“Revenge porn,” otherwise known as the dissemination of nonconsensual pornography, is the sharing of images or videos that portray a person engaged in an intimate or sexually explicit act without that person’s consent. Although the term “revenge porn” would seem to only entail sexually explicit content distributed with reprisal, its scope encompasses a variety of personal content obtained with or without consent, such as intimate images or videos privately shared with another in the context of a relationship or unshared content obtained by hackers.
Continue reading “Minnesota Revenge Porn Law: A Look at the State v. Casillas Decisions”Month: May 2021
Virtual Hearings and Blockchain Technology Solutions in Criminal Law
Technology has evolved and raided our personal and professional lives. Although the courts are not immune to the advancement and integration of technology, the courts are not keeping up with relevant technological advancements. Historically, courts have been hesitant to embrace new technologies despite the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct. Rule 1 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure creates the right to a “just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action and proceeding.” Likewise, the American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct have determined attorneys must “keep abreast of changes in the law and its practice, including the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology . . .” to maintain competence. The bench and bar have a responsibility to keep up with the advancement of technology because technology affects the administration of justice. With the practice of criminal law being far behind in technological advancements and new technology entering the legal field now, criminal lawyers, judges, and other legal community members need to start incorporating this technology and be comfortable using it in their everyday lives.
Continue reading “Virtual Hearings and Blockchain Technology Solutions in Criminal Law”Torts: Sacrificing Individual Recovery for Media Protection–Larson v. Gannett Co., 940 N.W.2d 120 (Minn. 2020)
Imagine a scenario in which a city is in unrest; a man has been killed at the hands of police officers, so protestors have been filling the streets for days, demanding change. In the midst of a protest, a semi-truck enters a closed road and barrels through thousands of protestors. The driver is taken into custody. Law enforcement officers hold an impromptu press conference to inform the city, although the conference is closed to the public because of a global pandemic. In the press conference, the officers state that a man has been taken into custody for swerving into the crowds, and he has ties to a right-wing extremist group; however, the investigation is ongoing. The media promptly reports on these official statements to amplify this relevant government investigation to the public. Once the man is released from custody, he wants to sue the media for defamation—he is not a member of a right-wing extremist group, and the collision was an accident. Should the media be liable for reporting the officials’ defamatory statements, especially those of public concern? Before the Minnesota Supreme Court extended the fair and accurate reporting privilege to cover official news conferences in Larson v. Gannett Co., media organizations could have been liable just for republishing the officers’ defamatory statements.
Continue reading “Torts: Sacrificing Individual Recovery for Media Protection–Larson v. Gannett Co., 940 N.W.2d 120 (Minn. 2020)”Copyright Law Cannot Copyright Law—Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org Inc., 140 S.CT. 1498 (2020)
Almost exactly two hundred and thirty years after the enactment of the Copyright Act of 1790, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that copyright protections do not apply to Georgia’s official annotated code. In so doing, the Court expanded the rule it adopted in its first copyright case, Wheaton v. Peters, which prevents judges from copyrighting their written opinions and transferring them to the court’s reporter of decisions, to its most recent copyright case. In Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc., the Court’s majority ruled that the nineteenth-century era government edicts doctrine also excludes works created by legislators, acting in the course of their legislative duties, from copyright protection.
Continue reading “Copyright Law Cannot Copyright Law—Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org Inc., 140 S.CT. 1498 (2020)”Not an Ocean Away, Only a Moment Away: A Prosecutor’s Primer for Obtaining Remotely Stored Data
Digital evidence exists in almost every criminal case and provides unparalleled corroborative utility, particularly for crimes often committed in secret, such as child exploitation. This evidence is increasingly stored remotely on servers across state lines, around the globe, and beyond. It is therefore critical for prosecutors and law enforcement to develop an understanding of the pertinent domestic and international legal considerations for obtaining remotely stored data.
Continue reading “Not an Ocean Away, Only a Moment Away: A Prosecutor’s Primer for Obtaining Remotely Stored Data”Navigating the Legal Challenges of COVID-19 Vaccine Policies in Private Employment: School Vaccination Laws Provide a Roadmap
COVID-19 created unprecedented challenges for private employers in the United States. Employers—many of whom were technologically unprepared—were forced to rapidly adapt from their on-site operations to a virtual environment supported by fully-remote employees. That, in addition to staying abreast of ever-evolving executive orders, new legislation and regulations, COVID-19 guidelines from federal and state public health officials, and straining to provide a host of flexible accommodations to employees with concerns about workplace safety and exposure to COVID-19. With several COVID-19 vaccines now available to the public, many of these challenges may soon be in the rearview. At least the hope is that continued distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine to the public at-large will bring herd-immunity and a return of normalcy to the American workplace.
Continue reading “Navigating the Legal Challenges of COVID-19 Vaccine Policies in Private Employment: School Vaccination Laws Provide a Roadmap”The Lynching of George Floyd: Black Theology, Protest, and Racial Justice
The violence of lynching is a blot on our nation’s history that continues to threaten the rule of law in analogous ways today. The May 25, 2020, death of George Floyd, a Black man, under the knee-hold of a Minneapolis police officer attests to this. As we interrogate this fiercely racist act of police brutality, and the many preceding it, various lenses can be employed to derive new meanings. James H. Cone, one of the fathers of Black Theology, provides us with an interpretation that we might overlook: the Black Jesus who dies on the cross to overcome the violence experienced by Blacks. As he wrote in his last work, The Cross and the Lynching Tree, “to understand what the cross means in America, we need to take a look at the lynching tree in this nation’s history.”
Continue reading “The Lynching of George Floyd: Black Theology, Protest, and Racial Justice”