Make America Trip Again Current Affairs

Via New York City Councilmember Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC), this news that New York Urban center has released information (here) on vaccination rates broken downwards by nil code.

On NYC's own webpage (here), there is a graphic that may interest those who are familiar with NYC'southward neighborhoods. Some commentators are already pointing out differences in vaccination rates by race and income level (to the extent that neighborhoods may--just do not flawlessly--role equally proxies for more specific demographic info).

The reasons for differences in vaccination rates are no doubt extremely complex. The internet based sign-upward system in New York City has been cluttered and difficult for even calculator-savvy people to navigate. Those without internet service, time and/or computer skills accept been disadvantaged, to say the least.

My estimate is that we'll run across more of these types of visuals and and more than complete analyses as the vaccination rollout continues.

"Justice failed us today. It failed us in a way that's been failing us for generations."

-Kentucky Land Rep. Charles Booker

The Breonna Taylor grand jury proclamation started immediately earlier my criminal arbitrament class this past Wednesday, and while I knew the proclamation would exist disappointing and painful, I likewise knew I couldn't ignore information technology. Rather than moving forwards with class as usual, I decided to livestream the declaration of the yard jury'southward decision likewise equally the Kentucky Country Attorney General'southward press conference with my class.

I was shocked and angered: By the one thousand jury's decision to indict simply one of the LMPD officers, Brett Hankinson, with three counts of first degree wanton endangerment , non for killing Ms. Taylor or endangering her or her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, but for endangering their neighbors in surrounding apartments. By Daniel Cameron's press conference, which fabricated information technology plain that prosecutors presented exculpatory evidence to the k jury, which prosecutors just ever seem to do for cops. By Cameron'south standing defence of the officers and of police force enforcement in general. By his suggestion that many of the ills in the execution of search warrants could somehow exist remedied by the formation of a new task forcefulness, likely to be headed past police officers and to accomplish nothing.

My students were just every bit aroused, confused, and heartbroken as I was. I let my students enquire whatsoever questions or express whatever thoughts they felt comfortable sharing. They had astute questions almost the operation of the chiliad jury, about the types of show allowed, about the meaning of "wanton endangerment," and most whether thousand jury transcripts would be released. A pupil remarked that, for the first fourth dimension, they were having to face the fact that "the law" and "justice" are not 1 and the same. Another asked, "Why do we keep using the grand jury when it seems fundamentally broken?"

I was honored and grateful to be able to discuss the grand jury's decision, in real time, with my students. I've recently adopted a more thematic and problem-centered approach to my criminal procedure education every bit advocated by Lanni and Steiker in A Thematic Approach to Instruction Criminal Arbitrament , rather than the traditional, strictly chronological arroyo. The course is more flexible and more immediately relevant to my students past incorporating more supplemental readings and materials outside of our traditional casebook, reflecting more recent developments in the field. This adjustability fabricated it easier for usa every bit a course to depart from the syllabus altogether to focus on the Taylor case, all the same some other important chapter in the story of criminal police, process, and law violence that unfolded that day before us.

With the upcoming fight over the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, Election Day only a few weeks away, and the COVID-19 pandemic wearing on, nosotros equally constabulary professors should be mindful not just that our students may feel spread thin, but that their law school feel--frequently tons of reading and discussion of oftentimes fusty onetime cases and other materials--may feel completely disconnected from their everyday lives. All our students likely have strong feelings about much of the recent news. Using current events in the police force school classroom gives students the opportunity to connect what they're learning with the world effectually them in concrete manner, and tin can assistance to illustrate the importance of what they're studying in a much more immediate and relatable mode. Students take so many important questions and observations virtually the current political and legal environment; giving them the opportunity to vocalism them provides important opportunities for them to learn from each other anad for the states, as professors, to teach and learn from them, even if doing and then pushes us outside our pedagogical comfort zones.

