Allergan has agreed to pay $600 million in criminal and civil penalties and plead guilty to one misdemeanor count of “misbranding” its drug Botox as part of a global settlement with the federal government over off-label uses of the drug. As part of the plea deal, Allergan agreed to drop its First Amendment legal action against the government, which critics said threatened the entire federal regulation of pharmaceuticals.

The Federal Communications Commission is seeking an en banc rehearing in the “fleeting expletives” case. In July, a three-judge 2nd Circuit panel ruled that an FCC policy fining broadcasters for airing certain expletives was unconstitutionally vague. Now, the FCC wants the entire circuit court to hear its case, arguing in a petition that a rehearing is needed to “maintain uniformity of the court’s decisions, and also to address exceptionally important questions about the agency’s ability to enforce federal law.”

The Federal Circuit on Friday upheld lower court findings that reject a causal connection between childhood vaccines and the onset of autism. The ruling came in the first of a series of test cases heard by special masters for the U.S

Duane Morris’ Alan Klein, John Lyons, and Andrew Sperl examine a federal ruling that appears to offer the first in-depth analysis of the effect of many social networking sites’ “privacy settings” and the issue of whether federal privacy laws protect data from electronic discovery.

The federal government is not a party to the Proposition 8 litigation, but the Justice Department could weigh in as amicus curiae — either when the case arrives at the U.S. Supreme Court or, sooner, before the 9th Circuit. Such a decision would typically be up to Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal with input from across the federal government, including the White House