Judicial Emergency Declared in Arizona

Due to a shortage of judges, Arizona's chief federal judge has declared a judicial emergency for the entire District of Arizona, which would allow courts to delay criminal trials for up to six months.Arizona's federal courts were already overburdened by the combination of a 65% increase in criminal cases over the last two years and two unfilled judicial vacancies before Judge John M. Roll was killed in the Jan. 8 attack that also severely injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The emergency declaration could delay the trial of Jared Lee Loughner, who entered a not-guilty plea in a Phoenix federal...

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New York Times Calls for Steps Toward Torture Accountability

Last week, we told you about new developments in a legal case involving the destruction of tapes that could have been used to investigate the abusive detention policies and torture used by the United States government:Department of Justice prosecutor John Durham may soon be called into court to address his handling of the investigation into the destruction of CIA tapes documenting torture. Durham let the statute of limitations expire in November, 2010 without issuing criminal indictments. The ACLU is involved in a public records lawsuit before Judge Alvin Hellerstein, the judge who ordered the...

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Senator Schumer Warns of “A Crisis in the Judiciary,” Describes a “Strong, Bipartisan Effort” to Get Judges Approved

In an important and informative interview with Politico, Senator Schumer described a “crisis in the judiciary,” and said that the Senate would make a “strong…bipartisan effort to get many more judges approved” in the current Congress.The Senator said that even nominees who had “broad, broad support” and who had been passed “out of the judiciary committee unanimously” were being blocked in the last Congress, and that “there’s a general view that this holdup has gotten out of hand, that it doesn’t make sense to holdup noncontroversial judges.”When asked to describe what had caused the holdup, Senator...

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Defunct Credit Card Statute Places Supreme Court in Banks' Corner Against Consumers

The Supreme Court ruled today in Chase Bank v. McCoy in favor of Chase Bank’s right to impose retroactive interest rate increases without notice on consumer credit cards under an overturned law. The replaced statute, and the Federal Reserve’s bank-friendly interpretation of it, essentially dictated the unfavorable outcome.The Truth in Lending Act required credit card companies to provide written notice prior to the effective date of an interest rate change, but allowed an exception where the fine print of the credit card agreement specified events that would trigger an increase, including failure...

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Supreme Court Issues Decision Protecting Employees From Retaliation

The Supreme Court issued a decision today in the case of Thompson v. North American Stainless, LP. The Court held that an employee who was fired after his fiancé filed a sex discrimination charge with the EEOC could bring a claim under Title VII, the section of the Civil Rights Act that protects against workplace discrimination. It also prohibits employers from taking action that might dissuade a reasonable worker from complaining about workplace discrimination. The employer in the case argued that only the employee who brought the discrimination complaint could sue – not her fiancé....

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One Year After Citizens United, the Corporate Court is Still Open for Business

Nan Aron on Huffington Post:Today marks the one-year anniversary of one of the most notorious and unpopular Supreme Court decisions of recent years. Citizens United v. FEC overturned long-standing precedent and policy, unleashing a torrent of corporate money into American elections that threatens to further distort a political process that is already disproportionately beholden to the interests of powerful corporations.But the decision in Citizens United to favor corporate interests and enhance their power came as no surprise to anyone paying attention to the increasingly transparent agenda of...

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DOJ to Create New Professional Misconduct Review Unit

Attorney General Eric Holder issued a statement yesterday announcing the creation of a new Professional Misconduct Review Unit within the Department of Justice. The Unit will be tasked with handling DOJ attorney disciplinary actions that result from investigations by the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). Holder’s stated goal in creating the Unit is to ensure “consistent, fair, and timely resolution” of allegations of misconduct – a laudable standard.Had this Unit been in place during DOJ’s investigation into the architects of the torture memos, we wonder if the outcome would have been...

