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CRS Governmental Tracking of Cell Phones and Vehicles: The Confluence of Privacy, Technology, and Law. Richard M. Thompson, Law Clerk. December 1, 2011 “Technology has advanced considerably since the framers established the constitutional parameters for searches and seizures in the Fourth Amendment. What were ink quills and parchment are now cell phones and the …
Jeff Lamicela: “The latest available data from the Justice Department show that federal health care fraud prosecutions reached an historic high last year. During the twelve months of fiscal year 2011, the government reported 1,235 new health care fraud prosecutions – the largest number reported since separate tracking of this offense began twenty years ago. …
“Amendments to the Federal Rules of Appellate, Bankruptcy, Criminal Procedure, and Evidence took effect December 1, 2011. Congress took no action after the changes were approved by Supreme Court more than seven months earlier. That means new amendments to these rules are now in effect: Appellate Rules 4 and 40 Bankruptcy Rules 2003, 2019, 3001, …
Whats So Hard About Regulating Supreme Court Justices Ethics? – A Lot, Russell Wheeler, Visiting Fellow, Governance Studies, The Brookings Institution “The Supreme Courts decision to hear a challenge to the health care law is renewing calls for recusal, described here and here and here. Some, mainly Democrats, charge that Justice Thomas (and his wife) …
NYT DealBook: “Jed S. Rakoff, a judge for the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Manhattan, has rejected the proposed $285 million settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Citigroup related to the sale of mortgage securities. Here is the judges 15-page opinion, which concluded that the pact was neither reasonable, nor …
“Federal criminal prosecutions for financial institution fraud have continued their downward slide despite the financial troubles reported in this sector. TRAC’s analysis of timely Justice Department data show that during the first eleven months of FY 2011 the government reported 1,251 new prosecutions were filed. If this activity continues at the same pace, the annual …
Scholars Briefs and the Vocation of a Law Professor, by Richard H. Fallon, Jr. “At least within the loosely defined domain of public law, any law professor who does not get asked to sign a “scholars’ briefs” is not much of a scholar. Scholars= briefs, in which collections of professors appear as amici curiae to …
“The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has publicly released the transcripts of President Richard Nixon’s Watergate grand jury testimony. In collaboration with the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), the collection has been released on FDsys. This collection has been made public as a result of the July 29, 2011 order by Chief Judge of …
Follow up to previous postings on sentencing guidelines, see the following Report to Congress: Mandatory Minimum Penalties in the Federal Criminal Justice System, October 2011: “This report assesses the impact of mandatory minimum penalties on federal sentencing, particularly in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Booker v. United States, which rendered the federal sentencing …
Follow up to previous postings on sentencing guidelines, the 2011 Guidelines Manual (effective November 1, 2011) is available in HTML and Adobe PDF formats (large file and broken into chapters), which can be viewed, downloaded or printed via the website. Individual Chapters 1-8 and Guidelines in HTML or PDF Format View the 2011 Federal Sentencing …
Judicial Ethics and Social Networking Sites: “Michael Crowell UNC School of Government, September 2011 (Revised) “One of the significant developments in communication in the last few years is the astounding growth of social networking websites. Increasing numbers of people join Facebook or LinkedIn or Twitter or other on-line social networks as a means to notify …
United States Courts Opinions – BETA United States Courts Opinions (USCOURTS) collection is a pilot project between the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC) to provide public access to opinions from selected United States appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts. The content of this collection dates back …
