Criminal Law Library Blog

March 20, 2009

New FOIA Guidelines Issued In Memorandum By U.S. Attorney General Holder

In his memorandum of March 19, 2009 to heads of executive departments and agencies, Attorney General Holder rescinds former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft’s October 12, 2001 memorandum which states that records could be witheld by the Department of Justice “unless they lack a sound legal basis or present an unwarranted risk of adverse impact on the ability of other agencies to protect other important records” Topics included in the Attorney General Holder memorandum include: A presumption of openess; FOIA is the Responsibility of Everyone, and the importance of agencies working productively and properly.

To quote from a statement on the U.S. Department of Justice website:

“By restoring the presumption of disclosure that is at the heart of the Freedom of Information Act, we are making a critical change that will restore the public’s ability to access information in a timely manner,” said Attorney General Holder. ‘The American people have the right to information about their government’s activities, and these new guidelines will ensure they are able to obtain that information under principles of openness and transparency.’ “

March 20, 2009

ABA Journal Weekly Newsletter. March 20, 2009.

by David Badertscher

Top Ten Stories of the Week ending March 20, 2009:

Law Practice Management Layoff ‘Herd Mentality’ Ignores Greater Savings of Pay Cuts, Prof Says

Mar 17, 2009, 08:19 am CDT

March 19, 2009

Q&A: To What Extent and Under What Conditions Are Congressional Research Reports Official Documents? *

by David Badertscher

Q\UESTION::

In a recent e-mail, someone from Canada asked asked how she could obtain an “official copy” of a Congressional Research Service report, “one from Congress,” not one from the website of an organization such as the Federation of American Scientists. The responses which follow are very interesting; they address a variety of related issues including the following: Are Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports that contain added designations such as watermarks, trademarks, or copyright notices official and are they in the public domain? Does the U.S. Government have any special rights to use copyrighted materials? and can CRS reports always be freely disseminated as government documents?

RESPONSES:

March 17, 2009

West Announces Changes to the Topic and Key Number System

by David Badertscher

On March 1, West released significant changes to the Key Number System. Attorney editors have completed the reclassification of over 300,000 headnotes. The improvements include the following:

· Two new digest topics: The topic PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATIONS AND CONFIDENTIALITY encompasses privilege issues arising in discovery and at trial and contains expanded classifications covering attorney-client privilege, physician-patient privilege, and executive privilege. The topic PROTECTION OF ENDANGERED PERSONS covers such areas as restraining orders and other protection from domestic violence, harassment, and stalking; guardian ad litem appointments; agency investigations and liabilities; and criminal and civil liability.

· Complete revision of four topics: The topics CONVICTS AND PRISONS are completely revised, with many lines afforded to concepts increasingly important in modern cases, e.g., boot camps. The topic DISORDERLY CONDUCT is greatly expanded to include breach of the peace (a similar offense recognized in most state jurisdictions). In the PRODUCTS LIABILITY topic, many points of law are classified once under the product type and again under the legal concept or procedure.

by David Badertscher

To view the full-text of cases you must sign in to FindLaw.com. All summaries are produced by Findlaw.

March 9 – 13, 2009:

U.S. Supreme Court, March 09, 2009 Vermont v. Brillon, No. 08-88 The Vermont Supreme Court’s reversal of Defendant’s domestic violence conviction is reversed, where the Vermont Supreme Court held that delays attributable to Defendant’s assigned counsel denied Defendant a speedy trial, but assigned counsel, just as retained counsel, act on behalf of their clients, and delays sought by counsel are ordinarily attributable to the defendants they represent.

U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, March 12, 2009 US v. Rivera-Maldonado , No. 07-1426
Judgment against defendant for possession of child pornography is vacated where: 1) in plain error, the magistrate judge relied on the plea agreement and erroneously told defendant that the maximum possible period of supervised release was three years, and did not inform defendant that he could be sentenced to lifetime supervised release; 2) the error affected defendant’s substantial rights as he has shown a reasonable probability that he would not have entered the guilty plea if he understood that it would lead to a lifetime of supervised release; and 3) the error seriously affected the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings. Case is remanded with instructions that defendant be permitted to withdraw his guilty plea.

U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, March 12, 2009 US v. Arbour, No. 07-1979
Sentence for drug and firearms offenses is affirmed where the district court did not commit clear error in holding that defendant was involved in a criminal activity that was extensive and that he qualified as a leader or organizer of the criminal activity, thereby invoking an increase in his offense level under the Sentencing Guidelines.
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