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The Researching Paralegal

Category Archives: Constitution

Got Your Gun? OSBI Launched Self-Defense Act License Online Application System.

16 Sunday Feb 2014

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Constitution, Second Amendment

≈ Comments Off on Got Your Gun? OSBI Launched Self-Defense Act License Online Application System.

Tags

eGovernment, Gun Control, Handgun License, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Online Gun License, OSBI, Second Amendment, Self-Defense Act

Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Offers Online Gun License Application, OK.gov

http://tinyurl.com/m86brv3

Applying for an Oklahoma gun license just got easier. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) has launched the Self-Defense Act (SDA) License Online Application system. The system allows users to submit applications to apply for or renew a handgun license. The online application can be accessed on the OSBI website at http://www.ok.gov/osbi.

Last year, more than 60,000 Oklahomans applied for a gun license. To deal with the influx of applications, OSBI hired more temporary and full-time staff for the unit and added a night shift. The online application will expedite and streamline the process.

The online service is a product of a partnership between the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and OK.gov, Oklahoma’s official website managed by the eGovernment firm, NIC Inc. (Nasdaq: EGOV). The actual launch date of the online application system was January 14, 2014. . . .

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Federal Court Rejects Portland’s Panhandling Ordinance.

15 Saturday Feb 2014

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Constitution, First Amendment, Municipal Code, Municipal Law, Panhandling

≈ Comments Off on Federal Court Rejects Portland’s Panhandling Ordinance.

Tags

Anti-Camping, First Amendment, Homeless, Mayor Charlie Hales, Muncipality, Oregon, Panhandlers, Portland, U.S. Constitution, U.S. District Judge George Z. Singal

 Our View: Rejection Of Median-Strip Panhandling Ban Right Call For Portland, Portland Press Herald

http://tinyurl.com/l6o3gdp

It is estimated that 4,000 homeless people sleep on Portland’s streets. Portland’s Mayor Charlie Hales has been taking various measures since last summer to address with Portland’s homeless situation. Mayor Hales has said he wants to crack down on homeless camps by increasing homeless shelters, but has not set any specific amount for pay for shelters.

The Mayor’s anti-camping law allows police to “sweep” homeless  on sidewalks. In a “sweep,” the police discard the homeless’ few possessions, including warm clothing and blankets, in spite of the number of homeless who have frozen to death.

Mayor Hales says this law is not about homelessness but about lawlessness. Unfortunately for Mayor Hales, his actions have galvanized grass roots protesters to head this week towards City Hall with – literally – pitchforks and torches.

To the Portland Police Department’s credit, it responded to the recent extremely cold conditions by moving people to shelter. The Fire Department also did its part to help. Normally around 1,000 shelter beds are available for the homeless, but various agencies, such as the Red Cross, provided 350 more shelter beds.

This will, I hope, give you an idea of the scope of the homeless situation in Portland, the struggle to address it, and set the stage for the case discussed in this post from the Portland Press Herald.  An ordinance forbidding panhandling purportedly to address “public safety” has been struck down by a federal judge in support of the First Amendment. -CCE

There is something disturbing about seeing men and women standing near the roadway holding signs and asking for help. It’s hard to ignore a median-strip panhandler when you are sitting in a car stopped at a red light. It makes some people feel angry, others threatened.

Moving panhandlers off the median strips did not fix any of the real problems of poverty in Portland, but neither does knocking down the ordinance that banned them. City leaders should keep working to address the real problems of homelessness and extreme poverty.

But that’s not enough to override the First Amendment to the Constitution, according to U.S. District Judge George Z. Singal. In his ruling Wednesday, Singal struck down a Portland ordinance that banned standing in median strips by pedestrians as ‘content-based restriction on free speech.’

Judge Singal saw right through the city’s claim that the goal of the ordinance was to protect public safety, correctly pointing out that the ordinance did not prohibit people from posting campaign signs on the medians, which is at least as dangerous as standing still. . . .

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Did 9th Circuit Kill Gun Control In Response to 7th Circuit Case?

14 Friday Feb 2014

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Appellate Law, Constitution, Second Amendment, United States Supreme Court

≈ Comments Off on Did 9th Circuit Kill Gun Control In Response to 7th Circuit Case?

Did The 9th Circuit Court Just Kill Gun Control?, by Michael McGough, Los Angeles Times – Opinion

http://tinyurl.com/n3t49v9

Last year, after the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Illinois’ blanket ban on the carrying of “ready to use” guns outside the home, a Los Angeles Times editorial said this:

‘Even if it were affirmed by the Supreme Court, the 7th Circuit’s decision probably wouldn’t threaten most state laws that impose sensible restrictions on the carrying of firearms. (In California, applicants for a ‘carry a concealed weapon’ permit must prove that they are of ‘good moral character,’ have sufficient cause to carry a weapon and have received firearms training.)’

