FSU College of Law Research Center Blog

Court Protects Email from Secret Government Searches

Over the last 20 years, the government has routinely used the federal Stored Communications Act (SCA) to secretly obtain stored email from email service providers without a warrant.  But a ruling yesterday found that the SCA violates the Fourth Amendment.

The government must have a search warrant before it can secretly seize and search emails stored by email service providers, according to a landmark ruling in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court found that email users have the same reasonable expectation of privacy in their stored email as they do in their telephone calls -- the first circuit court ever to make that finding. 

Read the decision in Warshak v. United States

Posted by Trisha Simonds

Semantic tricks in the courtroom can confuse the reasonable person

Trials are conducted under a strict set of conversational rules that are well-known to attorneys and judges but can turn out to be a confusing mire of potential tricks for even that mythical reasonable person that many of our laws talk about. (via Language Log)

Three illustrative blog posts on (potential) semantic artistry/trickery in the courtroom:

1.  Inferences in Perjury Cases
2.  More Prosecutorial Trick Questions
3.  Memory in the Courtroom

Posted by Toni Urquhart

Cases Citing Legal Blogs

The blog 3L Epiphany has created a list of court cases that cite legal blogs.  According to 3L Epiphany there are 32 citations of legal blogs from 27 different cases with 8 legal blogs being cited.  You can view here.

Posted by Jon Lutz

Secret Dockets

For several years we have been hearing about "secret dockets" in federal courts - crime-related cases which do not appear in any public list of cases before the court.  The practice was exposed in the Southern District of Florida in 2003, according to this 2004 newspaper article, and declared unconstitutional by 11th Circuit in United States v. Ochoa in October 2005, but it appears to be alive and well in Washington, D.C., according to this study from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in March 2006. 

This month a Miami Herald report indicates that circuit courts in Broward, Palm Beach, and Pinellas County have "supersealed" certain civil cases and removed them from the public docket.  There appears to be some controversy over whether the judges actually intended for the cases to be removed from the public docket or whether they just wanted personal information in the cases to be kept confidential.

Whether the courts are concerned about personal privacy or witness protection, the existence of secret dockets raises serious constitutional issues.

Posted by Robin Gault

The U.S. Supreme Court Considers Standards for Reopening Death Penalty Cases

This past Wednesday our highest court considered how to handle new evidence of innocence years after a conviction for a capital crime.  The case of death row inmate Paul Gregory House marks the first time the Supreme Court has looked at standards for reopening death penalty cases based on new scientific evidence.

Peter Neufeld, Co-Director of the Innocence Project, says that “DNA testing has transformed the criminal justice system in this country—it has exonerated innocent people who were wrongly convicted, and it has provided scientific proof that wrongful convictions are not isolated events.” An amicus brief on behalf of Mr. House has been filed, “arguing that courts should be allowed to give more weight to hard scientific evidence such as DNA.” Such evidence invalidates less reliable forensic evidence used in the original trial.

‘DNA Test Confirms Guilt in 1992 Execution,’ an article in today’s issue of The New York Times, discusses a case which shows the power of DNA to “cut both ways.” The scientific evidence provided by DNA can prove that those convicted are indeed guilty.

Posted by Toni Urquhart

"Alito Revealed"

The Washington Post provides a short bio of Samuel A. Alito, Jr.--a photo collection with audio.

Posted by Toni Urquhart

Nomination of Judge Alito

The University of Michigan Law Library has set up a page of links on Judge Alito here.  More information will be added when confirmation hearings begin in January.

Posted by Robin Gault

Underneath Their Robes

Underneath Their Robes, an irreverent blog on the federal judiciary, was recently shut down after The New Yorker magazine revealed that the blogger was an Assistant U.S. Attorney.  Underneath Their Robes, which featured judicial beauty contests, gossip and commentary, caught the attention of judges from Richard A. Posner to Alex Kozinski and all points between.  The blog is now locked away behind an aggressive password.  Attempts to access it through the cache can result in freezing up the browser of the nosy, would be viewer.  But, don't despair.  Here's how to see some of the blog:  1. Use Google to look up Underneath Their Robes and copy the URL, 2. Go to The Wayback Machine and plug the URL into the Web search form in the top center, 3. Press "Take Me Back" to go to samples of the blog from June 12 through November 24, 2004.  Even here, the password may pop up.  Has the U.S. Attorney no sense of humor?

Posted by Faye Jones

Trial of Saddam Hussein

The trial of Saddam Hussein will begin on October 19, 2005. The Frederick K. Cox International Law Center at Case Western Reserve University School of Law has launched 'Grotian Moment: The Saddam Hussein Trial Blog'.  The blog features key documents, expert commentary and breaking news.

posted by Anne Bardolph