6/2/2015 Knowing how to kick a law when it’s down, Facebook unveiled a new encryption component to its website, which allows users to send and receive emails as well as Facebook notifications that organizations like the National Security Agency (NSA) are unable to view. In the wake of the temporary halting of the NSA spying
6/2/2015 Much like Sunday’s last-minute drama in the U.S. Senate over extending parts of the Patriot Act to authorize the NSA-spying program, the Illinois legislature was hard at work Sunday night trying to patch together a massive budget gap before the end of its spring session. The results of the failed last-ditch effort to reconcile
6/1/2015 Republicans are furious at one of their own today, Kentucky’s Junior Senator and presidential hopeful Rand Paul, who nearly single-handedly took down the National Security Agency’s (NSA) authorization for its spying program. Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act officially expired at midnight, June 1st despite a frantic effort by fellow Kentuckian, Republican Senate
6/1/2015 Somehow, some way, incumbent FIFA president Sepp Blatter was re-elected on Friday, May 29th despite Wednesday’s U.S. Justice Department’s 47-count indictment and the arrests by Swiss authorities of several executives at FIFA’s Zurich headquarters. The shocking nature of Blatter’s election to a fifth term is the fact that it wasn’t really very shocking. This
5/31/2015 Officers and Trustees of the Pound Civil Justice Institute announced on Thursday, May 28th that they have awarded New York University Law professor and BP settlement attorney, Samuel Issacharoff the winner of the think-tank’s first Appellate Advocacy Award. Issacharoff is being awarded the honor for his tireless efforts working on the Deepwater Horizon lawsuit against
5/29/2015 Despite the ongoing FBI investigation of Johnson & Johnson’s manufacturing division, Ethicon, and a strong Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warning issued last year, power morcellators are still legal. The device grinds up tissue mass, and is then removed through a series of small incisions. The device, which is used to provide minimally invasive
5/28/2015 In what looks to be the most widespread and lucrative corruption scandal in the global history of sport, the U.S. Justice Department has unsealed a 47-count indictment against 14 executives of the worldwide soccer governing body, FIFA. The executives are being charged with racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering. The Justice Department alleges that
5/27/2015 In a decision that helps to define the statute of limitations for whistleblower cases, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled Tuesday, May 26th that whistleblowers do not get extra time to file false claims complaints during a time of war. The case revolves around former Iraq contractor, Benjamin Carter, whose 2011 complaint under review alleges
5/27/2015 For the second time in as many months, a federal court has upheld the stoppage of a key portion of President Obama’s November 2014 executive order reforming U.S. immigration policy. A split 3-judge panel from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Texas Federal Judge, Andrew Hanen’s February injunction of the executive order after
5/26/2015 Charter Communications is expected to announce on Tuesday that the company has reached an agreement to purchase Time Warner Cable. If the deal passes regulatory scrutiny, the third and second largest cable providers, respectively, will provide heavy competition to industry leader Comcast, as well as other companies like DirecTV and Netflix. The estimated $55