This post is part of a series near my new book Shortlisted: Women in the Shadows of the Supreme Court, co-authored with Hannah Brenner Johnson. The first post offered an overview of the book. The 2d shed some light on how we found the women profiled in the volume. The third examined what it means to exist "shortlisted." And at present I turn to a shortlisting featured in the new FX prove "Mrs. America."

Are y'all watching "Mrs. America"? If not, you lot should, if for no other reason than to enjoy the star-studded cast that includes Cate Blanchett every bit Phyllis Schlafly, Niecy Nash equally Flo Kennedy, Rose Byrne as Gloria Steinem, Uzo Aduba as Shirley Chisholm, Tracey Ullman equally Betty Friedan, Margo Martindale every bit Bella Abzug, and more. As my Academy of Houston colleague, the historian Leandra Zarnow, recently wrote in the Washington Post:

Covid-xix has denied political junkies the daily twists and turns of a typical presidential race, and left Americans scrambling for entertainment. This has helped turn the FX show "Mrs. America," currently streaming on Hulu, into the latest quarantine hit. "Mrs. America" resurrects the dramatic terminal chapter of the protracted boxing to secure an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, first introduced in 1923. It carries viewers from the heady moment when the ERA passed both houses of Congress in 1972 through the unexpected failure to ratify the amendment past a 1982 deadline. Conservative crusader Phyllis Schlafly is the effigy driving "Mrs. America." Creator Dahvi Waller dreamed up the bear witness thinking sometime secretary of land Hillary Clinton would exist well established in the Westward Wing by the fourth dimension it aired, and a evidence about Schlafly would be a written report of a vanishing force in U.S. politics. Clinton'southward unexpected loss, all the same, created a series in which the anti-hero is the conqueror.

The serial reminds us of forgotten moments in the women's rights movement and illustrates how the politics of the 1970s are still very much at play today. Spoiler alert—you might not want to continue reading if you lot oasis't seen the series finale withal. (Otherwise, continue on to read well-nigh a shortlisting of Schlafly and to meet some gems I uncovered while researching presidential archives.)

Continue reading "The Shortlisting of Phyllis Schlafly" »

From Professor Priya Gupta (Southwestern):

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the risks that it presents to the detained in detail, several colleagues and I take written an open letter of the alphabet to the Section of Homeland Security urging the release of immigrant detainees. (As you are probable aware, several courts have already issued orders to release detainees in light of the actual or hereafter outbreak of the virus in immigration detention facilities.)

We welcome your signature, and we would be grateful if you would distribute the link below and the attached letter to your colleagues & networks.

We would like all signatures past midnight EST on Friday, April 17 so that we tin distribute the letter to DHS, Water ice, and CBP on Monday, April 20.

The alphabetic character is here.

The signature form is hither

Please note that this alphabetic character is intended to be signed past professors, researchers, and educators affiliated with a law school based in the United States.

Traditionally, a valid will must be:

(1) in writing;

(ii) signed by the testator (or in the testator'due south proper name past another at the testator's asking and in the testator's conscious presence); and

(3) either (A) signed by two individuals each of whom witnessed the signing of the will or the testator's acknowledgment of the testator'due south signature, or (B) acknowledged before a notary public.  And then says Uniform Probate Code § ii-502.

In states that have not adopted the UPC, holographic wills may or may not exist allowed. In four states--Nevada, Indiana, Arizona, and Florida--electronic wills are permitted--merely non necessarily with remote witnessing (such as past webcam). The recently-approved Compatible Electronic Wills Act leaves it to the adopting country to decide whether a witness'due south "electronic presence" will suffice for the purpose of witnessing a will.

In a jurisdiction similar New York that does non permit holographic wills (except in the rarest of circumstances) and does not allow notarized wills, how is a person supposed to execute a valid will in an era of social distancing? I suppose the testator could run across up with friends in a city park, all the while maintaining appropriate six-foot altitude, and and so conduct a traditional volition ceremony.

