The Atlantic
A Senate hearing for President Biden’s attorney-general nominee is surfacing some big questions.
February 22, 2021
This time around, Judge Merrick Garland is getting his hearing.
Not only is President Joe Biden’s nominee for attorney general receiving a Senate audience, but his confirmation seems very likely, a second difference from his 2016 nomination to the Supreme Court, which was stymied by then–Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
But there’s still an important question at stake in Garland’s nomination, and if confirmed, in his work as attorney general. The Trump presidency has both underscored and made more urgent a running debate over what exactly the U.S. Department of Justice is for.
January 28 2021
Criminal defendants can be forced to unlock their encrypted cell phones using a search warrant, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled.
Authorities can legally order criminal defendants to swipe the pattern or punch in the passcode needed to unlock their cell phone, the Oregon Supreme Court has ruled.
In an unanimous opinion written by Chief Justice Martha L. Walters, Oregon s top court found that police may only order a phone unlocked after receiving a search warrant and proving, beyond a reasonable doubt, that they already know what will be found inside the digital trove. When the state has obtained a warrant that permits it to search a cell phone, the state will have been required to describe, with reasonable particularity, the evidence that it believes is on the phone and its relevance to the state s investigation, according to the 37-page opinion published Jan. 28.
Sherwood teacher charged with child sex abuse in Portland January 05 2021
Brian Trostel was placed on administrative leave prior to arrest on numerous charges for abuse that allegedly occurred in Portland.
A teacher at Sherwood High School has been arrested on 29 charges relating to the sexual abuse of a child, according to court documents.
Brian David Trostel, who lived in Portland and taught at Sherwood High until recently, turned himself in to Portland Police Bureau officers on Jan. 4, according to a news release.
Trostel, 60, faces a 29-count indictment, with the charges including two counts of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct, eight counts each of first- and second-degree encouraging child sexual abuse, as well as eight counts of first-degree invasion of privacy and three counts of invasion of personal privacy in the second degree.