Public Policy

  • May 16, 2024

    La. Parties Split On How Voting Law Alters Consent Decree

    A civil rights group told the Fifth Circuit on Thursday that a Louisiana state law enacted two weeks before the court reconsidered whether to dissolve a 30-year-old voting consent decree was enough to end its dispute, but disagreed with the state over the dissolution process for the consent decree determining how the state's high court justices are chosen.

  • May 16, 2024

    Senate Passes Bill To Block SEC Crypto Accounting Guidance

    The U.S. Senate voted Thursday to send a bill overturning the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's controversial crypto accounting guidance to the president's desk, though without the necessary votes to override the White House's planned veto.

  • May 16, 2024

    FDIC's Gruenberg Scolded By Senators Over Agency Culture

    Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin Gruenberg on Thursday faced a second round of congressional reprimand from both sides of the political aisle over his agency's workplace misconduct scandal, but Senate Democrats seemed ready to let Gruenberg clean up the mess himself and continue his tenure.

  • May 16, 2024

    African Tax Admins Promote Use Of Voluntary Disclosures

    Voluntary disclosure programs have been very effective when countries launch them in anticipation of complying with an international standard on automatic exchanges of financial account information, the African Tax Administration Forum said Thursday in guidance on the programs.

  • May 16, 2024

    DOL Unveils Long-Delayed Abandoned Retirement Plan Rules

    After being sidelined for more than a decade, a plan for expanding U.S. Department of Labor rules for terminating retirement plans abandoned by employers are moving forward again, the agency reported Thursday, along with a long-delayed role in the process for bankruptcy trustees.

  • May 16, 2024

    New BLM Plans Sunset Federal Coal Leasing In Wyo., Mont.

    The U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Thursday unveiled court-ordered, revised resource management plans for coal-rich areas of Montana and Wyoming that end future coal leasing in the regions, a move blasted by congressional representatives of those states.

  • May 16, 2024

    Oil & Gas Groups Challenge DOI Overhaul Of Leasing Regs

    A coalition of oil and gas groups has slapped the U.S. Department of the Interior with a lawsuit in Wyoming federal court seeking to unravel the agency's final rule boosting bonding requirements, royalty rates and minimum bids for its onshore federal oil and gas leasing program.

  • May 16, 2024

    Firm Seeks To Force IRS To Process Worker Retention Credits

    A tax advisory firm helping businesses apply for the pandemic-era employee retention credit has asked an Arizona federal court to force the IRS to resume processing claims, saying the moratorium in place since September violates the Administrative Procedure Act.

  • May 16, 2024

    No Relief For Struggling SPACs Under Buyback Tax Proposal

    Special-purpose acquisition companies won't get sought-after relief from a new 1% tax on stock buybacks under a recent Treasury Department proposal that otherwise provides helpful clarity on the tax's implications for the subdued SPAC market, lawyers say.

  • May 16, 2024

    Judge Ends ICE's 'Knock And Talk' Immigrant Arrest Tactic

    A California federal court has struck down U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's policy of entering immigrants' private property without authorization for arrest, ruling that the practice violated the immigrants' Fourth Amendment protections against unlawful seizure.

  • May 16, 2024

    Conn. Justices Snatch Debt Collection Practice Of Law Case

    The Connecticut Supreme Court has opted to hear a case that questions whether the state's banking commissioner or its judicial branch has the power to regulate debt collection activities that occur under the purview of law firms, leapfrogging the case over the state's intermediate appellate court and into the state's highest court.

  • May 16, 2024

    Ohio Justice Seeks To Add Appeals Judge To Party Label Suit

    Ohio Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner asked a federal judge to let her amend her challenge to a new state law requiring certain judicial candidates to list their political party affiliation beside their name on the ballot, arguing that her claims also apply to an intermediate appellate judge. 