Hither'south some other idea, which probably but works for people who live in houses or in apartments with windows viewable from another apartment or from the sidewalk:

• The testator arranges with the neighbors that the testator will go to the neighbor'southward thou;
• Two neighbors come to a window, or a front door with a glass pane.
• The testator gets close to the window, holds upwardly the will, and signs it while the neighbors are watching;
• The testator says, "This is my will. I have read it and understood it. It disposes my property in accordance with my wishes. I would like you lot to sign your names as witnesses."
• The testator pushes the will through the mail slot or slips the will under the door.
• The two neighbors retrieve the will from the mail slot.
• The two neighbors get back to the door or window. While the witnesses lookout man each other and while the testator is watching, each witness signs as a witness.
• The witnesses push button the will dorsum out to the testator through the mail slot or under the door.

I think it works. The ceremony is unusual, but it should encounter either the "line of sight" test or the "conscious presence" exam for witnesses. H/T Ellen Aprill.  Am I missing annihilation?

To brand it easier for people to execute wills during this pandemic, Governor Cuomo should issue an emergency order allowing remote witnessing of wills. Remote notarization is temporarily allowed in New York. The inability to update a will a real problem that can be fixed relatively easily. To be sure, this pandemic likely volition push button many states to adopt electronic wills statutes with remote witnessing, once legislatures are back in session. In the concurrently, remote witnessing should be permitted.

The following is a guest postal service by Professor Francine Lipman (UNLV).

The CARES Act was only signed into police, including a number of private income revenue enhancement provisions. Here are some details on the Recovery Rebate Revenue enhancement Credit:

Who qualifies for the 2020 Recovery Rebate Taxation Credit?

All adults who have a valid Social Security number authorizing work who are non claimed as a dependent on another'due south tax return (for 2020). 1 exception to this general rule is if a married couple files jointly and 1 of the spouses is a member of the Armed Forces, then only i of the spouses has to have a valid Social Security number that authorizes piece of work.

All children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, stepbrothers, stepsisters, nieces, and nephews who live with the adult as a member of their household in the US for more than than ane-half of the yr and who are under age 17 with a valid Social Security number authorizing work (as of December 31, 2020) ("qualifying children")(no limit to the number of "qualifying children").

How Much Will I Receive?

• Adults will receive $i,200 per qualifying individual ($two,400 for married filing jointly).
• Adults who have "qualifying children" (as described above) will receive an additional $500 each, without limitation.
• Adults who are claimed as a dependent on another's revenue enhancement return will not receive a Recovery Rebate Revenue enhancement Credit.

Continue reading "Invitee Postal service by Professor Francine Lipman on CARES Act and Recovery Rebate Tax Credit" »

In April, 2019, the Wisconsin Periodical of Gender, Law & Society sponsored a symposium on "Race-Ing Justice, En-Gendering Power: Black Lives Matter and the Office of Intersectional Legal Analysis in the Twenty-First Century." Instead of preparing individual papers for publication, the speakers at the symposium collaborated on a joint essay--written in a conversational style--that both captures and extends salient portions of the symposium discussion. The essay--written past Linda Greene (Wisconsin), Lolita Buckner Inniss (SMU), Mehrsa Baradaran (UC Irvine), Noa Ben-Asher (Pace), Bennett Capers (Brooklyn), Osamudia James (Miami), Keisha Lindsay (Wisconsin, Political Science & Gender and Women's Studies) and me is now available on SSRN.

Here is the abstruse:

This essay explores the apparent differences and similarities between the Black Lives Matter and the #MeToo movements. In April 2019, the Wisconsin Journal of Gender, Police force and Society hosted a symposium entitled "Race-Ing Justice, En-Gendering Power: Black Lives Thing and the Role of Intersectional Legal Analysis in the 20-Beginning Century." That program facilitated examination of the historical antecedents, cultural contexts, methods, and goals of these linked equality movements. Conversations continued amongst the symposium participants long after the end of the official plan. In this essay, the symposium's speakers memorialize their robust conversations and likewise swoop more deeply into the phenomena, implications, and future of Black Lives Thing and #MeToo.

