Moritz Legal Information Blog

Earlier this week, Ohio Supreme Court Justice and Moritz grad Evelyn Lundberg Stratton announced her retirement after 16 years on the court. According to a Columbus Dispatch article , Justice Stratton intends to focus her efforts helping military veterans caught up in the criminal justice system, particularly those dealing with mental health issues.

Yesterday, the Ohio Supreme Court decided Wymsylo v. Bartec , upholding the Smoke Free Workplace Act  (statute here ), which requires proprietors of public places of employment to prevent smoking on their premises. Columbus Dispatch Toledo Blade Business First

Last month we wrote about an Ohio school case in which a school district prohibited a high school student from wearing a t-shirt stating, "Jesus is not a Homophobe." The parties have reached a settlement allowing the student to wear the shirt and compensating him $20,000 for damages. See local coverage from the Dayton Daily News , national coverage from the Wall Street Journal , and the federal district court's judgment entry .

In its next Term, the Supreme Court will review global wiretaps that are intended to monitor for terrorism, but may accidentally monitor Americans. As Lyle Dennison explains at SCOTUSblog , this will be a very narrow review: In a brief order, the Justices agreed to decide whether groups and individuals fearing that their sensitive conversations will be monitored have a right to go to court to challenge that program.  The constitutionality of the program itself is not at issue. The case is Clapper v. Amnesty International USA . The Washington Post ABA Journal

Mark  Zuckerberg rang the NASDAQ's opening bell this morning, marking  Facebook's debut as a public company.  This transition could keep many a lawyer employed--think of SEC compliance alone. Facebook's  imprint on the law has taken many forms.  According to news reports, yesterday Senators Schumer and Casey unveiled legislation seeking to punish tax dodgers, inspired by cofounder Eduardo  Saverin's recent move to Singapore, where there is no capital gains tax (see commentary on Business Insider ).   Facebook has been sued by Yahoo for  patent infringement , and it has figured prominently in divorce and defamation cases.  And, of course, we cannot forget the  Winklevoss twins, who claim  Zuckerberg stole their idea.  After settlement of their first suit, the twins unsuccessfully tried again (see commentary on Bloomberg ). Interested in learning more about  Facebook and the law?  See John Browning's The Lawyer's Guide to Social Networking: Understandin

We've written previously about Ohio's distracting driving bill, HB 99 . Earlier this week the Ohio House concurred with Senate changes to the bill and sent it to Governor Kasich for his signature. See write-ups in the Columbus Dispatch and Cleveland Plain Dealer . The bill includes additional prohibitions for juveniles regarding the use of electronic devices while driving.

Cornell's freely available Legal Information Institute (Est. 1992) recently added a new version of the Code of Federal Regulations. Features include cross-reference links to LII's U.S. Code as well as links to the latest regulation updates in the Federal Register's e-CFR . See the announcement from LII.