My occasional take on important, cutting-edge or interesting legal news:
Legal News
Legal News
October 23rd, 2013
The European Parliament voted to suspend a data-sharing agreement with the United States that allows access to financial transactions for the purposes of tracking the financing of terrorists, GigaOm reported, although only the European Commission can actually suspend the agreement.
Edward Snowden's leaks exposed that the National Security Agency has been tapping the SWIFT database of international transactions "directly in order to... Continue Reading
October 23rd, 2013
New York Times reporter James Risen has asked the Fourth Circuit to put on hold its ruling denying that a reporters privilege applies in a criminal case in which he could be forced to testify, Politico reports. Meanwhile, Risen will seek for the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the issue.
The underlying criminal case involves former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling, who "has been indicted for leaking Risen information about a CIA operation to... Continue Reading
October 23rd, 2013
Reuters reports the "state-run New Express tabloid printed a front-page commentary begging police in the south-central city of Changsha to set reporter Chen Yongzhou free under the headline: 'Please release him."'
Chen was detained on defamation charges after "writing more than a dozen stories criticizing the finances of a major state-owned construction equipment maker," including that the company "engaged... Continue Reading
October 22nd, 2013
A younger group of American Indians are challenging the Washington Redskins trademark after prior challengers to the trademark lost on the grounds that they waited too long to bring their challenge. "The current petitioners are five Native Americans from different tribes who say they are offended by the team’s name. A decision by the trademark appeal board could come any day," The Wall Street Journal reported. The footbal team... Continue Reading
October 22nd, 2013
Two same-sex couples who wedded in other states have filed a lawsuit to challenge both Tennessee's constitutional provision and statute banning same-sex marriage, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The Journal also reports that Shannon Minter, the legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said "the lawsuit is the 19th filed since the [U.S. Supreme Court] Windsor ruling [striking the federal Defense of Marriage Act ]... Continue Reading
October 22nd, 2013
The Associated Press has this primer on everything you need to know about elder abuse, including that the abuse rarely results in criminal proseuctions because of the stereotype that their abuse is tough to prove and that older people make poor witnesses.
A couple highlights:
* By 2050, there will be more old people on earth than children for the first time in history;
* the most common abusers of the elderly are family members or... Continue Reading
October 22nd, 2013
Drug and Device Blog reports on a California Court of Appeal decision in which an intermediate appellate panel held that the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act does not allow for plaintiffs to sue over the negligent maintenance of their confidential medical information unless their information was accessed wrongfully or without authorization.
In the underlying case, a doctor took home a hard drive containing the personal... Continue Reading
October 22nd, 2013
Even though the Third Circuit has held that "secular, for-profit companies aren't afforded religious protection and the constitutional rights of their owners don't pass through to the corporate entity," a district-court federal judge sided with employers that are challenging Obamacare's contraceptive-coverage mandate on the grounds that it violates their freedom of religion, The Legal Intelligencer, Pennsylvania's... Continue Reading
October 22nd, 2013
James Anaya, U.N. special rapporteur on indigenous rights, said during a visit to Canada that "there's a crisis in Canada with regard to indigenous issues, notwithstanding some important developments within Canada over the last decades," the Associated Press reported.
The disparities include: one in five indigenous Canadians live in dilapidated and often overcrowded homes, Anaya said, and "funding for aboriginal housing... Continue Reading
October 22nd, 2013
The Washington Post reports on a joint effort from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to investigate how many civilians are killed by U.S. drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan: "In Yemen, Human Rights Watch investigated six selected airstrikes since 2009 and concluded that at least 57 of the 82 people killed were civilians, including a pregnant woman and three children who perished in a September 2012 attack. In Pakistan, Amnesty... Continue Reading
October 21st, 2013
The Wall Street Journal will now be able to report the names of individuals that British prosecutors plan to implicate in a criminal case alleging that they were involved in a scheme to manipulate "benchmark interest rates," that paper reports today. The judge in the case will not contine a temporary order barring the WSJ from publishing the names in England and Wales as well as to remove the identities of those people on-line.... Continue Reading
October 20th, 2013
The Illinois Supreme Court has become the first court in the country to find a federal law preempts a state law requiring sales taxes be paid on Internet sales, USA Today reports. The paper also reports: "the court determined that Illinois' 2011 'Main Street Fairness Act' was superseded by the federal law, which prohibits imposing a tax on 'electronic commerce' and obligates collection that's not... Continue Reading
October 20th, 2013
The federal insurance exchange for consumers to shop for health-care insurance policies might be extremely problematic but an exchange for financial instruments started off well, according to The Washington Post's Q&A with the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commision. Derivatives now must be traded on the exchange.
Chairman Gary Gensler explained: "'A swap execution facility is where buyers and... Continue Reading
October 20th, 2013
Protecting traditional knowledge from appropriation by others is a problem around the world. Earlier this year, South Africa launched a registry for traditional knowledge that is passed down orally. South Africa's The Southern Times reports: "'One of the aims is to try to make those communities that hold this traditional knowledge, part of the mainstream economy. An important feature of the system is that it immediately allows... Continue Reading
October 20th, 2013
The Innocence Project of New Orleans is challenging a charge from the New Orleans Police Department to inspect public records, The Louisiana Record reported. The argument in their complaint? "The IPNO cites the Louisiana Constitution, which says that 'no person shall be denied the right to…examine public documents, except in cases established by law' and claims that the fee the NOPD wishes to charge is not legal as it... Continue Reading
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