We were wrong — sort of.

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Can Law Enforcement Search A Cell Phone Without A Warrant?

02 Sunday Feb 2014

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, Android Phones, California Supreme Court, Cell Phones, Constitution, Florida Supreme Court, Fourth Amendment - Search & Seizure, Georgia Supreme Court, iPad, iPhones, Legal Technology, Massachusetts Supreme Court, Ohio Supreme Court, Privacy, Tablets, United States Supreme Court

≈ Comments Off on Can Law Enforcement Search A Cell Phone Without A Warrant?

Tags

California Supreme Court, Cell Phones, Fifth U.S. Court of Appeals, First U.S. Court of Appeals, Florida Supreme Court, Fourth Amendment, Fourth U.S. Court of Appeals, Georgia Supreme Court, Kwame Opam, Law Enforcement, Massachusetts Supreme Court, Ohio Supreme Court, Police, Probable Cause, Search and Seizure, Seventh U.S. Court of Appeals, The Verge, U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court Will Decide If Warrantless Cellphone Searches Are Constitutional, by Kwame Opam, The Verge

http://tinyurl.com/p7n2oqy

The United States Supreme Court will rule on two cases on whether a warrantless search of cell phones is legal under the Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions will impact Fourth Amendment search and seizure procedures for law enforcement – must police first obtain a search warrant to access the data on an arrestee’s cell phone? May a cell phone and its digital data be used as evidence?

At this time, both federal circuit courts and state supreme courts disagree as to whether the police can search a cell phone without a warrant. The Fourth, Fifth, and Seventh U.S. Court of Appeals, together with the Supreme Courts of Georgia, California, and Massachusetts say yes, they can. The First Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Courts of Florida and Ohio disagree.

The courts are not the only ones paying close attention to the outcome of these two cases. Several organizations and others are concerned about maintaining privacy of digital devices and data. Law enforcement is in favor a final decision allowing warrantless searches on cell phones if there is probable cause.

The Supreme Court may rule as early as April 2014. -CCE

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Federal Court Rules Oklahoma Same Sex Marriage is Constitutional.

14 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Constitution, Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection

≈ Comments Off on Federal Court Rules Oklahoma Same Sex Marriage is Constitutional.

Tags

Carl Tobias, Defense of Marriage Act, Mary Fallin, Oklahoma, Same Sex Marriage, U.S. District Court Judge Terence Kern, U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby, U.S. Supreme Court, United States v. Windsor, Utah

Federal Judge: Oklahoma Ban On Same-Sex Marriage Unconstitutional, by Greg Botelho, CNN

 http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/14/justice/oklahoma-gay-marriage/

Oklahoma’s Governor, Mary Fallin, expressed her disappointment with the federal court’s ruling even though the Court’s decision was not a complete victory for same sex couples. -CCE

 A federal judge ruled Tuesday that an Oklahoma law limiting marriage to heterosexual couples violates the U.S. Constitution, giving yet another victory to same-sex marriage supporters.

U.S. District Court Judge Terence Kern said the court would not immediately enforce this ruling — therefore not opening the doors right away to marriages of gay and lesbian couples in Oklahoma — pending appeals. Still, he delivered a clear opinion on how the voter-approved Oklahoma state constitutional amendment relates to the U.S. Constitution.

‘The Court holds that Oklahoma’s constitutional amendment limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,’ the judge wrote, saying that protection ‘is at the very heart of our legal system.’

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U.S. Constitution now online and searchable

17 Thursday Oct 2013

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Constitution, Legal Technology, Research

≈ Comments Off on U.S. Constitution now online and searchable

Tags

Legal Research, Legal Technology, Sabrina L. Spacifici, U.S. Constitution

Constitution Annotated – Online and Searchable, by Sabrina L. Pacifici, beSpacific Blog
http://www.bespacific.com/constitution-annotated-online-and-searchable/

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Maryland’s Attorney General Requests Review of Handling Out-Of-State Income

17 Thursday Oct 2013

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Constitution, Tax Law

≈ Comments Off on Maryland’s Attorney General Requests Review of Handling Out-Of-State Income

Tags

Attorney General, Constitution, Maryland, Taxes, U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. Supreme Court urged to overturn Md. tax ruling, by Ian Duncan, The Baltimore Sun
http://bsun.md/19TezdW

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