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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 …
The New York Times: “Of all the questions hanging over the special counsel investigation, one stands out: How will President Trump fare in the end? An indictment is one possibility that has grown increasingly unlikely. The office of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has told the president’s lawyers that it plans to abide …
The New York Times – The Chemical Industry Scores a Big Win at the E.P.A. – “The Trump administration, after heavy lobbying by the chemical industry, is scaling back the way the federal government determines health and safety risks associated with the most dangerous chemicals on the market, documents from the Environmental Protection Agency show. Under …
GOOD: “As the 2018 midterm elections approach in the U.S., Google’s power to influence undecided voters remains overshadowed by Facebook’s personal data crisis. Facebook has “taken it on the chin” for its role in the 2016 presidential election, and organizations like the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica and the Russian troll farm known as the …
Times Open: “Even if you’ve covered Congress for The New York Times for a decade, it can be hard to recognize which member you’ve just spoken with. There are 535 members, and with special elections every few months, members cycle in and out relatively frequently. So when former Congressional Correspondent Jennifer Steinhauer tweeted “Shazam, but …
Medicare fund on a course to run dry by 2026 – “The Medicare Program is the second-largest social insurance program in the U.S., with 58.4 million beneficiaries and total expenditures of $710 billion in 2017. The Boards of Trustees for Medicare (also Boards) report annually to the Congress on the financial operations and actuarial status of …
Vox – Sean Illing: “Can presidents pardon themselves? The answer, surprisingly enough, is not that clear. But since President Trump just tweeted that he has the “absolute right” to pardon himself, the question is suddenly relevant. Trump’s lawyers have previously explored the potential uses of presidential pardons — including whether the president can pardon himself …
CRS report via FAS – U.S. Department of State Personnel: Background and Selected Issues for Congress. Cory R. Gill, Analyst in Foreign Affairs. May 18, 2018. “Shortly after his confirmation as Secretary of State in April 2018, Secretary Mike Pompeo lifted the hiring freeze that former Secretary Rex Tillerson left in place for over a …
CRS report via FAS – (Robo)Call Me Maybe: Robocalls to Wireless Phones Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, Kathleen Ann Ruane, Legislative Attorney. May 29, 2018. “Robocalls—calls placed using an automated dialing system or artificial or prerecorded voice—are on the rise. Advances in technology have made it cheaper and easier than ever to dial millions …
CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal Sidebar. Sidewalks, Streets, and Tweets: Is Twitter a Public Forum? Valerie C. Brannon, Legislative Attorney. May 30, 2018. “On May 23, 2018, a federal district court in New York in Knight First Amendment Institute v. Trump held that the Free Speech Clause of the …
The New York Times: “The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that companies can use arbitration clauses in employment contracts to prohibit workers from banding together to take legal action over workplace issues. The vote was 5 to 4, with the court’s more conservative justices in the majority. The court’s decision could affect some 25 million …
The wider more accurate statistics and graphics on how gun violence has impacted students in American schools since Columbine [1999]: “The Washington Post has spent the past year determining how many children have been exposed to gun violence during school hours since the Columbine High massacre in 1999. Beyond the dead and wounded, children who …
