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Category Archives: Courts

Voting Laws Roundup: February 2022

Brennan Center for Justice: “As the 2022 state legislative sessions begin, lawmakers have already introduced more new restrictive voting legislation than at this time last year. They have also continued to introduce bills designed to undermine the electoral process. With the 2022 regular legislative sessions starting in all but 15 states as of January 14,… Continue Reading

UK Supreme Court has launched its first, free, online course for the public

Paul Sandles, Librarian and Departmental Records Officer: “The Supreme Court has launched its first, free, online course for the public. https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/inside-the-supreme-court. We have worked in partnership with Royal Holloway, University of London, to create the course.  Our aim is to give people a behind the scenes look at the work of the Supreme Court and… Continue Reading

Legislative and Judicial Developments Affecting Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER)

CRS Legal Sidebar, Legislative and Judicial Developments Affecting Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) Updated February 1, 2022: “The Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER)system is the U.S. Court’s web-based service that gives registered users electronic access to documents filed in the U.S. Courts via the online Case Management/Electronic Case Files system, known… Continue Reading

Supreme Court Appointment Process: President’s Selection of a Nominee

CRS Report – Supreme Court Appointment Process: President’s Selection of a Nominee, Updated January 28, 2022: “The appointment of a Supreme Court Justice is an event of major significance in American politics. Each appointment is of consequence because of the enormous judicial power the Supreme Court exercises as the highest appellate court in the federal… Continue Reading

How Trump’s flirtation with an anti-insurrection law inspired Jan. 6 insurrection

Washington Post: “Within days of President Donald Trump’s election defeat, Stewart Rhodes began talking about the Insurrection Act as critical to the country’s future. The bombastic founder of the extremist group Oath Keepers told followers that the obscure, rarely used law would allow Trump to declare a national emergency so dire that the military, militias… Continue Reading

Google deceived consumers about how it profits from their location data, attorneys general allege in lawsuits

Washington Post: “Attorneys general from D.C. and three states sued Google on Monday, arguing that the search giant deceived consumers to gain access to their location data. The lawsuits, filed in the District of Columbia, Texas, Washington and Indiana, allege the company made misleading promises about its users’ ability to protect their privacy through Google… Continue Reading

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch has refused to wear a mask

NPR: “It was pretty jarring earlier this month when the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court took the bench for the first time since the omicron surge over the holidays. All were now wearing masks. All, that is, except Justice Neil Gorsuch. What’s more, Justice Sonia Sotomayor was not there at all, choosing instead to… Continue Reading

What the Supreme Court’s Vaccine Case Was Really About

Opinion Linda Greenhouse. Jan. 17, 2022: “Halfway through their pained dissent from the Supreme Court’s decision blocking the Biden administration’s workplace Covid vaccine rule, the court’s three liberal justices made a glancing reference to a now-obscure case from 1981, American Textile Manufacturers Institute v. Donovan. It was one of the court’s first efforts to interpret… Continue Reading

Supreme Court overturns OSHA mandate, affects 2/3 of all US workers

Poynter – Al Tompkins: “The quick version of the story is this: A majority of Supreme Court justices ruled that if Congress wishes for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to be able to require private-sector workers to be vaccinated or undergo testing, then Congress should say so in legislation. Short of that, the court… Continue Reading

The Overreach of Limits on “Legal Advice”

Yale Law Journal, Vol 131, 2021-22. The Overreach of Limits on “Legal Advice” 03 Jan 2022 Lauren Sudeall: “Nonlawyers, including court personnel, are typically prohibited from providing legal advice. But definitions of “legal advice” are unnecessarily broad, creating confusion, disadvantaging self-represented litigants, and possibly raising due-process concerns. This Essay argues for a narrower, more explicit… Continue Reading

ABA links pro bono lawyers with families facing deportation in 11 cities

“The American Bar Association has begun a nationwide campaign to offer legal support to families facing a new, faster deportation process in 11 U.S. cities. The ABA campaign includes a new website – Pro Bono Matters for Families Facing Deportation – that lists cases of families in those 11 cities who need representation. The website… Continue Reading