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
Southern New York District Judge, Jed Rakoff, delivered a poignant speech regarding the issue of mass incarceration in the U.S. criminal justice system. Speaking at a Harvard Law School conference on the responsibilities and roles that lawyers play both professionally and as citizens on April 10th, Rakoff gave a “fourth principal” argument, taking a non-judicial
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
In testimony submitted before a Monday, April 13th subcommittee of the House Committee on Veteran’s Affairs hearing, VA employees attest that whistleblower retaliation is still rampant despite a year-long attempt to reform the department. Several whistleblowers, who exposed the shocking data falsification scandal involving treatment delays last year, are claiming that retaliation persists despite the
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
Amazon has been a pioneering company in a number of respects, from becoming the world’s largest online retailer to introducing cloud computing technology to the masses, and 20 years ago, when they implemented the user product review. On Wednesday, April 8th, the company took major strides in protecting the integrity of the review process when
Because it couldn’t stand to be outdone by rivals Arkansas and Florida, or the once-polite state of Indiana, Louisiana has entered the religious freedom battle, coming strong with a bill that just might pass intact. Representative Mike Johnson (R-Bossier City) introduced HB 707 last week, the Louisiana Marriage and Conscience Act. The bill would allow
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