Law Librarian Blog

Gov. Palin, Earmarks Fighter?

The image of Sarah Palin as a fighter of earmarks is central to John McCain ’s explanation for picking her. So is she? Ah, no. Palin’s office submitted 31 requests, totaling approximately $197 million. CQ Politics examines Gov. Palin's record on earmarks at A Guide to Palin’s Earmark Requests. [JH]

Potential Election Day Meltdowns

If you ask voters about potential election day meltdowns, they are likely to think about voting machines but, according to David Kimball (University of Missouri-St. Louis) and Lawrence Norden (Counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School) in A Brief History of Ballot Blunders, the real problem lies more in the ballots than the machines themselves. [JH]

American War Criminals Conference Streamed Live This Weekend

The Justice Robert Jackson Conference on the Planning for Prosecution of High Level American War Criminals (September 13-14, 2008) will be streamed live this weekend. The speakers list includes former Los Angeles prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, author of the book, The Prosecution of George W. Bush For Murder; Phillippe Sands, director of the Centre of International Courts and Tribunals at University College, London, and author of Torture Team: Rumsfeld’s Memo and the Betrayal of American Values; Jordan Paust, law professor and author of Beyond The Law: The Bush Administration's Unlawful Responses in the 'War' on Terror; Ann Wright, the former U.S. Army colonel who wrote Dissent:  Voices of Conscience; Peter Weiss, vice president of the Center For Constitutional Rights; Benjamin Davis, former American legal counsel for the Secretariat of the International Court of Arbitration; David Lindorff, co-author of The Case for Impeachment: Legal Arguments for Removing President George W. Bush from Office; and Francis Boyle, law professor and author of Breaking All the Rules: Palestine, Iraq, Iran and the Case for Impeachment.

Conference Website | Agenda | Link to Stream

Hat tip to Bob Ambrogi, Legal Blog Watch. LOL, thanks to the commenter for catching my typo in the title of this post. Ain't dyslexia a wonderful thing! [JH]

Free legal research on the rise

This month's ABA journal reports that free online legal research has overtaken fee-based online legal research.  Wow.  Also of note: online legal research via mobile devices staying constant at 2%.  Good to know when designing your library's web site.  [JJ]

A Great Day for Fair Use? Senate Judiciary Committee Recommends IP Enforcement Bill, S. 3325

Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee ordered the Intellectual Property Enforcement Act of 2008, S. 3325, reported with amendments. [Thomas Resources | Open Congress Resources] The bill would increase penalties for a range of infringements, and give content holders and the government new powers in pursuing alleged infringers. Patrick Ross called the action "a great day for creators, on The Copyright Alliance Blog.

S. 3325 shares features of the PRO IP Act, H.R. 4279, which was passed by the House in May. [Thomas Resources | Open Congress Resources] See Rashmi Rangnath's H.R. 4279 and S. 3325: which one is the lesser of the two evils? and A Perfect Storm of Bad Copyright Legislation by Alex Curtis, both on Public Knowledge. See also the September 10, 2008 letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee on S. 3325 from American Association of Law Libraries, American Library Association, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Digital Future Coalition, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Essential Action, IP Justice, Knowledge Ecology International, Medical Library Association, and Special Libraries Association. [JH]

Friday Fun: Top Ten Law Songs

Did Above the Law get it right?

1. I Fought The Law - The Clash
2. Lawyers, Guns, and Money - Warren Zevon
3. 99 Problems - Jay-Z
4. Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash
5. We're All Winners, as arranged by Nixon Peabody
6. Law and Order theme song
7. Hurricane - Bob Dylan
8. Alice's Restaurant - Arlo Guthrie
9. I Fought The Law - Bobby Fuller 4
10. The Road Goes on Forever - Robert Earl Keen

Would you rank Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues so low? And where is his I Walk The Line? Details with links to lyrics and YouTube videos at Above the Law. Check out the explanation for Nixon Peabody's We're All Winners. The video for the song was pulled by YouTube.

My favorite law song didn't even receive an honorable mention. It's Homer Simpson singing Judas Priest's Breaking the Law.

