UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION, et al., Plaintiffs, v. CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, et al. , Defendants. Civil Action No. 13 – 1870 (JEB) – May 20, 2015 MEMORANDUM OPINION [snipped]: “A lightning rod for controversy, the Central Intelligence Agency’s former detention and interrogation program has spawned a… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Courts
NY State joining 14 other states in adopting Uniform Bar Examination
The National Jurist – “New York State will begin using the Uniform Bar Examination in 2016, making it the fifteenth, and by far largest, state to do so. The state’s chief judge, Jonathan Lippman, said he expected the move to result in a “domino effect” with other states jumping on the UBE bandwagaon. More than… Continue Reading
Sunlight Foundation – Opening Criminal Justice Data
“As part of a new initiative, the Sunlight Foundation has begun amassing an inventory of public and privately-produced criminal justice data. The spreadsheet on this page is a work in progress but we’re publishing it now with hopes that people can use it for research or reporting and even contribute to it. Please go through… Continue Reading
US DOJ IG Report – Review of the FBI’s Use of Section 215 Orders
FBI’s Use of Section 215 Orders: Assessment of Progress in Implementing Recommendations and Examination of Use in 2007 through 2009, Oversight and Review Division Report 15-05. May 2015. Redacted. “The Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) announced today the release of a public version of its most recent report examining the… Continue Reading
Quantitative Analysis of Writing Style on the U.S. Supreme Court
Carlson, Keith and Livermore, Michael A. and Rockmore, Daniel, A Quantitative Analysis of Writing Style on the U.S. Supreme Court (March 11, 2015). Washington University Law Review, Vol. 93, No. 6, 2016; Virginia Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper No. 3. Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2554516 “This paper presents the results of a… Continue Reading
New Mexico Law Review Spring 2015 dedicated to intersection of critically acclaimed TV Breaking Bad and the law
Spring 2015, Vol. 45, No. 2 INTRODUCTION Professional Articles Breaking Bad in the Classroom Max Minzner 397 Why We Would Spare Walter White: Breaking Bad and the True Power of Mitigation Bidish J. Sarma 429 “Better Call Saul” If You Want Discoverable Communications: The Misrepresentation of the Attorney-Client Privilege on Breaking Bad Armen Adzhemyan &… Continue Reading
Immigration Court Backlog Reaches Another New High
“The number of new cases awaiting resolution before the Immigration Courts climbed to a new all-time high of 445,607 as of the end of April 2015, according to very timely government court data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). The backlog has risen 9.2 percent since the start of FY 2015 and is… Continue Reading
TRAC: Holding Federal Agencies Accountable for over 25 Years
“Syracuse University Magazine has just published an article celebrating TRAC’s 25th year as a unique university-based data research center focusing on the workings of federal agencies, federal district courts and immigration courts. We thought this well-written description of TRAC’s history, mission and offerings would be of interest to government officials, members of Congress, scholars, supporters,… Continue Reading
EFF Case Analysis: Appeals Court Rules NSA Phone Records Dragnet is Illegal
Andrew Crocker – “We now have the first decision from a court of appeals on the NSA’s mass surveillance program involving bulk collection of telephone records under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, and it’s a doozy. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued an opinion in ACLU v. Clapper holding that… Continue Reading
Book Review – Mass Incarceration: The Silence of the Judges
New York Review of Books – Mass Incarceration: The Silence of the Judges, Jed S. Rakoff, May 21, 2015 Issue. What Caused the Crime Decline? a report by Oliver Roeder, Lauren-Brooke Eisen, and Julia Bowling, with a foreword by Joseph E. Stiglitz and an executive summary by Inimai Chettiar Brennan Center for Justice, NYU Law School,… Continue Reading
Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down NSA Bulk Record Collection Program
EPIC – “The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that the NSA’s telephone record collection program exceeds legal authority. The government claimed that it could collect all records under the Section 215 “relevance” standard. But the court rejected that argument and held that “such an expansive concept of ‘relevance’ is unprecedented and unwarranted.” The… Continue Reading
Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Legislation in the 114th Congress
CRS Report – Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Legislation in the 114th Congress. Charles Doyle Senior Specialist in American Public Law, April 29, 2015. “A surprising number of federal crimes carry mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment; that is, they are punishably by imprisonment for a term of not less than some number of years. During the 114th… Continue Reading
