Justia Law Blog

Why Are There Only Six Jurors in George Zimmerman’s Murder Trial? Updated: by

The media has been closely following the criminal trial of George Zimmerman, the racially charged trial in which Zimmerman is accused of murdering teenager Trayvon Martin. Just this week, a jury of six was chosen. For most people, when we think of juries, we think of them as being comprised…

Justia Writers’ Round Up – Supreme Court Opinions Issued June 20, 2013 Updated: by

American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, United States Supreme Court (6/20/13) Antitrust & Trade Regulation, Arbitration & Mediation, Class Action An agreement between American Express and merchants who accept American Express cards, requires that all of their disputes be resolved by arbitration and provides that there “shall be no…

Justia Writers’ Round Up – Supreme Court Opinions Issued June 17, 2013 Updated: by

Five opinions came down today from the United States Supreme Court. Read the summaries below and read the full text of the opinions at Justia’s U.S. Supreme Court Center. Alleyne v. United States, United States Supreme Court (6/17/13) Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law Alleyne was convicted using or carrying…

Justia Weekly Writers’ Picks: Hands Off My Double Helix Updated: by

Assoc. for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., United States Supreme Court (6/13/13) Drugs & Biotech, Patents Myriad obtained patents after discovering the precise location and sequence of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, mutations of which can dramatically increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. The discovery enabled Myriad…

Justia Weekly Writers’ Picks – License, Registration & DNA Please Updated: by

Maryland v King, United States Supreme Court (6/3/13) Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law After his arrest on first- and second-degree assault charges, King was processed through a Wicomico County, Maryland, facility, where personnel used a cheek swab to take a DNA sample pursuant to the Maryland DNA Collection Act…

New Threats to Free Law – Two Things You Should Read Today Updated: by

California is proposing to charge citizens to access and read court files and other public documents. The Administrative Office of the Courts has proposed that the state charge $10 for every name, file, or information that comes back from a search. Techdirt has the story. Charging for search results –…

President Obama’s Executive Order to Make Government Data Open and Machine Readable Updated: by

President Obama issued an executive order last month calling on the federal government to open access to public documents by making them “open and machine readable.” He called on government information to be “managed as an asset throughout its life cycle to promote interoperability and openness, and, wherever possible and…

Ace! Justia Weekly Writers’ Picks Updated: by

Comcast Cable Communications, LLC v. FCC, et al, U.S. D.C. Cir. (5/28/13) Communications Law Tennis Channel, a sports programming network and intervenor in this suit, filed a complaint against Comcast Cable, a multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD), alleging that Comcast violated section 616 of the Communications Act of 1934, 47…