Administrative Law

SEC Extends Temporary Short-Selling Ban Until Oct. 17

The Securities and Exchange Commission has extended until Oct. 17 a temporary ban on short-selling the stock of some 800 financial companies. However, the ban could terminate sooner if Congress enacts planned bailout legislation at an estimated cost to taxpayers of $700 billion or more in the meantime. If so,…

Oct 2, 2008 5:23 PM CDT

Bringing Lawyers, Guns and Money

In Chicago and elsewhere, the decision in Heller promises more litigation

Oct 1, 2008 6:50 PM CDT

Naked Agenda

Naturists Look to the Courts to Defend Their Right to Bare Arms (and Legs and Everything Else)

Oct 1, 2008 3:00 PM CDT

Revealed: Terms of AIG Bailout; US to Vote New Shares to OK Deal

Unusual circumstances call for unusual transactions, as documents newly filed with the SEC concerning the government’s planned $85 billion bailout of insurance giant American International Group demonstrate. Among the terms they reveal are that the U.S. government—which is to purchase not quite 80 percent of AIG via 100,000 shares of…

Sep 30, 2008 9:07 PM CDT

Silver Lining to US Financial Storm: New Law Practice Arena

Continuing economic turmoil in the U.S. and internationally is prompting a number of major law firms to form special multidisciplinary practice groups to help clients deal with financial crises. In the process, some are creating new Internet resources that also may be of interest to other practitioners. In addition to…

Sep 30, 2008 4:16 PM CDT

Feds Seize & Sell WaMu; Biggest Bank Failure in US History

Moving fast in the midst of an extraordinarily troubled U.S. economy, federal regulators seized—and sold—the troubled Washington Mutual bank last night. “Regulators simultaneously brokered an emergency sale of virtually all of Washington Mutual, the nation’s largest savings and loan, to JPMorgan Chase for $1.9 billion, averting another potentially huge taxpayer…

Sep 26, 2008 7:28 PM CDT

US Financial Crisis Sparks Harsh Criticism of Regulatory Efforts

As officials in the Bush administration put on a full-court press this week to persuade Congress to enact emergency financial rescue legislation at a price tag that reportedly exceeds the cost of the Iraq war, the situation has sparked a firestorm of criticism concerning regulatory efforts, past and present. A…

Sep 25, 2008 10:00 PM CDT

Near-Agreement on $700B Bailout is Stalled, According to Lawmakers

After several days of high-level lobbying for emergency legislation allowing the federal government to spend some $700 billion to shore up the nation’s struggling economy, an agreement reportedly was reached among key lawmakers about a proposed plan after a several-hour meeting at the Capitol this morning. However, it still may…

Sep 25, 2008 5:38 PM CDT

$700B Bailout Alternative: Another Great Depression, Officials Say

Updated: Despite warnings that the alternative is an economic tailspin, as well as an agreement today by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to limit top executive pay as a condition of providing aid to struggling U.S. financial institutions, it isn’t clear that Congress is ready to approve extraordinary emergency bailout…

Sep 24, 2008 8:39 PM CDT

SEC’s Chief was MIA as US Markets Swooned, Some Say

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson were the men of the hour last week, stepping in with a viable emergency plan as the U.S. economy appeared to be on the verge of a massive meltdown following a year of ongoing bad news. But where was…

Sep 22, 2008 6:35 PM CDT

SEC Temporarily Bans Short-Selling Stock of 799 Financial Companies

Lending credence to concerns that short-selling may have contributed to the sudden downslide of several major names on Wall Street during recent market turmoil, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has temporarily banned the practice concerning shares of 799 financial institutions. “The SEC said today that it will halt short-selling…

Sep 19, 2008 4:15 PM CDT

As Banks Reel, Regulation is Suddenly a Hot Topic

It has been less than a decade since the Glass-Steagall Act was repealed, and it is now becoming increasingly clear why we may have needed it. Enacted after banks failed in the Great Depression because of reckless investment in nontraditional areas, it restricted commercial banks from the kind of lending…

Sep 18, 2008 6:34 PM CDT

Feds to Fragomen Firm: Oops, Never Mind About That Audit

Officials at the U.S. Department of Labor reportedly have called off their audit of a prominent immigration law firm they suspected earlier of improperly advising clients about labor certification applications. The applications are used to get “green cards” allowing foreign workers to become American residents, when a “minimally qualified” U.S.…

Sep 18, 2008 4:45 PM CDT

LA Train Crash Kills 25, Cause Unclear

Amidst conflicting accounts of what may have caused a head-on train collision in suburban Los Angeles that killed 25 and injured more than 130 others on Friday, two teens told a local television station that they had been text-messaging with one of the train engineers just before the crash. Although…

Sep 15, 2008 4:03 PM CDT

Parties, Sex & Drugs Made Fed’l Office Much Like a Frat House, Probe Finds

A federal government office charged with overseeing the collection of some $4 billion in royalty payments by oil companies to the U.S. government allegedly operated more like an out-of-control fraternity than a regulatory agency. Sex, booze, drugs and parties among federal employees and representatives of the oil companies they were…

Sep 10, 2008 11:45 PM CDT