Senators voted overwhelmingly in the early morning hours yesterday to drop the proposed pause on state AI laws that would have dissuaded state lawmakers from regulating artificial intelligence at the local level for the next...more
We’re now one step closer to the nation’s first-ever comprehensive federal AI regulation after Senate leaders just agreed to several key compromises to a proposal that would block states from receiving key federal funding if...more
In a unanimous decision this week, the United Stated Supreme Court denied Mississippi’s claim that the State of Tennessee was stealing Mississippi’s groundwater. The decision represents a first step in settling a years-long...more
Permit applicants who have pending applications with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“Army Corps”) may have received word in the last two weeks that the Army Corps has paused finalization of any permit decisions that relied...more
On June 1, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized a regulation intended to reduce the ability of individual states, Native American tribes or interstate regulatory agencies to veto federal permits for...more
"Whatever the outer limits of that sovereignty may be, one thing is clear: The Federal Government may not compel the States to enact or administer a federal regulatory program." New York v. United States, 505 U.S. 144, 188,...more
Led by California, 23 states, including Massachusetts, have sued the Trump administration challenging new federal regulations that strip the states’ authority to set their own vehicle emissions standards. On December 3, 2019,...more
A United States Supreme Court (“Court”) Special Master (“Special Master”) issued a December 11th Report in the interstate water dispute between the states of Florida and Georgia. See State of Florida v. State of Georgia, No....more
The Trump Administration’s recent lawsuit against California’s climate change policies has cast a spotlight on a stark and troubling reality. U.S. v. California is just the latest salvo in a sustained, direct assault by EPA...more
EPA recently published a proposed federal rule (“Proposed Rule”) aimed at limiting the authority of states to deny certifications of compliance with state water quality requirements under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act...more
Welcome to the third 2019 issue of Product Lines – our quarterly e-newsletter that focuses on toxic torts and products liability issues.... In This Edition: - Vitamin E Found in Cannabis-Containing Vape Products Linked...more
The United States Supreme Court’s opinion in Hyatt v Franchise Tax Board , issued earlier this week, puts to rest twenty years of litigation with a decision concluding that the litigation was unconstitutionally filed in the...more
Under constitutional principles of United States law, states generally enjoy sovereign immunity. This immunity, enshrined in the 11th amendment of the US Constitution, bars private parties from bringing lawsuits against the...more
The US Supreme Court issued its decision on June 17 in the case of Virginia Uranium, Inc. v. Warren. The Court affirmed the decision of the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which held that the Atomic Energy Act...more
On June 17, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Virginia Uranium, Inc. v. Warren, concluding that Virginia may ban uranium mining within its borders because the federal Atomic Energy Act (AEA) does not preempt State mining...more
DOE issued an interpretive rule asserting the power to unilaterally reclassify high-level radioactive waste from Cold War-era reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel for nuclear weapons. DOE issued an interpretive rule...more
The Supreme Court determined in Sturgeon v. Frost that the Nation River, located near Alaska’s eastern border, is not public land for purposes of regulation by the National Park Service (NPS). This case arose due to a...more
On May 20, 2019, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Herrera v. Wyoming, No. 17-532, holding that hunting rights in modern-day Montana and Wyoming that the Crow Tribe of Indians acquired under its 1868 treaty with...more
On May 13, 2019, the Supreme Court decided Franchise Tax Board of California v. Hyatt, No. 17-1299, holding that a private party may not sue a non-consenting state in another state’s courts. In Nevada v. Hall, 440 U.S. 410...more
Trump Said to Seek Limits on State Power in Pipeline Approvals - "Trump's order comes as the president continues to chafe at regulatory barriers he says throttle the full potential of American 'energy dominance,' while...more
Federal Circuit Determines Time-Barred Petitioner Joined to an IPR Has Appellate Standing - In Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Research Corporation Tech., Appeal Nos. 2017-2088, -2089, -2091, the Federal Circuit held that a...more
Alaska is different—it has moose hunters on hovercrafts, many large national parks, and certain unique federal laws. Last week the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that National Park Service laws and regulations of general...more
On March 26, 2019, the Supreme Court decided Sturgeon v. Frost, No. 17-949, holding that the federal government does not own a navigable water that traverses a national park in Alaska, so the water is not “public land” under...more
On September 27, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (Second Circuit) affirmed a district court’s finding that New York’s Zero Emissions Credit (ZEC) program is not preempted by federal law. The Second...more
Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act violated the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution because it...more