My occasional take on important, cutting-edge or interesting legal news:
Legal News
Legal News
December 20th, 2013
A federal judge struck down Utah's ban on same-sex marriage as violative of LGBT couples' rights to due process and equal protection, the AP reports. U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby's ruling could prime the issue for the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, while ruling this year that a ban on federal benefits for gay couples is unconstitutional, did not address whether there is a fundamental right for same-sex couples to... Continue Reading
December 20th, 2013
The Wall Street Journal reports that research by the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee found that data brokers are maintaining health records as part of their massive data collection: "Marketers maintain databases that purport to track and sell the names of people who have diabetes, depression, and osteoporosis, as well as how often women visit a gynecologist."
There is little oversight of data brokers, including from the... Continue Reading
December 20th, 2013
The Philadelphia City Paper reports on multiple legislative proposals pending in Pennsylvania to deny prisoners access to open records. On one hand, access to public records allows prisoners, including "jailhouse lawyers," to investigate the conditions of their confinement. On the other hand, public officials report being inundated with public-records requests from inmates, including flr personal information about the public... Continue Reading
December 20th, 2013
The Legal Intelligencer's Max Mitchell reports that grand jury documents show that it was unclear whether Cynthia Baldwin, the former general counsel for Penn State, represented the institution or three former university administrators in a grand jury probe into convicted serial sex-abuser Jerry Sandusky. For example, "according to the transcripts of grand jury proceedings from April 13, 2011, before former university... Continue Reading
December 20th, 2013
The United Nations has called on countries, including the United States, which use drone strikes for counterterrorism purposes to comply with international law, The Dawn, a newspaper in Pakistan, reports. The resolution was sponsored by Pakistan.
It is the first time the United Nations has spoken on the issuse of remote-controlled drones, The Dawn reprots.
December 20th, 2013
The United Nations adopted a resolution, sponsored by Brazil and Germany in the wake of the revelation that the United States was eavesdropping on leaders in those countries, supporting the protection of Internet privacy, the BBC reports. The non-binding resolution affirms that '"the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online,'" the BBC further reports.
The hope of such non-binding... Continue Reading
December 20th, 2013
Republican-red Indiana is seeking to ban same-sex marriage in its constitution; lawmakers must approve the proposed constitutional amendment a second time before sending it to voters, the Associated Press reports. But "polls have shown increasing numbers of Indiana voters oppose a constitutional ban even though most still oppose gay marriage," the AP reports. Moreover, at least two lawmakers who voted for the amendment in 2011... Continue Reading
December 20th, 2013
The Associated Press reports that Wisconsin has enacted a law to make it harder for public schools to be forced to drop American Indian mascots and nicknames. A 2010 law required " Wisconsin's Department of Public Instruction to hold a hearing on a school's race-based nickname if it received even one complaint," according to the AP. Now complainants must submit a petition with signatures equal to 10 percent of the school... Continue Reading
December 19th, 2013
In a ruling today, the New Mexico Supreme Court has made that state the 17th in the state to allow same-sax marriage. “'All rights, protections, and responsibilities that result from the marital relationship shall apply equally to both same-gender and opposite-gender married couples,"' the court said, according to the Albuquerque Journal. Continue Reading
December 19th, 2013
The Washington Post reports on the recommendations of the panel, appointed by President Obama, to curb surveillance by the National Security Agency. Instead of the NSA collecting virtually all of Americans' phone records, the panel "urged that phone companies or a private third party maintain the data instead, with access granted only by a court order," The Post reports. The panel also suggested a ban on warrantless NSA searches... Continue Reading
December 19th, 2013
Judge Timothy Black, a federal district judge in Ohio, questioned the authority of state officials to refuse to recognize same-sex unions entered in other states, the Associated Press reports. Black heard arguments this week on a narrower question than other same-sex marriage lawsuits: not on whether Ohio's ban on same-sex marriage ban can stand, but on whether same-sex marriages from other states must be recognized on Ohio death... Continue Reading
December 19th, 2013
A Texas judge blocked the city of Houston from providing benefits to the same-sex spouses of Houston city employees---but it's pending another court hearing next month, LGBTQ Nation reports. The lawsuit was filed by Harris County Republican chair Jared Woodfill. Houston Mayor Annise Parker decided to extend benefits to the same-sex spouses of city employees. The plaintiffs claims that Parker violated the Houston city-charter ban on... Continue Reading
December 18th, 2013
Science 2.0 has a blog about a study done at the University of Utah on attitudes toward sharing personal health information. The researchers found that when study subjects were educated about "the intricacies involved in collecting and using this information in population-based research—particularly the safeguards and confidentiality measures in place to maintain anonymity—that they support it," Science 2.0 reports. This... Continue Reading
December 18th, 2013
Reuters reports on the concerns raised as the U.S. Senate consider legislation to curb patent trolls. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, said he is "wary of unintended consequences," while bill sponsor Sen. Patrick Leahy said the legislation balances the rights of patent holders against patent trolls who buy up patents just to pursue litigation. Among other measures, the legislation would require losers... Continue Reading
December 18th, 2013
While there has been a lot of celebration of Judge Leon's opinion that the National Security Agency's collection of telephone metadata likely violates the federal Constitution, Just Security's Steve Vladek argues that the district judge faces being reversed by the D.C. Circuit on his holding that the plaintiffs’ Administrative Procedure Act "claim (challenging the metadata program on statutory grounds) is... Continue Reading
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