My occasional take on important, cutting-edge or interesting legal news:
Legal News
Legal News
November 8th, 2013
The Associated Press reports that "a Connecticut judge said Friday that he wants to hear the 911 recordings from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting before ruling whether they can be released to the media."The judge set a Nov. 25 hearing on whether the recordings can be sealed so he access them, the AP also reports. Continue Reading
November 8th, 2013
When the United Nations Declaration On the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted in 2007, it was seen as a milestone in better protecting the rights of indigenous peoples to protect their lands and cultures. But it is unlikely that President Barack Obama is going to issue an executive order to enforce the declaration, the Indian Country Today Media Network reports. Yet American Indian legal experts who gathered recently say that law to... Continue Reading
November 8th, 2013
As Twitter's initial public offering opened this week, The New York Times' DealBook reports that Twitter's "biggest potential tax shelter is its history of losing money. Like most growth companies, Twitter has accumulated a lot of operating losses. These losses, in theory, can be carried forward as net operating losses to offset future taxable income. But investors should not count on it." The net operating losses can... Continue Reading
November 8th, 2013
A federal judge has ruled that people with disabilities were discriminated against by New York City during Superstorm Sandy. The New York Law Journal reports that "Southern District Judge Jesse Furman ruled Thursday that the city violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act and the New York City Human Rights Law in how it plans to respond to severe storms and power outages." While the judge said the... Continue Reading
November 8th, 2013
We all like tax deductions (mortgage interest deduction, anyone?). Even though JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay $13 billion to the Justice Department, corporate leaders also probably like the fact that they can claim a tax deduction on part of that settlement as an ordinary business expense. The Washington Post reports on the introduction of a Senate bill and a House of Representatives bill that would change "part of the law that lets... Continue Reading
November 7th, 2013
A columnist for The State, a newspaper in South Carolina, writes about a unique wrinkle arising out of that state's system for selecting the chief justice of its supreme court: legislators might break with tradition of selecting the longest-serving justice as a matter of course.
The current chief justice and another current justice on the court both have gone through a vetting process with a merit selection commission. Usually, the most... Continue Reading
November 7th, 2013
New York's rental market is absurdly expensive and it seems to be having an impact on sober homes for people to get treatment, including those coming back into society after being jailed.
According to The Crime Report, Suffolk County sought to pay $500 per resident for sober homes (which is $300 more than the state pays per resident), but one operator told the county that "'[f]ive hundred dollars is not going to cut it,... Continue Reading
November 7th, 2013
The Arkansas attorney general certified a ballot measure today that would allow voters to amend the state constitution to recognize same-sex matrimony, according to ArkansasMatters.com. The ballot measure must now have get signatures in support to get on the ballot.
November 6th, 2013
The Pennsylvania Superior Court has stayed part of the sentence of a former Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice convicted of political corruption, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. Joan Orie Melvin, who is appealing her conviction, won't have to write letters of apology until her appeal is disposed of. The court reasoned that, if Orie Melvin's succeeds in getting a new trial, "'it is possible that her apology letters could... Continue Reading
November 6th, 2013
Andrew Cohen, in a blog for The Atlantic, argues that the U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous decision to reject "a claim by a convicted murderer who argued that she was denied her Sixth Amendment right to the 'effective assistance of counsel' because her lawyer counseled her to reject a manslaughter plea deal without first adequately investigating the facts of her case" turns the constitutional right to counsel into a right... Continue Reading
November 6th, 2013
After lawmakers approved legislation to authorize same-sex marriage in Illinois, Governor Pat Quinn has said he will sign the bill, the Chicago Tribune reports. The newspaper also reports that the prospects for the legislation improved when supporters could point to the situation "in in which gay couples living in states that recognize same-sex marriage have more rights than their counterparts in states that haven't legalized gay... Continue Reading
November 5th, 2013
Lawfare has a comprehensive roundup of all the legislative proposals to reform the mass surveillance that has been revealed by Edward Snowden's leaks. One suggested reform is to end the ex parte proceedings in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in which the government's requests face no opposition: "Judging by the bills in play, there’s pretty much two ideas for doing so: the addition of a new 'Special Advocate... Continue Reading
November 5th, 2013
CBS reports: "With the support of every member of the Democratic caucus and some Republicans, the Senate on Monday voted to move forward with the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a bill that would prohibit discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity." That means the full Senate is very likely to pass the bill.
But the bill's prognosis in the Republican-controlled House of... Continue Reading
November 5th, 2013
The Legal Intelligencer (my journalism alma mater) reports on the continuing trend of the reduction in mass torts in the Philadelphia court system. Court leaders, however, have seen a 5% uptick in filings by out-of-state plaintiffs suing over the pharmaceutical drugs they took.
One attorney told The Legal that more vigorous regulation by the Obama administration may have led to fewer tort lawsuits. "Obama has been more proactive in... Continue Reading
November 5th, 2013
Legal news from last week: A federal judge ruled that a lawsuit can proceed on whether same-sex marriages from other states can be recognized on death certificates in Ohio despite the statewide ban on same-sex nuptials. The Associated Press reported the presiding judge "rejected a request from state attorneys asking to have a funeral director removed from the lawsuit, a move that essentially would have squelched it." Continue Reading
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