Government

New Law Blogger: Russian President

Even as a Moscow court ruled last week that Russian officials could shut down websites containing extremist comments, the country’s president, former corporate attorney and law professor Dmitry Medvedev, was launching a new blog. Hosted by LiveJournal, it calls for a more open society. However, the comments will be monitored…

May 1, 2009 12:31 AM CDT

Sen. Leahy Asks Judge Bybee to Testify About ‘Torture’ Memos

In the latest development in an ongoing controversy over internal government memos about permissible interrogation techniques in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has asked a government attorney who approved them to testify. A U.S. Department of Justice lawyer when…

Apr 29, 2009 11:04 PM CDT

Fordham Law Class Collects Personal Info About Scalia; Supreme Ct. Justice Is Steamed

Last year, when law professor Joel Reidenberg wanted to show his Fordham University class how readily private information is available on the Internet, he assigned a group project. It was collecting personal information from the Web about himself. This year, after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made public comments…

Apr 29, 2009 6:58 PM CDT

EPA Raids Chicago Suburb Accused of Providing Toxic Water to Residents

Criminal investigators from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency raided a suburban Chicago municipality today, presumably seeking information about the Village of Crestwood’s alleged provision of contaminated well water to the public. After raiding the village hall and Crestwood’s public works department, the investigators planned to hit the police department next,…

Apr 29, 2009 5:25 PM CDT

Retired Boston Lawyer Earns $162K at Part-Time Job

After nearly 50 years at the Boston Redevelopment Authority, many of them in leadership positions, attorney Paul McCann has a pension of nearly $100,000 a year. But the longtime city planning official also makes another $162,000 annually for working about 25 hours a week as a consultant, reports the Boston…

Apr 27, 2009 11:12 PM CDT

Hot Dog Stand Aiming to Employ Ex-Cons Is Eating at Alderman

Not everyone in a Chicago West Side neighborhood relishes the concept behind Felony Franks, a hot dog stand opened with a primary goal of providing employment for convicted felons. “I’m not afraid to use the name ‘felony,’ ” proprietor Jim Andrews told the Chicago Sun-Times. “When they get out of…

Apr 24, 2009 9:50 PM CDT

Lawyer Claims Texas AG Fired Her for Complaint About Christian Holidays

A former lawyer in the Texas Attorney General’s office claims in a lawsuit that she was fired after complaining about sex bias and a policy that showed a preference for Christian holidays. The plaintiff, Rhonda Pressley, has worked in the office for 18 years, Texas Lawyer reports. She claims her…

Apr 23, 2009 5:13 PM CDT

AGs Call for More Oversight of Web Ads After So-Called Craigslist Murder

A Boston medical student who allegedly attacked or robbed at least two women he met via ads they placed on Craigslist and is now charged with murdering one of them has sparked new calls for stricter oversight of the explicit sex ads for which the website is, in part, known.…

Apr 22, 2009 11:12 PM CDT

Law Prof Says Scalia Will Love His Original Intent Claim in Iraq Case

Rutgers University law professor Frank Askin contended in court arguments yesterday that the Iraq invasion violated the framers’ original intent. Askin contends the Iraq war is unconstitutional because Congress did not declare war on the country, the New Jersey Star-Ledger reports. U.S. District Judge Jose Linares is considering whether to…

Apr 22, 2009 6:29 PM CDT

Pillow Fight Organizer in Vt. is Charged With Disorderly Conduct

Some 50 individuals briefly pummeled each other with pillows in a staged—and videotaped—event in Burlington, Vt., on Friday. But only 21-year-old Darin Cassler has been criminally charged over the incident, apparently because he allegedly blew a whistle that signaled those involved in the fluffy and apparently good-natured free-for-all to start…

Apr 21, 2009 5:31 PM CDT

Another Teen ‘Sexting’ Peril: Charges (Now Dismissed) Against School Official

When Ting-Yi Oei heard rumors that students at his high school were sending revealing photos to each other on their cell phones, the Loudoun County, Va., assistant principal felt it was his job to investigate this obviously undesirable behavior. In consultation with the school principal and security specialist, he interviewed…

Apr 21, 2009 5:04 PM CDT

Once Courted by BigLaw, Lawyers Find Government Job Search Is Demoralizing

Laid-off BigLaw lawyers are sending a flood of resumés to U.S. agencies, only to learn that advertised jobs aren’t available or computers are winnowing out their applications. Lawyers sending their resumés “into the murky depths of Washington’s alphabet soup” are being stymied by hiring freezes and computer programs selecting applicants…

Apr 20, 2009 12:11 PM CDT

N.C. Law Firm’s Claimed Role in Serving Warrants on Witnesses Sparks Mistrial

A judge in Alamance County, N.C., has declared a mistrial, after attorneys at a local defense firm were accused of playing a role in persuading the sheriff’s office to serve warrants from several years previously on two government witnesses who were testifying in a kidnapping and attempted rape case. In…

Apr 15, 2009 10:42 PM CDT

Baseball Fan Sues, Says Call of Nature Trumped ‘God Bless America’

A baseball fan who says he was ejected from a New York Yankees game after answering the call of nature rather than staying in his seat for the singing of “God Bless America” has sued over the alleged violation of his First Amendment rights. Bradford Campeau-Laurion contends that he was…

Apr 15, 2009 7:13 PM CDT

Mortgage Fraud Is Rarely Prosecuted

Although bank robbers steal less, they’re a lot more likely to be prosecuted criminally than those who commit mortgage fraud and deed thefts. Lacking staff and resources to pursue such complex real estate cases, prosecutors in New York have tended to treat them as civil matters even as they proliferated…

Apr 15, 2009 5:51 PM CDT