My occasional take on important, cutting-edge or interesting legal news:
Legal News
Legal News
March 26th, 2014
Tony Mauro, writing in Supreme Court Brief, reports that the U.S. Supreme Court has no plans to provide wider access to the court. The Coalition of Court Transparency, a network of media and open-access organizations, had asked for broadcast of court proceedings or the same-day release of audio from oral transcripts, Mauro also reports.
March 25th, 2014
President Barack Obama plans to get the National Security Agency out of the business of collecting phone call records in bulk, The New York Times' Charlie Savage reports: "Under the proposal, they said, the N.S.A. would end its systematic collection of data about Americans’ calling habits. The bulk records would stay in the hands of phone companies, which would not be required to retain the data for any longer than they normally... Continue Reading
March 25th, 2014
A convicted Pennsylvania child molester argues that his conviction for failing to register as a Megan's Law offender can't stand because the state law in effect at the time was ruled unconstitutional by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, The Scranton Times Leader reports. The law was found unconstitutional because it was in legislation involving several other topics and violated the "single subject rule" in Pennsylvania's... Continue Reading
March 24th, 2014
Electronic health records are being adopted by health care providers at an increasing pace, including due to incentives from the federal government. But "modern EHRs are often overly focused on data entry and typically provide poorly designed data displays with rudimentary functions for searching and organizing patient data. The data entry steals physician time away from direct patient care," Forbes reports. The Government... Continue Reading
March 24th, 2014
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a petition of certiorari from the Delaware Court of Chancery to consider reinstating secret arbitrations in corporate litigation exceeding $1 million, The Legal Intelligencer's Jeff Mordock reports. Lower courts said the law violated the right of the public to access court proceedings. Continue Reading
March 24th, 2014
After a federal judge struck down Michigan's ban on same-sex marriage last week, 100 couples who wed in the 24 hours or so after the decision are now in legal limbo, the Detroit Free Press reports. The Sixth Circuit issued an order late on Saturday to stay the lower court ruling declaring the ban unconstitutional. An estimated 300 same-sex marriage licenses were issued in Michigan. And the state also has not decided if it will... Continue Reading
March 20th, 2014
A Nevada federal judge has ruled that the Federal Trade Commission can sue payday lenders, even if they are affiliated with American Indian tribes, the Legal Times reports. The judge ruled "that the FTC Act is a statute of general applicability, one that does not include an exception for Indian tribes," the Legal Times further reported. Tribes argue that they are sovereign and free from regulation by state governments and the U.... Continue Reading
March 19th, 2014
Eugene Volokh and Ilya Shapiro, writing in the Wall Street Journal, say that they support same-sex marriage but that a discrimination case against New Mexico photography business owners who don't want to photograph same-sex wedding and commitment ceremonies would make bad law. The New Mexico Human Rights Commission, in a decision upheld by the New Mexico Supreme Court, found that Elane Photography is subject to state's... Continue Reading
March 17th, 2014
President Barack Obama's administration had its worst year in transparency since he took office, the Associated Press reports: "More often than ever, the administration censored government files or outright denied access to them last year under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, cited more legal exceptions it said justified withholding materials and refused a record number of times to turn over files quickly that might be especially... Continue Reading
March 17th, 2014
When we get arrested, do police have the right to search phones without a warrant, Reason's Damon Root asks. Do warrantless cell-phone searches constitute unreasonable searches and seizures?
While it is constitutionally permissible for police to search arrestees, their possessions and the immediate vicinity around the arrest site without a warrant, "cell phones contain previously unimaginable amounts of personal information,... Continue Reading
March 17th, 2014
A federal judge struck down an Arkansas law banning most abortions starting at 12 weeks of pregnancy, if a fetal heartbeat could be detected by standard ultrasound, as unconstitutional, Reuters reports: "U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright ruled that the law 'impermissibly infringes a woman's Fourteenth Amendment right to elect to terminate a pregnancy before viability' of the fetus, as established by the U.S. Supreme... Continue Reading
March 16th, 2014
A federal judge in Tennessee has issued a preliminary injunction against applying that state's ban on same-sex marriage to three couples married in other states that do recognize same-sex marriage, The Tennessean reports. U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger said the ban "fails to meet constitutional standards under even a minimal review," The Tennessean further reports.
A lawsuit also is planned to challenge the ban "... Continue Reading
March 16th, 2014
Heather Sweetland, a retiring judge in Minnesota, wrote in an opinion piece for the Duluth News Tribune that diversity is important in the selection of new judges. Minnesota has a merit selection system in which a commission, appointed by the governor and the Minnesota Supreme Court, suggest a slate of candidates for the governor to choose new judges from.
Sweetland said diversity doesn't just mean gender and ethnicity, but diversity in... Continue Reading
March 14th, 2014
The implications of a decision by an administrative law judge that the Federal Aviation Administration can't impose a $10,000 fine for the commercial use of a small UAV, or drone, is overstated, C. Andrew Keisner, an attorney writing in TVNewser, says. The FAA will likely proceed to create binding rules for drones under the Administrative Procedure Act, and it is "risky for advertising & media companies engaging UAV operators... Continue Reading
March 14th, 2014
Even though journalist and activist Barrett Brown won't face charges of identity theft for sharing a link to hacked "records documenting improper and potentially illegal activities by the U.S. intelligence contractor, Stratfor Global Intelligence," his prosecution on other charges still threatens press freedom, the Electronic Frontier Foundation argues. Brown apparently shared the link to the Stratfor files with a team of other... Continue Reading
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