Videos of Johnny Cash performing I Walk the Line and Folsom Prison Blues (much better than the video linked to by ATL) in San Quentin Prison below the fold. [JH]

Johnny Cash performing I Walk The Line in San Quentin Prison

Johnny Cash performing Folsom Prison Blues in San Quentin Prison

Reconceiving Research Libraries for the 21st Century

How should we be rethinking the research library in a swiftly changing information landscape? In a new report from the Council on Library and Information Resources, librarians, publishers, faculty members, and information technology specialists tackle this difficult question.  In No Brief Candle: Reconceiving the Research Library for the 21st Century, common themes include "collaboration between librarians, faculty, and information technology experts to articulate strategies and tactical approaches to a rapidly changing environment."  Essays include: 

• The Research Library in the 21st Century: Collecting, Preserving, and Making Accessible Resources for Scholarship, by Abby Smith
• The Future of the Library in the Research University, by Paul N. Courant
• Co-teaching: The Library and Me, by Stephen G. Nichols
• The Role of the Library in 21st Century Scholarly Publishing, by Kate Wittenberg
• A New Value Equation Challenge: The Emergence of eResearch and Roles for Research Libraries, by Richard E. Luce
• Accelerating Learning and Discovery: Refining the Role of Academic Librarians, by Andrew Dillon
• Groundskeepers, Gatekeepers, and Guides: How to Change Faculty Perceptions of Librarians and Ensure the Future of the Research Library, by Daphnée Rentfrow
• Leveraging Digital Technologies in Service to Culture and Society: The Role of Libraries as Collaborators, by Lee L. Zia

[RJ]

Google Surpasses 70% Search Engine Market Share

As a followup to a recent LLB Post, a new report from Hitwise provides more proof of Google's search dominance.  According to the report "Google reached a new milestone and accounted for 70.77 percent of all U.S. searches. Google’s share of searches increased 10% over the same month last year and 2% over the previous month. Yahoo! Search, MSN Search (including Live.com), and Ask followed with 18.65%, 5.36%, and 3.53% share of searches, respectively."   [RJ]

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy on C-SPAN's America and the Courts

Justice Kennedy recently spoke to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference and his remarks about the Supreme Court, international law & how other nations view America's Constitution are quite interesting. Of particular note, the speech included a  discussion of DC v. Heller and Justice Kennedy's take on the Second Amendment.  [RJ]

EEOC's Annual Report on the Federal Work Force for Fiscal Year (FY) 2007

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), released the Annual Report on the Federal Work Force for Fiscal Year (FY) 2007, covering October 2006 through September 2007. According to the comprehensive report:

• Federal employees and applicants filed 16,363 complaints alleging employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability and reprisal – down from 16,723 complaints in FY 2006 and 18,000 complaints in FY 2005.
• Agencies also reduced the average processing time for conducting investigations from 186 days in FY 2006 to 176 days in FY 2007, the best investigation times reported in the last 14 years.
• Of the 7,673 cases closed on the merits, 2.8% resulted in findings of unlawful discrimination.
• Parties entered into settlements in 3,262 complaints, or 20.6% of the total complaint closures.

[RJ]

DOJ Moving Forward With Antitrust Action Over Google-Yahoo Ad Deal?

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the DOJ has hired Sanford Litvack for a possible antitrust challenge to Google's growing power in online advertising. The Company's pending search-advertising deal with Yahoo, announced in June, would account for more than 80% of U.S. online-search ad market. [JH]

Time to Nominate Librarians for the Carnegie/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award

It's time to nominate librarians for the Carnegie Corporation/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award. Up to ten librarians will be honored. Each will receive $5,000 and be recognized at an awards ceremony hosted by The New York Times at TheTimesCenter in December 2008.

Categories and Deadlines:

• Public librarian nominations must be completed by October 1. 
• Nominations for college, community college, and university librarians must be completed by October 15.
• Nominations open for school library media specialists must be completed by October 15.

If you want to nominate me for the public librarian award, here's how you spell my last name: H-O-D-N-I-C-K-I-L-O-L. Seriously there are many deserving librarians for this prestigious award administered by American Library Association’s Public Information Office and Campaign for America’s Libraries, so please click on the above link to nominate one. [JH]

Are You Represented by One of CREW's 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has identified the 20 most corrupt members of Congress (and four to watch) in its fourth annual "most corrupt" report. This year, CREW has launched a companion website which offers short summaries of "each member’s transgressions as well as the full-length profiles and all accompanying exhibits." The list, displayed below the fold, includes 14 Republicans and 6 Democrats. Twelve are under investigation and one other, Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-NY), is under a self-initiated House ethics committee investigation. [JH]

CREW's 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress

Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL)
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)
Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-CA)
Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL)
Rep. Vito J. Fossella (R-NY)
Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-LA)
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)
Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D-IL)
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Rep. Gary G. Miller (R-CA)
Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-WV)
Rep. Timothy F. Murphy (R-PA)
Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA)
Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM)
Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-NY)
Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ)
Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY)
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK)
Rep. Don Young (R-AK)

Dishonorable Mentions

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN)
Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA)
Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH)

Spicing Up Legal Research Courses with Supplemental Readings

Let's face it, legal research textbooks aren't exciting reads. Shawn G. Nevers (Brigham Young University, J. Reuben Clark Law School) makes an attempt to fix that by identifying 14 supplemental readings for 1L and advanced legal research courses. Check out his Legal Research Readings for Students: A Selective Annotated Bibliography [SSRN] (annotations provide guidance to instructors on when and why the articles might be used).

