The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Regulators Set Plans for Government Shutdown

From the U.S. Treasury Department to the Export-Import Bank of the United States, agencies in all corners of the federal government are preparing for a possible shutdown next week.

If Congress doesn't reach a deal to keep the government running past October 1—the current budget is set to expire sometime after the Monday-night deadline for a new budget or continuing resolution—hundreds of thousands of federal workers could face furloughs. Only government employees who receive pay from sources other than annual appropriations, as well as federal workers who are needed to perform work authorized or implied by law, to carry out the president's constitutional duties and powers, and to protect property or lives, could report to work during a shutdown.

The Office of Management and Budget has complied links to all of the available agency contingency plans.

D.C. Courts Brace for Worst-Case Scenarios

The E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, like federal courts nationwide, is preparing for the possibility of two worst-case scenarios on October 1: a government shutdown or the extension of mandatory budget cuts known as sequestration.

Washington's local judiciary also faces a unique challenge. Unlike any other jurisdiction, the federally funded local courts here—the D.C. Superior Court and D.C. Court of Appeals—are also paying close attention to the budget showdown on Capitol Hill. The federal judiciary announced this week that in the event of a shutdown, reserve funds were available to continue operating normally for 10 days.

The local court system, however, wouldn't be so lucky. D.C. Court of Appeals Chief Judge Eric Washington said that if Congress failed to pass a budget by the beginning of fiscal year 2014 on October 1, local court officials had submitted a plan to the Office of Management and Budget that involved sending home certain employees deemed "nonessential."

Srinivasan Welcomed in his 'Third Home in the Law'

By Tony Mauro

Sri Srinivasan has been serving as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit since May, but his formal investiture took place Thursday afternoon - a festive event that drew dozens of leaders of the D.C. legal and Supreme Court community, as well as the wife of India's prime minister.

Retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, for whom Srinivasan clerked in 1997-1998, did the honors, swearing him in as his mother Saroja held the Hindu holy book Baghavad Gita. O'Connor pronounced Srinivasan to be "fair, faultless and fabulous." Justice Elena Kagan was the only current justice on hand.

The mood in the ceremonial courtroom of the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse was cheerful and celebratory, not only because of Srinivasan's personal popularity but perhaps also because he was confirmed by a 97-0 Senate vote on May 23 - a rare bright spot of bipartisanship, though it took nearly a year to happen. "How did you do that?" asked Srinivasan's sister Srija during her remarks at the investiture.

The Morning Wrap

Shutdown: The U.S. government moved closer to a shutdown Thursday after Republican hard-liners blocked a plan from U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to tie the fight over President Barack Obama's health care law to the upcoming battle over the federal debt limit, The Washington Post reports.

JPMorgan: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder sat down with JPMorgan Chase & Co. chief executive Jamie Dimon Thursday to discuss the probe into the firm's conduct in the lead-up to the recession, The Associated Press reports. The U.S. Justice Department is considering an $11 billion settlement to resolve claims against JPMorgan.

Google: U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Francisco allowed privacy suits over Google Inc.'s email service to proceed, The Recorder reports. Plaintiffs allege that Google's practice of automatically scanning emails to target advertisements violates the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act and a handful of state privacy laws.

Senate Considers Changes to Surveillance Law

By Alex Zank

As Senate Intelligence Committee members and top security officials defended controversial telephone data collection programs Thursday on Capitol Hill, they also said they're working on legislation to amend the scope of the surveillance.

Committee Chairwoman Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who called the National Security Agency programs lawful, blamed media sensationalism for a public misconception about how the programs affect privacy in the context of national security.

"The NSA surveillance programs have protected against dozens of attacks against the United States," Feinstein said during her opening statement at a rare public hearing of the committee.

Senator Questions Online Data Collection Practices

U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) is scrutinizing the data collection practices of About.com, Health.com, Investopedia.com, and nine other websites as part of his investigation into brokers that gather and share consumer information, the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee announced Wednesday.

