Site Map - Legal Issues

06/01/2010 - A amendment to the 2011 defense department authorization bill would prohibit the transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States.

06/01/2010 - The suspicionless search of a crewmember’s cabin aboard a ship did not violate the crewmember’s Fourth Amendment rights to be free of unreasonable search and seizure.

05/28/2010 - An amendment to the Intelligence Authorization Act for 2010 (H.R. 2701) will establish a process for ensuring that there is no conflict of interest present when employees within the intelligence community take second jobs. The amendment will also prohibit employees within the intelligence community from owning companies that sell expertise related to the employee’s government service.

05/28/2010 - The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a background screening case in which 28 employees of the California Institute of Technology, under contract to do work for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), have claimed that the government’s screening policy is too intrusive. The policy was implemented in 2004 under a government homeland security directive.

04/27/2010 - An employee is awarded $1.5 million in a retaliation suit, and parents sue their son's school after learning that officials spied on him via Webcam. Also, legislation on cruise ship safety, airport security, biometrics, and firearms. 

04/19/2010 - An attorney for a student who was surreptitiously photographed via a school-issued laptop has requested additional discovery after learning that the school took thousands of photos of other students.

03/31/2010 - A new bill (S.B. 25) pending in the Indiana General Assembly would make it illegal for a company to prohibit employees from keeping firearms locked in their cars on company property. The bill would also apply to contract employees. Exemptions are provided for schools, penal institutions, and domestic violence shelters.

03/31/2010 - A new Georgia law (formerly S.B. 82) regulates the secondary sale of metals such as copper and provides penalties for the theft of such metals. Under the new law, anyone purchasing the materials must obtain a photocopy of the seller’s driver’s license. If the metal being purchased is part of a motor vehicle, the seller must provide the title or a certificate from the state designating that the car can be sold as scrap. Under the new law, selling stolen metal valued at more than $500 is punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 and up to five years in prison.

03/31/2010 - A federal court upheld the sentencing of disbarred attorney Lynne Stewart, who was convicted of passing messages from her client Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman to his followers.

03/31/2010 - A company that fired a potentially violent employee is not guilty of discrimination and a plaintiff who deleted e-mail loses the right to pursue the case. Also, legislative updates.

03/19/2010 - Lawmakers in New Hampshire have defeated a bill that would have banned biometrics.

03/09/2010 - The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a background screening case in which 28 contract employees claim that the government’s screening policy is too intrusive.

03/04/2010 - New legislation would help the security industry bypass an energy efficiency standard it says shouldn't apply to security companies.