This essay organizes effectually internal and external spatial metaphors and makes v schematic moves. First, internal considerations ground comparisons of the definitions, goals, and ideas of success employed by or practical to Black Lives Matter and #MeToo. Second, external concerns inspire questions nearly whether both movements may be amend understood through the lens of intersectionality, and relatedly, what challenges these movements pose for an intersectional assay. Third, a meta-internal framework invites research into how the movements shape the daily work of scholars, teachers, lawyers, and community activists. 4th, a dialectical external-internal frame drives questions about the movements' effects on law and popular culture, and the reciprocal effects between those external influences and the movements themselves. Returning to an external, even frontward-looking, approach, nosotros inquire what the adjacent steps are for both movements. This five-office taxonomy frames the research into where the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements are located individually, simply also where they are co-located, and, possibly almost importantly, where they are going.

The full essay is available here.

This is the fourth in a serial of what I originally intended to be four posts springboarding off my new study of the entry-level Law-Jobs Market.  I'1000 now planning a fifth (and if that'south what you have to expect forward to, you have my sympathy).  The full paper is available here.  Part I laid out the current state of the chore market, and yous can detect it hither.  Office 2 was about "JD Advantage" placements, and y'all can discover that here.  Part III made some predictions most where entry-level hiring is headed in the foreseeable future, and that one is hither.

In the first post in this serial, I showed you that the entry-level Law-Jobs market appears to have finally leveled out after a decade-long turn down, but that the number of entry-level Police force Jobs is now 25.seven% lower than it was in 2007, and at levels non seen since the early 1990s.  The proportion of the graduating class getting a Law Job (the Law-Jobs Ratio) has recovered, merely that's but because of the crash in the number of people attending law school.  In brusque, there are way fewer entry-level Law Jobs than there were 10 years ago, but even fewer people graduating from law school.  In the 3rd post, I predicted that while the long, steep reject in entry-level hiring is probably over, the steady and rapid growth in the job market that preceded it for at least thirty years is not probable to return anytime soon.  Instead, we have reset to a new, more modest entry-level chore market about 25% smaller than the one we had in 2007, i probable to show, on average, simply gradual growth of perhaps 1%-2% per year.

And so what does this mean for the legal academy?  I offer my reflections afterwards the jump.

Continue reading "New Study on the Land of the Entry-Level Law-Jobs Market and its Implications (Office IV: What the Current State and Likely Future of the Police force-Jobs Market Ways for the Legal Academy)" »

Congress passed the Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Guild Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act (the "Commencement Step Act") earlier in December,  prior to the government shut-downwards. The criminal justice bill, supported by President Trump, includes some modest reforms to increase rehabilitation programs in prison and reduce some prison sentences (see a simplified explanation here). One of the lesser-known provisions of the Offset Step Deed is the requirement that federal prisons provide menstrual hygiene products to prisoners. Given that the Usa has a tremendously high incarceration charge per unit for women (see here), information technology's surprising -- or peradventure not -- that the federal prisons did not accept an obligation to make these products available to women.

Prior to the success of the federal legislation, students at the University of Baltimore's Bronfein Family Police force Dispensary, working under the guidance of Professor Margaret Johnson, had been hard at work trying to persuade the Maryland State Legislature to provide menstrual hygiene products to those incarcerated in state jails and prisons. The student-attorneys wrote about their work. Hither is an extract:

We and other clinic educatee attorneys jumped into activity because the provision of menstrual products is a basic human right for those who menstruate. The pupil attorneys, in conjunction with RJI and past residents of Maryland prisons, provided both written and oral testimony to the Maryland General Assembly in February 2018 in back up of the proposed nib.

