The Year in Review - The 2010 Legalities Part 1

12/31/10

Part 1 of 2 — January through June


January 2010
January 6^_th marked the beginning of the end for Tiger Woods' marriage. Police arrived at Woods' home where it was reported his wife, Elin Nordegren, knocked two of his teeth out with a golf club after text messages are discovered between Woods and his mistress, Rachel Uchitel. No charges are filed. By January 15, Woods has checked into a Hattiesburg, Miss rehab center. Pine Grover Behavioral Health and Addiction Services, located about ten miles north of Hattiesburg in a small community known as Ellisville, is where Woods called home for a few months. His goal is to save his marriage and attempt to stop the freight train that he senses is coming his way. Soon, other women step forward to reiterate the truth of rumors his sex addiction. The couple will divorce before the end of the summer.

The Supreme Court with a ''bitter divide'' ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections. Two cases, which hinged on the First Amendment, were called a ''vindication'' by the New York Times. The majority ruling said the government has ''no business regulating political speech''. The four dissenters said that this only meant the ''political marketplace would corrupt democracy''.

In mid-January, the New Jersey Legislature approved its medical marijuana bill, making it the 14th state to legalize the drug for medicinal purposes.

As foreclosures and bankruptcies followed Americans into the new year, the number of new applications for food stamps rose by 50%. Even as lawyers around the country sought ways to help their clients successfully file bankruptcy relief, these same families found themselves still unemployed and with a desperate need for help; for many, it was the first time in their lives they felt so vulnerable.

February 2010

As Tiger Woods begins to pick up the pieces of his shattered life, many sponsors begin rescinding their contractual offers. A published report also states Woods confessed to having as many as 120 extramarital affairs. The attorneys begin drawing the proverbial lines in the sand for the divorce that's only weeks away.

Facing bankruptcy and big problems from the IRS, a Texas man flew his small airplane into an Austin, Texas federal building on February 19. Andrew Joseph Stack, III, set off fears of a 9/11 repeat as the media began memorializing the burning building. It was later discovered that the IRS had ''broke him and took his savings away''. His marriage was breaking up too as a result.

March 2010

President Barack Obama signs the Health Care Overhaul Bill, making it law. Several states promise to sue, saying it's illegal and/or unrealistic. Its official name is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Manhattan Federal Judge Alvin Hellerstin stood up for the thousands of 9/11 victims and refused to sanction a ''wholly inadequate'' settlement proposal that would affect more than 10,000 workers who played a role in picking up the pieces at Ground Zero.

April 2010

The devastating events that occurred in April will forever be equated with the worst deep sea oil spill in U.S. history. Close to 200 million gallons of sticky, smelly and stubborn crude oil spewed into the beautiful Gulf of Mexico, courtesy of an explosion on a BP leased oil rig that took the lives of eleven men. The coastal waters remain tainted and the tourism industry was annihilated in all the coastal states, including Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Lawsuits soon followed and there are many more on the horizon.

Also in April, a U.S. Apache helicopter is caught on video as it takes the lives of several Iraqi civilians and two Reuters journalists. The video is posted to the WikiLeaks website, owned by Julian Assange. By July, WikiLeaks had published more than 90,000 pages of confidential American military memos that possibly jeopardized military members overseas, not to mention the vulnerable relations the U.S. has with other countries. Soon, this will become the most debated website in the world with repercussions that are still occurring today.

May 2010

Controversy reined supreme at the site of the 9/11 tragedy in New York City. Many New Yorkers and survivors who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001, demanded an advisory board to not allow the building of a mosque and Islamic center two blocks from where the World Trade Center stood.

President Obama nominated attorney Elena Kagan to fill an opening on the United States Supreme Court. She assumed office in August 2010 following the retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens.

June 2010

Ten people, scattered across northern Virginia, Yonkers and Boston, were arrested by the federal government and accused of being a part of a Russian espionage ring. They were living under assumed names and were in ''deep cover'' with hopes of penetrating America's ''policy making circles''.

President Obama orders the FBI to begin a criminal investigation against BP, even as hundreds of thousands gallons of crude oil continue to gush from the broken well 5,000 feet below.