Why there’s so much legal uncertainty about resolving a disputed presidential election – As stated in this article by Richard Pildes, Professor of Constitutional Law, New York University – the Constitution does not create rules or an institutional structure for resolving a modern, disputed presidential election. It provides a fail-safe mechanism for only one situation,… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Courts
ProPublica’s Guide to 2020 Election Laws and Lawsuits
ProPublica – “Regardless of who wins the presidency, courtroom battles seem almost certain. Here’s a layperson’s look at the states and laws that may determine the outcome. The run-up to Election Day this year has seen records for early voting (nearly 100 million people as of Monday) — and for the volume of election-related litigation.… Continue Reading
Cyberlaw Clinic and EFF publish Guide to Legal Risks of Security Research
Cyberlaw Clinic: “We are excited to announce the release of A Researcher’s Guide to Some Legal Risks of Security Research (pdf), a report authored by Sunoo Park and Kendra Albert, and co-published by the Cyberlaw Clinic and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Just last month, over 75 prominent security researchers signed a letter urging the… Continue Reading
How Likely Is It that Courts Will Select the US President?
How Likely Is It that Courts Will Select the US President? The Probability of Narrow, Reversible Election Results in the Electoral College versus a National Popular Vote, Michael Geruso, Dean Spears. October 2020. University of Texas at Austin. “Extremely narrow election outcomes—such as could be reversed by rejecting a few thousand ballots—are likely to trigger… Continue Reading
Postal Service ordered to increase late trips for election mail
Bloomberg News via Seattle Times – “Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was ordered to immediately begin expanding mail delivery with extra trips and later deliveries after the U.S. Postal Service failed to improve performance less than a week before the election. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington late Tuesday granted an emergency request to enforce… Continue Reading
Reading the ACA’s Findings: Textualism, Severability and the ACA’s Return to the Court
Gluck, Abbe R – Reading the ACA’s Findings: Textualism, Severability and the ACA’s Return to the Court, 130 Yale L.J. F. 132 (2020). The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is back in the Court, but challengers’ “textualist” arguments are not textualist at all. They argue a findings section in the ACA is an “inseverability clause,” meaning… Continue Reading
Police are using facial recognition for minor crimes because they can
CNet – Law enforcement is tapping the tech for low-level crimes like shoplifting, because there are no limits. But the tool often makes errors. “…The US has no federal regulations on facial recognition, leaving thousands of police departments to determine their own limits. Advocates say that’s a concern for civil liberties. While some members of… Continue Reading
Where to Find Public Records Online
Life Hacker – “You can use the internet to find almost anything: a good restaurant, a recording of a half-remembered old commercial, recommendations for a good book, a podcast about basically anything, and yes, even public records. While our most private information (usually) can’t be found online, you can track down items like birth certificates,… Continue Reading
Copyright in Code: Supreme Court Hears Landmark Software Case in Google v. Oracle
CRS Legal Sidebar via LC – Copyright in Code: Supreme Court Hears Landmark Software Case in Google v. Oracle, October 21, 2020: “In what observers have hailed as the “copyright case of the century,” an eight-member Supreme Court heard arguments on October 7, 2020 ,in Google LLC v. Oracle America Inc., a long-running intellectual-property dispute… Continue Reading
How to Teach Lawyers, Judges, and Law Students Critical Thinking: Chapter Two: Understanding Critical Thinking
Fruehwald, Edwin S., How to Teach Lawyers, Judges, and Law Students Critical Thinking: Chapter Two: Understanding Critical Thinking (March 23, 2020). How to Teach Lawyers, Judges, and Law Students Critical Thinking: Millions Saw the Apple Fall, but Newton asked Why (2020), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3559769 – “Critical thinking is “[t]he intellectually disciplined process of actively… Continue Reading
Federal Election Results: Frequently Asked Questions
CRS report via LC – Federal Election Results: Frequently Asked Questions , October 8, 2020: “Several states have implemented new election administration processes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that could affect how and when ballots are counted. Even under normal circumstances, finalizing federal election results takes days or weeks after election day. Among other… Continue Reading
Doctoral Dissertation Research: Measuring Legal Quality on the U.S. Supreme Court
National Science Foundation Award Abstract: “The U.S. Supreme Court decides cases by way of an adversarial system of justice. In particular, lawyers from opposing sides of each case write legal briefs that attempt to persuade the justices that their view of the law is the most correct. To make their case, lawyers base their legal… Continue Reading