Rockefeller, the chairman of the panel, sent letters seeking details on possible data collection through questionnaires, surveys, and other means. The letters went to:

• IAC/InterActiveCorp's About.com
• Time Inc.'s Health.com
• ValueClick Inc.'s Investopedia.com
• Bankrate Inc.'s Bankrate.com
• Sharecare Inc.'s Realage.com
• CMI Marketing Inc.'s Cafemom.com
• Condé Nast Inc.'s Self.com
• The Motley Fool LLC's Fool.com
• Young Money LLC's Finance.youngmoney.com
• American Media Inc.'s Mensfitness.com
• Internet Brands Inc.'s Ehealthforum.com
• BabyCenter LLC's Babycenter.com

Auto Parts Suppliers Plead Guilty in Huge Price-Fixing Plot

The biggest-ever price fixing conspiracy keeps getting bigger with the announcement today by the Justice Department that nine Japanese auto parts suppliers and two executives will plead guilty and pay $740 million in criminal fines.

It's the latest settlement in a series of alleged international conspiracies to rig bids and fix the prices of car parts ranging from seatbelts to radiators to windshield wipers that are sold in the United States. The parts were sold to virtually every major car maker, including Chrysler, Ford and General Motors, as well as to the U.S. subsidiaries of Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota and Subaru.

More than 25 million cars purchased by American consumers were affected by the illegal conduct, according to the Justice Department, which previously charged 11 other auto parts companies and 19 executives. Total fines collected to date top $1.6 billion, and 17 of the executives have been sentenced to prison.

Privacy Board Set to Assess Surveillance Court, Patriot Act

The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved retired U.S. Circuit Judge Patricia Wald's re-nomination to a White House panel that's looking at privacy law in the context of the national security.

Wald, the former chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and soon to be Medal of Honor recipient, has served on the recently-revived Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board for more than a year. Wald's confirmation to the board is not controversial; she was approved in committee today with a voice vote and now awaits a vote in the full Senate.

Still, the board has moved into the national spotlight amid growing public concern about the scope of the National Security Agency's domestic telephone and internet surveillance programs. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) noted in written remarks before today’s vote that he has concerns about the NSA surveillance review panel the Obama administration recently established.

Republicans Tap New Talent to Argue Key Campaign Case

The plaintiffs in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, the next major Supreme Court case attacking campaign finance regulation, have hired Erin Murphy, a protege of former solicitor general Paul Clement, to argue before the court on October 8.

Murphy, counsel at the Bancroft firm in D.C., and Clement, a partner at the firm, confirmed this morning that Alabama businessman Shaun McCutcheon and the Republican National Committee had picked Bancroft for the high-profile argument.

"In a case like this with multiple parties, there were multiple options. At the end of the day, rather than flipping a coin, they decided go with Bancroft, and we're delighted,"  said Clement. The other possible advocates were longtime foe of campaign finance regulation James Bopp Jr., who was counsel of record for the Republican National Committee, and Michael Morley, a New Jersey practitioner who was counsel of record for McCutcheon. As recently as two weeks ago, Bopp was planning to argue the case. Clement said Bopp remains part of the legal team even though he will not be arguing.

D.C. Appeals Court Strikes Firearm-in-Car Law

Updated at 2:34 p.m.

A law on the books in the District of Columbia made it a felony to voluntarily be in a car where an illegal gun was present, even if it wasn't yours. Not anymore.

A divided three-judge panel of the D.C. Court of Appeals found the law, which went into effect in 2009, was unconstitutional. The court said the law violated a defendant's due process rights by shifting the burden of proof to the defense and punishing behavior no ordinary citizen would believe was criminal. The third judge on the panel agreed the defendant's conviction should be reversed, but disagreed the law was unconstitutional.

The D.C. Council adopted the law with the goal of allowing the government to pursue charges even if it couldn't prove who possessed a gun found in a car, according to the opinion. The defendant in today's case, Antwaun Conley, was arrested after police found a loaded handgun in the center console of a car he was driving (there was also a passenger in the front seat). A jury acquitted Conley of gun possession charges–there was no physical evidence tying him to the gun–but found him guilty of the contested law.