Law Librarian Blog

The World’s Lost Environmental Causes

A few of what were once considered imminent environmental catastrophes now seem like memories from a bygone era. Whether the problem is solved, the public loses interest, or there was never really much to fear, environmental causes can sometimes simply fade away. Foreign Policy identifies five of the world's lost environmental causes:

1. The Ozone Hole: Since the 1987 signing of the Montreal Protocol, the ozone hole has stopped widening and might even be shrinking.
2. Acid Rain: The now ubiquitous use of catalytic converters in cars and the switch to cleaner forms of coal and natural gas have helped bring down acidity levels throughout Europe and North America.
3. Save the Whales: Humpback and blue whales are recovering. Other species have not fared as well. 
4. Bald Eagle Extinction: Down to only 417 breeding pairs by 1963,  thanks to the DDT ban and protection of their habitat, the bald eagle was taken off the endangered species list in 2007. 
5. Genetically Modified Food: The current food crisis in the developing world has resulted in more countries growing GM crops than in the developed world.

[JH]

UNDP's North Korea Report

From the U.S. Department of State:

"The External Independent Investigative Review Panel delivered its final Report on the United Nations Development Program’s activities in North Korea. The panel, appointed by the UNDP Administrator, found broad management deficiencies in UNDP’s North Korea program, including in payment modalities, staffing practices, and project oversight.

The United States remains concerned about the breakdowns in UNDP’s management system, and is committed to the idea of a UNDP that addresses its weaknesses and in so doing better realizes its intended purpose – to help the world’s poor. Toward that end, the United States will continue to work with UNDP management through our UN Transparency and Accountability Initiative, and will focus particular attention on the Panel’s findings and recommendations."

To read the Report please visit: http://www.undp.org/dprk/nemethreport.shtml

To learn more about the UN Transparency and Accountability Initiative, please visit: http://www.usunnewyork.usmission.gov/Issues/reform_untai.html  [RJ]

Has Student Achievement Improved Since 2002? State Test Score Trends Through 2006–07

New report from the Center on Education Policy: "Using testing data from all 50 states, this study addresses two key questions: has student achievement increased and have achievement gaps narrowed since the No Child Left Behind Act was enacted in 2002. A comparison is also made between state test results and results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress."  [RJ]

Netroots Nation Conference Is Underway

Former the Yearly Kos meeting, the Netroots Nation conference of online activists is underway in Austin.

Resources: Netroots Nation Website | Agenda | Live Streams

[JH]

Friday Fun: This Attorney's Practice May Be Too Specialized

A parody of late night Cable TV ads: "Arnie Ping "is a certified, yet extremely limited attorney at law. [JH]

Does Paul McCartney Need More Money?

The European Commission has proposed a plan to retroactively extend the copyright terms on musical recordings for another 45 years to a total of 95 years. From the Commission's statement:

The aim of the proposal is to bring performers' protection more in line with that already given to authors - 70 years after their death. The extended term will enable performers to earn money for a longer period of time and in any event throughout their lifetime. The income from copyright remuneration is important for performers, as they often do not have other regular salaried income. The extended term will also benefit record producers who will generate additional revenue from the sale of records in shops and on the internet. This should allow producers to adapt to the rapidly changing business environment and help them maintain their investment levels in new talent.

Text of the Proposal (pdf)

Hat tip to Ars Technica. [JH]

CFR Task Force Report Calls for Overhaul of U.S. Climate Change Strategy

The Council on Foreign Felations Task Force's report, Confronting Climate Change: A Strategy for U.S. Foreign Policy (June 2008), recommends ambitious emissions cuts, negotiating a Post-Kyoto deal, reducing biofuel tariffs and phasing out domestic subsidies for mature biofuels such as conventional corn-based ethanol, and increasing the use of nuclear power in countries that already have nuclear power generators. Check out the CFR press release for additional information. Purchase a copy of Confronting Climate Change: A Strategy for U.S. Foreign Policy  or download the PDF. [JH]

A Quick Look at Our Courts

From the Our Courts mission statement:

