May 2011 Archives

This month, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the "Douchebag Case."

That is, they ruled on whether or not a highschooler who called her school administrators "douchebags" online had her First Amendment Rights violated when the "douchebags" reprimanded her. The case brings to light crucial issues of regarding the First Amendment in schools, a growing issue of concern particularly with the increasing use of social media and cyberbullying.

While this case was not a cyberbulling case, it did have elements of teenage misconduct and the authority of schools to reprimand such behavior when it occurs, even off-campus.

According to the New Haven Advocate, in 2007, Avery Doninger wrote a blog post on Livejournal.com where she called school Principal Karissa Niehoff and Superintendent Paula Schwartz "douchebags" for pulling the plug on the school's battle of the bands. Her blog post called for action, asking fellow students to "piss off" the administrators.

How easy is it to appeal the admissibility of evidence gathered from wiretaps? The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals might be addressing this question in the Galleon insider trading case say the attorneys for Galleon founder, Raj Rajaratnam.

According to Reuters, however, many legal pundits and experts are saying that Rajaratnam faces an uphill battle in bringing the issue before the 2nd Circuit. Rajaratnam was recently convicted on 14 courts of securities fraud and conspiracy by a federal jury. The case was the first Wall Street insider trading case where wiretaps had been used, according to Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.