Argentina has filed a "long-shot appeal" to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking for relief from having to pay investors who don't want to accept bond swaps in exchange for defaulted debt, the Associated Press reports. Full payment would cut Argentina's results in half, Argentina's counsel argues. The dispute involves the debts Argentina hasn't paid since its 2001 economic crisis, AP also reports.
The chairman of the Kansas Senate Judiciary Committee has declared dead a bill that would have shielded business owners from being forced to service same-sex weddings if that would be against their religious beliefs, the Associated Press reports. The bill, which was passed by the House, would have barred governmental sanctions and anti-discrimination lawsuits in those circumstances.
As I noted in my prior post on this legislation, LGBT-rights advocates criticized the bill for allowing governmental workers to cite their religious beliefs in refusing to provide governmental services to gay couples.
Journalist Pedro Rivera has filed a lawsuit alleging the Hartford police violated his First Amendment rights by questioning his use of a drone to record images of a car wreck, the Associated Press reports. Rivera claims that he was told to leave the area and that his TV-station employer was told he had interfered with a police investigation. At the time, Rivera was not working for WFSB-TV but is on call for them. Rivera also alleges violations of his Fourth Amendment rights. The complaint can be accessed here.
South Africa has enacted a new intellectual property law to protect traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expression, according to a report in IT in Government. The law is seeking to extend traditional IP laws to protect indigenous knowledge, and South Africa will establish registries under which indigenous communities can register creative works and also receive licensing fees. However, Owen Dean, chairman of intellectual property law at the University of Stellenbosch, said IP law cannot protect traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expression because "'all IP is based on a policy which says you want to encourage creativity, so you give creators an incentive: exclusive control for a limited period, before the work becomes public domain. Indigenous knowledge is reversed: nothing is identifiably creative, and rights are awarded perpetually,'" IT in Government further reported.
The Indiana Senate has approved a proposed amendment to the state constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage, Reuters reports. The amendment must now be approved again by legislators next legislative session and then go to voters in 2016. The good news is that the House, when passing the amendment, changed the wording so civil unions would not be barred.
PA Sen. Larry Farnese, D-Philadelphia, has sponsored legislation to expand Pennsylvania's anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuits against public participation) law to cover defamation, invasion of privacy and other causes of action, The Legal Intelligencer's P.J. D'Annunzio reports. Right now, Pennsylvania's anti-SLAPP is limited to citizens communicating to the goverment about the enforcement of environmental law. Joseph T. Moran, who handles First Amendment and media law at Duane Morris' Pittsburgh office, told The Legal: '''A SLAPP suit by definition is not meritorious litigation. If there is a way to encourage public speech and action that dismisses frivolous suits at an early state, it's hard to say that's a bad thing.'"
The Washington Post's Robert Barnes reports on a challenge to the law that keeps protesters away from the U.S. Supreme Court except for the sidewalks surrounding the highest court in the country. The D.C. U.S. Attorney argued that there is a legitimate governmental interest to keep demonstrations away from courthouses because courts don't make decisions by reference to public opinion, but one judge ruled that it was inconsistent with the First Amendment for the government to prohibit virtually all expression in front of the court.
The ACLU of Missouri has filed a lawsuit to challenge Missouri's ban on same-sex marriage, Missouri Digital News reports, and Missouri's governor says he supports the right of gays to marry as long as voters approve it. The plaintiffs argue the ban violates their due process and equal protection rights.
Concern over the lack of civics education and civic engagement is a common issue for bar associations, but U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has a twist on that concern, the Chicago Tribune reports: "Civics education in the United States faces a crisis because of a drift away from the ideals held by the nation's founders, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said Friday in Chicago. Scalia said that among his concerns is the removal of religious ideals from public education. 'Let me make clear that I am not saying that every good American must believe in God,' Scalia said in a speech at the Union League Club. 'What I am saying, however, is that it is contrary to our founding principles to insist that government be hostile to religion. Or even to insist, as my court, alas, has done, that government cannot favor religion over nonreligion.'"
Legal issues involving drones are an emerging practice area for lawyers, the Connecticut Law Tribune reports. One incident, involving a journalist trying to use a drone to shoot video of a fatal car crash, is being investigated by Hartford police and the Federal Aviation Administration, CLT also reports.
Jonathan Orleans, of Pullman & Comley attorney, told CLT "'there will certainly be negligence and invasion of privacy claims made. And where the drone was operated for a government entity, such as for law enforcement purposes, there will be issues of government immunity. Given the multiplicity of potential uses for the technology and the inventiveness of lawyers, the potential for legal work is quite large."'
Lawyer and Legal Journalist
