“United States v. Windsor challenges a key section of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) – The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) (Pub.L. 104199, 110 Stat. 2419, enacted September 21, 1996, 1 U.S.C. § 7 and 28 U.S.C. § 1738C)” Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Courts
TRAC – Drop in Employment Civil Rights Lawsuits
“The latest available data from the federal courts show that during February 2013 the government reported 950 new lawsuits filed under the category of Employment Civil Rights, according to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). This number is down 7.9 percent from the previous month and is 13.2 percent lower… Continue Reading
CDT – Big Win in Supreme Court Case on "First Sale"
CDT: “The Supreme Court issued a decision today that is a major win for everyone who relies on copyright law’s “first sale” doctrine — including the millions of Internet users who have flocked to Craigslist, eBay, and similar online tools to buy, sell, and “freecycle” all kinds of stuff. The case, Kirtsaeng v. Wiley, effectively… Continue Reading
EFF – National Security Letters Are Unconstitutional, Federal Judge Rules
“A federal district court judge in San Francisco has ruled that National Security Letter (NSL) provisions in federal law violate the Constitution. The decision came in a lawsuit challenging a NSL on behalf of an unnamed telecommunications company represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). In the ruling publicly released [March 15, 2013], Judge Susan… Continue Reading
TRAC- Immigration Court Backlog Reaches New High
“The number of cases awaiting resolution before the Immigration Courts has risen along with the average time these pending cases have been waiting. As of the end of February 2013, the backlog has reached a new all-time high of 325,296. According to the very latest data obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse… Continue Reading
Innocence Project – New Report on Indigent Defense Examines Philadelphia Homicide Verdicts
Via The Innocence Project Blog: “A new report funded by the National Institute of Justice titled, Measuring the Effect of Defense Counsel on Homicide Case Outcomes, examines the difference that a lawyer makes to the outcome of serious criminal cases in Philadelphia. Since April 1993, every fifth murder case in Philadelphia is sequentially assigned at… Continue Reading
BJS – Pretrial Detention and Misconduct in Federal District Courts, 1995-2010
Pretrial Detention and Misconduct in Federal District Courts, 1995-2010. Thomas H. Cohen, Ph.D. February 21, 2013. NCJ 239673 “Presents findings on general trends in pretrial detention and misconduct in the federal district courts between fiscal years 1995 and 2010. The report highlights trends in the number of defendants released and detained pretrial and examines the… Continue Reading
TRAC – Weapons Prosecutions Slip from FY 2012 Pace
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse: “During January 2013, there were 493 new federal criminal prosecutions in the weapons category, according to the latest available data from the Justice Department. This represents a drop of 4 percent from the previous month and a decrease of about 12 percent from what it was a year ago. For more… Continue Reading
New on LLRX – Another NY court on discovery of social media evidence
Via LLRX.com – Another NY court on discovery of social media evidence – Attorney Nicole Black brings context to the impact of the proliferation of social media accounts among the majority of adults in the United States. The information from these accounts has become a prime source for lawyers to mine for evidence to support… Continue Reading
United States Courts – Access to Court Opinions Expands
“A pilot project giving the public free, text-searchable, online-access to court opinions now is available to all federal appellate, district and bankruptcy courts. The Judicial Conference, the policy-making body of the Federal court system, approved national implementation of the project with the Government Printing Office, Federal Digital System (FDsys), which provides free access to publications… Continue Reading
Court Statistics for Fiscal Year 2012 Are Released
“Federal court statistical profiles are available for the nations 12 courts of appeal and 94 district courts for fiscal year 2012, the 12-month period ending September 30, 2012. Federal Court Management Statistics also provides national totals for the appellate and district courts, allowing the statistical totals of each individual court to be compared to a… Continue Reading
EFF Amicus Brief Argues for Protection of Transformative Uses to Protect News Tracking Services
EFF: “In Associated Press v. Meltwater, AP claims its copyrights are infringed when Meltwater, an electronic news clipping service, includes excerpts of AP stories in search results for its clients seeking reports of news coverage based on particular keywords. In its argument, AP asks the court to accept an extraordinarily narrow view of fair use… Continue Reading
