The First #RRF of October!
Added 2024-10-02 18:10:20 +0000 UTCHappy Wednesday! Tell us - what do you want to hear OA cover this week? Comment below with your burning legal-explainer needs!
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Comments
I don’t see a RRF thread for this week, so I’m commenting here. Could you cover the Hachette vs Internet Archive lawsuit? I would love to see your take on the claims made in the case
Warren McDonald
2024-10-09 23:49:26 +0000 UTCThe Biden administration's change to immigration law. Been hearing a lot of conflicting things as to how this actually affects people. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/10/05/politics/biden-administration-immigration-nicaragua-cuba-venezuela-haiti&ved=2ahUKEwif2vO6hPqIAxXQF1kFHXKoKqgQyM8BKAB6BAgFEAI&usg=AOvVaw0_YH3rTt9tV0HovCPjLQ6z
Charles Bacon
2024-10-06 15:10:07 +0000 UTCAnd 1 more for now: can we sue the U.S. Congress for their religious tests wherever they have prayer on the floor? Cspan weekly did a 1 year review of prayers in congress after Oct 7, 2023 (one per month) I’m more interested in the disparities between specific denominations; particularly non-JudeoChristian based represented. And for as far back as it goes. JC all the way down, like The Turtles. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c-spans-the-weekly/id1329714191?i=1000671525643
dddebz
2024-10-05 02:54:09 +0000 UTCHave you already done the legal cases for the pledge of allegiance in 1955? I want it amended. Strike “under God” and append Eventually to the end.
dddebz
2024-10-05 02:46:33 +0000 UTCThe signatories don’t invoke the current space treaty & international laws. There are nearly no agreements around commercialization vs military or state operations in space, either. Friggin Elon.
dddebz
2024-10-04 16:46:15 +0000 UTCMichael Jordan as a NASCAR team owner filed a lawsuit on antitrust grounds against NASCAR's France family who's has owned the league since it's inception in 1948. Could be an interesting dive into antitrust law
Mike Poland
2024-10-04 15:16:42 +0000 UTCDisney/Plus redux but make it Uber/Eats: https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/family-cannot-sue-uber-after-daughter-agreed-waive-jury-trial-during-uber
Patreonymous
2024-10-04 01:26:35 +0000 UTCand I think we definitely need matt's expertise on the 'free nibi' case.
lauren
2024-10-03 06:28:12 +0000 UTCThe Justice Department just entered into a Consent Decree with the Maryland State Police (MDSP) over descriminatory hiring practices. https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/us-attorneys-office-district-maryland-secures-agreement-maryland-department-state-police I have not followed the story in detail, but I have connections with the police agency and personally know of many issues within it and so decided to dive into it a bit tonight by reading the complaint from the Justice Dept. https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1371936/dl I believe firmly in the need to reduce discrimination (intentional or otherwise) in all aspects of goverment including in Police hiring processes, but I find myself really confused about the findings in the complaint. Basically, it comes down to 2 areas of discrimination in recruiting; the written exam and the physical fitness test. The complaint finds that the written exam is discriminatory against African-American applicants (91% of white applicants pass at least once vs 71% of African-American applicants) and the fitness test is discriminatory against female applicants (81% male vs 51% female). While I agree that those numbers are not great, I didn't see anything in the complaint that shows how the MDSP is the cause of the discrepancy. It seems to me that there are potentially many other social reasons for them that have nothing to do with the MDSP such as inequality in education, disparities in promotion of physical fitness among young people, governmental discrimination, and so on. That's not to say that there can't be any reasonable expectations of the MDSP to adjust their practices, but when you read what the standards are, it seems hard to imagine the answers being much more that "lower your standards," to which the only reasonable follow-up question is "are the standards too high to begin with?" Here are the written exam standards: "To pass the POST, a trooper applicant must achieve an aggregate score of 70% on all components combined, and also must score at least 70% on the reading comprehension component, 70% on the grammar component, and 70% on the report writing skills component. There is no minimum passing score on the mathematics component, but the score on the mathematics component is factored into the aggregate score." Here are the fitness standards: "To pass the FFAT, the applicant must complete: (i) 18 push-ups in one minute; (ii) 27 sit-ups in one minute; (iii) reach approximately 1.5 inches beyond the applicant’s toes while seated; and (iv) run 1.5 miles within 15 minutes and 20 seconds. If an applicant fails any event, the assessment is over, and the applicant is not permitted to continue the FFAT." According to some troopers I know (one of which taught at the academy), the standards for graduating from the academy are higher than these. To me, these do not seem unreasonable and contrary to the complaint's findings, I do see them being "job related or consistent with business necessity" and don't really understand how they could be anything but. Police need to be able to read, write, do basic math, and be physically fit enough to perform the functions of the job, and while I think it's reasonable to expect the academy to address some deficiencies in these areas during the 6 months it takes to train a MDSP trooper, there has to be a practical baseline and starting point too. For instance, MDSP shouldn't be expected to teach someone how to read who literally can't or address a candidate's obesity. The only improvement I could see making to either of these tests is to make the writen test acceptable results just be 70% overall instead of requiring the 3 sections to be 70% individually. I won't belabor the point any further, but the current political climate seems to in favor of increasing the standards to become police, not decreasing them and I don't see any significant way of addressing the problems in this complaint that don't involve decreasing the standards. While I agree that discrimination should be rooted out as much as possible, the consent decree here seems to be less about doing that and more about looking like they are doing that. I want all of our police to have a certain level of professionalism and there's only so much of that that job can be expected to instill in their employees. At a certain point, it should be incumbent on the applicant to improve themselves to meet a reasonable standard set for employment. I'd love to hear Matt and Thomas' thoughts on this issue specifically and in general as it pertains to all police and their hiring standards.
