US Legal News Round Up for Saturday, 23 September 2017 News
US Legal News Round Up for Saturday, 23 September 2017

Here’s the domestic legal news we covered this week:

San Francisco filed [complaint, PDF] a nuisance lawsuit against five fossil fuel companies due to expected expenses the city will incur from global warming.
The Oregon Supreme Court [official website] on Thursday upheld [opinion, PDF] the city’s $35 annual tax [text] imposed on residents to fund art and music programs in public schools.
The District of Columbia Court of Appeals [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Thursday that the use of cell-site simulators to detect cell phone location without a warrant violates the Fourth Amendment.
[JURIST] The Kentucky Circuit Court [official website] on Wednesday dismissed [opinion, PDF] a lawsuit challenging the state’s criminal ban on medical marijuana.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan (ACLU) [advocacy website] filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF] on Wednesday to challenge Michigan’s practice of permitting state-contracted and tax-funded child placement agencies to use religious criteria reject qualified prospective parents based on sexual orientation.
[JURIST] The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of Maine and Planned Parenthood [advocacy websites] on Wednesday challenged [complaint] a Maine law requiring abortions to be performed by a physician.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Tuesday that evidence of a field sobriety test is not conclusive evidence of driving under the influence of marijuana.
Wisconsin’s Court of Appeals [official website] on Tuesday upheld [ppinion, PDF] the state’s right-to-work law, stating that the law does not violate the constitution.
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] on Tuesday blocked [opinion, PDF] a 2015 San Fransisco ordinance that mandated health warnings on advertisements for soda and other sugary drinks.
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit [opinion, PDF] brought by more than 100 Seattle police officers who claimed the city’s new guidelines [text] on using force jeopardized their safety, ruling that the officers’ claims were unsubstantiated by the Constitution.

In the opinion, the court stated:

The City of Seattle has a significant interest in regulating the use of department-issued firearms by it police officers, and the UF Policy does not impose a substantial burden on the Second Amendment right to use a firearm for the core lawful purpose of self-defense.

A Florida man filed a civil lawsuit [complaint, PDF] against Florida Power & Light Company [official website] on Monday, claiming the utility company failed to make preparations that could have prevented some of the mass power outages resulting from Hurricane Irma [Miami Herald backgrounder] last week.
[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the District of Colombia [official website] dismissed [opinion, PDF] two lawsuits against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) [official website] Tuesday for their alleged negligence in their conduct surrounding the 2015 OPM data breach [OPM materials].
The US Senate [official website] on Monday voted 89-8 [roll call] to approve HR 2810 [text, PDF], a $700 billion defense bill, authorizing support for defense programs and combat operations at home and overseas.

Among other things, the bill authorizes appropriations to the Department of Defense [official website] for: 1) procurement, including aircraft, missiles, weapons and tracked combat vehicles, ammunition, shipbuilding and conversion, and space procurement, 2) research, development, test, and evaluation; 3) operation and maintenance; 4) working capital needs 5) the Joint Urgent Operational Needs Fund; 6) chemical agents and munitions destruction; 7) drug interdiction and counter-drug activities; 8) the Defense Inspector General; (9) the Defense Health Program; 10) the Armed Forces Retirement Home; 11) overseas contingency operations; and 12) military construction.

Additionally, the bill authorizes increased personnel strength for active duty and reserve forces for fiscal year 2018, formulates policies concerning compensation and other personnel benefits, and includes provisions banning contract awards to specific contractors such as the Russian firm, Kaspersky Labs [corporate website].

While the bill left unresolved [WP report] many open controversial issues, it received overwhelming bipartisan support.

Recent Ohio arrestee Timothy Davis filed a civil rights lawsuit [complaint, PDF] in federal court on Sunday alleging Columbus, Ohio, police used excessive force to detain him in a convenience store.
Jared Genser, lawyer for detained Baquer and Siamak Namazi, on Monday released the opinion [text, PDF] from the UN Working Group on arbitrary detention [official website], which concluded that Iran was illegally detaining the father and son without legitimate reason.
Six immigrants filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF] on Monday challenging the Trump administration’s decision to end [press release] the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) [USCIS materials], arguing that the Trump administration did not follow proper administrative procedure.