(United States Supreme Court) - Interpreted a federal statute that prohibits felons and certain other individuals from knowingly possessing firearms. Held that the government must prove both that the defendant knew he possessed a firearm and that he knew he belonged to the relevant category of persons barred from possessing a firearm. Justice Breyer delivered the opinion of the 7-2 Court.

(United States Supreme Court) - Clarified the limits of a State's power to tax a trust. Struck down a North Carolina requirement that a trust must pay income tax to the State whenever the trust's beneficiaries live in the State -- regardless of whether the beneficiaries have received, can demand, or will ever receive a distribution of trust income. Justice Sotomayor delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court, in this due process challenge brought by a family trust.

(United States Supreme Court) - Addressed whether the State of Mississippi's peremptory strike of a particular black prospective juror was motivated by discriminatory intent. Justice Kavanaugh, who delivered the opinion of the 7-2 Court, explicitly stated that the decision broke no new legal ground but rather simply reinforced the Batson decision, in this case involving a man's sixth murder trial (the other five had ended in hung juries or else been reversed on appeal).

(United States Supreme Court) - Held that a property owner whose property has been taken by a local government may go directly to federal court to assert a claim under the Takings Clause. Overruled a 1985 Supreme Court precedent (Williamson County Regional Planning Comm'n v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City), which had said that a property owner must first seek just compensation under state law in state court before bringing a federal takings claim under Section 1983. Chief Justice Roberts delivered the opinion of the 5-4 Court.

(United States Supreme Court) - Struck down a statutory provision that prohibits the registration of immoral or scandalous trademarks. An entrepreneur who founded a new clothing line filed a First Amendment challenge when the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office refused to register his desired trademark FUCT. The U.S. Supreme Court sided with him and invalidated a provision of the Lanham Act. Justice Kagan delivered the opinion of the Court, in which five other justices joined.

(United States Supreme Court) - Reversed and remanded. Defendants sought disclosure, through a FOIA request, of names and addresses of retail stores who participated in the national food stamp program. Plaintiff refused to provide that information stating that substantive competitive harm would be caused. The district court disagreed with plaintiff and ordered disclosure. The US Supreme Court reversed and held that data provided under an assurance of privacy was an exemption to a FOIA request.

(United States Supreme Court) - Affirmed in part. Defendants were charged with Hobbs Act robbery and also charged under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 924c which authorizes heightened penalties for using a weapon. The Fifth Circuit held that Sec. 924 c 3 B is unconstitutionally vague because it did not provide a reliable way to determine which crimes would qualify for heightened penalties. The US Supreme Court agreed holding that 18 U.S.C. Sec. 924 c 3 B is unconstitutional for vagueness and remanded the case.

(United States Supreme Court) - Held that a mariner may not recover punitive damages on a claim that he was injured as a result of the unseaworthy condition of the vessel. After a hatch blew open and injured his hand, the deckhand filed suit under federal maritime law and sought punitive damages, among other things. However, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that punitive damages are unavailable in unseaworthiness actions. Justice Alito delivered the opinion of the 6-3 Court.

(United States Supreme Court) - Struck down a provision of the federal supervised-release statute, 18 U.S.C. section 3583(k). That section imposes mandatory minimum five-year sentences when a judge finds by a preponderance of the evidence that a defendant on supervised release committed one of several enumerated offenses, including possession of child pornography. Justice Gorsuch announced the judgment of the Court and delivered a plurality opinion on behalf of himself and three justices. Justice Breyer concurred in the judgment.

(United States Supreme Court) - Struck down a Tennessee requirement that applicants for a license to operate a retail liquor store have resided in the State for the prior two years. Held that the residency requirement violates the Commerce Clause because it blatantly favors the State's residents and has little relationship to public health and safety, and further held that the Twenty-first Amendment does not save the state law. Justice Alito delivered the opinion of the 7-2 Court.

(United States Supreme Court) - Vacated and remanded. Plaintiff is a Vietnam veteran who sought disability benefits from the Veterans Administration for post-traumatic stress. The VA eventually granted benefits but only from the motion to re-open his case and not from the date of the original application. Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling citing the deference doctrine. The US Supreme Court vacated the judgment and remanded to have the lower court determine if the deference doctrine applied in this case.

(United States Supreme Court) - Vacated and remanded. Plaintiffs as voters in North Carolina and Maryland filed suit challenging congressional districting maps as unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders. The district court ruled in favor of plaintiffs. The US Supreme Court held that partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions that are beyond the reach of the federal courts.

(United States Supreme Court) - Held that the government's decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census questionnaire did not violate the Enumeration Clause or the Census Act. However, the sole stated reason for reinstating the question "seems to have been contrived," and therefore it was appropriate to remand the case back to the agency on that ground. Chief Justice Roberts delivered the Court's opinion, some portions of which were unanimous while others received the support of only four justices in various groupings.

(United States Supreme Court) - Held that when a motorist suspected of drunk driving is unconscious and cannot be given a breath test, the exigent-circumstances doctrine generally permits a blood test without a warrant. Justice Alito announced the judgment of the Court and delivered a plurality opinion, joined by three other justices. Justice Thomas concurring in the judgment.

Joan Wong On March 27, as the U.S. topped 100,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, Donald Trump stood at the lectern of the White House press-briefing room and was asked what he’d say about the pandemic to a child.

RT @om: Unseen is what fuels the imagination #newphotoset #blog #leica #B&W #monochromes

RT @mrbromwich: I have been in and around DOJ since 1983. I have never seen a case dropped after someone has pled guilty and the underlying facts demonstrate beyond any shadow of a doubt he is guilty. This is simply a pardon by another name. A black day in DOJ history.

Behind every Trump attack is self-revelation. Every counterpunch is a self-punch. @gtconway3d: “Because he fears being revealed as a fake or deranged, he’ll call others fake or deranged. Because he fears losing, he’ll call them losers instead.”

DAY 1 に申し込んでみた✋

Unofficially billed as "the sequel to Node.js," Deno is poised to be the most exciting and controversial JavaScript-related release in recent memory.

It's here! The source code for the COVID-19 BETA Apps. ✅Android: ✅iOS: ✅Documentation:

Opinion | How to Punish Voters via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2yFNRbK

There's been a meme going round that women leaders have dealt better with coronavirus. I don't think that's right: women aren't better, it's just that strongmen are worse.

The critic Raymond Williams once wrote that every historical period has its own “structure of feeling.” How everything seemed in the nineteen-sixties, the way…

via Health News - The New York Times https://nyti.ms/2WLL65m

Google Lens now lets you copy/paste text from handwritten notes to your laptop!

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The decision to shelve detailed advice from the nation’s top disease control experts for reopening communities during the coronavirus pandemic came from the highest levels of the White House, according to internal government emails obtained by The Associated Press.

The complaint that Washington is out of step with Main Street has been circulating for roughly as long as each metonym has been in use. But it’s seldom, if ever, been more true than at this moment in the coronavirus pandemic.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23091359

Responses

I absolutely *love* these Amazon Writing Style Tips (found via Google & ) Have any other companies offered a glimpse into their in-house style?

Wow! Noise is a secret killer of performance. A 10db noise increase (from a dishwasher to a vacuum) drops productivity by 5% - but most people don't notice since it impacts cognition, not effort. Also, note that noise is greater in poorer neighborhoods...

When surveyed, people who received universal basic income instead of regular unemployment benefits reported better financial well-being, mental health and cognitive functioning, as well as higher levels of confidence in the future.

Finland’s two-year test of universal basic income has concluded that it doesn't seem to disincentivise working, and benefits recipients’ mental and financial wellbeing