Binkovitz Legal News and Opinion

Rallies in Wisconsin

2011-02-19T15:32:00.000-05:00

NPR coverage today is at http://n.pr/eqCvjZ

Distracted Driving

2009-10-07T09:33:00.005-04:00

Distracted while driving for your employer? Distracted by work for your employer while driving? You are endangering yourself, others, and your employer! Companies need to have policies in place prohibiting texting, phoning, or using a computer while driving to avoid liability in the event of a crash. Estimates are that such behavior makes an accident 4-8 times more likely (even with hands-free phones). See this report for more information. Studies also show that this in-car productivity does not make employees any more productive. Think you're not a distracted driver? Test yourself: http://www.nytimes.com//interactive/2009/07/19/technology/20090719-driving-game.html.

FCC Rules!

2009-10-07T09:17:00.002-04:00

Beginning Decemeber 1st, bloggers must disclose any payment by companies endorsed in the blog (or on Facebook or Twitter or other similar media). We assume store sites profit the store, but blogs and other media carrying recommendations may look neutral, but be receiving payments for the endorsements. This will apply to small businesses using blogs to promote related products that may offer payments - for example, if I recommend a fitness product on my gym blog, I need to disclose anything I receive in return for the endorsement - free merchandise or discounts, etc. See the New York Times article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/business/media/06adco.html.

Welcome to my office!

2008-07-21T10:30:00.001-04:00

Another Tanker Spill

2007-11-12T11:54:00.001-05:00

This sinking compared to that of the Prestige, which we examine in class:

Article from Nov 12, 2007

Support Pakistani Lawyers

2007-11-11T14:55:00.001-05:00

As lawyers in Pakistan demand a return to constitutional rule, lawyers around the world offer support. The American Bar Association (ABA) has issued a statement of support, and the National Lawyers Guild's Minnesota members held a rally in Minneapolis to demand a return to the rule of law. If you are a US lawyer, please consider joining the ABA or NLG or other professional organizations dedicated to the rule of law.

An action each day by US lawyers until constitutional law is restored:
Mondays:
Send letters to newspapers asking them to continue to publish stories covering the detained lawyers in Pakistan. You may mark such requests "Not for Publication" so the editor knows it is a request of the paper and not just an address to the readers. In the U.S., it is especially important to request this of our paper of record, the New York Times.
Contact: PUBLIC EDITOR
To reach Clark Hoyt, who represents the readers, e-mail public@nytimes.com or call (212) 556-7652.

Tuesdays:
Amnesty International urges US constituents to contact President Bush and elected representatives to urge them to ensure that no U.S. funds are used against the demonstrators in Pakistan. With over $10 billion in aid to the Pakistani military since 2001, that may be difficult to monitor, but difficult is not impossible, and a message must be sent.

See http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGUSA20071105001#

Wednesdays:
Address Pakistan's government with your concerns:
http://action.humanrightsfirst.org/campaign/Asma

Thursdays:
Ask your bar associations to issue statements or otherwise support Pakistani lawyers seeking the return to constitutional government.

Fridays:
Write a letter to the editor of your local papers supporting the Pakistani lawyers and demonstrators.

Rights in Space

2007-02-25T14:21:00.000-05:00

Some students have asked about recent news items about buying the moon. Here is the NPR program on MoonEstates, a company purporting to sell lunar real estate. Alas for would-be moonsteaders, I agree with the author in this blog comment that the nature of the moon as a common trust for mankid has passed into customary law even if a treaty silence permits a contrary construction.

Genocide

2007-02-25T14:03:00.000-05:00

The ICJ will issue a decision next week on whether Serbia is guilty of violating the Convention Against Genocide in Bosnia in the '92-95 conflict.

Labeling killings as genocide is quite politically charged. Many students have read or are reading a book by Samantha Powers that details this struggle to recognize genocide. Atlantic Monthly also offered an article by Samantha Powers.

U.S. Asserts Rights in Space

2007-02-02T07:41:00.000-05:00

Jurist exposes a statement, signed last summer, declaring the U.S. has rights to exclude hostile states from access to space. The conservative Heritage Foundation also commented on developments, especially in light of China's recent shooting down of a weather satellite. Read a nice summary of space law in this article on space law and commercial interests. Last June, the U.N. completed a review of peaceful uses of space. We will talk more about space law and the idea of a common heritage of mankind. (Photo NASA, 1972)

Chinese Exclusion Case

2007-01-24T20:51:00.001-05:00

The Chinese Exclusion Case, was referenced in our text examination of the last-in-time rule. Here we see the mischief of Justice Grey's Paquete Habana dictum about the executive power.

World Trade and Davos Meeting

2007-01-24T12:14:00.000-05:00

The key issues identified for this year's meeting in Davos, Switzerland are part of the "shifting" theme: global climate change (AKA global warming) is expected to cause shifts, and emerging markets are also expected to cause shifts in trade practices. See the meeting.

U.S. Military Tribunals

2007-01-19T07:05:00.000-05:00

The U.S. has issued its manual for military commissions. It's available at
this DOD site.
The rules are surprising, according to Jurist, because they are more restrictive than the ones struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in Hamdi. The Court ruled the old rules a violation of military rules and of the Geneva Conventions.

The new rules do not, for example, let defense counsel see the information being used against the accused, just summaries of the information. Earlier rules let counsel, but not the defendant, see the evidence. The new rules prohibit torture, but allow "coercion" to collect evidence. Know the difference? It's not made clear. For an update, see Jurist.

