News release: "Public health and environmental advocates faced off against household cleaning giants Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Church and Dwight and Reckitt-Benckiser in a Manhattan court today in a fight for transparency about the toxic chemicals in cleaning products. The manufacturing giants are refusing to follow a New York state law requiring them to disclose the chemical ingredients in their products and the health risks they pose. Independent studies show a link between many chemicals commonly found in cleaning products and health effects ranging from nerve damage to hormone disruption...The first-of-its-kind lawsuit could have national implications and comes as momentum builds nationally and internationally for toxics chemical reform. [February 4, 2010] the United States Senate committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing looking into the current science on public exposures to toxic chemicals."
Reference Documents

• Read the lawsuit
  
• Read the brands targeted in the lawsuit
  
• Read the Women's Voices for the Earth report
  
• Read the disclosure report filed by Sunshine Makers, Inc.
  
• What's Inside SC Johnson - A Closer Look at the Ingredients Inside Our Products

Follow up to posting on campaign to End Female Genital Mutilation Now, see the Avon Global Center for Women and Justice at Cornell Law School: Legal Resources "section provides access to treaties and other international and regional documents, statutes and case law from around the world relating to gender-based violence. By making these resources available, our goal is to promote the use of laws and rules aimed at providing access to justice to survivors of gender-based violence."

3rd Circuit to Mull Privacy of Cell Phone Data, Shannon P. Duffy: "In a case that could prove to be one of the most important privacy rights battles of the modern era, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear argument this week on the proper legal standard to apply when prosecutors demand cell phone location data. The data, which are recorded about once every seven seconds whenever a cell phone is turned on, effectively track the whereabouts and the comings and goings of every cell phone user. Justice Department lawyers argue that, by statute, they need only show "reasonable grounds" to believe that such records are "relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation." But a federal magistrate judge in Pittsburgh strongly disagreed in February 2008, issuing a 52-page opinion that said the prosecutors must meet the "probable cause" standard."

News release: "NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco instructed the agency’s head attorney and its top fisheries manager to take immediate and long-term actions to improve the agency’s enforcement and legal operations and enhance its relationship with the fishing community. In a memo issued today, Dr. Lubchenco directed NOAA General Counsel Lois Schiffer, and NOAA Acting Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Jim Balsiger, to take a two-part approach to responding to the Jan. 21 recommendations by the Commerce Department’s Inspector General that reviewed the policies and practices of NOAA’s fisheries enforcement system. Lubchenco requested the review in June 2009 after listening to concerns of fishermen and Congress."

ABA Journal, Wired! Both Lexis and Westlaw "claim to be creating a legal research experience that will mimic the ease of use their customers have come to expect from the leading Internet search engine, Google."

"The meta-search engine of National Case Law was created by the Network of the Presidents of the European Supreme Courts. It has been released in April 2007 and allows to simultaneously query several search engines." [Lyonette Louis-Jacques]

Follow up to previous postings on Google Book Search, this news, Justice Department Submits Views on Amended Google Book Search Settlement - Department Says Despite Substantial Progress Made, Issues Remain

News release: "Corrupt foreign officials and their relatives have used gaps in U.S. law and the assistance of U.S. professionals to funnel millions of dollars in illicit money into the United States, an investigation by the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has found...A 330-page bipartisan report released by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., subcommittee chairman and subcommittee ranking member Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., at today’s hearing shows that politically powerful foreign officials, and those close to them, have found ways to use the U.S. financial system to protect and enhance their ill-gotten gains. The report exposes how those powerful individuals – known internationally as “politically exposed persons” or PEPs – have used the services of U.S. lawyers, lobbyists, real estate and escrow agents, and other professionals who currently have no obligation under U.S. regulations to establish anti-money laundering (“AML”) programs, know their customers, or evaluate the source of funds transferred into the United States. Banks, in contrast, are subject to AML obligations and for the most part have honored them. But glaring gaps have undermined the overall effectiveness of U.S. AML laws."

News release: "Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, joined by Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program Neil Barofsky, announced a lawsuit against Bank of America, its former CEO Kenneth D. Lewis, and its former CFO Joseph L. Price for duping shareholders and the federal government in order to complete a merger with Merrill Lynch. According to the lawsuit, Bank of America’s management intentionally failed to disclose massive losses at Merrill so that shareholders would vote to approve the merger. Once the deal was approved, Bank of America’s management manipulated the federal government into saving the deal with billions in taxpayer funds by falsely claiming that they would back out of the deal without bailout funds."

Business Intelligence Online Resources: This extensive guide by search expert Marcus P. Zillman includes a wide range of sources designed to serve as a foundation for knowledge discovery specific to business intelligence resources on the Internet.

News release: "As part of President Obama’s commitment to more effective and open government, the public can more quickly access federal regulations at Regulations.gov, thanks to comments received during the Regulations.gov Exchange online forum held last year. Regulations.gov provides one-stop public access to information related to current and forthcoming regulations issued by the federal government. The eRulemaking Program made the following specific-site improvements to Regulations.gov:

• a new rotating panel of images and video clips offering a preview to the latest Web site changes
  
• a dashboard of regulatory documents housed on Regulations.gov
  
• a new A-Z index of rules and proposed rules categorized by topic
  
• instructional video-clips highlighting site functions
  
• improvements to the site's homepage and search wizard."

Law of War Deskbook, 2010, International and Operational Law Department, The United States Army Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, Charlottesville, VA

News release: "Painting a picture of an overwhelmed immigration court system choked by an “exploding” caseload and an “exponential” increase in outside pressures, a report submitted to the American Bar Association has the ABA considering a host of policy reforms affecting the adjudication system for determining whether to remove noncitizens from the United States. The new report, “Reforming the Immigration System: Proposals to Promote Independence, Fairness, Efficiency, and Professionalism in the Adjudication of Removal Cases” was prepared pro bono by the law firm of Arnold & Porter LLP. The report represents the opinions of the authors and editors and should not be construed to be those of either the American Bar Association or the ABA’s Commission on Immigration unless and until adopted pursuant to the bylaws of the association. They are set to come to a vote next week. The nearly 500-page report examines each stage of the immigration removal adjudication system and makes some 60 recommendations for incremental and systemic reform. Designed as a tool for policymakers considering legislative and administrative changes to the immigration system, the study identifies concerns ranging from internal Department of Homeland Security practices to systemic weaknesses within the court’s current structure."

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Highway Loss Data Institute - Cellphone Laws: "A jurisdiction-wide ban on driving while talking on a hand-held cellphone is in place in 7 states (California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Utah, and Washington) and the District of Columbia. Utah has named the offense careless driving. Under the Utah law, no one commits an offense when speaking on a cellphone unless they are also committing some other moving violation other than speeding."

• table shows the states that have cellphone laws / Map: hand-held bans / Map: young driver bans / Map: bus driver bans / Map: texting bans
  
• See also WSJ: A Safer Way to Text on the Road: "Vlingo essentially allows you to speak anywhere that you can type on your BlackBerry. Once installed, you operate the program by pressing and holding the convenience button on the side of the BlackBerry. This launches the recorder, and you can speak commands or series of commands to open applications, dictate messages, make notes, create calendar entries, update your Facebook status, and any other number of functions. Once you release the button, Vlingo will do whatever you've told it to do."
  
• See also related postings on driving while texting

"The ABA has assembled a collection of legal resources relevant to the Haiti earthquake at http://www.abanet.org/disaster/haiti.html for use by bar associations, lawyers and programs assisting those in need. The web portal, which the North Carolina Bar Association named its Web Site of the Week, provides links and information on temporary protected status for Haitian nationals who have resided in the United States since Jan. 12, 2010. It also offers information pertaining to children identified as needing care and children identified as orphans."

The Government Domain - Congressional Documents on FDsys: Advanced Techniques - Following up on a previous column in which she introduced FDsys and explained the site's simple search and navigation, this month Peggy Garvin provides an update and introduces more advanced search techniques for the congressional information available on FDsys.

National Corrections Reporting Program, Thomas P. Bonczar, January 21, 2010

Via DOJ Office of Special Counsel of the Civil Rights Division: "ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) instructors and immigrant advocates now have new workbooks at their disposal courtesy of the Justice Department’s Office of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) education grant program. Through lessons titled: “Working in the United States” and “Discrimination in the Workplace,” the workbooks educate potential victims of employment discrimination about their rights under the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). These ESOL workbooks are available to the public free of charge in instructor and student versions."

Via Rick McKinney: "GPO finally made available the text of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009, H.R. 4173, as passed by the House on December 11, 2009. The 1706 page bill had been 1279 pages when introduced, but after numerous amendments adopted on the House floor (there was no reported version or committee report) it grew and many of us have waited until now to see it put together in one package. The bill has ten titles and many of the titles and sections (after Title V the sections to not correspond to the numeric title) were developed from earlier legislation and from Administration proposed language."

Via Freakonomics - Do Bike-Helmet Laws Discourage Bicycling? - this report, Intended and Unintended Effects of Youth Bicycle Helmet Laws, Christopher S. Carpenter, Mark F. Stehr, NBER Working Paper No. 15658, Issued in January 2010

UK TimesOnline: "Nestled amid the bustle of north Mumbai, the headquarters of Pangea3, one of India’s biggest legal outsourcing companies, is enough to give a British corporate lawyer used to the slick environs of the City or Canary Wharf the heebie-jeebies...an army of young Indian graduates, most of them from the country’s top law and engineering schools, sits before a barrage of computer terminals. Many are working on legal documents digitally accessed from the servers of blue-chip Western clients via transcontinental fibreoptic cables. Others are engaged in research for upcoming litigation to be fought out in American courtrooms, or are analysing patent filings registered by British companies...Much of the work that Pangea3 and similar firms deal with, such as drafting derivatives contracts or conducting due diligence for mergers and acquisitions, was once the preserve of trainees and associates at big City law firms. Some of those firms racked up annual revenues of more than £1 billion during the boom years, in part by billing out teams of junior lawyers for up to £300 an hour for even the most routine tasks."

News release: "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing water quality standards to protect people’s health, aquatic life and the long term recreational uses of Florida’s waters, which are a critical part of the state’s economy. In 2009, EPA entered into a consent decree with the Florida Wildlife Federation to propose limits to this pollution. The proposed action, released for public comment and developed in collaboration with the state, would set a series of numeric limits on the amount of phosphorus and nitrogen, also known as “nutrients,” that would be allowed in Florida’s lakes, rivers, streams, springs and canals."

News release: " The Justice Department today announced separate agreements under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Pace University in New York City and Reed College in Portland, Ore., regarding the use in a classroom setting of the electronic book reader, the Kindle DX, a hand-held technological device that simulates the experience of reading a book. Under the agreements reached today, the universities generally will not purchase, recommend or promote use of the Kindle DX, or any other dedicated electronic book reader, unless the devices are fully accessible to students who are blind and have low vision. The universities agree that if they use dedicated electronic book readers, they will ensure that students with vision disabilities are able to access and acquire the same materials and information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services as sighted students with substantially equivalent ease of use. The agreements that the Justice Department reached with these universities extend beyond the Kindle DX to any dedicated electronic reading device."

"GPO is pleased to announce that the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) has been converted into XML (extensible markup language) and is now available via GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys). Currently, the CFR is available from 2007 to present, and volumes dating back to 2000 will be added over the next few months. The CFR in XML is also available from the Government's new site for Government data."

Securities and Exchange Commission Litigation Release No. 21371 / January 11, 2010 - Securities and Exchange Commission v. Bank of America Corporation, Civil Action No. 09-6829 (JSR) (S.D.N.Y.): "The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it seeks to charge Bank of America with failing to disclose extraordinary financial losses at Merrill Lynch prior to a shareholder vote to approve a merger between the two companies. The SEC has asked the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for permission to amend its pending complaint against Bank of America to include the new charges. The agency earlier charged the bank with misleading investors about billions of dollars in bonuses that were being paid to Merrill executives. That complaint was amended in October to add a charge for Bank of America's failure to comply with certain affirmative disclosure obligations under the federal proxy rules."

Wrongful Conviction and Attorney-Client Confidentiality: Interpreting Rule 1.6(b)(1) of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct in the context of wrongful convictions is complicated by evidentiary and practical considerations surrounding the potential use of such information. This article by Ken Strutin examines resources about several notable cases and the scholarly literature analyzing different approaches to resolving this dilemma.

Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities Reported by Youth, 2008-09, Allen J. Beck, Paul Guerino, Paige M. Harrison. January 7, 2009

News release: "Concluding a case that drew the largest civil penalty ever imposed on a debt collection business, the Federal Trade Commission settled with the two remaining individual defendants who allegedly misled, threatened, and harassed consumers; disclosed their debts to third parties; and deposited postdated checks early, in violation of federal law. The settlement order requires each of these senior managers to pay a civil penalty and bars them from future violations...According to the FTC’s complaint, filed by the Department of Justice on the FTC’s behalf, the defendants participated in, or controlled, the actions of debt collectors whose unlawful practices included false or deceptive threats of garnishment, arrest, and legal action; improper calls to consumers; frequent, harassing, threatening, and abusive calls; and unfair and unauthorized withdrawals from consumers’ bank accounts. The complaint also alleged that the defendants failed to adequately investigate consumer complaints or discipline collectors, and collectors who were terminated for violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) often were rehired within a few months."

"The Federal Judicial Center has posted a monograph providing an introduction to, and overview of, immigration law, with a focus on issues that arise in litigation."

News release: "Several changes have been made to THOMAS for the second session of the 111th Congress. These changes include: Bookmarking and Sharing Widget; Top Five Bills; New RSS feed: Bills Presented to the President; Contacting Members of Congress; Tip of the Week; Bill Text PDFs."

Issuance of Guidance and Summary of Actions Taken in Response to the Report of the Department of Justice Criminal Discovery and Case Management Working Group, David W. Ogden, Deputy Attorney General, January 4, 2010

The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act: Overview and Issues for Congress, Kevin R. Kosar, Analyst in American National Government, December 14, 2009

FindLaw: "Rejecting a bid by convicted al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui to overturn his guilty plea, a federal appeals court affirmed the French citizen's terror conspiracy charges stemming from his role as an admitted terror camp trainee, member of the terrorist organization, and acknowledged flight-school his 'intent to obtain pilot training to further "al Qaeda's plan to use plans to kill Americans."

Report of the Council to the Membership of The American Law Institute on the Matter of the Death Penalty: "On October 23, 2009, the ALI Council voted overwhelmingly, with some abstentions, to accept the resolution of the capital punishment matter as approved by the Institute’s membership at the 2009 Annual Meeting in May. The resolution adopted at the Annual Meeting and now accepted by the Council reads as follows:

For reasons stated in Part V of the Council’s report to the membership, the Institute withdraws Section 210.6 of the Model Penal Code in light of the current intractable institutional and structural obstacles to ensuring a minimally adequate system for administering capital punishment.

News release: "Albert Gonzalez, 28, of Miami, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to hack into computer networks supporting major American retail and financial organizations, and to steal data relating to tens of millions of credit and debit cards, announced Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Paul J. Fishman, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Carmen Milagros Ortiz and Director of the U.S. Secret Service Mark Sullivan. Gonzalez, aka “segvec,” “soupnazi” and “j4guar17,” pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to gain unauthorized access to the payment card networks operated by, among others, Heartland Payment Systems, a New Jersey-based card processor; 7-Eleven, a Texas-based nationwide convenience store chain; and Hannaford Brothers Co. Inc., a Maine-based supermarket chain. The plea was entered in federal court in Boston before U.S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock. The case is one of the largest data breaches ever investigated and prosecuted in the United States."

Google Scholar: A New Way to Search for Cases and Related Legal Publications - Courtney Minick and David Tsai provide an overview of the new features Google Scholar provides for the legal research market.

Harnessing Free-Flowing Competitive Intelligence Through Social Media Sites: "For competitive intelligence research purposes, traditional Web sites (read Web 1.0) have offered a range of valuable information for those seeking to get a leg up on the competition. But that information has had its limits—enter a new breed of Web resources that break out of the traditional information boundaries." Greg Lambert is Library & Records Manager at King & Spalding in Houston, TX.

Executive Order - Original Classification Authority, December 29, 2009: designating specific officials to classify information originally as "Top Secret" or "Secret"

Privacy: An Overview of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping, December 3, 2009: "Depending on one’s perspective, wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping are either “dirty business,” essential law enforcement tools, or both. This is a very general overview of the federal statutes that proscribe wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping and of the procedures they establish for law enforcement and foreign intelligence gathering purposes. Although the specifics of state law are beyond the scope of this report, citations to related state statutory provisions have been appended. The text of pertinent federal statutes and a selected bibliography of legal materials appear as appendices as well."

"A new report by the Federal Judicial Center offers an analysis of all cases that were sealed in federal district, bankruptcy and appellate courts in 2006, and describes why and how they were sealed."

Follow up to previous postings on Google Book Search - Google & the Future of Books: An Exchange By Paul N. Courant, Laine Farley, Paula Kaufman, John Leslie King, Theodore Koditschek, Anthony Lewis et al.
"To the Editors: In his recent article criticizing the Google settlement [Google and the New Digital Future, NYR, December 17, 2009], Robert Darnton fails to acknowledge the significant role that libraries have had in the creation of Google Book Search as well as the concrete steps they are taking to address the sorts of concerns he raises. Libraries are using Google-digitized volumes to create the "truly public library" that he seeks, and these same libraries are taking responsibility for the preservation of Google-digitized volumes. More than thirty research libraries have made agreements with Google to digitize their collections as part of their long-standing tradition of providing the highest level of access to scholarly materials. These libraries have worked successfully with Google to ensure the integrity of their physical collections and to digitize those collections in accordance with broadly held standards for digital capture."

News release: "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released enforcement results for fiscal year 2009, and has developed a new Web-based tool and interactive map that allows the public to get detailed information by location about the enforcement actions taken at approximately 4,600 facilities. The new mapping tool allows the public to view the locations of facilities that were the subject of enforcement actions on interactive maps of the U.S. and territories. The maps show facilities where civil enforcement actions were taken for environmental laws for air, water, and land pollution, and a separate map shows criminal enforcement actions."

News release: "The onset of a serious illness or injury can affect much more than a person’s health. Knowing what steps to take to get one’s financial and legal affairs in order is often vitally important not only to the affected individual, but to his or her loved ones as well. The Legal Guide for the Seriously Ill - a project by the American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging commissioned by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization - was designed for both the seriously ill individual and those caring for someone who is seriously ill. The guide explains “Seven Key Steps” in a brief, clear way while offering additional tips and resources for readers looking for more detailed information and guidance. The recently released guide addresses societal issues that have gained prominent media attention in recent years, such as paying for health care, managing health and personal decisions, and patient rights. In addition, the Legal Guide for the Seriously Ill sheds light on recent legislative and regulatory changes, such as the recently enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which provides a 35 percent subsidy of the COBRA premium for up to nine months."

"GPO is pleased to announce the release of the following collections into the Federal Digital System (FDsys)":

• Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States (1991 to 2005)
  
• Code of Federal Regulations (2007 to 2009)
  
• Precedents of the United States House of Representatives (as part of the GPO Federal Publications collection)

Examining the Work of State Courts: An Analysis of 2007 State Court Caseloads. A joint project of the Conference of State Court Administrators, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and the National Center for State Courts. 2009
Examining the Work of State Courts is the authoritative analysis of the best available state court case filing and disposition data. Approximately ninety-five percent of all legal cases initiated in the United States are filed in the state courts. Whether the reader’s objective is to assess the current legal landscape, to improve the management of a court or a state court system, to develop public policy, or to gain a better understanding of the work of our third branch of government, this publication provides the independent interpretation of reliable data that will speak to the reader’s need. In fact, without the benefit of this foundational data and its expert analysis, state court leaders and managers, policy makers, and the media are too often left with little more than random anecdote and unsupported opinion as the basis for their work."

Project Management - A Law Librarian Survival Skill: Carol A. Watson discusses how effective project management requires considerable thought and preparation before actually initiating the work of the project. Although many of us are eager to jump into the tasks related to a project, it is important to remember that careful planning will provide the groundwork for a successful project outcome. Carol reminds us, "Remember, it takes time to save time," and she will be writing on this overall topic in forthcoming issues of LLRX.com

Follow up to Google Scholar Now Includes Free Case Law Database and Bridging the DiGital Divide: A New Vendor in Town? Google Scholar Now Includes Case Law, this related article - Google Scholar: A New Way to Search for Cases and Related Legal Publications.

The Liberal Tradition of the Supreme Court Clerkship: Its Rise, Fall, and Reincarnation? William E. Nelson, Harvey Rishikof, I. Scott Messinger, Michael Jo | 62 Vand. L. Rev. 1749 (2009)

A Guide for the Perplexed Part III: The Amended Settlement Agreement - On Friday, November 13, 2009, Google, the Authors Guild, and the Association of American Publishers filed an Amended Settlement Agreement (ASA) in the copyright infringement litigation concerning the Google Library Project. The amendments proposed by the parties are designed to address objections made by the U.S. Department of Justice and copyright holders to the original proposed settlement agreement. This paper by Jonathan Band describes the ASA's major changes, with emphasis on those changes relevant to libraries.

