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There were fierce clashes at the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday and a fierce critique from Chief Justice John Roberts afterward upon learning about statements made by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer outside while the arguments were taking place inside.
Addressing a crowd of abortion-rights demonstrators, Schumer, D-N.Y., referred to the court’s two Trump appointees, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, and said, “You have unleashed the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”
Schumer’s statement was apparently a reference to Kavanaugh’s angry statement to Democratic senators at his 2018 confirmation hearing, “You sowed the wind. For decades to come, I fear the country will reap the whirlwind.”
The hours-of-service laws, which mandate how many hours a truck driver may work and have been in place for truck drivers since 1938, are suspended at a federal level for the first time in history.
As of Friday evening, truck drivers who are moving medical supplies and consumer goods like masks and hand sanitizer do not have to follow HOS.
It’s common on a local or state level to lift these safety regulations amid natural disasters, like floods or hurricanes, that require stores and hospitals to stay stocked with necessary goods.
Truck drivers move 70% of the nation’s goods by weight. They’re responsible for replenishing stores and hospitals with necessary items.
The federal administration that oversees regulations for America’s six million professional drivers has temporarily suspended a trucking safety law that’s been in place since 1938.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said Friday evening that truck drivers who are moving goods “in support of emergency relief efforts related to the COVID-19 outbreaks” will temporarily not have to follow the hours-of-service laws, which mandate how many hours a truck driver may work.
Tucked into the sign-up process for many popular e-commerce sites and apps are dense terms-of-service agreements that legal experts say are changing the nature of consumer transactions, creating a veil of secrecy around how these companies function.
The small print in these documents requires all signatories to agree to binding arbitration and to clauses that ban class actions. Just by signing up for these services, consumers give up their rights to sue companies like Amazon, Uber and Walmart before a jury of their peers, agreeing instead to undertake a private process overseen by a paid arbitrator.
Binding arbitration clauses have been common for decades, whether buying a car or joining a membership club like Costco, but the proliferation of apps and e-commerce means that such clauses now cover millions of everyday commercial transactions, from buying groceries to getting to the airport.
Unlike the vigilantes he played in his movies, Steven Seagal is not above the law — at least according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Seagal, the former action-movie star turned would-be musician, will pay more than $300,000 to settle charges that he failed to disclose he was being paid to promote a cryptocurrency investment, the SEC said Thursday.
Seagal, 67, did not tell his millions of social media followers that Bitcoiin2Gen had promised him $250,000 in cash and $750,000 worth of its tokens before promoting its initial coin offering on Twitter and Facebook, according to the SEC. Under the settlement, Seagal agreed to pay the SEC more than $330,000 in penalties and interest, including $157,000 that Bitcoiin2Gen had already paid him.
How the state’s judicial system handles debt collection, landlord tenant disputes and expungements will be among the issues two Michigan Supreme Court justices are hoping to hear about from residents during a Monday town hall meeting.
Chief Justice Bridget McCormack and Justice Brian Zahra will hear testimony and questions from Metro Detroit residents Monday during a public meeting of the Justice for All Task Force near downtown Detroit. It is scheduled for 6 p.m.-8 p.m. Monday at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union Hall, 1358 Abbott in Detroit.
McCormack and Zahra are seeking input from Michigan residents to help identify the needs they have on issues relating to the civil branch of the law. The information gathered from residents will help shape a statewide plan to fill in the gaps of service for civil legal needs.
“We’re trying to take inventory of what’s out there,” McCormack said. “It’s a way for us to hear directly from the public about their experience of trying to navigate the court system on their own.”
