Justia Law Blog

On PACER and FDSys Updated: by

The Administrative Office of the US Courts issued a press release last week announcing that a "New Pilot Project Will Enhance Public Access to Federal Court Opinions." According to the statement, select federal appellate and district courts will make their published opinions available on FDSys, as "FDSys can provide the…

Keep Out! California Reader Privacy Act Passes in State Senate Updated: by

Last month, I mentioned that Justia friend Mary Minow had testified before the California State Senate on Senate Bill (“SB”) 445, which proposes enhanced privacy protections for public library patrons. In yet more news concerning California reader privacy, the State Senate on Monday approved SB 602, the California Reader Privacy…

Judicial Divorce – Florida Legislature Loses bid to Split up the Florida Supreme Court Updated: by

From the Sunshine State comes news that the Florida Senate has abandoned a contentious proposal to split the Supreme Court of Florida into two divisions: civil and criminal.  Under the proposal, Governor Rick Scott (a Republican) would have been able to appoint three new Justices to a newly created civil…

The Free Law Reporter Updated: by

CALI (Computer Assisted Legal Instruction) introduced the Free Law Reporter this week.  The FLR is a database housing published (official) legal opinions that provides a simple search interface for research.  According to CALI, “The goal of FLR is to develop a freely available, unencumbered law reporter that is capable of…

Justia Daily Opinion Summaries Update Updated: by

Courtney and I wanted to update you on our latest free law offering, Justia Daily Opinion Summaries. When we announced the launch last week, we noted that our jurisdictional coverage included all Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal and select state supreme courts. The team has been working hard to expand…

Tracking iPhone and Android Users: Why This Shouldn’t Be Surprising Updated: by

There's been a huge hullabaloo this week about a discovery by two engineers that Apple iPhones and 3G iPads log  users' locations with geo-coordinates and time stamps. A day later, it was revealed that Google's Android operating system can store two files tracking users' travels: one based on WiFi, and…

Should Foreigners Face Limits on Political Speech? Updated: by

Who is an American? For a "corporate person," does the answer depend on where the corporation is headquartered? Or, should we look at the composition of its workforce? Last week, I looked at some tax data found in various securities filings to calculate the tax rate paid by various corporations.…