Surge Driven by Steep Jump in Immigration Filings: "As a result of an unusual flood of immigration prosecutions, the total number of federal criminal filings reached an all time high in the just ended fiscal year, according to timely Justice Department data analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). The latest data show that the number of all kinds of federal criminal prosecutions peaked at 169,612 cases in FY 2009, up nearly 9 percent from the previous year's total of 155,694 and 42 percent from five years ago when prosecutions came to only 119,492. The comparisons of the number of defendants charged with offenses are based on case-by-case information obtained by TRAC under the Freedom of Information Act from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys."

Follow up to previous postings on the Google Book Search settlement,
this letter to DOJ Antitrust Division: "The American Library Association, the Association of College and Research Libraries, and the Association of Research Libraries (the Library Associations) write to express our views concerning how the United States should respond to the Amended Settlement Agreement filed by the parties on November 13, 2009. In brief, we believe that active supervision of the settlement by the court and the United States will protect the public interest far more than any additional restructuring of the settlement."

News release: "EPIC has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, urging the FTC to open an investigation into Facebook’s revised privacy settings. The EPIC complaint, signed by nine other privacy and consumer organizations, states that the "changes violate user expectations, diminish user privacy, and contradict Facebook’s own representations." EPIC cites widespread opposition from Facebook users, security experts, bloggers, and news organizations. A previous EPIC complaint to the FTC, concerning the data broker industry, produced the largest settlement in the FTC's history. For more information, see EPIC: In re Facebook and EPIC Facebook Privacy."

Follow up to previous postings on government implementation of whole body scanning technology at airports, this news: On December 17, 2009, EPIC filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice concerning the use of devices that capture images of individuals stripped naked. The Transportation Security Administration has confirmed the Whole Body Imaging machines are being used in at least one Virginia federal court by the US Marshall Service. EPIC submitted a FOIA request for information about these devices including the contracts with the manufacturer of the machines, and information about technical specifications and training materials. The Marshall Service failed to respond adequately to the request. EPIC filed suit, said that the agency had not performed a sufficient search and should disclose the documents requested."

"The Death Penalty Information Center released the The Death Penalty in 2009: Year End Report on December 18, noting that the country is expected to finish 2009 with the fewest death sentences since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Eleven states considered abolishing the death penalty this year, a significant increase in legislative activity from previous years, as the high costs and lack of measurable benefits associated with this punishment troubled lawmakers."

News release: "The Federal Trade Commission today sued Intel Corp., the world’s leading computer chip maker, charging that the company has illegally used its dominant market position for a decade to stifle competition and strengthen its monopoly.In its complaint, the FTC alleges that Intel has waged a systematic campaign to shut out rivals’ competing microchips by cutting off their access to the marketplace. In the process, Intel deprived consumers of choice and innovation in the microchips that comprise the computers’ central processing unit, or CPU. These chips are critical components that often are referred to as the “brains” of a computer."

News release: "The Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday announced the issuance of a consent Order to Cease and Desist against Credit Suisse AG, Zurich, Switzerland. The Order requires that Credit Suisse improve its program for compliance with U.S. economic sanctions requirements on a global basis. The Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority, the home country supervisor of Credit Suisse, has agreed to assist the Federal Reserve in the implementation and supervision of the Order. In separate, coordinated actions, the U.S. Department of Justice and the District Attorney for New York County announced the execution of deferred prosecution agreements with Credit Suisse, and the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced a settlement for violations of its regulations. The settlement agreements all relate to U.S. dollar payments routed through banks in the United States that involved entities or persons subject to U.S. economic sanctions. In the settlements with the Department of Justice and the District Attorney, Credit Suisse has agreed to pay $268 million, each, to the United States and to New York, for a total of $536 million."

New York City Community Air Survey: Results Winter 2008-2009, Prepublication version, December 15, 200

Via FAS: "The President's Memorandum of May 27, 2009 on Classified Information and Controlled Unclassified Information, directed a Task Force, led by the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General, to review the Controlled Unclassified Information (“CUI”) Framework established in 2008 for the management of Sensitive but Unclassified1 (“SBU”) terrorism-related information. The Task Force undertook a 90-day study of the CUI Framework, the current regimes for managing SBU information in the Executive Branch, and, by extension, the sharing of that information with our non-federal information-sharing partners. The Task Force concluded that Executive Branch performance suffers immensely from interagency inconsistency in SBU policies, frequent uncertainty in interagency settings as to exactly what policies apply to given SBU information, and the inconsistent application of similar policies across agencies. Additionally, the absence of effective training, oversight, and accountability at many agencies results in a tendency to over-protect information, greatly diminishing government transparency."

Deep Web Research 2010: Marcus P. Zillman is a an internet search expert whose extensive knowledge of how to leverage the "invisible" or "deep" web is exemplified in this guide. The Deep Web covers somewhere in the vicinity of 1 trillion pages of information located through the world wide web in various files and formats. Current search engines are able to locate around 200 billion pages. Marcus identifies sources to mitigate the odds on behalf of serious searchers.

News release: "Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and the National Security Archive (NSA) reached a final settlement of their long-running lawsuits challenging the failure of the Bush White House and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to take any action after confronted with evidence that millions of emails had gone missing from Bush White House servers over a two and one-half year period. The lawsuits followed CREW’s revelation in April 2008 that the White House had discovered the problem in the fall of 2005. Nevertheless, the Bush White House failed to recover or restore the missing emails and knowingly continued to use a broken system for preserving electronic records. Under the terms of the settlement, the Executive Office of the President (EOP) will restore a total of 94 days of missing emails, which will then be sent to NARA for preservation and eventual access under either the Presidential Records Act or the Federal Records Act."

WSJ Law Blog: What Makes a Good Law School Exam Answer? Law Profs Weigh In, by Ashby Jones.

Research RoundUp: Business Filings Databases Updated - Kathy Biehl's guide to online corporate and business filings available provides links to and descriptions of services available from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as selected commercial services. It is the most comprehensive, reliable web resource available on the topic.

ABA Section of Dispute Resolution Task Force on Improving Mediation Quality, Final Report, April 2006 - February 2008.

News release: "While the Supreme Court ruling in Boumediene v. Bush established definitively the right of habeas corpus for detainees at Guantanamo, it left many important questions unresolved about how these habeas petitions would be adjudicated. As a consequence, the District of Columbia District Court and Court of Appeals have been charged with deciding such issues as: the substantive scope of the executive’s detention authority; the reach of the suspension clause to Bagram; whether conditions of confinement are open to habeas challenge; standards for admitting hearsay into evidence; and procedures for handling classified intelligence reports. In an effort to document this habeas litigation the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Law and National Security created a searchable database, containing every Guantanamo and Bagram detainee habeas petition brought before the D.C. courts since the Boumediene ruling."

• DOJ's Civil Rights Division: Opportunities Exist to Improve Its Case Management System and Better Meet Its Reporting Needs GAO-09-938R, September 30, 2009
• Federal Research: NASA Should Better Inform Researchers about How to Appeal Dissemination Decisions, GAO-10-200, December 3, 2009
• Hurricane Katrina: Federal Grants Have Helped Health Care Organizations Provide Primary Care, but Sustaining Services Will Be a Challenge, GAO-10-273T, December 3, 2009
• Status of Funds for the Merida Initiative, GAO-10-253R, December 3, 2009
• U.S. Department of Justice: Information on Employment Litigation, Housing and Civil Enforcement, Voting, and Special Litigation Sections' Enforcement Efforts from Fiscal Years 2001 through 2007. GAO-10-75, October 23, 2009
• U.S. Department of Justice: Opportunities Exist to Strengthen the Civil Rights Division's Ability to Manage and Report on Its Enforcement Efforts, GAO-10-256T, December 3, 2009

Access to Social Websites in The Legal Environment - Fall 2009 - Part 1: Survey of Law Librarians in Selected Firms, County/State Law Libraries and Law Schools.

News release: "The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the availability of an updated version of its popular Employment Law Guide [September 2009], an online publication that describes the major employment laws administered by the department. The Guide helps the public — workers and employers — understand many of the laws affecting the workplace. For instance, it helps small businesses develop wage, benefit, safety and health, and nondiscrimination policies. It also benefits employees and employee representatives who need information about worker rights and responsibilities under federal employment laws."

News release: "Verizon Wireless has agreed to pay a $468,600 civil penalty to settle self-disclosed violations of federal environmental regulations discovered at 655 facilities in 42 states. Verizon voluntarily entered into a corporate audit agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and conducted environmental compliance audits at more than 25,000 facilities nation-wide. The Environmental Appeals Board at EPA has approved an administrative settlement resolving violations Verizon found through its compliance audits. Verizon audited facilities that include cell towers, mobile switch centers, call centers, and administrative offices. As a result of its audit, the company reported violations of clean water, clean air, and emergency planning and preparedness regulations to EPA. Verizon promptly corrected the violations found during its audit, which included preparing and implementing spill prevention, control, and countermeasure plans, applying for appropriate air permits, and submitting reports to state and local emergency planning and response organizations informing them of the presence of hazardous substances."

Strengthening Forensic Science: The Next Wave of Scholarship: Ken Strutin's article focuses on threads of scholarly literature citing and commenting on the recent National Academy of Sciences report, Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward, and highlights discussions where experts and practitioners rethink the merits of a wide range of forensic issues.

News release: "Statistics released today by the Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed that 7,783 criminal incidents involving 9,168 offenses were reported in 2008 as a result of bias toward a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity/national origin, or disability. Published by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Hate Crime Statistics, 2008, includes data about hate crime incidents submitted by law enforcement agencies throughout the nation."

Public Defender Offices, 2007 - Statistical Tables, 11/09: "Examines offices that provide representation for indigent defendants through a salaried staff of full-time or part-time attorneys who are employed as direct government employees or through a public, nonprofit organization. Public defender offices are categorized according to whether they are principally funded and administered at the state government level, county level, or through a combination of county and state government. Topics include public defender office staffing, caseloads, expenditures, and standards and guidelines used by the nearly 1,000 public defender offices found across 49 states and the District of Columbia."

"The UT Libraries' Human Rights Documentation Initiative (HRDI) is committed to the long-term preservation of fragile and vulnerable records of human rights struggles worldwide, the promotion and secure usage of human rights archival materials, and the advancement of human rights research and advocacy around the world. The HRDI website highlights the following types of materials:

1. UT Collections: Primary source, archival materials related to human rights
   
2. Archived Web Resources: Websites, reports, audio, video, photographs on human rights struggles that are produced by individuals or small organizations who lack resources and opportunities for widespread distribution of their work
   
3. Audiovisual documentation (limited access): Fragile, born-digital, audiovisual documentation of human rights violations acquired through partnerships with human rights organizations worldwide (see About the HRDI, access to these materials is currently limited due to the sensitive nature of the information)

News release: "Based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, 22,295,000 Americans with disabilities are of working age; however, only 36.9 percent were employed, compared to the 79.7 percent of the non-disabled. Acknowledging this disparity, the American Bar Association Commission on Mental and Physical Disabilities hosted the “Second ABA National Conference on the Employment of Lawyers with Disabilities” in June and are now releasing a report, based on the conference, as a resource tool for legal employers and lawyers with disabilities. The report provides guidance as to the best practices for employment of lawyers with disabilities as well as mentoring, retaining and promoting lawyers with disabilities. Additionally, there is guidance and insight as to how lawyers and law students with disabilities can attain employment."

"The Court entered its Findings of Fact and Conclusion of law in the Robinson matter. The Court ruled that the failure of the United States Army Corps of Engineers to maintain and operate the MRGO properly was a substantial cause for the failure of the Reach 2 Levee. It found that the Corps was not negligent with respect to its failure to construct a surge protection barrier at the "funnel" where Reach 2 merges into Reach 1 and the GIWW and thus was not liable for the flooding of New Orleans East. It also found that the Corps was not entitled to immunity under 702c of the Flood Control Act of 1928 and is not entitled to the protection of the due care, discretionary function, or misrepresentation exceptions under the Federal Torts Claim Act. As a result of these findings, it found that plaintiffs in the St. Bernard Polder were entitled to damages as set forth with more precision in the opinion. (Doc. 19415, Appendix)"

"Welcome to the new Media Alerts on Federal Courts of Appeals Website of the ABA Standing Committee on Federal Judicial Improvements. This website is designed to provide reporters, lawyers, educators, and the public with prompt, accurate, unbiased information about newsworthy and legally significant cases pending in and decided by the Federal Courts of Appeals. Our goal is to assist the media’s efforts to provide timely and extensive reporting about federal court decisions. Use this website to find short summaries of recent opinions of public interest and noteworthy cases pending oral argument."

Bridging the DiGital Divide: A New Vendor in Town? Google Scholar Now Includes Case Law - The November 17, 2009 Google launch of free caselaw searching via Google Scholar is the focus of John J. DiGilio's timely content and resource review.

Support for the Research Process - An Academic Library Manifesto: This document by Chris Bourg, Ross Coleman, and Ricky Erway can serve as a pathfinder for those professionals seeking to focuses on roles that academic, law and special librarians could undertake in order to better support the research process.

News release: "The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Electronic Information for Libraries (eIFL.net), and other international copyright experts joined together today to launch Copyright Watch -- a public website created to centralize resources on national copyright laws at www.copyright-watch.org. Copyright Watch is the first comprehensive and up-to-date online repository of national copyright laws. To find links to national and regional copyright laws, users can choose a continent or search using a country name. The site will be updated over time to include proposed amendments to laws, as well as commentary and context from national copyright experts. Copyright Watch will help document how legislators around the world are coping with the challenges of new technology and new business models."

Use Google Scholar Advanced Scholar Search to find articles, subject specific articles and patents, legal opinions and journals [Search all legal opinions and journals; Search only US federal court opinions; Search only court opinions from individual states].

"The 2009 Guidelines Manual (effective November 1, 2009) is available in HTML and Adobe .PDF formats (large file and broken into chapters), which can be viewed, downloaded or printed via the website."

Follow up to previous postings on the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, the New York Times reports: "The most important new antidiscrimination law in two decades — the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act — will take effect in the nation’s workplaces next weekend, prohibiting employers from requesting genetic testing or considering someone’s genetic background in hiring, firing or promotions. The act also prohibits health insurers and group plans from requiring such testing or using genetic information — like a family history of heart disease — to deny coverage or set premiums or deductibles."

CRS Report R40901 - Terrorism Information Sharing and the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Report Initiative: Background and Issues for Congress, November 05, 2009

100 Milestone Documents - "The following is a list of 100 milestone documents, compiled by the National Archives and Records Administration, and drawn primarily from its nationwide holdings. The documents chronicle United States history from 1776 to 1965."

Follow up to previous postings on Google Book Search, news from the Authors Guild that 14 minutes before before midnight on November 13, 2009, "the parties filed with the Court an Amended Settlement Agreement and a motion for preliminary approval of the amended settlement. The parties' motion also seeks Court approval of a Supplemental Notice which, if approved, will be sent out in early December 2009." Here is a short FAQ.

31 CFR Part 103. RIN 1506-AB04 Notice of proposed rulemaking and request for comments, November 13, 2009

"The Rule of Law Index is a new tool, created by the WJP [World Justice Project Rule], which measures countries’ adherence to the rule of law...The Rule of Law Index is the first index that examines the rule of law comprehensively. Other indices cover only aspects of the rule of law, such as human rights, commercial law, and corruption. Because the Index looks at the rule of law in practice and not solely as it exists on the books, the Index will be able to guide governments, civil society, NGOs and business leaders in targeting efforts to strengthen the rule of law."

News release: "Oracle's acquisition of Sun is essential for competition in the high end server market, for revitalizing Sparc and Solaris and for strengthening the Java development platform. The transaction does not threaten to reduce competition in the slightest, including in the database market. The Commission's Statement of Objections reveals a profound misunderstanding of both database competition and open source dynamics. It is well understood by those knowledgeable about open source software that because MySQL is open source, it cannot be controlled by anyone. That is the whole point of open source. The database market is intensely competitive with at least eight strong players, including IBM, Microsoft, Sybase and three distinct open source vendors. Oracle and MySQL are very different database products. There is no basis in European law for objecting to a merger of two among eight firms selling differentiated products. Mergers like this occur regularly and have not been prohibited by United States or European regulators in decades. The U.S. Department of Justice carefully reviewed the proposed acquisition during the normal Hart-Scott-Rodino review and considered it again when the European Commission initiated a second phase review. On both occasions the Justice Department came to the conclusion that there is nothing anticompetitive about the deal, including specifically Oracle’s acquisition of the MySQL database product. The U.S. Department of Justice approved the acquisition without conditions and terminated the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act on August 20, 2009."

"The Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in conjunction with the Cornell Law School is committed to helping the Rwanda Tribunal garner more attention world-wide. The lessons and legacy of ground-breaking legal matters related to the unspeakable events in Rwanda should not be forgotten. Humans, whether from rich or poor countries, must remain vigilant in curbing the motivations that lead individuals and groups to violent hatred and barbaric acts against a class of people. Consequently, items about this tribunal, which will end shortly after 2010, will appear from time to time on this news service. Last month, the IWS Colloquium Series, with cosponsorship of the Cornell Law School (represented by Prof. Claire Germain) hosted Sir Dennis Byron, President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), who spoke about the Role of the Courts in Protecting and Preserving Human Rights. It was a fascinating evening that touched on both legal and institutional issues, never flinching from some of the moral and social issues. Of particular note are the ground-breaking precedents of the ICTR in regard to sexual violence and the limits of freedom of speech. [Stuart Basefsky]

News release: "The success of the highly regarded Supreme Court Database has been unparalleled. Information from the database is cited in the majority of peer-reviewed articles about the workings of the court. A team including Northwestern University School of Law's Lee Epstein, a specialist in the politics of the Supreme Court, has expanded the database -- with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the latest in today's technology -- to make the resource easily accessible to a wider audience. Now, a streamlined interface allows anyone to go online and pull up cases with ease...By modernizing the Supreme Court Database, Epstein and her team are expanding Michigan State University Law Professor Harold Spaeth's original invention and using technology that wasn't available at its inception. Currently, cases from 1953 to 2008 are available. New funding from NSF means the database can be expanded to include information dating back to the court's first decision in 1792. The Supreme Court Database began with Spaeth's work in the late 1980s. Spaeth was able to collect decades of data on the court and put it together in a comprehensive database available to the public."

"The U.S. Sentencing Commission has issued a report, The History of Child Pornography Guidelines, as a first step in its review of the punishment prescribed for the sexual exploitation of children...The Commission has sought to implement congressional intent in the area of child pornography offenses in a manner consistent with the SRA and subsequent legislation. As discussed in this paper, in amending the child pornography guidelines over the years, the Commission has reviewed sentencing data, considered public comment on proposed amendments, conducted public hearings on proposed amendments, studied relevant literature, and considered pertinent legislative history."

Tort Bench and Jury Trials in State Courts, 2005: "Discusses tort cases concluded by a bench or jury trial in a national sample of jurisdictions in 2005. Topics include the types of tort cases that proceed to trial, the differences between tort cases adjudicated by judges and juries, and the types of plaintiffs and defendants represented in tort trials. The report also covers plaintiff win rates, punitive damages, and the final award amounts generated in tort trial litigation. Lastly, trends are examined in tort trial litigation in the nation’s 75 most populous counties, based on comparable data in 1996, 2001, and 2005."

"The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS) hosted an event exploring challenges to privacy in a growing digital age. The event featured a keynote address by Christopher N. Olsen, the Assistant Director in the Division of Privacy and Identity Protection at the Federal Trade Commission, which was followed by a diverse panel of experts who discussed the myriad issues surrounding the availability of information in cyberspace, including privacy concerns such as potential government dissemination of financial and health
records."

News release: "Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against Intel Corporation, the world’s largest maker of computer microprocessors. The suit charges that Intel violated state and federal anti-monopoly laws by engaging in a worldwide, systematic campaign of illegal conduct - revealed in e-mails - in order to maintain its monopoly power and prices in the market for microprocessors. Over the last several years, Intel has extracted exclusive agreements from large computer makers in which they agreed to use Intel’s microprocessors in exchange for payments totaling billions of dollars. Intel also threatened to and did in fact punish computer makers that they perceived to be working too closely with Intel’s competitors. Retaliatory threats included cutting off payments the computer maker was receiving from Intel, directly funding a computer maker’s competitors, and ending joint development ventures."

"The United States is increasingly dependent on information and information technology for both civilian and military purposes, as are many other nations. Although there is a substantial literature on the potential impact of a cyberattack on the societal infrastructure of the United States, little has been written about the use of cyberattack as an instrument of U.S. policy. Cyberattacks--actions intended to damage adversary computer systems or networks--can be used for a variety of military purposes. But they also have application to certain missions of the intelligence community, such as covert action. They may be useful for certain domestic law enforcement purposes, and some analysts believe that they might be useful for certain private sector entities who are themselves under cyberattack. This report considers all of these applications from an integrated perspective that ties together technology, policy, legal, and ethical issues. Focusing on the use of cyberattack as an instrument of U.S. national policy, Technology, Policy, Law and Ethics Regarding U.S. Acquisition and Use of Cyberattack Capabilities explores important characteristics of cyberattack. It describes the current international and domestic legal structure as it might apply to cyberattack, and considers analogies to other domains of conflict to develop relevant insights. Of special interest to the military, intelligence, law enforcement, and homeland security communities, this report is also an essential point of departure for nongovernmental researchers interested in this rarely discussed topic."

