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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News and Reporting
January 14th, 2014
With Robert Wilkins' confirmation to the D.C. Circuit by the U.S.. Senate, President Obama's overhaul of "the country's second most powerful court" is complete, the Associated Press reports. Now there is a 7-4 majority in favor of the Democracts on the court that hears appeals of federal rules and regulations. Continue Reading
January 14th, 2014
A defendant convicted in a terrorism case is challenging the use of warrantless surveillaince in his case, The Washington Post reports: "Late Monday, [Mohamed Osman] Mohamud’s attorneys filed a 66-page motion in U.S. District Court in Portland, Ore., seeking discovery of information that they believe will aid in an eventual challenge to the constitutionality of the law that authorized the surveillance used in his case. At... Continue Reading
January 14th, 2014
The D.C. Circuit, 2-1, has struck down the FCC's rules imposing net neutrality, Gigaom reports. The majority said the FCC has the authority to regulate in the area of Internet traffic, but it can't impose requirements that "'contravene express statutory mandates,"' Gigaom reports.
"The upshot of Tuesday’s ruling is that it could open the door for internet giants like Verizon and Time Warner to cut... Continue Reading
January 13th, 2014
The Indiana House Judiciary Committee heard testimony today about legislation that would start the process to amend Indiana's constitution to ban same-sex marriage. But the vote was delayed by the committee chair, the Associated Press reports. Continue Reading
January 13th, 2014
The Connecticut Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week on conflicting interpretations of that state's Freedom of Information Law. Law enforcement representatives are arguing that, once they have released the names and addresses of people who've been arrested, as well as the dates, times and places of their arrests and the offenses with which they were charged, that they can decide what's exempt from disclosure until... Continue Reading
January 13th, 2014
The Connecticut Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week on conflicting interpretations of that state's Freedom of Information Law. Law enforcement representatives are arguing that, once they have released the names and addresses of people who've been arrested, as well as the dates, times and places of their arrests and the offenses with which they were charged, that they can decide what's exempt from disclosure until... Continue Reading
January 13th, 2014
The Connecticut Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week on conflicting interpretations of that state's Freedom of Information Law. Law enforcement representatives are arguing that, once they have released the names and addresses of people who've been arrested, as well as the dates, times and places of their arrests and the offenses with which they were charged, that they can decide what's exempt from disclosure until... Continue Reading
January 13th, 2014
I wrote a piece for the Connecticut Law Tribune about Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker looking to duplicate its lobbying success in New York's capital in Connecticut. The firm has opened a new office in Hartford, the second one in Connecticut. An excerpt of the piece:
Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker is looking to duplicate the lobbying success it's had at New York's capital at Connecticut's seat of... Continue Reading
January 13th, 2014
The U.S. Supreme Court's workload might reach a new low because the court will consider only half the usual number of cases when it convenes in March, The Washington Post's Robert Barnes reports. Yet the issues the court will consider are central to American society- whether corporations are entitled to religious expression, affirmative action and separation of powers between the presidency and Congress over the appointment of... Continue Reading
January 13th, 2014
One of the cases that the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari on last week was the case of bondholders who are seeking repayment of the sovereign debt Argentina defaulted on, BBC reported. The court will decide if American law protects Argentinian sovereign assets from collection. Argentina defaulted on "some $100bn (worth £60.7bn in 2014) of debts and has since restructured its debt twice, cancelling around 75% of the nominal... Continue Reading
January 12th, 2014
The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services, which was established in "April 2012 with a mandate to assess the state of the world’s biodiversity and ecosystems," is going to intergrate the knowledge of indigenous peoples into eco-policy, according to a Thomson Reuters Foundation report. Unlike other international fora, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, do not engage indigenous... Continue Reading
January 12th, 2014
The Fifth Circuit has upheld the multibillion settlement of the claims of the residents and businesses impacted by BP's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, The Washington Post reports. BP had objected to the approval of the settlement by arguing "that U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier and court-appointed claims administrator Patrick Juneau have misinterpreted settlement terms in ways that would force the London-based oil giant to pay for... Continue Reading
January 12th, 2014
The Texas Supreme Court took up two cases this week on whether injunctions in defamation cases are constitutional: "Treading the gray area between freedom of speech and permissible government censorship, the Texas Supreme Court heard arguments in two cases Thursday that could determine whether state judges may permanently ban people from repeating information found to be false and defamatory," the Austin American-Statesman reports... Continue Reading
January 10th, 2014
The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to take up a case that could reshape the contours of copyright law: whether Aereo's streaming service violates the copyrights of broadcasters. It appears that an evenly divided court may hear the case since Justice Alito did not participate in the decision to grant certiorari: 011014zr_bp24.pdf Continue Reading
January 10th, 2014
Last night, I attended a talk given by Heidi Boghosian, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild, in support of a book, Spying on Democracy: Government Surveillance, Corporate Power, and Public Resistance, she wrote before Edward Snowden leaked so many of the surveillance secrets of the United States.
Boghosian pointed out that Americans are not just being monitored by governmental officials but by “its corporate partners.... Continue Reading
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