Erie and the Intersection of IL and US Law

2007-01-04T07:23:00.000-05:00

See
Berkeley Journal of International Law 2006, 24 Berkeley J. Int'l L. 273, Supremacy and Diplomacy: The International Law of the U.S. Supreme Court by Harlan Grant Cohen.

Students may access this article through the library online database (off-campus link if appropriate) and then select legal research/law reviews. Off-campus students will need their library barcode to authenticate and then return to select Lexis/Nexis Academic (looks like a loop, but it will work the second time). For International Law students, read this article as a companion to the Erie case on the syllabus.

James Madison Lecture Series

2007-01-01T15:39:00.000-05:00

As we start the Modern American Law course, we will discuss how to brief a case. Marbury v Madison is a good example of a case that has been misused in following cases, and we will brief it carefully. You might enjoy the Clinton lecture.

Admin Law Critical to Understanding Modern American Law

2006-11-29T08:29:00.000-05:00

The rise of administrative law has shaped much of the modern American legal culture. Environmental law, with its dependence on executive policies for such agencies as the Environmental Protection Agency, is just one of the critical subject areas dominated by administrative law. A pending case, Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, asks whether the Bush administrations opposition to programs designed to limit greenhouse gases is sufficient for the EPA to decline to enforce aspects of the Clean Air Act dealing with automobile emissions. A review of the case details the issues and also offers a model of how to brief a case. If the Court finds that the EPA has the authority to decline to enforce the Clean Air Act, it will probably continue the legal tradition of deference to agency decisions. This tradition is sometimes known as Chevron deference, from a famous admin and environmental law case, Chevron USA Inc. v. National Resources Defense Council. The Chevron case is essential to understanding modern American law and the pending case illustrates the continuing impact of Chevron.

University Cultural Festival Disrupted

2006-11-28T12:30:00.000-05:00

News reports indicate that a group of men interrupted a performance of
Wusta Bila Wasatiya (the Middle Path), a play exploring the middle path between hedonism and fundamentalism, at Al Yanamah College in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The men attacked students performing the play as well as audience members. Several students were injured before police were able to stop the assaults. The men reportedly attempted to enter the women's section, but found it locked. The college started as a men's school, but recently added a women's program.
While the motives of the assailants are unknown, it is speculated that they object to tolerance. This incident should be of great interest to everyone, but especially to university students who are often on the leading edge of positive social change. Freedom of expression is often most appreciated in the academic environment, so an assault on free speech at a college is especially ominous.
The international community needs to respond to this attack and to monitor news to identify similar disruptions in the area to be sure international human rights law is observed. International law protection of freedom of speech is summarized in this human rights report.

Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative

2006-11-27T11:22:00.000-05:00

Initiatives sound like forward-thinking, productive plans, but the Western Hemisphere Travel initiative (WHTI) is a different type of initiative. It's more of a disincentive than an intiative, and it is now slated to go into effect at the end of January 2007.

WHTI requires passports for travel in the western hemishpere including trips by U.S. citizens to Canada, Mexico, and the Bahamas. Formerly, alternative proof of identity was permitted. The new requirement comes at a time when U.S. passport renewals can take 8 or more weeks. In fact, while expedited processing (at an extra cost) was suggested for those needing their renewals in under 6 weeks, the current government recommendation is that those needing the renewal in 8 weeks or less should purchase the expedited service. These significant delays for passport renewals will curtail necessary visits of U.S. citizens to neighboring countries. Costs have steadily increased as well - usually increased costs bring promises of improved service, but longer delays can hardly be the paid-for improvements. New passports now run $97 not including costs for pictures and birth certificates (and the day off work as more application sites limit hours and require appointments). Want that in under 8 weeks? That's an extra $60 plus overnight mail costs. And renewals are pricey, too. If you want to vacation in Canada with your family, your costs will multiple so that a family of 4 who wanted to travel to Canada in the summer and waited until school ended so they could get passports without taking the kids out of school for the day could spend over 2(97 + 60) for the parents and 2(84 + 60) for the children, or a total of more than $540 (plus the overnight mail fees).

When my passport needs renewal, I will be unable to visit my son in college in Montreal during this time period. My husband and I will plan to renew our passports at different times so that one of us is available in case of emergency as well as to pick him up from school for breaks. Similarly, when he needs to renew his passport, he will be unable to come home for school breaks if they fall during this period. Luckily, his passport should last beyond graduation. For us, the new law requires some planning and perhaps some missed school breaks, but for others the impact is greater.

Ontario alone has projected losses to their economy and to the U.S. economy from tourism reductions. 106,000 fewer trips are excpected in 2007 for Ontario residents traveling to the U.S. with that increasing dramatically during the 2008 second stage of the plan. Visits by U.S. citizens to Ontario are expected to drop by 290,000 visits in the first phase of the program. AILA's copy of the report is available here.

Disrupted families, decreased tourism, economic losses - these are nnot hallmarks of a true initiative. We take the initiative when we plan with our neighbors for mutual security and reasonable documentation. We fail ourselves and our neighbors with hastily implemented bureaucratic programs optimistically labelled as initatives.

Secure borders are widely appreciated, but our spending on border services has never been sufficient for the task. Until there is a fiscal commitment to border service - and to passport processing - no border documentation plan should be considered an initiative - just a hindrance to legitimate travel.