Follow up to postings on driving distractions and texting, see the UK Definitive Sentencing Guideline – Causing death by driving which includes the following: "Using a hand-held mobile phone when driving is, in itself, an unlawful act; the fact that an offender was avoidably distracted by using a hand-held mobile phone when a causing death by driving offence was committed will always make an offence more serious. Reading or composing text messages over a period of time will be a gross avoidable distraction and is likely to result in an offence of causing death by dangerous driving being in a higher level of seriousness."

News release: "The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) today announced it is issuing $87,430,000 in proposed penalties to BP Products North America Inc. for the company's failure to correct potential hazards faced by employees. The fine is the largest in OSHA's history. The prior largest total penalty, $21 million, was issued in 2005, also against BP."

• Fact Sheet on BP 2009 Monitoring Inspection - Facts on BP Texas City Refinery, Prior accident history at the Texas City Refinery, 2005 Settlement Agreement, Current 2009 Monitoring Inspection, Summary of Alleged Violations and Penalties
  
• Timeline for BP 2009 Monitoring Inspection
  
• BP Citation for Willful Violations
  
• BP Debt Collection Notice for Willful Violations
  
• BP Citation for Failure to Abate
  
• BP Debt Collection Notice for Failure to Abate

"One of the federal judiciary's major statistical compilations, Judicial Facts and Figures, recently was updated to include caseload statistics and judgeship totals for fiscal year 2008."

News release: "The FTC has proposed new labeling requirements for “lamps,” commonly known as light bulbs, in response to a congressional mandate. The marketplace has been changing quickly with the emergence of newer, more energy-efficient technologies – such as compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs and light-emitting diode (LED) products – as traditional incandescent bulbs are phased out. The proposed labels provide consumers with clear, easily understandable information to help them choose among different bulb types. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking announced today seeks comment on new labels that emphasize lumens, not watts, as the measure of bulb brightness. This information, along with estimated energy cost information, would appear on the front of the light bulb package. The back of the package would display a “Lighting Facts” label modeled after the “Nutrition Facts” label for food packages. The Lighting Facts label would provide information about brightness, energy cost, the bulb’s expected life, color temperature (for example, whether the bulb provides “warm” or “cool” light), as well as wattage. The label also would require disclosures for bulbs containing mercury. The bulb’s output in lumens – and a mercury disclosure for bulbs that contain mercury – would also have to be placed on the bulb itself."

• Federal Electronics Management: Federal Agencies Could Improve Participation in EPA's Initiatives for Environmentally Preferable Electronic Products, GAO-10-196T, October 27, 2009
• Legal Services Corporation: Some Progress Made in Addressing Governance and Accountability Weaknesses, But Challenges Remain, GAO-10-194T, October 27, 2009
• Military Training: DOD's Report on the Sustainability of Training Ranges Addresses Most of the Congressional Reporting Requirements and Continues to Improve with Each Annual Update, GAO-10-103R, October 27, 2009
• Recovery Act: Preliminary Observations on the Implementation of Broadband Programs, GAO-10-192T, October 27, 2009
• Voters with Disabilities: Additional Monitoring of Polling Places Could Further Improve Accessibility, GAO-09-941, September 30, 2009

• Combating Illicit Financing: Treasury's Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Could Manage More Effectively to Achieve Its Mission, GAO-09-794, September 24, 2009
• Higher Education: Issues Related to Law School Cost and Access, GAO-10-20, October 26, 2009
• Influenza Pandemic: Key Securities Market Participants Are Making Progress, but Agencies Could Do More to Address Potential Internet Congestion and Encourage Readiness, GAO-10-8, October 26, 2009
• Medicare: Per Capita Method Can Be Used to Profile Physicians and Provide Feedback on Resource Use, GAO-09-802, September 25, 2009
• New Drug Approval: FDA Needs to Enhance Its Oversight of Drugs Approved on the Basis of Surrogate Endpoints, GAO-09-866, September 23, 2009
• Retirement Savings: Automatic Enrollment Shows Promise for Some Workers, but Proposals to Broaden Retirement Savings for Other Workers Could Face Challenges, GAO-10-31, October 23, 2009

October 24, 2009 - President Obama Signs Emergency Declaration for H1N1 Flu: "Section 1135 of the Social Security Act [42 USC §1320b–5] permits the Secretary of Health and Human Services to waive certain regulatory requirements for healthcare facilities in response to emergencies. Two conditions must be met for the Secretary to be able to issue such “1135 waivers”: first, the Secretary must have declared a Public Health Emergency; second, the President must have declared a National Emergency either through a Stafford Act Declaration or National Emergencies act Declaration. If these conditions are met, then healthcare facilities may petition for 1135 waivers in response to particular needs, and only within the geographic and temporal limits of the emergency declarations."

News release: "In the next chapter of a longstanding effort to preserve the free and open Internet, the Federal Communications Commission is seeking public input on draft rules that would codify and supplement existing Internet openness principles. In addition to providing greater predictability for all stakeholders, the Notice is aimed at securing the many economic and social benefits that an open Internet has historically provided. It seeks to do so in a manner that will promote and protect the legitimate needs of consumers, broadband Internet access service providers, entrepreneurs, investors, and businesses of all sizes that make use of the Internet."

Juvenile Justice: Technical Assistance and Better Defined Evaluation Plans Will Help Girls' Delinquency Programs. GAO-10-133T, October 20, 2009: "...from 1995 through 2005, delinquency caseloads for girls in juvenile justice courts nationwide increased 15 percent while boys’ caseloads decreased by 12 percent.1 More recently, in 2007, 29 percent of juvenile arrests—about 641,000 arrests—involved girls, who accounted for 17 percent of juvenile violent crime arrests and 35 percent of juvenile property crime arrests.2 Further, research on girls has highlighted that delinquent girls have higher rates of mental health problems than delinquent boys, receive fewer special services, and are more likely to abandon treatment programs."

News release: "A report released today by the Death Penalty Information Center concludes that states are wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on the death penalty, draining state budgets during the economic crisis and diverting funds from more effective anti-violence programs. A nationwide poll of police chiefs conducted by RT Strategies, released with the report, found that they ranked the death penalty last among their priorities for crime-fighting, do not believe the death penalty deters murder, and rate it as the least efficient use of limited taxpayer dollars."

• Smart on Crime: Reconsidering the Death Penalty in a Time of Economic Crisis - National Poll of Police Chiefs Puts Capital Punishment at Bottom of Law Enforcement Priorities. A Report from the Death Penalty Information Center, 10/17/2009
  
• New York Times: One Reporter’s Lonely Beat, Witnessing Executions - "Of all the consequences of shrinking newsrooms, one of the oddest is this: Fewer journalists are available to watch people die. But Michael Graczyk has witnessed more than 300 deaths, and many of those were people he had come to know. An Associated Press reporter based in Houston, Mr. Graczyk covers death penalty cases in Texas, the state that uses capital punishment far more than any other, and since the 1980s, he has attended nearly every execution the state has carried out — he has lost track of the precise count. Whenever possible, he has also interviewed the condemned killers and their victims’ families."
  
• Related postings on financial system

Follow up to previous postings on airport whole body imaging technology, this article from the Economist.com: "Much excitement in Manchester where trials have started of Britain’s first whole-body scanner. The machine takes X-ray photographs of passengers, and can reveal concealed threats without requiring the removal of clothing."

News release: "Attorney General Eric Holder today announced formal guidelines for federal prosecutors in states that have enacted laws authorizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes. The guidelines make clear that the focus of federal resources should not be on individuals whose actions are in compliance with existing state laws, while underscoring that the Department will continue to prosecute people whose claims of compliance with state and local law conceal operations inconsistent with the terms, conditions, or purposes of those laws."

Competitive Intelligence - A Selective Resource Guide - Updated and Revised October 2009: Sabrina I. Pacifici's completely revised and updated pathfinder focuses on leveraging selected reliable, focused, free and low cost sites and sources to effectively profile and monitor companies, markets, countries, people, and issues. This guide is a "best of list" of web, database and email alert products, services and tools, as well as links to content specific sources produced by government, academic, NGOs, the media and various publishers.

Legal Implications of Cloud Computing - Part Two (Privacy and the Cloud): As a follow-up to last month's article that provided an overview of cloud computing in the context of significant legal issues, this article by Tanya Forsheit reviews the issues of privacy and cross-border data transfers.

Using Technology To Estimate, Control And Manage Litigation Document Review Budgets: Conrad J. Jacoby details approaches and exercises that contribute to a successful process for calculating - and staying within - a realistic budget for a litigation or regulatory document review.

Kate Mosher in The Recorder: "Under a bill signed into law by the governor this week and sponsored by San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, prosecutors hope witnesses in the state's relocation program will be harder to find through Internet searching. Gang members have targeted witnesses through Internet search engines even when witnesses weren't aware their personal information was online, said Sen. Mark Leno, who authored SB 748, which was signed Sunday. The new law goes after people or agencies that disclose phone numbers, addresses or other identifying information of protected witnesses."

Follow up to October 10, 2009 posting, Mandatory Flu Shots for New York Health Care Workers, the New York Times today reported Thomas J. McNamara, an acting justice of the State Supreme Court in Albany, issued a temporary order halting the enforcement of mandatory flu vaccines for health care workers.

Law.Gov: America's Operating System, Open Source - by Carl Malamud

CBO's Analysis of the Effects of Proposals to Limit Costs Related to Medical Malpractice ("Tort Reform"), October 9, 2009 Letter to Senator Orrin G. Hatch: "This letter responds to your request for an updated analysis of the effects of proposals to limit costs related to medical malpractice (“tort reform”). Tort reform could affect costs for health care both directly and indirectly: directly, by lowering premiums for medical liability insurance; and indirectly, by reducing the use of diagnostic tests and other health care services when providers recommend those services principally to reduce their potential exposure to lawsuits."

Time: "...The notices are there to remind the hospital's staff — which includes everyone from the doctors and nurses who care for patients to the administrative, housekeeping and food-service personnel — that every employee must be vaccinated against both seasonal and H1N1 flu or face possible termination. The mandate comes from the health department of New York, which over the summer became the first state to require that all health-care workers be vaccinated against influenza. In other states, individual hospitals have taken the same aggressive position. Given that the pandemic H1N1 strain is circulating the globe — and that one of the seasonal-flu strains is resistant to Tamiflu, a commonly used antiviral treatment — such a policy seems logical. But is it legal?"

FBI news release: "The largest number of defendants ever charged in a cyber crime case have been indicted in a multinational investigation conducted in the United States and Egypt that uncovered a sophisticated “phishing” operation that fraudulently collected personal information from thousands of victims that was used to defraud American banks. [October 7, 2009], authorities in several United States cities arrested 33 of 53 defendants named in an indictment returned last week by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles. Several defendants charged in the indictment are being sought this morning by law enforcement. Additionally, authorities in Egypt have charged 47 defendants linked to the phishing scheme. The United States government is extremely grateful for the extraordinary assistance provided by the Egyptian government in this matter."

Prepared Remarks of Chairman Julius Genachowski, Federal Communications Commission: "At the FCC, we also recognize that mobile is central to our mission. No sector of the communications industry holds greater potential to enhance America’s economic competitiveness, spur job creation, and improve the quality of our lives. My goals with regard to mobile are the same that define and drive all our work: fostering innovation and investment, promoting competition, empowering and protecting consumers, all in an effort to help ensure the U.S. has a world-leading communications infrastructure for the 21st century. My specific objectives involve unleashing spectrum for broadband; removing obstacles to 4G deployment, like delays in tower siting; developing fair rules of the road to preserve the openness of the Internet, while recognizing the differences between wired and wireless technologies; and empowering consumers by supporting a vibrant, transparent and competitive mobile marketplace."

News release: "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is issuing a final rule to ensure that safe and reliable drinking water is provided to aircraft passengers and crew. The rule provides multiple-barrier protection through requirements for coliform sampling, best management practices, corrective action, public notification, monitoring and operator training. It will better protect the public from illnesses caused by microbiological contamination."

• Final Aircraft Drinking Water Rule
  
• Basic Information
  
• Questions and Answers
  
• Enforcement

Foreclosures: A Crisis in Legal Representation, By Melanca Clark with Maggie Barron – 10/05/09

FDLP Listserv: "The White House, U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) and the National Archives' Office of the Federal Register (OFR) achieved a breakthrough in making Government information available and usable by the public. GPO converted the text of the Federal Register (2000-2009) into XML (extensible markup language) and placed it online in numerous Federal Government portals, which include: GPO's Federal Digital System, The Federal Register Web site and the Government's new portal for Government data. This project began when President Barack Obama challenged Federal agencies to create a more open and transparent Government. GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys), a world-class information management system for Federal publications, is instrumental in enabling this enhanced capability for the Federal Register...access to the Federal Register Bulk Data Repository"

News release: "The Federal Trade Commission today announced that it has approved final revisions to the guidance it gives to advertisers on how to keep their endorsement and testimonial ads in line with the FTC Act. The notice incorporates several changes to the FTC’s Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, which address endorsements by consumers, experts, organizations, and celebrities, as well as the disclosure of important connections between advertisers and endorsers. The Guides were last updated in 1980. Under the revised Guides, advertisements that feature a consumer and convey his or her experience with a product or service as typical when that is not the case will be required to clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect. In contrast to the 1980 version of the Guides – which allowed advertisers to describe unusual results in a testimonial as long as they included a disclaimer such as “results not typical” – the revised Guides no longer contain this safe harbor."

"The Doing Business Gender Law Library is a collection of national legal provisions impacting women's economic status in 183 economies. The database facilitates comparative analysis of legislation, serves as a resource for research, and contributes to reforms that can enhance women’s full economic participation. We update the collection regularly but do not guarantee that laws are the most recent version, nor is the library exhaustive. Translations are not official unless indicated...The Doing Business Gender Law Library is a joint initiative of the Doing Business Project and the World Bank Gender Action Plan, supported by Vital Voices Global Partnership."

Follow up to previous postings on Investigation of Plame CIA Leak, this October 1, 2009 news release: "U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ordered the release of records of former Vice President Cheney’s interview with the FBI in the Valerie Plame Wilson leak investigation. Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), CREW had sued the Department of Justice (DOJ) seeking release of the records. Judge Sullivan agreed with CREW that because the investigation is now over the Department of Justice (DOJ) cannot withhold all documents based on an exemption that protects law enforcement records from disclosure. Judge Sullivan rejected DOJ’s argument that future White House officials would be unwilling to cooperate with law enforcement inquiries if these records were released."

News release: "Individuals’ genetic information will have greater protections through new regulations issued today by the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor, and the Treasury. The interim final rule will help ensure that genetic information is not used adversely in determining health care coverage and will encourage more individuals to participate in genetic testing, which can help better identify and prevent certain illnesses."

• Interim Final Rules Prohibiting Discrimination Based on Genetic Information in Health Insurance Coverage and Group Health Plans
  
• Fact Sheet
  
• Research Exception Form

News release: "On January 1, 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will, for the first time, require large emitters of heat-trapping emissions to begin collecting greenhouse gas (GHG) data under a new reporting system. This new program will cover approximately 85 percent of the nation’s GHG emissions and apply to roughly 10,000 facilities...EPA’s new reporting system will provide a better understanding of where GHGs are coming from and will guide development of the best possible policies and programs to reduce emissions. The data will also allow businesses to track their own emissions, compare them to similar facilities, and provide assistance in identifying cost effective ways to reduce emissions in the future. This comprehensive, nationwide emissions data will help in the fight against climate change."

Contract Bench and Jury Trials in State Courts, 2005: "Presents findings on contract cases disposed of by a bench or jury trial in a nationally representative sample of jurisdictions in 2005. Topics in the report include the types of cases that proceed to trial, differences between the types of cases decided by judges or juries, types of plaintiffs and defendants represented in civil trials, plaintiff win rates, damage awards, and post-trial activity. Information is also presented on contract trial litigation in the nation’s 75 most populous counties from 1996 to 2005. See also Civil Bench and Jury Trials in State Courts, 2005."

"The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) is pleased to announce that the List of CFR Sections Affected, Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, and Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents collections have been authenticated with digital signatures and are currently available on the Federal Digital System (FDsys). GPO is also in the process of digitally signing the Federal Register collection on FDsys, which will occur on a year-by-year basis. The signing of the Federal Register collection is expected to be complete by October 30, 2009."

Statement of Glenn A. Fine, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Justice before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary concerning Reauthorizing the USA Patriot Act, September 23, 2009

EPIC: "...the Department of Justice announced a new policy that limits the government’s use of the state secrets privilege. The state secrets privilege is a rule of evidence intended to prevent genuine matters of national security from being disclosed in open court. However, recently it has been misused by both the Bush and Obama administrations in order to derail litigation completely. For instance, in 2007 EPIC filed a “friend-of-the-court” brief in a warrantless wiretapping case, Hepting v. United States, in which the government argued that the case should be dismissed because it would reveal “state secrets.” Under the new policy, the privilege will be invoked only "to the extent necessary to protect against the risk of significant harm to national security." The Attorney General will also have to approve each determination. The State Secret Protection Act of 2009, legislation with a similar purpose, is now pending in Congress. For more information, see EPIC Open Government."

Review of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Compliance with the Freedom of Information Act, Securities and Exchange Commission Office of Inspector General, September 25, 2009.

News release: "As part of the Obama Administration's aggressive efforts to enforce U.S. tax laws and reduce offshore tax evasion, the U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Swiss Ambassador to the United States Urs Ziswiler signed a protocol updating the current income tax treaty between the United States and Switzerland to allow for greater tax information exchange."

News release: "A judge ordered the government Thursday to release more records about the lobbying campaign to provide immunity to the telecommunications giants that participated in the NSA's warrantless surveillance program. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White ordered the records be provided to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) by October 9, 2009. The decision is part of EFF's long-running battle to gather information about telecommunications lobbying conducted as Congress considered granting immunity to companies that participated in illegal government electronic surveillance. Telecom immunity was eventually passed as part of the FISA Amendments Act (FAA) of 2008, but a bill that would repeal the immunity -- called the JUSTICE Act -- was introduced in the Senate last week."

"In a case brought by Center for Food Safety and Earthjustice representing a coalition of farmers and consumers, a Federal Court ruled yesterday that the Bush USDA’s approval of genetically engineered (GE) “RoundUp Ready” sugar beets [note: sugar beets produce 30 percent of the world's sugar] was unlawful. The Court ordered the USDA to conduct a rigorous assessment of the environmental and economic impacts of the crop on farmers and the environment. The federal district court for the Northern District of California ruled that the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (“APHIS”) violated the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) when it failed to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”) before deregulating sugar beets that have been genetically engineered (“GE”) to be resistant to glyphosate herbicide, marketed by Monsanto as Roundup...Sugar beet seed is grown primarily in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, which is also an important seed growing area for crops closely related to sugar beets, such as organic chard and table beets. GE sugar beets are wind pollinated and will inevitably cross-pollinate the related crops being grown in the same area. Such biological contamination would be devastating to organic farmers, who face debilitating market losses if their crops are contaminated by a GE variety."

• Qui Tam: The False Claims Act and Related Federal Statutes, August 6, 2009 - "Qui tam enlists the public in the recovery of civil penalties and forfeitures. It rewards with a portion of the recovered proceeds those who sue in the government’s name. A creature of antiquity, once common, today qui tam lives on in federal law only in the False Claims Act and in two minor examples found in patent and Indian protection laws."
• Qui Tam: An Abbreviated Look at the False Claims Act and Related Federal Statutes, August 6, 2009.

The Art of Written Persuasion: Part V - Improve Your Vocabulary, Improve Your Success: Troy Simpson returns with this fifth article in the series, and investigates the link between having a good vocabulary [lawyers have a speaking acquaintance with around 23,000 words] and being a persuasive lawyer.

2009 Networks for Counsel Study - A Global Study of the Legal Industry’s Adoption of Online Professional Networking, Preferences, Usage and Future Predictions - Sample Composition: "The survey was administered to 1,474 counsel – 764 private practice lawyers and 710 corporate counsel –in May and June of 2009; 33 countries were represented. Financial Services, Manufacturing and Healthcare were the top three industries represented."

HeinOnline blog: "HeinOnline has had Federal Register coverage back to 1936 for several years now, but restrictions in our production process limited how quickly we could get new Federal Register days online. Recently, those production restrictions were eliminated, and starting at the end of July HeinOnline began updating the Federal Register on a daily basis. This means that you are now able to access yesterday’s Federal Register today. This current content is completely browseable, full-text searchable, and image-based, just like all other content in HeinOnline."

