Public Policy

  • June 14, 2024

    G7 Takes Aim At China Trade For Prolonging Ukraine War

    The Group of Seven leaders' statement Friday promised additional measures on top of sanctions announced by the U.S. and partner countries this week should Beijing continue selling sensitive technology to Russia.

  • June 14, 2024

    Blistering Dissents Belie Justices' Penchant For Consensus

    Thirteen days into June, the U.S. Supreme Court had recorded one of the highest rates of unanimous decisions in the past four decades. But the era of historic consensus was tarnished a bit Friday when the court issued three split decisions and two scathing dissents highlighting how much the nine justices differ.

  • June 14, 2024

    Uri Pricing Upheld After Lower Court 'Strayed From Its Lane'

    The Texas Supreme Court on Friday said that the Public Utility Commission of Texas acted within its authority when it set a single price for electricity at the market cap during 2021 winter storm Uri, overturning a blockbuster decision by a lower court that upheld its two pricing orders.

  • June 14, 2024

    Monsanto Says Wash. Ruling Axes $275M PCB Verdict

    Monsanto has asked a Washington state appeals court to reverse a $275 million verdict against it in a suit over polychlorinated biphenyls exposure at a school site, saying a recent reversal of a $185 million verdict by the court in another case greatly bolsters its argument for another reversal.

  • June 14, 2024

    3rd Circ. Merges 3 Challenges To Medicare Drug Price Talks

    The Third Circuit will hear three separate appeals challenging Medicare's drug price negotiations together, according to a new order consolidating cases brought by AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Janssen Pharmaceuticals in New Jersey and Delaware federal courts.

  • June 14, 2024

    Florida Says It Can Control Own Speech In 'Stop WOKE' Suit

    Florida officials urged an Eleventh Circuit panel on Friday to unblock a state law known as the Stop WOKE Act that restricts classroom discussion of race and gender, saying it does not violate the First Amendment because government should be allowed to "freely select the views it wants to express."

  • June 14, 2024

    Court Says NYC Can Intervene In Cannabis TM Fight

    New York City is looking to kill a Manhattan entrepreneur's trademark lawsuit over a cannabis themed cruise he claims stole his logos when advertised on Facebook, with the municipality arguing the businessman has been previously ordered to stop using its "NYC" logo.

  • June 14, 2024

    Split DC Circ. Rejects NY's Electricity Rate Challenge

    A split D.C. Circuit panel rejected Friday a New York utility regulator's attempt to unravel the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval of the state grid operator's wholesale electricity rates, leaving in place an estimated 17-year lifespan for new fossil-fueled power plants.

  • June 14, 2024

    Colo. Says Pollution Law Leaves Details Up In The Air

    Colorado's Air Quality Control Commission said state lawmakers gave it a long leash to implement a 2021 law requiring more stringent air pollution monitoring in disproportionately impacted communities, urging a state judge to reject environmental groups' challenge to a permitting rule. 

  • June 14, 2024

    FAA Probes Fake Titanium Docs From Boeing Supplier

    The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that it's investigating whether certain Boeing Co. jets were manufactured with titanium components that may have been sold to the plane maker with falsified authenticity documents.

  • June 14, 2024

    Industry Groups End 2nd Circ. Case Over NY Broadband Law

    Six trade groups said Friday they will end a Second Circuit challenge to a New York law that requires internet service providers to offer low-cost broadband service plans.

  • June 14, 2024

    Ga. Woman Wants 'Illegal' Online Gambling Suit In State Court

    A Georgia woman wants her suit accusing an online operator of hosting illegal gambling on sites disguised as game arcades sent back to state court, arguing she cannot verify without discovery whether the case meets the $5 million, 100-member class threshold required for federal cases.

  • June 14, 2024

    T-Mobile Sues NJ Town Over Plan For School Cell Tower

    T-Mobile has been paying on a lease for a proposed cell tower site for nearly 14 years, but it cannot build the tower because the New Jersey town the land sits in won't approve the necessary applications, the mobile behemoth says in a new lawsuit.

  • June 14, 2024

    'Bless Your Heart': The Art Of Taming A Chatty Witness

    When a former U.S. Department of Agriculture official took the stand as a prosecution witness in the federal corruption trial of Sen. Robert Menendez, he took great pains to be clear and complete in his answers — so much so that prosecutors, defense attorneys and the judge repeatedly asked him to talk less.

