Patrick Joseph Leahy is an American politician and retired attorney serving as the president pro tempore of the United States Senate, and as the senior United States senator from Vermont. Leahy was first elected to the Senate in 1974, and previously served as president pro tempore from 2012 to 2015. He is the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Reporter's privilege in the United States, is a "reporter's protection under constitutional or statutory law, from being compelled to testify about confidential information or sources." It may be described in the US as the qualified (limited) First Amendment or statutory right many jurisdictions have given to journalists in protecting their confidential sources from discovery.
The 113th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, from January 3, 2013, to January 3, 2015, during the fifth and sixth years of Barack Obama's presidency. It was composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives based on the results of the 2012 Senate elections and the 2012 House elections. The seats in the House were apportioned based on the 2010 United States Census. It first met in Washington, D.C. on January 3, 2013, and it ended on January 3, 2015. Senators elected to regular terms in 2008 were in the last two years of those terms during this Congress.
The State Secrets Protection Act, S. 2533, ("SSPA") was a bill first proposed in the U.S. Senate during the 110th Congress by Senators Kennedy, Leahy, and Specter on January 22, 2008. Senator Kennedy put out a press release explaining the rationale behind introducing the SSPA. Hearings were held before the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 13, 2008. On Thursday, April 24, the committee approved the proposed legislation, voting 11-8 to send the bill to the full Senate for consideration.
The Respect for Marriage Act, abbreviated as RFMA, was a proposed bill in the United States Congress that would have repealed the Defense of Marriage Act and required the U.S. federal government to recognize the validity of same-sex marriages. It was supported by former U.S. Representative Bob Barr, original sponsor of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), and former President Bill Clinton, who signed DOMA in 1996. The administration of President Barack Obama also supported RFMA.
The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 was an Act of Congress that was signed into federal law by United States President Barack Obama on August 3, 2010 that reduces the disparity between the amount of crack cocaine and powder cocaine needed to trigger certain federal criminal penalties from a 100:1 weight ratio to an 18:1 weight ratio and eliminated the five-year mandatory minimum sentence for simple possession of crack cocaine, among other provisions. Similar bills were introduced in several U.S. Congresses before its passage in 2010, and courts had also acted to reduce the sentencing disparity prior to the bill's passage.
The United States Parole Commission Extension Act of 2013 is a federal law that extended the existence of the United States Parole Commission an additional five years until November 2018. The law also requires the Commission to file a report with Congress on their activities. The United States Parole Commission is the parole board responsible to grant or deny parole and to supervise those released on parole to incarcerated individuals who come under its jurisdiction. It is part of the United States Department of Justice.
The Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2013 is a bill that would amend Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to require courts to impose appropriate sanctions on attorneys, law firms, or parties who file frivolous lawsuits and to require them to compensate parties injured by such conduct. The compensation would cover the attorney fees and other lawsuit-related costs that the defendant in the frivolous lawsuit had to pay. The bill would also remove the provision of Rule 11 allowing attorneys or parties who file frivolous papers to avoid party-requested sanctions by withdrawing their lawsuits before 21 days have passed. The bill was introduced in the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress. On November 14, 2013 the bill passed the House, but was never passed by the Senate.
The Innovation Act of the 113th Congress is a bill that would change the rules and regulations surrounding patent infringement lawsuits in an attempt to reduce patent lawsuits.
The USA Freedom Act is a U.S. law enacted on June 2, 2015 that restored and modified several provisions of the Patriot Act, which had expired the day before. The act imposes some new limits on the bulk collection of telecommunication metadata on U.S. citizens by American intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency. It also restores authorization for roving wiretaps and tracking lone wolf terrorists. The title of the act is a ten-letter backronym that stands for Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act of 2015.
The Smarter Sentencing Act of 2013 is a bill in the United States Senate that focused on limited federal resources and amends the federal criminal code to direct the court to impose a sentence for specified controlled substance offenses without regard to any statutory minimum sentence if the court finds that the criminal history category for the defendant is not higher than category two.
The Recidivism Reduction and Public Safety Act of 2013 is also known as S. 1675. It was presented to the 113th Congress by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). The bill, along with others such as Justice Safety Valve Act of 2013 and The Smarter Sentencing Act of 2013, are aimed at improving over-crowded federal prison system and reducing re-entry, or Recidivism, of non-violent offenders. The bill was first introduced on November 7, 2013.
Geoffrey William Crawford is the Chief United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont and former Associate Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court.
The Email Privacy Act is a bill introduced in the United States Congress. The bipartisan proposed federal law is sponsored by Representative Kevin Yoder, a Republican from Kansas, and Representative Jared Polis, a Democrat of Colorado. The law is designed to update and reform existing online communications law, specifically the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986.
The Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2015 is legislation that amends Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to require judges to impose mandatory sanctions on attorneys, law firms, or parties who file frivolous "claims, defenses, and other legal contentions." The legislation replaces the current rule, which allows judges' discretion to impose sanctions, and instead forces judges to impose mandatory sanctions prescribed by Congress. It also removes the rule's safe harbor protection, which currently allows attorneys to correct their pleadings, claims or contentions within a 21-day period without fear of sanctions.
The Smarter Sentencing Act of 2015 was the re-introduction of The Smarter Sentencing Act of 2013 in which both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate had versions drafted. The House of Representatives version was also known as H.R. 920 and was re-drafted by Raul Labrador, (R-ID) on February 12, 2015. The Senate version of 2015 was known as S. 502 and was drafted by Mike Lee, (R-UT). Similar to the 2013 version, it was legislation focused on reducing the federal prison population and the strain on limited federal resources in the federal prison system. It amends the federal criminal code to direct the court to impose a sentence for certain offenses with discretionary regard to any statutory minimum sentence. It specifies that the most serious offenders be exempt from statutory minimum sentences which caused many of the very longest sentences.
The Innovation Act of the 114th Congress is a bill that would change the rules and regulations surrounding patent infringement lawsuits in an attempt to reduce enforceability of patents.
The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act is a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill introduced into the United States Senate on October 1, 2015 by Chuck Grassley, a Republican senator from Iowa and the chairman of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
The First Step Act (FSA), formally known as the Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act, is a bipartisan criminal justice bill passed by the 115th Congress and signed by President Donald Trump in December 2018. The First Step Act, among other changes, reforms federal prisons and sentencing laws in order to reduce recidivism, decrease the federal inmate population, and maintain public safety.
The Amy, Vicky, and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act of 2018 (AVAA) is a United States federal law that changes how federal courts determine the amount of restitution victims of child pornography offenses receive. The AVAA responds to the United States Supreme Court's call on Congress to clarify the meaning of the restitution statute. It aims to create an effective system suited for the unique nature of child pornography crimes. It is codified in various sections of Title 18 and Title 34 of the United States Code. The primary section is 18 U.S.C. § 2259. The act became law on December 7, 2018.