  • May 16, 2024

    Calif. Bar Halts Plans To Develop New Bar Exam

    The State Bar of California has shelved a plan to develop its own online bar exam, a shift that could save the cash-strapped organization up to $4 million per year, but drew opposition from law school deans concerned about its ambitious rollout timeline.

  • May 16, 2024

    Nantucket Accused Of Biased Car-Rental Licensing

    A Nantucket couple has sued the island town's government in Massachusetts federal court, alleging it enforced an illegal and racially biased bylaw enacted 27 years ago to shut down their car rental business.

  • May 16, 2024

    Coverage Recap: Day 14 Of Trump's NY Hush Money Trial

    Law360 reporters are providing live updates from the Manhattan criminal courthouse as Donald Trump goes on trial for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments ahead of the 2016 election. Here's a recap from Thursday, day 14 of the trial.

  • May 16, 2024

    Ga. High Court Candidate Can't Stop Abortion Remarks Probe

    Georgia Supreme Court candidate John Barrow can't pause a state ethics commission's investigation into his pro-abortion rights comments on the campaign trail, a federal judge ruled on Thursday, tossing Barrow's lawsuit and citing several flaws right out of the gate.

  • May 16, 2024

    DC Judge Mulls Dominion's DQ Bid For Pro-Trump Mich. Atty

    Lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems pursuing defamation claims against former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne fought Thursday to disqualify the Michigan attorney representing him, insisting to a D.C. federal judge that disqualification is the most appropriate remedy for the lawyer's leak of Dominion's confidential discovery documents.

  • May 16, 2024

    Fla. Seeks To Halt Biden's ACA Trans Discrimination Rule

    Florida urged a federal court to stop recently finalized regulations clarifying gender identity-based discrimination under the Affordable Care Act from taking effect, saying the new rules would force the state to abandon its health and safety laws or lose funding from the federal government.

  • May 16, 2024

    Mayer Brown Recruits Akin Gump Public Policy Pro In LA

    Mayer Brown LLP has brought back a public policy and regulatory expert from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, where he spent over a decade leading its California public law and policy practice.

  • May 16, 2024

    HUD Calls Pa. Medical Marijuana Housing Suit Premature

    A Pennsylvania housing authority and two would-be residents acted hastily in suing the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, since HUD hadn't formally threatened to pull the authority's funding over a state court order to offer assistance to medical marijuana users, a HUD lawyer told a federal judge Thursday.

  • May 16, 2024

    Biden Admin Proposes To Loosen Restrictions On Marijuana

    President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that his administration has formally recommended relaxing restrictions on marijuana, marking the most significant federal policy shift on cannabis since the drug was criminalized more than 50 years ago.

  • May 16, 2024

    Senate Confirms South Dakota State Judge To Federal Bench

    The Senate voted 90-4 on Thursday to confirm Judge Camela C. Theeler to the District of South Dakota.

  • May 16, 2024

    Menendez Bribery Case Criminalizes Gifts, Jury Told

    Prosecutors are trying to criminalize friendship, gifts and advocacy, the counsel for one of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez's co-defendants said Thursday in an opening statement in the corruption trial in Manhattan federal court.

  • May 16, 2024

    Justices Say CFPB Is Constitutionally Funded

    The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is constitutionally funded, rejecting a payday lender-backed challenge that threatened to incapacitate the agency and throw a wrench in the Biden administration's financial regulatory agenda.

  • May 16, 2024

    Treasury Provides Extra Relief For Bonus Energy Tax Credits

    The U.S. Treasury Department provided additional safe harbors Thursday that clean energy project developers can use to qualify for bonus tax credits for domestically sourcing their steel and aluminum parts in response to the Biden administration's new trade restrictions on solar products from China.

Expert Analysis

  • CFPB Reality Check: Video Game Cash Is Still Money

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent report examining payments within online video games indicates that financial services offered within the game marketplace are quickly evolving to the point where they are indistinguishable from traditional financial services subject to regulation, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • What CRA Deadline Means For Biden Admin. Rulemaking

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    With the 2024 election rapidly approaching, the Biden administration must race to finalize proposed agency actions within the next few weeks, or be exposed to the chance that the following Congress will overturn the rules under the Congressional Review Act, say attorneys at Covington.

