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National Stories
While President Barack Obama pushed hard on Tuesday for support of his immigration agenda and the proposed legislation by the so-called "gang of eight" U.S. senators, an "Inside the Beltway" watchdog group announced it obtained documents that revealed the Obama administration'slawlessness in complying with current immigration enforcement laws and regulations. The well-respected, public-interest group Judicial Watch reported on Tuesday that documents it acquired recently through a Freedom of Information Act request revealed that the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services "abandoned required background checks in late 2012."
The Examiner
The battle between Malibu beachfront homeowners and a less privileged public that wants to share the stunning coastline has been fought with padlocks, gates, menacing signs, security guards, lawsuits and bulldozers. There seems little question who is winning: 20 of the 27 miles of Malibu coastline are inaccessible to the public. Yet this month, the homeowners — including some of the wealthiest and most famous people in the country, but also a hearty colony of surfers, stoners and old-fashioned beach lovers — are confronting what may be the biggest threat to their privacy yet. The smartphone. Jenny Price, an environmental writer who has pressed the battle to open hidden beaches, has developed an iPhone app offering a beach-by-beach battle plan for anyone wishing to explore what are, by design, some of the most secluded beaches around. It has maps to often hidden entry gates, house-by-house descriptions showing public property boundaries and spine-stiffening advice on dealing with counterfeit no-parking signs (“feel free to enjoy and then ignore”) and threatening property owners (“they’re welcome to call the sheriff”).
New York Times
Lawyers for a Fox News reporter who is being asked to name her sources for a story on last year's Colorado theater shooting urged a New York appeals court Wednesday to quash a subpoena that requires her to appear at a hearing in the state. Lawyers for Jana Winter made the arguments in New York state's Appellate Division in Manhattan, saying the state's shield laws protect journalists' sources.
Fox News
Departing from a long line of local court rulings, a federal judge in the District of Columbia on Tuesdaystruck down the 64-year-old law that prohibits demonstrations and displays on the grounds of the U.S. Supreme Court. "The absolute prohibition on expressive activity in the statute is unreasonable, substantially overbroad, and irreconcilable with the First Amendment," wrote U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in a 68-page ruling issued late Tuesday in the case Hodge v. Talkin.
National Law Journal
Randy Travis has sued two state agencies in a dispute over records of his arrest for allegedly driving while intoxicated, including a video that Travis' lawyer says shows the country singer naked. But one defendant, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, denies the allegations and argues that some of Travis' claims are barred. He asks the court to declare the information "to be subject to disclosure," according to a May 30 Plea to the Jurisdiction and Original Answer. Travis' attorney, Larry Friedman, managing partner in Friedman & Feiger in Dallas, says, "The matters that are of public interest are of public record. The other matters — like what's on the videotape, to see Mr. Travis that evening without any clothes — is really not of public interest. He deserves his right of privacy as to that."
Texas Lawyer
The lawyer for a man on trial in a South Florida armored car robbery is seeking cellphone records possibly produced by a recently revealed National Security Agency surveillance program, according to federal court documents. Attorney Marshall Dore Louis said in the court papers that the Justice Department is required to turn over the phone records if they exist because they could be crucial to his client’s defense. Louis represents defendant Terrance Brown in the Broward County bank robbery case, which involved the killing of an armored car messenger in October 2010.
Politico
Well, it seems the U.S. Navy finally got the memo: DON'T USE ALL CAPS! IT'S RUDE! The Navy is switching to a new messaging system that's cheaper and more efficient. And oh yeah, one that does away with a century-old practice: communications using all uppercase letters. "Lowercase messages are here to stay; they provide a more readable format," a Navy news release said, citing James McCarty, the naval messaging program manager at U.S. Fleet Cyber Command.
CNN
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