Probing the backlog: the NLJ finds that most intractable cases involve business disputes

Article Abstract:

Business litigation is the largest portion of the federal district courts' backlog of 11,940 cases over three years old, though water-rights cases and school-desegregation suits are among the oldest. The backlog, spread unevenly in the 11 circuits and the District of Columbia, arises from complexity and widespread judicial vacancies. Personal injury and products liability torts are the second-largest portion of the backlog, but many are packaged as mass torts. The main areas recent congressional action seeks to address are not in fact the worst problems the judiciary faces.

Courts, District Courts, Analysis, Management, Court congestion and delay, Court delay, Judicial statistics

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The justices close ranks on 'knock and announce.'

Article Abstract:

A unanimous US Supreme Court ruled on May 22 that whether police knock and announce themselves before serving a valid search warrant is an element of reasonableness under the Fourth Amendment. Despite past divisions over Fourth Amendment cases, the court held that the amendment's Framers would have had in mind common-law principles limiting no-knock forceful entry. In a separate case, prisoner's rights advocates fear a Supreme Court review will narrow interpretation of Bounds v. Smith, cutting access to legal aid.

Laws, regulations and rules, Searches and seizures, Warrants (Law)

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