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 17th, 2013
The Wall Street Journal has this helpful Q&A about the meaning of Judge Richard Leon's ruling that the National Security Agency has probably violated the U.S. Constitution by monitoring most phone calls in the United States. Continue Reading
December 16th, 2013
A federal judge ruled today that the National Security Agency's surveillance of most phone calls made in the United States or to the United States is likely unconstitutional, Politico reports: "U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon found that the program appears to violate the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures. He also said the Justice Department had failed to demonstrate that collecting the so-called... Continue Reading
December 16th, 2013
The Legal Intelligencer's Saranac Hale Spencer reports that the Third Circuit has decided to take up en banc a case involving GPS tracking. A three- judge panel ruled that a warrant was needed for police to attach a GPS tracker to a suspect's vehicle. "Prosecutors sought appeal on the issue of whether the police officers had shown objective good faith in their actions, which would allow the evidence they gathered through the GPS... Continue Reading
December 16th, 2013
The Washington Post's Robert Barnes reports on oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on where custody proceedings should be held in international custody disputes. While the case is the third the justices have heard about the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction in four years, this current case involves an issue of first impression: "The Hague Convention says that if a motion is filed within 12... Continue Reading
December 16th, 2013
An excerpt of my piece for the Connecticut Law Tribune about the legal impacts of Superstorm Sandy:
Superstorm Sandy struck a less-devastating blow to Connecticut than it did to New Jersey and New York. Still, the Oct. 29, 2012, hurricane cut a wide swath in terms of affecting the state's legal community.
There are expectations of litigation over insurance coverage. Attorneys working for governmental agencies have helped to put... Continue Reading
December 16th, 2013
The Associated Press reports that, while gay and lesbian Americans are racking up success after success in the fight for same-sex marriage, that the picture is not as rosy for transgender Americans: '“My sense is that we are 20 years behind the mainstream gay and lesbian movement in terms of public understanding,' said Michael Silverman, executive director of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund," according... Continue Reading
December 16th, 2013
While New Jersey has authorized same-sex marriage through court action, Democrats in the New Jersey Senate were hoping to codify same-sex marriage by statute. But The Newark Star-Ledger reports "Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg said Sunday that she decided to follow the advice of Lambda Legal, a gay rights law group, to take the bill off the agenda." Lambda Legal disfavored the religious exemptions in the now-pulled... Continue Reading
December 12th, 2013
TechCrunch reports that Aereo, which could be a disruptor to the broadcast TV industry if its Internet streaming service of broadcast programming is found not to violate copyright law, wants to go to the U.S. Supreme Court too. Broadcasters are already seeking an appeal to the justices.
In a statement reported by Tech Crunch, the company says, "'The long-standing landmark Second Circuit decision in Cablevision has served... Continue Reading
December 12th, 2013
An audit by the Department of the Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General found that most hospitals don't have policies about copying and pasting health information in electronic health records, iHealthBeat reports. That could lead to health care fraud and abuse such as fraudulent billing and incorrect information being entered into patient records. Only 24% of hospitals had a policy regarding the "improper use of... Continue Reading
December 12th, 2013
Grist, an online environmental magazine, speculates whether the 90 companies that have been identified as causing two-thirds of human-driven global warming emissions could be sued under tort law. Environmental law experts told Grist that such lawsuits would fail in federal court. The U.S. Supreme Court found in American Elecctric Power v. Connecticut that states can't sue companies for emitting greenhouse gases. Only the... Continue Reading
December 12th, 2013
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Australia's High Court "has cleared the way for a federal law on same-sex marriage, even though it struck down the ACT law providing for them." The court reasoned that the word marriage in the constitution is not restricted to opposite-sex unions. The court held that the Federal Parliament could change a law that restricts marriage to unions between men and women. "It was thought... Continue Reading
December 12th, 2013
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace analyzes the new constitution proposed for Egypt (another constitution was just adopted in 2012). The proposals include:
* The Egyptian military would get enshrined as a branch of government unto itself;
* While it's typically a good thing for the judiciary to have autonomy, the Egyptian judiciary, "which strongly supported the military takeover" from the elected Muslim... Continue Reading
December 11th, 2013
According to Motley Fool, if Aereo wins in the U.S. Supreme Court, a victory won't just change the contours of copyright law but make the firm "a real lever for content distributors" to affect the market for retransmission fees for cable and satellite companies to carry broadcasters' content. "CBS would be the hardest hit because it commands the largest share of viewers," Gary Bourgeault writes.
On the other... Continue Reading
December 11th, 2013
Advocates say that some plans offered through the Obamacare online insurance exchanges are offering skimpy drug coverage for expensive conditions like AIDS, cancer and other chronic conditions, The Washington Post reports. One advocate, John Peller, vice president of policy for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, told The Post: '“The fear is that they are putting discriminatory plan designs into place to try to deter certain people... Continue Reading
December 11th, 2013
Five financial regulatory agencies approved the Volcker rule Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reports. The rule could "lop as much as $10 billion total in yearly pretax profit from the eight largest U.S. banks through lower revenue and higher compliance costs, according to estimates from Standard & Poor's," The Journal further reports. On the other hand, the rule aims to prevent another financial crisis by curbing... Continue Reading
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