In support of our testimony, we conducted a national survey of the l states' and the Commune of Columbia'southward laws regarding menstrual products for persons in correctional facilities. When nosotros commencement conducted our written report in February 2018, nosotros constitute that only eighteen states had whatsoever provision identifying the issue of providing menstrual products to inmates. Of those eighteen states, xi states required the facility to provide inmates with these products whereas the other seven states did non specify how inmates would access the products; of those eleven, simply two specifically required that those products be provided at no toll. Of the 18 states, nine states required the state to provide menstrual products only upon need so they were not freely available. Two states provided unspecified access to menstrual products.

The beak unanimously passed the Maryland Firm and the Senate and on Apr 24, 2018, Governor Hogan signed the nib into constabulary. As of October 1, 2018, Maryland correctional facilities are required legally to take a written policy and sufficient supply of free menstrual products.

With this new law, Maryland became a leader in the country with this initiative of making menstrual products available, at no toll, and with unfettered access. This fall, the Clinic pupil attorneys take filed multiple public data act requests with each Maryland county facility to obtain their policies to ensure compliance with this new police force. Nosotros take also drafted a model policy to provide to the facilities should they need assistance.

Nevertheless over half the United states states do not provide access to these products. I'll bet the students at Baltimore accept some wisdom they could share!

In a very interesting filing, the Russia has formally responded to the DNC lawsuit that seeks millions of dollars in damages for Moscow'southward hack of the Democrats' reckoner arrangement during the 2016 election. On behalf of the Russian defendants in the example, the Russian Ministry of Justice filed a Argument of Immunity last week with Judge John Koeltl of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Although the Russia insists the filing does not institute a formal appearance in the instance, the Statement of Immunity substantially constitutes a Dominion 12(b)(ane) motion to dismiss for lack of field of study matter jurisdiction. The filing also invokes the political question doctrine, raises a Dominion 12(b)(3) venue issue, and even works in a 12(b)(6) reference to the strict pleading standard articulated in Bell Atlantic five. Twombly and Ashcroft v. Iqbal.

The cornerstone of the Russian federation's defense is the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Human action, 26 U.S.C. § 1604. Relying on the FSIA, the Statement of Immunity urges the District Court to dismiss the case sua sponte on jurisdictional grounds. Here is an excerpt:

Continue reading "Russia'south Response to the DNC Lawsuit" »

My moving picture recommendation for the weekend is "Agile Measures," a new documentary by Jack Bryan. The title refers to the Russian regime's employ of covert warfare confronting its adversaries, especially in the United states just also in Britain, Estonia, Georgia, and Ukraine.

The flick'southward focus is on the three-decade-long financial relationship between Donald Trump and Russia, which Bryan argues is the key to understanding the connectedness between Moscow and the Trump entrada during the 2016 election. The documentary is riveting, fast-paced, and includes interviews with John McCain, Hillary Clinton, Evan McMullin, Michael McFaul, and many others. It is available on Amazon Prime and the picture trailer for Active Measures is bachelor here.

On a related note, the Justice Department on Wednesday filed however another indictment of Russian military machine intelligence officers. Here is a copy of the latest indictment, which charges vii GRU officers with conducting "persistent and sophisticated cyber criminal intrusions" that targeted American, Canadian, and European entities for hacking and disinformation campaigns. According to the Justice Section, the Russian government attacked a range of western institutions, including the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemic Weapons. Interestingly, the Justice Section filed the indictment in the Western District of Pennsylvania, which reflects the expansion of the Russia investigation beyond the Special Counsel's office to include a number of U.S. Attorneys' offices.

Here is FBI Director Christopher Wray'due south statement regarding the most recent Justice Department indictment of Russian government officials:

"The actions of these seven hackers, all working every bit officials for the Russian authorities, were criminal, retaliatory, and damaging to innocent victims and the The states' economy, as well as to world organizations. Their actions extended beyond borders, merely and then did the FBI's investigation. We worked closely with our international partners to identify the actors and disrupt their criminal campaign - and today, we are sending this message: The FBI volition non permit any government, grouping, or individual to threaten our people, our country, or our partners. Nosotros will work tirelessly to notice them, stop them, and bring them to justice."