The "Our Courts" Project was created to help those seeking to address the evident crisis in civics education. In doing so, we hope to pioneer a new pedagogic approach designed to respond to the particular learning styles of the "digital" generation. Accordingly, over the next 24 months, we will create an online, interactive, and problem-based civics learning environment, entitled "Our Courts," www.ourcourts.org. This web-based environment will be available, free of charge, to students and teachers nationwide for use in classes, enrichment programs, or extracurricular activities. The environment will be content-driven, but will also be media-rich, visually exciting, and highly interactive. It will be designed to captivate and engage students, while empowering and supporting their teachers. Our target audience, at least as an initial matter, includes students in the seventh through ninth grades, and the technology, visuals, and media used will be appropriate to that age group.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Project:

100 Reference Web Sites

Laura Milligan has compiled a list of 100 "unbelievably useful reference sites you’ve never heard of" for "teachers, students, hypochondriacs, procrastinators, bookworms, sports nuts" ... you get the idea. The directory is organized under the following headings and does include some I've never heard of:

• Dictionaries and More
• Teacher References
• Librarian References
• Just for Fun
• Health Care
• References for Students
• Niche Sites
• Search Engines
• Open Source Sites
• Internet and Computer Reference
• Consumer Research and Public Information
• News and Pop Culture

[JH]

ISOO 2007 Annual Report to the President

New report from the Information Security Oversight Office (NARA): "The ISOO 2007 Annual Report to the President is now available online. The Report profiles data about the government-wide security classification program during Fiscal Year 2007."  [RJ]

Amazon Video on Demand Launched Today

Amazon Video on Demand will be accessible to a limited number of invited Amazon.com customers today before it opens to the general public later this summer according to this New York Times story. Unlike other Internet video stores, like Apple iTunes and the original incarnation of Amazon’s video store, Amazon Video on Demand customers will be able to start watching any of 40,000 movies and television programs immediately after ordering them because they will stream, just like programs on a cable video-on-demand service. [JH]

Law Professor Blogs Network Launches Two New Blogs

Check out the Law Professor Blogs Network's two new blogs:

• Career & Professional Development Blog edited by Susan Gainen (Minnesota) and Mina Jones Jefferson (Cincinnati) and
• International Law Prof Blog edited by Mark Wojcik (John Marshall Law School, Chicago), Cindy Galway Buys (Southern Illinois Univ. School of Law) and Michael A. Peil (Washington Univ. School of Law).

See also two Law Professor Blogs Network blogs that were recently relaunched with new bloggers:

• Administrative Law Prof Blog edited by Ted McClure (Phoenix), Kamina Pinder (John Marshall Law School, Atlanta), and Lisa Tripp (John Marshall Law School, Atlanta) and
• Unincorporated Business Law Prof Blog edited by Gary Rosin (South Texas College of Law).

Welcome to the blogosphere!

You can check out what the Network's bloggers are publishing by visiting the Network-wide feed page. [JH]

Rasmussen Reports' Internet Harassment Survey

According to a recent Rasmussen Reports national survey, 49% of Americans think the federal government should regulate the Internet the same way it does radio and television. Thirty-five percent (35%) disagree, and 16% are undecided. The survey also found that that Americans believe overwhelmingly -- 73% yes to 13% no -- that it should be a crime to harass someone on the Internet. [JH]

Power as a Factor in Lawyers' Ethical Deliberations

Susan Carle (American University Washington College of Law) proposes a normative standard for how relative client power should be taken into consideration in lawyers' ethical deliberations in Power as a Factor in Lawyers' Ethical Deliberation (SSRN) From the abstract:

A fundamental disagreement among legal ethics scholars concerns the difference between client-centered and justice-centered approaches to lawyers' ethical obligations. Advocates of client-centered approaches put lawyers' duty to the client first. Justice-centered theorists critique the elevation of the client's interests over other important concerns lawyers affect through the work they do on behalf of clients. Scholars who adopt justice-centered approaches argue that lawyers' ethical obligations should be analyzed with a paramount focus on achieving justice.

