The Law Report in Winter

While the northern hemisphere was on holiday recently, in the southern hemisphere Australia was going full steam. Some interesting stories from the Australian program The Law Report include :

• a discussion of new German legislation about hate speech on social media
• the rule of law in China
• reflections on justice and injustice
• transgender and identity

About 30 min, transcripts available.

New Law Podcasts

Just discovered -- two relatively new podcasts, one from the UK and the other the US.

• Law Pod UK -- So far 10 episodes, the most recent being an examination of artificial intelligence and the law. 13 min, no transcript. Sound quality sometimes less that optimum.
• Pro Say -- a weekly podcast,  Each podcast examines several different topics. For instance, the September 4 podcast has a 15 minute interview with a federal district judge about Judge Richard Posner’s new book, followed by a 5 minute story about a class action against the Subway sandwich chain for selling « footlong » sandwiches that are only 11 inches long. About 30 min, no transcript.

Which Court?

A very well-done animated video which explains jurisdiction (which court — state or federal?) in the U.S. can be found here. 5 min 25 sec

Civics 101

New Hampshire Public Radio began a podcast last January called Civics 101 - a refresher course on some of the basics of American democracy. You can find the list of topics (52 so far) here. Episodes include U.S. voting systems, federal grand juries, presidential pardons, church and state, how a bill becomes a law, gerrymandering About 12 min, no transcripts.
The site also has something called « extra credit » with supplementary information about the topics in the podcasts and even quizzes about the topics covered.

Free Speech, Hate Speech?

NPR’s Weekend Edition of August 26 has an interview with the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union about its defense of the white nationalist rally at Emancipation Park in Charlottesville. 4 min 30 sec, transcript available.

Free Speech in the Workplace - Google

The Google employee who questioned the suitability of women in high tech companies was fired. This report on NPR’s All Things Considered examines the legal questions this poses. 3 min 30 sec, transcript available.

UK Supreme Court Ruling on Pension Rights for Same-Sex Married Couples

In the case of Walker v Innospec Limited, the UK Supreme Court "disapplied" part of the Equality Act which allowed Walker’s former employer to refuse to pay a pension on his death to his husband on the grounds that the act was incompatible with European Union law. You can hear the judgment summary (judgment of 12 July) read by Lord Kerr here. 6 min 34 sec, no transcript, but a two-page press summary is available here.