CRS – Archival Records of Congress: Frequently Asked Questions Updated December 7, 2023 – “Congressional offices and committees receive, generate, and process many paper and digital files in the course of their work. Archivists preserve some of this historical material, which can help inform future Congresses and researchers studying congressional history. This report is intended… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Congress
Apple admits to secretly giving governments push notification data
Ars Technica: “Governments have been secretly tracking the app activity of an unknown number of people using Apple and Google smartphones, US Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) revealed today. In a letter demanding that the Department of Justice update or repeal policies prohibiting companies from informing the public about these covert government requests, Wyden warned that… Continue Reading
Automakers’ data privacy practices “are unacceptable”
Ars Technica: “US Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass.) is one of the more technologically engaged of our elected lawmakers. And like many technologically engaged Ars Technica readers, he does not like what he sees in terms of automakers’ approach to data privacy. On Friday, Sen. Markey wrote to 14 car companies with a variety of questions… Continue Reading
Over One Million Card Catalog Records Digitized in Copyright Public Records System Pilot
Library of Congress Blogs – Copyright: “This summer, the Copyright Office reached a new milestone in our modernization efforts: surpassing one million card catalog records digitized with searchable metadata and added to the Office’s Copyright Public Records System (CPRS) pilot. As the number of card catalog entries in CPRS continues to grow, now is a… Continue Reading
Schumer delivers landmark Senate speech on rising antisemitism
Jewish Insider: “The Jewish Senate majority leader denounced anti-Israel protesters, young people, the media, erstwhile allies and others whom he said were helping to propagate antisemitism. In a Senate floor speech that lasted for nearly an hour on Wednesday morning, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called out the wave of antisemitism that has followed… Continue Reading
The Rule of Law Without Separation of Powers: Legality in the Classical Tradition
Vermeule, Adrian, The Rule of Law Without Separation of Powers: Legality in the Classical Tradition (September 28, 2023). Harvard Public Law Working Paper No. 23-29, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4587125 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4587125 – “Among theorists of legal liberalism, a common assumption is that the rule of law, rightly understood, entails some version of the separation of… Continue Reading
Unclassified Documents Contain Troubling Information About Dragnet Phone Surveillance Program
“Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called on Attorney General Merrick Garland [Read the full letter to Attorney General Garland here] to make public documents related to the Hemisphere phone surveillance program, which allows federal, state, local and Tribal law enforcement agencies to request searches of trillions of U.S. phone records, usually without warrants. Although the documents… Continue Reading
As mass shootings multiplied, the horrific human cost was concealed
Washington Post: “States reeling from gun violence made graphic imagery confidential — part of a charged debate over privacy and public awareness. States have increasingly restricted records showing the impact of gun violence. How? Some have used or created exemptions to public records laws to withhold crime scene evidence, such as photos of mutilated bodies… Continue Reading
Virtual Cloud Portals
Dark Clouds: Can Government Agencies Evade Public-Records Laws by Storing Documents in Privately Owned Digital Portals? Frank D. LoMonte, Adjunct Instructor, University of Georgia School of Law. Newsroom Legal Counsel, Cable News Network, Inc. J.D., University of Georgia School of Law, 2000. B.A., Georgia State University, 1992. “Laws enabling the public to inspect government records… Continue Reading
Artificial intelligence experts discuss legal implications on ABA Presidential Speaker Series
“A panel of experts on artificial intelligence and how it will affect the legal landscape are featured in the next installment of the ABA Presidential Speaker Series. The program, titled “A.I. – The New Frontier,” will feature a panel of special advisers to the ABA Task Force on the Law and Artificial Intelligence. The program… Continue Reading
Ban Trump from 2024 ballot? Why courts should rule he can’t serve as president again.
USA Today – To allow Donald Trump to appear on the 2024 presidential ballot, the courts will need to explain why any ruling that keeps the former president in the running doesn’t itself betray the Constitution. Laurence H. Tribe and Dennis Aftergut, Opinion contributors: “A trial that began Monday in Colorado and legal arguments scheduled… Continue Reading
Freedom Under Fire
Read the AP Reporting Package – When Guns Outnumber People, Which American Liberties Prevail? “American identity is deeply grounded in the belief that everyone, no matter who they are, is entitled to certain rights and liberties. But what happens when one of those freedoms – a nearly unfettered right to own guns – upends the… Continue Reading