Legal ethicists often view these two approaches as inconsistent with each other, but I argue in this Article that they are not necessarily so. Building on the growing awareness of the need for context-specific legal ethics analysis, I argue that a key factor responsible for the disagreement between client- and justice-centered legal ethics scholars is their focus on different practice settings, where different ethics concerns have priority. Ethicists concerned about the immense power of corporate clients to do harm to fragile structures of public regulatory law focus on lawyers' duties to concern themselves with the underlying justice of their representations, while ethicists immersed in practice settings involving the representation of relatively powerless clients or interests, such as in criminal defense and poverty law practice, are adamant about the need for client-centeredness. I argue that we can make much better sense of the debate between client- and justice-centered ethicists if we appreciate the importance of context in setting ethics priorities.

The challenge then becomes identifying the factors that vary with practice setting and account for the different emphases of justice- and client-centered approaches. I suggest that a key factor that accounts for ethicists' varying views about the appropriate balance to be struck between client- and justice-centeredness is the relative power of the lawyer's client in relation to other interests affected by the representation.

Do Female Law Profs Blog?

Bennett Capers (Hofsta) asked the question on PrawfsBlawg recently. For the 53 blogs published by the Law Professor Blogs Network, 30% (30/100) of the editors are female law professors. If we added female law school administrators editing blogs for the Network, the figure would increase to 34% (34/100) and this demographic does not include female law professors, academic law librarians and law school administrators who blog occasionally on Network blogs. See also Capers' follow-up post: Is Blogging Just Another Boys' Club? [JH]

Selected Bibliographies for Directed Reading

Patrick S. O’Donnell (Department of Philosophy, Santa Barbara City College) has been publishing unannotated topical bibliographies of monographs in a series of directed reading posts on Ratio Juris (all downloadable in MS Word file format). Here's the download links:

• Bioethics: A Basic Bibliography (10 pages)
• Criminal Law, Punishment & Prisons: A Selected Bibliography (with Internet sites) (15 pages)
• Comparative Law: A Basic Bibliography of Books in English (17 pages)
• Ecological & Environmental Worldviews: A Basic Bibliography (10 pages)
• Human Rights: Ethical, Legal & Political Perspectives (10 pages)
• International Law: A Basic Bibliography (19 pages)

Check Ratio Juris for forthcoming bibliographies. [JH]

Omar Khadr Video Round-up

Following up on our earlier post, First Guantanamo Bay Interrogation Video Released, check out Lawrence Gridin's recent Law is Cool post, Omar Khadr Video Round-up. Among the videos provided in the post is a short clip showing an excerpt from the oral arguments presented before the Canadian Supreme Court in Canada (Justice) v. Khadr, 2008 SCC 28. Excellent coverage! [JH]

Cost Effective Legal Research Advice for New Associates and Law Clerks

A recent semi-serious LLB Poll posed the question: what will be the first thing law firm librarians tell summer associates this year? 74.7% responded with "Lexis/Westlaw costs MONEY!" By now, the truth of that advice, the consequences of not realizing how expensive online legal research can be, is sinking into the minds of some "bright young things" who started working at law firms and corporate legal departments this summer. Perhaps it's time to assign them some required reading.

Lisa Smith-Bulter's Cost Effective Legal Research Redux: How to Avoid Becoming the Accidental Tourist, Lost in Cyberspace, 9 Fla. Coastal L. Rev. 293-346 (2008) [Westlaw | SSRN] may do the job. The goal of her article is to assist legal researchers with cost effectively retrieving legal information. To accomplish this, researchers should understand the various branches of the government and the primary sources of law produced by each branch. Researchers then need to understand and be able to evaluate the available formats, i.e. print or electronic, in which legal information is located. Fee and free electronic sites are reviewed and discussed. Free, reputable Internet sites that provide access to primary and secondary sources of American law are located and reviewed in detail.

