Category «Courts»

TRAC – Immigration Court Backlog Up 85% From Five Years Ago

“The number of cases awaiting resolution before the Immigration Courts climbed to 344,230 by the end of fiscal year 2013, according to very timely government enforcement data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. The case backlog, which has risen 5.9 percent since September 2012, is now 85 percent higher than …

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

Report – What the Government Does with Americans’ Data

What the Government Does with Americans’ Data, by Rachel Levinson-Waldman, Brennan Center for Justice, October 8, 2013. “After the attacks of September 11, 2001, the government’s authority to collect, keep, and share information about Americans with little or no basis to suspect wrongdoing dramatically expanded. While the risks and benefits of this approach are the …

Subjects: Courts, Cybercrime, E-Government, E-Mail, E-Records, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Patriot Act, Privacy

TRAC – Fewer Immigration Removal Filings Based on Criminal Activity

“Of all filings in the Immigration Courts seeking to deport noncitizens during fiscal year 2013, only one in seven (14.4 percent) have been based on alleged criminal activity. This proportion is roughly half what it was twenty years ago, when 28.5 percent — more than a quarter — of removal filings were based on criminal …

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

New on LLRX – DNA Evidence: Brave New World, Same Old Problems

Via LLRX.com – DNA Evidence: Brave New World, Same Old Problems Criminal law expert Ken Strutin guides us through the critical facets that comprise the backbone of investigative forensics in the 21st Century – the database. Ken states that of all information gathering techniques, genetic databanking has become the holy grail of prosecutions and the …

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

Government Responds to EPIC’s Supreme Court Challenge of NSA Telephone Record Program

“The Solicitor General has filed a response to EPIC’s challenge to the NSA’s telephone record collection program. In July, EPIC petitioned the Supreme Court to vacate the order of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that requires Verizon to turn over all telephone records to the NSA. EPIC argued that the Intelligence Court exceeded its legal …

Subjects: Courts, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research, Patriot Act, Privacy

Guardian – FISA Court rules that allow NSA to use US data

“Top secret documents submitted to the court that oversees surveillance by US intelligence agencies show the judges have signed off on broad orders which allow the NSA to make use of information “inadvertently” collected from domestic US communications without a warrant. The Guardian is publishing in full two documents submitted to the secret Foreign Intelligence …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, E-Government, E-Mail, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Patriot Act, Privacy

DOJ opposes tech company requests to publish surveillance statistics

“The U.S. Department of Justice has opposed requests by Facebook, Google, Microsoft and other companies to publish the number of surveillance requests they receive from the National Security Agency and other agencies. Requests from five Internet companies, also including Yahoo and LinkedIn, would hurt the NSA’s ability to conduct surveillance on “particular” Internet communications, the …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research, Patriot Act, Privacy, Search Engines

Altering Attention in Adjudication

Altering Attention in Adjudication – Jeffrey J. Rachlinski, Cornell Law School; Andrew J. Wistrich, California Central District Court; Chris Guthrie, Vanderbilt University – Law School. September 27, 2013. UCLA Law Review, Vol. 60, No. 1586, 2013. “Judges decide complex cases in rapid succession but are limited by cognitive constraints. Consequently judges cannot allocate equal attention …

Subjects: Courts, Legal Research

The International Court of Justice’s 2012 Jurisprudence

What a Difference a Year Makes: The International Court of Justice’s 2012 Jurisprudence. Sean D. Murphy, George Washington University – Law School, August 2013. Journal of International Dispute Resolution, 2013 (Forthcoming). GWU Law School Public Law Research Paper No. 2013-107 . GWU Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2013-107 “An analysis of any particular decision of the International Court of Justice sometimes misses …

Subjects: Courts, Legal Research

Declassified FISA Court Opinion Released – Addresses Legality of Phone Metadata Collection

Ellen Nakashima – Washington Post: “A federal surveillance court on Tuesday released a declassified opinion upholding the constitutionality of the National Security Agency’s sweeping collection of billions of Americans’ phone records for counterterrorism purposes. The gathering of “all call detail records” from phone companies is justified as long as the government can show that it …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research, Patriot Act, Privacy

FISA Court Orders Declassification Review of Rulings on NSA

ACLU: “In an important decision, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ordered the government to review for release the court’s opinions on the meaning, scope, and constitutionality of Section 215 of the Patriot Act. The ruling is on a motion filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of the Nation’s Capital, and Yale Law …

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