  • June 14, 2024

    9th Circ. Balks At Gas Buyers' Price-Fix Fight Over Trump Pact

    A Ninth Circuit panel appeared skeptical Friday of efforts to revive a proposed antitrust class action alleging that Chevron, Exxon Mobil and others fixed gasoline prices following the Trump administration's 2020 oil production deal with Russia and Saudi Arabia, with each judge doubting that federal courts have jurisdiction over the dispute.

  • June 14, 2024

    Colo. Town Says It Took Resort Co.'s Land To Protect Sheep

    A Colorado town has told a state appeals court it was justified in condemning and taking over local land that was owned by The Vail Corp. because the town needed to preserve wildlife space for a bighorn sheep herd.

  • June 14, 2024

    Okla. Says Immigration Law In Harmony With Federal Rule

    Oklahoma is defending its new law enacting state penalties against undocumented immigrants from a challenge by the Biden administration, telling a federal court that the policy doesn't conflict with the federal immigration scheme.

  • June 14, 2024

    Red States Look To Block ACA Trans Discrimination Rule

    A group of 15 conservative states urged a Mississippi federal court to halt recently finalized regulations clarifying gender identity-based discrimination under the Affordable Care Act from taking effect, saying the new rule strips the states of their right to oversee medical ethics.

  • June 14, 2024

    Novant Urges 4th Circ. To Reject FTC's 'Emergency' Bid

    Novant Health told the Fourth Circuit there is no need to block its planned North Carolina hospital purchase while the Federal Trade Commission pushes a merger challenge, saying the deal will increase competition by preventing the hospitals from closing.

  • June 14, 2024

    DOJ Can't Force Retroactive FARA Registration, DC Circ. Says

    The U.S. Department of Justice can't force casino magnate Steve Wynn to retroactively register as a foreign agent because his alleged lobbying efforts on behalf of China ended years ago, a D.C. Circuit panel ruled Friday.

  • June 14, 2024

    Off The Bench: Ex-Players Claim NIL, Loss For Trans Swimmer

    In this week's Off The Bench, the 1983 men's college basketball champions want a piece of the loot the NCAA made off of their names, swimmer Lia Thomas loses in her bid to overturn an international trans athlete ban, and the House gets a bill through committee that would keep college athletes from becoming employees.

  • June 14, 2024

    DC Circ. Backs FERC Climate Reviews In Pipeline Project Row

    The D.C. Circuit on Friday appeared to endorse the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's current method of evaluating the climate change impacts of gas infrastructure projects in approval in rejecting an environmental group's challenge of the agency's pipeline upgrade project serving the New York City area.

  • June 14, 2024

    Study Bulk ISP Billing, But Don't Pass Rules Yet, FCC Urged

    A cable industry group is trying to dissuade the Federal Communications Commission from crafting new rules to clamp down on bulk billing practices for broadband services in apartment buildings.

  • June 14, 2024

    Pa. Court Allows 'Special Prosecutor' For Philly Transit

    Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner cannot stop the Pennsylvania Legislature and the state attorney general from appointing a "special prosecutor" to handle crimes within the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, according to a split state appellate court Friday.

  • June 14, 2024

    DOJ Declines To Prosecute AG Garland For Contempt

    The U.S. Department of Justice is declining to prosecute Attorney General Merrick Garland after the House voted earlier this week to hold him in contempt for not turning over audio recordings of the president and his ghostwriter speaking with special counsel Robert Hur for his investigation into President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents.

Expert Analysis

  • Managing Legal Risks After University Gaza Protests

    Author Photo

    Following the protests sparked by the war in Gaza, colleges and universities should expect a long investigative tail and take steps to mitigate risks associated with compliance issues under various legal frameworks and institutional policies, say Wiley's Diana Shaw and Colin Cloherty.

  • Live Nation May Shake It Off In A Long Game With The DOJ

    Author Photo

    Don't expect a swift resolution in the U.S. Department of Justice's case against Live Nation, but a long litigation, with the company likely to represent itself as the creator of a competitive ecosystem, and the government faced with explaining how the ticketing giant formed under its watch, say Thomas Kliebhan and Taylor Hixon at GRSM50.

