In Case You Missed It (Law)
Digest for Sunday January 15, 2023

First, from slate.com: Kathy Hochul’s Terrible Judicial Pick Sends the Exact Wrong Message to Young Lawyers
New York Governor Kathy Hochul's nomination of Justice Hector LaSalle to replace Chief Judge Janet DiFiore on the New York State Court of Appeals is concerning. LaSalle's record on the Second Judicial Department of the Appellate Division includes decisions that hamper the state attorney general's investigation into anti-abortion clinics and open organizers up to liability for protected union activities. In addition, the nomination perpetuates a lack of professional diversity on the court, as prosecutors and corporate attorneys are already overrepresented. This lack of diversity deprives the court of valuable perspectives, which can have real-world impacts on criminal sentencing and employment disputes. The New York Senate should reject this nominee in favor of one that is better suited to represent New Yorkers' values.

Next, from abcnews.go.com: COVID was the leading cause of law enforcement deaths in 2022 for 3rd year in a row
COVID-19 remained the leading cause of law enforcement deaths in 2022 for the third year in a row, according to a new report released Wednesday by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. The report found that 226 federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement officers died last year while in the line of duty, with 70 of those deaths linked to COVID-19. This is an 83% decline compared to the 405 officers who died from COVID-19-related complications in 2021. Firearms-related incidents were the second-highest cause of death in 2022, followed by traffic-related incidents and other. Texas had the highest number of law enforcement COVID-19 deaths with 16, followed by Illinois with six.

Finally, from www.adamsdrafting.com: ChatGPT Won't Fix Contracts - Adams on Contract Drafting
This article looks at the impact of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot, on the legal profession's contract drafting process. While some have experimented with using it for contract drafting, the article argues that it would not lead to better drafting. Furthermore, ChatGPT would not provide the trustworthiness and reliability that comes from a legal expert, and AI has serious limitations for contract review. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of real expertise and a willingness to change in order to improve the contract process. [Editor's note: the above summary was written by the same large language model upon which ChatGPT is based—GPT-3.]

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Today's paper of the day is The New Major Questions Doctrine and was written by Daniel Deacon and Leah Litman. This article critically examines recent developments in the major questions doctrine and highlights the Court's new approach which operates as a clear statement rule, requiring explicit and specific congressional authorization for certain agency policies. The Court has increasingly relied on three new indicia of "majorness" to determine whether an agency rule is major. These include the political significance of or political controversy surrounding an agency policy, the novelty of a policy, and other, theoretically possible agency policies that might be supported by the agency’s broader statutory rationale.

For a link to the paper and much more, check out our show page. As always, I can't make any promises about the accuracy of what I've said. I'm just a large language model after all. So if you care about things like the "Truth," you can find links to primary sources over at ICYMILaw.org.

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