Families who help terminally ill relatives to end their lives will be free from the risk of prosecution after a landmark ruling yesterday. The Director of Public Prosecutions is to rush out urgent guidance to clarify the law after Debbie Purdy, a multiple sclerosis sufferer, won an historic judgment from the House of Lords. The…
Army spying on anti-war group could violate federal law
A Yale Law School faculty member and military law expert said he is disturbed by allegations that Fort Lewis employed a civilian who spied on an Olympia-based anti-war organization. Eugene R. Fidell, a former judge advocate for the Coast Guard and the president of the National Institute of Military Justice, said such a practice appeared…
Police in Sarah Jessica Parker surrogate case arrested
Two police chiefs suspected of snooping for tabloid fodder at the home of a surrogate mother for actors Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick have been arrested on undisclosed charges. A special prosecutor has been looking into whether the eastern Ohio chiefs illegally entered the woman’s home in May, when she wasn’t there, but it…
Time to Raise the White Flag on PII
Grand pronouncements can define an era, or at least crystallize provocative sentiment. In 1966, a New York Times headline proclaimed, “God is Dead.” In the early 90s Bill Gates infamously said, “banks are dinosaurs.” Neither of these really panned out, but here’s one that might: in June, Tower Group’s George Tubin declared banks have “lost…