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Daily Archives: May 15, 2018

US Circuit and District Court Nominations During President Trump’s First Year in Office

CRS report – U.S. Circuit and District Court Nominations During President Trump’s First Year in Office: Comparative Analysis with Recent Presidents, May 2, 2018.

“This report, in light of continued Senate interest in the judicial confirmation process during a President’s first year in office, provides statistics related to the nomination and confirmation of U.S. circuit and district court nominees during the first year of the Trump presidency (as well as during the first year of each of his three immediate predecessors—Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton). Some of the report’s findings regarding circuit court nominations include the following:

  • The number of U.S. circuit court vacancies decreased by 1, from 17 to 16, during the first year of the Trump presidency. The percentage of circuit court judgeships that were vacant decreased from 9.5% to 8.9%.
  • During his first year in office, President Trump nominated 19 individuals to U.S. circuit court judgeships, of whom 12 (or 63%) were also confirmed during the first year of his presidency.
  • Of individuals nominated to circuit court judgeships during President Trump’s first year in office, 15 (79%) were men and 4 (21%) were women.
  • Of individuals nominated to circuit court judgeships during President Trump’s first year in office, 17 (89%) were white and 2 (11%) were Asian American.
  • The average age of President Trump’s first-year circuit court nominees was 49.
  • Of individuals nominated to circuit court judgeships during President Trump’s first year in office, 16 (84%) received a rating of well qualified from the American Bar Association, 2 (11%) received a rating of qualified, and 1 (5%) received a rating of not qualified.
  • The average length of time from nomination to confirmation for President Trump’s first-year circuit and district court nominees (combined) was 115 days, or approximately 3.8 months.
  • Each of the circuit court nominees confirmed during President Trump’s first year in office was confirmed by roll call vote (and none by unanimous consent or voice vote).
  • Of the 12 circuit court nominees confirmed during President Trump’s first year in office, 11 received more than 20 nay votes at the time of confirmation (and of the 11, 9 received more than 40 nay votes)…”

From Slip Law to United States Code: A Guide to Federal Statutes for Congressional Staff

CRS report – From Slip Law to United States Code: A Guide to Federal Statutes for Congressional Staff, May 2, 2018. “This report provides an overview of federal statutes in their various forms, as well as basic guidance for congressional staff interested in researching statutes. When a bill becomes a law, the newly enacted statute… Continue Reading

Legal AI Companies Increase By 65% in One Year – LawGeex Report

Artificial Lawyer: “Israel-based legal AI pioneer and doc review experts, LawGeex, has just published its latest ‘Inhouse Counsel’s LegalTech Buyer’s Guide 2018‘, providing lawyers and legal operations professionals with a broad range of data on legal tech and also AI solutions. It also shows that the number of legal technology AI companies has increased from 40 to 66… Continue Reading

Senators want FTC to investigate Google’s location data collection

Engadget: “In December of 2017, the office of US Senator Richard Blumenthal sent Google’s CEO a letter asking for a detailed explanation of the company’s privacy practices around location services. Based on a report at Quartz, the senator’s letter had 12 specific questions about how Google deals with location data. In January, Google responded to… Continue Reading

Facebook’s fake news algorithm seems to be working

The Outline: “Facebook’s January 12 announcement that it would begin to deprioritize news in users’ News Feed left publishers shaking in their boots. “[B]y making these changes, I expect the time people spend on Facebook and some measures of engagement will go down,” admitted Mark Zuckerberg, much to the horror of every major media outlet,… Continue Reading

Supreme Court Says Your Expectation of Privacy Probably Shouldn’t Depend on Fine Print

EFF: “The Supreme Court unanimously ruled yesterday in Byrd v. United States that the driver of a rental car could have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the car even though the rental agreement did not authorize him to drive it. We’re pleased that that the Court refused to let a private contract dictate Fourth… Continue Reading

Ireland’s Open Data Portal

Ireland launches the third version of their national data portal DATA.GOV.IE – Promoting innovation and transparency through the publication of Irish Public Sector data in open, free and reusable formats. “A new and improved version of the national Open Data portal, data.gov.ie was recently launched. It is the third iteration of the portal now using… Continue Reading

Big banks including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs say their legal costs are tumbling

BizJournals: The nation’s largest banks — and public companies, for that matter — are preparing for a timeout from the courtroom following years of being pummeled by shareholder and investor lawsuits in the wake of the Great Recession. At the end of 2017, the country’s largest banks collectively decreased their estimates for future legal costs… Continue Reading