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Judge Wants DOJ Explanation on Investigation of CIA Tape Destruction

The Blog of Legal Times reported yesterday that Department of Justice prosecutor John Durham may soon be called into court to address his handling of the investigation into the destruction of CIA tapes documenting torture. Durham let the statute of limitations expire in November, 2010 without issuing criminal indictments. The ACLU is involved in a public records lawsuit before Judge Alvin Hellerstein, the judge who ordered the CIA not to destroy the tapes in 2004. Hellerstein expressed interest in bringing Durham in to address the court.Durham is still involved in investigating CIA interrogation...

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Supreme Court to Hear Case with Access to Justice Implications

The Supreme Court has granted cert in a trio of consolidated cases that will have significant implications for access to justice. The cases are Maxwell-Jolly v. Independent Living Center, Maxwell-Jolly v. California Pharmacists, and Maxwell-Jolly v. Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.The consolidated case arises from California’s decision to issue ten- and five-percent cuts for Medicaid payments to doctors, dentists, pharmacies, adult day health care centers, and clinics. A group of medical providers and low-income elderly and disabled individuals challenged the cuts, arguing that California’s actions...

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Will the Supreme Court Let Drug Companies Overcharge for Medication?

The Supreme Court will hear arguments today in Astra USA v. Santa Clara County. At stake is whether a health care provider can bring suit against drug companies to force them to abide by a federal contract on medication pricing.Federal law instructs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to enter into contracts with drug manufacturers to offer discounted prices for medication to public hospitals, community health centers and other safety-net health care providers. Santa Clara County, California, which operates several of these providers, claims that drug manufacturers breached their contract...

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Supreme Court Case Threatens to Expand "Personal" Rights for Corporations

The Supreme Court will hear arguments today in FCC v. AT&T Inc. The case hinges on whether a corporation has the same personal right of privacy that an exemption to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides to individuals.FOIA requires government agencies to disclose most records requested in writing by any person, unless the record falls within one of nine exemptions. One of the categories protected from disclosure under FOIA is records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes when releasing the information would cause an unwarranted invasion of “personal privacy.”Pointing...

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Supreme Court State Secrets Privilege Case Has Important Implications for Torture Accountability

The Supreme Court will hear two consolidated cases today concerning the ability of the federal government to invoke the state secrets privilege in court. The court’s ruling could have profound implications for judicial oversight of executive branch actions in a wide range of cases, including those related to torture allegations. In General Dynamics Corp. v. United States and The Boeing Company v. United States, the federal government terminated defense contracts based on projected scheduling delays, which exposed the contractors to severe penalties. The contractors argued that they breached their...

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D.C. Circuit Will Likely Uphold Dismissal of Torture Lawsuit

A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday heard oral argument in the case of Ali v. Rumsfeld. That suit is being brought by nine Iraqi and Afghan men who allege they were tortured by United States forces in Iraq and Afghanistan before being released without charge. ACLU attorney Cecillia Wang argued the case on behalf of the plaintiffs. One of the judges on the panel, Reagan appointee Judge David Sentelle, seemed convinced that earlier precedent precluded the panel from finding for the plaintiffs. Telegraphing his intention to rule against the plaintiffs,...

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Human Rights First Issues Administration Report Card; Decries Lack of Torture Accountability.

Alliance for Justice ally Human Rights First has issued a report card, “Assessing the Obama Administration’s Record of Compliance with the Rule of Law and Human Rights in National Security Policy.” While the report gives President Obama an A- for standing firm against the use of torture, it gives the president a failing grade on accountability for torture. The report card notes that the failure to provide accountability for torture “is a violation of international law and diminishes the credibility of the United States as standard-bearer for human rights worldwide.”The report card also looks...

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Chairman Leahy calls on the Senate to do better

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) yesterday laid out an agenda for his committee for 2011, and made a special point about the need for a dramatically speedier and less contentious confirmation process for judicial nominations in the new Senate. At his remarks at Washington’s Newseum, Chairman Leahy said:In his annual report on the Federal Judiciary, Chief Justice Roberts recently wrote of the urgent need to fill the Federal judicial vacancies. These vacancies have reached historically high levels and resulted in overburdened courts that now face crippling caseloads. I will...