The author is the Assistant Dean and Director, Law Library & Technology Center & Associate Professor of Law, Shepard Broad Law Center, Nova Southeastern University. The article is titled "redux" because Lisa Smith-Bulter is revisiting a topic that has changed substantially since her 2000 article, Cost Effective Legal Research, 18 Legal Reference Services Q. 61. Nice job! [JH]

Professional Reading: The Impacts of Free Public Internet Access on Public Library Patrons and Communities

The Impacts of Free Public Internet Access on Public Library Patrons and Communities by John Carlo Bertot, Charles R. McClure and Paul T. Jaeger has been published in the July 2008 issue of The Library Quarterly. Here's the abstract:

Public libraries have evolved into a primary source of Internet access in many communities, generating wide-ranging impacts in the communities that public libraries serve. Based on the findings of the 2007 Public Libraries and the Internet study, this article examines the ways in which the Internet access delivered by public libraries affects their communities. This article describes the public access technology roles of public libraries and explores the relationships among community impacts, community expectations, and public policies related to libraries. The analysis emphasizes the effects of future Internet platforms and applications and online communities on the community impacts. This article also examines ways in which to measure these impacts from other perspectives, including developing a means of assessing the users' perceptions of the impacts of public library Internet access in their own lives and in their communities.

See also: Rita Dermody's (Collection Access Services Librarian, King County Law Library in Seattle) article Reaching the e-Generation (pdf), Law Librarians in the New Millennium (March-April 2008), for programs King County Law Library has implemented to bring legal information to patrons and bring patrons to the law library. [JH]

Readex's Archive of Americana Crossroads Feature

Crossroads gives scholars a single way to interact with any page or article Readex's "Archive of Americana" online research database, and gives them credit for their annotations and comments, or links to other items or comments, all of which is permanently archived. Remmel Nunn, vice president for new product development at Readex, reports in Crossroads: A New Paradigm for Electronically Researching Primary Source Documents that Crossroads is "functionally linked to three modules of the Archive of Americana: Early American Imprints I and II, and American Broadsides and Ephemera. In the coming months we will add links to Readex’s America’s Historical Newspapers database and the U.S. Congressional Serial Set. To give people an opportunity to explore the teaching and research benefits of Crossroads, we are offering free, unlimited access through the end of the fall 2008 semester. After January 1, 2009, a modest annual fee will be required for continued access."

Check out at the interface and a more detailed description of Crossroads. [JH]

Baby Boomers Closing the Digital Divide

A new study released by The Center For The Digital Future and AARP shows older (50+) Internet users are rapidly closing the digital divide. The following are some of the key findings AARP identified in its press release:

The Internet as news source – Users 50+ go online more frequently to check for news compared to those under 20. Forty-two percent of users 50 and older check the Internet for news daily or several times a day, compared to 18 percent of users under 20.

Importance of online information - A larger percent of users under 20 compared to those over 50 (85% vs.76%) said that the Internet is an important or very important source of information. However, the percentage of those over 50 who state this has grown substantially in five years (2002 to 2007), up slightly more than half (51%).

Social activism – Thirty-six percent of members 50 and older said their social activism has increased since they began participating in online communities for social causes, compared to 29 percent of members under 20.

Participation in and importance of online communities – A large percentage of Internet users 50 and older who are members of online communities report extensive involvement in their communities and benefits from their participation. Fifty-eight percent of members 50 and older log in to their online community daily or several times a day, compared to 47 percent of members under 20. Both 50+ and under 20 online community members say their online community is very important or extremely important to them: (70 percent of members 50 and older, and 68 percent of members under 20).

[JH]

CRL and Readex Partner to Create the World Newspaper Archive

Readex and the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) have announced that they will create the world's largest, fully searchable digital archive of international newspapers. The World Newspaper Archive will provide researchers unprecedented access to historical newspapers published outside the United States.

The venture will first offer Latin American newspapers published between 1805 and 1922 in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela and other countries. The initial Latin American series will offer approximately 35 titles, encompassing nearly one million pages. Among the newspapers expected to be included are La Prensa (Buenos Aires), O Estado de São Paulo (São Paulo), Mercurio (Santiago), La Prensa (Havana), Diario de Centro America (Guatemala City), Daily Chronicle (Georgetown, Guyana), Mexican Herald (Mexico City), El Peruano (Lima), Port of Spain Gazette (Port of Spain), and the Venezuelan Herald (Caracas).

