My occasional take on important, cutting-edge or interesting legal news:
Legal News
Legal News
November 20th, 2014
U.S. District Judge Brian Morris ruled yesterday that Montana's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, the Los Angeles Times reports. He found that the state's constitutional ban on same-sex matrimony violated the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection.
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November 20th, 2014
Even though the National Transportation Safety Board ruled that the FAA can fine drone operators for commercial use of their aircraft, including toy models, Popular Mechanics reports that the ruling was narrowly focused on "'whether unmanned aircraft systems are subject to an aviation safety regulation concerning reckless operation.'" A rule to integrate drones into American airspace will take up to a year before it goes into... Continue Reading
November 19th, 2014
USA Today's Brad Heath reports that it's not just Ferguson, Mo., where more blacks get arrested than whites: "At least 1,581 other police departments across the USA arrest black people at rates even more skewed than in Ferguson." For example, more than half of the people arrested in Detroit suburb Dearborn, Mich., are black, but only 4 percent of the city's residents are black. Phillip Goff, president of the University of... Continue Reading
November 19th, 2014
Courthouse News' Jack Bouboushian reports that the First Circuit ruled that the Affordable Care Act requires the state of Maine to keep providing Medicaid coverage to 19- and 20-year-olds from low-income families: "the federal Department of Health and Human Services would not approve the change, because the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires states accepting federal Medicaid funds to 'freeze' their Medicaid... Continue Reading
November 19th, 2014
Montana Governor Steve Bullock, a Democrat, has asked legislators once again to expand health coverage for 70,000 low-income Montanans, the Independent Record reports: "Legislative Republicans rejected a Medicaid-expansion proposal in 2013, arguing the state couldn’t afford it and that they didn’t want to implement part of 'Obamacare,' the 2010 federal health-care law. Bullock ... said his new plan is a unique proposal... Continue Reading
November 17th, 2014
Rebecca Liao, writing in Foreign Affairs, reports on how China has proposed several legal reforms to provide "a stronger, more independent, and more professionalized judiciary," including separation of the courts from party interference and ensuring judges are chosen from the legal profession. The reforms are needed because, even though many mechanisms have been created for citizens to seek redress with the government, corruption... Continue Reading
November 15th, 2014
The costs of health-insurance policies bought under the Affordable Care are projected to go up in 2015--even as much as 20 percent, the New York Times reports. The solution? Switching plans: "The new data means that many of the seven million people who have bought insurance through federal and state exchanges will have to change to different health plans if they want to avoid paying more — an inconvenience for consumers just... Continue Reading
November 12th, 2014
NPR reports that a federal judge has overturned South Carolina's ban on same-sex marriage today. Richard Gergel, a federal judge in South Carolina, overturned an amendment to the South Carolina Constitution. Continue Reading
November 11th, 2014
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that requests for records must be designated to a government agency's designated open-records officer, the Associated Press reports: "The decision overturned ruling by a divided Commonwealth Court that said state and local agencies should presume that any written request for records is a Right-to-Know request."
Here's the decision: http://law.justia.com/cases/pennsylvania/supreme-... Continue Reading
November 11th, 2014
Major telecom companies were "stunned" by President Obama's proposal to regulate the Internet like it's a utility, The Guardian's Dominic Rushe reports. Regulating the Internet as a utility under Title II of the Telecommunications Act has been favored by net neutrality advocates when the Federal Communications Commission's prior strategy to ensure Internet service providers don't play favorites was struck down in... Continue Reading
November 10th, 2014
Entrepreneur Jay Bregman wants to add regulatory engineers at a new startup to help companies use drones without running afoul of products liability and privacy law, C|NET's Steve Shankland reports: "His as-yet-unnamed startup plans to bake those rules into drone control software so drone makers and operators can fly the robotic devices without fear." Bregman said that the Federal Aviation Administration just doesn't have the... Continue Reading
November 10th, 2014
After years of delay, the Federal Aviation Administration is close to releasing a ruling to allow smaller drones operated by commercial enterprises like media companies to fly in American airspace, National Defense Magazine's Yasmin Tadjeh reports. Jim Williams, manager of the FAA’s UAS integration office, said "we hope that it will be published before the end of this year." Under the 2012 FAA Modernization and Reform Act,... Continue Reading
November 9th, 2014
U.S. District Judge Robert Chambers struck down West Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional, the West Virginia MetroNews reports: "'The right to marry is a fundamental right, giving every individual the opportunity to exercise choice in this important relationship. As such, the government must not interfere in that choice unless it demonstrates compelling state interests and carefully tailors its restrictions to... Continue Reading
November 7th, 2014
The Indiana Supreme Court upheld a law that bans conditioning employment on paying union fees, Bloomberg's Sophia Pearson reports. The law made it a misdemeanor to require a worker to pay fees to get or keep a job. Continue Reading
November 7th, 2014
Detroit will emerge from insolvency proceedings after U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes approved its Chapter 9 bankruptcy today as fair and feasible, the Detroit Free Press reports. The plan will give the city the authority to cut 74 percent, or $7 billion, in unsecured debt and reinvest $1.4 billion over 10 years in public services and blight removal. Pensioners will have 4.5 percent cuts to their checks and the elimination of cost-of-... Continue Reading
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