Peter Cherbi

Federal Public Defenders Launch Hub for Supreme Court Cases (1) Federal public defenders are launching a centralized effort to coordinate Supreme Court litigation in order to sharpen the defense bar’s performance before the justices.

Federal public defenders are launching a centralized effort to coordinate Supreme Court litigation in order to sharpen the defense bar’s performance before the justices.

How democratic is the UK? The UK has a crisis of democracy

A glimpse of UK democracy

The Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Act 2025 empowers the state to 24/7 snoop on bank accounts of benefit recipients.

The poor, old, sick have no financial privacy.

The same does not apply to enablers of tax abuse schemes.

We are all equal, aren't we?

Mandelson demanded £547,000 after he was fired as ambassador to US

Lord Peter Mandelson demanded £547,000 as compensation for his sacking as British ambassador to the US, according to documents released today.

Reaching net zero by 2050 ‘cheaper for UK than one fossil fuel crisis’ Climate change committee finds move to renewable energy would also bring health, economic and security benefits

Our dependency on fossil fuels makes us vulnerable. Wars across the world are pushing up prices for households in the UK.

Why keep waiting for the next crisis? We need to transition to clean power as fast as we can to protect people and our economy.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

News: Petition PE1458 - a register of interests for members of Scotland's judiciary - remains open & alive after the Scottish Parliament's Criminal Justice Committee voted to continue the petition - & thus allow scrutiny of ScotGov's work & committment to create the judicial transparency register.

Wed. 11 March Meeting of Holyrood Criminal Justice Committee will see consideration of Petition PE1458 - creating a register of interests for Scots judges

Scottish Gov & First Minister committed to create a judicial register in 2021 but have yet to implement it

www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-...

A positive development, but until PACER is free for all users, we + @free.law will continue to lead the charge to make it so.

Supreme Court justices Jackson and Kavanaugh clash over handling of Trump cases Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh disagreed about frequent rulings in favor of the Trump administration during a rare joint appearance.

NEW: Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh clashed during a rare joint public appearance over the Supreme Court's frequent rulings for Trump via the shadow docket:
www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...

Revealed: Shop where Glasgow fire started had not registered to sell vapes or paid business taxes A Ferret investigation has found there was no registration to sell vapes at the Union Street premises in Glasgow where a major fire started - and we can reveal the name of the company behind the shop.

Fire which destroyed Glasgow’s Union Corner building, built in 1851, and closed Central Station, Scotland’s busiest, started in a vape shop which hadn’t paid business rates and isn’t registered to sell tobacco or vaping products.

@karingoodwin.bsky.social @theferret.scot

Chris Murphy: "I Just came from a two hour, closed door classified briefing on the war. It just confirmed to me it's totally incoherent. We are not gonna be able to achieve any of our stated objectives ... this is a disaster of epic proportions, a 10 day debacle"

A federal judge in Sacramento, California sentenced lawyer Ari Lauer to more than 11 years in prison for his role in an estimated $912 million Ponzi scheme involving ​California solar power supply company DC Solar @davidjthomas.bsky.social reut.rs/4rX77dn

The 2021/2 - 2026 combined Freedom of Information disclosures from Scottish Govt on their 2021 commitment to create a register interests for Scots judges

Five years of work, FOI & redactions yet still no judicial register in 2026 ..

FOI docs here drive.google.com/file/d/1iThf...

[Latest] Redacted Freedom of Information docs from Scottish Govt on work to create a register of judges' interests -

- contain ref to how judicial register can be intro'd - either by Lord President or primary legislation via Scottish Parliament

FOI release here drive.google.com/file/d/16S55...

Updating work of Scottish govt judicial interests register to 2025

- response to question from Liam Kerr MSP revealed "more detailed declaration requirements for judicial office holders" & 'evaluation' of work - as of 2026 Justice Committee yet to hear more

www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-...

SNP Government moves forward with register of interest plan for judges Justice Secretary Keith Brown said the policy contained in the SNP manifesto is aimed at improving transparency and trust in the justice system

Ministers are pushing ahead with the openness scheme despite fierce opposition from the judiciary."

