My occasional take on important, cutting-edge or interesting legal news:
Legal News
Legal News
October 8th, 2014
SCOTUSBlog's Lyle Denniston reports on the details of the Ninth Circuit's ruling that ended bans on same-sex marriage in Idaho and Nevada and will likely control the fate of the bans in Alaska, Arizona, and Montana: "First, all three judges on the panel joined in an opinion by Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt finding that the Idaho and Nevada bans violate the constitutional guarantee of same-sex couples to be treated the... Continue Reading
October 7th, 2014
Joseph Chamie, former director of the United Nations' population division, writes in a post for the Inter Press Service News Agency that artificial reproductive technologies raise legal and ethical concerns that have not been fully resolved yet. Since 1970, five million people are estimated to have been born because of in vitro fertilization. Chamie notes that "gestational surrogacy raises challenging ethical questions, such as the... Continue Reading
October 7th, 2014
According to Medscape Medical News' Ken Terry, several experts says that electronic health records need to be verified before being admitted into evidence. Terry, reporting on a law review article in Ave Maria Law Review, writes that "the central contention of the authors, Barbara Drury, Reed Gelzer, MD, MPH, and Patricia Trites, MPA, is that EHRs are designed to maximize payments to providers and therefore do not necessarily... Continue Reading
October 7th, 2014
Missouri's attorney general announced Monday that his state will not appeal a state-court ruling requiring the state to recognize same-sex marriages performed out-of-state, Reuters' Kevin Murphy reports: "The decision not to appeal the ruling came hours after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to decide once and for all whether states can ban gay marriage, allowing same-sex couples to marry in five additional states immediately." Continue Reading
October 6th, 2014
Breaking news from the Associated Press: the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected appeals from five states which had their bans on same-sex marriage overturned. The appeals are from Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. The result? Same-sex marriage will be legal in 30 states and in the District of Columbia.
October 5th, 2014
The U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari in the case of a Florida judicial candidate who argues the state's ban on letting candidates for the bench directly seek campaign contributions violates her First Amendment rights, the Associated Press reports. "The Florida Supreme Court upheld the ban in May, saying it was justified because such conduct raises an appearance of impropriety and may lead the public to question a judge's... Continue Reading
October 5th, 2014
Adam Liptak, writing in the New York Times, prognosticates that this term of the U.S. Supreme Court could define Chief Justice John Roberts Jr.'s legacy with possible cases about whether gay Americans have a constitutional right to marry and about federal subsidies to consumers who purchase health-care coverage through federally run insurance exchanges. "Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. is entering his 10th term, and it is one that... Continue Reading
October 5th, 2014
Robert Barnes, writing in the Washington Post, says the possibility of a landmark ruling for same-sex marriage and LGBT rights is looming large over the Supreme Court's upcoming term. A ruling in favor of same-sex marriage "could serve as a surprising legacy of an otherwise increasingly conservative court," Barnes notes. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who has authored the most important decisions in protecting the rights of... Continue Reading
October 4th, 2014
The Ninth Circuit has ruled that past criminal convictions in American Indian courts can't count as proof of a defendant's criminal history if defendants weren't guaranteed the right to an attorney, The Guardian reports. Michael Bryant Jr. was convicted of domestic assault in Northern Cheyenne Tribal Court but didn't have an attorney. While the Eighth and Tenth Circuits have found that tribal convictions aren't... Continue Reading
October 4th, 2014
Marshall Erwin, writing in Just Security this week, makes the case that technology should thwart government access to user data just as it has been facilitating government surveillance until Apple and Google decided to start encrypting user data when devices are locked. "The arguments made by critics of Apple and Google assert that these changes will result in damage to the public interest by protecting criminals and those who want to do... Continue Reading
October 3rd, 2014
The Wall Street Journal's Emily Chasan reports that a "surge" in investors focusing on socially responsible investing and issues like human rights, protecting forests and disclosing political spending could push the Securities and Exchange Commission to change how it handles investor proposals: "Companies can try to exclude such proposals from their proxy ballots by asking SEC staff for permission, but Commissioner... Continue Reading
October 3rd, 2014
Laurie Garrett, writing in Foreign Policy, has an interesting an piece suggesting that Obamacare may be the key to stopping an Ebola epidemic in the United States. She notes that uninsured Americans are the "greatest vulnerability" because they "routinely tough out the flu, fever, aches, and pains because seeking medical care is prohibitively expensive. If they become sick enough to feel desperate, the uninsured and... Continue Reading
October 3rd, 2014
The New York Times' Julie Creswell reports on how doctors are finding barriers to sharing electronic health records because computer programs made by different companies don't share records with each other: "Doctors and hospital executives across the country say they are distressed that the expensive electronic health record systems they installed in the hopes of reducing costs and improving the coordination of patient care... Continue Reading
October 2nd, 2014
New York City has reached a settlement to provide better "evacuation and sheltering" for people with disabilities during disasters, according to the New York Law Journal. The lawsuit was filed after Hurricane Irene and then was punctuated by Superstorm Sandy. Judge Jesse Furman found the city liable for violating the American with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act and the New York City Human Rights law. The parties... Continue Reading
October 2nd, 2014
New York City has reached a settlement to provide better "evacuation and sheltering" for people with disabilities during disasters, according to the New York Law Journal. The lawsuit was filed after Hurricane Irene and then was punctuated by Superstorm Sandy. Judge Jesse Furman found the city liable for violating the American with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act and the New York City Human Rights law. The parties... Continue Reading
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