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Law Events in the News

  • February 15 - U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit holds reporters in contempt of court for refusing to comply with a federal grand jury subpoena. The case involved reporters alleged to have information about the leak to the press of a CIA officer's identity.
    • Opinion (pdf): "Appellants assert that the information concealed by them, specifically the identity of confidential sources, is protected by a reporter’s privilege arising from the First Amendment, or failing that, by federal common law privilege.... [W]e agree with the District Court that there is no First Amendment privilege protecting the evidence sought. We further conclude that if any such common law privilege exists, it is not absolute, and in this case has been overcome by the filings of the Special Counsel with the District Court."
    • Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U.S. 665 (1972)
    • LII's Law about... the First Amendment
  • February 10 - Attorney Lynne Stewart is convicted of conspiracy to provide material aid to terrorists, defrauding the United States government, and perjury, for communications that she facilitated for client Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman while he was serving a sentence for his role in the terrorist conspiracy surrounding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
  • February 4 - New York County Supreme Court Judge Doris Ling-Cohan finds, in Hernandez v. Robles (pdf), that same-sex partners should be allowed to marry in New York State: "Adjudged and declared that the words "husband", "wife", "groom" and "bride", as they appear in the relevant stections of the Domestic Relations Law are and shall be construed to mean "spouse", and all personal pronouns, as they appear in the relevant sections of the Domestic Relations Law are and shall be construed to apply equally to either men or women..."
  • February 2005 - Social Security program under review -- see LII's Law about Social Security
  • Jan. 24 - U.S. Supreme Court decision in Illinois v. Caballes, determining that the Fourth Amendment permits an officer to use a drug-sniffing dog while conducting a traffic stop. In the majority opinion, Justice Stevens noted that unlike the thermal imaging equipment disallowed in Kyllo v. United States (disallowing thermal scanning of residences to detect marijuana cultivation), narcotics-detecting dogs do not provide information about private, lawful activities, nor, specifically, non-contraband items.
  • Jan. 17 - Martin Luther King holiday -- see LII's Law about Civil Rights
  • Jan. 13 - U.S. District Court Judge, in Selman et al. v. Cobb County School District, finds that the Georgia school district's creationist sticker-disclaimer, which was affixed within biology textbooks, violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The judge orders that the stickers be removed and not otherwise disseminated by the school district.
    • the disclaimer: "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of human beings. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered."
    • LII's Law about the First Amendment
  • Jan. 12 - U.S. Supreme Court decisions:
    • Decision in U.S. v. Booker finding the Federal Sentencing Guidelines to be unconstitutional - see liibulletin preview, resources on Blakely v. Washington (decided June 2004, finding the Washington State sentencing guidelines to be unconstitutional)
    • Clark v. Martinez (was Crawford v. Martinez): "The Government fears that the security of our borders will be compromised if it must release into the country inadmissible aliens who cannot be removed. If that is so, Congress can attend to it.8 But for this Court to sanction indefinite detention in the face of Zadvydas would establish within our jurisprudence, beyond the power of Congress to remedy, the dangerous principle that judges can give the same statutory text different meanings in different cases. Since the Government has suggested no reason why the period of time reasonably necessary to effect removal is longer for an inadmissible alien, the 6-month presumptive detention period we prescribed in Zadvydas applies."
    • Jama v. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(2)(E)(iv) does not require the advance consent of a foreign country's government in order for the U.S. to deport an alien to that country
  • Jan. 11 - U.S. Supreme Court affirms, in Whitfield v. United States, that a defendant may be convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering, under 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h), based on "manner and means" evidence, without proof of any overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy
  • Jan. 6 - Joint session of Congress to count electoral votes interrupted by challenge to the Ohio vote count.
  • Jan. 6 - Confirmation hearings (RealAudio) for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
  • United Nations coordination of tsunami relief efforts
  • Dec. 13 - US Supreme Court decisions:
  • Dec. 8 - US Supreme Court decision in KP Permanent Make-Up, Inc. v. Lasting Impression, Inc. A party raising the statutory affirmative defense of fair use to a claim of trademark infringement does not have a burden to negate any likelihood that the practice complained of will confuse consumers about the origin of the goods or services affected.
  • Nov. 29 - US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit decision in Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights v. Rumsfeld (03-4433), granting a preliminary injunction to bar enforcement of the Solomon Amendment, 10 U.S.C. § 983, which denies federal funding to universities that prohibit on-campus military recruiting
  • Nov. 8 - US District Court for the District of Columbia Judge James Robertson orders a halt to Guantanamo military commission proceedings, finding that President Bush overstepped his authority in establishing military commissions to try Guantanamo detainees: "Because Hamdan has not been determined by acompetent tribunal to be an offender triable under the law of war, 10 U.S.C. § 821, and because in any event the procedures established for the Military Commission by the President's order are "contrary to or inconsistent" with those applicable to courts-martial, 10 U.S.C. § 836, Hamdan's petition [for a writ of habeas corpus - Ed.] will begranted in part." Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (pdf)
  • Nov. 2 - US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit stays the orders of two district courts, which denied voter challengers access to Ohio polls; US Supreme Court declines to lift the stay
  • Oct. 31 - Federal District Court judge in Ohio issues order [pdf] banning voter challengers access to polling locations
  • Oct. 4 - US Supreme Court term begins (see previews from liibulletin)

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