Articles by XBIZ Staff Writers

Top 50 Newsmakers '09

In 2009, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld 18 U.S.C. § 2257, the federal record-keeping law in the long-contested Connections case. According to Los Angeles attorney Gregory Piccionelli, “The majority opinion is a piece of pretzel logic that utterly fails to address any of the well-reasoned arguments made in the original 6th Circuit panel’s invalidation of the regulations.” “It is, pure and simple, an outcome oriented opinion by the majority, comprising mostly conservative Republican-appointed jurists, that, as we expected, were going to save 2257 at any cost,” Piccionelli told XBIZ. “It is both sad and dangerous that conservative culture warriors occupy seats on many of our highest courts.” As for the future of the statute, attorney Lawrence Walters said “now that the law has been upheld, 2257 inspections could resume at any time.”