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Court won't hear challenge to copyright board
Attorney Career |
2013/05/27 11:11
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The Supreme Court won't hear a challenge to the authority of the board that sets royalty rates for musical works.
The high court refused Tuesday to hear an appeal challenging the Copyright Royalty Board, a panel of three copyright judges appointed by the Librarian of Congress.
Intercollegiate Broadcast System Inc. said the board should be appointed instead by the president and confirmed by the Senate. They want to have overturned a decision by the board that noncommercial educational webcasters pay an annual fee of $500 per channel for a license authorizing the webcasting of unlimited amounts of music.
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit refused to hear their appeal, and the Supreme Court did as well. |
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Court: Calif. erred in new lethal injection regs
Attorney Career |
2013/05/27 11:10
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Executions in California will remain suspended after a state appeals court ruled that corrections officials made several "substantial" procedural errors when they adopted new lethal injection rules.
The 1st District Court of Appeals said the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation failed to explain, as required by state law, why it was switching from a three-drug injection method to a single drug.
The court's opinion, which affirmed a lower court ruling, also said the agency misled the public by not providing the documents and information it used to reach its decision.
Corrections spokeswoman Deborah Hoffman said in an email that the agency was reviewing the ruling.
"In the meantime, at the governor's direction, CDCR is continuing to develop proposed regulations for a single-drug protocol in order to ensure that California's laws on capital punishment are upheld," Hoffman said.
California has not executed an inmate since 2006, when a federal judge halted the practice, finding that the three-drug mixture amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. The state was ordered to redo its capital punishment system.
Since then, California has built a new death chamber at San Quentin State Prison and trained a new team to carry out executions. |
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2 King Co. candidates vying for Attorney General
Attorney Career |
2012/10/12 10:42
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The two men competing to be Washington's next attorney general are co-workers, but that's about as much similarity King County Councilmen Reagan Dunn and Bob Ferguson will admit to.
Dunn, a Republican, and the Democrat Ferguson have been trying to draw differences for months in their quest to succeed incumbent Rob McKenna, the GOP's candidate for governor.
With about month left until the general election, Ferguson appears to have an advantage. He garnered more votes than Dunn in the August primary, and recent polls show him ahead. But Dunn expects leads to flip flop until Election Day. He put $100,000 of his own money into his campaign in September, according to campaign filings.
Ferguson has offered himself as an independent-minded lawyer who is not afraid to leave party politics behind, while Dunn has touted his experience as a U.S. prosecutor.
A fourth-generation Washingtonian first elected in 2003 to the County Council, Ferguson was an attorney at a prominent Seattle law firm before entering politics.
If elected, Ferguson said he'd create a task force to look into an environmental crimes unit, seek remedies for gangs and continue the practice of consumer protection.
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Miss Universe pageant fights back on rigging claim
Attorney Career |
2012/06/09 11:02
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The Miss Universe Organization says a former contestant should be made to pay for her "defamatory" claims that this year's Miss USA pageant was a sham.
The New York-based organization made a filing with a dispute resolution company over the former Miss Pennsylvania USA's assertion that another contestant spotted the list of finalists on a planning sheet hours before the event was even held Sunday, its lawyer Scott Balber said Friday.
A statement from the organization said it was seeking compensation for her "ongoing defamatory statements," but Balber wouldn't say how much money the Miss Universe Organization was seeking.
The pageant also released a statement from Miss Florida USA — the contestant Sheena Monnin claims saw the list — in which she disputes Miss Pennsylvania's version of the events that prompted her to step down.
Monnin gave up her crown Monday, claiming in a Facebook post that the pageant had been rigged, with the top five finishers selected before the show was broadcast Sunday night from Las Vegas. Pageant organizers immediately denied Monnin's allegation and claimed she had actually stepped down because she disagreed with the pageant's decision to allow transgender contestants.
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Top Pa. judge charged with campaign corruption
Attorney Career |
2012/05/19 22:34
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State Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin was charged Friday with illegally using her taxpayer-funded staff in her campaigns for a seat on the state's highest court in a scheme that ensnared her sister, a senator awaiting sentencing on similar charges.
Orie Melvin said outside court that she will vigorously defend herself against the nine criminal charges, which a grand jury report called a "tale of corruption" that she "actively condoned and even promoted."
"I am a woman of faith," Orie Melvin said. "My faith will see me through this. And I will not resign because of these politically motivated charges."
The high court relieved her of judicial and administrative duties Friday, but she remains a Supreme Court justice, on the payroll with a $195,000 salary and full benefits. The court also ordered Orie Melvin's Pittsburgh office sealed to secure records, files and equipment that are property of the court.
The charges come two months after her sister Republican state Sen. Jane Orie was convicted of 14 counts of theft of services, conflict of interest and forgery charges. Orie is scheduled to be sentenced in June, and her attorney has said in court filings that she will resign before then.
The grand jury report said Orie Melvin and her staff used personal email accounts to shield the actual email addresses that generated the messages, hiding the fact that political activities were being handled by the staffers while they were on the state payroll. Orie Melvin also used her state-paid telephone line to solicit support from hundreds of Republican committee members around the state, the report said.
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Court to decide if deportation ruling retroactive
Attorney Career |
2012/05/01 10:13
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The Supreme Court will decide whether to apply retroactively its 2010 decision that immigrants have a right to be told that a guilty plea could lead to their deportation.
The high court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal from Roselva Chaidez, who was in the process of being deported when the court made that March 2010 decision.
Chaidez pleaded guilty to fraud in 2004 after falsely claiming to be a passenger in a car wreck. Authorities started deportation procedures while she was applying for U.S. citizenship in 2007.
Her lawyer never told her that her fraud conviction may lead to her deportation. Chaidez says she should be able to take advantage of the Supreme Court decision that cemented that principle. |
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