The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted unanimously on Thursday, April 9th to issue the largest fine for a utility company in state history, and the largest fine in U.S. history for a natural gas utility. The $1.6 billion fine against PG&E was issued in response to a 2010 pipeline explosion in the San Francisco
In the previous section of this report, I highlighted how multiple political and budgetary factors are limiting the number of judges needed to address the growing case overload in federal courts. 43 positions remained vacant by the end of 2014 due to confirmation politics, and the Judicial Conference of the United States has asked Congress
An April 6th Wall Street Journal report highlights a growing crisis of case overload within the U.S. judicial system. In 2014, a record number of 337,302 civil cases remained pending in U.S. federal courts, a 20 percent increase since 2004. These cases involve fairly common complaints such as discrimination, Social Security, and personal injury, among
On Tuesday, April 7th in Brownsville, Texas, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen ruled against a request by the Obama administration to lift the injunction he placed on it regarding immigration reform. The ruling comes as a precursor to an April 17th hearing in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in which the Justice Department
Two recent federal judicial rulings in New York may play a pivotal role in formally defining the vague legal premise surrounding insider trading. In December, 2nd Circuit Appeals Court judge, Richard J. Sullivan overturned the convictions of traders Todd Newman and Anthony Chiasson. In the case, Newman and Chiasson were accused of using information, informally
Three separate bills were introduced by Republican lawmakers in the Texas State House over the past two weeks, each attacking provisions of the state’s “Judicial-Bypass” process. Judicial-Bypass allows underage girls to seek approval through the court system in order to have an abortion without parental notification. The confidential procedure was established in 1999, in response
Two bills have been recently introduced in the Senate in an effort to reform what some legal scholars consider to be one of the weakest regulations on the books. The Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) was introduced in 1976, giving the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) authority to regulate new and existing chemicals. The law, however,
Supreme Court Justices Stephen Breyer and Anthony Kennedy spoke candidly about reforms needed in the criminal justice system before a House Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee meeting in Washington D.C. on March 23rd. In a rare off-topic discussion, Justice Kennedy spoke bluntly about the criminal justice system to the committee stating that, “In many
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) opened an investigation of Bayer pharmaceuticals in response to a citizen’s petition filed March 26th on behalf of over 2100 women regarding the Essure permanent birth control device. Bayer, who acquired the product’s maker, Conceptus in 2013, is being accused of hiding falsified medical records and reports of
It is Friday, April 3rd, a week since the entire world, as it would seem, mouthed a collective ‘wait, you did wha?’ toward the mousy but likable state of Indiana. Governor Mike Pence’s Thursday, March 26th signing of his state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) began a wave of protestation reminiscent of Ferguson, or even