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Court seems to favor fired whistleblower
Top Court Watch |
2014/11/05 14:38
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday seemed inclined to rule in favor of a former federal air marshal who wants whistleblower protection for leaking information about aviation security plans.
Several of the justices indicated during oral argument that Robert MacLean did not violate the law when he revealed to a reporter government plans to cut back on overnight trips for undercover air marshals despite a potential terror threat.
MacLean said he leaked the information to an MSNBC reporter after supervisors ignored his safety concerns. His revelations in 2003 triggered outrage in Congress and the Department of Homeland Security quickly decided not to make the cutbacks, acknowledging it was a mistake.
But MacLean was fired from the Transportation Security Administration three years later, after the government discovered he was the leaker.
A federal appeals court ruled last year that MacLean should be allowed to present a defense under federal whistleblower laws. The Obama administration argues that whistleblower laws contain a major exception — they do not protect employees who reveal information "prohibited by law."
Deputy Solicitor General Ian Gershengorn told the justices that TSA regulations specifically prohibit disclosure of "sensitive security information," including any information relating to air marshal deployments.
But several of the justices pointed out that the Whistleblower Protection Act refers only to other laws, not agency regulations.
"So it is prohibited by regulations, let's not play games," Justice Antonin Scalia told Gershengorn.
Justice Stephen Breyer suggested that since no law seemed to ban the kind of information MacLean leaked, the president could simply issue an executive order to keep TSA workers from disclosing that kind of information. |
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Health overhaul's subsidies at Supreme Court
Top Court Watch |
2014/10/30 11:23
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Supreme Court justices have their first chance this week to decide whether they have the appetite for another major fight over President Barack Obama's health care law.
Some of the same players who mounted the first failed effort to kill the law altogether now want the justices to rule that subsidies that help millions of low- and middle-income people afford their premiums under the law are illegal.
The challengers are appealing a unanimous ruling of a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, that upheld Internal Revenue Service regulations that allow health-insurance tax credits under the Affordable Care Act for consumers in all 50 states. The appeal is on the agenda for the justices' private conference on Friday, and word of their action could come as early as Monday.
The fight over subsidies is part of a long-running political and legal campaign to overturn Obama's signature domestic legislation by Republicans and other opponents of the law. Republican candidates have relentlessly attacked Democrats who voted for it, and the partisanship has continued on the federal bench. Every judge who has voted to strike down the subsidies was appointed by a Republican president.
The appeal has arrived at the Supreme Court at a curious time; there is no conflicting appeals court ruling that the justices often say is a virtual requirement for them to take on an issue. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg cited that practice, for example, as a reason she and her colleagues decided not to take on the same-sex marriage issue. And in the gay marriage cases, both sides were urging the court to step in. |
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Website asks high court to throw out lawsuit
Top Court Watch |
2014/10/22 15:04
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A lawyer told the Washington Supreme Court on Tuesday that a lawsuit filed by three young girls who were sold as prostitutes on a website should be thrown out because the website didn't write the ads, so it's not liable.
But the victims' lawyer said the website, Backpage, doesn't have immunity under the federal Communications Decency Act because the website markets itself as a place to sell "escort services" and provides pimps with instructions on how to write an ad that works, making them a participant in the largest human-trafficking website in the U.S.
The justices plan to rule on the case at a later date.
Before the hearing several dozen people stood in the rain on the court steps with signs that read: "People's bodies are not commodities," ''End Child Slavery" and "Stop Buying Our Girls."
"No one has the right to sell a kid for sex," said Jo Lembo, with Shared Hope International. "That's why we're here. Someone has to speak up for them. They're kids."
A similar case was filed last week in federal court in Boston, but a previous case in Missouri was dismissed, said Yiota Souras, a lawyer with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. "The Washington state case has gone further than any previous case," she said. |
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Supreme Court rejects appeal over Justice memo
Top Court Watch |
2014/10/20 13:02
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The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from a civil liberties group that wants to make public an internal Justice Department memo that allows the FBI to informally obtain phone records.
The justices on Tuesday let stand an appeals court ruling that said the Justice Department could refuse to release the 2010 memo under an exception to the Freedom of Information Act.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation argued that the public has a right to see how the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel authorized the FBI to access phone call records from telephone companies for terrorism investigations.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the memo was part of the government's internal deliberations and therefore exempt from disclosure. |
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San Francisco Copyrights Lawyer - The Onu Law Firm
Top Court Watch |
2014/09/23 14:31
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The Onu Law Firm can assist you in obtaining a copyright registration for your original work. We also provide advice and procurement services concerning US copyright matters such as searching, registration, licensing, policing and copyright enforcement.
The Onu Law firm will help you with license development and distribution agreements in order to maximize your copyright value. The Onu Law Firm has a firm grasp on copyright law: enforcement, protection and defense. With our experience, we will help prevent copyright infringement, defend you against infringement claims, and should the need arise, seek damages from infringement through litigation or settlement.
If you’re in need of our Copyright expertise, contact our San Francisco Copyrights Lawyers at the Onu Law Firm for assistance.
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