Moritz Legal Information Blog

As explained in this article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer , only one Ohio family has utilized a law that allows them to force a loved one into an addiction treatment program. The law remains controversial: it is arguable how effective treatment is when it is not voluntary, and the families must be willing and able to pay the entire cost of the treatment, including making an up-front deposit with the court.

John Tedesco, an investigative reporter for the San Antonio Express-News, shares some great Google search tips from Daniel Russell, a Google research scientist. For sure these can make your searches of the free web more effective. Included are: site: [enter URL to search particular site] filetype: [enter pdf, doc, ppt, etc. to search for documents in particular file format] [keyword] AROUND(n) [keyword] to search for words in close proximity . . . and many more tips

Many of us grew up watching the Schoolhouse Rock! series of short films on Saturday mornings.  The peppy tunes taught us about mathematics ("Three Is a Magic Number"), grammar ("Conjunction Junction"), and science ("Electricity, Electricity"). They also taught us about history and civics, with hits like "Sufferin' Till Suffrage" and, of course, "I'm Just a Bill." Turns out that the judges at the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit remember those songs, too.  Because they cited one in a recent opinion: To establish standing, plaintiffs must demonstrate that it is “likely, as opposed to merely speculative, that the injury will be redressed by a favorable decision,” Lujan, 504 U.S. at 561 (internal quotation marks omitted), but here, State Petitioners simply hypothesize that Congress will enact “corrective legislation.” State Pet’rs’ Timing & Tailoring Reply Br. 15. We have serious doubts as to whether

Today is the day anticipated by many: the Supreme Court has issued its opinion on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare").  The SCOTUSblog live feed saw well over 500,000 readers at the time the decision was issued. Without further ado, the opinion is here . Here is a quote from Amy Howe at SCOTUSblog, via the liveblog: In Plain English: The Affordable Care Act, including its individual mandate that virtually all Americans buy health insurance, is constitutional. There were not five votes to uphold it on the ground that Congress could use its power to regulate commerce between the states to require everyone to buy health insurance. However, five Justices agreed that the penalty that someone must pay if he refuses to buy insurance is a kind of tax that Congress can impose using its taxing power. That is all that matters. Because the mandate survives, the Court did not need to decide what other parts of the statute were constitutional, except for a p

Forbes has posted an interesting article on the evolution of SCOTUSblog , probably the best source for up-to-date information on activity in the U.S. Supreme Court. This year marks the site's 10th in existence. Nearly 100,000 users tuned in to its live blog on Monday, in anticipation of the Court's health care ruling. More likely will tune in tomorrow. See Robert Ambrogi's Lawsites for more on SCOTUSblog's success.

Last week , we posted about the final days of the Jerry Sandusky trial.  On Friday evening, after two days (21 hours) of deliberation, the jury found Sandusky guilty of 45 out of the 48 charges. Details of the charges can be found at CNN . Sandusky will be sentenced sometime within the next several months, and is currently being held at the Centre County Jail. More news and commentary: CBS Pittsburgh Washington Post Huffington Post Boston Herald ABC News

The U.S. Supreme Court issued several significant opinions today, though not the much-anticipated health care opinion, which is now expected Thursday. In addition to striking down (5-3 with Justice Kagan recusing) much of Arizona's controversial immigration law, the court ruled (5-4) that mandatory life without the possibility for parole sentences are unconstitutional for juveniles. As we have noted previously, Moritz Professor Doug Berman and some of his students submitted an amicus brief in the juvenile sentencing case. Check Professor Berman's Sentencing Law and Policy blog for his preliminary thoughts on the opinion. Also see initial analysis of the Arizona immigration case and the juvenile sentencing case on SCOTUSblog.