My occasional take on important, cutting-edge or interesting legal news:
Legal News
Legal News
October 20th, 2013
U.S. military action in Afghanistan will be over next year. "Blocked by Congress from releasing or transferring many of the remaining 164 detainees and able to try only a small number of them, administration officials are examining whether the withdrawal of U.S. troops at the end of 2014 could open the door for some to challenge the legal authority of the United States to continue to imprison them," The Washington Post reports... Continue Reading
October 20th, 2013
Last year, a federal judge upheld Nevada's state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage because Nevada has "a 'legitimate state interest' in maintaining the traditional institution of marriage. The question 'is not the wisdom of providing for or recognizing same-sex marriage as a matter of policy,' he wrote. Instead, [U.S. District Judge Robert] Jones said it was a constitutional question about Nevada... Continue Reading
October 20th, 2013
An Ohio federal judge who ruled valid same-sex marriages entered into in other states must be recognized on Ohio death certificates is facing calls for his impeachment. Ohio bans same-sex marriage. Judge Timothy Seymour "Black’s friends and colleagues defend him as a highly intelligent, thoughtful judge who closely examines every case before delivering rulings free of personal bias," the Associated Press reported.
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October 20th, 2013
Pennsylvania Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille will only be able to serve one more year if retained by Pennsylvania voters next month. Castille, a Republican, argued continuity on the high court will benefit Pennsylvania during a “'critical period as it recovers from the loss of one justice to a criminal prosecution and with another justice currently the subject of a federal criminal investigation,”'... Continue Reading
October 20th, 2013
Five Democratic senators have introduced legislation to better define who as American Indians are eligible under Obamacare to not face IRS tax penalties for not carrying coverage. Prince William Sound's Cordova Times' also reported the legislation would rectify "the several definitions of 'Indian' which led to conflicting interpretations of eligibility for benefits and requirements for coverage." Continue Reading
October 20th, 2013
JPMorgan has struck a tentative $13 billion deal to resolve civil claims related to various alleged financial wrongdoings, including paying for homeowner mortgage relief, Bloomberg reports. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder refuses to release the investment bank for any criminal liability. "The settlement would amount to more than half of JPMorgan’s record $21.3 billion profit last year, or 1.5 times what the... Continue Reading
October 18th, 2013
The Ohio Supreme Court chief justice doesn't pick opinion writers. Instead, it's marbles.
The Times Reporter, out of Philadelphia, Ohio, reports on a talk given by a new justice on the Ohio Supreme Court: "When the seven justices of the Supreme Court meet, [Justice Judith L. French] said they listen to oral arguments from both sides. Then they go into a small conference room with seats personally assigned in order of their... Continue Reading
October 18th, 2013
There has been an increasing push by plaintiffs attorneys to pursue theories of liability against medical journals and medical publishers for harm allegedly caused to their clients from drugs they ingested. The National Law Journal reports that the First Circuit has rejected "a Massachusetts consumer protection case against two doctors, a medical journal and its publisher over an allegedly flawed article cited by defendants in birth-... Continue Reading
October 18th, 2013
Oregon's constitution bans same-sex marriage, but the Oregon Department of Justice has opined that same-sex marriages from other states must be recognized by Oregon governmental officials, The Portland Business Journal reports. The DOJ said that withholding benefits from same-sex spouses who legally wed out-of-state would violate equal protection principles and would be consistent with the policy of recognizing "valid out-of-state... Continue Reading
October 18th, 2013
Another settlement has been reached in the class action brought by the kids imprisoned in juvenile detention facilities after two Pennsylvania judges were given cash by the facilities' owners, The Scranton Times Leader reports. "Three companies behind the private, for-profit juvenile detention and treatment facilities at the heart of the scandal that sent two former Luzerne County judges to jail have reached a settlement with numerous... Continue Reading
October 17th, 2013
Washington state has an upcoming vote on a measure that would require the labeling of genetically modified foods. Now the Washington State Attorney General alleges that the Grocery Manufacturers Association, a major lobbying group for food manufacturers, violated campaign finance laws in its effort to oppose that measure, Reuters reports. The Attorney General alleges GMA has spent more than $7 million in its campaign against the proposed... Continue Reading
October 17th, 2013
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed a challenge to a "patent troll" who says it invented podcasting, GigaOm reports. According to EFF's petition for inter partes review, patent owner Personal Audio says it invented podcasting in 1996, but EFF says "distributing episodes of media content on the Internet--had been known for at least three years at that point." Read the full petition here: https://www.eff.org/... Continue Reading
October 17th, 2013
A John Jay College of Criminal Justice study found that New York sober homes, or residences for poor drug and alcohol addicts, are often unsanitary, dangerous and accept kickbacks from outpatient drug treatment programs to require their residences to attend those treatment programs, ProPublica reported today.
ProPublica also notes: "The report estimates that as many as 10,000 New Yorkers currently reside in three-quarter [or sober]... Continue Reading
October 17th, 2013
The New York Times' Charlie Savage reports: "Five years after Congress authorized a sweeping warrantless surveillance program, the Justice Department is setting up a potential Supreme Court test of whether it is constitutional by notifying a criminal defendant — for the first time — that evidence against him derived from the eavesdropping, according to officials." The disclosure will be made after an internal debate... Continue Reading
October 16th, 2013
A federal judge did not rule today as expected on Michigan's bans on same-sex marriage and same-sex adoption. Instead, the Detroit Free Press reports, the judge set a trial date in February. The judge also said in court that he must decide the issue as a matter of law. The challenge is to a constitutional amendment adopted by voters. This is an example of an area left untouched by the U.S. Supreme Court: do state-... Continue Reading
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