Insights

Washington – August 3, 2022: On August 1, a Crowell & Moring team filed an amicus brief in the two affirmative action cases pending before the Supreme Court on behalf of leaders at Howard University and other Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), as well as the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, the national membership association of the nation’s 106 HBCUs. The HBCU leaders’ brief pointed to Harvard, the University of North Carolina, and other historically White universities’ long history of excluding Black students and its present-day effects, which include continued underrepresentation.

On January 31, 2024, EPA Administrator Michael Regan signed two proposed rules related to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and corrective action authority under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). These rulemakings follow from a 2021 announcement covered in a prior Crowell client alert, adding to the growing number of pending PFAS-related proposals submitted by EPA.

On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court, in Students for Fair Admissions (“SFFA”) v. Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College and SFFA v. University of North Carolina, held that race-based admissions programs violate the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause (which applies to public institutions such as UNC), as well as Title VI (which applies to private institutions like Harvard).

In its long-awaited decision in Slack Technologies, LLC v. Pirani, 598 U.S. ___, No. 20-200 (June 1, 2023), the Supreme Court ruled that the tracing requirement of Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 applies to suits brought by investors in direct listings. Although the ruling definitively resolves an ambiguity in the statutory text, it leaves the door open to adverse consequences for both companies and investors in direct listings.