As I mentioned last week, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is an unprecedentedly entangling trade agreement, whose complexity is only made worse by the secrecy of its negotiations. Although small pieces of information have been leaked as early as 2011, the main source that analysts have to go by is the November 13th, 2013 Wikileaks disclosure.
Technically as of today, not a single person has been fired for the Veterans Affairs wait time scandal from last year. That’s right, it bears repeating: technically, not a single person has been fired for the VA wait time scandal. Sorry, but that point needs to sink in. New VA Secretary Bob McDonald is already
The Tenth Circuit issued an opinion on Tuesday, finding that state law claims asserted against Medtronic, manufacturer of the InFuse bone growth stimulator were preempted by FDA approval of the medical device under the Medical Device Act (“MDA”). Plaintiff in the case alleged that Medtronic representatives promoted an off-label, posterior surgical approach for the device,
Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell shocked both parties in Congress by introducing a bill late Tuesday, April 21st to reauthorize a section of the Patriot Act that essentially provides the justification for the NSA spying program on American citizens. The move comes a day before the House Judiciary Committee was to introduce an NSA-reform bill
Telecommunications giant, CenturyLink filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Friday, April 17th, joining AT&T and 5 other companies and trade groups fighting the February change of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules on net neutrality. The new rules, which were officially published last week into the Federal Register,
As the world continues to revolve/evolve around the internet as well as devices that make access to information instantaneous and continuous, major hacks and data leaks are happening with a greater degree of frequency. Some breaches in data security, such as the Wikileaks and Edward Snowden-NSA disclosures, and even to a lesser extent, the Sony
Walmart won a major battle for self-determination in its business operations on Tuesday, April 14th, when the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a District of Delaware November, 2014 ruling that could have potentially restricted gun and ammunition sales based on the desires of certain shareholders. The fast-tracked appeal was resolved before the Thursday, April
In the past year, police abuse cases have permeated the news and the national consciousness, often dividing the country along racial and ideological boundaries. Incidents in Ferguson, New York, Cleveland, Tulsa, and North Charleston, in that order, have given pause to the thought that these are rare, isolated incidents. The emergence of smartphones as personal
On Thursday, April 9th, 7th Circuit Appeals Judge, Richard Posner, dismissed a longstanding class-action lawsuit against four major mobile service providers: Verizon, T-mobile, Sprint, and AT&T, who were accused of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act by coordinating a rate increase on text messaging. The origins of the case, which began as a series of over
In a Saturday, April 11th New York Times article, Adam Liptak illustrates how there are no attorneys from top-level firms urging the Supreme Court to vote against gay marriage in the upcoming hearing involving four different gay marriage-civil rights cases. The Court is allowing 2 ½ hours of oral arguments on April 28th, with attorneys