Protecting Classified Information and the Rights of Criminal Defendants: The Classified Information Procedures Act, Edward C. Liu, Legislative Attorney; Todd Garvey, Legislative Attorney – April 2, 2012 “The Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) provides criminal procedures that permit a trial judge to rule on the relevance or admissibility of classified information in a secure setting.… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Courts
Global Integrity Report 2011
“Regardless of how weak or sophisticated their political financing regulations are, countries around the world are equally failing to effectively regulate the flow of money into politics, a new report finds. The Global Integrity Report: 2011, a major investigative study of 31 countries, was released today by Global Integrity, an award-winning international nonprofit organization that… Continue Reading
Federal District Court Workload Increases in Fiscal Year 2011
News release: “Caseloads for fiscal year 2011 increased in the district courts and in the probation and pretrial services system, while falling slightly in the appellate and bankruptcy courts. The caseload statistics for FY 2011 can be found in the 2011 Judicial Business of the United States Courts, released today by the Administrative Office of… Continue Reading
TRAC – Civil Rights Prosecutions Up Sharply in December 2011
Via TRAC: “The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during December 2011 there was a sharp increase in the prosecution of civil rights crimes by the federal government. Two thirds of the 39 cases filed in that month involved crimes related to slavery or involuntary servitude.” Continue Reading
TRAC: Surprising Judge-to-Judge Variations Documented In Federal Sentencing
Via Jeff Lamicela – “An analysis of all criminal cases completed in the federal courts during the last five years has discovered extensive and hard-to-explain variations in the sentencing practices of district court judges working in many different districts. This key finding is based upon the first ever review of the sentences imposed by 885… Continue Reading
WaPo – Chief Justice Roberts rejects request for code of conduct
By Robert Barnes, February 21: “Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. told a group of Democratic senators that the Supreme Court is not going to formally adopt a judicial code of conduct that governs the actions of other federal judges. Roberts told Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.) in a one-paragraph letter that… Continue Reading
TRAC: Drug Enforcement Administration Prosecutions Dip to Eleven-Year Low
Jeff Lamicela: “The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during November 2011 the government reported 968 new prosecutions for these matters. Those cases were referred by the Drug Enforcement Administration. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 20.6% over the previous month.… Continue Reading
Bankruptcy Filings Slide in Calendar Year 2011
News release: “Bankruptcy filings in the federal courts fell 11.5 percent in calendar year 2011, 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, 2011, totaled 1,410,653, down from 1,593,081 bankruptcies filed in CY 2010. An historic high in… Continue Reading
BJS: Prosecutors in State Courts, 2007 – Statistical Tables
Prosecutors in State Courts, 2007 – Statistical Tables, Duren Banks, Steven W. Perry, December 28, 2011. NCJ 234211 “Presents findings on felony caseloads and convictions in the 2,330 chief prosecutors’ offices in the United States that handled felony cases in state courts of general jurisdiction. The report summarizes the annual office budget, tenure and salaries… Continue Reading
TRAC: Share of Immigration Cases Ending in Deportation Orders Hits Record Low
“TRAC’s web-based tools monitoring ICE’s exercise of prosecutorial discretion in the Immigration Courts have been updated with court data tracking outcomes through December 2011. Very current data show that deportation orders fell, while individuals allowed to stay in the U.S. rose during October – December 2011. The share of ICE-initiated Immigration Court deportation proceedings resulting… Continue Reading
A Guide to the Supreme Court's Review of the 2010 Health Care Reform Law
A Guide to the Supreme Courts Review of the 2010 Health Care Reform Law, January 12, 2012 “With the Supreme Court preparing to hear oral arguments about challenges to the 2010 Affordable Care Act in March 2012, this Kaiser Family Foundation brief serves as a primer on the pending case, which challenges the constitutionality both… Continue Reading
Report – Most Federal Judges Warn Jurors About Social Media
Jurors Use of Social Media During Trials and Deliberations – A Report to the Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management, Meghan Dunn, Federal Judicial Center November 22, 2011 “Most federal judges have taken steps to ensure that jurors do not use social media to discuss the trial in which they are involved,… Continue Reading
