Wrongful convictions

Australian radio's Law Report this week is entitled "Wrongful Convictions"  It examines two American cases, interviewing Betty Anne Waters who became a lawyer to free her brother and Chris Ochoa who actually confessed to a murder he didn't commit. 30 min. streaming and downloadable .mp3, transcript available

Health Care Reform before the U.S. Supreme Court

On March 26-28 the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in three separate cases challenging the recent health care reform act. The Court has allowed a very unusual 6 hours for these arguments. The usual time for oral arguments is 1 hour. To prepare yourself for the excitement at the end of the month, you might start with this short video about a graphic novel (comic book) presentation of the act itself written by an economics professor at MIT. The Oyez site has a 10 minute video presentation of the legal questions the act presents, and promises more material soon. Bloomberg news is presenting a series of interviews this week with experts about these cases. The first is with Professor Nadine Strossen and examines preliminary question of whether the Anti-Injunction Act means that the Court should not decide the cases now. Yesterday, Bloomberg posted a hour and a half video of the Feb. 16th program sponsored by Bloomberg and Scotus blog previewing the legal questions in the appeals.

The "Brussels Effect"

The University of Chicago Law School has posted a video of a talk by Anu Bradford entitled "The Brussels Effect: The Rise of a Regulatory Superstate in Europe" which examines Europe’s unilateral power to regulate global commerce.  Professor Bradford explains how Europe is successfully exporting its legal institutions and standards — ranging from antitrust and privacy to health and environmental regulation — to the rest of the world.
53:06 minutes, streaming or .mp3 , no transcript

Privacy and Sport on Law in Action

BBC's Law in Action's current series includes two particularly interesting reports, one on Privacy and Copyright,  the other on Sport and the Law . The latter should be especially interesting for students of legal theory because it speaks of the Court for Arbitration for Sport. The presentation of the episode on the Law in Action site asks "How far should sport be special in the eyes of the law? And where should the boundary lie between areas which are decided by traditional courts, sports courts or left up to the sport governing bodies themselves?"
30 min, streaming and downloadable .mp3, no transcript

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder discusses the controversial drone program

NPR'S Morning Edition of March 6 discusses the U.S. drone program which has been used to kill targeted individuals abroad including at least three American citizens. The Attorney General, in a speech at Northwestern University Law School, is heard to say "The Constitution guarantees due process; it does not guarantee judicial process." 4 min 24 sec, transcript available.

The Crisis in Europe

BBC Radio 4 has recently completed a series entitled Europe's Choice. Episode one is 1989: Reshaping Europe. Episode two is called Breaking the Pact . The final one is Deeper Not Wider. You can listen on the BBC iPlayer or download the mp3 recording. 30 min. No transcript.

BBC's Law in Action

A new series of this program will begin on 21 February. The first week's program examines changes in legal aid.