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Category Archives: Courts

A whole mess of TikTok trial briefs

The Verge: “The Supreme Court will consider TikTok’s case against a divest-or-ban law early next year, and a wave of filings has hit the docket this afternoon — from the parties involved as well as numerous institutions and public figures, including President-elect Donald Trump. If you want a firsthand look, the full list is linked… Continue Reading

No One Buys Books

The Elysian: “Everything we learned about the publishing industry from Penguin vs. DOJ.  In 2022, Penguin Random House wanted to buy Simon & Schuster. The two publishing houses made up 37 percent and 11 percent of the market share, according to the filing, and combined they would have condensed the Big Five publishing houses into… Continue Reading

Arkansas Law Criminalizing Librarians Ruled Unconstitutional

AP: “A federal judge on Monday struck down key parts of an Arkansas law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing “harmful” materials to minors. U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks found that elements of the law are unconstitutional. “I respect the court’s ruling and will appeal,” Arkansas Attorney General Tim… Continue Reading

The battle over copyright in the age of ChatGPT

Boston Review: “Questions of AI authorship and ownership can be divided into two broad types. One concerns the vast troves of human-authored material fed into AI models as part of their “training” (the process by which their algorithms “learn” from data). The other concerns ownership of what AIs produce. Call these, respectively, the input and… Continue Reading

Review of DOJ Process to Obtain Records of Members of Congress, Media

DOJ Oversight and Review Division 25-01. Redacted For Public Release. A Review of the Department of Justice’s Issuance of Compulsory Process to Obtain Records of Members of Congress, Congressional Staffers, and Members of the News Media: “In the spring and summer of 2017, CNN.com (CNN), The New York Times, and The Washington Post published articles… Continue Reading

Senate Judiciary Committee Investigative Report on Ethical Crisis at the Supreme Court

The culmination of a 20-month investigation, the staff report features new information and a comprehensive analysis of the ongoing ethics challenge at the Supreme Court. The Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), released the findings of its 20-month investigation into the ethical crisis at the Supreme Court, including the… Continue Reading

Every AI Copyright Lawsuit in the US, Visualized

Wired: “WIRED is following every copyright battle involving the AI industry—and we’ve created some handy visualizations that will be updated as the cases progress. In May 2020, the media and technology conglomerate Thomson Reuters sued a small legal AI startup called Ross Intelligence, alleging that it had violated US copyright law by reproducing materials from… Continue Reading

Courtroom Seating Pilot Program

The Supreme Court is implementing a pilot program in which members of the public may apply for Courtroom seating through a fully automated online lottery. Individuals who receive tickets through the lottery will be able to come to the Court knowing that they have reserved seating for a particular argument or non-argument session. The pilot… Continue Reading

We’re about to enter the Digital Dark Ages

The Business Insider – Online archives are vanishing — and they’re taking our history with them. “The long-promised digital apocalypse has finally arrived, and it was heralded by a blog post. Published on July 18, the post’s headline sounded pretty arcane. “Google URL Shortener links will no longer be available,” it declared. I know, I… Continue Reading

Capitol Riot Insurrectionists Networks

Capitol Riot Insurrectionists Networks – Mapping the networks of the more than 1,500 individuals who have been arrested, charged or subpoenaed in connection to the Capitol Riot on January 6th. The Capitol Riot Map incorporates research and data from several sources, including from government agencies, research organizations, academics institutions, and crowdsourced projects. Users may search for… Continue Reading

With Fear, Favor, and Flawed Analysis: Decision-Making in U.S. Immigration Courts

With Fear, Favor, and Flawed Analysis: Decision-Making in U.S. Immigration Courts Boston  College Law Review 2024, Vol. 65 Issue 8, pages 2473-2800. Published Nov 26, 2024. DOI: 10.70167/DFMV7851 – Immigration judges (IJs), housed within the Executive Office for Immigration Review within the Department of Justice (DOJ), make decisions in asylum and withholding claims, which are… Continue Reading