  • 5 Takeaways From FDA's Biosimilars Promotion Guidance

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    New draft guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expands upon other recent efforts to clarify expectations for biosimilar and interchangeable labeling, highlighting a number of potential missteps that could draw attention from regulators, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • The Legal Issues Raised In Minn. Rate Exportation Opt-Out Bill

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    A recent Minnesota House bill would amend state law by opting out of the federal interest rate preemption and introduce several legal gray areas if passed, including issues regarding loan location, rates on credit card loans and values of state charters, says Karen Grandstrand at Fredrikson & Byron.

  • Rebuttal

    Time For Congress To Let Qualified Older Pilots Keep Flying

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    While a previous Law360 guest article affirmed the current law requiring airline pilots to retire at age 65, the facts suggest that the pilots, their unions, the airlines and the flying public will all benefit if Congress allows experienced, medically qualified aviators to stay in the cockpit, say Allen Baker and Bo Ellis at Let Experienced Pilots Fly.

  • Does Expert Testimony Aid Preliminary IPR Responses?

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    Dechert attorneys analyze six years of patent owners' preliminary responses to inter partes review petitions to determine whether the elimination of the presumption favoring the petitioner as to preinstitution testimonial evidence affected the usefulness of expert testimony in responses.

  • Fostering Employee Retention Amid Shaky DEI Landscape

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    Ongoing challenges to the legality of corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs are complicating efforts to use DEI as an employee retention tool, but with the right strategic approach employers can continue to recruit and retain diverse talent — even after the FTC’s ban on noncompetes, says Ally Coll at the Purple Method.

  • Are Concessions In FDA's Lab-Developed Tests Rule Enough?

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    Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new policy for laboratory-developed tests included major strategic concessions to help balance patient safety, access and diagnostic innovation, the new rule may well face significant legal challenges in court, say Dominick DiSabatino and Audrey Mercer at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 5 Climate Change Regulatory Issues Insurers Should Follow

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    The climate change landscape for insurers has changed dramatically recently — and not just because of the controversy over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related risk disclosure rules, says Thomas Dawson at McDermott.

  • How New Rule Would Change CFIUS Enforcement Powers

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    Before the May 15 comment deadline, companies may want to weigh in on proposed regulatory changes to enforcement and mitigation tools at the disposal of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, including broadened subpoena powers, difficult new mitigation timelines and higher maximum penalties, say attorneys at Venable.

  • What's Extraordinary About Challenges To SEC Climate Rule

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    A set of ideologically diverse legal challenges to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate disclosure rule have been consolidated in the Eighth Circuit via a seldom-used lottery system, and the unpredictability of this process may drive agencies toward a more cautious future approach to rulemaking, say attorneys at Thompson Coburn.

  • 8 Questions To Ask Before Final CISA Breach Reporting Rule

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    The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s recently proposed cyber incident reporting requirements for critical infrastructure entities represent the overall approach CISA will take in its final rule, so companies should be asking key compliance questions now and preparing for a more complicated reporting regime, say Arianna Evers and Shannon Mercer at WilmerHale.

  • Series

    Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

  • Key Priorities In FDIC Report On Resolving Big Bank Failures

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    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s report last month on the resolvability of large financial institutions contains little new information, but it does reiterate key policy priorities, including the agency's desire to enhance loss-absorbing capacity through long-term debt requirements and preference for single-point-of-entry resolution strategies, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • Best Practices For Space Security In Our Connected World

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    NASA's recently published space security guide is another indication that cyber-resilience has become a global theme for the space and satellite sector, as well as a useful reference for companies and organizations reviewing their cybersecurity frameworks or looking to partner with the U.S. agency, says Hayley Blyth at Bird & Bird.

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