Michael Morrisson
2024-10-03 05:50:33 +0000 UTCWhat are some examples of crimes a future president could do that would be illegal, morally harmless, and most importantly hilarious, to test the boundaries of immunity and make fun of SCOTUS? (this is v2 of this question, I intend to keep refining it forever ;)
Alex Cruise
2024-10-03 02:23:46 +0000 UTCI think it'd be fun to hear you clown on some stupid cops that suspected a medical imaging lab was an unregistered marijuana grow op, didn't read signs and got their rifle stuck to the MRI, and then ruined it and are now being sued: https://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/cacdce/2:2024cv07952/941215
Cheers to The Onion, the greatest media outlet in the history of humankind
2024-10-03 00:39:27 +0000 UTCI’m seeing a lot about Gerald O’Connor, the owner of Impact plastics, who demanded employees come into work, and refused to let them leave during the storm until it was too late, ultimately leading to the death of 6 employees. Can he be held liable in any way?
cavalri
2024-10-03 00:30:33 +0000 UTCOral argument in the Trump civil fraud case https://www.youtube.com/live/emwvMtwZ53k?si=0JrXxbJ5mDORSjrM
Ruairi Hipkin
2024-10-02 21:54:56 +0000 UTCit might have to wait until they're filed/unsealed, but yes please. I've seen 120 victims - is that coming in as a class or chunks of separate cases? and then other number of another 100 cases. is that cases=victims or legal cases/suits. all that to say yes please.
lauren
2024-10-02 21:19:15 +0000 UTCJack Smith's filing in the DC Trump case!
James Hamblin
2024-10-02 20:25:16 +0000 UTCWas going to ask if it's too late for the Jack Smith stuff. Is the the October surprise?
Wishing every Clarence Thomas a very God rest his soul
2024-10-02 20:22:54 +0000 UTCHi SJ! We did a whole episode with Casey on different kinds of plea agreements (OA1017) and I believe that we covered Alford pleas there. (We may have also touched on them in the Boeing episode.) I'm sure the concept will come up again and I'll be sure to refresh the next time we touch on it though!
Matt Cameron
2024-10-02 20:20:48 +0000 UTCyes! I saved this in my list for this week too!
lauren
2024-10-02 20:00:02 +0000 UTCCards Against Humanity is suing Musk/SpaceX for defiling land they owned in Texas with industrial waste. How could a major company like SpaceX come to the decision to do this, and what are the likely outcomes? https://www.elonowesyou100dollars.com/
A string of unpronounceable profanity
2024-10-02 19:51:09 +0000 UTCThey've brought them up before. One rather notable instance where it was used was in the Netflix show The Staircase, where a man (who almost certainly murdered his wife) took one to avoid additional prosecution. I think the gist is that you're allowed to effectively plead guilty in order to get the state to back off, but the Alford plea retains your attestation that you are innocent. It's like a much higher-stakes version of a "No Contest" plea in traffic court.
A string of unpronounceable profanity
2024-10-02 19:48:54 +0000 UTCJudge Chutkan unsealed Jack Smith's 165-page redacted motion re presidential immunity. I don't want to read all that. If you could please read it for me and tell me what's interesting in there, I would be grateful.
General Jigglypuff
2024-10-02 19:40:48 +0000 UTCThe Diddy charges and the Eric Adams charges are coming from the same US attorney's office. I have so many questions: A. How big is a US attorney's office in terms of personnel. Should we be concerned about the capacity to effectively prosecute these cases simultaneously? I feel like the GA Trump case involved a prosecutor expanding a case past their capacity and make errors as a result. Could that be a concern here? B. The timing makes me wonder if there is some overlap between these cases. Diddy and Adams certainly have friends in common. Will there be any procedural hints as to whether one of them grew out of the other? What complications might arise from evidence in common (e.g. wiretaps involving targets in each case) C. On the assumption that these are fully independent cases, given the overlap in the social circles, what processes would the US attorney's office use to avoid the investigations trampling the other? D. The filings in the Diddy case seem to be showboating a bit, making it clear they have so much video evidence they expect the burden of proof will be easy to meet. Is there any chance this is bluster to convince Diddy to plea before going to discovery? In other words, if they know he recorded everything but they don't have all of the recordings maybe they could try to make him think they have all the recordings. Would that be considered misconduct by the prosecutor?
Drew Vogel
2024-10-02 19:07:51 +0000 UTCDiddy civil vs criminal.
Steve S
2024-10-02 18:50:51 +0000 UTCWhen covering the Marcellus Williams execution last week, you mentioned that he was willing to make a Alford plea. The idea of accepting a sentence while still asserting innocence seems like a super weird law thingy. Can you expound a bit on Alford pleas and the circumstances that might make one appropriate?
SJ Wood
2024-10-02 18:29:10 +0000 UTCAlso seeing as Joe Biden just said he doesn't believe in Taft-Hartley, what are the implications of that?
Wishing every Clarence Thomas a very God rest his soul
2024-10-02 18:21:18 +0000 UTCIn light of the longshore workers strike, can we get a history of the Taft-Hartley Act. What are the mechanisms to enact it? Is it a purely executive branch function or does it require an Act of Congress? Does the act give employers too much negotiation leverage if they can just wait for the government to end the strike?
YakkoWarner
2024-10-02 18:18:38 +0000 UTCCurious why the Rust armorer didn't get a new trial based on the withheld evidence from Alec Baldwin's trial that caused that dismissal.
We have moral luck at home
2024-10-02 18:13:14 +0000 UTC