Global Trade Alert (GTA) independent monitoring of policies that affect world trade - "provides real-time information on state measures taken during the current global downturn that are likely to affect foreign commerce. It goes beyond other monitoring initiatives by identifying the trading partners likely to be harmed by these measures. The GTA is coordinated by the London-based Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) an independent academic and policy research think-tank based in London, UK. GTA draws upon expertise and analysis from 7 independent research institutions around the world. [Lyonette Louis-Jacques]

Follow up to previous posting on Google book search, this news release today: Justice Department Submits Views on Proposed Google Book Search Settlement: "The Department of Justice today advised the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that while it should not accept the class action settlement in The Authors Guild Inc. et al. v. Google Inc. as proposed due to concerns of the United States regarding class action, copyright and antitrust law, the parties should be encouraged to continue their productive discussions to address those concerns. In its statement of interest filed with the court, the Department stated: "Given the parties’ express commitment to ongoing discussions to address concerns already raised and the possibility that such discussions could lead to a settlement agreement that could legally be approved by the Court, the public interest would best be served by direction from the Court encouraging the continuation of those discussions between the parties and, if the Court so chooses, by some direction as to those aspects of the Proposed Settlement that need to be improved. Because a properly structured settlement agreement in this case offers the potential for important societal benefits, the United States does not want the opportunity or momentum to be lost."

News release and Fact Sheet: "U.S. Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Jon Tester (D-MT), Tom Udall (D-NM), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Daniel Akaka (D-HI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) have introduced legislation to fix problems with surveillance laws that threaten the rights and liberties of American citizens. The Judicious Use of Surveillance Tools In Counterterrorism Efforts (JUSTICE) Act would reform the USA PATRIOT Act, the FISA Amendments Act and other surveillance authorities to protect Americans’ constitutional rights, while preserving the powers of our government to fight terrorism. The JUSTICE Act reforms include more effective checks on government searches of Americans’ personal records, the “sneak and peek” search provision of the PATRIOT Act, “John Doe” roving wiretaps and other overbroad authorities. The bill will also reform the FISA Amendments Act, passed last year, by repealing the retroactive immunity provision, preventing “bulk collection” of the contents of Americans’ international communications, and prohibiting “reverse targeting” of innocent Americans. And the bill enables better oversight of the use of National Security Letters (NSLs) after the Department of Justice Inspector General issued reports detailing the misuse and abuse of the NSLs. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on Wednesday, September 23rd, on reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT Act."

TradeMarkia - Search for a trademark by: name (here is the result for beSpacific), filing date(s), category, goods & services, company name, status [via Google Blogoscoped]

Legal Implications of Cloud Computing - Part One (the Basics and Framing the Issues) - Attorney David Navetta contends that there there will be significant financial pressure on organizations to take advantage of the pricing and efficiency of cloud computing, and if attorneys fail to understand the issues ahead of time there is a serious risk of getting "bulldozed" into cloud computing arrangements without time or resources to address some serious legal issues that are implicated.

Are Law Firms Ready for Transparency? Attorney and KM expert V. Mary Abraham provides details on how one law firm has found a way to create real transparency in its dealings with clients via an extranet, and whether this process may start a trend.

New York Times - A Legal Battle: Online Attitude vs. Rules of the Bar: "And with thousands of blogs and so many lawyers online, legal ethics experts say that collisions between the freewheeling ways of the Internet and the tight boundaries of legal discourse are inevitable — whether they result in damaged careers or simply raise eyebrows."

Follow up to August 1, 2009 posting - Alleged International Hacker Indicted for Massive Attack on U.S. Retail and Banking Networks - today's news release: "An international computer hacker pleaded guilty today to multiple charges relating to hacking activity and credit card fraud, announced Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Michael Loucks, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Benton J. Campbell and Director of the U.S. Secret Service Mark Sullivan. More than 40 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen from major U.S. retailers as a result of the hacking activity. Albert Gonzalez, 28, of Miami, pleaded guilty today to 19 counts of conspiracy, computer fraud, wire fraud, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft relating to hacks into numerous major U.S. retailers including TJX Companies, BJ’s Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble and Sports Authority. Gonzalez was indicted in August 2008 in the District of Massachusetts on charges related to these hacks."

Via Out of the Jungle, insightful commentary and content from a fee based Chronicle of Higher Education article, Choosing Up Sides to Hate or Love the Google Books Deal: "...And—this is what intrigues me the most—how will Judge Chin decide what role the federal courts can and should play in the creation and oversight of what almost everyone agrees will be a digital library the likes of which we have never seen before? Will he agree with Marybeth Peters, the U.S. Register of Copyrights, who told a late-to-the-game House Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday that the settlement "inappropriately creates something similar to a compulsory license for works, unfairly alters the property interests of millions of rights holders of out-of-print works without any Congressional oversight, and has the capacity to create diplomatic stress for the United States" because of other countries' objections? (I wonder what the judge will make of the suggestion that Congress has a role to play here.)"

Gallup: "As the U.S. Supreme Court convenes Wednesday with recently sworn-in Justice Sonia Sotomayor on the bench, Gallup finds Americans broadly upbeat about the performance of the high court. Sixty-one percent of Americans approve and 28% disapprove of the job the Supreme Court is doing -- among the most positive ratings the court has received in the past decade."

The Apps for America Winners [via Abi Morgan]:

• DataMasher: "DataMasher helps citizens have a little fun with those data by creating mashups to visualize them in different ways and see how states compare on important issues. Users can combine different data sets in interesting ways and create their own custom rankings of the states."
  
• GovPulse: "govpulse was built to open the doors of government to the people they work for. By making such documents as the Federal Register searchable, more accessible and easier to digest, govepulse seeks to encourage every citizen to become more involved in the workings of their government and make their voice heard on the things that matter to them, from the smallest to the largest issues."
  
• ThisWeKnow: "Our long-term vision for ThisWeKnow is to model the entire data.gov catalog and make it available to the public using Semantic Web standards as a large-scale online database. ThisWeKnow will provide citizens with a single destination where they can search and browse all the information the government collects. It will also provide other application developers with a powerful standards-based API for accessing the data."

"The 2009 Secrecy Report Card chronicles slight decreases in secrecy across a wide spectrum of indicators in the last year of the Bush-Cheney Administration. The report, released today by a coalition of more than 70 open government advocates, also provides a six-month overview of the Obama Administration’s promise and practice on openness issues, and a section on financial transparency during the economic crisis...While very few quantitative indicators of secrecy exist yet to compare the Obama Administration to its predecessor, the Special Section on the Obama Administration uses qualitative examples to discuss the Administration’s openness promising policies and, in some instances, discouraging practice. Among the issues discussed are: the Open Government Directive, Classified Information, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), signing statements, use of state secrets, and more."

PACER Spending Survey: Stanford Law School deputy library director Erika Wayne describes an open source document access project focused on improving PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records), sponsored by a small group of research savvy and customer service oriented group of law librarians.

Electronic Public Access Fees and the United States Federal Courts’ Budget: An Overview Stephen Schultze, Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard.

Ensuring the Quality, Credibility, and Relevance of U.S. Justice Statistics, 2009
"The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) of the U.S. Department of Justice is one of the smallest of the U.S. principal statistical agencies but shoulders one of the most expansive and detailed legal mandates among those agencies. Ensuring the Quality, Credibility, and Relevance of U.S. Justice Statistics examines the full range of BJS programs and suggests priorities for data collection. BJS's data collection portfolio is a solid body of work, well justified by public information needs or legal requirements and a commendable effort to meet its broad mandate given less-than-commensurate fiscal resources. The book identifies some major gaps in the substantive coverage of BJS data, but notes that filling those gaps would require increased and sustained support in terms of staff and fiscal resources. In suggesting strategic goals for BJS, the book argues that the bureau's foremost goal should be to establish and maintain a strong position of independence. To avoid structural or political interference in BJS work, the report suggests changing the administrative placement of BJS within the Justice Department and making the BJS directorship a fixed-term appointment."

"CDT filed a "friend of the court" brief in the Southern District of New York [September 4, 2009] requesting that key privacy requirements be included in the Court's approval of the class-action settlement that would dramatically expand Google Book Search. CDT previously released a report in July analyzing the privacy implications of this settlement and is urging the judge to guarantee strong privacy safeguards for the exciting new services Google will be able to offer. The brief asks that the court approve the proposed settlement of the copyright infringement lawsuit between Google and authors and publishers, but to retain oversight in order to monitor implementation of a privacy plan."

• CDT's Amicus Brief in Google Books settlement
  
• CDT's Report on Google Book Service
  
• Related postings on Google Book Search
  
• New York Times: Google Book Project Coolly Received in Europe
  
• WSJ: Google Curtails Europe Book Plan

"Banned Books Week (BBW): Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, this annual ALA event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted. BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where the freedom to express oneself and the freedom to choose what opinions and viewpoints to consume are both met. As the Intellectual Freedom Manual (ALA, 7th edition) states:

Intellectual freedom can exist only where two essential conditions are met: first, that all individuals have the right to hold any belief on any subject and to convey their ideas in any form they deem appropriate; and second, that society makes an equal commitment to the right of unrestricted access to information and ideas regardless of the communication medium used, the content of the work, and the viewpoints of both the author and receiver of information. Freedom to express oneself through a chosen mode of communication, including the Internet, becomes virtually meaningless if access to that information is not protected. Intellectual freedom implies a circle, and that circle is broken if either freedom of expression or access to ideas is stifled.

AL-KIDD v. ASHCROFT, No. 06-36059 D.C. No. CV-05-00093-OPINION

The Government Printing Office (GPO) is pleased to announce the release of 8 new collections into the Federal Digital System (FDsys). The new collections are:

• Congressional Directory (105th Congress to present)
  
• Congressional Record (Bound) (1999 to 2001)
  
• Congressional Record Index (Daily) (1983 to Present)
  
• Economic Report of the President (1996 to present)
  
• GAO Reports and Comptroller General Decisions (1994 to 2008)
  
• History of Bills (1983 to present)
  
• United States Government Manual (1995/1996 to present)
  
• United States Statutes at Large (2003 to 2006)

Google Books Privacy Policy, September 3, 2009

News release: "Great news for job seekers this Labor Day: the federal government is hiring tens of thousands of new employees, according to new projections in Where the Jobs Are 2009: Mission-Critical Opportunities for America, released today by the Partnership for Public Service. The online projections outline government-wide, mission-critical hiring needs through 2012 and are based on a survey of 35 federal agencies representing nearly 99 percent of the 1.9 million member federal workforce.

News release: "Representatives from the Forum which now numbers almost 90 jurisdictions around the world and a host of International Organisations gathering in Mexico, took concrete steps to empower the Global Forum to play the leading role in the global campaign to fight tax evasion. Building on the extraordinary progress made in the last few months to incorporate the globally accepted standards developed by the OECD in both new and existing agreements, the Forum took the following key decisions - see the Summary of Outcomes of the Meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes Held in Mexico on 1-2 September 2009."

Report of Investigation, United States Securites and Exchange Commission Office of Inspector General, Case No. OIG-509 Investigation of Failure of the SEC To Uncover Bernard Madoff's Ponzi Scheme, August 31, 2009.

Criminal Victimization, 2008 - "Presents the annual estimates of rates and levels of personal and property victimization and describes the year-to-year change from 2007 as well as trends for the ten-year period from 1999 through 2008. The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) collects information on nonfatal crimes, reported and not reported to the police, against persons age 12 or older from a nationally representative sample of U.S. households. During 2008, 42,093 households and 77,852 individuals were interviewed twice for the NCVS. The report includes data on violent crimes (rape/sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault and simple assault), property crimes (burglary, motor vehicle theft and property theft), and personal theft (pocket picking and purse snatching), and the characteristics of victims of these crimes. The report also includes estimates of intimate partner violent crime and use of firearms and other weapons in the commission of violent crime overall."

Law Librarians Survey: No More Sacred Cows - Librarians trim budgets, head count, and much-loved research tools.
The Full Survey:

• The Librarian's Expanding Role
  
• Electronic Resources
  
• Staffing
  
• Finances

News release: "The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has issued an Exposure Draft (ED) of a proposed Accounting Standards Update intended to improve disclosures about fair value measurements. The proposed Update would improve Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures—Overall Subtopic (Subtopic 820-10) of the FASB Accounting Standards Codification™, originally issued as FASB Statement No. 157, Fair Value Measurements. The proposed Update would affect all entities that are required to make disclosures about recurring and nonrecurring fair value measurements. The deadline for comments on the proposed Update is October 12, 2009."

News release: "Beginning September 1, 2009, prerecorded commercial telemarketing calls to consumers – commonly known as robocalls – will be prohibited, unless the telemarketer has obtained permission in writing from consumers who want to receive such calls, the Federal Trade Commission announced today...The new requirement is part of amendments to the agency’s Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) that were announced a year ago. After September 1, sellers and telemarketers who transmit prerecorded messages to consumers who have not agreed in writing to accept such messages will face penalties of up to $16,000 per call."

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press:" The string of FOIA lawsuits for release of records of the government's emergency lending programs finally saw its first victory Monday. The Federal Reserve Board must release to Bloomberg News records identifying the financial firms it loaned bailout funds to as well as the assets or amounts put up as collateral, the news agency reported. Chief Judge Loretta Preska in Manhattan federal court issued the first ruling requiring disclosure in a handful of suits in New York federal court brought separately by Bloomberg, Fox News and the New York Times. Bloomberg reported that she rejected the argument that the records were exempt from release under FOIA because they might harm the competitive advantage of the borrowers."

News release: "Today, the National Security Archive posted a side-by-side comparison of two very different versions of a 2004 report on the CIA's "Counterterrorism Detention and Interrogation Activities" by Agency Inspector General John Helgerson. Yesterday, the Obama administration released new portions of the report including considerably more information about the use of torture and other illegal practices by CIA interrogators than a version of the report declassified by the Bush administration in 2008. The report was first posted on the Web yesterday by the Washington Independent.

News release: "The [redacted] documents [below] were released through FOIA litigation by the Center for Constitutional Rights, Amnesty International USA, and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University School of Law seeking disclosure of information concerning “disappeared” detainees, including “ghost” and unregistered prisoners. The original FOIA requests were filed with several U.S. government agencies including the Departments of Justice and Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency...CCR has led the legal battle over Guantanamo for the last seven years – sending the first ever habeas attorney to the base and sending the first attorney to meet with a former CIA “ghost detainee” there. CCR represents current and former detainees who were tortured and abused at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and in the secret CIA detention program."

• 3 June 2005 - CIA Doc Detainee Reporting Pivotal for the War Against Al-Qa'ida
  
• 13 July 2004 - CIA Khlaid Shaykh Muhammad - Preeminent Source on Al-Qa'ida
  
• Related postings on detention and torture

Debating How Much Weed Killer Is Safe in Your Water Glass: "For decades, farmers, lawn care workers and professional green thumbs have relied on the popular weed killer atrazine to protect their crops, golf courses and manicured lawns. But atrazine often washes into water supplies and has become among the most common contaminants in American reservoirs and other sources of drinking water. Now, new research suggests that atrazine may be dangerous at lower concentrations than previously thought. Recent studies suggest that, even at concentrations meeting current federal standards, the chemical may be associated with birth defects, low birth weights and menstrual problems. Laboratory experiments suggest that when animals are exposed to brief doses of atrazine before birth, they may become more vulnerable to cancer later. An investigation by The New York Times has found that in some towns, atrazine concentrations in drinking water have spiked, sometimes for longer than a month. But the reports produced by local water systems for residents often fail to reflect those higher concentrations."

• Poisoning the Well - How the EPA is Ignoring Atrazine Contamination in Surface and Drinking Water in the Central United States, August 2009. See also Appendix: Poisoning the Well: How the EPA Is Ignoring Atrazine Contamination in Surface
  and Drinking Water in the Central United States
  
• Graphic: Atrazine Levels Across the Nation
  
• Holiday Shores v. Syngenta - Class-Action Complaint: The class-action lawsuit brought by a water district in Illinois against Syngenta, a Swiss firm that manufactures atrazine.
  
• Graphic: Summertime Spikes in Atrazine Levels

Follow up to previous postings on Google Book settlement, BBB News reports - Tech giants unite against Google - "Three technology heavyweights are joining a coalition to fight Google's attempt to create what could be the world's largest virtual library. Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo will sign up to the Open Book Alliance being spearheaded by the Internet Archive. They oppose a legal settlement that could make Google the main source for many online works."

News release: "AG King and twenty-three other State Attorneys General sent a letter late Monday to leaders of the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee, voicing strong support for the Consumer Financial Protection Agency proposed by the Obama Administration."

The Third Branch: "The Judicial Conference has issued a series of “suggested practices” to assist courts in the use of Internet materials in opinions. The recommendations follow a pilot project conducted by circuit librarians who captured and preserved webpages cited in opinions over a six-month period...The guidelines suggest that, if a webpage is cited, chambers staff preserve the citation by downloading a copy of the site’s page and filing it as an attachment to the judicial opinion in the Judiciary’s Case Management/Electronic Case Files System. The attachment, like the opinion, would be retrievable on a non-fee basis through the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system."

News release: "Albert Gonzalez, 28, of Miami, Fla., was indicted today for conspiring to hack into computer networks supporting major American retail and financial organizations, and stealing data relating to more than 130 million credit and debit cards, announced Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Ralph J. Marra Jr. and U.S. Secret Service Assistant Director for Investigations Michael Merritt...The indictment, which details the largest alleged credit and debit card data breach ever charged in the United States, alleges that beginning in October 2006, Gonzalez and his co-conspirators researched the credit and debit card systems used by their victims; devised a sophisticated attack to penetrate their networks and steal credit and debit card data; and then sent that data to computer servers they operated in California, Illinois, Latvia, the Netherlands and Ukraine. The indictment also alleges Gonzalez and his co-conspirators also used sophisticated hacker techniques to cover their tracks and to avoid detection by anti-virus software used by their victims."

News release: "The out-of-court settlement sought in the US civil proceedings against UBS has been reached. The details of the arrangement were worked out between Switzerland and the USA over the last few days. The judge was informed during a telephone conference on Wednesday. The settlement now has to be signed by both states."

Library of Congress State Legislation on Comprehensive Health Care Coverage

News release: "House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) today released over 700 pages of on-the-record interview transcripts of Karl Rove and Harriet Miers on the U.S. attorney firings and the Bush administration’s politicization of the Department of Justice. Conyers also released over 5,400 pages of Bush White House and Republican National Committee e-mails on these subjects. The released materials reveal that White House officials were deeply involved in the U.S. attorney firings and the administration made a concerted effort to hide that fact from the American people. "After all the delay and despite all the obfuscation, lies, and spin," Conyers said, "this basic truth can no longer be denied: Karl Rove and his cohorts at the Bush White House were the driving force behind several of these firings, which were done for improper reasons. Under the Bush regime, honest and well-performing U.S. attorneys were fired for petty patronage, political horsetrading and, in the most egregious case of political abuse of the U.S. attorney corps.."
Interviews of White House Officials

• Rove Interview
  
• Miers Interview
  
• White House Documents
  
• RNC Documents
  
• Related postings on U.S. Attorney firings

WSJ: Justice O'Connor's continuing judicial work [as a substitute judge, Justice O'Connor has heard nearly 80 cases and written more than a dozen opinions] comes in addition to many other activities, from ceremonial functions -- such as serving as grand marshal of the Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif., and as chancellor of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. -- to serious assignments, including the Iraq Study Group that proposed an exit strategy for U.S. forces and panels reviewing policy for the national parks, the U.S. position toward the International Criminal Court and ways to promote research into Alzheimer's disease, which afflicts her husband, John. Justice O'Connor also lectures at law schools, dedicated her old Arizona home as a new center called the O'Connor House for Public Discourse and spearheaded Georgetown Law School's Sandra Day O'Connor Project on the State of the Judiciary. She's written a children's book and pioneered a Web site intended to teach youngsters about the judiciary..."

International Trade: Four Free Trade Agreements GAO Reviewed Have Resulted in Commercial Benefits, but Challenges on Labor and Environment Remain, GAO-09-439, July 10, 2009

EPIC: "Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) are drafting legislative reforms to revise the USA PATRIOT Act. The USA PATRIOT Act allows authorities to conduct surveillance without judicial review through the use of National Security Letters. The Senators asked the Attorney General and the Chairmen of the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Committee to consider two previous bills that add protections to PATRIOT ACT. Pursuant to a EPIC lawsuit, a federal judge had ordered the Justice Department to provide for independent judicial inspection of documents relating to warrantless wiretapping. For more information, see EPIC USA PATRIOT Act, EPIC FISA, EPIC Wiretapping, and EPIC National Security Letters."

Government Gazettes Online: "Government Gazettes, which are published by federal governments worldwide, are the means through which the government can communicate to officials and the general public. Although most countries publish a gazette, their regularity and content varies widely, which is noted in the description of each gazette. Gazettes are useful not only to monitor the actions of the government, but also as primary source documentation in research." [Lyonette Louis-Jacques]

News release: "The Federal Trade Commission today issued a Final Rule that will prohibit market manipulation in the petroleum industry. The Rule will prohibit fraud or deceit in wholesale petroleum markets, and omissions of material information that are likely to distort petroleum markets. The FTC’s approval of the Rule concludes a proceeding that incorporated several rounds of public comment. The Final Rule will become effective on November 4, 2009. The Commission issued this Rule under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, pursuant to a provision included by Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington State."

Follow up to July 28, 2009 posting New Data On Cell Phone Use and Driving Distraction, news today that Illinois became the 17th state to ban text messaging while driving.

Law Practice Technology Information Sources and Tools - Ken Strutin identifies core sources to learn about new technologies that apply to legal research and law practice. In addition, he has identified specific tools that will contribute to managing research, communication and information-based tasks.

