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Public Policy
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June 27, 2025
US, China Finalize Part Of Trade Agreement
The U.S. and China recently finalized an agreement to remove certain American trade barriers in exchange for jumpstarting critical Chinese export approvals, according to remarks made by Chinese government officials Friday.
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June 27, 2025
Idaho Justices Dismiss Suit Over Skier's Death On Slopes
The Idaho Supreme Court has dismissed a widow's suit against Sun Valley Co. alleging the company was negligent and liable for the death of her husband from hitting a snow machine while skiing, finding that the machine was clearly marked in keeping with state law, and the skier had assumed the risks of the sport.
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June 27, 2025
UK Joins Arbitration Appeals Alternative Amid WTO Paralysis
The U.K. has officially joined a World Trade Organization-led contingency plan designed to keep the door open for appeals in international trade disputes, despite the continued dormancy of the WTO Appellate Body.
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June 27, 2025
Newsom Sues Fox News Over Alleged Lies About Trump Call
California Gov. Gavin C. Newsom hit Fox News with a defamation suit in a Delaware court Friday, seeking $787 million in damages for the network's alleged "smearing" of him in reports on a dispute over details of the Democratic governor's June 6 phone call with President Donald Trump.
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June 27, 2025
3 DOL Policy Shifts On Benefits Attys' Radar
Since President Donald Trump's administration took over in January, the U.S. Department of Labor has changed its tack on several issues related to employee benefits. Here, ¼«ËÙÈü³µ looks at three moves that caught lawyers' attention.
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June 27, 2025
DOJ Tax Division To Split Criminal, Civil Units, Official Says
The U.S. Department of Justice aims to finalize a reorganization plan for its Tax Division by summer's end that would separate the criminal and civil tax functions and relocate them to the department's main branches, a department official said Friday.
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June 27, 2025
Justices Punt La. Voting Rights Case Despite Thomas Dissent
The U.S. Supreme Court surprisingly declined Friday to resolve a yearslong saga over voting rights and alleged racial gerrymandering, ordering new arguments over Louisiana's controversial congressional districts despite an impassioned protest from Justice Clarence Thomas.
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June 27, 2025
Justices Uphold Texas Law Requiring Porn Site Age Checks
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday said a Texas law requiring pornographic websites to verify visitors' ages could take effect, agreeing with a divided Fifth Circuit's decision to vacate an injunction while using a different standard of judicial review to evaluate the statute.
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June 27, 2025
Justices Say Md. Must Allow LGBTQ Storybook Opt-Out
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday that a Maryland school district burdened parents' religious rights when it declined to provide opt-outs from a policy that introduced LGBTQ-themed storybooks into its K-12 English curriculum.
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June 27, 2025
Justices Salvage FCC Subsidy Fees, Reversing 5th Circ.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld the funding mechanism for the Federal Communications Commission's $9 billion Universal Service Fund used to subsidize low-income phone service, rural broadband, and school, library and healthcare telecommunications connectivity.
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June 27, 2025
Justices Back Task Force That Sets ACA Care Requirements
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' secretary had authority over a preventive care task force, rejecting a constitutional challenge to an Affordable Care Act clause that requires health insurers to cover certain treatments at no cost to patients.
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June 27, 2025
Justices Limit Universal Injunctions But Defer On Citizenship
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday that President Donald Trump can partially implement his executive order aimed at limiting birthright citizenship, in a ruling that significantly limits the ability of federal district court judges to issue nationally applicable orders against presidential edicts and policy initiatives.
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June 26, 2025
Trump DOJ Eyes Algorithmic Collusion, Welcomes 'Little Tech'
Tackling algorithmic pricing collusion in the healthcare and housing markets and welcoming pro-competitive mergers of "Little Tech" are among the U.S. Department of Justice's plans for protecting consumers in today's digital markets, the top deputy for the DOJ's antitrust division told privacy professionals on Thursday.
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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.
Expert Analysis
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Texas Targets Del. Primacy With Trio Of New Corporate Laws
Delaware has long positioned itself as the leader in attracting business formation, but a flurry of new legislation in Texas aimed at attracting businesses to the Lone Star State is aggressively trying to change that, says Andrew Oringer at the Wagner Law Group.
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Explicit Pic Takedown Law Casts A Wide Net
With a surprisingly broad range of online platforms potentially subject to the new Take It Down Act’s process for removing revenge porn or explicit deepfakes, all services that allow user interaction or content hosting should proactively evaluate their legal obligations and demonstrate compliance, say attorneys at Goodwin, say attorneys at Goodwin.
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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.