  • How Act 126 Will Jump-Start Lithium Production In Louisiana

    Author Photo

    Louisiana's recent passage of Act 126, which helps create a legal and regulatory framework for lithium brine production and direct lithium extraction in the state, should help bolster the U.S. supply of this key mineral, and contribute to increased energy independence for the nation, say Marjorie McKeithen and Justin Marocco at Jones Walker.

  • 5 Steps For Gov't Contractor Affirmative Action Verification

    Author Photo

    As the federal contractor affirmative action program certification deadline approaches, government contractors and subcontractors should take steps to determine their program obligations, and ensure any required plans are properly implemented and timely registered, say Christopher Wilkinson at Perkins Coie and Joanna Colosimo at DCI Consulting.

  • Boeing Saga Underscores Need For Ethical Corporate Culture

    Author Photo

    In the wake of recent allegations about Boeing’s safety culture, and amid the U.S. Department of Justice’s new whistleblower incentives, business leaders should reinvigorate their emphasis on compliance by making clear that long-term profitability requires ethical business practices, says Maxwell Carr-Howard at Dentons.

  • A Closer Look At Feds' Proposed Banker Compensation Rule

    Author Photo

    A recently proposed rule to limit financial institutions' ability to award incentive-based compensation for risk-taking may progress through the rulemaking process slowly due to the sheer number of regulators collaborating on the rule and the number of issues under consideration, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • 2 Regulatory Approaches To Psychedelic Clinical Trials

    Author Photo

    Comparing the U.S. and Canada's regulatory frameworks for clinical trials of psychedelic drugs can be useful for designing trial protocols that meet both countries' requirements, which can in turn help diversify patient populations, bolster data robustness and expedite market access, say Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell and Sabrina Ramkellawan at AxialBridge.

  • Why Jurors Balk At 'I Don't Recall' — And How To Respond

    Author Photo

    Jurors often react negatively to a witness who responds “I don’t remember” because they tend to hold erroneous beliefs about the nature of human memory, but attorneys can adopt a few strategies to mitigate the impact of these biases, say Steve Wood and Ava Hernández at Courtroom Sciences.

  • How Federal And State Microfiber Pollution Policy Is Evolving

    Author Photo

    Growing efforts to address synthetic microfiber pollution may create compliance and litigation issues for businesses in the textile and apparel industries, so companies should track developing federal and state legislation and regulation in this space, and should consider associated greenwashing risks, says Arie Feltman-Frank at Jenner & Block.

  • Series

    Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Atop the list of ways fishing makes me a better lawyer is the relief it offers from the chronic stress of a demanding caseload, but it has also improved my listening skills and patience, and has served as an exceptional setting for building earnest relationships, says Steven DeGeorge​​​​​​​ at Robinson Bradshaw.

  • Best Practices For Responding To CBP's Solar Questionnaire

    Author Photo

    U.S. Customs and Border Protection's recently introduced questionnaire to solar importers imposes significant burdens, with the potential for supply chain disruptions and market consolidation, but taking certain steps can assist companies in navigating the new requirements, say Carl Valenstein and Katelyn Hilferty at Morgan Lewis.

  • Exploring Alternatives To Noncompetes Ahead Of FTC Ban

    Author Photo

    Ahead of the Sept. 4 effective date for the Federal Trade Commission's noncompete ban, employers should seek new ways to protect their proprietary and other sensitive information, including by revising existing confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements, says Harvey Linder at Culhane.

  • Parsing Controversial Del. General Corporation Law Proposals

    Author Photo

    In response to issues raised in three recent high-profile Delaware Court of Chancery decisions, many amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law were quickly proposed that, if enacted, would bring significant changes likely to be hotly debated — and litigated — for the foreseeable future, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • A Look At US-EU Consumer Finance Talks' Slow First Steps

    Author Photo

    The unhurried and informal nature of planned discussions between the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the European commissioner for justice and consumer protection suggests any coordinated regulatory action on issues like AI and "buy now, pay later" services is still a ways off, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • Opinion

    It's Time To Defuse The Ticking Time Bomb Of US Landfills

    Author Photo

    After recent fires at landfills in Alabama and California sent toxic fumes into surrounding communities, it is clear that existing penalties for landfill mismanagement are insufficient — so policymakers must enact major changes to the way we dispose of solid waste, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Public Policy archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!