Joel Zand, FindLaw: "A panel of three federal judges ordered the State of California to reduce its inmate population because of prison overcrowding, resulting in the release of approximately 43,000 prisoners during the next two years so that the state's prisons can operate at 137.5% of their design capacity. In a 184-page opinion, the panel ordered California to provide an inmate reduction plan within 45 days to carry out the court's directive "in no more than two years."

News release: "The eRulemaking Program has launched a significant upgrade to the Web site that provides one-stop, public access to information related to current and forthcoming regulations issued by the federal government. Enhancements to regulations.gov include improved search capabilities, new navigation tools, and easier access to areas for the public to provide comments on proposed regulations. The Environmental Protection Agency is the managing partner of the inter-agency eRulemaking Program, which operates regulations.gov."

News release: "he Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Bank of America Corporation for misleading investors about billions of dollars in bonuses that were being paid to Merrill Lynch & Co. executives at the time of its acquisition of the firm. Bank of America agreed to settle the SEC's charges and pay a penalty of $33 million. The SEC alleges that in proxy materials soliciting the votes of shareholders on the proposed acquisition of Merrill, Bank of America stated that Merrill had agreed that it would not pay year-end performance bonuses or other discretionary compensation to its executives prior to the closing of the merger without Bank of America's consent. In fact, Bank of America had already contractually authorized Merrill to pay up to $5.8 billion in discretionary bonuses to Merrill executives for 2008. According to the SEC's complaint, the disclosures in the proxy statement were rendered materially false and misleading by the existence of the prior undisclosed agreement allowing Merrill to pay billions of dollars in bonuses for 2008."

• Litigation Release No. 21164
  
• SEC Complaint
  
• Related postings on financial system

"The federal Judiciary's Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system has reached the one million mark in number of subscribers who have registered since 1991. The system allows users to obtain federal court case and docket information via the Internet."

NO RHYME OR REASON: The 'Heads I Win, Tails You Lose' Bank Bonus Culture, Andrew M. Cuomo, Attorney General, State of New York [Report Was Previously Transmitted to House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Chairman Edolplhus Towns (D-NY)]

Blackberry Apps for Lawyers: Nicole Black highlights an assortment of Blackberry applications for research, document management, mobile communications, music, dictation and more - all of which would benefit just about any law practice.

Economic Analysis Group (EAG) of the Antitrust Division - Why Prices Rise Faster Than They Fall, Sheldon Kimmel, EAG 09-4, July 2009

News release: "In conjunction with the 19th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the U.S. Department of Labor has re-named and re-launched DisabilityInfo.gov as Disability.gov. The site now offers comprehensive information about programs and services to better serve the more than 50 million Americans with disabilities, their family members, veterans, employers, educators, caregivers and anyone interested in disability-related information. The new Web site integrates content from 22 federal agencies and will be managed by the Labor Department. The former DisabilityInfo.gov site was revamped with social media tools to encourage interaction and feedback, and new ways to organize, share and receive information. Visitors can sign up for personalized news and updates, participate in online discussions and suggest resources for the site. New features include a Twitter feed, Really Simple Syndication feeds, a blog, social bookmarking and a user-friendly way to obtain answers to questions on such topics as finding employment and job accommodations. Additional tools will be added during the months ahead."

"This updated, third edition of WTO Dispute Settlement: One-Page Case Summaries has been prepared by the Legal Affairs Division of the WTO with special assistance from the Rules Division and the Appellate Body Secretariat. This new edition covers all panel and Appellate Body reports adopted by the WTO Dispute Settlement Body as of 31 December 2008. As has been noted in past editions, this publication was originally conceived in response to numerous requests from the WTO trade community for a brief, simple and straightforward explanation of the key points emanating from the continually expanding body of WTO jurisprudence. Accordingly, the publication attempts to summarize on a single page the core facts
and substantive fi ndings contained in the adopted panel and, where applicable, Appellate Body reports for each decided case. Where relevant, the publication also summarizes key findings on significant procedural matters. Other matters of particular significance raised during the proceedings are listed in the accompanying footnotes to each case. The index enables readers to search the disputes by articles and by WTO agreement."

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which President Obama ....announce[d] that the US will sign, will be the first international human rights treaty signed by the United States in nearly a decade, Human Rights Watch said... "This treaty was created to make sure that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else and are fully included in society," said Joe Amon, director of the Health and Human Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. "This is a real victory for both that goal and for the disability rights advocates who have worked so hard for it." The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 2006 and was signed by 82 countries when it opened for signature on March 30, 2007. Today 140 countries have signed, and 61 have ratified. It requires governments to prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities and support their dignity, autonomy, and full participation in society."

Overview of Statutory Mandatory Minimum Sentencing: "The Commission has identified at least 171 individual mandatory minimum provisions currently in the federal criminal statutes. In the Commission’s fiscal year 2008 datafile, there were 31,239 counts of conviction that carried a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment.3 Because an offender may be sentenced for multiple counts of conviction that carry mandatory minimum penalties, these 31,239 counts of conviction exceed the total number of offenders (21,023 offenders, as reported below) who were convicted of statutes carrying such penalties. Of these 31,239 counts of conviction, the overwhelming majority (90.7%) were for drug offenses (24,789 counts of conviction, or 79.4%) and firearms offenses (3,527 counts of conviction, or 11.3%)."

• Combating Gangs: Better Coordination and Performance Measurement Would Help Clarify Roles of Federal Agencies and Strengthen Assessment of Effort, GAO-09-708, July 24, 2009
• Electronic Records Archive: The National Archives and Records Administration's Fiscal Year 2009 Expenditure Plan, GAO-09-733, July 24, 2009
• Federal-Aid Highways: FHWA Has Improved Its Risk Management Approach, but Needs to Improve Its Oversight of Project Costs, GAO-09-751, July 24, 2009
• Juvenile Justice: Technical Assistance and Better Defined Evaluation Plans Will Help to Improve Girls' Delinquency Program, GAO-09-721R, July 24, 2009
• Project BioShield Act: HHS Has Supported Development, Procurement, and Emergency Use of Medical Countermeasures to Address Health Threats, GAO-09-878R, July 24, 2009
• National Transportation System: Options and Analytical Tools to Strengthen DOT's Approach to Supporting Communities' Access to the System, GAO-09-753, July 17, 2009
• Transportation Security: Key Actions Have Been Taken to Enhance Mass Transit and Passenger Rail Security, but Opportunities Exist to Strengthen Federal Strategy and Programs, GAO-09-678, June 24, 2009

News release: "The Department of Justice and Department of Defense today announced that the Detention Policy Task Force, which was created pursuant to Executive Order 13493, has issued a preliminary report on military commissions and a process for the determination of prosecution forum for trials of suspected terrorists. A copy of the report is attached. As authorized by the Executive Order, the Attorney General and Secretary of Defense have also decided to extend by six months the period in which the Task Force will conduct its work and submit a final report."

Fact Sheet: Administration’s Regulatory Reform Agenda Moves Forward - Systemic Risk Legislation Sent to Capitol Hill: "Continuing its push to establish new rules of the road and make the financial system more fair for consumers and investors, the Administration today delivered proposed legislation to Capitol Hill that would require strong, consolidated supervision and regulation for all financial firms. The legislation also provides a regulatory regime to monitor, mitigate, and respond to risks in the financial system. Tomorrow the administration will release additional legislative language to create a National Bank Supervisor through the consolidation of the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and to provide the government the tools it needs to adequately respond to a financial crisis."
Reports:

• Title I - Financial Services Oversight Council Act of 2009
  
• Title II - Bank Holding Company Modernization Act of 2009
  
• Title VI - Bank Holding Company and Depository Institution Regulatory Improvements Act of 2009
  
• Title IX - Investor Protection Act of 2009
  
• Title XIII - Section 13 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 343) is amended in the third paragraph
  
• Title V - Office of National Insurance Act of 2009
  
• Related postings on financial system

"Very timely Justice Department data obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) show that immigration enforcement under the Obama Administration is returning to the unusually high levels that were reached under President Bush. The clearest sign of the administration's current immigration enforcement policy emerged from the monthly growth in such prosecutions -- up from 6,562 in January when the president came into office to 9,037 in April. But the government's initial decision to step up immigration prosecutions goes back to FY 2004 with the launching of a program called "Operation Streamline." While the monthly number of prosecutions varied during President Bush's second term, it hit an all time high of 11,454 in September of 2008. The latest data is here."

Seeking Bypass: What Will Ultimately End Confidence in the Necessity of Parental Involvement Laws? - Public interest law advocate Diana Philip's commentary focuses specifically on the multifaceted, complex and challenging issues that encompass the dichotomy between reproductive health care and rights available to adult pregnant women and pregnant minors. Diana's position includes references to seminal legal cases as well as to selected scholarly literature in the field of juvenile reproductive health.

LLRX Book Review by Heather A. Phillips: The Little Red Book of Wine Law: A Case of Legal Issues - Heather A. Phillips recommends this slim volume as it provides an engaging and accessible introduction to American wine law and history that will broaden the reader's appreciation of the wine industry. Though short and non-technical, this book is suitable for a surprising number of library collections.

News release: "The Federal Reserve Board on July 15, 2009 approved an interim final rule amending Regulation Z (Truth in Lending) to require creditors to increase the amount of notice consumers receive before the rate on a credit card account is increased or a significant change is made to the account's terms. The amendments also allow consumers to reject such increases and changes by informing the creditor before the increase or change goes into effect."

News release: "The Federal Trade Commission [testified to] the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance of the Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation that competition and the agency’s antitrust enforcement improves health care in the United States in two ways – first, by preventing or stopping anticompetitive agreements to raise prices and second, by helping to spur innovation that improves care and expands consumer access."

"Pentagon classification authorities are treating classified historical documents as if they contain today's secrets, rather than decades-old information that has not been secret for years. Today the National Security Archive posted multiple versions of the same documents—on issues ranging from the 1973 October War to anti-ballistic missiles, strategic arms control, and U.S. policy toward China—that are already declassified and in the public domain. What earlier declassification reviewers released in full, sometimes years ago, Pentagon reviewers have more recently excised, sometimes massively. The overclassification highlighted by these examples poses a major problem that should be addressed by the ongoing review of national security information policy that President Obama ordered on May 27, 2009. New presumptions against classification that may be added to an executive order on national security information will not, in isolation, end overclassification. Rigorous oversight, accompanied by improved training and consequences for improper classification are essential."

FTC Leads “Operation Loan Lies” to Stop Fraud and Help Distressed Homeowners: "Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz, joined by California Attorney General Jerry Brown, today announced Operation Loan Lies, a coordinated national law enforcement effort to crack down on mortgage modification scams. The operation involves 189 actions by 25 federal and state agencies against defendants who deceptively marketed foreclosure rescue and mortgage modification services. The FTC actions, which affect consumers throughout the nation, are being announced in southern California, where the scams originated."

Follow up to previous postings on US Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, from today's Senate Judiciary Committee nomination hearing:

• Witness Testimony - Judge Sonia Sotomayor
  
• Member Statements
  
• NPR - Sotomayor: 'Fidelity To The Law' Guides Me
  
• Senate Committee on the Judiciary: Supreme Court Nomination Hearings (1971 - forward)

Brennan Center for Justice: Language Access in State Courts, Laura Abel

A Guide to the Preservation of Federal Judges’ Papers, Second Edition, Federal Judicial History Office, Federal Judicial Center 2009

News release: Today’s release of a report by several agency inspectors general reinforces the National Security Archive’s argument in our Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that the Justice Department should declassify and release the legal justifications for the surveillance program authorized by President Bush after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The new report from the inspectors general of the Department of Defense, Department of Justice, Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence, criticizes the OLC memoranda that were used to justify warrantless surveillance of US citizens, several of which remain secret and are subject to the Archive’s lawsuit. The IGs state that there were “deficiencies” in the OLC memos, drafted by Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo, and that the memos “raise[d] serious concerns” at DOJ because they omitted analysis of key cases and legal provisions and were not subject to the ordinary “rigorous peer review process.”

Follow up to previous postings on GM bankruptcy, this release: The New General Motors Company Launches Today - "...The new General Motors launches with a clear and simple vision - to design, build and sell the best vehicles in the world...General Motors Company is primarily owned by the governments of the United States, Canada and Ontario, and by a trust fund providing medical benefits to UAW retirees. Specifically, common stock will be owned by: U.S. Department of the Treasury: 60.8 percent; UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust: 17.5 percent; Canada and Ontario governments: 11.7 percent; The old GM: 10 percent."

• New York Times: As It Exits Bankruptcy, G.M. Faces Challenges - "In a sign of how much G.M. had changed, one of its first moves will be to eliminate the jobs of more than a third of its executives, positions that had gone largely untouched even as factories closed, engineers were laid off and retirees lost benefits."
  
• Related postings on financial system
Permanent Link

"The National Archives Office of Records Services, the William J. Clinton Library, and the George Bush Library released records relating to Judge Sonia Sotomayor."

News release, July 8, 2009: "Today, OMB Watch published a report that explores the impacts of secrecy labeling practices within the federal government. The report, Controlled Unclassified Information: Recommendations for Information Control Reform, shines a light on how government withholds unclassified information from the American people and offers recommendations on how to balance the need to protect sensitive materials with the duty to disclose information to the public...The report walks the reader through some of the aspects of secrecy labeling and explains technical terms such as sensitive but unclassified (SBU) information and controlled unclassified information (CUI)."

News release: "According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 2008 Mortgage Fraud Report, released today, mortgage fraud Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) referred to law enforcement increased 36 percent to 63,713 during fiscal year (FY) 2008, compared to 46,717 reports in FY 2007. While the total dollar loss attributed to mortgage fraud is unknown, financial institutions reported losses of at least $1.4 billion, an increase of 83.4 percent from FY 2007."

CRS - Judge Sonia Sotomayor: Analysis of Selected Opinions, June 19, 2009: "In May 2009, Supreme Court Justice David Souter announced his intention to retire from the Supreme Court. Several weeks later, President Obama nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who currently serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, to fill his seat. To fulfill its constitutional advice and consent function, the Senate will consider Judge Sotomayors extensive record compiled from years as a lawyer, prosecutor, district court judge, and appellate court judge to better understand her legal approaches and judicial philosophy. This report provides an analysis of selected opinions authored by Judge Sotomayor during her tenure as a judge on the Second Circuit. Discussions of the selected opinions are grouped according to various topics of legal significance. As a group, the opinions belie easy categorization along any ideological spectrum. However, it is possible to draw some conclusions regarding Judge Sotomayors judicial approach, both within some specific issue areas and in general. Perhaps the most consistent characteristic of Judge Sotomayors approach as an appellate judge has been an adherence to the doctrine of stare decisis, i.e., the upholding of past judicial precedents. Other characteristics appear to include what many would describe as a careful application of particular facts at issue in a case and a dislike for situations in which the court might be seen as oversteping its judicial role. It is difficult to determine the extent to which Judge Sotomayors style as a judge on the Second Circuit would predict her style should she become a Supreme Court justice. However, as has been the case historically with other nominees, some of her approaches may be enduring characteristics."
See also:

• American Bar Assocation Rating Released: Sonia Sotomayor, nominated to be Associate Justice to the U.S. Supreme Court
  
• Comment Of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee, On The ABA’s Rating Of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, July 7, 2009
  
• Sotomayor Confirmation Hearing To Begin July 13, 2009
  
• Confirmation Hearings: A Timeline That Is Fair To Senators, And Fair To The Nominee

News release: "Today the FBI released bank crime statistics for calendar year 2008. Between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2008, there were 6,700 robberies of financial institutions*, as well as 121 burglaries and 28 larcenies reported. This represents 6,849 reported violations of the Federal Bank Robbery and Incidental Crimes Statute."

New York Times DealBook: "A federal judge late on Sunday approved a plan by General Motors to sell its best assets to a new, government-backed company, a crucial step for the automaker to restructure and complete its trip through bankruptcy court. The decision by the judge, Robert E. Gerber, of Federal Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, came after three days of hearings to address the 850 objections to the restructuring plan and after he received a revised sale order from G.M.’s lawyers. In his 95-page opinion, Judge Gerber wrote that he agreed with G.M.’s main contention: that the asset sale was needed to preserve its business, in the face of steep losses and government financing that is slated to run out by the end of the week."

• GM news release: GM 363 Asset Sale Approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Court
  
• Related postings on General Motor's bankruptcy and the financial system

News release: "The Federal Trade Commission today announced a law enforcement crackdown on scammers trying to take advantage of the economic downturn to bilk vulnerable consumers through a variety of schemes, such as promising non-existent jobs; promoting overhyped get-rich-quick plans, bogus government grants, and phony debt-reduction services; or putting unauthorized charges on consumers’ credit or debit cards. Dubbed “Operation Short Change,” the law enforcement sweep announced today includes 15 FTC cases, 44 law enforcement actions by the Department of Justice, and actions by at least 13 states and the District of Columbia."

News release: "Widespread racial profiling by law enforcement agents as a result of Bush-era policies remains a pervasive problem throughout the United States, according to a report out today by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Rights Working Group (RWG). Government policies are a major cause of the disproportionate stopping and searching of racial minorities by law enforcement agencies, according to the report, which was submitted today to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)."

• The ACLU and RWG's report to CERD
  
• The Bush administration's final submission to CERD

Best Practices for Government Libraries - 2009 - Change: Managing It, Surviving It, and Thriving On It - "The 2009 edition includes 60 articles and other submissions provided by more than 50 contributors from librarians in government agencies, courts, and the military, as well as from professional association leaders, LexisNexis Consultants, and more." Compiled by Marie Kaddell, LexisNexis.

New York Times: "Google handles roughly two-thirds of all Internet searches. It owns the largest online video site, YouTube, which is more than 10 times more popular than its nearest competitor. And last year, Google sold nearly $22 billion in advertising, more than any media company in the world."

A Guide to the Preservation of Federal Judge' Papers, Second Edition
Federal Judicial History Office, 2009, 89 pages (Forthcoming)

An Update on the Credit Crisis Litigation: A Turn Towards Structured Products and Asset Management Firms, June 15, 2009: "In this NERA paper, co-author Vice President Dr. Faten Sabry provides an update on credit crisis-related securities litigation. The paper highlight emerging trends in a number of areas, including filings, percentage of cases involving directors and officers, types of defendants and plaintiffs, and recent decisions with emphasis on cases involving complex financial products such as CDOs and CDS."

News release: "[On June 23, 2009] The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, one of 12 Presidential libraries administered by the National Archives and Records Administration, will be opening approximately 154 hours of Nixon White House tape recordings and approximately 30,000 pages of textual materials from the Nixon Presidency."

Criminal Justice Surveys and Public Opinion Polls: Ken Strutin's article examines key sources for surveys and public polling concerning the criminal justice system. In addition to overview studies about the application of surveys to criminal justice, the selected topics include: crime, criminal histories, death penalty, public defense, sentencing, sex offenses, treatment, and reentry.

News release: "The CIA informed the American Civil Liberties Union that it would delay by one week its release of a reprocessed version of the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report on the CIA's interrogation and detention program [The heavily redacted version of the report released last year is available here.] The CIA turned over a heavily redacted version of the report in May 2008 as part of an ACLU Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, but on May 28, 2009, informed the court that it would review the same report with a view toward disclosing more information.In a letter to the ACLU, the government said it "will need additional time to make a final determination as to what additional information, if any, may be disclosed from the report."

Marketing Yourself with Webinars - Attorney Wells H. Anderson recommends presenting periodic webinars as an effective, direct and efficient technique to attract new clients and professionals who refer business to you.

Federal Trade Commission, 16 C.F.R. Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising..."In order to limit its potential liability, the advertiser should ensure that the advertising service provides guidance and training to its bloggers concerning the need to ensure that statements they make are truthful and substantiated. The advertiser should also monitor bloggers who are being paid to promote its products and take steps necessary to halt the continued publication of deceptive representations when they are discovered..."

TIME: "In a complex settlement agreement, which took three years to hammer out and spans 135 pages excluding attachments, Google will be allowed to show up to 20% of the books' text online at no charge to Web surfers. But the part of the settlement that deals with so-called orphan books — which refers to out-of-print books whose authors and publishers are unknown — is what's ruffling the most feathers in the literary henhouse. The deal gives Google an exclusive license to publish and profit from these orphans, which means it won't face legal action if an author or owner comes forward later. This, critics contend, gives it a competitive edge over any rival that wants to set up a competing digital library. And without competition, opponents fear Google will start charging exorbitant fees to academic libraries and others who want full access to its digital library. "It will make Google virtually invulnerable to competition," says Robert Darnton, head of the Harvard University library system."

Secrecy News: "The rise of “the wall” between intelligence and law enforcement personnel that impeded the sharing of information within the U.S. government prior to September 11, 2001 was critically examined in a detailed monograph (pdf) that was prepared in 2004 for the 9/11 Commission. It is the only one of four staff monographs that had not previously been released. It was finally declassified and disclosed earlier this month. In April 2004, Attorney General John Ashcroft testified (pdf) that the failure to properly share threat information in the summer of 2001 could be attributed to Justice Department policy memoranda that were issued in 1995 by the Clinton Administration. That is an erroneous oversimplification, the staff monograph contends: “A review of the facts… demonstrates that the Attorney General’s testimony did not fairly and accurately reflect” the meaning or relevance of those 1995 policy documents. For one thing, those policies did not even apply to CIA and NSA information, which could have been shared with law enforcement without any procedural obstacles."

