Cultivated Compendium is my personal website with the occasional link to my reporting and to important, cutting-edge or interesting legal news.
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December 31st, 2014
The number of Americans in state prison or on parole or probation has fallen to the lowest level in a decade, while the number of people in federal prison has fallen for the first time in more than 30 years, the Washington Post's Reid Wilson reports. "The total incarceration rate has fallen ... from about one in every 100 adults to one in every 110 adults," Wilson further reports. However, the number of people incarcerated... Continue Reading
December 30th, 2014
A conservative group called Florida Family Action is asking a judge to prevent Orlando's mayor, a county clerk of courts and other officials from officiating over same-sex nuptials or issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples when Florida's ban on same-sex marriage is set to expire next week, the Associated Press reports. Those officials are the only ones who have publicly said they plan to issue same-sex marriage licenses or... Continue Reading
December 29th, 2014
Charles Koch, one of the wealthiest Americans and a prodigious supporter of conservative causes, told his hometown newspaper, the Wichita Eagle, that he thinks the American justice system has "been over-criminalized with too many laws and too many prosecutions of nonviolent offenders, not only for him but for everybody." Koch said his family and he are going to expand on the money they give to the National Association of... Continue Reading
December 29th, 2014
When Richard Bernstein joins the Michigan Supreme Court in a few days, he will make history as the first blind justice in that state and one of the few judges with visual impairments in the country, Associated Press reports. Bernstein is having briefs for mid-January arguments read to him by an aide and memorizing the key points. He told the AP he internalizes "'the cases word for word, pretty much commit them primarily... Continue Reading
December 29th, 2014
Finally, the Federal Aviation Administration is close to releasing rules to integrate drones into the American airspace by early 2015, the Associated Press' Joan Lowy reports. But Congress will likely make key decisions. One of the priorities of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee "is writing legislation to reauthorize FAA programs and overhaul aviation policy. The bill is expected to include directions from... Continue Reading
December 28th, 2014
The New York Times' Robert Pear reports that, even as the rolls of people getting healthcare coverage through Medicaid are swelling, Medicaid reimbursements for primary care will be cut by 43 percent, on average. Why? Some healthcare providers will not take Medicaid patients at the lower rates. Moreover, the extension of higher Medicaid payments faces long odds in the Republican-controlled Congress.
Separately, there is a case... Continue Reading
December 28th, 2014
The governors of New York and New Jersey are both going to veto a bill that aimed to clean up political patronage at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the New York Times' Jesse McKinley reports. The bill was passed with broad support from legislators in both states. But the governors do support applying Freedom of Information Law to the port authority. Continue Reading
December 28th, 2014
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has upheld the convictions of drunk-driving defendants based on blood samples taken by force, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Bruce Vielmetti reports. The court held in two cases that police relied in good faith on the law in place at the the time, even though the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that police must get warrants to draw blood in most cases. In a third case, the Wisconsin justices found that a coerced... Continue Reading
December 27th, 2014
Could the FAA's drone policies violate the First Amendment?, TechDirt's Mike Masnick asked in a post on Christmas Eve, citing a post from law professor Margot Kaminski. If the FAA can authorize Hollywood to use drones for commercial purposes on a pilot basis, why can't other drone operators fly their machines wihtout restrictions? "'The Supreme Court has long acknowledged that a too-discretionary licensing regime... Continue Reading
December 27th, 2014
Banks will have another two years before they have to start abiding by the Volcker rule, which would force them to sell their stakes in private-equity and hedge-fund investments, Bloomberg's Jesse Hamilton and Cheyenne Hopkins reported earlier this month. The rule was enacted to make the financial system less vulnerable to risky investments as happened in the 2008 Great Recession. The banking industry lobbied for the delay, among other... Continue Reading
December 27th, 2014
The National Association of Attorneys Genearl has voted to stop accepting corporate sponsorships amid increasing scrutiny around the country of how attorneys general interact with lobbyists, The New York Times' Eric Lipton reports. Moreover, "in Missouri, a bill has been introduced that would require the attorney general, as well as certain other state officials, to disclose within 48 hours any political contribution... Continue Reading
December 27th, 2014
The waiting time for appeals over Medicare coverage has been cut in half, Kaiser Health News reports: "The Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals (OMHA) has decided most of the 5,162 cases filed by beneficiaries in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, plus 1,535 older cases, according to statistics provided to Kaiser Health News. That’s a dramatic change from the year before, when a third of beneficiary cases (1,493... Continue Reading
December 24th, 2014
The Stanford Law Review has an interesting essay from University of Iowa College of Law Professor Maya Steinitz suggesting that there should be an international court of civil justice. Steinitz reasons the civil equivalent for a International Criminal Court would be just for plaintiffs and efficient for corporate defendants. She notes that there is no forum for cross-border torts after the Supreme Court ruled in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch... Continue Reading
December 24th, 2014
After a federal judge upheld the constitutionality of Oklahoma's new lethal injection protocol, a group of inmates slated to be executed next year are planning to appeal the decision, according to the Associated Press. U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot ruled that the 500-milligram dose of the sedative midazolam makes it a "'virtual certainty'" that inmates will be unconscious before drugs are administered to stop... Continue Reading
December 24th, 2014
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that cyberharassment and lies posted online encouraging that bullying is not speech protected by the First Amendment, the Boston Herald reports. The court upheld the criminal harassment convictions of two real estate developers who arranged postings online to harass two business executives they were feuding with. The postings falsely claimed the couple had golf carts free for the... Continue Reading
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