And here is a link to the Justice Department page that includes all of the indictments filed thus far by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office in its investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Once again current events provide us opportunities for ethical reflection.  Much in the news these days is Michael Cohen'southward tape-recording of telephone calls with his then-client, and so-candidate Donald Trump, with one such tape apparently about the payments that Trump might make to "our friend" David Beak (yes, Virginia, that really is his proper noun) and the National Enquirer to learn Playboy model Karen McDougal's rights to her story of her earlier affair with Trump.  There is spirited disputation whether the recording documents criminal behavior on Trump's part, a question I leave by and large to others.  Today I'll focus on the tape and the lawyer who fabricated information technology, and explore the eternally recurring (and oftentimes wildly informative) question "Can he practise that?"

The President has tweeted (argh, so little skillful ever follows those words) that Cohen's taping is both "totally unheard of and perhaps illegal."  Anything to that?  I'll discuss it in all the excruciating detail you deserve after the jump.

Proceed reading "Was Michael Cohen'due south Cloak-and-dagger Taping of his And so-Client Donald Trump Improper?" »

Special Counsel Robert Mueller filed charges against 12 Russian armed forces intelligence officers on Friday for hacking the Autonomous Political party'south estimator networks. The indictment is available here on the Justice Department'south website.

In compelling item, the indictment reveals how the Russian government engaged in a massive campaign to steal the Democrats' computer files and then "stage releases of the stolen documents to interfere with the 2016 U.Southward. presidential election."

The details are eye-catching, especially the elaborate measures that the GRU—the premier Russian Military Intelligence bureau—took to encompass its tracks. For case, paragraph 58 alleges that the Russians "used bitcoin when purchasing servers, registering domains, and otherwise making payments in furtherance of [the election] hacking action." Paragraph 59 reveals additional methods the GRU adopted to escape detection:

"To further avoid creating a centralized paper trail of all of their purchases, the Conspirators purchased infrastructure using hundreds of unlike email accounts, in some cases using a new account for each purchase. The Conspirators used fictitious names and addresses in order to obscure their identities and their links to Russia and the Russian government."

The GRU'due south endeavour to conceal its office in the 2016 ballot failed. The indictment identifies the 12 defendants with extraordinary precision, including their names, many of their ranks, and fifty-fifty the location of the buildings where they worked in Moscow.

Only the remarkably detailed charges raise a serious concern of their ain: has the indictment itself potentially compromised the American intelligence community's sources and methods? If then, why would Mueller take that gamble?

Continue reading "Sources, Methods, and Mueller'southward Investigation " »

I recently posted about a romance author who had registered the term "Cocky" for a serial of books relating to the exploits of the Cocker Brothers. That registration garnered a lot of criticism from the publishing community. Both the Romance Writers of America (RWA) and the Authors Guild become involved in subsequent legal battles surrounding the mark. On June 1, the District Court of the Southern District of N.Y. struck downwardly an awarding for a TRO and a preliminary injunction made by the registrant of the marker against the editor of a romance short story anthology entitled "Cocktales" and another romance author who used a similar term in his championship. The court noted that information technology was a weak marker at all-time and that purchasers of romance titles were non likely to be confused by the similar terms used in dissimilar titles by unlike authors. The marking remains registered and several cancellation petitions are still pending, but at least the ruling has given competing authors some comfort. The Guardian covered the story here.

(And I'm aware that whatever mention of this story opens the field for all kinds of puns, so have at information technology ...)

Recently New York behemoth Weil Gotshal & Manges appear that it was "shortening its partnership runway" from 9½ to 7½ years.  Commentators have responded skeptically (constabulary-business firm consultant David Barnard of Blaqwell doubts whether the approach volition improve overall acquaintance retention; Vivia Chen says "all this just sounds as well peachy to be true").

