My occasional take on important, cutting-edge or interesting legal news:
Legal News
Legal News
March 14th, 2014
The electronic health records industry is "gearing up for a Washington lobbying fight against federal safety regulations," the Boston Globe reports. The Obama administration is going to release plans in the coming months on how information technology in the health industry should be regulated. The issue is "whether the systems should be considered medical devices and, therefore, regulated by the Food and Drug Administration... Continue Reading
March 13th, 2014
Oregon has passed a law to allow school districts to enter into agreements with American Indian tribes to use American Indian mascots and names. But the law is already being threatened by possible litigiation: "Sam Sachs, a racial-justice activist who also is a Portland Human Rights Commissioner, said the state Board of Education is obligated to create a safe environment for all Oregon children to learn free of discrimination and bullying... Continue Reading
March 13th, 2014
General Motors in the middle of a 1.6 million-strong recall involving faulty ignition switches. Now the carmaker says that it knew of faulty ignitiion switches back as early as 2001, which is three years earlier than previously reported, The Wall Street Journal reports. It's not just a recall that GM is facing: "GM's failure to act more quickly to remedy a defect that is now linked to accidents in which 12 people have lost... Continue Reading
March 13th, 2014
Drug and medical-device companies are scaling back payments to doctors for promotional talks "as transparency increases and blockbuster drugs lose patent protection," ProPublica reports: "Eli Lilly and Co.’s payments to speakers dropped by 55 percent, from $47.9 million in 2011 to $21.6 million in 2012. Pfizer’s speaking payments fell 62 percent over the same period, from nearly $22 million to $8.3 million.... Continue Reading
March 13th, 2014
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has reversed course on allowing the National Security Agency to retain phone call metadata for longer than five years in order to preserve evidence in civil lawsuits over governmental surveillance, The Hill reports. A "federal judge in San Francisco said the government could not destroy phone records after the five-year retention period expired," setting up a conflict with a prior... Continue Reading
March 13th, 2014
Oregon has passed a bill that would allow school districts to receive the permission of American Indian tribes to use school mascots "that represent or are significant to the tribes," the Portland Tribune reports. The Oregon State Board of Education voted to prohibit public schools from using American Indian names, symbols or images as school mascots after July 1, 2017, the Tribune also reports.
The governor previously vetoed... Continue Reading
March 12th, 2014
The New York Times' Charlie Savage and Laura Poitras report on the evolution of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court since the 9/11 attacks. Files leaked by Edward Snowden "help explain how the court evolved from its original task — approving wiretap requests — to engaging in complex analysis of the law to justify activities like the bulk collection of data about Americans’ emails and phone calls,"... Continue Reading
March 11th, 2014
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of the Northern District of California blocked the federal government from destroying the telephone metadata collected by the National Security Agency, The Recorder's Julia Love reports. The move is just a temporary one until the court decides if the data must be preserved after full briefing and argument.
The emergency motion was brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The Justice... Continue Reading
March 10th, 2014
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court rejected the request of governmental lawyers to hold telephone metadata beyond the current five-year limit, Computer World reports. The Department of Justice had reasoned the evidence would need to be preserved for privacy civil lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the surveillance of phone calls. The court reasoned: "The government can be sanctioned for destruction of evidence only if... Continue Reading
March 10th, 2014
The Connecticut General Assembly is considering a bill called the "look, listen but don't copy law," which would allow public access to homicide photos and 911 tapes to review them but not necessarily to get copies of them, the Connecticut Post reports. Family members of crime victims could cite an unwarranted invasion on their public privacy to block release of the records, then putting the onus on the public to show... Continue Reading
March 10th, 2014
Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the New York Times v. Sullivan ruling, which led to greater protections for the media from being sued for defamation by public officials and public figures like celebrities, the Associated Press says. The "case applies equally to new media such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs," AP further reports. First Amendment lawyer Bruce W. Sanford told AP that there may be fewer libel cases because... Continue Reading
March 9th, 2014
The Indianapolis Star reports that four same-sex couples have filed a federal lawsuit to challenge the state's statutory ban on same-sex marriage. The "lawsuit mirrors the challenge in Kentucky that last month prompted a federal judge to order that state to recognize same-sex marriages legally performed elsewhere," The Star further reports.
Indiana's ban on same-sex marriage is statutory, not constitutional. A state... Continue Reading
March 9th, 2014
Two new reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the danger of overprescribing antibiotics and narcotics to patients, ProPublica reports. In ProPublica's interview with Dr. Thomas Frieden, the CDC's director, he said that attempts by government to address overprescribing don't attack doctors' autonomy: "We're not saying tell doctors what to do and not to do. We’re not saying treat this... Continue Reading
March 8th, 2014
The Detroit Free Press reports on the close of the trial in which plaintiffs are challenging Michigan's ban on same-sex marriage. During closing arguments, the plaintiffs' attorney said, "The right to marry is a fundamental right. It should apply regardless of sexual orientation," the Free Press further reports. The defense attorney for the state of Michigan argued that the Michigan voters had decided the issue, and the... Continue Reading
March 7th, 2014
The Detroit Free Press reports on the end nearing in a trial over Michigan's ban on same-sex marriage. Closing arguments are slated for today. The trial has focused on "child outcomes of same-sex parenting," the Free Press also reports. Continue Reading
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