Supreme Court
See the following -
5 Things To Know About The NSA Court Ruling
A District Court decision that the NSA's sweeping data collection program is unconstitutional paves the way for a Supreme Court review of the counterterrorism program, and creates a major headache for the Obama administration in the process. Read More »
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A Secret Court Making Secret Laws? That's No Democracy
Last December, well before the Ed Snowden leaks revealed some information about the FISA court (FISC) and its rulings, we had already noted that the court itself was almost certainly unconstitutional. Read More »
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Battle Against Breast Cancer Goes Open Source
After a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision shielded Myriad Genetics' genetic data on breast cancer from disclosure, the nonprofit coalition Free the Data! launched a campaign to open troves of molecular information about widespread tumors with the help of big data software outfit Syapse. Read More »
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CHIME Asks ONC to Rethink NwHIN
CHIME submitted comments this week to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, responding to the agency’s vision for nationwide health information exchange. ONC officials in May released a Request for Information (RFI) that sought feedback on how to establish a governance mechanism for the nationwide health information network (NwHIN). Read More »
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Citizens United
The Supreme Court examined the Arizona immigration law in minute detail, but when it came to revisiting the damage caused by its own handiwork in the 2010 Citizens United case, it couldn’t be bothered. In a single dismissive paragraph on Monday, the court’s conservative majority refused to allow Montana or any other state to impose limits on corporate election spending and wouldn’t even entertain arguments on the subject. Read More »
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Colbert v. The Court
...in the history of the Supreme Court, nothing has ever prepared the justices for the public opinion wrecking ball that is Stephen Colbert. The comedian/presidential candidate/super PAC founder has probably done more to undermine public confidence in the court’s 2010 Citizens United opinion than anyone, including the dissenters. In this contest, the high court is supremely outmatched.
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Did You Know John Roberts Is Also Chief Justice Of The NSA’s Surveillance State?
The 11 FISA judges, chosen from throughout the federal bench for seven-year terms, are all appointed by the chief justice. In fact, every FISA judge currently serving was appointed by Roberts, who will continue making such appointments until he retires or dies. FISA judges don’t need confirmation — by Congress or anyone else... Read More »
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Harvard Law Conference Surveys Troubles With Health Care
It is salubrious to stretch oneself and regularly attend a conference in a related field. At the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics, one can bask in the wisdom of experts who are truly interdisciplinary (as opposed to people like me, who is simply undisciplined). Their Tenth Anniversary Conference drew about 120 participants. The many topics–which included effects of the Supreme Court rulings on the Affordable Care Act and other cases, reasons that accountable care and other efforts haven’t lowered costs, stresses on the pharmaceutical industry, and directions in FDA regulation–contained several insights for health IT professionals...
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Health Care (Insurance) Reform Upheld, but Concentration and Abuse of Power Remain Largely Unaddressed
Numerous media reports say that the US Supreme Court has upheld the massive US health care "reform" law...In my humble opinion, the law will likely increase acess to commercial health care insurance, although will likely not reduce the expense of such insurance, or address the misbehavior of many large insurance companies... Read More »
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How Big Data Is Taking On Breast Cancer — And Big Biotech
Now that the Supreme Court has decided that human genes can’t be patented, a group of researchers is using high-tech data science to better understand the genetic mutations associated with breast cancer. Read More »
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How The FISA Amendments Act Allows For Warrantless Wiretapping, As Described By Supreme Court Justices
On Monday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Clapper v. Amnesty, an important case that will decide if the ACLU’s challenge to the FISA Amendments Act—the law passed in the wake of the NSA warrantless wiretapping scandal—can go forward. Read More »
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In Rwanda, Health Care Coverage That Eludes the U.S.
Last week’s Supreme Court decision upholding of the constitutionality of President Obama’s health care law moves the United States closer to the goal of health coverage for all. All other developed countries have it. But so do some developing nations... Read More »
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In Secret, Court Vastly Broadens Powers Of N.S.A.
In more than a dozen classified rulings, the nation’s surveillance court has created a secret body of law giving the National Security Agency the power to amass vast collections of data on Americans while pursuing not only terrorism suspects, but also people possibly involved in nuclear proliferation, espionage and cyberattacks [...]. Read More »
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Judgment Day: Dr. Margaret Flowers on What Follows the Supreme Court Ruling on Healthcare
Margaret Flowers, MD, is a pediatrician whose exasperation with the American healthcare system turned her into a single-payer activist. In 2009 she was arrested at the Senate Round Table on Health Insurance for attempting to speak on behalf of a single-payer plan when single-payer had been cut out of the conversation. Read More »
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Killing Gene Patents Could Revitalize Biotech
The U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling that naturally occurring genes can’t be patented looks, on the surface, like terrible news for biotech companies. Read More »
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