http://writ.findlaw.com FindLaw Writ - Recent Articles en-us Mon, 26 May 2008 22:52:33 GMT Copyright: (C) FindLaw http://images.findlaw.com/logo/logo_news3.gif http://writ.findlaw.com http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/commentary/20110802_melsheimer.html Tue., Aug. 2, 2011 00:00:01 GMT (Tom Melsheimer and Craig Smith, for FindLaw's Writ) -- With no shortage of real threats to keep U.S. executives awake at night, it's surprising that so much time and energy is wasted trying to make sure that 12 average citizens in a jury box are not allowed to hear their business grievances... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/commentary/20110802_melsheimer.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/commentary/20110801_tobias.html Mon., Aug. 1, 2011 00:00:01 GMT (Carl Tobias, for FindLaw's Writ) -- When President Barack Obama was inaugurated, the United States Courts of Appeals experienced vacancies in fourteen of the 179 judgeships. Thus, it was critical that the administration promptly fill those openings... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/commentary/20110801_tobias.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/ramasastry/20101229.html Wed., Dec. 29, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Anita Ramasastry, for FindLaw's Writ) -- The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA) prohibits merchants that accept credit cards or debit cards for payment "from "print[ing] more than the last 5 digits of the card number or the expiration date upon any receipt provided to the cardholder at the point of the sale or transaction." However, this prohibition -- which is sometimes called FACTA's "truncation requirement"-- applies only to receipts that are "electronically printed." http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/ramasastry/20101229.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/hilden/20101228.html Tue., Dec. 28, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Julie Hilden, for FindLaw's Writ) -- This Fall and Winter, an unusual First Amendment conflict has been playing itself out in public schools across the country -- from California, to Minnesota, to Montana, to Pennsylvania, to Utah. On one side are students who are wearing bracelets proclaiming "I (Heart) Boobies!" On the other side are school administrators who claim the bracelets' message is vulgar, disruptive, or both, and want to ban the bracelets... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/hilden/20101228.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/mariner/20101227.html Mon., Dec. 27, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Joanne Mariner, for FindLaw's Writ) -- Although we're now approaching the tenth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, a review of the year's counterterrorism-related publications suggests that elements of the post-September 11 world are still very much in flux... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/mariner/20101227.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/ramasastry/20101223.html Thu., Dec. 23, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Anita Ramasastry, for FindLaw's Writ) -- Ironically, it took the WikiLeaks controversy -- which itself involved momentous issues of openness and secrecy -- to bring greater openness to British courts... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/ramasastry/20101223.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/colb/20101222.html Wed., Dec. 22, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Sherry Colb, for FindLaw's Writ) -- The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in Plata v. Schwarzenegger, a case about the deplorable state of health care in California's prisons. The main issue in the litigation concerns a three-judge federal court's authority under the Prison Litigation Reform Act to order a remedy that will likely require the release of tens of thousands of California prisoners in the next two years... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/colb/20101222.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/mariner/20101221.html Tue., Dec. 21, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Joanne Mariner, for FindLaw's Writ) -- Last week I participated in the launch conference of the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague (ICCT-The Hague), a newly-established think tank that will be carrying out research and analysis relating to counterterrorism... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/mariner/20101221.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/hilden/20101220.html Mon., Dec. 20, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Julie Hilden, for FindLaw's Writ) -- This past September, in the case of Doe v. Silsbee, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled against a high-school cheerleader who refused to cheer for a basketball player whom she alleged had sexually assaulted her... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/hilden/20101220.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/amar/20101217.html Fri., Dec. 17, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Vikram Amar, for FindLaw's Writ) -- Analysts of the same-sex marriage legal saga are trying to read the tea leaves from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit's oral argument held last Monday. The argument took up the federal constitutional challenge to California's Proposition 8, a state constitutional initiative limiting marriage to a union between a man and a woman... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/amar/20101217.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/commentary/20101217_elmendorf.html Fri., Dec. 17, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Chris Elmendorf, for FindLaw's Writ) -- In this column, I will explain how the courts may refine the test for single subject violations so as to better realize the purpose of California’s single-subject rule: to prevent initiative proponents from duping the electorate into adopting reforms that voters do not understand and would not support... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/commentary/20101217_elmendorf.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/buchanan/20101216.html Thu., Dec. 16, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Neil Buchanan, for FindLaw's Writ) -- The debate about the national debt and federal budget deficits has taken a dangerous turn in recent weeks. In the midst of the battle over the extension of tax cuts for higher-income taxpayers, Democrats and progressives have gleefully attacked their adversaries for hypocrisy... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/buchanan/20101216.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/commentary/20101216_elmendorf.html Thu., Dec. 16, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Chris Elmendorf, for FindLaw's Writ) -- Last month, the people of California narrowly adopted little-noticed Proposition 26, an initiated constitutional amendment whose fate will tell us much about whether the original, animating purpose of California's single-subject rule lives on today... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/commentary/20101216_elmendorf.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/dorf/20101213.html Mon., Dec. 13, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Michael Dorf, for FindLaw's Writ) -- Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard oral argument in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the federal constitutional challenge to California's ban on same-sex marriage. Although none of the three judges signaled exactly how he would vote, the argument was nonetheless highly instructive... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/dorf/20101213.