Criminal Law Library BlogA Report by James A. Parrott and George Sweeting, City of New York Affairs, The New School, January 11, 2024.*
Posted by David Badertscher
Overview:
Articles Posted in Commentary and Opinion
CBO: Implementing the Statutory Limits on Discretionary Funding for Fiscal Year 2024
In this document, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) provides information concerning implementation of the caps on most discretionary funding for fiscal year 2024 as established by the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.
Summary of Document:
In this document, a letter from Philip L. Swagel, Director of the Congressional Budget Office, The Congressional Budget Office is providing information concerning implementation of the caps on most discretionary funding for fiscal year 2024 as established by the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (FRA; Public Law 118-5). The FRA sets separate caps (in law they are called limits) on defense funding (in law, revised security, which is budget function 050) and on nondefense funding (revised nonsecurity, which covers all other budget functions).
A Holiday Guide to Donald Trump’s Latest Cases at the U.S. Supreme Court
Michael C. Dorf, the Robert S. Stevens professor of Law at Cornell University, is a regular contributor to Verdict, a service of Justia which provides substantive analysis by legal professionals on a variety of law and law related issues. In his December 22,2023 posting, to this service, A Holiday Guide to Donald Trump’s Latest Cases at the Supreme court, “he points out that the U.S. Supreme Court faces critical decisions in two cases involving former President Donald Trump: one regarding his claim of absolute immunity against charges for his role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election, and the other concerning his eligibility for the Presidency under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment. Professor Dorf argues that despite Trump’s legal team arguing for more time due to the complexity of the immunity case, the Court should expedite its review in both cases, given the urgency of presidential primaries and the weak nature of Trump’s claims, especially against the well-founded argument that he is ineligible under the Fourteenth Amendment due to insurrectionist activities”.
Judge Scott U. Schlegel: A Call for Education Over Regulation (Artificial Intelligence)
Judge Scott U. Schlegel of the Fifth Circuit Court of the State of Louisiana currently serves as Chair of the Louisiana Supreme Court Technology Commission, and is recognized as a pioneer in using technology in the Louisiana State Courts. He has managed what is considered by many to be one of the most advanced technology courts in the nation in terms of delivering online justice.
According to the Fifth Circuit Court Of Appeals of the State of Louisiana website, “he is the Immediate Past President of the Louisiana District Judges Association (LDJA) and serves on many other committees. Judge Schlegel has received numerous awards including the National Center for State Courts’ 26th Annual William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence, one of the highest judicial honors in the country. Judge Schlegel was also featured on the cover of the American Bar Association Journal and is a nationally recognized speaker on legal tech and the modernization of the justice system including matters related to artificial intelligence and the law,”
Judge Schlegel has also been appointed as a member of the Advisory Council of the ABA Taskforce on Law and Artificial Intelligence in recognition of his efforts to understand and communicate the important issues and challenges related law and artificial intelligence. On November 28,2023, Judge Schlegel wrote the following open letter which we think is an important addition to this discourse and needs to be distributed widely. Therefore we are reproducing Judge Schlegel’s letter, titled A Call for Education Over Regulation An Open Letter in full and hope you will find it helpful:
An AI Robot Comes to Town
Following the release to the public of Chat GPT by Open AI on November 30, 2022, there has been much discussion, both pro and con, about the future impact of AI on humanity. I have written the following poem, to both inject some comic relief into the present discourse and to illustrate through poetry how a future robot endowed with artificial intelligence might interact with local human towns people in a humorous and friendly manner.
AN AI ROBOT COMES TO TOWN
In a town alive with human chatter,
Google Announces the Public Release of Gemini: Can it be Used to Support Legal Research?
“Google launched its most ambitious AI model called Gemini on Wednesday [December 6, 2023], which is described as Google’s “largest and most capable AI model.” The company announced a “Gemini era” where the model will be used widely in companies and consumer devices like Google Pixel phones. Unlike existing AI models that focus on one type of input like text or images, Gemini is “multimodal” and can accept different types of media like text, images, audio and video as inputs. Google’s AI chatbot Bard has been upgraded with Gemini, and Google plans to add Gemini to widely used products like Search, Chrome and its cloud services”
Benzinga News, December 7,
INTRODUCTION
Is It Time for a New US Constitutional Convention?
Introduction.
This posting provides information to help explore the key arguments surrounding this question from both positive and negative perspectives and to provide a useful framework to inform the debate. Commentary is organized into the following categories: Survey Information, Historical Context, Current Challenges, Arguments for a New Constitutional Convention, Arguments Against Convening a New Constitutional Convention, Alternative Considerations, Some Thoughts About the Future, and a concluding statement.
The United States Constitution, adopted in 1787, has endured for over two centuries as the foundational document governing the nation. However, in recent years there has been growing debate over whether it is time to convene a new Constitutional Convention to address contemporary challenges and issues.
American Bar Association and AI
In a previous posting on this blog, Reflections of a Retired Law Librarian: From Mimeograph to Generative AI, I urged professional organizations, including the American Bar Association (ABA) and the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), to appoint committees or commissions at the highest level to facilitate the development and implementation of standards sufficient to address the real ethical and safety concerns related to the increasingly rapid adaption of AI, including Generative AI, as a technology of choice in the workplace.
It is gratifying to learn from recent announcements from the American Bar Association that it has already been taking steps to address the legal challenges of Ai faced by the legal community. As Mary L. Smith, President of the American Bar Association, has said: “As a national voice for the legal profession, the ABA must play a leadership role in helping to identify for the legal community the benefits and risks of continually changing AI and machine learning systems and capabilities.”
Measures already taken by ABA include Resolution 112 adopted in August, 2019, Resolution 604 adopted in February, 2023, various articles and podcasts published by its various Sections, including the ABA Business Law Section and the Sci Tech Lawyer published by the ABA Science and Technology Section.
Congressional Budget Office Plans in the Event of a Government Shutdown
CBO responds to Senator Rand Paul’s request for information about CBO’s operations had there been a shutdown on October 1.
CBO Letter responding to Senator Rand Paul’s request
Summary;
The Potential for Using Generative AI to Help Regulate Criminal Behavior
Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence technology that can produce various types of content, including text, imagery, audio and information that is artificially manufactured. The recent interest in generative AI has been driven by the simplicity of new user interfaces for creating high-quality content, including text, graphics and videos in a matter of seconds.
Generative AI has the potential to be used in various ways to help regulate criminal behavior, although it’s important to note that these applications can be controversial and raise ethical concerns. Here are some ways in which generative AI could potentially contribute to regulating criminal behavior:
- Predictive Policing: Generative AI algorithms could analyze large sets of historical crime data to identify patterns and predict potential criminal hotspots. This could help law enforcement agencies allocate resources more effectively and proactively deter criminal behavior.