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Category Archives: Courts

How to survive the broligarchy: 20 lessons for the post-truth world

The Guardian – Carole Cadwalladr – In the wake of Trump’s unnerving appointees, the investigative journalist and veteran of the libel court offers [20] pointers on coping in an age of surveillance

Journalists are first, but everyone else is next. Trump has announced multibillion-dollar lawsuits against “the enemy camp”: newspapers and publishers. His proposed FBI director is on record as wanting to prosecute certain journalists. Journalists, publishers, writers, academics are always in the first wave. Doctors, teachers, accountants will be next. Authoritarianism is as predictable as a Swiss train. It’s already later than you think…”

How Google Spent 15 Years Creating a Culture of Concealment

The New York Times [free article] – “Trying to avoid antitrust suits, Google systematically told employees to destroy messages, avoid certain words and copy the lawyers as often as possible…How Google developed this distrustful culture was pieced together from hundreds of documents and exhibits, as well as witness testimony, in three antitrust trials against the… Continue Reading

Artificial Intelligence and Constitutional Interpretation

Coan, Andrew and Surden, Harry, Artificial Intelligence and Constitutional Interpretation (November 12, 2024). Arizona Legal Studies Discussion Paper No. 24-30, U of Colorado Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 24-39, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5018779 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5018779 This Article examines the potential use of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT in constitutional interpretation. LLMs are extremely… Continue Reading

Canadian legal information database sues company behind AI chatbot

CBA – Lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court alleges that Caseway AI violates CanLII’s terms of service and copyrights: “The Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII) has taken the makers of an AI chatbot to court over what it says is a violation of its terms of service, due to the chatbot scraping CanLII’s database in… Continue Reading

ProPublica’s Coverage of the Election Issues That Matter to Voters

With just days to go before Election Day, political coverage is everywhere. ProPublica avoids horse race coverage of the election, instead deeply exploring issues that voters care about, like immigration, abortion, health care, the economy, extremism and education. Continue Reading

Threatening ‘the enemy within’ with force: Military ethicists explain the danger to important American traditions

Via LLRX – Threatening ‘the enemy within’ with force: Military ethicists explain the danger to important American traditions – Marcus Hedahl, Professor of Philosophy, United States Naval Academy and Bradley Jay Strawser, Professor of Philosophy, Naval Postgraduate School worry that Trump’s actions while president, and his comments about his plans for a potential second term,… Continue Reading

Harris, Trump Voters Differ Over Election Security, Vote Counts and Hacking Concerns

Pew: More than seven-in-ten registered voters in the U.S. (73%) think the election this November will be run and administered at least somewhat well. Nine-in-ten Harris supporters say this, compared with 57% of Trump supporters. Just 20% of voters are highly confident the Supreme Court would be politically neutral if it rules on legal issues… Continue Reading

There Are Four Anti-Trump Pathways We Failed to Take. There Is a Fifth.

The New York Times Opinion [unlocked], Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, professors of government at Harvard and the authors of “Tyranny of the Minority.” :”…In the United States, the civic response to the Trump threat has been tepid. For a moment, business leaders seemed poised to defend democracy. After the Jan. 6 insurrection, many leading… Continue Reading

Inside US Government-Bought Tool That Can Track Phones at Abortion Clinics

404 Media: “On a computer screen a map shows the movements of smartphones around the globe. Zooming into an abortion clinic in the south of the United States, the online tool shows more than 700 red dots over the clinic itself, each representing a phone, and by extension, a person. The tool, called Locate X and… Continue Reading

LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute Launches New Digital Archive

“Today, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF)’s Thurgood Marshall Institute announced the launch of Recollection: A Civil Rights Legal Archive, a first-of-its kind, searchable archival collection of oral histories, legal briefs, press releases, and correspondence related to more than 6,000 cases the organization has litigated since its founding. This effort is the culmination of five years… Continue Reading