I think the doubters are incorrect, and that while Weil's "partnership track" modify (I'll explicate the reason for the scare quotes later) may not be that big a bargain by itself, the reasons for it that the firm has plausibly articulated and their broader implications mark important evolutionary developments that we can expect to become more than widespread in the industry.

As part of the corking educational auto that manufactures new lawyers, we law teachers should want to know whether any of this is skilful for the immature lawyers entering BigLaw.  Our students will naturally desire to know as well.  As I'll explain later the jump, the reply is yes and no, but the no is mainly a function of the economic surroundings to which all BigLaw firms must react these days (and thus isn't really a result of whatsoever law-firm policy or policy change), and the yeah is important and being largely overlooked.

Continue reading "A Glimpse at the Hereafter of BigLaw" »

Pope Francis appear on Sat that Archbishop Oscar Romero will be canonized as a Roman Catholic saint this fall.

The story of Archbishop Romero is ane of the about important in Central American history. He was shot and killed on March 24, 1980 equally he celebrated Mass at the Chapel of the Hospital de la Divina Providencia in San Salvador, the majuscule of El Salvador.

Go along reading "Romero" »

For anyone interested in the apply of trademarks in the publishing industry, an interesting situation is emerging in the romance writers' area. This week romance writer Faleena Hopkins was granted a registered trademark in a stylized version of the give-and-take "Cocky" for her romance series which includes the word in the championship of each of her books. Apparently she then sent takedown notices to Amazon to inquire them to remove from sale other romance books with the word in their titles and likewise sent letters to independent romance authors asking them to modify their titles. The Romance Writers of America has evidently engaged an IP chaser to investigate the matter and in that location is at least ane counterfoil petition floating around at the moment. A number of legal problems are raised here including whether the registration should have been granted in the get-go place, although, in theory, in that location's no objection to registering a mark that relates to a book serial, as opposed to a title of a unmarried book. It's also important to empathize that registration is not the same as owning the mark - it gives benefits to the registrant but it'south of class possible to claim an unregistered mark as valid. And then fifty-fifty if the registration is cancelled, there may be questions as to whether there's a valid unregistered mark in play. In that location's a useful summary of the situation and relevant legal issues here.

Of possible involvement to those concerned with free spoken communication and free menses of ideas in publishing are contempo moves in the  industry to insert "morality clauses" into publishing contracts to effectively allow publishers to cancel volume contracts if the author includes content or engages in conduct accounted to be "immoral". The moves take largely come up out of concerns associated with the #MeToo motility but also can cover speech considered to be politically unsuitable for publication. This recent Publishers Weekly piece outlines some of the measures being taken by publishers and associated concerns in the industry.

For anyone who has been following the copyright litigation involving the infamous "monkey selfie", the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals this week seems to accept brought the matter to a shut for now, ruling (later relevant parties reached a settlement) that animals cannot hold copyrights nether U.S. copyright law, a proffer that no copyright lawyer probably e'er doubted.

PETA had been pursuing the action on behalf of the macaque monkey who had used freelance photographer David Slater's camera to take selfies which became an Internet sensation among other things.

Earlier chapters in the litigation had focused on whether Slater himself could claim copyright given that he was not the person who really took the photographs, just the case took a turn into the more abstract question every bit to whether the monkey could claim copyright. That question seems for now to have been put to residual. It's certainly been an interesting case to follow, and information technology likely has ramifications for questions near digital engineering science in terms of claiming copyright in works made by machines and other technological devices. It's typically been accepted that U.Due south. copyright constabulary requires the efforts of a human creator in order to merits copyright, but questions have arisen about whether machines programmed past humans run into that definition. Creations by animals have been regarded as a related issue.

A summary of this week's determination is available here.

