The American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section and The South Carolina Bar Present:
Superior Direct and Cross-Examination: Demonstrations from Trial Masters of the ABA Criminal Justice Section and the S.C. Bar*
8:45 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Friday, April 4, 2008
News from the American Library Association:
House allows warrantless wiretaps law to expire
A dramatic showdown between House Republicans and Democrats February 14 has led to Congress beginning a one-week break without sending any surveillance legislation to the White House. The result is the February 16 expiration of the Protect America Act, which since its enactment in August 2007 has permitted the National Security Agency to eavesdrop without a court order on foreign communications, including phone calls and email exchanges, between someone “reasonably believed to be outside the United States” and a person on U.S. soil, as well as communications traveling to or from U.S. libraries…
Ten Top Stories:
Legal Ethics
From the AALL E-Newsletter, February 2008.*
David Pogue to be Keynote Speaker at AALL Annual Meeting
I am very pleased to announce that David Pogue, the personal-technology columnist for The New York Times, will come to Portland this July as the keynote speaker for the Opening General Session at the AALL Annual Meeting. Each week Pogue contributes a print column, online column, and an online video for the Times. His daily blog, Pogue’s Posts, is the Times’ most popular blog. He is also an Emmy award-winning technology correspondent for CBS News, a frequent guest on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” and a regular on CNBC.
The following is some updated information that we thought might be of interest. This is not a separate issue of the Newsletter:
NEW YORK STATE OFFICE OF CYBER SECURITY AND CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE COORDINATION CYBER INFORMATION BULLETIN
DATE ISSUED:
Argued December 4, 2007 – Decided February 20, 2008
…”Of Wednesday’s pre-emption cases, Riegel v. Medtronic may have the broadest impact. The Court ruled against the estate of Charles Riegel, who died after a catheter made by Medtronic malfunctioned during heart surgery.”
“Riegel sued in federal court, invoking New York state common law to argue for liability and damages. Like lower courts, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal Medical Device Amendments of 1976 specifically preclude states from imposing their own requirements on the makers of federally regulated medical devices.”
Decision Date: February 20, 2008:
DANFORTH v. MINNESOTA CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF MINNESOTA
No. 06-8273. Argued October 31, 2007-Decided February 20, 2008
From the ABA Judicial Division:
The ABA Judicial Division presented and received favorable press coverage of the many wonderful programs during the 2008 Midyear Meeting in Los Angeles, CA, February 6-10. You can read, listen, and/or view these programs by clicking on the links below. This information is also posted to: http://www.abanet.org/jd/
Stranger in a Strange Land: Cross-Cultural Issues in the Courts — Video | Audio
“(U.S. 6th Cir., Feb. 5, 2008) – Defendants’ sentences resulting from their clumsy robbery of rare books from a university and attempts to sell them at auction are vacated and remanded for re-sentencing, where the district court erred by excluding books dropped and abandoned in the library stairwell from the valuation of loss and computation of the sentencing range. The court held that the defendant-robbers “took” the books, under USSG, 2B3.1, when they exercised dominion and control over them, such that they completed the acts necessary to seize the books.”
“Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Feb. 11, 2008) – The U.S. Department of Defense announced that six high-value detainees held in Guantanamo Bay were charged, under the Military Commissions Act, with planning and executing the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Specific charges include violations of the laws of war, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, destroying of property in violation of the laws of war, terrorism, and material support to terrorism”
U.S. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed et.al.: Specifications and Charges
Source: Findlaw Featured Documents, February 11, 2008.
