Bob Egelko reports: A federal judge refused Wednesday to block a voter-approved California law requiring anyone arrested on a felony charge to provide DNA samples, saying genetic information is similar to fingerprints and helps police solve crimes. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco rejected an American Civil Liberties Union request to halt enforcement…
Category: Laws
Congressman introduces federal anti-SLAPP bill
David L. Hudson Jr. writes: A Tennessee congressman has introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives known as “the Citizen Participation Act of 2009” that would provide protection for people who are sued for exercising their First Amendment rights of petition and speech. If passed, the measure by Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., would…
Patriot Act renewal delayed
John Bresnahan reports: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has rejected a Senate plan to include amendments to the Patriot Act in a larger Pentagon funding bill covering the soaring cost of the war in Afghanistan, arguing that to do so would lead to a “revolt on the left,” according to Democratic insiders. Pelosi’s decision, announced…
Privacy challenge to data-storage law reaches German constitutional court
A controversial law forcing communications companies to keep records of customers’ phone and internet use for six months was to be scrutinised on Tuesday by the constitutional court after 34,000 people lodged appeals against the law. Germany’s highest court, based in Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg, was to examine 60 separate legal questions regarding…