Category Archives: Uncategorized

A Disability-Rights Critique of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act

Over at Slate, Blake Reid has written "The Digital Millenium Copyright Act Is Even Worse Than You Think," which argues that the DMCA keeps e-books, online video, and other material inaccessible to people with disabilities. Here are some excerpts: The [cell-phone] unlocking furor is just the latest example of popular opposition to the DMCA’s dreaded […]

Yet another loss for access to the courts and for class actions under the Federal Arbitration Act

by Brian Wolfman The Second Circuit issued a decision yesterday enforcing arbitration in a Title VII employment discrimination case. It rejected an argument that requiring arbitration would undermine effective vindication of federal statutory rights.The decision is Parisi v. Goldman Sachs. To simplify a bit, here's what happened: Three plaintiffs brought a putative employment discrimination class […]

“Snake Oil Salesmen or Purveyors of Knowledge: Off-Label Promotions and the Commercial Speech Doctrine”

That's the title of this article by Constance Bagley, Joshua Mitts, and Richard Tinsley. The article deals with concerns about last year's Caronia decision, where the Second Circuit ditched the misdemeanor conviction of a drug company prescription drug representative, saying that his promotion of one of the company's products was protected by the First Amendment. […]

Using the corporate fine print of debit card contracts to zing public-transit riders (and, in turn, to generate non-fare revenue fees for cash-strapped government agencies)

by Theresa Amato (guest post) Reporter Jon Hilkevitch’s March 20 front-page Chicago Tribune story (“CTA’s Ventra debit option rife with fees, Contract’s fine print shows good deal for agency, not users”) describes the multiple unexpected charges awaiting customers in the fine print should they sign up for a prepaid debit card account along with their […]

The FDA has given up the legal fight to defend its graphic cigargette labels

by Brian Wolfman As explained in this article by Brady Dennis, the Department of Justice and the FDA have acquiesced in the D.C. Circuit's ruling striking down the FDA's new graphic cigarette labels on First Amendment grounds and announced that the government will not seek Supreme Court review of the D.C. Circuit's ruling. The Sixth […]

JP Morgan says it will give customers rights against payday lenders

We have blogged recently (here and here) about the role some of the world's largest banks play in facilitating the payday loan industry. The latter article explained that JP Morgan was in the process of re-thinking its practices. Yesterday, JP Morgan announced its new policies, as explained in this article by Jessica Silver-Greenberg. Here's an […]

“The Economic Case Against Arizona’s Immigration Laws”

That's the name of this article by Alex Nowrasteh of the Cato Institute. Here's the abstract: Arizona’s immigration laws have hurt its economy. The 2007 Legal Arizona Workers Act (LAWA) attempts to force unauthorized immigrants out of the workplace with employee regulations and employer sanctions. The 2010 Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act […]

Supreme Court issues its first CAFA decision

by Brian Wolfman The Supreme Court held this morning in Standard Fire Insurance v. Knowles that a named plaintiff's stipulation that the plaintiff class is seeking less than the Class Action Fairness Act's minumum jurisdictional amount does not preclude a federal district court from assuming jurisdiction under the Act. Justice Breyer's unanimous opinion is just […]