Category «Congress»

Supreme Court set to hear arguments in two challenges to Texas law that bans most abortions

SCOTUS Blog – Supreme Court set to hear arguments in two challenges to Texas law that bans most abortions: “Two months ago, Texas put in place the most restrictive abortion law since the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade in 1973. The law, which prohibits almost all abortions in the state, has dramatically reduced access …

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

Merriam Webster Adds 455 new words from ‘dad bod’ to ‘deplatform’

Among the 455 new words and definitions: “Oobleck, air fryer, whataboutism, FTW, and fourth trimester. Just as the language never stops evolving, the dictionary never stops expanding. New terms and new uses for existing terms are the constant in a living language, and our latest list brings together both new and likely familiar words that …

Subjects: Congress, Education, Food and Nutrition, Health Care, Internet, Knowledge Management, Libraries, Medicine

Americans Don’t Trust Their Congressional Maps To Be Drawn Fairly. Can Anything Change That?

FiveThirtyEight: “The United States is in the middle of a once-in-a-decade process: redistricting. And although it’s early yet — 19 states aren’t expected to finalize their maps until next year — a number of states have proposed maps, and there are debates happening all across the country over which ones to pass. Six states have …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research

U.S. Climate Change Policy

CRS Report – U.S. Climate Change Policy. October 28, 2021: “The greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere trap radiant energy, warming earth’s surface and oceans. Scientific assessments conclude that GHGs very likely have been the main driver of warming of the earth’s lower atmosphere since 1979. The most recent global assessment projected that surface temperature …

Subjects: Climate Change, Congress, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Housing, Legal Research, Transportation

Questioning Questions in the Law of Democracy: What the Debate over Voter ID Laws’ Effects Teaches about Asking the Right Questions

Zhang, Emily, Questioning Questions in the Law of Democracy: What the Debate over Voter ID Laws’ Effects Teaches about Asking the Right Questions (October 14, 2021). UCLA Law Review, 2022, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3942940 – “Voter identification laws, laws that require voters to present identification when voting (“voter ID laws”), first launched the modern Voting …

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

The Supreme Court case that could gut America’s gun laws, explained

Vox: “For nearly all its history, the Supreme Court kept its distance from gun policy. Now it’s about to decide a case that could radically reduce the government’s power to regulate guns. The Second Amendment states explicitly that it exists to protect “a well regulated Militia,” and until fairly recently, the Court took these four …

Subjects: Congress, Courts, Government Documents, Health Care, Legal Research, Legislation

A whistleblower’s power: Key takeaways from the Facebook Papers

Follow-up to previous posting – Whistleblower: Facebook is misleading the public on progress against hate speech, violence, misinformation – See Also the Washington Post – “Interviews with dozens of current and former employees and a trove of internal documents show how the social media company inflamed real-world harms.A trove of internal Facebook documents reveals that the …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, E-Commerce, Economy, Internet, Legal Research, Legislation, Privacy, Social Media

Report – Plastics To Outpace Coal In Driving Climate Change

Beyond Plastics – Plastics are the New Coal: “Plastics are on track to contribute more climate change emissions than coal plants by 2030, a new report finds. As fossil fuel companies seek to recoup falling profits, they are increasing plastics production and cancelling out greenhouse gas reductions gained from the recent closures of 65 percent …

Subjects: Climate Change, Congress, Economy, Energy, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

New Capitol Surveillance Footage Shows A Breach By Jan. 6 Rioters From Start To Finish

BuzzfeedNews: “Two 40-minute videos from Jan. 6 show how hundreds of rioters breached one Capitol entry point and how police eventually regained control…The videos don’t have sound, but they show tense verbal exchanges as the officers make several attempts to stop the mob from getting inside. The confrontations are mostly nonviolent, unlike clashes at other …

Subjects: Congress, Courts, Legal Research

If 100 companies are responsible for 70% of emissions, what can you do?

Fast Company: “Corporations and governments have known about the risk of climate change for about half a century. It first appeared on Exxon’s radar in 1981. Two years prior, a group of scientists had created the Charney Report, which assessed the effects of rising amounts of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere (and correctly predicted how …

Subjects: Climate Change, Congress, Energy, Environmental Law, Legal Research