Author archives

LLRX July 2025 Issue – Articles and Columns

LLRX July 2025 Issue – Articles and Columns The Trump Administration’s Continued War Against Science, Research and Public Health – Sabrina I. Pacifici’s overview of selected articles highlights the devastating impact of the Trump administration’s dismantling of agencies across the federal government, with a focus on cancelling critical scientific and health related research grants. The …

Subjects: AI, Censorship, Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Congress, Copyright, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Economy, Education, Energy, Environmental Law, Financial System, Government Documents, Health Care, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Medicine, Privacy, Search Engines, Social Media

Surveillance at the Border

The American Prospect – It’s only a matter of time before the drones, spy blimps, license plate readers, and motion-activated cameras come to the rest of America. Walls are but one ingredient in the borderlands’ mix of barriers. In recent years, autonomous surveillance towers, drones, spy blimps, license plate readers, and motion-activated cameras have also …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Congress, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

White House instructed NASA to terminate two major climate change-focused satellite missions

Futurism: As NPR reports, Trump officials reached out to the space agency to draw up plans for terminating the two missions, called the Orbiting Carbon Observatories. They’ve been collecting widely-used data, providing both oil and gas companies and farmers with detailed information about the distribution of carbon dioxide and how it can affect crop health. One …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Congress, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Legal Research, Privacy

Newsrooms on wrestling accurate answers out of AI

NiemanLab: “Erlend Ofte Arntsen has filed more Freedom of Information Act requests than he can count — triple digits by one tally, quadruple when you include follow-ups and related requests. Now, a new newsroom assistant at one of Norway’s largest newspapers is transforming Arntsen’s workflow, saving time that could be better spent on shoe-leather reporting …

Subjects: AI, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

The First American Law Libraries

Concepcion, Cattleya M., The First American Law Libraries (April 09, 2025). Green Bag Almanac and Reader, pp. 80-102, 2025, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5347516 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5347516  – A brief history and bibliography of the first American law libraries, including lawyers’ personal law libraries, bar association or membership law libraries, county law libraries, state law libraries, court …

Subjects: Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries

The Rise of the Imperial Presidency Brennan Center for Justice

The Brennan Center, August 5, 2025 via YouTube – The executive branch has amassed increasing power in recent years, challenging the constitutional balance among branches of government. This year alone, the president has unlawfully attempted to eliminate birthright citizenship, unilaterally frozen funds, and deployed the military as a domestic police force. And all of it …

Subjects: Congress, Economy, Education, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research

Reimagined NLM Dataset Catalog

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) announces the relaunch of the NLM Dataset Catalog, a centralized, searchable platform designed to connect researchers with a vast array of biomedical datasets from multiple repositories, thus accelerating scientific research. Powered by NLM’s DATaset Metadata Model (DATMM), researchers can now effortlessly explore over 2 million biomedical datasets in one …

Subjects: E-Government, E-Records, Government Documents, Health Care, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Medicine

Republicans Aren’t Allowed to Rename Kennedy Center Theater

People – “The Kennedy Center was opened as an interactive memorial for the late president, per Public Law 88-260, which explains why no other memorials are permitted within the center. Kennedy, a devoted supporter of the arts, frequently advocated for what he called “our contribution to the human spirit,” per the center’s site. Though plans …

Subjects: Government Documents, Legal Research

Anti-Jewish Hate Crimes Comprised Nearly 70% of All Religion-Based Hate Crimes in 2024

Homeland Security Newswire: “Jews only make up around 2 percent of the U.S. population, but reported single-bias anti-Jewish hate crimes comprised 16 percent of all reported hate crimes and nearly 70 percent of all reported religion-based hate crimes in 2024. Hate crimes data released today by the Federal Bureau of Investigation reveals that while reported hate …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Legal Research

DetentionReports.com Provides Valuable Updated Data about ICE Facilities

Austin Kocher – Substack: “Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released updated detention statistics on Thursday, and we’ve already updated Detention Reports accordingly. The website now includes 184 facility reports based on ICE data from June 23, 2025, and July 21, 2025. Thanks to the valuable feedback of many users, we have already made improvements in …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, E-Records, Government Documents, Legal Research