SCOTUS answers the question "Is a houseboat a boat?"

The Supreme Court of the United States does more that decide cases about the constitutionality of laws. It also interprets federal law. In a 7-2 decision yesterday, the Court said that Fane Lozman's houseboat was not a "vessel" and so not subject to federal maritime law. NPR's Nina Totenberg speaks about the case in this audio segment. 4 min 31 sec, transcript available

You can find more about the case, Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach, here at SCOTUSblog.

Piracy

NPR's Morning Edition of July 18 has a story about the use of an 18th century law by U.S. prosecutors to capture and try people who serve as ransom negociators for pirates off the coast of Somalia.
5 min 1 sec transcript available

The Costa Concordia

Most news stories have an underlying legal problem. The shipwreck of the Costa Concordia is one example of this. NPR's Morning Edition has an interview with a professor of maritime law about the international treaties governing the law of the sea. 3 min 47 sec
For a more general presentation of the disaster, see this story on the same program. 4 min 30 sec
Transcripts available

Piracy, seen from Australia - by land and by sea.

Problem pirates of Somalia from Australian Broadcasting Corporation's programme Background Briefing of 28 February 2010. More piracy, this time of the internet variety, on Background Briefing for 3 January 2010. 48 min., streaming or .mp3, transcript available.

The Exxon Valdez lawsuit Students of maritime law, or those concerned with environmental issues, will be interested in the Exxon Valdez oil spill case argued this week before the U.S. Supreme Court. Nina Totenberg's presentation of the case on NPR's Morning Edition just before the argument, with short clips of the lawyers, can be found here. If you start here, you can find a very complete written presentation, almost a transcript. (RealAudio, 8:38 min). PBS's Newshour, Feb. 27, has a report after the arguments by Marcia Coyle here. (RealAudio, video or .mp3, 9 min, transcript) Slate's Dahlia Lithwick's report, after the arguments, on NPR's Day to Day, Feb. 27 is here. (RealAudio, 4:28, no transcript) A background story, also from Day to Day (Feb. 18) of the impact of the oil spill and the subsequent litigation on an Alaskan village can be found here. (RealAudio, 5min, no transcript)