Supreme Court takes securities, child pornography cases News
Supreme Court takes securities, child pornography cases

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] granted certiorari Monday in two cases [order list, PDF]. US v. Williams (06-694) [docket; cert. petition, PDF], on appeal from the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit [official website], considers whether part of the federal anti-child abuse PROTECT Act of 2003 [PDF text] is unconstitutional for criminalizing speech protected by the First Amendment. The Eleventh Circuit held [opinion, PDF] that "non-commercial, non-inciteful promotion of illegal child pornography, even if repugnant, is protected speech under the First Amendment." AP has more.

In Stoneridge Investment v. Scientific Atlanta (06-43) [docket], the Court will determine when a "secondary" actor in securities fraud can be treated as a "primary" actor in terms of shared liability for the actions. The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit [official website] had dismissed [opinion, PDF] claims for liability because the defendants had been found to be aiders and abettors to securities fraud, not primary violators. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

China passes current constitution

On December 4, 1982, the Fifth National People's Congress passed the current Constitution of China.

FDR established Federal Alcohol Control Administration

On December 4, 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt established the Federal Alcohol Control Administration (FACA) by executive order under the National Industrial Recovery Act just prior to the formal end of Prohibition. FACA was charged with guiding legitimate wineries and distilleries under a system based on brewers' voluntary codes of fair competition. It effectively vanished from history after just twenty months, when President Roosevelt in August 1935 signed the Federal Alcohol Administration (FAA) Act, lodging alcohol regulation exclusively with the US Treasury Department, where it currently remains under the jurisdiction of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, formerly the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).