Moritz Legal Information Blog

On Wednesday, Ohio House Bill 265 , which grants prosecutors the right to a jury trial even when a defendant waives the right, passed the Ohio House 50-42 . The bill is sponsored by Republican Rep. Lynn Slaby and Democratic Rep. Sean O'Brien , both former criminal prosecutors at the county level. The bill now heads to the Ohio Senate for consideration. See the Ohio Judicial Conference's judicial impact statement , which discusses the bill's potential conflict with the Ohio Constitution. The impact statement cites Article IV, section 5 of the Ohio Constitution, which grants the Ohio Supreme Court the authority to prescribe rules governing trial procedure. The impact statement notes that in 2008 the Ohio Supreme Court's Commission on the Rules of Practice & Procedure decided against making the change proposed by HB 265.

In the wake of the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Florida, there is more discussion of a "Stand Your Ground" law in Ohio.  Ohio's current "Castle Doctrine": SB 184 Analysis Ohio Revised Code 2901.05 Ohio Revised Code 2901.09 News: Coshocton Tribune ABC6 (Both of the above quote our own Professor Joshua Dressler!) 10TV

This week the Supreme Court's health care arguments draw the nation's attention. What did Congress think about the constitutional authority underlying this law? Answering this question would require delving into the legislative history, a resource whose value is disputed. Committee reports are often seen as one of the more reliable legislative history resources, but the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act apparently generated no committee reports. Had one existed, there is no guarantee that we could find a statement explaining which clause supported this law. A change of rules in the House of Representatives last year seems to provide researchers a clearer picture of constitutional authority. House Resolution 112-5 requires the sponsor of every bill to identify "as specifically as practicable the power or powers granted to Congress in the Constitution to enact the bill or joint resolution." The Resolution also requires constitutional authority statements to be

The American Civil Liberties Union has sued a Missouri school district in federal court over the district's Internet-filtering software. According to the complaint , the filter "blocks websites supporting or advocating on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (“LGBT”) people but permits access to websites that condemn homosexuality or oppose legal protections for LGBT people." In one example, the complaint asserts that the filter blocks a web address for the Supreme Court's 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision (holding that a Texas law criminalizing same-sex intimate sexual conduct was unconstitutional) but does not block web addresses for the Court's 1986  Bowers v. Hardwick decision (upholding a Georgia statute criminalizing sodomy and later overruled by Lawrence ). The problem seems to be that the filter categorizes many pro-LGBT sites as "sexual" and groups these URLs with pornography sites while it categorizes many websites opposing homosex

FantasySCOTUS.net , "the Internet's Premier Supreme Court Fantasy League," includes a "prediction tracker" showing fantasy league players'  real-time predictions of the outcome of the upcoming health care case. While a consensus is emerging for three out of the four legal questions, predictors are nearly evenly split as to the much-debated " individual mandate " question. Read more about the league here and see also this related article by several authors including the site's creator.

The newest interview question: Will you friend me on Facebook?  The Associated Press reports that some employers have been asking job applicants for Facebook access, from "friending" someone from human resources, to login information, including passwords.  News and commentary: Wall Street Journal Law Blog Huffington Post Forbes CBC

Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in two cases on whether a life without the possibility of parole sentence for a juvenile homicide offender violates the Eighth Amendment's cruel and unusual punishment prohibition. See SCOTUSblog's case pages for the two cases, Miller v. Alabama and Jackson v. Hobbs . These  pages include all of the briefs and the lower court opinion. See also this video commentary from Moritz College of Law Professor and sentencing expert Doug Berman. Berman and a group of his Moritz students submitted a brief as amici curiae in support of 14-year old juveniles-petitioners, Kuntrell Jackson and Evan Miller.

In the wake of the October tragedy in which dozens of escaped animals had to be killed by law enforcement officers, a bill has been introduced that would place new restrictions on the keeping of dangerous animals. S.B. 310 Analysis of S.B. 310 State Sen. Balderson's Guest Column on Regulation of Wild Animal Ownership Columbus Dispatch Dayton Daily News Toledo Blade

The dates for U.S. Supreme Court oral argument on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act  are fast approaching, scheduled for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week. While under the court's longstanding policy there will be no live audio or visual coverage, the court recently announced that it plans to make audio recordings available in the afternoon of each argument day. Typically audio files are available on Fridays of argument weeks. Audio files and written transcripts will be available on the court's website . To access court filings and other resources related to the health case cases, see SCOTUSblog .

Today, a three-judge trial chamber of the International Criminal Court unanimously issued a decision finding that Democratic Republic of Congo militia leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo committed war crimes. The court found Dyilo guilty of enlisting and conscripting children under the age of 15 into his militia, and actively using them in hostilities. See more details from the BBC and JURIST , which indicate that this is the court's first trial verdict since its inception ten years ago. See also video of today's proceedings.

An update in the case of the men accused of cutting the beards of fellow Amish men : all 12 defendants have pleaded not guilty, and plan to challenge the constitutionality of the hate crimes law. Washington Post northwestohio.com Canton Repository

In January, we discussed Ohio's fracking shutdown after a number of earthquakes around Youngstown. The shutdown has led to a shift in Ohio's brine disposal rules. On Friday, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources a new regulatory framework , including a prohibition on new wells in earthquake-susceptible pre -Cambrian rock formations. As the Columbus Dispatch reports, some remain concerned, in part because there is no mandate for seismic surveys before a well is drilled.

Old Maps Online , a collaboration of  The Great Britain Historical GIS Project based at the University of Portsmouth, UK and Klokan Technologies GmbH, Switzerland, is a portal to digitized historical map collections. The site provides links to maps of various parts of the globe, including historical maps of Ohio. For instance, see an 1804 Ohio map and an 1872 Ohio railroad map  from the David Rumsey Map Collection .

A Massachusetts "hockey dad" may have taken winning too seriously.  He is accused of shining a laser pointer into the eyes of players on the opposing team.  His daughter's team won, but the victory is bittersweet:  the father has been charged with disturbing the peace.  Boston Globe Fox Sports

What procedures should channel the power exercised by the executive branch? In recent remarks, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder defended the use of lethal force against American citizens abroad, noting that “the Constitution guarantees due process, not judicial process.” The New York Times summarizes Holder’s arguments, which seem to rely on his interpretations of Congressional action in the form of the Authorization to Use Military Force ( Public Law 107-40 ). In a very different context, a recent Ohio Supreme Court opinion analyzed whether a state agency fulfilled procedural requirements imposed by the Ohio Revised Code. In a 4-3 opinion, In re Application of Buckeye Wind, L.L.C. , the Court upheld the Power Siting Board’s decision to authorize construction of a new wind farm, despite some security and environmental concerns. While Ohio’s administrative procedure laws expressly remove the public utilities commission from their requirements (per Ohio Rev. Code 119.01 ), special hea

Joshua Thompson has filed a class-action lawsuit in Michigan because of their high prices on snacks and drinks.  The lawsuit, filed in Wayne County Circuit Court, accuses theaters of violating the Michigan Consumer Protection Act by overcharging on concessions. Detroit Free Press Huffington Post Wall Street Journal Law Blog

The Internet Archive , a non-profit organization providing free online access to a vast amount of digitized books and other works, including many legal titles , has apparently also been building a physical archive of printed books. See founder Brewster Kahle's explanation  of the physical archive's purpose as well as a recent story in the New York Times.

By enacting Senate Bill 241 yesterday, Maryland became the eighth state to permit same-sex marriage, joining Washington, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, and New Hampshire, in addition to the District of Columbia. See coverage from the Baltimore Sun . See also the library's same-sex marriage research guide for information on other states.