a more complex and multilayered notification landscape for deals, say Puja Patel and Noa Gur-Arie at Cleary.
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FCPA Enforcement Is Here To Stay, But It May Look Different
After a monthslong enforcement pause, the U.S. Department of Justice’s new Foreign Corrupt Practices Act guidelines fundamentally shift prosecutorial discretion and potentially reduce investigatory burdens for organizations, but open questions remain, so companies should continue to exercise caution, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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Ore. Coinbase Case Charts New Path For State Crypto Suits
Oregon's recent lawsuit against Coinbase serves as a reminder for the crypto industry that not all states will simply defer to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's evolving stance on crypto-assets, highlighting why stakeholders should proactively assess the risks posed by state-level litigation and develop strategies to address distinct challenges, say attorneys at Steptoe.