UHLC Nota Bene

Want to learn more about the upcoming presidential and congressional transitions? There’s an app for that.  The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently launched its Priorities for Policy Makers app (available free of charge for iPhone or Android), which is intended to “help President-elect Donald Trump and the next Congress tackle critical challenges facing the nation, fix agency-specific problems, and scrutinize government areas with the potential for large savings,” according to Gene Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States and head of the GAO. The app allows users to search by agency or topic, and provides brief summaries of relevant issues as well as links to more detailed GAO reports.  You can also find GAO priority recommendations on the agency’s Presidential and Congressional Transition web pages.

Not surprisingly, much of the focus of the 2016 election has been on the presidential race.   However, in addition to electing federal, state, and local leaders, citizens in many states will also be making specific choices about a number of important topics when they go to the polls next week.   According to the Ballotpedia website, statewide ballot measures will be considered in 35 states this year and will affect 205 million people.   The ballot measures cover a broad range of important, and often controversial, issues such as the legalization of recreational marijuana, establishing universal healthcare programs, and increased background checks for gun sales.  To explore other state ballot measures, visit the Ballotpedia website, where you can browse through them by state or by topic.  

With the election just 26 days away, it’s time for another flurry of political campaign ads on television. This year, there is a new online resource for information about those ads. The Political TV Ad Archive , a project of the Internet Archive, is a searchable video library of this election season's political ads, along with metadata and fact-checking items from journalistic sources. The metadata categories include the subject of the ad, who sponsored it, and where and when it was aired. A word of warning: the archive is not comprehensive. During the primaries, it collected ads from 20 markets in nine states. In the general election season, it is collecting ads from major broadcast stations in ten markets in ten battleground states: Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. It also collects some ads that may air exclusively on social media. Even with its limited selection, however, the archive is a valuable resou...

You may have read in the news that the United States and China recently ratified the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But what exactly does the agreement say, and how many nations must ratify it before it goes into effect? The United Nations provides answers to these questions online , along with the full text of the agreement itself (available in English , French , Spanish , Arabic , Chinese , and Russian ). For some historical context, as well as a helpful summary that isn’t written in legalese, you might also want to check out this report from the Congressional Research Service: Climate Change: Frequently Asked Questions about the 2015 Paris Agreement . The report explains the agreement’s requirements and recommendations, the ratification process, and the relationship of the agreement to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol.     The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has issued lots of useful reports ...

As of the date of this posting, the Pokémon Go augmented reality game app is one of the most successful mobile games in history.  As is the case with most suddenly popular phenomena, there is no shortage of  legal concerns surrounding Pokémon Go; issues touching on  consumer rights , attractive nuisance  and criminal law  have been raised in connection with the game on a fairly regular basis since it was first launched. Legal scholars interested in learning about or researching these topics may find useful general legal research guides on consumer rights from the Library of Congress  or HG ; a brief introduction to the concept of attractive nuisance is offered by FindLaw for those who have not yet encountered it in the study of property or tort law; and the Harvard Law School Library and  NYU Law's LibGuides  are excellent places to begin researching criminal law. As a side note, for any Pokémon Go players who ...

One of the best ways to keep up with current federal legislation is to subscribe to email alerts from Congress.gov. These alerts can be set up to notify you of the latest action on a particular bill, new legislation sponsored by a particular member of Congress, or new publications of the Congressional Record. Building on the popularity of these alerts, Congress.gov recently introduced new RSS and email alerts for the following categories: Most-Viewed Bills Search Tips Bills Presented to the President On the House Floor Today On the Senate Floor Today In Custodia Legis (blog of the Law Librarians of Congress) To read more about these alerts, or to set up a free account, visit the RSS and Email Alerts page at Congress.gov.

Following concerns about tax avoidance raised by last month's leaking of the Panama Papers , the United States Department of the Treasury has announced several new regulations aimed at stopping money laundering and tax evasion. The new rules will require financial institutions to identify the owners of companies opening accounts and doing business with them, and to report their identities to the federal government.  Any owner of 25% or more of a company will be considered an owner under these rules.  Financial institutions will have two years to implement this rule by identifying the relevant owners. The Treasury Department is also considering a rule that would require limited liability companies incorporated in the US but owned by foreign entities to identify their foreign owners.

Back in January, we wrote about a class action suit involving PACER, the government-operated, online database of federal court documents. The complaint in that case ( Fisher v. Duff ) claimed that the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts was overcharging users for access to docket reports on PACER, due to an erroneous formula used to count the number of documents accessed. Last week another class action was filed against the government, this one challenging the legality of the PACER fees themselves. The plaintiffs, three nonprofit legal service organizations, claim that the fees “far exceed the cost of providing the records,” and thus violate the E-Government Act of 2002. The Act provides for the imposition of court fees for electronic access to information “to reimburse expenses in providing these services.” The complaint alleges that the Administrative Office has used excessive fees “to cover the costs of unrelated projects—ranging from audio systems to flat screens for ju...

 Yesterday Apple Inc. (Apple) filed its response to the Department of Justice (DOJ)'s demand that it decrypt an accused terrorist's iPhone.  For those not following the details of this case , here is a brief summary of the legal dispute: The government's case for compelling Apple to decrypt the phone is the All Writs Act , a law that allows judges to issue writs necessary to enforce the law.  This Act was interpreted by the1977 Supreme Court case US v. New York Telephone , in which the Court ruled that the All Writs Act allowed a judge to order the phone company to comply with a special kind of wiretap even though Congress had not passed a law authorizing that particular wiretap.  The DOJ is invoking this argument given that the Federal government has so far declined to pursue legislation requiring companies to provide the government with backdoor access to consumer electronics. The public now has a preview of the other side of the caset: Apple's motion lays o...

This week, the Death Penalty Information Center released "The Death Penalty in 2015: Year End Report."   The report indicates that in 2015 the U.S. had the lowest number of executions since 1991.   Over the last year, there were 28 executions in just 6 states, including Texas, Missouri, Georgia, Florida, Oklahoma, and Virginia.   Other indicators in the report signal the decline in the use of the death penalty.   For instance, 49 new death sentences were imposed in 2015, which is the lowest number since the early 1970s when the death penalty was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.   The report also indicates that 6 death row inmates were exonerated in 2015, which brings the total to 153 since 1973.   In addition, 70 inmates with execution dates in 2015 received stays, reprieves, or commutations. To read the full-text of the report, see the report’s website .   For more information about the death penalty, check the Death Penalty Informatio...

Over the weekend, the almost 200 countries participating in the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) reached an historic agreement regarding climate change.   The agreement contains provisions to limit the rise in global temperatures, to limit greenhouse gas emissions, and for wealthier countries to assist poorer countries with adapting to climate change and switching to renewable energy. However, the agreement will not enter into force until it has been ratified by 55 countries, which must represent at least 55% of global emissions.   The agreement will be open for signing on April 22, 2016.   To find out more about the conference and agreement, visit the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change website .   The entire text of the agreement is also available on their website.