My occasional take on important, cutting-edge or interesting legal news:
Legal News
Legal News
October 10th, 2014
Jeffrey Vagle, writing in Just Security, says that a recent decision from U.S. District Lucy Koh could strengthen the positions of plaintiffs seeking standing to challenge government surveillance. Courts have consistently ruled that plaintiffs don't have standing to challenge government surveillance, he notes, even though "research has long shown that even the mere awareness of government surveillance, under which an individual could... Continue Reading
October 10th, 2014
Andy Grim, a reporter for the Times-Picayune, reports that the Fifth Circuit appeared reluctant "to weigh in on the issue of First Amendment rights of anonymous online commenters" during oral argument on the issue Thursday. A lower court judge ordered the newspaper to turn over information about a pair of anonymous commenters on its website, Grim said. The defendant thought it could show that federal prosecutors were making comments... Continue Reading
October 10th, 2014
Andy Grim, a reporter for the Times-Picayune, reports that the Fifth Circuit appeared reluctant "to weigh in on the issue of First Amendment rights of anonymous online commenters" during oral argument on the issue Thursday. A lower court judge ordered the newspaper to turn over information about a pair of anonymous commenters on its website, Grim said. The defendant thought it could show that federal prosecutors were making comments... Continue Reading
October 10th, 2014
A survey of 292 companies on their legal budgets shows that total corporate spending just increased by 2 percent in 2012, down from a 3 percent increase in 2012 and a 5 percent increase in 2011, the Wall Street Journal reports. The survey also shows that more companies are taking their legal work in-house and using legal outsourcing firms for document review. "None of these trends look terribly promising for law firms that... Continue Reading
October 10th, 2014
Interesting development for the Philadelphia court system: With Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge John W. Herron having to retire because he has hit the age of 70, The Legal Intelligencer's P.J. D'Annunzio reports that Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Kevin Dougherty is likely to lead the court's trial division next. Dougherty has turned around the family court by dealing with a custody-case backlog and securing a... Continue Reading
October 10th, 2014
The "right to be forgotten" has arrived in Asia. According to a report in the Associated Press, a Japansese court has ordered Google to remove search results that "hinted at the man's relations with a criminal organization after he complained his privacy rights were violated."
Europe's highest court made a similar ruling in May; some lawyers say the ruling could lead to the exportation of Europe's privacy... Continue Reading
October 9th, 2014
The Washington Post reports that police in Ferguson, Missouri, have accelerated their efforts to suppress peaceful protests about Michael Brown's killing by a white police officer several weeks ago: "A Washington Post review of county and state arrest records, and interviews with Justice Department officials, Ferguson and St. Louis County police chiefs, dozens of protesters and several civil rights officials reveal that: Hundreds... Continue Reading
October 9th, 2014
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected several appeals on Monday in cases in which judges have overturned various states' bans on same-sex marriage. That caused a spur of nuptials among happy same-sex couples until "Justice Anthony Kennedy mistakenly blocked the start of same-sex marriage in Nevada in an order that spawned confusion among state officials and disappointment in couples hoping to be wed." Now a court spokesperson says... Continue Reading
October 9th, 2014
Jeff John Roberts, writing in Gigaom, reports on data that shows that patent trolls, less frequently called "non-practicing entities," have gotten three times the damages in court than "real companies." The reasons for the higher damages awards for patent trolls? Lawyer Michael Strapp told Roberts that includes the "the economic model of patent trolling, which in many cases entails the troll building up a legal war... Continue Reading
October 9th, 2014
The Ninth Circuit heard oral argument yesterday on whether it violates the First Amendment for the FBI to gag tech and telecommunications firms from revealing that they have received "national security letters" for customer records, Reuters reports. Tech companies, including Google, Microsoft Corp and Facebook Inc said in court papers "the government may not 'foist a gag order upon the involuntary recipient of an NSL, let... Continue Reading
October 8th, 2014
Ronald D. Rotunda, a law professor at Chapman University Fowler School of Law, has a column criticizing over $64 million in civil forfeitures in Philadelphia when police have seized property during criminal investigations. At issue are people who have had their property seized even though they were not the ones charged with a crime. For one thing, property owners, "not the government, have the burden of proving that they are innocent... Continue Reading
October 8th, 2014
U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos of the Southern District of New York is considering whether to dismiss a private defamation lawsuit against an Iran sanctions group on national security grounds. During oral argument today, both the plaintiff's lawyer and U.S. Attorney Michael Byars said there has been no other cases in which the government has been able to assert the state secrets privilege without giving reason, Reuters' Emily... Continue Reading
October 8th, 2014
During oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court today, the justices appeared split on whether having to go through an extensive screening after working in an Amazon warehouse is something workers should be paid for or is more akin to checking out at the end of one's shift, Tony Mauro, writing in Supreme Court Brief, reports. "Former Solicitor General Paul Clement, arguing his 75th case before the justices, asserted... Continue Reading
October 8th, 2014
After protests started following Michael Brown's shooting in Ferguson, Mo., by a police officer, police told protestors they had to keep walking and they couldn't keep still. Now U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry has issued a preliminary injunction to stop police from enforcing a practice she found to be unconstitutional, CNN reports: "In some cases, officers told protesters they couldn't stand still for more than five... Continue Reading
October 8th, 2014
Twitter has filed a lawsuit challenging the federal government's gag order restricting the extent the social media company can reveal the scope of government surveillance on its service, Ars Technica's David Kravets reports. Twitter argues that it faces an unconstitutional prior restraint on its speech because of the gag order: "'Twitter’s ability to respond to government statements about national security... Continue Reading
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