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/dean/20101010.html Fri., Dec. 10, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (John Dean, for FindLaw's Writ) -- WikiLeaks has been making big headlines again -- most recently, with the arrest of spokesperson and Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange, based on allegations that he committed two sexual assaults in Sweden... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/dean/20101010.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/hamilton/20101209.html Thu., Dec. 9, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Marci Hamilton, for FindLaw's Writ) -- Not since World War II has it been more imperative that Americans come together as a united people against a common enemy. The jihadists want to destroy all that is good about America. But, frankly, the Catholic League may beat them to it... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/hamilton/20101209.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/colb/20101208.html Wed., Dec. 8, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Joanna Grossman, for FindLaw's Writ) -- Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court granted review in Kentucky v. King, a case that asks whether police may lawfully enter a private home without a warrant on the basis of "exigent circumstances" that the police themselves have created... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/colb/20101208.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/grossman/20101207.html Tue., Dec. 7, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Joanna Grossman and Deborah Brake, for FindLaw's Writ) -- In this column, Part Two in the series, we preview the arguments in the case and explain the core issues at stake... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/grossman/20101207.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/grossman/20101206.html Mon., Dec. 6, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Joanna Grossman and Deborah Brake, for FindLaw's Writ) -- This week, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Thompson v. North American Stainless, the latest in a series of cases that have come before the Court that relate to the scope of protection against workplace retaliation under federal anti-discrimination laws... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/grossman/20101206.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/amar/20101203.html Fri., Dec. 3, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Vikram Amar, for FindLaw's Writ) -- Now that we know the identity of the three judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit who will hear the appeal in the case challenging Proposition 8 (California's ban on same-sex marriage), observers are trying to handicap the outcome... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/amar/20101203.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/buchanan/20101202.html Thu., Dec. 2, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Neil Buchanan, for FindLaw's Writ) -- "Inside Job," a new documentary film from director Charles Ferguson, examines the reasons behind the financial crisis that gripped the world in late 2008, a crisis that brought on the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, and that continues to inflict pain on untold millions of people in the United States and around the world... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/buchanan/20101202.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/ramasastry/20101130.html Wed., Dec. 1, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Anita Ramasastry, for FindLaw's Writ) -- Extortion and blackmail have been around for centuries--but now, they've gone online. Once, a would-be blackmailer or extortionist would have to physically trail and spy on his or her victim, risking being spotted. Now, however, all that is necessary is a computer, and an online identity can hide the perpetrator's true identity... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/ramasastry/20101130.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/hamilton/20101130.html Mon., Oct. 18, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Marci Hamilton, for FindLaw's Writ) -- Mohamed Osman Mohamud, by all accounts, was a good student and a nice kid -- that is, until he concocted a grandiose plot to set off a bomb at a crowded tree-lighting ceremony in Portland, Oregon. The morning after Mohamud's arrest, someone appears to have intentionally set a fire at the mosque he attended. Both criminal acts are felonies, and both the terrorist and the vigilante deserve to go to jail. Together, if possible... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/hamilton/20101130.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/dorf/20101130.html Fri., Oct. 15, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Michael Dorf, for FindLaw's Writ) -- Consider two seemingly unrelated dramas: first, the ongoing contract negotiations for longtime Yankees shortstop and team captain Derek Jeter; and second, the artillery and verbal barrages that North Korea unleashed against South Korea last week... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/dorf/20101130.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/dean/20101129.html Mon., Nov. 29, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (John Dean, for FindLaw's Writ) -- Mrs. Palin is on a sixteen-state book tour. Given her racially-tinged attacks on President Obama in her new book -- proving to her base that she will play the race card that other politicians will not -- many believe this is Sarah's opening salvo for a 2012 presidential run. I disagree... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/dean/20101129.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/colb/20101124.html Wed., Nov. 24, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Sherry Colb, for FindLaw's Writ) -- Do opposite-sex couples have a right to civil partnership? Tom Freeman and Katherine Doyle of the United Kingdom plan to argue in a future lawsuit that they do... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/colb/20101124.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/hilden/20101123.html Tue., Nov. 23, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Julie Hilden, for FindLaw's Writ) -- On March 2d of this year, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court judge's ruling that juvenile plaintiffs in a controversial lawsuit could not remain anonymous. The juveniles' attorney then sought en banc rehearing (that is, review by a larger panel of the Circuit's judges)... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/hilden/20101123.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/hilden/20101122.html Mon., Nov. 22, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Julie Hilden, for FindLaw's Writ) -- In 2006, during George W. Bush's presidency, the Stolen Valor Act (SVA) became law. Section (b) of the law criminalizes falsely claiming that one has been awarded any one of a number of U.S. military medals. The false claim at issue can be oral or written -- anything from boasting in a bar, to bragging on the Internet... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/hilden/20101122.html http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/amar/20101119.html Fri., Nov. 19, 2010 00:00:01 GMT (Vikram Amar, for FindLaw's Writ) -- On December 6, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will hear oral argument in the federal constitutional challenge to Proposition 8 -- California's voter-enacted ban on same-sex marriage. While the identity of the three judges to whom the appeal has been assigned won't be known until a week before the argument, the time is ripe to sketch out at least some of the possible outcomes of the Ninth Circuit proceedings... http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/amar/20101119.html