EFF: “The Supreme Court handed down a landmark opinion today in Carpenter v. United States, ruling 5-4 that the Fourth Amendment protects cell phone location information. In an opinion by Chief Justice Roberts, the Court recognized that location information, collected by cell providers like Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon, creates a “detailed chronicle of a person’s… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Courts
Polarized Justice? Changing Patterns of Decision-Making in the Federal Courts
Kritzer, Herbert M., Polarized Justice? Changing Patterns of Decision-Making in the Federal Courts (May 5, 2018). University of Minnesota Law School, Working Papers, May 5, 2018. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3187627 “This article examines the question of whether there has been a pattern of increasing partisan polarization in decisions by federal judges. After an initial section… Continue Reading
Google Translate not enough to grant consent, finds US judge
Quartz: “Imagine you’re driving in a foreign country and a police officer stops you on the road. You don’t speak the cop’s language and they don’t speak yours, so a halting exchange ensues using a laptop and Google Translate. You’re not always sure what the officer is asking, and you end up agreeing to something… Continue Reading
Nothing New Under the Sun: The Law-Politics Dynamic in Supreme Court Decision Making
Feldman, Stephen Matthew, Nothing New Under the Sun: The Law-Politics Dynamic in Supreme Court Decision Making (May 18, 2018). Pepperdine Law Review, Vol. 44, No. p 43, 2017. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3180736 “Recent events have seemed to inject politics into American judicial institutions. As a result, many observers worry that the Supreme Court, in particular,… Continue Reading
AT&T can buy Time Warner everyone else can buy everything else
Recode: “Verizon? Go right ahead. Charter? You too. Amazon and other tech companies with billions to burn? Go for it. That’s the message from a federal judge, who has ruled today that AT&T can buy Time Warner — and, crucially, didn’t apply any restrictions to his decision. That clears the way for other “vertical” mergers,… Continue Reading
Supreme Court’s conservative justices uphold Ohio’s voter purge system
Vox: “The US Supreme Court on Monday upheld Ohio’s system for purging voters from the rolls. The Court split 5-4 along partisan lines, with the five conservative-leaning justices, in a majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito, upholding the system and the four liberal-leaning justices opposing it. The ruling focused in large part on technical interpretations… Continue Reading
DOJ Defending Trump’s Ability To Profit From Foreign Officials Staying At His Hotel
BuzzFeed: “The Justice Department argued Monday that President Donald Trump could continue to profit from foreign governments patronizing his hotel in Washington, DC, without violating the US Constitution, as long as he didn’t explicitly provide something in return. The fact that foreign officials were quoted in media reports saying they would spend money at the… Continue Reading
Lessig – Congress’ Latest Move to Extend Copyright Protection Is Misguide
Lawrence Lessig – Wired [Lawrence Lessig (@lessig) is the Roy L. Furman professor of law and leadership at Harvard University and founder of Equal Citizens. He was lead counsel in Eldred v. Ashcroft (2002)]: “Almost exactly 20 years ago, Congress passed the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, which extended the term of existing copyrights… Continue Reading
Immigration Court Backlog Jumps While Case Processing Slows
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse: “The Immigration Court’s backlog keeps rising. As of the end of May 2018, the number of cases waiting decision reached an all-time high of 714,067. This compares with a court backlog of 542,411 cases at the end of January 2017 when President Trump assumed office. During his term the backlog has… Continue Reading
For first time in 87 years a California judge was recalled from the bench
Washington Post: Voters remove judge who sentenced Brock Turner to six months in Stanford sexual assault case – “The California judge who evoked national outrage after sentencing Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner to six months in jail after his conviction for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman was ousted from office Tuesday night following a tempestuous… Continue Reading
New on LLRX – You’re Bad at Legal Research, and Your Judge Knows It.
Via LLRX – You’re Bad at Legal Research, and Your Judge Knows It. – Jack Heller reviews recent research conducted by Casetext identifying a major concern on the part of judges concerning the rigor and accuracy of current legal research by litigators. Judges believe attorneys miss important cases often, and when they do, it has… Continue Reading
Criminal Prosecutions Jump 60% for Illegal Border Crossers
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse: “Federal criminal prosecutions of individuals apprehended by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) along the southwest border with Mexico jumped 30 percent in April 2018 over March figures. Since January, criminal prosecutions were up 60 percent, rising from 5,191 in January to 8,298 in April. This increase followed rising border apprehensions and… Continue Reading