Further series will focus on historical newspapers published in Africa, South Asia and other areas. [JH]

First Guantanamo Bay Interrogation Video Released

Filmed secretly through a ventilation shaft, the video shows a 16-year-old Canadian citizen, Omar Khadr, being questioned by Canadian Security Intelligence Service agents in 2003 about events leading up to his capture by US forces. The teenage was accused of throwing a grenade that killed a US soldier in Afghanistan in 2002. The footage was made public by Khadr's lawyers following a Supreme Court ruling in May that the Canadian authorities had to hand over key evidence against him to allow a full defense of the charges he is facing. Now 21, Khadr faces multiple terrorism-related charges. BBC story and video link. [JH]

Professional Reading: America's First Jim Crow Law School Library

Ernesto Longa's (University of New Mexico School of Law Library) award winning article, A History of America's First Jim Crow Law School Library and Staff, has been published at 7 Conn. Pub. Int. L.J. 77 (2007)[Westlaw]. In it Longa provides a history of Lincoln University Law School (1939-1955), profiling its law library staff, and documenting the library's relationship with the AALL. Highly recommended. [JH]

Congratulations to Mark Wojcik

Mark Wojcik (Professor of Law and Director of the Global Legal Studies Program at John Marshall Law School (Chicago)) has been appointed the ABA's Alternate Observer to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. Mark co-edits International Law Prof Blog and contributes to Legal Writing Prof Blog, both members of the Law Professor Blogs Network.

Hat tip to Coleen Barger, Legal Writing Prof Blog. [JH]

A Quick Look at Speechology

From the site: "Speechology archives key political speeches — debates, speeches, campaign ads, etc. — and lets you critique our leaders’ words. Live television won’t tell you who’s being dishonest. Speechology will."  You can browse by politician or video sets.  RSS feed available.  [RJ]

Openings: Two Positions, Los Angeles County Law Library

The Los Angeles County Law Library (LACLL) is seeking qualified candidates for Senior Librarian - Branch Manager and Librarian - Reference and Research. LACLL offers an excellent benefit package. To apply, send resume, cover letter, and names, addresses, and phone numbers for three professional references to:

Susan Niemeyer, J.D.
Manager, Human Resources
Los Angeles County Law Library
301 W. 1st Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Senior Librarian - Branch Manager

Working with the Division Director, this position will help to develop and implement divisional goals. Must supervise and manage seven remote library branches, and will participate in community outreach programs throughout Los Angeles County. Will be involved in marketing the Law Library’s services, beyond traditional Library activities and resources, to current and potential users.

Responsibilities:

• Supervise, direct, and evaluate branch staff through hiring, training, overseeing work product, counseling, disciplining, and completing performance evaluations.
• Assist in implementing a marketing plan that will effectively carry the Law Library’s services to the legal community and public libraries throughout LA County.
• Maintain professional memberships and represent the Law Library in local, state and national library associations.

Essential Duties:

• Supervise all branch assistants and branch functions.
• Review and analyze multiple areas of collection management and recommend new materials, formats, additional or replacements copies; weeding.
• Ability to communicate to many audiences including the Director of Access Services, the Executive Director, other Division Directors and Supervisors, and staff.
• Promote high quality customer service through training and leading by example.
• Professional and efficient handling of complex references inquiries.

Minimum Required Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Ability to assist in the development of marketing plans.
• Ability to speak well and knowledgably about available Law Library programs and resources before small and large groups of legal professionals.
• Exercise sound business judgment and make independent decisions in keeping with Law Library policies and procedures.
• Knowledge of legal print and electronic resources in order to share legal information with users having diverse backgrounds and a range of research skill levels.
• Must be able to effectively supervise all branch operations, deal with difficult users, explain and fairly enforce Law Library procedures as they apply to staff and users, and demonstrate use of Law Library equipment.

Education/Training Requirement: Graduate degree from a school or institution accredited by the American Library Association.

Experience Requirement:

• 5+ years of direct experience managing a department within a public/academic library or the library of a law firm.
• 2+ years of demonstrated supervisory experience, preferably in a multi-site organization.

Librarian - Reference and Research

The Librarian – Reference and Research is responsible for providing information, direction, general reference, and in-depth research in response to inquiries from Library users. In addition, this position participates in collection development and in the development of web-based content, pathfinders, guides, and instructional materials. The Librarian – Reference and Research participates in Library seminars both within and outside the Library, tours, projects, and programs.

