“Federal and state applications for orders authorizing or approving the interception of wire, oral or electronic communications increased 34 percent in 2010, compared to the number reported in 2009. The interceptions are reported in the 2010 Wiretap Report, released today by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC). The current report covers intercepts… Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Category Archives: Courts
Sentencing Commission Votes to Make New Crack Cocaine Guidelines Retroactive
Follow up to previous postings on sentencing guidelines, this ews release: “The United States Sentencing Commission voted unanimously today to give retroactive effect to its proposed permanent amendment to the federal sentencing guidelines that implements the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010. Retroactivity of the amendment will become effective on November 1, 2011 – the same… Continue Reading
Newly Available: Costs of Incarceration and Supervision in FY 2010
US Courts: “The annual cost of keeping someone imprisoned in a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility in fiscal year 2010 was $28,284.16. The annual cost of probation supervision was $3,938.35. Those figures work out to a daily cost of $77.49 for incarceration of a convicted criminal, and $10.79 for supervised release. The daily cost of… Continue Reading
EPIC: Supreme Court Strikes Down Prescription Privacy Law
“In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court struck down Vermont’s prescription privacy law. IMS Health, Inc. v. Sorrell held that the Vermont statute, which bars disclosure of prescription data for marketing purposes, violates data mining firms’ free speech rights. Vermont “burdened a form of protected expression that it found too persuasive. At the same time,… Continue Reading
NY AG Sues Feds For Failure to Study Fracking
News release: [On May 31, 2011] New York “Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced he was filing a lawsuit against the federal government for its failure to commit to a full environmental review of proposed regulations that would allow natural gas drilling including the potentially harmful fracking technique in the Delaware River Basin.… Continue Reading
TRAC: New Judge Hiring Fails to Stem Rising Immigration Case Backlog
“The number of cases awaiting resolution before the Immigration Courts reached a new all-time high of 275,316 by the beginning of May 2011, according to very timely government enforcement data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). The case backlog has continued to grow up 2.8 percent since TRAC’s previous report four… Continue Reading
New Publication, Web Page Shed Light on Process of Becoming a Judge
American Constitution Society (ACS): “Have you ever thought about becoming a judge? Even most lawyers and law students dont know much about how to approach the process, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Associations Tina Matsuoka pointed out during an event on the topic yesterday. ACS and seven other legal groups have launched a publication,… Continue Reading
TRAC Releases Federal Prosecution Data for February 2011
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse: “Federal criminal prosecutions totaled 13,092 for the month of February according to the most recent data released by the Department of Justice. This was an increase of 18 percent from the previous month. Among the program categories, the largest number of prosecutions was seen in immigration, accounting for 49 percent of… Continue Reading
US Court: Poverty Guidelines for 2011 Posted
Poverty Guidelines for 2011 Posted – May 10, 2011 “Those who seek protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code by filing a Chapter 7 petition may have filing fees waived if their income is under 150 percent of the official poverty line, as defined by the Office of Management and Budget. The 2011 guidelines for who… Continue Reading
Court Listener (Beat)
“CourtListener (Beta) was created by Michael Lissner as part of a masters thesis at the University of California, Berkeley School of Information. Michael was advised by Assistant Professor, Brian Carver. The goal of the site is to create a free and competitive real time alert tool for the U.S. judicial system. At present, the site… Continue Reading
Applications Made to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court During 2010
FISA Annual Reports to Congress 2010 [via FAS] “During calendar year 2010, the Government made 1,579 applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (hereinafter “FISC”) for authority to conduct electronic surveillance andlor physical searches for foreign intelligence purposes. The 1,579 applications include applications made solely for electronic surveillance, applications made solely for physical search, and… Continue Reading
DC Circuit overturns preliminary injunction barring NIH funding of human embryonic stem cells research
U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, James Sherley v. Kathleen Sebelius, April 29, 2011: “GINSBURG, Circuit Judge – Two scientists brought this suit to enjoin the National Institutes of Health from funding research using human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) pursuant to the NIHs 2009 Guidelines. The district court granted their motion for a… Continue Reading
