“In response to extensive comments submitted by EPIC, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board has issued a final rule that will govern its Freedom of Information Act, Privacy Act, and Sunshine Act practices. The Board’s initial draft of the rule allowed the agency to encourage other agencies to classify information, reserved the Board’s right to terminate public participation in Board meetings “at… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Courts
Senate Intelligence Committee Approves FISA Improvements Act
Increases privacy protections, oversight, transparency of critical intelligence programs: The Senate Intelligence Committee [October 31, 2013] approved the FISA Improvements Act by a vote of 11-4. The bipartisan legislation increases privacy protections and public transparency of the National Security Agency call-records program in several ways, while preserving the operational effectiveness and flexibility of this vital… Continue Reading
The Relationship of the Court and Defense Counsel
The Relationship of the Court and Defense Counsel: The Impact on Competent Representation and Proposals for Reform – Richard Daniel Klein 29 Boston College Law Review 531 (1988), Touro Law Center Legal Studies Research Paper “This Article examines the impact of the trial court upon the quality of legal assistance provided the indigent criminal defendant.… Continue Reading
EPIC – Leahy and Sensenbrenner Introduce USA FREEDOM Act
“The Democratic Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Republican author of the Patriot Act have introduced the USA FREEDOM Act, which would reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and limit NSA surveillance activities. A bi-partisan coalition, including 17 Senators and 70 Members of Congress, have joined as original co-sponsors. Key provisions of the FREEDOM… Continue Reading
TRAC – Immigration Court Backlog Up 85% From Five Years Ago
“The number of cases awaiting resolution before the Immigration Courts climbed to 344,230 by the end of fiscal year 2013, according to very timely government enforcement data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. The case backlog, which has risen 5.9 percent since September 2012, is now 85 percent higher than… Continue Reading
Report – What the Government Does with Americans’ Data
What the Government Does with Americans’ Data, by Rachel Levinson-Waldman, Brennan Center for Justice, October 8, 2013. “After the attacks of September 11, 2001, the government’s authority to collect, keep, and share information about Americans with little or no basis to suspect wrongdoing dramatically expanded. While the risks and benefits of this approach are the… Continue Reading
TRAC – Fewer Immigration Removal Filings Based on Criminal Activity
“Of all filings in the Immigration Courts seeking to deport noncitizens during fiscal year 2013, only one in seven (14.4 percent) have been based on alleged criminal activity. This proportion is roughly half what it was twenty years ago, when 28.5 percent — more than a quarter — of removal filings were based on criminal… Continue Reading
New on LLRX – DNA Evidence: Brave New World, Same Old Problems
Via LLRX.com – DNA Evidence: Brave New World, Same Old Problems Criminal law expert Ken Strutin guides us through the critical facets that comprise the backbone of investigative forensics in the 21st Century – the database. Ken states that of all information gathering techniques, genetic databanking has become the holy grail of prosecutions and the… Continue Reading
Government Responds to EPIC’s Supreme Court Challenge of NSA Telephone Record Program
“The Solicitor General has filed a response to EPIC’s challenge to the NSA’s telephone record collection program. In July, EPIC petitioned the Supreme Court to vacate the order of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that requires Verizon to turn over all telephone records to the NSA. EPIC argued that the Intelligence Court exceeded its legal… Continue Reading
Guardian – FISA Court rules that allow NSA to use US data
“Top secret documents submitted to the court that oversees surveillance by US intelligence agencies show the judges have signed off on broad orders which allow the NSA to make use of information “inadvertently” collected from domestic US communications without a warrant. The Guardian is publishing in full two documents submitted to the secret Foreign Intelligence… Continue Reading
DOJ opposes tech company requests to publish surveillance statistics
“The U.S. Department of Justice has opposed requests by Facebook, Google, Microsoft and other companies to publish the number of surveillance requests they receive from the National Security Agency and other agencies. Requests from five Internet companies, also including Yahoo and LinkedIn, would hurt the NSA’s ability to conduct surveillance on “particular” Internet communications, the… Continue Reading
Altering Attention in Adjudication
Altering Attention in Adjudication – Jeffrey J. Rachlinski, Cornell Law School; Andrew J. Wistrich, California Central District Court; Chris Guthrie, Vanderbilt University – Law School. September 27, 2013. UCLA Law Review, Vol. 60, No. 1586, 2013. “Judges decide complex cases in rapid succession but are limited by cognitive constraints. Consequently judges cannot allocate equal attention… Continue Reading