Electric current events have favored the states with another rash of ethics questions.  These are more difficult analytically than they are from the standpoint of plain old common sense, but they bear examining if but to explode, hopefully once and for all, the persistent and pernicious myth that legal ethics is a dry out and abstract endeavor.  I shall non sleep (at least not well) until you share my appreciation for this glorious subject.  (H/T Higher up the Law (here and here) which beat me to the punch on some of these questions.)

The setup:  Porn star Stormy Daniels, née Stephanie Clifford, is rumored to have had an affair with Donald Trump in 2006, effectually the fourth dimension his third (and for the fourth dimension being current) wife, Melania, gave birth to their son, Barron.  The thing was start aired publicly in 2011 on an net celebrity website named (appropriately enough) "The Dingy."  The Dingy took down its mail under threat of legal action by a lawyer claiming to correspond Ms. Daniels.  The lawyer'south demand alphabetic character reportedly objected to the website's purportedly commercial use of Daniels' name and likeness, merely did not contend that the story was imitation.

The story adjacent resurfaced in The Smoking Gun shortly before the 2016 Presidential election.  At that point, a longtime lawyer for Donald Trump and the Trump Organization, Michael Cohen, used a Delaware LLC he had but formed to pay Ms. Daniels $130,000.  The Wall Street Journal reported in Jan of this year that the payment was made and accepted every bit role of a written nondisclosure agreement forbidding Ms. Daniels from discussing the upshot further.  (The Journal likewise reported that both Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen denied that Trump had had sexual relations with Ms. Daniels, and that Cohen reportedly sent the Journal "a two-paragraph statement by email addressed 'TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN' and signed by 'Stormy Daniels' denying that she had a 'sexual and/or romantic thing' with Mr. Trump," and further denying "[r]umors that I have received hush money from Donald Trump."  With characteristic deadpan, the Periodical further reported that after information technology had published its first story on the issue a few days before, "several media organizations said Ms. Clifford or her manager discussed the alleged sexual encounter with them in the weeks earlier the 2016 election.")

Then, responding to a complaint filed by Common Crusade, the Federal Election Commission began investigating whether Ms. Daniels was illegally paid with Trump Campaign coin.  And the mainstream printing began wondering if the President had paid hush money on the eve of a hotly contested election to hide a tryst with a porn star undertaken while his wife was shortly mail service-partum.  Ugly.

This calendar week, Mr. Cohen has favored us with reassurances that zippo was amiss, because he had given Ms. Daniels $130,000 of his own money in the "transaction" (to use his discussion) that bought her silence.  Cohen was quoted in the New York Times insisting that "[n]either the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly."  (The lawyerly reader will discover that this artful phrasing does not specifically deny that Mr. Trump personally or a Trump supporter provided the money, nor is it inconsistent with anyone having promised to make the payment up to Cohen in some way in the futurity, nor does it deny that Trump advised, directed, or requested the transaction.)  Cohen reportedly refused to say why he had made the payment, whether or not Trump knew he had done so at the time, or whether Cohen had also made like payments to others.

And now to top it all off, Ms. Daniels' manager announced on Feb 14 that Cohen's public statements actualization in the Times, as well every bit reports Cohen is "shopping a book" that touches on the story, have terminated the nondisclosure agreement, and then "[e]verything is off now, and Stormy is going to tell her story."

Merely permit's remember, my friends, that this is a legal ideals story, and so let's get to the juicy parts.  That will crave us to consider some criminal and ballot law as well.  A good bargain is not all the same known factually, and we can only hope that the truth will out, and presently.  In the meantime let's hypothesize based on what nosotros do know.  We'll do that after the jump.

Continue reading "More Adventures in Ethics, At present with Porn Stars: Trump Lawyer Seizes the Moral and Ethical Low Ground by Appearing to Merits He Committed Disciplinary Violations and Possibly Felonies " »

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Source: https://www.thefacultylounge.org/current_affairs/