New on LLRX.com - FOIA Facts: The Detainee Photo Issue - Is it What it Seems? - Scott A. Hodes comments on the Obama administrations' decision to continue to fight the release of detainee photos.

New on LLRX.com: Bridging the DiGital Divide: Custom Search Engines Put You in Control - Law librarian, legal research expert and blogger John J. DiGilio's new column focuses on technology trends that leverage the web to achieve more efficient and effective results. Here John recommends using customized search engines to manage the sites you search.

News release: "United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) policy permits officials to search the laptops and other electronic devices of travelers without suspicion of wrongdoing, according to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed today by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU filed the FOIA request with CBP, a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to learn how CBP's suspicionless search policy, first made public in July 2008, is impacting the constitutional rights of international travelers."

"The entire 2006 edition of the United States Code is now available from the U.S. Government Printing Office. The 2006 edition contains the laws enacted through the 109th Congress (ending January 3, 2007, the last law of which was signed January 15, 2007). In addition, PDF files have been made available for the U.S. Code, 2006 edition only. The U.S. Code is the codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States, based on what is printed in the Statutes at Large. It is divided by broad subjects into 50 titles and published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives. The online version of the United States Code, 2006 Edition is available through GPO Access."

The Decline and Fall of the Dominant Paradigm: Trustworthiness of Case Reports in the Digital Age, by William R. Mills, New York Law School Law Review, volume 53, 2008/2009.

U.S. Courts: "Bankruptcy filings for the 12-month period ending March 31, 2009, were up 33.3 percent over bankruptcy filings for the 12-month period ending March 31, 2008, according to statistics released today by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. March 2009 bankruptcy filings totaled 1,202,503, compared to the total 901,927 bankruptcy cases filed in the 12-month period ending March 31, 2008. The largest percentage increase occurred in Chapter 11 filings, a 69.1 percent increase over March 2008 Chapter 11 filings."

"The American Civil Liberties Union today released a report summarizing the civil liberties and civil rights record of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who was nominated by President Obama to replace retiring Justice David Souter as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The report was prepared in accordance with ACLU policy, and will be made available to the public and members of the Senate. The ACLU does not endorse or oppose candidates for elective or appointive office."

"In cases where the DEA is the lead investigative agency, there are significant geographic variations in the rates at which individuals convicted of criminal offenses get sent to prison. According to Justice Department data obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse and just published on TRAC's DEA website, in the Northern District of West Virgina (Wheeling) 65.6% of convictions in such cases resulted in prison terms in 2008. In New York West (Buffalo) the rate was 71.1%. On the other hand, in nine districts fully 100% of all convictions in such cases resulted in prison terms. These were: Alabama Middle (Montgomery), Illinois South (East St. Louis), Illinois Central (Springfield), Michigan West (Grand Rapids), Nebraska (Omaha), North Dakota (Fargo), Oklahoma East (Muskogee), Rhode Island (Providence) and Wisconsin West (Madison). Nationally, the rate was 94.6%...For district-by-district DEA enforcement information go here and click on "District Enforcement." There you'll find data on DEA referrals, charges, convictions, prison sentences and much more, for specific districts and the U.S. as a whole."

Timothy L. Coggins, Legal, Factual and Other Internet Sites for
Attorneys and Legal Professionals, XV RICH. J.L. & TECH. 13 (2009).

Follow up to previous postings on GM bankruptcy and auto industry, this press release: "Penske Automotive Group, Inc., an international automotive retailer, announced today that is has signed a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") with General Motors regarding the Saturn brand. Under the terms of the MOU, if the transaction is completed, Penske Automotive Group would obtain the rights to the Saturn brand, acquire certain assets including the Saturn parts inventory, and have the right to distribute vehicles and parts through the Saturn Dealership network. General Motors would continue to provide Saturn Aura, Vue and Outlook vehicles, on a contract basis, for an interim period."

• May 04, 2009 - How Would Medicare Part B Premiums Be Affected If There Is No Social Security COLA?
• April 30, 2009 - The 2009 H1N1 \"Swine Flu\" Outbreak: An Overview - See also related postings.
• April 29, 2009 - U.S. Foreign Aid to the Palestinians
• April 27, 2009 - Federal Tort Claims Act
• April 27, 2009 - The 2010 Decennial Census: Background and Issues
• Major U.S. Arms Sales and Grants to Pakistan Since 2001 (fact sheet), updated June 3, 2009.
• Political Turmoil in Thailand and U.S. Interests, May 26, 2009.
• Defense: FY2010 Authorization and Appropriations, May 8, 2009.
• Medical Marijuana: Review and Analysis of Federal and State Policies, March 31, 2009

Follow up to previous postings on GM bankruptcy: "The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York is pleased to announce a pilot project to make digital audio recordings of court proceedings relating to Chrysler LLC, 09-50002, and General Motors Corporation, 09-50026, publicly available online. The audio files are accessible through the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system. Registration for PACER access may be obtained at www.pacer.psc.uscourts.gov"

Federal Justice Statistics, 2006 - Statistical Tables, 5/09: "Describes criminal case processing in the federal justice system, including arrest and booking through sentencing and corrections. These statistical tables present the number of suspects arrested and booked by the U.S. Marshals Service, suspects in matters investigated and prosecuted by U.S. attorneys, defendants adjudicated and sentenced in U.S. district court, and characteristics of federal prisoners and offenders under federal supervision."

News release: "According to the FBI's Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report released June 1, 2009, the nation experienced a 2.5 percent decrease in the number of violent crimes and a 1.6 percent decline in the number of property crimes for 2008 compared with data from 2007. The report is based on information that the FBI gathered from 12,750 law enforcement agencies that submitted six to 12 comparable months of data to the FBI for both 2007 and 2008."

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) Semiannual Report to Congress for the period from October 1, 2008 through March 31, 2009.

News release: "The eRulemaking Program, a federal-wide E-Government project led by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has launched Regulations.gov Exchange. Regulations.gov is the one-stop, online source for citizens to search, view and comment on regulations issued by the U.S. government. In the past, the paper process limited the public’s ability to find rules and comment. Today, the public can explore new features for Regulations.gov, post opinions, engage directly with other users and with eRulemaking program staff. Regulations.gov Exchange will be open for public participation from May 21 – July 21, 2009."

News release: "In an effort to better protect financially distressed homeowners, the Federal Trade Commission has initiated a rulemaking proceeding involving foreclosure rescue and loan modification services. The FTC is seeking public comment to determine whether certain practices by companies providing these services are unfair or deceptive and should be reined in by proposed rules that would set standards to protect consumers."

• Mortgage Acts and Practices: Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Request for Public Comment (R911004): Text of the Federal Register Notice
  
• Mortgage Assistance Relief Services: Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Request for Public Comment (R911003): Text of the Federal Register Notice
  
• Related postings on financial system

"After several months of declines since reaching all-time highs in September, new immigration prosecutions in February were up 22% from the previous month. According to timely case-by-case data obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), these 8,179 cases represent an increase of about 90% from a year ago, and 250% from February 2004. While immigration cases still account for more than half (53%) of all new federal prosecutions, new filings rose in nearly every other category as well, including drugs (up 49%), weapons (up 19%), white collar crime (up 24%) and government regulation (up 42%). Overall, new criminal cases are at the second-highest level recorded, up 27% from January and up 39% from a year ago."

Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB), Toward A 21st Century Framework for Federal Government Privacy Policy, May 2009

Law Library of Congress: Supreme Court Nominations - Sonia Sotomayor

Navigating the Enterprise 2.0 Highway: Heather Colman provides an overview of Hicks Morley's implementation of ThoughtFarmer, an Enterprise 2.0/wiki style intranet platform, one year ago. Despite a few growing pains, she describes how the application was successful at meeting the primary objectives to decentralize content updates and increase knowledge sharing and collaboration within the firm.

American Lawyer: "Mortgage-related lawsuits are on the rise, with homeowners and investors alike suing over allegedly being duped by the mortgage industry. According to a litigation report from MortgageDaily.com, an online mortgage news analyst, the number of mortgage-related lawsuits filed in the first quarter of this year jumped to 81, a more than 50 percent increase from the 50 cases tracked during the same quarter in 2008."

Anatomy of a Patent Case, George F. Pappas, 2009, 154 pages

Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Do Justices Tip Their Hands with Questions at Oral Argument in the U.S. Supreme Court? Timothy R. Johnson, University of Minnesota; Ryan C. Black, Washington University, St. Louis - Department of Political Science; Washington University, St. Louis - Center for Empirical Research in the Law; Jerry Goldman; Sarah Treul - Washington University Journal of Law & Policy, Vol. 29, 2009

9 Sites That Find People and Their 'Sensitive' Information: "Here are the best sites for locating people, as well as the best sites (like Glassdoor and Criminal Searches) for finding sensitive (but public) information about them," Mark Sullivan, PC World

In interview, retired justice says a woman should be the choice, Tony Mauro, The National Law Journal

United States v. the Council for Tobacco Research-USA, et al. Appellate Ruling, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, May 22, 2009

Follow up to previous articles on Google Book Search: "The University of Michigan today announced that it has expanded its historic agreement with Google Inc. to create digital copies of millions of U-M library books and journals. The amended agreement, which strengthens library preservation efforts and increases the public's access to books, is possible because of Google's pending settlement with a broad class of authors and publishers. The U-M library is the first in the nation to expand its partnership with Google."

News release: "The Office of Information Policy is planning to publish the 2009 edition of the Department of Justice Guide to the Freedom of Information Act through the Government Printing Office (GPO) in June. The 2009 Guide will contain detailed discussions of the FOIA’s exemptions, as well as its procedural requirements, and FOIA litigation considerations. The 2009 Guide will also discuss proactive disclosures, FOIA fees and fee waivers, exclusions, discretionary disclosures and waiver, FOIA attorney fees, and reverse FOIA cases...The Office of Information Policy will send one courtesy copy of the Guide to the Chief FOIA Officer and principal FOIA contact at each agency."

News release: "The American Civil Liberties Union and the Public Patent Foundation, a not-for-profit organization affiliated with Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (PUBPAT), filed a lawsuit today charging that patents on two human genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer stifle research that could lead to cures and limit women's options regarding their medical care. Mutations along the genes, known as BRCA1 and BRCA2, are responsible for most cases of hereditary breast and ovarian cancers. The lawsuit argues that the patents on these genes are unconstitutional and invalid. ">News release: "The American Civil Liberties Union and the Public Patent Foundation, a not-for-profit organization affiliated with Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (PUBPAT), filed a lawsuit today charging that patents on two human genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer stifle research that could lead to cures and limit women's options regarding their medical care. Mutations along the genes, known as BRCA1 and BRCA2, are responsible for most cases of hereditary breast and ovarian cancers. The lawsuit argues that the patents on these genes are unconstitutional and invalid."

Criminal Justice Reform Resources 2008-2009: Ken Strutin's guide focuses on select current reports, surveys, legislative proposals and scholarship regarding criminal justice reform. It is only a small sampling of the increasing volume of publications on vital matters of interest to criminal practitioners and the public. Therefore, only a few themes are covered: criminal justice, discovery, forensics, juvenile justice, prosecutorial misconduct, public defense, sentencing and wrongful conviction.

"The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York is pleased to announce a pilot project to make digital audio recordings of court proceedings relating to Chrysler LLC, 09-50002, publicly available online. The audio files are accessible through the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system. Registration for PACER access may be obtained at www.pacer.psc.uscourts.gov."

• All documents in the Chrysler bankruptcy case should be filed and viewed on http://ecf.nysb-mega.uscourts.gov/.
  
• The lead case is: In re Chrysler LLC, 09-50002; parties filing documents (e.g., notices of appearance) should do so in the lead case only.
  
• Additional case and claims filing information can be found on the Chrysler page
  
• Related postings on Chrysler
Permanent Link

News release: "Citizens for Responsibility of Ethics in Washington (CREW), along with 36 other organizations, has sent a letter to the White House urging that the White House's Office of Administration (OA) once again become an agency subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), as had been the case in previous administrations."

Progressive Librarians Guild Calls for Elsevier to End Corrupt Publishing Practices and for Library Associations to Take Advocacy Role on Behalf of Scientific Integrity

News release: "The Federal Trade Commission is asking a federal court to shut down a telemarketing campaign that has been bombarding U.S. consumers with hundreds of millions of allegedly deceptive “robocalls” in an effort to sell them vehicle service contracts under the guise that they are extensions of original vehicle warranties. In two related complaints filed in federal court, the Commission took action against both the promoter of the phony extended auto warranties, as well as the telemarketing company that it hired to carry out its illegal, deceptive campaign."

Unified Agenda, May 2009 Edition: "The Unified Agenda summarizes the rules and proposed rules that each Federal agency expects to issue during the next six months."

Can Collaboration Solve Copyright Status Questions? The WorldCat Copyright Evidence Registry - As Roger V. Skalbeck documents, one of the underlying obstacles to reproducing older books is a central place to look for information about what is protected by copyright and what may have passed into the public domain is lacking. Responding to this need, OCLC recently introduced a beta service, the WorldCat Copyright Evidence Registry (CER). It could be a very valuable resource for recording and sharing copyright status information."

News release: "The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division today announced the details of its newly formed initiative aimed at preparing government officials and contractors to recognize and report efforts by parties to unlawfully profit from the stimulus projects that are being awarded as part of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Consistent with its mission to protect the welfare of the American economy by promoting open and fair competition, the Department’s Antitrust Division launched an initiative to help government agencies insulate procurement, grant and program funding processes from collusion and fraud, as well as to ensure that those who abuse those processes are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law...The Antitrust Division’s Recovery Initiative involves training procurement and grant officials, government contractors, and agency auditors and investigators, on techniques for identifying the "red flags of collusion" before stimulus awards are made and taxpayer money is unnecessarily wasted. The initiative makes available to agencies Antitrust Division competition experts who can evaluate procurement and program funding processes. These Division experts will make recommendations on "best practices" that may be adopted by the agencies to further protect processes from fraud, waste and abuse and maximize open and fair competition. Finally, the initiative commits the Antitrust Division to playing a significant role in assisting agencies investigate and prosecute those who seek to or succeed in defrauding the government’s efforts to maximize competition for stimulus funds."

News release: "The Federal Trade Commission has charged a home mortgage lender and its owner with violating federal law by charging Hispanic consumers higher prices for mortgage loans than non-Hispanic white consumers – price disparities that cannot be explained by the applicants’ credit characteristics or underwriting risk. The FTC seeks to bar future violations and obtain redress for consumers...According to the FTC’s complaint, the defendants violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) in pricing mortgage loans. They allegedly gave loan officers and branch managers wide discretion to charge, in addition to the risk-based price, “overages” through higher interest rates and higher up-front charges. The defendants allegedly paid loan officers a percentage of the overages as a commission and failed to monitor whether Hispanic consumers were paying higher overages than non-Hispanic white borrowers."

LLRX Book Review by Heather A. Phillips - Just and Unjust Warriors: the moral and legal status of soldiers - Heather A. Phillips describes how though a series of eleven well-written and closely reasoned original essays this book question the treatments of many of the foundations of classical just war theory, such as a non-volunteer army, the use of private contractors as soldiers, the harmlessness of those not actively engaged in combat, the symmetry of combatants, proportionality and extreme emergency.

A Current Glance at Women in the Law 2008 - Women in the Legal Profession, American Bar Association Market Research Department.

Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush

"A total of 1,891 applications to federal and state judges for orders authorizing the interception of wire, oral or electronic communications were reported in 2008. No applications were denied. This is a 14 percent decrease in the total of applications reported, compared to 2007. Fewer states—22 states compared to 24 in 2007—reported wiretap activity and the number of applications approved by state judges, 1,505, was down 14 percent from 2007. Federal judges approved 386 applications, down 16 percent from 2007. Orders for 28 wiretaps were approved for which no wiretaps actually were installed. Additional data on applications for wiretaps for the period January 1 through December 31, 2008, is available online in the 2008 Wiretap Report."

Follow up to Authors, Publishers, and Google Reach Landmark Settlement, from the Authors Guild: "The court overseeing Authors Guild v. Google extended the time for authors and publishers to opt out of the settlement by four months, to September 4th (Judge Chin's order). The fairness hearing will be on October 7th."

News release: "In anticipation of President Obama’s 100th day in office, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold today released a "100 Day Rule of Law Report" to examine the new administration’s efforts to reverse the Bush administration’s eight year assault on the rule of law. Feingold assessed the steps the Obama administration has taken thus far to address recommendations made by forty organizations and experts in connection with a Senate Constitution Subcommittee hearing chaired by Feingold on September 16, 2008, entitled Restoring the Rule of Law. President Obama received high marks for several actions he has taken in his first 100 days in office, including his executive orders to close the facility at Guantanamo Bay, ban torture and increase transparency. However, Feingold’s review finds the Obama administration’s invoking of the state secrets privilege “troubling.”

E-Discovery Update: E-Discovery in the $50,000 Case - Conrad J. Jacoby's focus for this column is smaller legal disputes that may involve electronic evidence, including divorce proceedings and child custody matters, as well as criminal cases, all of which may require review of cell phone call records, SMS and e-mail exchanges.

"In 2008, OCLC conducted focus groups, administered a pop-up survey on WorldCat.org—OCLC’s freely available end user interface on the Web—and conducted a Web-based survey of librarians worldwide. The report, Online Catalogs: What Users and Librarians Want, presents findings from these research efforts in order to understand:

• The metadata elements that are most important to end users in determining if an item will meet his or her needs
  
• The enhancements end users would like to see made in online library catalogs to assist them in consistently identifying appropriate materials
  
• The enhancements librarians would recommend for online library catalogs to better assist them in their work
  
• The findings indicate, among other things, that although library catalogs are often thought of as discovery tools, the catalog’s delivery-related information is just as important to end users.

FOIA Facts: DOJ AG Issues New Guidelines Establishing a System for Improving Transparency: Scott A. Hodes highlights the areas of this new DOJ guidance that are of the most interest to the FOIA community.

Unclassified and Redacted - Inquiry Into the Treatment Of Detainees In U.S. Custody, November 20, 2008 (Released, April 22, 2009) (263 pages, PDF)

FIT for Purpose – The New FLARE Index to Treaties: Dr. Peter Clinch and Steven Whittle describes the background development, various ways in which the service can be used, and technical issues of this fully searchable database. Launched in March 2009, it indexes and lists over 1,500 of the most significant multilateral treaties concluded from 1856 onwards. It was conceived to fill a gap in the range of information finding tools available on the internet for the international lawyer.

News release: "On April 17, 2009, HHS issued guidance specifying the technologies and methodologies that render protected health information unusable, unreadable, or indecipherable to unauthorized individuals, as required by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act passed as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). This guidance was developed through a joint effort by OCR, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)."

Follow up to previous postings on Google Book search, "The [Internet] Archive is one of many Internet content providers that have an interest in opposing the proposed [Google Book]Settlement Agreement because it effectively limits the liability for the identified uses of orphan works of one party alone, Google Inc., and provides for a Books Rights Registry, the interests of which are represented solely by identified rightsholders, to negotiate their exploitation. All other persons, including Internet content providers such as the Archive, would not be able to use orphan works broadly without being exposed to claims to infringement."

News release: "A national survey of American white collar workers found that while technology is widely embraced among working professionals, significant gaps exist among generations regarding its use and application in the workplace. The newly released Technology Gap Survey found generational differences in the effect of technology on workplace etiquette, the blurring boundaries between personal and professional tasks, and the impact of technology overload. The survey – commissioned by LexisNexis, a leading provider of content-enabled workflow solutions – examined the impact of technology in the workplace. It compared technology and software usage among generations of working professionals, including Boomer (ages 44-60), Generation X (ages 29-43) and Generation Y (ages 28 and younger)."

News release: "After a thorough scientific review ordered in 2007 by the U.S. Supreme Court [Massachusetts v. EPA, 549 U.S. 497], the Environmental Protection Agency issued a proposed finding Friday that greenhouse gases contribute to air pollution that may endanger public health or welfare...EPA’s proposed endangerment finding is based on rigorous, peer-reviewed scientific analysis of six gases – carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride – that have been the subject of intensive analysis by scientists around the world. The science clearly shows that concentrations of these gases are at unprecedented levels as a result of human emissions, and these high levels are very likely the cause of the increase in average temperatures and other changes in our climate."

• Statement of President Barack Obama on Release of OLC Memos: "The Department of Justice will today release certain memos issued by the Office of Legal Counsel between 2002 and 2005 as part of an ongoing court case. These memos speak to techniques that were used in the interrogation of terrorism suspects during that period, and their release is required by the rule of law. My judgment on the content of these memos is a matter of record. In one of my very first acts as President, I prohibited the use of these interrogation techniques by the United States because they undermine our moral authority and do not make us safer. Enlisting our values in the protection of our people makes us stronger and more secure. A democracy as resilient as ours must reject the false choice between our security and our ideals, and that is why these methods of interrogation are already a thing of the past."
• ACLU: In response to litigation filed by the American Civil Liberties Union under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Justice Department today released four secret memos used by the Bush administration to justify torture. The memos, produced by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), provided the legal framework for the CIA's use of waterboarding and other illegal interrogation methods that violate domestic and international law. The ACLU has called for the Justice Department to appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate torture under the Bush administration."
• The Torture Timeline, By Annie Lowrey, Foreign Policy

"Despite reforms enacted by Congress and an order from the last administration to do a better job, federal agencies continue to give those seeking information a frustrating and oftentimes unsatisfying experience, an analysis of federal agency FOIA reports shows. Backlogs persist despite fewer FOIA requests, agencies continue to miss the statutory response deadline in a majority of cases, and agencies said they rejected a highest percentage of requests since performance reporting began, according a quantitative review by the Sunshine in Government Initiative of federal agency FOIA reports."

