Via Bmaz at Empty Wheel, a decision of little substantive interest but absolutely fascinating from a process point of view flew under the radar. In Royer v. Federal Bureau of Prisons, District of Columbia Judge Royce Lamberth was called upon to decide a discovery motion in a case involving an improper classification claim.

Royer is a federal inmate who has served about half of his 20 year sentence who in 2010 started bringing  a mandamus action complaining that he was improperly classified as a “terrorist inmate” causing him to be wrongfully placed in Communication Management Unit (CMU) detention. The case has meandered along ever since.

Not the sexiest case around, and a discovery order in a classification case isn’t likely to cause lawyers to rush to read it.  After all, here was the government, yanking the plaintiff’s chain by ignoring the demands, the time limits, the procedural requirements, all because, well, it’s the government.  Isn’t that good enough reason? Continue reading →

It’s rare to get a truly disruptive technological idea out of Oklahoma, but former police officer cum State Senator Al McAffrey has come up with sheer brilliance in Senate Bill 1872, which would “allow law enforcement officers to issue electronic citations for traffic, misdemeanor and municipal ordinance violations.”

“Allowing officers to issue electronic citations will help better protect them. If they don’t have to approach vehicles during traffic stops to give people tickets but can simply email traffic violation citations directly to the district court clerk then they’re less likely to get into a dangerous altercation,” said McAffrey, D-Oklahoma City.

As any highway patrol officer can tell you, approaching a stopped car on the side of the road is one of the riskiest things a cop can do. You never know who is inside the car, an old woman who will call you mean names, Continue reading →

Q. How long does a 48-hour hold last in drug court?

A. 154 Days.

At some point in every system, there is a dependency on human beings.  Whenever a system depends on human beings, there is the potential for failure.  Destiny Hoffman found that out the hard way, serving 154 days before a prosecutor, reviewing old cases, somehow noticed that she was still incarcerated.  From the Clark County, Indiana, News and Tribune:

A participant of the Clark County Drug Court Treatment Program sentenced to 48 hours in the Clark County jail was released from the facility Thursday — 154 days after being placed behind bars. Continue reading →

In its 42-year history, the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police have lost only one officer in the line of duty. And it came as the result of Sgt. Tom Smith being shot by Det. Michael Maes. The untimely death of any person is a tragedy, and there should be no doubt that the remorse Maes feels at his mistaken shot is real.

The Los Angeles Times reports what happened:

The two men were among five BART detectives, two uniformed BART officers and  an Alameda County sheriff’s deputy who entered the unlocked Dublin apartment of  a robbery suspect already in custody to search for items stolen in a  robbery.

The San Francisco Chronicle, citing unnamed law enforcement  sources, reported Saturday that Smith and Maes split up as they entered the  apartment. As Smith’s drawn weapon emerged from a “Jack and Jill”-style bathroom  — one with two entrances — Maes momentarily mistook him for a hostile suspect  and fired a single shot. Continue reading →

David Plotz at Slate begins by explaining how and why he doesn’t like or trust Stephen Glass.  He then comes out and says so:

So, needless to say, I don’t like Steve. And I don’t trust Steve.

It appears there is only one thing he dislikes and distrusts more than Stephen Glass. Lawyers.

Glass was caught in a scandal in the late 90’s, fabricating stories at The New Republic, then lying about them to cover up his lies. Plotz’s wife, Hannah Rosin, was Glass’ editor, and closest confidante. Not only did she get burnt, but hung out like a fool for not being a very good judge of character. Continue reading →

At Volokh Conspiracy, shortly before Eugene went rogue and joined the Washington Post, he wrote about a new trend, judges reading briefs on their iPads.

I just read a very interesting article, Daniel Sockwell, Writing a Brief for the iPad Judge. The basic problem:

[M]ore and more judges are reading briefs primarily on iPads or other tablets…. The Fifth Circuit judiciary reads the majority of their briefs on iPads, and, from conversations with numerous judges and clerks, the other Circuits are not far behind (though I was told that the Third Circuit is “not as iPad heavy as some circuits”). The best way to know how a particular judge typically reads briefs is to ask — the clerks will likely be happy to help.

Why you should care how the judge reads your brief? Continue reading →

Darren Redding was angry.  Not just the right amount of angry, but really angry, and he decided to let the target of his anger know about it. The target was CopBlock, and so he left his message at their Facebook page:

Your page is pathetic and offensive. The pictures you post and the comments you make seem like you’re trying to incriminate and deface ALL police officers, when 99% of them are great at what they do, it’s the 1% you should be posting about, not the vast majority you pathetic, ignorant, liberal pussy.

You’re just like all the liberals striving for gun control because the actions of a few, insane individuals are fucking it up for the other 99% of gun owners who are responsible with their weapons.

Or let me put it into perspective for a drug using, liberal, hippy pussy like yourself: 99% of people who smoke pot do it responsibly and safely, but 1% of the people who use participate in violent crime, or crash their cars when theyre high and kill others or themselves, but I don’t see you posting about how ALL pot smokers should be punished. Continue reading →

Via lawprof Gerard Magliocca at Concurring Opinions, the dissenting opinion by arch-conservative Justice James McReynolds in Casey v. United States, 276 U.S. 413 (1928).

Why Gregory M. Owens decided it was a good idea to open his life to the pages of the New York Times isn’t clear.  That he did, however, offers one of the few feel-good stories for solo practitioners in a long time.  The practice of law has been in the toilet for a long time now, and for many solos and smalls, images of life in the marble and mahogany hallways of Biglaw are the stuff of jealous nightmares.

Meet Gregory Owens.

The silver-haired, distinguished-looking Mr. Owens would seem the embodiment of a successful Wall Street lawyer. A graduate of Denison University and Vanderbilt Law School, Mr. Owens moved to New York City and was named a partner at the then old-line law firm of Dewey, Ballantine, Bushby, Palmer & Wood, and after a merger, at Dewey & LeBoeuf. Continue reading →

When news broke that the most hated person on the interwebz, revenge porn maven Hunter Moore was arrested, a few thoughts ran through my head.  First, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Second, see how they get taken down without creating new crimes just to “get” hated people?  Third, maybe this will satisfy those who want to control speech on the internet.

Mike Masnick wrote about Moore’s arrest at Techdirt, and there wasn’t much that I could add.

So, with the news that Hunter Moore was indicted with a co-conspirator under the CFAA today, we feared the worst.  After all, the CFAA is already a terribly drafted law, regularly twisted by the DOJ to go after people for ordinary computing activities.  However, in looking over the details of the indictment, we can at least breathe an initial sigh of relief (well, and disgust at the two individuals), as it details what appears to be Moore’s “co-conspirator” Charles Evens (also known as Gary) hacking into emails accounts to get access to nude photos, and then giving them to Moore.  Moore gives Evens a bunch of money for this, at times calling him an employee, and urging him to break into more email accounts and to obtain more nude photos. Continue reading →