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National Commission on the BP Oil Spill Pulls No Punches in its Final Report

The National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling has released its long-awaited report on last year’s calamity in the Gulf of Mexico and reaches powerful conclusions about the causes of the disaster, including that "[t]he explosive loss of the Macondo well could have been prevented." The commissioners explicitly tackle the root causes of the disaster, which they trace to "a series of identifiable mistakes made by BP, Halliburton, and Transocean that reveal such systematic failures in risk management that they place in doubt the safety culture of the entire industry."The...

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Supreme Court hears argument in two cases to decide if injured US citizens can sue responsible foreign companies in US courts

The Supreme Court will hear arguments today in two cases that could severely limit the ability of individuals who are harmed by defective products to seek justice in court.Both cases address the power of state courts to exercise jurisdiction over corporate defendants.In J. McIntyre Machinery v. Nicastro, Robert Nicastro lost four of his fingers at work in New Jersey when his hand was accidentally caught in the blades of a metal cutting machine made by J. McIntyre Machinery, a company incorporated in England. He claims the machine was missing a safety guard that could have prevented the accident....

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A tragic anniversary marks the ongoing erosion of the rule of law

On January 11, 2002, 20 captives from the war in Afghanistan were brought to the Guantánamo Bay detention camp and one of the most ignominious chapters in our nation’s history began. On January 11 of this year, after nine years, over 170 are still there, making a mockery of fundamental principles of American justice and the rule of law.The abuses of Guantánamo are well documented and Alliance for Justice has signed a letter with over 100 other organizations calling for the detention center to be closed and for the Obama Administration to either charge or release the prisoners held there.Critically,...

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The Arizona Victims

On Saturday, January 8, a gunman opened fire at a supermarket outside Tucson, Arizona. His apparent target was Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who had set up a table at the supermarket to meet and talk with her constituents. The shooter is in custody, and he will face trial.Six people were murdered and fourteen were wounded, including Congresswoman Giffords. We offer our sincerest condolences to the family and friends of the victims, and wish for a speedy recovery for the survivors. Neither the survivors nor the families of the victims will ever be the same, but all of us should do whatever...

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President Obama Renominates 42 Judges

Yesterday the Alliance for Justice applauded President Obama’s renomination of 42 judicial nominees who were returned to him at the end of the last Congress. Twenty-three of the 42 nominees would fill seats that are considered “judicial emergencies” by the administrative office of the U.S. Courts, and many of the 42 nominees have the strong support of their state’s Republican senators. The Senate should quickly reprocess all of these nominees through the Judiciary Committee, and then confirm them on an expedited basis. There are currently 114 current and future vacancies to lifetime federal...

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Can a Corporation Be Too Big to Be Sued?

The Los Angles Times today highlighted one of the most potentially wide-ranging cases on the Corporate Court’s docket, Wal-Mart v. Dukes. The editorial provides an excellent overview of the pro-corporate legal argument the Supreme Court would have to adopt in order to rule in favor of Wal-Mart, namely, that the group of women alleging discrimination is too big to form a class action.The case involves a class-action lawsuit against Wal-Mart, alleging that it systematically paid women less and promoted them less often than men. Wal-Mart has argued that the hundreds of thousands of women who have...

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Chief Justice Roberts Calls for Ending the Blocking of Judicial Confirmations

In his annual year-end report on the federal judiciary, Chief Justice Roberts called for increased judicial confirmations, writing that a "persistent problem" in confirming judges has caused some courts to become "burdened with extraordinary caseloads." Though he did not cite any statistics in his report, Chief Justice Roberts was referring to the fact that there are currently 110 vacancies for lifetime federal judgeships, 44 of which are considered "judicial emergencies" by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.These numbers are all the more striking because they have more than doubled...

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