The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit on Thursday ruled that the way in which Congress funds the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is, in fact, constitutional. The ruling contradicts an opinion published in October by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which held that the agency’s funding “violates the Constitution’s […]
The U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) has issued guidance clarifying that material created solely by artificial intelligence (A.I.) cannot be copyrighted. Under the new rule, though applicants may claim a copyright for an arrangement or editing of such material, the original work is ineligible. “In these cases, copyright will only protect the human-authored aspects of the […]
In a dispute with Congress over the proper role of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) in retirement investing, President Joe Biden chose to promote progressive environmentalism. On Monday, Biden vetoed a congressional resolution to nullify a recent Labor Department rule issued that explicitly allows retirement managers to weigh ESG factors in investment decisions. Congress attempted […]
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit has rejected Florida’s request to let it enforce the “Stop WOKE Act”—officially known as the Individual Freedom Act—while the state appeals a lower court ruling that partially enjoined the statute. Signed into law by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in April 2022, the law prohibits private employers […]
Happy birthday to James Madison, who is, pound-for-pound, the most distinguished Founding Father. A driving force behind the drafting and ratification of the Constitution, Madison shepherded the young, fractious United States from confederacy to republic. And to make explicit the new government’s commitments to personal liberty, the Virginian authored the Bill of Rights. Madison’s ideal […]
The House of Representative last week passed a bill to protect online speech from federal officials. House Republicans drafted the proposal largely in response to reporting that revealed federal employees—often in law enforcement or public-health agencies—have asked social media platforms to moderate users’ legally protected speech. For instance, in one edition of the “Twitter Files,” […]
A new report from the American Bar Association (ABA) presents more evidence that the ubiquitous use of plea bargains distorts the justice system and puts defendants at a disadvantage. Roughly 98.3 percent of federal criminal convictions result from guilty pleas, as do roughly 95 percent of state convictions. “Some jurisdictions have not had a criminal […]
Gigi Sohn, a career tech regulatory advocate and distinguished fellow at Georgetown Law, has withdrawn from the confirmation process to be a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioner. President Joe Biden nominated Sohn three times, starting in October 2021, but she never secured the Senate’s approval. Sohn confirmed her withdrawal in a statement decrying the 2–2 […]
NetChoice, a trade association that represents tech firms, has sued to block California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (A.B. 2273), the state’s hamfisted attempt to protect children online. As NetChoice writes in a request for a preliminary injunction filed last month, the law violates the Constitution by “enact[ing] a system of prior restraint over protected speech using […]
Former Republican Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich declined to publish investigative findings by his office that disproved 2020 election fraud claims, according to documents released February 22 by his Democratic successor, Attorney General Kris Mayes. Mayes, who assumed office in January, released three documents: a previously unreleased “interim findings summary,” a draft with staff comments […]