Category «Legal Research»

FBI Audit of Sentinel Investigative Case Management System

Sentinel Audit II: Status of the Federal Bureau of Investigations Case Management System (Redacted), Audit Report 07-03, December 2006 (PDF – Full Report) Comment Of Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Ranking Member And Incoming Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee, On DOJ OIG Report On FBI Computer System Project, December 4, 2006: “Today’s finding by the Department of …

Subjects: Congress, E-Government, E-Records, Government Documents, Legal Research

Internet Archive Helps Secure An Exemption to Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Press release: “…Internet Archive has successfully advocated for an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The DMCA prohibits circumvention of technological measures employed by or on behalf of copyright owners to protect their works (“access controls”). Specifically, 17 U.S.C. §1201(a)(1)(A) provides, in part, that “No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively …

Subjects: Copyright, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries

Democrats Push to Stop EPA Library Closures

Committee on Government Reform Minority Office: “In an ongoing effort to protect and preserve the vast resources of the Environmental Protection Agency, Reps. Gordon, Dingell, Waxman, and Oberstar call on the agency to stop efforts to close libraries across the country pending a review by Congress. In a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, Ranking …

Subjects: Congress, E-Government, Government Documents, Legal Research, Libraries

Survey of College Student Information and Communication Technology Literacy

The nonprofit Educational Testing Service’s (ETS) new Information and Communications Technology (ICT) literacy exam “measures students’ abilities to research, organize, and communicate information using technology….Feedback from librarians and faculty members has shown that while most college-age students can use technology, they don’t necessarily know what to do with the content the technology provides….To achieve information …

Subjects: Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Search Engines

Prisoners in 2005 and Probation and Parole in the United States, 2005

Bureau of Justice Statistics press release: “As of last Dec. 31 there were 1,525,924 prisoners being held by state and federal correctional authorities, the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced in a report published today. At the same time a separate BJS survey found that the adult U.S. correctional population, including those on …

Subjects: E-Government, Government Documents, Legal Research

DOJ OIG Semiannual Report to Congress

Office of the Inspector General Semiannual Report to Congress, April 1, 2006-September 30, 2006: “In this semiannual report we…summarize other OIG investigations, inspections, audits, and special reviews. As described throughout this report, OIG investigators continued their important work investigating allegations of criminal and administrative misconduct by Department of Justice (Department) employees and contractors.” Semiannual Report …

Subjects: E-Government, Government Documents, Legal Research

Court Rules FEMA Must Resume Katrina Housing Payments

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon’s ruling stated that “the Bush administration unconstitutionally denied aid to tens of thousands of Gulf Coast residents displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita and must resume payments immediately.” Association of Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN), et al. v. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Civil Action No. 2006-1521 Memorandum …

Subjects: Courts, Government Documents, Legal Research

GAO Report on Eminent Domain

Eminent Domain: Information about Its Uses and Effect on Property Owners and Communities Is Limited, Full text GAO-07-28, and Highlights, November 30, 2006. “In the Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, the District of Columbia, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006, Congress mandated that GAO conduct a nationwide study on the use of …

Subjects: Courts, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

Information for Counsel In September 11 Litigation

The Third Branch: “…cases involving claims arising out of, resulting from, or relating to the terrorist-related aircraft crashes of September 11, 2001, are being filed in federal court. The plaintiffs—alleging wrongful death, personal or respiratory injury, or property damage—may have lived near or worked on the site, and include city governments, the Port Authority of …

Subjects: Courts, Legal Research

Ruling Against Treasury Dept. in Paper Money As Barrier to Blind

American Council for the Blind v. Henry M. Pauson, Secretary of the Treasury, November 28, 2006, District Court for the District of Columbia. Judge James Robertson rules, “Treasury Department’s failure to design, produce and issue paper currency that is readily distinguishable to blind and visually impaired” people violates federal law, since paper money effectively precludes …

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

Federal Judge Rules Portions of Administration Blacklisting Unconstitutional

Press release: “The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) succeeded in having two key provisions of a Bush administration anti-terrorism initiative ruled unconstitutional. Los Angeles U.S. District Court Judge Audrey Collins ruled in Humanitarian Law Project v. Department of Treasury that the law, an Executive Order issued shortly after 9/11 and used to blacklist hundreds of …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Legal Research