A Tough Road Ahead for Prosecutors Appointed to Probe Classified Leaks

Two U.S. attorneys appointed on Friday to probe leaks of intelligence information face several obstacles under the 1917 espionage law used in such cases. Leak prosecutions typically rely on a law that bars disclosure of national defense information to unauthorized persons, the New York Times reports. For a criminal conviction,…

Jun 11, 2012 2:04 PM CDT

Lawyer Seeks ‘Fair and Reasonable Sum’ After His Client Gets Notorious Number

A Florida lawyer is asking T-Mobile to pay a “fair and reasonable sum” for giving his client George Zimmerman’s old phone number. Orlando lawyer Robert Trimble locked the phone in his safe after his client, Junior Alexander Guy, received harassing and threatening phone calls, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Guy says…

Jun 8, 2012 3:30 PM CDT

June 26, 2003: Court Overturns Bowers v. Hardwick

Jun 1, 2012 6:00 AM CDT

9th Circuit: Mother Has Privacy Right in Son’s Autopsy Photo, But Prosecutor Has Immunity

A federal appeals court based in San Francisco has ruled a mother has a privacy right in photos of her deceased child that is protected by the 14th Amendment’s due process clause. The ruling (PDF) by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found no liability, however, for the former…

May 30, 2012 3:47 PM CDT

Lack of Online Privacy Rights Is Very Troubling, Says Author

ABA Journal web producer Lee Rawles talks with Lori Andrews, author of "I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You Did: Social Networks and the Death of Privacy" about the lack of online privacy rights and the need for a social media constitution. They discuss the changes that social networks have brought to all areas of the law, including evidence gathering; what evidence is admissible in courts; how social media can affect the right to a fair trial; and the right to control one's image.

May 29, 2012 5:19 PM CDT

Ill. Eavesdropping Law Can’t Be Used to Stop Public Recordings of Cops, 7th Circuit Says

A Chicago-based federal appeals court has blocked Cook County prosecutors from using an Illinois eavesdropping law against people who make audio recordings of police performing their public duties. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for the American Civil Liberties Union in a 2-1 decision on Tuesday, report the…

May 9, 2012 2:42 PM CDT

Suit Claims Investigator Hired by Law Firm Used Ruse to Friend 12-Year-Old Dog-Bite Plaintiff

Corrected: A lawsuit filed this week claims that an Ohio insurance defense lawyer hired an investigator to access the private Facebook page of a 12-year-old girl, a plaintiff in a dog-bite lawsuit. The suit (PDF) was filed by the girl’s father, Nelson Cope of Painesville, Courthouse News Service reports. It…

May 4, 2012 4:19 PM CDT

Letters: Issues in Paradise

May 1, 2012 9:40 AM CDT

Man Files Federal Wiretap Suit Against Ex, Says He Found Recording Device Sewn Into Son’s Clothing

In an era in which a Texas matrimonial lawyer routinely suggests to clients that they remove the battery from their cellphones to prevent illicit surveillance during legal consultations, savvy spouses should be aware that their significant others may literally be monitoring almost their every move. But Brian R. Martin was…

Apr 30, 2012 5:40 PM CDT

Law Grad Sues Photo Studio for Featuring Him in Before-and-After Photos

A Cooley Law School grad claims in a lawsuit that a Michigan photography studio used his photo without permission to advertise its ability to retouch blemishes. Aminur Khan says in the suit that he suffered from complexion problems for most of his adolescence and adult life, and the ad using…

Apr 18, 2012 6:16 PM CDT

Law Firm’s Letter to Gawker re Outed ‘Fox Mole’ Evokes Much Analysis

It didn’t take long after Gawker announced Tuesday that it had hired an individual within Fox News to write about the company before the broadcaster publicly identified the “Fox mole” and fired associate producer Joe Muto of The O’Reilly Factor on Wednesday. But the fallout continues as a panoply of…

Apr 12, 2012 11:08 PM CDT

Oops! Email to 400 Incoming Baylor Law Students Reveals How They Measure Up

Updated: A group of 400 incoming Baylor law students learned of an extension to pay their deposits—and a great deal more—in an email on Tuesday. The email included an attachment listing personal student information for the group, including their grade point averages and their scores on the Law School Admission…

Apr 4, 2012 3:19 PM CDT

Local Police Increasingly Use Cellphone Tracking, Sometimes Without a Warrant

Documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union show local police are increasingly using a tool pioneered by federal authorities: cellphone tracking. The documents chronicling phone tracking by 205 police departments show that some claim broad discretion to use the surveillance without a warrant, the New York Times reports. The…

Apr 2, 2012 12:41 PM CDT

Elderly Couple Flees Home, Hires Lawyer After Spike Lee Retweets Wrong Zimmerman Address

An elderly Florida couple has hired a lawyer after movie director Spike Lee retweeted their home address in an apparently mistaken impression that they are related to the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. The couple, Elaine and David McClain, have a son named William George Zimmerman, who…

Mar 29, 2012 12:28 PM CDT

Supreme Court Bars HIV-Positive Pilot’s Suit for Emotional Distress over Records Disclosure

Corrected: The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in the case of an HIV-positive pilot that a Watergate-era privacy law does not authorize suits for mental or emotional distress when the government violates its provisions. The court ruled against plaintiff Stanmore Cooper in a 5-3 opinion (PDF). Justice Elena Kagan did…

Mar 28, 2012 4:13 PM CDT