The U.S. Courts Website Redesigned

The United States Courts website is redesigned. Today's announcement introduces new enhancements and highlight the primary goal of the website.

The site has been redesigned to make it more attractive, accessible, and useful to its diverse audience of users. The improvements further the website's mission of increasing public interest, awareness, and understanding of the federal court system and its functions, and to serve as a source for disseminating Federal Judiciary information to the public.

The website is a primary source of information on the structure, function, and operations of the federal courts. It plays an important role in how the Judiciary communicates to the public, with useful and timely information for students, news media, attorneys, academics, government officials, associations, and others - both in the United States and worldwide.

Among the objectives of the redesign are a more dynamic website that can integrate emerging web technologies, such as RSS, podcasts, and multimedia.

The website features email delivery services, multimedia services including video, podcasts, photos, YouTube channel, widgets, and read-aloud services.

Statistical Reports of the U.S. Courts

The U.S. Courts website includes a page listing various statistical reports.

• Annual Report of the Director: Judicial Business of the United States (available online since 1997)
• Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act Statistics (tables are available for 2008 calendar year)
• Bankruptcy Statistics (Some tables date back to 1990s. Additional statistics are available via PACER.)
• Federal Court Management Statistics (available online since 1997)
• Federal Judicial Caseload Statistics (available online since 2001)
• Judicial Facts and Figures (available online since 2005 and now including caseload statistics and judgeship totals for fiscal year 2008)
• Statistical Tables for the Federal Judiciary (available online since 2001)
• Wiretap Reports (available online since 1997)

Yelling at Law Clerk? Think Twice!

Thinking about being rude toward judge's law clerk? Well, think twice! Via Legal Blog Watch, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a decision to disbar an attorney for one year because he yelled at a law clerk over the phone.

Mr. Moity referenced a telephone message from the court which he acknowledged that he had not returned. Indeed, Ms. Blanke had placed two telephone calls to Mr. Moity in the days before the conference, one on Tuesday, September 19 and one on Wednesday, September 20. When Mr. Moity mentioned those phone calls, Ms. Blanke confirmed that she had indeed called him, and that both messages specifically referenced the Rule 16 conference. At that point, Mr. Moity started yelling and asking, in a very angry tone, whether Ms. Blanke had specifically included in her messages to his office that he was supposed to appear at the Rule 16 conference. Ms. Blanke asked Mr. Moity to calm down, and then asked if he was suggesting that it was her responsibility to call him and remind him about the conference. Mr. Moity stated he was not implying that, but then started questioning Ms. Blanke, in what she perceived to be a very ugly tone, why she hadn’t done so, since she was “already calling anyway.”

Red the full post.

Make Sure You State a Cause of Action

Via WisBlawg, a post titled Pittsburgh Couple Loses Privacy Case Against Google Maps Street View is an excellent example of how failure to state a cause of action will get your case dismissed. Magistrate Judge Amy Reynolds Hay, the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, did exactly that, saying "the Borings failed to state a claim under any count" and dismissed the case.

Court Orders Halt to Sale of Spyware

As reported in the November 17, 2008 news release by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the U.S. District Court Judge, following the EPIC complaint, has issued a temporary restraining order halting the sale of keylogger spyware. According to the FTC's complaint,

...the Florida-based CyberSpy software, LLC marketed and sold RemoteSpy keylogger spyware to clients who would then secretly monitor unsuspecting consumer's computers.

... the defendants violated the FTC Act by engaging in the unfair advertising and selling of software that could be: (1) deployed remotely by someone other than the owner or authorized user of a computer; (2) installed without the knowledge and consent of the owner or authorized user; and (3) used to surreptitiously collect and disclose personal information.

The FTC seeks to permanently bar the unfair and deceptive practices and require the defendants to give up their ill-gotten gains. The complaint for permanent injunction and other equitable relief is available here.

U.S. Courts - The Federal Judiciary

The U.S. Courts website provides information about the federal judiciary, including the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Courts of Appeals, U.S. District Courts, and U.S. Bankruptcy Courts. It links to the U.S. Constitution and provides information about the individual federal courts. It has a library that includes legal forms, information about court fees, commonly used terms, judicial ethics and conduct, periodicals, publications and reports, statistical reports, and other web resources. This site also lists information about the Administrative Offices, Defender Services, Educational Outreach, Electronic Access to Courts, Federal Rulemaking, Judicial Conference, and Probation & Pretrial Services.