Major Duties & Responsibilities:

• Conduct reference interview and respond to inquiries using all available print and online resources.
• Ability to work effectively in a busy reference environment.
• Develop and maintain bibliographic guides and research pathfinders including print and online resources.
• Create research materials for distribution and/or sale in specific areas of legal research.
• Provide bibliographic instruction to users with varying levels of knowledge and experience.
• Provide instruction and training for new products and services for both the staff and users.
• Stay current on library trends, general legal processes, and new literature.

Minimum Required Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Must possess excellent verbal, written, and customer service skills.
• Good computer ability in order to provide access to legal information using Westlaw, Lexis-Nexis, digital databases and the internet to users.
• Ability to effectively handle difficult customers, exercise sound business judgment, explain library procedures, follow all policies and procedures; demonstrated use of all library equipment.

Education/Training Requirement:

• A graduate degree from a school accredited by the American Library.
• One to three years previous experience as a reference law librarian preferred but willing to train a recent graduate with no prior library experience.
• Working knowledge in one or more foreign languages helpful but not required.

Free Aspatore Titles to AALL Attendees

Stop by the West Print/CD booth to pick up your copies. Details on WestBlog. [JH]

Mediterranean Union Officially Launched

Heads of state from 43 countries launched the Mediterranean Union in Paris on Sunday. [Joint Declaration of the Paris Summit for the Mediterranean (July 13, 2008)]. Officially, the new body is called the "Barcelona Process: Union of the Mediterranean" in order to counter fears that the Med Union would become a rival to the EU's existing Barcelona Process. See The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership; Twelve Questions about the Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation: The Barcelona Process Explained; and Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean (Communication from the Commission to the European Parlament and the Council).

The Union's members include all 27 EU nations, the 12 Mediterranean countries which are members of the EU's Barcelona Process and the four Balkan countries bordering the Mediterranean. The main focus of the Med Union will include the following areas:

• Improving energy supply;
• Fighting pollution in the Mediterranean;
• Strengthening the surveillance of maritime traffic and "civil security cooperation"; and
• Creating a scientific community between Europe and its southern neighbors. 

See also: Lee Hudson Teslik's A Mediterranean Rendezvous (Council on Foreign Relations). [JH]

Kudos to Thompson Hine's Barbara Silbersack

Barbara Silbersack, associate director of library operations at Thompson Hine LLP, was recently elected to the board of trustees of the Cincinnati Law Library Association. She is the first non-lawyer to serve as a trustee since the association began in 1834. Read more about it. [JH]

Linda Greenhouse Reflects on Her New York Times Career

After nearly 30 years covering the Supreme Court for the New York Times, Linda Greenhouse is retiring. She reflected on her distinguished career in yesterday's New York Times: 2,691 Decisions. Her next gig, Journalist-in-Residence at Yale Law School [Yale press release]. [JH]

Just Released, Bhagwati's Termites in the Trading System Critiques the Use of PTAs

Termites in the Trading System
How Preferential Agreements Undermine Free Trade
Jagdish Bhagwati

List Price: $24.95
Hardcover: 160 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (July 14, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0195331656
ISBN-13: 978-0195331653

From the blurb: Writing with his customary wit, panache, and elegance, Bhagwati documents the growth of these PTAs, the reasons for their proliferation, and their deplorable consequences, which include the near-destruction of the nondiscrimination that was at the heart of the postwar trade architecture and its replacement by what he has called the spaghetti bowl of a maze of preferences. Bhagwati also documents how PTAs have undermined the prospects for multilateral freeing of trade, serving as stumbling blocks, instead of building blocks, for the objective of reaching multilateral free trade. In short, Bhagwati cogently demonstrates why PTAs are Termites in the Trading System.

About the Author: Jagdish Bhagwati is university professor, economics and law, at Columbia University and senior fellow in international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Information Overload Research Group Is Holding Its First Annual Conference Tomorrow

A typical information worker who sits at a computer all day turns to his e-mail program more than 50 times and uses instant messaging 77 times, according to a study by RescueTime. The company also found that on average the worker also stops at 40 Web sites over the course of the day.