"Today, EPIC filed a Freedom of Information Act request demanding disclosure of records detailing airport scanners that take naked pictures of American travelers. Security experts describe the "whole body imaging" scanners as virtual strip searches. The Transportation Security Administration plans to make the scans mandatory at all airport security checkpoints, despite prior assurances that whole body imaging would be optional. EPIC's request seeks documents concerning the agency's ability to store and transmit detailed images of naked U.S. citizens. For more information, see EPIC's Whole Body Imaging page and EPIC's FOIA Litigation Manual."

Internally Displaced Persons: Guide to Legal Information Resources on the Web - Elisa Mason's guide highlights information resources focused on the arena of human rights and humanitarian law norms that are evolving to address the broadening scope of protection issues that encompass millions of internally displaced around the world.

Public Law 111–5, 111th Congress, 123 STAT. 115, Feb. 17, 2009 [H.R. 1] American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. 407 pages, PDF

News release: "Fewer than one-third of the adult population have a health care power of attorney or other advance directive. While many of us may be afraid to talk about death, it is critically important to name someone to make health care decisions for you if and when you are no longer able to speak for yourself. Secondly, talk about your end-of-life values and goals with that person and other loved ones. This will help ensure that loved ones aren’t burdened with “guessing” end of-life care wishes in the event of a sudden change in health or a life threatening accident.

The National Healthcare Decisions Day initiative takes place on April 16. It is part of a collaborative effort of national, state and community organizations committed to ensuring that all adults have the information they need to be proactive in communicating and documenting their healthcare decisions. The American Bar Association has a 10-point toolkit for consumers that helps make the process easier to navigate. And the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization provides state-specific forms for use.

To help educate consumers, the ABA Commission on Law and Aging has developed free resources to help you make, discuss and document future healthcare wishes and decisions, including a fact sheet titled 10 Myths and Facts About Health Care Advance Directives. Additional resources on advance planning and end-of-life legal issues can be found at ABA Law Info: Your Gateway to Information on Legal Topics that Affect Your Life.

News release: "Acting Archivist of the United States Adrienne Thomas announced [April 10, 2009] that 245,763 pages of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush Presidential records will be opened for research on Monday, April 13, 2009, at their respective libraries. These records, which were still pending with the George W. Bush Administration as of January 20, 2009, today cleared the review process established by President Barack Obama under Executive Order 13489.

• "On Monday, April 13, 2009, the Ronald Reagan library will open 244,966 pages of records processed in response to hundreds of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. These records include the Presidential Briefing Papers collection, Office of Speechwriting research material, and approximately 13,000 pages of declassified records on numerous foreign policy topics. To date, more than ten million pages of Presidential records have been processed at the Reagan library."
  
• On Monday, April 13, 2009, the George H. W. Bush library will open 797 pages of records that deal with Saudi Arabia. To date, more than six million pages of Presidential records have been processed at the Bush library..."

News release: "Organizations representing booksellers, librarians, publishers, and writers today launched the latest phase in their five-year campaign to restore the reader privacy safeguards that were stripped away by the USA Patriot Act. Since 2003, the Department of Justice has used its expanded power under the Patriot Act to issue more than 200 secret search orders under Section 215 and more than 190,000 National Security Letters (NSLs). Despite several efforts to reform the Patriot Act, the FBI can still search any records it believes are "relevant" to a terrorism investigation, including the records of people who are not suspected of criminal conduct."

Fact Sheet: "The increased efforts and reallocation of personnel recently announced by the Department of Justice builds on the foundation of expertise and experience gained from ongoing efforts to combat Mexican drug cartels in the United States and to help Mexican law enforcement battle cartels in its own country."

News release: "Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced today a 118-count indictment of a Chinese citizen and his company for charges relating to the misuse of Manhattan banks and the proliferation of illicit missile and nuclear technology to the Government of Iran. The Chinese company, known as LIMMT, is a major supplier of banned weapons material to the Iranian military."

News release (includes links to declassified documents): "As a special tribunal in Peru pronounced former president Alberto Fujimori guilty of human rights atrocities, the National Security Archive today posted key declassified U.S. documents that were submitted as evidence in the court proceedings. The declassified records contain intelligence gathered by U.S. officials from Peruvian sources on the secret creation of “assassination teams” as part of Fujimori’s counterterrorism operations, the role of the Peruvian security forces in human rights atrocities and Fujimori’s participation in protecting the military from investigation."

Follow up to April 5, 2009 posting Senate Staff Working Draft of Cybersecurity Act of 2009, see this related CRS report: Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI): Legal Authorities and Policy Considerations, March 10, 2009

News release: "The Federal Trade Commission today announced a crackdown on fraud and deception by mortgage modification and home foreclosure rescue companies. The FTC is seeking to halt the proliferation of these mortgage relief scams – which target distressed and vulnerable consumers who are delinquent or facing foreclosure – through increased law enforcement, consumer outreach, and close coordination with federal, state, and non-profit partners...The FTC announced five law enforcement actions against operations using deceptive tactics to market their mortgage modification and home foreclosure relief services, including firms that marketed their “services” by giving the false impression they were affiliated with the federal government. This brings to 11 the number of loan modification and mortgage foreclosure rescue scams brought by the FTC in the last year. More than 20 state law enforcers also have taken actions against companies engaged in these types of deception, including 22 brought by Illinois Attorney General Madigan."

nixontapes.org: "For the first time, the recordings from the Nixon White House Cabinet Room are made available to the public in an accessible format. These recordings include every meeting, tour group, briefing, and private conversation that occurred in the Cabinet Room, as captured on the Nixon recording system between February 16, 1971, and July 11, 1973. Remarkably, these audio files were originally released by the National Archives and Records Administration's (NARA) Archives II at College Park, Maryland, in 2002, but were made available to onsite researchers only, and only in analog cassette format. With the assistance of the National Security Archive, these files are now available here, on nixontapes.org, and at the time of the creation of this page, these tapes, in whole or in part, are not available anywhere else outside of the reading room at NARA's Archives II."

"The Flare Index to Treaties [was recently launched] by the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS). The Index is a searchable database of basic information on over 1,500 of the most significant multilateral treaties from 1856 to the present, with details of where the full text of each treaty may be obtained in paper and, if available, electronic form on the Internet. The Index includes only those treaties where there are three or more parties to the instrument. The selection has been based on entries in Multilateral Treaties: index and current status, compiled and annotated within the University of Nottingham Treaty Centre by M.J. Bowman and D.J. Harris (London: Butterworths, 1984, ninth supplement, 1992) and International Legal Materials (Washington, D.C., American Society of International Law, 1962-). The Index is freely available on the Web and was conceived and compiled by Dr Peter Clinch, Cardiff University. Both the MS Access database into which data have been keyboarded and the web-based search interface were devised by Steven Whittle, Information Systems Manager, IALS. Funding for the project was made available through a successful bid to the University of London Vice Chancellor's Development Fund."

The Third Branch: "The Judicial Conference, in its continuing efforts to ensure appropriate public access to court files, has voted to make federal court sealed cases more readily apparent. The Conference, acting at its March 17 meeting, voted to have Internet lists of civil and criminal cases in district courts include a case number and generic name, such as “Sealed vs. Sealed,” for each sealed case. Such lists for each of the 94 district courts are generated by the Judiciary’s Case Management/Electronic Case Files system and are accessible through the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system."

Competitive Intelligence - A Selective Resource Guide: Sabrina I. Pacifici's completely revised and updated pathfinder focuses on leveraging selected reliable, focused, free and low cost sites and sources to effectively profile and monitor companies, markets, countries, people, and issues. This guide is a "best of list" of web, database and email alert products, services and tools, as well links to content specific sources produced by governments, academia, NGOs, the media and various publishers.

Burney's Legal Tech Reviews: Verizon Wireless USB760 Modem and the Cradlepoint CTR500 Mobile Broadband Travel Router - For consistent, resilient mobile internet connectivity, Brett Burney recommends these three small, versatile products that are cost effective and reliable.

News release: "The National Institute of Justice (NIJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), has released the publication High-Priority Criminal Justice Technology Needs. This publication is a description of the research, development, evaluation, and testing process that NIJ goes through to ensure their research portfolios are aligned with the needs of the criminal justice community. The publication also summarizes the high-priority needs for the criminal justice field in the area of technology. These needs are organized into five functional areas—Protecting the Public; Ensuring Officer Safety; Confirming the Guilty and Protecting the Innocent; Improving the Efficiency of Justice; Enabling Informed Decision-Making."

"The automatic declassification provisions of Executive Order 12958, as amended, require the declassification of nonexempt historically-valuable records 25 years old or older. By 31 December 2006 all agencies were to have completed the review of all hardcopy documents determined to be historically valuable (designated as "permanent" by the agency and the National Archives) and exclusively containing their equities. As the deadline pertains to CIA, it covers the span of relevant documents originally dating from the establishment of the CIA after WWII through 1981.

CIA has deployed an electronic full-text searchable system it has named CREST (the CIA Records Search Tool), which has been operational since 2000 and is located at NARA II in College Park Maryland. On this Agency site, researchers can now use an on-line CREST Finding Aid to research the availability of CIA documents declassified and loaded onto CREST through 2008. Data for the remaining years up to the present (CREST deliveries have been ongoing) will be placed on this site at later dates.

Search the CREST web database here. Note: it does not contain actual images of the documents as the regular Electronic Reading Room search does. Rather, it contains details on the files to speed FOIA requests.

How Does Law Protect in War? Cases, Documents and Teaching Materials on Contemporary Practice in International Humanitarian Law by Marco Sassòli and Antoine A. Bouvier, in co-operation with Susan Carr, Lindsey Cameron and Thomas de Saint Maurice, Geneva, 2006 (Second Edition). Volume I: Outline of International Humanitarian Law Possible Teaching Outlines and Volume II: Cases and Document.

Show Us the Data: Most Wanted Federal Documents A Report By Center for Democracy & Technology & OpenTheGovernment.org, March 2009 - "In the past few months, President Obama and his appointed officials have indicated that policies around open government and information disclosure will change drastically. While each administration adopts its own standards for the management of unclassified federal documents, change at the agency level does not take place instantly nor will such change be universally accepted."

The Top Ten Most Wanted Government Documents

1. Public Access to All Congressional Research Service Reports- Legislative Branch
   
2. Information About the Use of TARP and Bailout Funds - Executive Branch
   
3. Open and Accessible Federal Court Documents Through the PACER System - Judicial Branch
   
4. Current Contractor Projects - Executive Branch
   
5. Court Settlements Involving Federal Agencies - Judicial Branch
   
6. Access to Comprehensive Information About Legislation and Congressional Actions via THOMAS or Public Access to Legislative Information Service - Legislative Branch
   
7. Online Access to Electronic Campaign Disclosures - Legislative Branch
   
8. Daily Schedules of the President and Cabinet Officials - Executive Branch
   
9. Personal Financial Disclosures from Policymakers Across Government - All Branches
   
10. State Medicaid Plans and Waivers - Executive Branch and State Agencies

"AALL's Research Instruction and Patron Services Special Interest Section (RIPS-SIS) is proud to announce the release of the 2009 National Legal Research Teach-In Resource Kit on March 23, 2009. Each year in conjunction with National Library Week, RIPS creates a Teach-In Resource Kit which contains fresh materials for use in your institution's promotional and instructional activities. This year's kit includes legal research word search puzzles, illustration charts for secondary sources, presentations on the Bluebook, administrative law, and statutory research, various research assignments, and many other useful materials. The 2009 Teach-In Kit is now available here. Kits from previous years are available here. Our thanks to all this year's contributors. Thanks also to this year's Teach-In Kit Committee, Gail Partin, Jennifer Murray, David Lehmann, and Shawn Nevers, and to RIPS webmaster, Uwe "Ed" Beltz." [via Gail Partin]

"GPO is releasing the Public Printer's Letter to President Obama regarding transparency and open Government. The letter offers GPO's support in helping to implement the President's initiative leveraging the Federal Digital System (FDsys). Five goals with accompanying actions were provided that GPO is prepared to undertake to help implement the President's initiative."

News release: "In celebration of Sunshine Week, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today launched a sophisticated search tool that allows the public to closely examine thousands of pages of documents the organization has pried loose from secretive government agencies. The documents relate to a wide range of cutting-edge technology issues and government policies that affect civil liberties and personal privacy.

EFF's document collection -- obtained through requests and litigation under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) -- casts light on several controversial government initiatives, including the FBI's Investigative Data Warehouse and DCS 3000 surveillance program, and the Department of Homeland Security's Automated Targeting System and ADVISE data-mining project. The documents also provide details on Justice Department collection of communications routing data, Pentagon monitoring of soldiers' blogs, mismatches in the Terrorist Screening Center's watchlist, and FBI misuse of its national security letter subpoena authority.

The new search capability enables visitors to EFF's website to conduct keyword searches across the universe of government documents obtained by EFF, maximizing the value of the material."

Researching Australian Law: This comprehensive guide by Nicholas Pengelley and Sue Milne includes primary and secondary research resources in the following areas: Parliaments and Laws, Finding Australian Legislation, Finding Australian Cases, Treaties, Journal Literature, Legal Encyclopedias, Law Reform, Government Information, Dictionaries, Directories, Legal Research Guides, Publishers, Current Awareness, Discussion Lists, Information Brokerage and Major Texts.

Follow up to March 19, 2009 - New Attorney General Guidelines on FOIA Released - CJR: "In a bit of Congressional commemoration, Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont and John Cornyn, his Texan Republican colleague, have introduced S. 612, new legislation that would require any new b(3) exemptions to specifically reference the Freedom of Information Act, so that these exemptions would be easier to spot. The senators have frequently collaborated on legislation designed to improve FOIA, and this is the third consecutive Sunshine Week in which Cornyn and Leahy have introduced this legislation. In 2007, it passed the Senate unanimously...Because the law only applies to future b(3) exemptions that Congress might write, it does nothing to address those already in the US Code. Like Title 7, Chapter 77, Sec 4608, Subsection G, Paragraph 1, which protects certain information about honeybee handlers, or Title 7, Chapter 80, Section 4908, Subsection c, which does something similar for watermelon producers and handlers submitting information quantifying the size of their business in order to participate in the National Watermelon Promotion Board."

Sunshine Week 2009 Survey of State Govt. Info. Online, Published: March 14, 2009, Last Updated: March 18, 2009

New on LLRX.com - New Economy Analytics, Resources and Alerts: This guide by Marcus P. Zillman is designed to bring together the latest resources and sources on the Internet covering new economy analytics, resources and alerts.

National Security Archive: "Attorney General Eric Holder today released new guidelines for federal agencies on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that reinforce the presumption of disclosure articulated by President Obama in his day one Memorandum on FOIA, issued January 21, 2009. Attorney General Holder’s memorandum provides practical guidance for implementing the presumption of disclosure, including by encouraging discretionary releases of records and releasing portions of records even when other portions are being withheld. It states that the Department of Justice will only defend withholdings in court when there is a reasonably foreseeable risk of harm to an interest protected by one of the FOIA exemptions or the law requires the information to be withheld. It states that this policy will be applied to pending litigation “if practicable” and “where there is a substantial likelihood that application of the guidance would result in a material disclosure of additional information.”

News release: "During the House Financial Services Subcommittee meeting today, American International Group’s Impact on the Global Economy: Before, During, and After Federal Intervention, Rep. Barney Frank discussed the AIG employee contracts."

• 2008 Employee Retention Plan
  
• Confirmation and Acknowledgement
  
• Schedule to the Master Agreement
  
• Related postings on AIG and on the financial system

News release: "The Federal Trade Commission announced the fourth in a series of public hearings exploring the evolving market for intellectual property. These hearings, to be held April 17, 2009, in Washington, DC, will explore how corporations, inventors, and patent intermediaries value and monetize patents, strategies for buying and selling patents, and the role of secondary markets for intellectual property. Some of the most significant recent changes in markets for intellectual property have occurred through the emergence of new business models involving the buying, selling and licensing of patents. The April 17 hearing also will showcase some of the recent academic scholarship about the development and functioning of markets for intellectual property and the policy implications surrounding them."

News release: "The Judicial Conference of the United States today adopted a revised Code of Conduct for United States Judges that will take effect July 1, 2009, the first substantial Code revision since 1992. At its biannual meeting, the Conference also voted to ask Congress to create 63 new federal judgeships — 12 in the courts of appeals (nine permanent and three temporary) and 51 in the district courts (38 permanent and 13 temporary)."

"The unprecedented bet that many banks made on mortgages, real estate development and other real estate related lending during the middle part of this decade has produced a payoff no one imagined just a few years ago -- a huge increase in loan defaults, a soaring number of foreclosures and a plunge in bank profits. And now, a new analysis of bank financial statements by the Investigative Reporting Workshop [American University School of Communication], sheds new light on just how dangerous conditions have become in many banks across the nation. We also created a search tool that permits you to check the financial health of any bank in the nation. And we have provided detailed information about the banks that have received bailout money from the federal government. This project was done in cooperation with msnbc.com. See the full story." [thanks Peggy Garvin]

• Search for a Bank
  
• Search TARP Recipients or find TARP recipients by state
  
• Methodology
  
• Related postings on financial system

Prepared Testimony of Doug Shulman, Commissioner Internal Revenue Service, Before the Senate Finance Committee on Tax Issues Related to Ponzi Schemes and an Update on Offshore Tax Evasion Legislation, March 17, 2009

News release: "The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) today released a new report, Mortgage Loan Fraud Connections with
Other Financial Crime: An Evaluation of Suspicious Activity Reports Filed By Money Services Businesses, Securities and Futures Firms,
Insurance Companies and Casinos, that shows subjects reported for suspected mortgage loan fraud may also be involved in other financial crimes such as check fraud, money laundering, stock manipulation, structuring to avoid currency transaction reporting requirements and others. From depository institution Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs), FinCEN identified approximately 156,000 mortgage fraud subjects, and found that 2,360 were reported for suspicious activity in 3,680 of the other SAR types."

News release: "The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) today asked the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to reverse its decision withholding government organizational information on the grounds that the release would violate the privacy of individual employees. TRAC's appeal to OPM concerned a February 23 ruling by Gary A. Lukowski, the manager of OPM's Workforce Information and Planning Group, that contended the release of the requested information about how an agency is organized into units and subunits "would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy." In its appeal, TRAC said it was impossible for the requested structural information to invade personal privacy because "these records contain no information about any individual." TRAC also noted that the OPM action directly contradicted President Obama's January 21 Transparency and Open Government memorandum pledging his administration to "an unprecedented level of openness."

March 16, 2009 letter from Attorney General Cuomo to Edward M. Liddy, Chairman & CEO of AIG, concerning bonuses: "The Office of the New York Attorney General has been investigating compensation arrangements at AIG since last Fall. We were disturbed to learn over the weekend of AIG's plans to pay millions of dollars to members of the Financial Products subsidiary through its Financial Products Retention Plan. Financial Products was, of course, the division of AIG that led to its meltdown and the huge infusion of taxpayer funds to save the firm. Previously, AIG had agreed at our request to make no payments out of its $600 million Financial Products deferred compensation pool."

WSJ: Cough It Up, Bernie: Feds Look to Seize Homes, Boats, Pianos...

News release: "Incisive Media, a global leader in specialized business news and information, today announced plans to merge two of the nation’s most respected legal publications, The National Law Journal and Legal Times. The combined organization, which will operate under The National Law Journal brand, will offer print and online national legal news and analysis from an award-winning team of journalists in seven bureaus around the country. The new publication will continue to deliver insider coverage of Washington, D.C. news, commentary and legal analysis to readers within the Beltway and across the country, including front-page news from the capital and a weekly Washington section. The first print edition of the expanded National Law Journal will be available in May."

Columbia Journalism Review: In just the last two years, Malamud, as the sole staffer of Public.Resource.Org, a 501c3 nonprofit based in Sebastopol, California, has posted over 80 million pages of legal documents on his Web site, many of them federal appeals court decisions. He’s also freed from private control the only remaining copy of a massive Navy-created database of legal decisions, placed building codes from all fifty states online, and convinced the Oregon legislature to cease claiming copyright over the state’s laws. It’s all been done by pointing out that documents created at public expense are, under U.S. law, considered the property of the public." Now he is campaigning for the position of Public Printer with a "platform for revitalizing the GPO and rebooting .gov spelled out in in a detailed series of policy papers submitted to the Presidential Transition Team."

News release: "n a filing today with the federal District Court for the District of Columbia, the Department of Justice submitted a new standard for the government’s authority to hold detainees at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility. The definition does not rely on the President’s authority as Commander-in-Chief independent of Congress’s specific authorization. It draws on the international laws of war to inform the statutory authority conferred by Congress. It provides that individuals who supported al Qaeda or the Taliban are detainable only if the support was substantial. And it does not employ the phrase "enemy combatant."

