Supreme Court Gavels Out
Yesterday was the last day of this session of the Supreme Court. They covered a number of issues that might affect us or have nothing to do with our lives at all. I agree with most of their rulings. There are a couple that I think are going to come around again to the court since all they did was kick it back down to the lower courts.
I am glad that the Arizona middle school student strip search was deemed illegal. The school did something stupid and then tried to cover up their bad move with lots of legal posturing. The facts of the case are rather horrible and I still feel sorry for Savana Redding. This will at least make school think about where the information is coming from and if this sort of search is really necessary.
Locally Cablevision had a win. Various movie studios and content providers were up in arms about Cablevision’s remote DVR service. Where, rather than having a DVR box on top of your set, you can save programs to a main server. Cheaper for Cablevision to provide and probably would be used if the price point was low enough. The howling came from the thought of more skipping commercials. The concern is the loss of ad revenue due to people using the DVR to get through the endless commercials. (side note: we tested this theory the other day with Merlin. We were watching the baseball game for about 20 mins and then started to watch Merlin while skipping the commercials. We caught up with the feed at 47 min into the show which gives you an idea how padded that show is) My suggestion, which some companies seem to already being doing, is create a commercial that can be watched in real time and in double time.
The situation in New Haven with the firefighters was New Haven’s own making between the test and the dumping of the test. They were going to get sued no matter what they did so they went with the group they figured wouldn’t win. And funny that, they did win. I don’t think that this is really going to have much of an impact in the long run especially since that sort of test has been phased out. I do think they made the right decision.
Then there was the DNA evidence ruling which stated that prisoners do not have a constitutional right to demand DNA testing of evidence that remains in police files which might prove their innocence or even guilt. They are leaving up to the states to decide where to draw the lines on this. I can’t say that I agree entirely with that. Especially in death penalty cases which really can’t be over turned if they are carried out. But I also think that prisoners, after conviction, should give a DNA sample to allow other cases to be sorted out.
I also don’t agree with a couple of rulings about pay equality which have put the burden even more on the employee to prove that the employer is in the wrong. Also putting a time limit is just wrong. What if you find out years later what happened or finally got the evidence you needed to prove your case?
Immigration issues got tabled a lot this session. They are going to look at the NFL and another exemption to anti-trust law next session.
What the Supreme Court does is probably just as important as what the congress or the president does. I keep an eye on it to see where our legal system is going and right now it is rather conservative in its rulings. It will be interesting what will happen once Obama gets a couple people in place.
I am grateful for being able to read about various rulings and the openness of our legal system.
I am glad that the Arizona middle school student strip search was deemed illegal. The school did something stupid and then tried to cover up their bad move with lots of legal posturing. The facts of the case are rather horrible and I still feel sorry for Savana Redding. This will at least make school think about where the information is coming from and if this sort of search is really necessary.
Locally Cablevision had a win. Various movie studios and content providers were up in arms about Cablevision’s remote DVR service. Where, rather than having a DVR box on top of your set, you can save programs to a main server. Cheaper for Cablevision to provide and probably would be used if the price point was low enough. The howling came from the thought of more skipping commercials. The concern is the loss of ad revenue due to people using the DVR to get through the endless commercials. (side note: we tested this theory the other day with Merlin. We were watching the baseball game for about 20 mins and then started to watch Merlin while skipping the commercials. We caught up with the feed at 47 min into the show which gives you an idea how padded that show is) My suggestion, which some companies seem to already being doing, is create a commercial that can be watched in real time and in double time.
The situation in New Haven with the firefighters was New Haven’s own making between the test and the dumping of the test. They were going to get sued no matter what they did so they went with the group they figured wouldn’t win. And funny that, they did win. I don’t think that this is really going to have much of an impact in the long run especially since that sort of test has been phased out. I do think they made the right decision.
Then there was the DNA evidence ruling which stated that prisoners do not have a constitutional right to demand DNA testing of evidence that remains in police files which might prove their innocence or even guilt. They are leaving up to the states to decide where to draw the lines on this. I can’t say that I agree entirely with that. Especially in death penalty cases which really can’t be over turned if they are carried out. But I also think that prisoners, after conviction, should give a DNA sample to allow other cases to be sorted out.
I also don’t agree with a couple of rulings about pay equality which have put the burden even more on the employee to prove that the employer is in the wrong. Also putting a time limit is just wrong. What if you find out years later what happened or finally got the evidence you needed to prove your case?
Immigration issues got tabled a lot this session. They are going to look at the NFL and another exemption to anti-trust law next session.
What the Supreme Court does is probably just as important as what the congress or the president does. I keep an eye on it to see where our legal system is going and right now it is rather conservative in its rulings. It will be interesting what will happen once Obama gets a couple people in place.
I am grateful for being able to read about various rulings and the openness of our legal system.