Reuters: “U.S. lawmakers have left a proposal to make the federal judiciary’s PACER online court records system free out of a sprawling, $1.66 trillion spending measure unveiled on Tuesday, a setback for advocates as the current Congress nears its end. Supporters of the Open Courts Act had been pushing to get the stalled, bipartisan legislation… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Courts
Trump Special Counsel Subpoena Shows New Grand Jury in Place Through March
Bloomberg: “Justice Department Special Counsel John L. “Jack” Smith’s latest subpoena shows the investigation into efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to undermine the 2020 election results is before a newer grand jury in place at least through March 2023. A subpoena received earlier this week by Georgia Secretary of State Brad… Continue Reading
Conservative Activist Poured Millions Into Groups Seeking to Influence Supreme Court on Elections and Discrimination
ProPublica – “Newly obtained records show how Leonard Leo, an architect of the right-wing takeover of the courts, has been funding groups pushing to change elections and anti-discrimination laws. Flush with money after receiving the largest-known political advocacy donation in U.S. history, conservative activist Leonard Leo and his associates are spending millions of dollars to… Continue Reading
Striking findings from Pew Research 2022
Pew Research Center’s surveys have shed light on public opinion around some of the biggest news events of 2022 – from Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine to the overturning of Roe v. Wade to Americans’ experiences with extreme weather events. Here’s a look back at the past year through 15 of our most striking research… Continue Reading
Discrimination Blocking: A New Compelling Interest for Affirmative Action
Dec 12, 2022. 136 Harv. L. Rev. 690. “…This Note argues that the Court should recognize a new compelling interest for university affirmative action. Call this interest “discrimination blocking.” Though discrimination blocking may well justify identity-conscious policies in a wide range of contexts, this Note cabins its focus on “affirmative action” to race-based admissions policies… Continue Reading
How the Supreme Court Is Erasing Consequential Decisions in the Lower Courts
The New York Times: “The Supreme Court is increasingly setting aside legally significant decisions from the lower courts as if they had never happened, invalidating them in brief procedural orders. The pace of these actions has increased in the past 22 months, neutralizing important civil rights and civil liberties decisions. Reasoned opinions by the federal… Continue Reading
National Constitution Center Proposed Amendments to the Constitution
Amendments to the U.S. Constitution proposed at a convention of libertarian, progressive, and conservative professors and scholars on August 29 and 31, 2022: “When the National Constitution Center asked three teams to come up with constitutional amendments based on commonalities among our draft constitutions…The Progressive Team came to the convention with high hopes for some… Continue Reading
Redacted Documents Are Not as Secure as You Think
Wired: “Popular redaction tools don’t always work as promised, and new attacks can reveal hidden information, researchers say. For years, if you wanted to protect sensitive text in a document, you could grab a pair of scissors or a scalpel and cut out the information. If this didn’t work, a chunky black marker pen would… Continue Reading
Legal counsel to Justice Alito responds to alleged ethical lapses
Steven Mazie – “I’ve been covering the Supreme Court for only about a decade but I don’t recall seeing a letter from the legal office or seeing a Justice effectively lawyer up in response to allegations. It’s remarkable Justice Alito saw the need to do so here.” The New York Times – Supreme Court Defends… Continue Reading
Glass Box Artificial Intelligence in Criminal Justice
Garrett, Brandon L. and Rudin, Cynthia and Rudin, Cynthia, Glass Box Artificial Intelligence in Criminal Justice (November 14, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4275661 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4275661 “As we embrace data-driven technologies across a wide range of human activities, policymakers and researchers increasingly sound alarms regarding the dangers posed by “black box” uses of artificial intelligence (AI)… Continue Reading
The End of Roe v Wade and New Legal Frontiers on the Constitutional Right to Abortion
Cohen, I. Glenn and Murray, Melissa and Gostin, Lawrence O., The End of Roe v Wade and New Legal Frontiers on the Constitutional Right to Abortion (July 8, 2022). The Journal of the American Medical Association, published online July 8, 2022, at E1-E2. (2022). Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works. 2460. DOI No.: 10.1001/jama.2022.12397… Continue Reading
Private groups swaying SCOTUS litigation
Sen. Whitehouse and Rep. Johnson sent a letter to Chief Justice Roberts on September 7, 2022.”We write as Chairmen of the Senate and House Judiciary Federal Courts Subcommittees to request information regarding another allegation of potentially unethical conduct at the Supreme Court of the United States…“One of the nation’s most important institutions … has been… Continue Reading
