The U.S. Customs and Immigration Services has resumed the “priority processing” option for all H-1B applications. Jeanette Phelan of our Jacksonville Office has the details here.

Image Credit: From flickr, Creative Commons license, by Jelene Morris.

And may it die quickly. The U.S. Department of Labor has taken formal regulatory action to rescind the Obama Administration's "Persuader Rule." The DOL has been enjoined from enforcing the rule since November 2016, but the latest action will presumably end it for good. Let's hope. David Phippen of our Washington DC Metro Office has the details in this Client Bulletin.

Mayor de Blasio ...

You may have heard by now that not one, but two, federal courts have struck down President Trump's second attempt at a travel ban Executive Order. As always, Will Krasnow and Jeanette Phelan from our Immigration Practice Group have the story, including links to the two court decisions. Last we heard, President Trump is done with rewrites -- he plans to take the battle to the Supreme ...

President Trump has issued his new and improved "travel ban" Executive Order, which reduces the list of "banned" countries from the original seven to six (Iraq is now off the list), provides more of a rationale for banning foreign nationals from the six countries, makes exceptions for permanent legal residents and others, and otherwise addresses some of the issues that caused so many ...

Two Trumpian developments of interest to employers will occur on March 15, next Wednesday:

Alex Acosta's confirmation hearing is scheduled to take place that day. Mr. Acosta is President Trump's nominee for Secretary of Labor, and is expected to have relatively smooth sailing. On the other hand, is there anything that has been "smooth" about the President's first months in office?

A ...

The employment law week in Trumpland started out a little slow, but now we're back in business.

Acosta looking good for confirmation as Secretary of Labor. In contrast to nominee Andrew Puzder, the outlook appears good for his successor nominee Alexander Acosta. Mr. Acosta seems to have bipartisan support in the Senate, and has even been endorsed by the International Union of ...

*EDITOR'S NOTE: This "daily" stuff has now officially become "more or less -- maybe once a week, anyway."

For background on the immigration issue, please see this bulletin and this follow-up, both by Will Krasnow and Jeanette Phelan of our Immigration Practice Group. The oral argument before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will take place by ...

Our new president has us all hopping . . .

Andrew Puzder's advocacy for franchises makes him a target. Dan Murphy and Jeff Rosin from our Franchise Industry Group talk about the Puzder nomination (he's President Trump's choice for Secretary of Labor) and the groups seeking to block his confirmation. As we've noted a couple of times this week, Mr. Puzder's confirmation hearing, most ...

Must-see TV! President Trump said last night that he would be announcing at 8 p.m. EST tonight his nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy that was created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. You have to hand it to the President for scheduling the announcement for prime time, when everyone can watch. Although I think it would be even better if he had all the candidates with him ...

Just a couple of quick links today:

Hot off the press - Will  Krasnow and Jeanette Phelan have an excellent summary of the immigration Executive Order issued on Friday by President Trump and what employers should tell their employees from the "suspended seven" countries (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen). The quick and dirty: Do NOT leave the United States!

And our ...