Government Stalls Handover Of Telco Immunity Lobbying Records > Judge-of-the-day Report

said by Wikipedia :

Jeffrey Steven White (born September 2, 1945) is a United States federal judge serving on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

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Federal judicial service

On July 25, 2002, White was nominated by President George W. Bush to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California vacated by Charles A. Legge. White was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 14, 2002, and received commission on November 15, 2002.

Global Warming ruling

In 2005, White allowed environment groups and four municipalities to go forward with a lawsuit against federal agencies. The basis for the lawsuit was a claim that the federal government is contributing to global warming by funding various overseas projects.

Wikileaks ruling

In February 2008, White shut down the ISP provider for the American mirror of the Website WikiLeaks. The basis for this action was a claim by the Swiss banking group Julius Baer. On February 18, 2008, White approved an agreement between Dynadot and Baer (an injunction based on stipulation); this action garnered news coverage around the world.

This order was widely criticized as both improper (prior restraint is generally prohibited by the First Amendment) and ineffective (Wikileaks' web servers are in Sweden, and numerous mirrors exist).

White vacated the injunction on February 29, 2008, citing First Amendment concerns and questions about legal jurisdiction. Wikileaks was thus able to bring its site online again. The bank dropped the case on March 5, 2008. The judge also denied the bank's request for an order prohibiting the website's publication.

The Executive Director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Lucy Dalglish, commented:

"It's not very often a federal judge does a 180 degree turn in a case and dissolves an order. But we're very pleased the judge recognized the constitutional implications in this prior restraint."

said by nasadude:

my, isn't that interesting...a judge that decides cases on facts instead of ideology.
I can't quite figure out if you think this is a good thing or a bad thing, Noah Vail, but I'm guessing the latter.