• Memo Regarding the Government’s Detention Authority
  
• Declaration of Attorney General Eric Holder

News release: "The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) today won the fifth annual Rosemary Award for the worst Freedom of Information Act performance by a federal agency. The FBI’s reports to Congress show that the Bureau is unable to find any records in response to two-thirds of its incoming FOIA requests on average over the past four years, when the other major government agencies averaged only a 13% “no records” response to public requests...During fiscal year 2008, the FBI gave “no records” responses to 57% of the requests it processed, more than any other major agency. The Bureau only provided documents (most redacted) in less than 14% of cases—the lowest percentage of requests granted among the major agencies in the federal government. In 2007, the FBI responded with “no records” in 70% of its FOIA requests. In 2006, “no records” peaked at 74%; and in 2005, at 66%—the four-year average."

News release: "The American Civil Liberties Union released a comprehensive report today examining widespread abuses that have occurred under the USA Patriot Act, a law that was rushed through Congress just 45 days after September 11. In the almost eight years since the passage of the controversial national security law, the Patriot Act has led to egregious government misconduct."

Mother Jones: "By slipping a simple, three-sentence provision into the gargantuan spending bill passed by the House of Representatives last week, a congressman from Silicon Valley is trying to nudge Congress into the 21st Century. Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) placed a measure in the bill directing Congress and its affiliated organs—including the Library of Congress and the Government Printing Office—to make its data available to the public in raw form. This will enable members of the public and watchdog groups to craft websites and databases showcasing government data that are more user-friendly than the government's own."

Post-Conference Workshop on Competitive Intelligence, April 2, 2009 - 1:30 PM – 4:30 PM, Sabrina I. Pacifici, Law Librarian, & Founder/Editor/Publisher, LLRX.com and beSpacific.com

LLRX.com: Guide to International Refugee Law Resources on the Web - This updated research guide by Elisa Mason directs readers to some of the key texts and resources available on the Web that can help shed light on, and provide a context for, many of the issues currently being deliberated in the refugee law arena. The guide covers international and regional instruments, human rights and humanitarian law, international bodies (especially the UNHCR), national legislation, case law, and periodicals.

LLRX.com - Knowledge Discovery Resources 2009: An Internet MiniGuide Annotated Link Compilation - Marcus P. Zillman's compilation is dedicated to the latest and most reliable resources for knowledge discovery available through the Internet. This wide ranging selection of resources provides specialized tools, applications and sources relevant to researchers from many disciplines.

US Courts: "Bankruptcy filings in the federal courts rose 31 percent in calendar year 2008, according to data released today by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. The number of bankruptcies filed in the twelve-month period ending December 31, 2008, totaled 1,117,771, up from 850,912 bankruptcies filed in CY 2007. Filings have grown since CY 2006 when bankruptcy filings totaled 617,660, in the first full 12-month period after the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA) took effect. An historic high in the number of bankruptcy filings was seen in calendar year 2005, when over 2 million bankruptcies were filed."

OECD: "Every year, the 8th of March marks a major day of global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women - and offers an occasion to present the work of the Development Centre in the area of gender equality."

US Courts: "President George W. Bush appointed 328 persons to Article III judgeships, the third most of any president."

News release: "The Department of Justice today released two previously undisclosed Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) memoranda and seven previously undisclosed opinions...The two memoranda memorialized that certain legal propositions in ten OLC opinions issued between 2001 and 2003 no longer reflected the views of OLC and "should not be treated as authoritative for any purpose." They further explained that some of the underlying opinions had been withdrawn or superseded and that "caution should be exercised" by the executive branch "before relying in other respects" on the other opinions that had not been superseded or withdrawn...the Department has released the six of those underlying opinions from 2001-2003 that are not classified and that had not previously been disclosed."

• Memorandum Regarding Status of Certain OLC Opinions Issued in the Aftermath of the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001 (01-15-2009)
  
• Memorandum Regarding Constitutionality of Amending Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to Change the "Purpose" Standard for Searches (09-25-2001)
  
• Memorandum Regarding Authority for Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activities within the United States (10-23-2001)
  
• Memorandum Regarding Authority of the President to Suspend Certain Provisions of the ABM Treaty (11-15-2001)
  
• Memorandum Regarding the President's Power as Commander in Chief to Transfer Captured Terrorists to the Control and Custody of Foreign Nations (03-13-2002)
  
• Memorandum Regarding Swift Justice Authorization Act (04-08-2002)
  
• Memorandum Regarding Determination of Enemy Belligerency and Military Detention (06-08-2002)
  
• Memorandum Regarding Applicability of 18 U.S.C. § 4001(a) to Military Detention of United States Citizens (06-27-2002)
  
• Memorandum Regarding October 23, 2001 OLC Opinion Addressing the Domestic Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activities (10-06-2008)

News release: "According to a letter filed by the government in court today, the CIA acknowledged it destroyed 92 tapes of interrogations. The admission comes in an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit seeking records of the treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody abroad. In December 2007, the ACLU filed a motion to hold the CIA in contempt for its destruction of videotapes recording the harsh interrogation of prisoners in violation of a court order requiring the agency to produce or identify all the requested records. That motion is still pending."

USA Today: "For three years, the investigative arm of Congress has seen its staff dwindle in size. Now, the agency is getting a $25 million infusion of cash from the stimulus bill signed by President Obama last month to hire investigators, auditors and others to track hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending to jump-start the economy. The stimulus bill contains $330.5 million for oversight and offers the president his first opportunity to put into practice his campaign pledge to demand greater accountability of federal spending. It provides $25 million for the Government Accountability Office, the non-partisan congressional agency; $84 million to create an accountability board within the administration and $221.5 million to the inspectors general who serve as department watchdogs."

Criminal Law Resources: Social Networking Online and Criminal Justice - The activities of users and the information being posted on social networking sites are having wide ranging effects on the administration of justice, law enforcement investigation, prosecution and defense. Ken Strutin's guide provides a snapshot of many of the novel and varied uses of social networking evidence in the field of criminal justice.

Workforce Management: "Employers would be prohibited from making hiring, firing and other personnel decisions on the basis of workers’ genetic predisposition to a disease under rules to be proposed this week by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The proposals, which are open for public comment over the next two months, also would bar employers from deliberately acquiring genetic information from employees and job applicants...In addition, employers would be restricted from disclosing genetic information about workers and applicants. Violators would be subject to compensatory and punitive damages under some circumstances."

• Meeting of February 25, 2009 - on Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Implementation of Title II of the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act of 2008, Statement of Christopher J. Kuczynski, J.D., LL.M., Assistant Legal Counsel, ADA Policy Division
  
• Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) - H.R.493, Became Public Law No: 110-233 on May 21, 2008

News release: "Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has announced three witnesses for a hearing scheduled Wednesday, March 4, on Getting to the Truth Through a Nonpartisan Commission of Inquiry. Leahy has proposed establishing a nonpartisan commission to examine past national security policies. Leahy has invited three witnesses to testify at the hearing: Thomas Pickering, former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Retired Vice Admiral Lee Gunn, and attorney John Farmer."

"The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during November 2008 the government reported 16 new national internal security/terrorism prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up from 13 in the previous month. These two months' figures are the lowest recorded in this category since September 2001. The comparisons of the number of defendants charged with national internal security/terrorism-related offenses are based on case-by-case information obtained by TRAC under the Freedom of Information Act from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys."

"The 2009 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) is an annual report by the Department of State to Congress prepared in accordance with the Foreign Assistance Act. It describes the efforts of key countries to attack all aspects of the international drug trade in Calendar Year 2008. Volume I covers drug and chemical control activities. Volume II covers money laundering and financial crimes."

How Convicts and Con Artists Receive New Federal Contracts: "The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee examines the Excluded Parties List System, a federal database intended to prevent persons and businesses ineligible to receive federal contracts due to past misconduct from receiving new awards. A GAO report...released at the hearing finds numerous examples of ineligible parties continuing to receive new federal contracts, due to flaws in the database and inadequate contracting procedures. Many of the parties who continue to receive new contracts have been debarred from contracting for egregious violations that directly threatened the national security of the United States and the safety of U.S. troops and citizens. The hearing will review whether immediate changes should be implemented to prevent the award of economic stimulus contracts to ineligible fraudulent contractors."

Commission assesses another four Stability and Convergence Programmes: "Following last week's assessment of 17 Stability and Convergence Programmes, the European Commission today examined the updated programmes of Italy, Luxembourg, Lithuania and Portugal...According to Council Regulation (EC) No 1466/97 on the strengthening of budgetary surveillance and the surveillance and coordination of economic policies, Member States must submit updated macroeconomic and budgetary projections every year. Such updates are called stability programmes in the case of countries that have adopted the euro, and convergence programmes otherwise. This regulation is also referred to as the 'preventive arm' of the Stability and Growth Pact."

• Stability and Growth Pact document search
  
• Stability and convergence programmes submitted by Member States
  
• Related postings on financial system

  Permanent Link

Follow up to Backgrounder, Database and Executive Order: Closing Guantanamo, the Department of Defense released a Review of Department Compliance With President's Executive Order on Detainee Condition of Confinement: "After considerable deliberation and a comprehensive review, it is our judgment that the conditions of confinement in Guantánamo are in conformity with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions..."

Timothy B. Lee: "Speaking at Princeton on Thursday, Richard Sarnoff, chairman of the Association of American Publishers, discussed the landmark settlement in the Google Book Search case. Sarnoff speculated that the agreement could effectively give Google and Amazon a "duopoly" in the online book market."

Update to February 4, 2009 posting, New and Restyled Civil and Criminal Forms Now Online, the reference has been revised to facilitate user access, see Federal Court Forms Now Categorized - A list of 56 new and restyled civil and criminal forms has been posted in a categorized listing.

Principles of Federal Appropriations Law: Third Edition, Volume III (898 pages, PDF): "Our objective in Principles is to present a basic reference work covering those areas of law in which the Comptroller General issues decisions, using text discussion with specific legal authorities to illustrate the principles discussed, their application, and exceptions. As we noted in our first volume, Principles should be used as a general guide and starting point, not as a substitute for original legal research..Publication of this volume completes our process of revising and updating the second edition of the “Red Book” and reissuing it in a 3-volume looseleaf set with cumulative annual updates. This volume and all other updated volumes of Principles, including the annual updates, are available on GAO’s Web site under Key References. The annual updates are only available online."

LLRX Book Review by Heather A. Phillips - Americans in Waiting: The Lost Story of Immigration and Citizenship in the United States - Heather A. Phillips discusses author Hiroshi Motomura's insights into changing views on this experience, including the status of immigration as contract, and that of immigration as affiliation.

News release: "UBS AG, Switzerland’s largest bank, has entered into a deferred prosecution agreement on charges of conspiring to defraud the United States by impeding the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Justice Department announced today.

As part of the deferred prosecution agreement and in an unprecedented move, UBS, based on an order by the Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority (FINMA), has agreed to immediately provide the United States government with the identities of, and account information for, certain United States customers of UBS’s cross-border business. Under the deferred prosecution agreement, UBS has also agreed to expeditiously exit the business of providing banking services to United States clients with undeclared accounts. As part of the deferred prosecution agreement, UBS has further agreed to pay $780 million in fines, penalties, interest and restitution. Earlier today, the agreement was accepted in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. by U.S. District Judge James I. Cohn.

A criminal information was unsealed today that charges UBS with conspiring to defraud the United States by impeding the IRS. According to court documents, in 2000, after it purchased the brokerage firm Paine Webber, UBS voluntarily entered into an agreement with the IRS that required UBS to report to the IRS income and other identifying information for its United States clients who held United States securities in a UBS account. Court documents allege that the agreement also required UBS to withhold income taxes from United States clients who directed investment activities in foreign securities from the United States. The information further asserts that, in order to evade those new reporting requirements, employees and managers within the cross-border business, with the knowledge of certain UBS executives, helped United States taxpayers open new UBS accounts in the names of nominees and/or sham entities. According to court documents, the assets of the individual’s accounts were then transferred to the newly created accounts, as to which the U.S. taxpayer would not be identified as a beneficiary."

R40224, Troubled Asset Relief Program and Foreclosures, February 17, 2009

A Rising Share: Hispanics and Federal Crime: "Sharp growth in illegal immigration and increased enforcement of immigration laws have dramatically altered the ethnic composition of offenders sentenced in federal courts. In 2007, Latinos accounted for 40% of all sentenced federal offenders - more than triple their share (13%) of the total U.S. adult population. The share of all sentenced offenders who were Latino in 2007 was up from 24% in 1991, according to an analysis of data from the United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center."

• Embassy Construction: Additional Actions Are Needed to Address Contractor Participation, GAO-09-48, January 16, 2009: "To provide safe and secure workplaces for overseas posts, the Department of State (State) has built 64 new embassy compounds (NEC) and other facilities since 1999, has 31 ongoing projects, and plans to build at least 90 more. In 2007, State reported the U.S. contractor pool for building NECs had reached its limit and proposed legislation to amend the criteria to qualify for NEC awards."
• Clean Air Act: Historical Information on EPA's Process for Reviewing California Waiver Requests and Making Waiver Determinations, GAO-09-249R, January 16, 2009: "Emissions from mobile sources, such as automobiles and trucks, contribute to air quality degradation and can threaten public health and the environment. Under the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates these emissions. The act generally allows one set of federal standards for new motor vehicle emissions and pre-empts states from adopting or enforcing their own standards. However, it also authorizes the EPA Administrator to waive this provision to allow the state of California1 to enact and enforce emission standards for new motor vehicles that are as protective, in the aggregate, as federal government standards. Other states may also adopt California's standards if they choose."

News release: "he Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Robert Allen Stanford and three of his companies for orchestrating a fraudulent, multi-billion dollar investment scheme centering on an $8 billion CD program. Stanford's companies include Antiguan-based Stanford International Bank (SIB), Houston-based broker-dealer and investment adviser Stanford Group Company (SGC), and investment adviser Stanford Capital Management. The SEC also charged SIB chief financial officer James Davis as well as Laura Pendergest-Holt, chief investment officer of Stanford Financial Group (SFG), in the enforcement action."

• Litigation Release No. 20901
  
• SEC Complaint
  
• Memorandum of Law

Researching Intellectual Property Law In The Russian Federation: Julian Zegelman's updated and revised research guide is intended to assist its users with research of Russian intellectual property law by a) describing the primary sources of intellectual property law in the Russian Federation; and b) listing a number of secondary sources that interpret and comment on intellectual property law in the Russian Federation.

E-Discovery Update: Revisiting ESI Agreements and Court Orders - Conrad J. Jacoby focuses on the new requirement that litigants must meet early in a dispute to discuss the scope of discovery work to reach agreement on how best to proceed with the discovery of potentially relevant electronically stored information (“ESI”). What happens, though, when fundamental assumptions used to reach agreement at that early stage in the case turn out to be incorrect?

Closing Guantanamo, Greg Bruno, Staff Writer, February 12, 2009. Council on Foreign Relations

• Introduction
  
• The Guantanamo Inmates: Who Are They?
  
• The Guantanamo Inmates: How to Try Them
  
• The Guantanamo Inmates: Where to Send Them
  
• Constitutional and Other Considerations
  
  • See also The Guantánamo Docket - The Detainees: "Of the 779 people who have been detained at the United States military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, 532 have been transferred and 242 remain, according to analysis by The New York Times of documents from the Department of Defense. In addition, five detainees died while in custody. This interactive database includes information about the detainees, thousands of pages of government documents and links to court records and news media reports."
    
  • Executive Order regarding Guantanamo Bay detainees, January 22, 2009 - "Executive Order requires closure of the Guantanamo detention center no later than one year from the date of the Order. Closure of the facility is the ultimate goal but not the first step. The Order establishes a review process with the goal of disposing of the detainees before closing the facility."

"The mission of the Securities and Exchange Commission is to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation. During the current turmoil in the credit markets, the SEC has worked closely with the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and other regulators in the U.S. and around the world to protect investors and the markets. The SEC administers the federal securities laws, requires disclosure by public companies, and brings enforcement actions against securities law violators. While other federal and state agencies are legally responsible for regulating mortgage lending and the credit markets, the SEC has taken the following decisive actions to address the extraordinary challenges caused by the current credit crisis..."

"The Law Library of Congress is pleased to present a newly digitized collection to celebrate the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth. The collection covers three eras including nine items in the Lincoln the Lawyer collection, five on Habeas Corpus and the War Powers of the President, and eight covering The Assassination: Trials. Lincoln's effort to restore the Union and his contributions to American political thought and its ideals of freedom often obscure the fact that he had been a successful attorney. Lincoln himself admitted his ambition lay in politics and not in the law, "My forte is as a Statesman, rather than a Prosecutor." Even if the law was Lincoln's "secondary" avocation, it was indelibly linked to him in life... and death." [Donna Scheeder]

February 11, 2009 - The Need for Increased Fraud Enforcement in the Wake of the Economic Downturn, John S. Pistole, Deputy Director, FBI, Before the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing

News release: "The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settlements with KBR, Inc. and Halliburton Co. to resolve SEC charges that KBR subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root LLC bribed Nigerian government officials over a 10-year period, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), in order to obtain construction contracts. The SEC also charged that KBR and Halliburton, KBR's former parent company, engaged in books and records violations and internal controls violations related to the bribery. KBR and Halliburton have agreed to pay $177 million in disgorgement to settle the SEC's charges. Kellogg Brown & Root LLC has agreed to pay a $402 million fine to settle parallel criminal charges brought today by the U.S. Department of Justice. The sanctions represent the largest combined settlement ever paid by U.S. companies since the FCPA's inception."

• Litigation Release No. 20897
  
• SEC Complaint
  
• DOJ news release: Kellogg Brown & Root LLC Pleads Guilty to Foreign Bribery Charges and Agrees to Pay $402 Million Criminal Fine
  
• via FCPA Blog - Download a copy of KBR's criminal information here.
  
• Download a copy of the DOJ/KBR Joint Motion to Waive Presentence Investigation here.

James Mintz Group, Issue Two, December 2008: "In the last 120 days, one of the mightiest investigative armadas in our times has been assembled to look into alleged wrongdoing and conflicts of interest in the mortgage and financial industries. So many FBI agents have been assigned to these cases that it’s straining the war on terror; the understaffed SEC enforcement division is struggling to keep up; subpoenas are flying from state attorneys general; so many accountants are on it that it’s keeping the lights on late in Big Four offices; plaintiffs’ law firms are contacting financial firms’ former employees to find witnesses; law firms, forensic accountants and private investigators are conducting internal investigations to examine many corners of the mess. While this meltdown has been compared to the Great Depression, there is something different about the trouble these days — there’s an investigative overhang extending into the future with unknowable consequences. (scroll down the page to see sketch of the investigative battleground)." [via Center for Public Integrity]

News release: "The United States Securities and Exchange Commission announced that on February 9, 2009, it submitted to the Honorable Judge Louis L. Stanton, a federal judge in the Southern District of New York, the consent of Bernard L. Madoff to a proposed partial judgment imposing a permanent injunction and continuing relief previously imposed in the preliminary injunction order, entered on December 18, 2008. Madoff consented to the partial judgment without admitting or denying the allegations [$50 billion fraud] of the SEC's complaint, filed on December 11, 2008. If the partial judgment is entered by the Court, the permanent injunction will continue to restrain Madoff from violating certain antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws. Also, the proposed partial judgment would continue against Madoff the relief imposed in the December 18, 2008 Order, including the order freezing assets. The proposed partial judgment would leave the issues of the amount of disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil penalty to be imposed against Madoff to be decided at a later time."

FOIA Facts: President Obama’s FOIA Memorandum and When Change Will Actually Occur - Scott A. Hodes notes the Obama administration's immediate focus on FOIA, but reminds us that changing the ship of government requires numerous steps and constant vigilance to ensure change remains consistent and constant.

War About Terror - Civil Liberties and National Security After 9/11: A Council on Foreign Relations Working Paper, by Daniel B. Prieto, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Counterterrorism and National Security, February 2009

"Wikileaks has released nearly a billion dollars worth of quasi-secret reports commissioned by the United States Congress. The 6,780 reports, current as of this month, comprise over 127,000 pages of material on some of the most contentious issues in the nation...Nearly 2,300 of the reports were updated in the last 12 months, while the oldest report goes back to 1990. The release represents the total output of the Congressional Research Service (CRS) electronically available to Congressional offices." [As noted by Michael Ravnitzky, "there are additional reports and briefings prepared for specific offices that are not included in that electronic output."]

• Alphabetical list of reports
  
• Chronological list of reports
  
• These reports have also been merged into OpenCRS.
  
• Torrent: WikiLeaks Document Release: CRS Reports, Feb 2009 (full pack, incl. metadata for indexing). Where applicable we have also categorized the reports according to country and attached them to our general country index.
  
• Note: See also the FAS directory of links to topical CRS Reports

"...the Journal of Legal Analysis (JLA) is a new open-access law journal co-published by Harvard University Press (HUP) and the John M. Olin Center for Law, Economics, and Business at Harvard Law School. For the record, this is the first new journa