Search Results for the Tag "Law"
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate voted, 68-29, to expand the federal hate crimes law to include not only race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, but also gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. The House had already approved so the bill is headed to the President, who is expected to sign it.
The law was expanded by the Matt Shepard Act, which was attached to the 2010 Defense appropriations bill. By attaching the act to a crucial spending bill when Democrats dominated the House, Senate and Presidency, it was virtually assured to pass and be enacted, after years of failing to be passed as separate bill.
The law was expanded by the Matt Shepard Act, which was attached to the 2010 Defense appropriations bill. By attaching the act to a crucial spending bill when Democrats dominated the House, Senate and Presidency, it was virtually assured to pass and be enacted, after years of failing to be passed as separate bill.
Yes, ok, Nevada Senator John Ensign had an affair with a top aide's wife. When the aide, Douglas Hampton, found out, on top of attempting to pay him off, Ensign tried to helped Hampton get a job with a firm that did political consulting, assisted with getting several donors to be Hampton's clients. Hampton then got Ensign to intervene on said client's behalf with federal agencies. The only problem is that there's a ban on senior aides lobbying the Senate with a year after leaving and by ban, I mean law.
The New York Times has all the juicy details, including examples such as this:
The New York Times has all the juicy details, including examples such as this:
After requests from Mr. Hampton, Mr. Ensign called the secretary of transportation last year to plead the case for a Nevada airline, Allegiant Air, which was under investigation for allegedly overcharging for tickets. In April, he arranged for Mr. Hampton and his clients to meet the new transportation secretary in a successful effort to resolve a dispute with a foreign competitor.
To Critics, New Policy on Terror Looks Old. "Has [Obama], on issues related to fighting terrorism, turned out to be little different from his predecessor?"
Obama administration reins in FBI's NSL-related gag orders: "The Obama administration's decision not to ask the Supreme Court to review a lower court decision will force the FBI to justify to a judge the gag orders that it routinely puts on the targets of its national security letters."
The current Dean of Yale Law School, Harold Koh, has been nominated to the Legal Advisor of the State Department. The GOP is divided on him, with some believing he's an avid supporter of transnationalism, which is open to citing legal opinions and views from countries other than United States, while not using them as final law.
Why Two Bush Appointees Are Refusing to Leave: Two U.S. attorneys appointed by Dubya are refusing to leave the Justice Department when Obama takes office. Their explanation: they've got too many corrupt Democrats to prosecute!
War on Drugs: The Collateral Damage. Prohibition militarizes police, enriches our enemies, undermines our laws, and condemns our sick to suffering. War on Drugs: The Price Tag. America can’t afford marijuana prohibition – it’s a matter of dollars and sense.
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While some are awaiting Supreme Court vacancies for Obama to fill, it's the judges in the lower courts that do the most work to shape law:
In particular the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears a lot of cases on national security and intelligence could easily swing left.
The circuit courts of appeals, which cover the nation's 13 federal judicial circuits, decide more than 30,000 cases a year. The Supreme Court takes fewer than 100 new cases each year.
In particular the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears a lot of cases on national security and intelligence could easily swing left.
New Guidelines Would Give F.B.I. Broader Powers. "According to members of Congress, Attorney General Michael Mukasey is preparing to give the F.B.I. broad new authority to investigate Americans — without any clear basis for suspicion that they are committing a crime."