Category «Courts»

Detroit Bankruptcy is Largest Chapter 9 Filing in U.S. History

Via FindLaw – “The city of Detroit’s recent bankruptcy filing made it the the largest U.S. city in history to seek Chapter 9 protection. The filing (attached below) came in the face of $18.5 billion in debt to creditors and unions. Detroit has seemingly tapped out its tax base, with no further ability to tax …

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

Microsoft – Responding to government legal demands for customer data

Posted by Brad Smith General Counsel & Executive Vice President, Legal & Corporate Affairs, Microsoft “[July 16, 2013] we have asked the Attorney General of the United States to personally take action to permit Microsoft and other companies to share publicly more complete information about how we handle national security requests for customer information. We …

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

Coaltion of Good Government Groups Urge US Attorney General to Release Reports on Telephone Surveillance

“[On July 8, 2013] the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), along with 22 other good-government groups, sent a letter to the US Department of Justice urging Attorney General Eric Holder to make public any reports by Inspector General Michael Horowitz regarding the collection of Americans’ telephone records under Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act. …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, E-Government, Free Speech, Internet, Legal Research, Legislation, Libraries, Patriot Act, Privacy

EPIC Files Supreme Court Petition, Challenges Domestic Surveillance Program

“EPIC has filed a Petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the Court vacate an unlawful order by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that enables the collection of all domestic phone record by the NSA. The order, directed to Verizon, requires the production of all “call detail records” for calls made “wholly within the United …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Internet, Legal Research, Patriot Act, Privacy

EPIC Speaks to Oversight Board, Former Judge Questions FISC

“EPIC, in a prepared statement, addressed the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board regarding NSA surveillance under the Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act at day long workshop. Retired Judge James Robertson, who served on the FISA Court, told the panel that he was “stunned” by the news that the government was collecting …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Legal Research, Legislation, Patriot Act, Privacy

Report – Federal Judicial Vacancies: The Trial Courts

Federal Judicial Vacancies: The Trial Courts – July 2, 2013. Brennan Center for Justice. “Unusually high judicial vacancy levels coupled with unprecedented workloads are burdening federal district courts like never before. Judicial vacancies have remained uniquely high throughout Barack Obama’s presidency, with annual vacancies averaging significantly higher than those experienced during George W. Bush’s presidency. …

Subjects: Courts, Legal Research

EPIC Files Supreme Court Petition, Challenges Domestic Surveillance Program

“EPIC has filed a Petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the Court vacate an unlawful order by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that enables the collection of all domestic phone record by the NSA. The order, directed to Verizon, requires the production of all “call detail records” for calls made “wholly within the United …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Government Documents, Legal Research, Patriot Act, Privacy

TRAC: Criminal Activity Cited in Smaller Fraction of Deportation Filings

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse: “During the current fiscal year, only 14.7 percent of the new filings in Immigration Court sought to deport noncitizens based on alleged criminal activity rather than violations of immigration requirements. This is slightly lower than the 16.1 percent that prevailed during the last year of the Bush Administration. And it is …

Subjects: Courts, Government Documents, Legal Research

UK Parliament to launch in-depth inquiry into US surveillance programmes

News release: “Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee will conduct an “in-depth inquiry” into the US surveillance programmes, including the bugging of EU premises and other spying allegations, and present its results by the end of this year, says a resolution passed by the full House on Thursday. Parliament’s President and political group leaders formally confirmed the …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Free Speech, Government Documents, Legislation, Patriot Act, Privacy

Founder of nonprofit Internet Archive permitted to talk about receiving a national-security letter

What It’s Like to Get a National-Security Letter by Maria Bustillos “Brewster Kahle, the founder of the nonprofit Internet Archive, perhaps the greatest of our digital libraries, and of the Wayback Machine, which allows you to browse an archive of the Web that reaches back to 1996. He is one of very few people in …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Government Documents, Internet, Libraries, Patriot Act

Williams Institute: Supreme Court Rulings Strike down DOMA and Prevent Enforcement of California’s Proposition 8

News release:  Marriage rulings make federal protections available for up to 114,000 legally married same-sex couples nationwide and open marriage to CA’s estimated 1.1 million LGBT adults “The Supreme Court’s rulings regarding the federal Defense of Marriage Act in United States v. Windsor and regarding California’s Proposition 8 in Hollingsworth v. Perry have important social, economic and legal consequences …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Legal Research