My occasional take on important, cutting-edge or interesting legal news:
Legal News
Legal News
December 14th, 2014
Barrett Brown, a journalist and hacktivist who accepted a plea deal for threatening a federal agent on a YouTube video, is going to be sentenced Tuesday. But prosecutors have asked that their recommendations, as well as the defense's about Brown's sentence be kept sealed, Russia Today reports: "According to a statement made by the Free Barrett Brown group this week, 'It seems clear that the government doesn’t want... Continue Reading
December 14th, 2014
Law firm Pinsent Masons, writing on its Out-Law blog, reports that the Court of Justice of the EU has ruled that a Czech journalist's use of a CCTV system at his home violated EU's data protection law. The court ruled that "'video surveillance' by individuals that is carried out 'even partially' in a public space is subject to the EU's Data Protection Directive, even if the camera capturing images of... Continue Reading
December 14th, 2014
We already knew that Delaware was the land of corporations. But Steven Davidoff Solomon writes in DealBook that, because more than 60 percent of public companies are incorporated in Delaware, the state's judiciary are imposing their "worldview of deal-making" and influencing how other state courts interpret corporate law: the "concepts of impartiality and independence are the guiding principles of... Continue Reading
December 13th, 2014
Judicial elections often involve campaign ads attacking candidates for being too soft on crime, even though there is a "growing bipartisan consensus that America locks up too many people for too long," The Marshall Project's Christie Thompson reports.
In 2014, there has been at least $13.8 million spent on TV advertising for state supreme court races, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. And the liberal American... Continue Reading
December 13th, 2014
Attorney General Eric Holder has decided against forcing New York Times reporter James Risen to reveal the identity of his confidential source, MSNBC's Pete Williams reports. James Risen said he would go to jail before naming the source who revealed an unsuccessful effort by the CIA to sabotage Iran's nuclear weapons program. The government sought to compel Risen's testimony in the trial of a former CIA official accused of leaking... Continue Reading
December 13th, 2014
Executive action by President Barack Obama is giving more relief to immigrants living illegally in the United States, including stopping deportations that take undocumented parents away from their American-born kids. But the downside to the plan is that families with parents back home or older children living in their home countries can't be reunited except for "brief emergency trips," The Washington Post's... Continue Reading
December 11th, 2014
Right after 9/11, the CIA was given the power to imprison Al Qaeda terrorists, The New York Times' Matt Apuzzo and James Risen report. And the initial plan was to keep those jails in adherence to U.S. standards for federal or military prisons, according to the Senate Intelligence Committee report released this week on the spy agency's harsh interrogation program. But when Abu Zubaydah, a Qaeda logistics planner, was captured in... Continue Reading
December 11th, 2014
U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema has ordered the Obama administration to decide by Tuesday whether it will make national security reporter James Risen testify at the trial of a government whistleblower and force the reporter to discuss his confidential sources, the New York Times' Jonathan Mahler (and Risen's colleague) reports. Prosecutors say the defendant Jeffrey Sterling provided Risen "with information about... Continue Reading
December 11th, 2014
The Federal Aviation Administration doesn't expect to finalize rules for the commercial use of drones under 55 pounds until 2017 or 2018, the Washington Post's Craig Whitlock reports. Members of a House Transportation Committee panel had a hearing yesterday during which lawmakers questioned if the FAA is keeping aviation standards in pace with consumer drone sales. Rules were supposed to be released by September 2015.
The... Continue Reading
December 11th, 2014
The Washington Post's Josh Hicks reports that a bill to reform the Freedom of Information Act is on track to be passed by Congress as long as House leaders put a bill passed by the Senate on the schedule; similar legislation was passed by the House several months ago: "Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), who sponsored the House bill, urged their House colleagues to approve the Senate version and send... Continue Reading
December 10th, 2014
Supporters of an Oregon measure that would require labels on genetically modified food lost their effort to prevent the state from certifying the results of a recount, The Oregonian's Laura Gunderson reports. The measure failed by 812 votes out of 1.5 million cast. A Multnomah County judge denied the request for a temporary restraining order, which leaves the Secretary of State's Office likely to certify the results from a recount next... Continue Reading
December 10th, 2014
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that federal evidentiary rules bar the use of statements made during jury deliberations, so a South Dakota man can't get a new personal injury trial over his motorcycle accident because of comments made by the jury forewoman during deliberations, the Washington Post's Robert Barnes reports. The forewoman allegedly said that her daughter had been at fault in a fatal accident and would have had her... Continue Reading
December 10th, 2014
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that an Amazon contractor does not have to compensate warehouse workers for the time they spend going through security checks at the end of their shifts, the Associated Press' Sam Hananel reports. The justices held that the security checks are not related to workers' primary job duties. Under the federal Portal-to-Portal Act, employers are exempted from paying for "pre- and post-work activities such as... Continue Reading
December 10th, 2014
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Amazon does not have to compensate warehouse workers for the time they spend going through security checks at the end of their shifts, the Associated Press' Sam Hananel reports. The justices held that the security checks are not related to workers' primary job duties. Under the federal Portal-to-Portal Act, employers are exempted from paying for " pre- and post-work activities such as waiting to pick up... Continue Reading
December 9th, 2014
After U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller dropped a hold on a bill to reform the Freedom of Information Act, the Senate passed a bill that would create a presumption of openness among government agencies, Politico's Burgess Everett reports. The House passed a similar bill earlier this year. The question is if the House finds time to consider the Senate bill during the current lame-duck session. Continue Reading
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