Some of the biggest technology companies, including Microsoft, Intel, Google and IBM, recently formed the Information Overload Research Group because the same communications tools that have led to improvements in productivity can be counterproductive if overused. IORG's first annual conference begins on July 15th. Check out the Information Overload Research Group website. [JH]

The New Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and Presidential Politics

On July 10 2008, President Bush signed H.R. 6304, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, into law, Public Law No. 110-261. [President's Signing Statement]

[Thomas Resources | OpenCongress Resources | FAS Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Resources]

Presidential contenders Sen. John McCain abstained and Sen. Barack Obama voted in favor of the bill on July 9th. [Senate Roll Call] Obama initially opposed the measure but changed his position on June 20th. He recently responded to his critics with a long statement on his campaign site.

One senator being vetted for the Vice-President slot on the Democratic Party ticket, Sen. Christopher Dodd, voted against the bill. In a June 24, 2008 speech on the Senate floor -- just four days after Obama announced his support for the bill -- Dodd said the debate over amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was not simply one more dispute over intelligence policy. Rather, he said, it calls into question basic issues of democratic governance and the rule of law. [Text of Speech published in the Congressional Record]. See also Steven Aftergood's Intelligence Abuses and the FISA Amendments Act post on Secrecy News.

Balkinization's David Kris has posted a three-part guide to the FISA amendments: Part I, Part II and Part III. See also privacy law expert Daniel Solove's Concurring Opinions post, The New Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. [JH]

Bugliosi's New Book Argues that Bush Is Criminally Responsible for the Deaths of American Soldiers in Iraq

Listen to an audio clip of Vincent Bugliosi explaining why he felt compelled to write The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder and how he sincerely feels that the United States was led into war on unsubstantiated grounds by the President. More on the book's website. The general public may be tired on "Bush-bashing" books but this one is recommended for all academic law libraries. [JH]

The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder
by Vincent Bugliosi

List Price: $26.95
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Vanguard Press (May 26, 2008)
ISBN-10: 159315481X
ISBN-13: 978-1593154813

Description: In The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, Bugliosi presents a tight, meticulously researched legal case that puts George W. Bush on trial in an American courtroom for the murder of nearly 4,000 American soldiers fighting the war in Iraq. Bugliosi sets forth the legal architecture and incontrovertible evidence that President Bush took this nation to war in Iraq under false pretenses—a war that has not only caused the deaths of American soldiers but also over 100,000 innocent Iraqi men, women, and children; cost the United States over one trillion dollars thus far with no end in sight; and alienated many American allies in the Western world.

As a prosecutor who is dedicated to seeking justice, Bugliosi, in his inimitable style, delivers a non-partisan argument, free from party lines and instead based upon hard facts and pure objectivity. A searing indictment of the President and his administration, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder also outlines a legally credible pathway to holding our highest government officials accountable for their actions, thereby creating a framework for future occupants of the oval office.

About the Author: Vincent Bugliosi received his law degree in 1964. In his career at the L.A. County District Attorney’s office, he successfully prosecuted 105 out of 106 felony jury trials, including 21 murder convictions without a single loss. His most famous trial, the Charles Manson case, became the basis of his classic, Helter Skelter, the biggest selling true-crime book in publishing history. Two of Bugliosi’s other books—And the Sea Will Tell and Outrage—also reached #1 on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list. No other American true-crime writer has ever had more than one book that achieved this ranking. His latest book, Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, has been heralded as “epic” and “a book for the ages.”

Ensuring Access to Justice for Detainees in the War on Terror

Webcast from the 2008 ACS National Convention:

"This panel focused on who should be detained and where, what should happen to the detainees currently being held at Guantanamo, and how detainees should be treated. It included discussion of the rules and policies that should govern interrogation and ensure clear prohibitions on torture. It also considered where and how terrorism suspects should be tried and whether national security courts are necessary. The discussions occurred in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in Boumediene v. Bush."

Panelists included:

• Moderator, Judge Marsha S. Berzon, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• Joanne Mariner, Director of Terrorism and Counterterrorism Program, Human Rights Watch
• Alberto J. Mora, Vice President and General Counsel, International Division of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
• Deborah Pearlstein, LAPA Visiting Scholar, Princeton University
• Benjamin Wittes, Fellow & Research Director in Public Law, The Brookings Institute

  Windows Media Video or MP3 Audio

[RJ]