Category «Courts»

Sunshine in the Courtroom Bill Passed by Senate Judiciary Cmte.

Press release, MArch 30, 2006: “Transparency in federal courtrooms today scored a victory when legislation introduced by Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, to allow federal trial and appellate judges to permit cameras in the courtroom passed the Senate Judiciary Committee…The bipartisan “Sunshine in the Courtroom” bill would allow …

Subjects: Congress, Courts, E-Government, Government Documents, Legislation, Privacy

Ass’t AG Responds to Republican and Democratic Questions On Domestic Surveillance

In response to requests by the House Judiciary Committee members for more extensive documentation on the administration’s domestic surveillance program, this afternoon DOJ released two memos (both in PDF) that supported previous statements on the issue, providing nothing of substance in the way of more details, as requested. Reponse to GOP questions Response to Democratic …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Courts, Government Documents, Privacy

CATO Study Challenges Courts’ Role in Digital Rights Management

Circumventing Competition: The Perverse Consequences of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (PDF, 28 pages), by Timothy B. Lee “The courts have a proven track record of fashioning balanced remedies for the copyright challenges created by new technologies. But when Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in 1998, it cut the courts out of this …

Subjects: Copyright, Courts, Digital Rights, Intellectual Property, Internet, Legislation

Google Claims Victory in Fight With DOJ Over Search Records

From the Official Google Blog: Judge tells DoJ “No” on search queries, Posted by Nicole Wong, Associate General Counsel: “Google will not have to hand over any user’s search queries to the government. That’s what a federal judge ruled today when he decided to drastically limit a subpoena issued to Google by the Department of …

Subjects: Courts, E-Commerce, E-Government, Privacy, Search Engines

Document Request on Cases Compromised by Domestic Surveillance Program

Press release: Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) Friday sent a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [text included in the press release] seeking information on court cases that may have been compromised by the Bush Administration’s illegal domestic spying program..Leahy…and Kennedy…ask Gonzales to provide the committee with information on all legal challenges …

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

Judicial Business of the United States Courts 2005

Legal Decisions, Legislation & Forces of Nature Influence Federal Court Caseload in FY 2005: “Caseload statistics of the federal courts are compiled by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts…For the tenth consecutive record-breaking year, filings in the 12 regional courts of appeals rose 9 percent to an all-time high of 68,473…Civil filings fell 10 …

Subjects: Courts, Legal Research

Reporters Group Tracks Missing Dockets

Research on the Case Management/Electronic Case File system (PACER), conducted by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP), documented 469 missing criminal cases and 65 missing civil cases over the five-year period of Jan. 1, 2001 to Dec. 31, 2005. Also from the RCFP: This related editorial, In search of the secret docket …

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