"MSPs across the political spectrum back the principle of a register and a commitment was made by the SNP during the Holyrood election."

www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politic...

Judges fought against Petition PE1458 & judicial register, however info gained on interests show need for judicial transparency

Lord Carloway - We cant have judges declaring our relatives interests because MSPs don't need to

Holyrood MSPs - actually we do have to register what close relatives do

Holyrood hearings -

Convener: "There are registers of interests for ministers, for MSPs, for MPs, if that is good enough for politicians, why is it not good enough for the judiciary?"

Moi Ali: "I agree with that. In the 21st century, pretty much everyone is expected to register their interests"

Judges must register financial interests to ensure transparency Judges will be forced to register their financial interests after SNP ministers confirmed they would push ahead with the transparency scheme.At present all judi

More on the 2021 Scottish Govt commitment to create the register of judges' interests as called for in Petition PE1458 here:

archive.ph/5xEjz

www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...

For 11 March hearing, as petitioner I sent letter & FOI papers to Justice Committee for consideration & to request Petition PE1458 be kept open until Scottish Govt produce evidence to MSPs the judicial interests register is to go ahead, & give us chance to view/comment on their work

Petition PE1458 last heard at Justice Committee 26 Jan '22

After debate, Convener stated - "As members have commented, we seek further clarity on the plan to take the matter forward and we will write to the cabinet secretary for details on progress and a further update on timescales."

Wed. 11 March Meeting of Holyrood Criminal Justice Committee will see consideration of Petition PE1458 - creating a register of interests for Scots judges

Scottish Gov & First Minister committed to create a judicial register in 2021 but have yet to implement it

www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-...

Thousands of lawyers oppose jury restriction plan Lawyers including top barristers and retired judges urge the government to drop a plan to abolish some jury trials.

Thousands of lawyers oppose jury restriction plan.

Govt wants to restrict the right to jury trials to reduce backlog of court cases.

Backlog caused by Tory austerity and cuts.

Need investment, not cuts in human rights.

Lost rights are hard to recover.

The Justice Department Is Lowering Its Ethical Guardrails For generations, strict limits on the DOJ's political activity helped sustain trust. Weakening those limits threatens to erode it.

The Justice Department Is Lowering Its Ethical Guardrails
https://abovethelaw.com/2026/03/the-justice-department-is-lowering-its-ethical-guardrails/

Also known as "using insider knowledge for war profiteering."

Detective Sergeant Steve Beels & the 'Revolving Door' The Undercover Research Group investigate Steve Beels, a Met Police spycop turned corporate spy on protest groups

As the #spycops public inquiry continues, we see reminders that the scandal extends beyond the police into the corporate arena - & some people straddle both worlds.This guest post from the Undercover Research Group investigates one of them.

campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/2026/03/08/d...

Labour lawyers ‘blocked’ from briefing MPs on jury trials overhaul before vote Leader of rebel group says there is deep concern within Society of Labour Lawyers about courts and tribunals bill

This is shocking. Labour lawyers ‘blocked’ from briefing MPs on jury trials overhaul before vote. The Prime Minister is completely out of control on this. MPs must come together and stop him from undermining & restricting a fundamental cornerstone of our democracy
www.theguardian.com/law/2026/mar...

Great Britain has only two days of gas stored, while Iran war threatens to disrupt supplies National Gas insists storage broadly in line with levels for time of year despite disruption for tankers carrying LNG

UK has only two days of gas stored, Iran war threatens supplies.

Maximum capacity is 12 days.

Mainland Europe has reserves of several weeks’ worth of gas.

UK storage capacity shrank after privatisation.

The Rough storage facility closed in in 2017. British Gas wanted subsidies.

too true ..

Alba members can't 'just pay a direct debit' and rejoin SNP, John Swinney says ALBA members cannot “just fill in a direct debit” and re-join the SNP, John Swinney has said ...

www.thenational.scot/news/2592021...
Good

Major fire collapses building in Glasgow's Union Street as crews tackle blaze A huge fire broke out in Forsyth House on Union Street in Glasgow city centre this afternoon.

Huge fire in Glasgow's Union Street causes building to collapse and indefinitely closes Central Station, Scotland's busiest railway station.