My occasional take on important, cutting-edge or interesting legal news:
Legal News
Legal News
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
December 23rd, 2014
SCOTUSBlog's Lyle Denniston reports that the justices will take up a new round of same-sex marriage cases at their conference January 9: "At issue in the Sixth Circuit cases is a ruling by the appeals court for that region, upholding all of the bans on same-sex marriage licensing or recognition in the four states. At issue in the Louisiana case is a decision by a federal trial judge in New Orleans upholding that state’... Continue Reading
December 23rd, 2014
The Fourth Circuit struck down North Carolina's requirement that doctors and ultrasound technicians perform an ultrasound at least four hours but not more than 72 hours before the abortion is to take place, display an image of the sonogram and "and specifically describe the fetus to any pregnant woman seeking an abortion, even if the woman actively 'averts her eyes' and 'refuses to hear,'" Slate's... Continue Reading
December 22nd, 2014
Elected state attorneys general are playing a new role: refusing to enforce their state's laws, "raising questions about where the line lies between discretion and derelicition of duty," the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Tracie Mauriello reports. For example, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane refused to defend a new state law allowing the National Rifle Association to sue over local gun regulations and she refused... Continue Reading
December 22nd, 2014
When the Federal Aviation Administration granted waivers for Hollywood filmmakers to fly drones on movie sets, federal regulators did so despite warnings from safety inspectors that the plans were too risky and should not be authorized, The Washington Post's Craig Whitlock reports: "The warning turned out to be prescient. On Wednesday, a camera-toting drone operated by one of the filmmakers, Pictorvision, flew off a set in... Continue Reading
December 19th, 2014
Legislators in Utah have rejected Governor Gary Herbert's alternative plan to providing Medicaid expansion to low-income Utah residents in favor of two even more limited proposals, The Salt Lake Tribune's Kristen Moulton reports. The Legislature’s Health Reform Task Force "proposed recommending options that would cover between 12.5 percent and 20 percent of those below the federal poverty line — but only... Continue Reading
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