Insights

Washington – August 15, 2024: The 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized 42 Crowell & Moring lawyers as "Best Lawyers" and 29 lawyers as “Ones to Watch.”

Washington – August 17, 2023: The 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized 47 firm lawyers as "Best Lawyers" and 41 lawyers as “Ones to Watch.”

On June 27, 2025, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the USPSTF and its role in identifying preventive services for coverage under the ACA in Kennedy v. Braidwood Management.[1]In the case, the Supreme Court considered whether the Secretary of HHS’s appointment of USPSTF members without the advice and consent of the Senate complied with the Appointments Clause in Article II of the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court found that USPSTF members were “inferior Officers” under the Appointments Clause who did not require Senate confirmation because the Secretary of HHS had the authority to remove USPSTF members at will and “to directly review and block Task Force recommendations before they take effect.” The Supreme Court therefore affirmed that the USPSTF as currently structured may legally recommend preventive services for coverage without cost-sharing requirements under the ACA.

On March 27, 2025, HHS announced a “dramatic restructuring” of its various agencies and offices in accordance with President Trump's Executive Order, “Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative.” HHS also published a Fact Sheet.

The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued a pivotal ruling earlier this week, finding that in order to establish falsity in a False Claims Act (“FCA”) case premised on Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”) liability, the kickback must have been the “but-for” cause of the submission of the claim. The court’s decision hinged on the meaning of the phrase “resulting from” within the 2010 amendment to the AKS, which provided that a claim that includes items or services “resulting from” a violation of the AKS constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the FCA. The meaning of “resulting from” for purposes of establishing such FCA liability has been hotly debated by courts. The First Circuit now joins the Sixth and Eighth Circuits in adopting this stricter but-for standard, while the Third Circuit has opted for a much looser approach.

The Supreme Court has taken up two trademark cases this term. In the first case, Andrei Iancu v. Erik Brunetti,18-302 (SCOTUS), the Court will review the government ban on Fuct and other "scandalous" trademarks. In the second, Mission Product Holdings Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC, Case No. 17-1657, cert. granted (Oct. 26, 2018), the Court will address the effect a trademark owner's bankruptcy on a licensee's right to continue to use a mark licensed before the bankruptcy was filed. This CLE will have oral arguments from both cases presented before a panel of judges.