My occasional take on important, cutting-edge or interesting legal news:
Legal News
Legal News
December 18th, 2013
Another battlefront has opened up against Aereo's Internet TV service in Utah. Two broadcast TV affiliates are seeking a preliminary injunction against Aereo's service because the TV stations argue it "'engages in public performances for which it must obtain copyright licenses,'" the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
Aereo streams free broadcast TV programming through individualized antennas dedicated to each of its... Continue Reading
December 18th, 2013
The Connecticut legislative panel, appointed to examine restrictions on access to records in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting, voted 14-3 to recommend "setting up a new system that will allow the public, including members of the media, to privately inspect [crime photos, 911 audio tapes and other information from homicides], also including video and internal police communications from a homicide. They would then go through a... Continue Reading
December 17th, 2013
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Federal Communications Commission, at the behest of its new chairman, has withdrawn a plan to weaken the ban on a radio station and newspaper in the same market having the same owner. "The proposal would have also paved the way for smaller TV stations to own newspapers, a change pushed by the struggling newspaper industry," The Journal also reports. Continue Reading
December 17th, 2013
Even though the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Jones the law enforcement's installation of GPS devices on suspects' vehicles are searches under the Fourth Amendment, the Second Circuit has reasoned '"Jones left open the question of whether the warrantless use of GPS devices would be 'reasonable—and thus lawful—under the Fourth Amendment [where] officers ha[ve] reasonable suspicion, and... Continue Reading
December 17th, 2013
The Wall Street Journal has this helpful Q&A about the meaning of Judge Richard Leon's ruling that the National Security Agency has probably violated the U.S. Constitution by monitoring most phone calls in the United States. Continue Reading
December 16th, 2013
A federal judge ruled today that the National Security Agency's surveillance of most phone calls made in the United States or to the United States is likely unconstitutional, Politico reports: "U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon found that the program appears to violate the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures. He also said the Justice Department had failed to demonstrate that collecting the so-called... Continue Reading
December 16th, 2013
The Legal Intelligencer's Saranac Hale Spencer reports that the Third Circuit has decided to take up en banc a case involving GPS tracking. A three- judge panel ruled that a warrant was needed for police to attach a GPS tracker to a suspect's vehicle. "Prosecutors sought appeal on the issue of whether the police officers had shown objective good faith in their actions, which would allow the evidence they gathered through the GPS... Continue Reading
December 16th, 2013
The Washington Post's Robert Barnes reports on oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on where custody proceedings should be held in international custody disputes. While the case is the third the justices have heard about the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction in four years, this current case involves an issue of first impression: "The Hague Convention says that if a motion is filed within 12... Continue Reading
December 16th, 2013
The Associated Press reports that, while gay and lesbian Americans are racking up success after success in the fight for same-sex marriage, that the picture is not as rosy for transgender Americans: '“My sense is that we are 20 years behind the mainstream gay and lesbian movement in terms of public understanding,' said Michael Silverman, executive director of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund," according... Continue Reading
December 16th, 2013
While New Jersey has authorized same-sex marriage through court action, Democrats in the New Jersey Senate were hoping to codify same-sex marriage by statute. But The Newark Star-Ledger reports "Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg said Sunday that she decided to follow the advice of Lambda Legal, a gay rights law group, to take the bill off the agenda." Lambda Legal disfavored the religious exemptions in the now-pulled... Continue Reading
December 12th, 2013
TechCrunch reports that Aereo, which could be a disruptor to the broadcast TV industry if its Internet streaming service of broadcast programming is found not to violate copyright law, wants to go to the U.S. Supreme Court too. Broadcasters are already seeking an appeal to the justices.
In a statement reported by Tech Crunch, the company says, "'The long-standing landmark Second Circuit decision in Cablevision has served... Continue Reading
December 12th, 2013
An audit by the Department of the Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General found that most hospitals don't have policies about copying and pasting health information in electronic health records, iHealthBeat reports. That could lead to health care fraud and abuse such as fraudulent billing and incorrect information being entered into patient records. Only 24% of hospitals had a policy regarding the "improper use of... Continue Reading
December 12th, 2013
Grist, an online environmental magazine, speculates whether the 90 companies that have been identified as causing two-thirds of human-driven global warming emissions could be sued under tort law. Environmental law experts told Grist that such lawsuits would fail in federal court. The U.S. Supreme Court found in American Elecctric Power v. Connecticut that states can't sue companies for emitting greenhouse gases. Only the... Continue Reading
December 12th, 2013
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Australia's High Court "has cleared the way for a federal law on same-sex marriage, even though it struck down the ACT law providing for them." The court reasoned that the word marriage in the constitution is not restricted to opposite-sex unions. The court held that the Federal Parliament could change a law that restricts marriage to unions between men and women. "It was thought... Continue Reading
December 12th, 2013
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace analyzes the new constitution proposed for Egypt (another constitution was just adopted in 2012). The proposals include:
* The Egyptian military would get enshrined as a branch of government unto itself;
* While it's typically a good thing for the judiciary to have autonomy, the Egyptian judiciary, "which strongly supported the military takeover" from the elected Muslim... Continue Reading
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