Hat tip to Legal Research Plus. [JH]

New Congressional Database on Lobbying Contributions

Under a new reporting system required by last year's lobbying and ethics reform law, Lobbyists and the organizations they work for have "disclosed nearly 100,000 contributions and other payments linked to members of Congress and other top officials" according to a new BNA Report.  The 2007 Honest Leadership and Open Government Act requires campaign contributors to file new, semi-annual reports on their FEC-regulated contributions. 

Both the the House and Senate sites allow the researcher to retrieve records by contributor, payee, honoree, contribution type, amount and contribution date.  [RJ]

ABA Approves Bar Exam Courses for Credit Toward Graduation

Last month, the ABA’s House of Delegates concurred in Resolution 112B which deleted Interpretation 302-7 of the Standards for Approval of Law Schools concerning bar examination preparation courses. Prior to this action, prep courses could not count toward law school graduation. Law schools are now free to require the successful completion of a bar course as a condition of graduation. Hat tip to  Mitchell Rubinstein, Adjunct Law Prof Blog.

Here's a "wild and crazy" thought. Why not make bar passage the penultimate condition for law school graduation? [JH]

Do Senate Confirmations of Court of Appeals Nominations Decline in Presidential Election Years?

Yes, according to a recent CRS report, Nomination and Confirmation of Lower Federal Court Judges in Presidential Election Years. The report found that between 1977 and 2007 the Senate has, on average, confirmed fewer court of appeals nominees in presidential election years than in any other year of a presidential term. The report also found that in the three most recent completed presidential election years, the Senate confirmed its last court of appeals nominee in July or earlier, while in the four preceding presidential election years, the Senate confirmed its final court of appeals nominee in October or later. [JH]

Opening: Head of Technical Services, Hamline University Law School Library

The Hamline University School of Law is accepting applications for the Head of Technical Services position.  The successful candidate will perform professional and supervisory work in the planning, implementation and management of the goals and objectives of the Technical Services Department. This position will have an integral role as part of the library’s senior management team. 

The Head of Technical Services is responsible for the library’s electronic resources. The position serves as the Associate Systems Administrator for the library. This position assists with collection development, ensures the orderly and efficient acquisition of library materials, oversees the maintenance of serials, oversees the U.S. Federal Government Depository library program and ensures the efficient and accurate cataloging of the library collection.

Qualifications: This position requires a Master’s Degree in Library Science. This includes basic principles of bibliographic control, information management and library services.  The successful candidate will have knowledge of automated systems (III), familiarity with law related serials, knowledge of library acquisition procedures and electronic resources and familiarity with cataloging and classification rules.  Prior administrative, supervisory and training experience is highly sought.  Other requirements include working with personal computers, word processing and other software. 

To Apply: Interested applicants should send a cover letter and resume to the Human Resources Department of Hamline University, 1536 Hewitt Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55104-1284.

This position is available immediately and is open until filled but for priority consideration of applications please send information before September 15, 2008.

The Few, The Proud, .... The Librarians?

Apparently the Marine's are looking for a few good librarians based on this USAJobs post. The job lists as being a civilian working for the Navy or Marine Corp in Quantico, VA under the supervision of the Head of the Virtual Branch at the Library of Marine Corps. {bb}

SCOTUS May Reconsider Death Penalty Ruling After Blogger Identified DOJ Omission

The WSJ Law Blog is reporting that the Supreme Court may reconsider its decision in the Court's June death penalty case, Kennedy v. Louisiana, because a blog post disclosed that the DOJ failed to mention a relevant federal statute that would have bolstered its argument that executions for such child rape offenses are constitutional.

In Kennedy v. Louisiana, Justice Kennedy, writing for the 5-4 majority, struck down a Louisiana statute authorizing a death sentence for the rape of a child because it violated the Eighth Amendment's cruel and unusual punishment prohibition. Kennedy relied on briefs filed by Justice Department which failed to inform the Court of a 2006 amendment to the Uniform Code of Military Justice that authorized death for certain sexual assaults on children under age 16. The omission was identified by law blogger Dwight Sullivan. See his The Supremes Dis the Military Justice System.

The Court rarely reconsiders its own prior decisions and, if it does in this instance, it will be the first time it does so because of a blog post. [JH]