Law Firm

Can The Major Questions Doctrine Break The Debt Ceiling?

NAGE’s New Lawsuit Makes A Strong Case That It Can

Last week I argued that a lawsuit from a private party challenging the debt ceiling would be a good way to break the impasse between President Biden and GOP terrorists. Well, as it turns out, someone has done just that, although not on my account. This lawsuit is better than my idea, I think, because it also strokes the Supreme Court’s legal erogenous zones. The plaintiff is the 75,000-strong National Association of Government Employees, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union.

NAGE’s lawsuit, the brainchild of the brilliant labor lawyer Thomas Geoghegan, is pretty straightforward:

1) Congress has passed a whole bunch of spending bills;

2) Congress has also passed the debt ceiling;

3) In order for the President to adhere to both spending and the

This appeal concerns the tort of private nuisance (a civil wrong) in the context of a major oil spill. The question at issue is whether there is a continuing private nuisance and hence a continuing cause of action. This is an important question because it affects when the limitation period for the bringing of claims (which in English law for torts is normally six years) starts to run.

The claimants and appellants are two Nigerian citizens. The defendants and respondents are both companies within the Shell group of companies. The Bonga oil field is located approximately 120km off the coast of Nigeria. On 20 December 2011, at 3:00am an oil leak lasting about six hours occurred during a cargo operation. The leak was caused by a rupture in one of the flowlines when crude oil was being transferred to a waiting oil tanker (the “Bonga Spill”). It is estimated that

The battle between Imran Khan’s supporters and the powerful Pakistani military this week has been raging on two fronts – on the streets and on social media. And on one battlefield, the former prime minister seems to have the upper hand.

Within hours of Imran Khan’s arrest on Tuesday, Pakistan’s government had clamped down on the country’s internet, in a move to quell resistance.

The capture of the swashbuckling political leader immediately sparked protests nationwide.

In Lahore, Night Dad rushed home after hearing Khan had been detained. Leaving the office in the city center, the lawyer’s staff had already started to encounter violent protesters.

“A mob tried to attack their cars and stop them from leaving,” she told the BBC.

As one of Pakistan’s leading digital rights activists, she

In late 2022, the Treasury Laws Amendment (More Competition, Better Prices) Bill 2022 passed both houses of the federal parliament. The relevant laws take effect from 9 November 2023 and significantly bolster the Unfair Contract Terms (UCT) regime in Australia.
For business owners and managers who are unfamiliar with the UCT regime, now is the time to revisit these laws.

Unfair Contract Terms
UCT laws have been in place since 2010 for consumer contracts, and since 2016 for ‘small business contracts’.
The purpose of the UCT laws is to prevent reliance on unfair terms in standard form contracts when dealing with consumers and small businesses.

Unfair contract terms are those which, if relied on:
(a) would cause a significant imbalance to the parties’ rights and obligations arising under the contract;
(b) are not reasonably necessary to protect the legitimate interests of a party;
(c) would cause detriment to the other

New York Adopts Cap and Trade

Yes, the new NY law includes some bans on natural gas. That’s far from all it does.

Last week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed major climate legislation. Press coverage focused on one small piece of legislation: a partial ban on natural gas use in new buildings. That’s controversial and easily grasped by the public. But a much bigger part of the new law went almost unnoticed: the legislature’s endorsement of an economy-wide “cap and invest” law, a variant of stamp and trade. Basically, the state will auction allowances and use a third of the proceeds for consumer rebates and the rest for emission reduction projects.

Notably, as in California’s much earlier cap-and-trade law, the legislature was happy to leave the design of the system to administrators rather than trying to work out all the details themselves. This is much more practical than having

By MARK PEARSON Follow @Journlaw

Episode #004 of our occasional SMALL podcast – Social Media and Law Livestream – is now available for listening.

This latest episode [15:00 mins] – published on The Source News – is hosted by Griffith University Media Law student Brandon McMahon.

Brandon talks with Attwood Marshall lawyer Laura Dolan about the discrimination, religious freedom, unfair dismissal and contract dimensions of the case involving former Test rugby union player Israel Folau and his social media posts. [SMALL #004].

Enjoy!

If you are a communications professional wanting to study in this area, please consider enrolling in our online courses Social Media Law and Risk Management (postgraduate, fully online) or Media Law (undergraduate, available online or on campus).

Disclaimer: While I write about media law and ethics, nothing here should be construed as legal advice. I am an academic, not a lawyer. My only advice is that

(Bloomberg) — Former Pakistan premier Imran Khan appeared before a special court as it began hearing a case about granting an anti-graft agency custody of the leader after his dramatic arrest led to violent clashes between his supporters and security forces.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The 70-year-old former cricket star’s arrest by paramilitary troops on the orders of the National Accountability Bureau in Islamabad is a sharp escalation of his confrontation with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government and the country’s powerful military.

The agency is going to seek 14 days of custody for Khan, the maximum allowed under law, an agency official said. However, the Dawn newspaper reported that they would likely be granted only four to five days, citing an unnamed source in the agency.

The latest crisis comes as Pakistan is grappling with an economy in deep distress. Moody’s Investors Service has warned the nation could default without

On Tuesday 25^th and Wednesday 26^th April the Court will hear the case of Independent Workers Union of Great Britain v Central Arbitration Committee and anotheron appeal from [2021] EWCA Civ 952. The Court will consider whether the CAC’s refusal to accept the Union’s application to be recognized by Deliveroo for collective bargaining interfere with the rights of Deliveroo riders to form and join a trade union under Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights? If so, was this interference justified? And should the courts below have construed section 296(1)(b) of the 1992 Act so as to give effect to Article 11? The hearing will begin at 10:30am in Courtroom 1.

On Wednesday 26^th April the Court will hand-down judgment in Trustees of the Barry Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses v BXB [2023] UKSC 15. The Court will determine whether Did the Court of Appeal

Mexico y el Cambio Climático

There is much to celebrate tomorrow on Cinco de Mayo. But probably not Mexican climate policy.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (generally known as AMLO) could be described as a left-leaning populist. Like other populist leaders, he has not been friendly to climate action.

In November, Mexico ramped up its 2030 commitment under the Paris Agreement from 22% to 35%. That sounds like great news, but there may be less to this commitment than meets the eye. It may have been intended more as a public relations gambit than an international commitment, and some of Mexico’s other policies seem likely to undermine its ability to hit its target.

AMLO has come under criticism for his commitment to fossil fuel production and refining in Mexico. His attitude toward fossil fuels is reflected by a speech he gave last August to celebrate the planned opening of a

By MARK PEARSON Follow @Journlaw

The long awaited Handbook of Global Media Ethicsedited by the internationally lauded Professor Stephen Ward, has now been published and includes my chapter on global justice, factual reporting and advocacy journalism.

It sits among 71 chapters by media ethics experts including Australia’s own Susan Forde, Kristy Hess and Ian Richards, Cait McMahon and Matthew Ricketson, Johan Lidberg, Beate Josephi and Jahnnabi Das, Kerry McCallum and Lisa Waller, Andrew Fowler and Catriona Bonfiglioli.

My chapter argues that global justice can be a legitimate ethical objective of journalism, requiring factuality as a platform, achievable in some situations through advocacy journalism.

It explores definitional boundaries and ethical dimensions of the three terms ‘global justice’, ‘factual reporting’ and ‘advocacy journalism’.

It compares and contrasts legal and jurisprudential notions of global justice from its meanings to international journalism, offering examples of some works of investigation and reportage that might