Category «Courts»

The Citeable Opinion: A Quantitative Analysis of the Style and Impact of Judicial Decision

Varsava, Nina, The Citeable Opinion: A Quantitative Analysis of the Style and Impact of Judicial Decisions (July 8, 2018). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3197209 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3197209 “Many commentators surmise a relationship between the style of judicial opinions and their legal impact or precedential power. However, little empirical work has been done to explore this relationship quantitatively. …

Subjects: Courts, Legal Research

CREW Scores Major Court Victory Against Dark Money

“In a major defeat for secret money in politics, a judge ruled that dark money groups that spend at least $250 in independent expenditures—a key type of political ad—must report every contributor who gave at least $200 in the past year as well as those who give to finance independent expenditures generally, throwing out an …

Subjects: Courts, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

Is Wikipedia A Reliable Legal Authority? (2018 Update)

Associates Mind – Keith Lee: ” Back in 2014, a Twitter exchange with Judge Dillard prompted an article on AboveTheLaw discussing the reliability of Wikipedia as a resource. Last year, I updated my research here, Is Wikipedia A Reliable Legal Authority? (2017 Update). It’s 2018, so let’s see how some recent opinions cite (or reject) Wikipedia as an authority…Is Wikipedia …

Subjects: Courts, Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

What The District?! Explore How Your Voting District Has Evolved

ACLU – “For better or worse, the way Congressional districts are drawn can determine who wins elections, which communities are represented, and what laws are passed. Explore how your own district has changed (sometimes dramatically) over time.” Most state legislatures have the power to draw new congressional district boundaries. Enter your zip code and you …

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

Prisons of Poverty: Uncovering the pre-incarceration incomes of the imprisoned

Prison Policy Initiative: Prisons of Poverty: Uncovering the pre-incarceration incomes of the imprisoned – “Correctional experts of all political persuasions have long understood that releasing incarcerated people to the streets without job training, an education, or money is the perfect formula for recidivism and re-incarceration. While the fact that people released from prison have difficulties finding …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Legal Research

From gun kits to 3D printable guns, a short history of rogue gun makers

Prof. Timothy D. Lytton: “Gun rights activist Cody Wilson got a green light from the Trump administration in June to publish digital blueprints on the internet that will enable anyone with a 3D printer to make a plastic gun. A federal judge blocked distribution of those blueprints. But thousands of people have already downloaded them. …

Subjects: Courts, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research

Washington State AG leading multistate lawsuit to block criminal access to downloadable 3D printed weapons

Washington State Office of Attorney General – Downloadable guns make weapons easier for criminals to obtain: “Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced he is leading a multistate lawsuit to block a Trump Administration action that gives criminals and terrorists access to downloadable, untraceable and undetectable 3D-printed weapons. This lawsuit is being filed in federal court …

Subjects: Courts, Government Documents, Legal Research

The Essential Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh Reader: What Cases Should You Read?

The Essential Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh Reader: What Cases Should You Read?, CRS Legal Sidebar, July 25, 2018 “Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, whom President Trump has nominated to fill the impending Supreme Court vacancy caused by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s retirement from the Court, has amasseda voluminous record of judicial writings during his legal career. …

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

Judicial Opinions of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh and his very bigly paper trail

CRS report via FAS – Judicial Opinions of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, Michael John Garcia, Coordinator, Acting Section Research Manager, July 23, 2018. “On July 9, 2018, President Trump announced the nomination of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit) to succeed Supreme Court …

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

District Court denies motion to dismiss case re Trump hotel profits from foreign and state officials

The New York Times: “A lawsuit accusing President Trump of violating the Constitution by maintaining a financial interest in his company’s Washington hotel cleared a critical hurdle on Wednesday when a federal judge allowed the case to move forward. In the first judicial opinion to define how the meaning of the Constitution’s anticorruption clauses should …

Subjects: Courts, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research

Federal Motor Vehicle Product Liability Litigation Up 89%

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse: “The latest available data from the federal courts through June 2018 show that new federal motor vehicle product liability lawsuits have risen sharply. During four out of six of the past months, the number of new cases filed set new records. So far during the first nine months of FY 2018, …

Subjects: Courts, Government Documents, Legal Research, Transportation

State Constitutions in the Era of a Shifting Supreme Cour

“The Rockefeller Institute of Government and the Government Law Center at Albany Law School recently hosted “How Can State Constitutions Respond to a Shifting Supreme Court?” to examine the role state constitutions can play if the Supreme Court begins to roll back federal protections. With the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and the …

Subjects: Courts, Government Documents, Legal Research

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