End of the Term

As we reach the end of the Supreme Court's term, you may be inspired to catch up on what happened (in yesterday's Affordable Care Act decision), is happening as I type (the last decision of the term on same sex marriage will be announced any minute) and what will happen next term.

Check out SCOTUSblog for live blogging as the decision is coming down as well as links to the opinion, briefs and commentary.

Another good site is the ABA Preview .

Finally, an old favorite, with recordings of oral arguments from seminal cases (think Roe v. Wade) going back decades - Oyez .

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

United States Supreme Court 2014 Review

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2014 faced several key issues and published some interesting decisions.  The ABA Journal recently published an article entitled "The 5 most important stories about the Supreme Court in 2014" by Erwin Chemerinsky.  The article explores the most important stories of 2014 with an emphasis on the law and society as well as what to look forward to from the Supreme Court in 2015.  Click here for the entire article.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Pronouncing Dictionary for Cases

As a law student, you may have noticed that there are many important U.S. Supreme Court cases that are  difficult to pronounce correctly. For several hundred key cases, the problem of confidently pronouncing them (in conversations with faculty, colleagues, future employers, and in court) has been solved.  The Pronouncing Dictionary of the Supreme Court of the United States, hosted by the Yale Law Library's website, is the product of a collaborative effort by Eugene Fidell, a Yale Law visiting lecturer, the Law Library, linguistics experts, and a diligent group of Yale law students. For each of the cases, which were determined to be the most susceptible of mispronunciation, the Pronouncing Dictionary provides phonetic spellings and an audio pronunciation.  You can learn more about the Pronouncing Dictionary here. 

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

No Lawyer, No Problem: Supreme Court Grants Pro Se Petitions

It may be unusual, even unheard of, for the Supreme Court to grant two pro se petitions in one day, but two of the six petitions granted certiorari by the Supreme Court last Tuesday were submitted by petitioners without lawyers.  Millbrook v. United States came from a Pennsylvania federal prison inmate who wrote in pencil on the form available from the Supreme Court website and has no email or phone privileges. Levin v. United States was filed by a man in Guam who listed no phone number as well as no attorney.  Apparently, the Court was convinced that their claims raised important issues that needed deciding and deserved a place on the docket--issues such as when sovereign immunity does and doesn't apply to tortious acts of federal prison guards and military doctors. An Associated Press report uncovered interesting background on the petitioners and their claims.  JURIST has additional coverage of the issues with links to the statutes involved and the lower court opinions.      

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

SCOTUS: Health Care Reform Oral Arguments

The time is finally here. On three days next week, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the long-awaited oral arguments on the challenges to the Affordable Care Act, the health care reform legislation that became law in 2010.  On Monday, March 26, the Court will hear attorneys argue the issue of the Anti-Injunction Act: Does anyone have the right to challenge the law in court before it goes into effect?  On Tuesday, arguments on the Commerce Clause and the individual mandate take place.  On Wednesday morning, the issue will be severability.  On Wednesday afternoon, oral arguments on the Spending Clause and the Medicaid expansion are scheduled.

Of course, seating in the court will be limited, and people were already lining up outside the building Friday morning for Monday's argument, which begins promptly at 10:00 a.m.  No cameras have been allowed into the proceeding, but the Court will make the audio recordings available from links on the Supreme Court web site as soon as possible within a few hours of each argument.  As stated in this official Court announcement, there will be a link to the first recording available no later than 2:00 p.m. Monday afternoon.  If you prefer, you can also listen to the arguments on C-Span3, C-Span Radio, or C-Span.org as soon as they are released.

For clear, basic information about the issues and attorneys, check out this special page with short videos at the Oyez Project.  More information and analysis is available at SCOTUSblog.



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Congress Debates Cameras in the Court

An earlier post this week focused on the pros and cons of whether U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments should be televised. Now Congress has gotten into the act, although it is unclear if Congress has the authority to require the Court to permit televised proceedings. The Senate introduced a bill on Monday that would permit televised coverage of all open proceedings, unless the Court determined that this would violate the "due process" rights of at least one party to the case. Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing to debate the issue and the validity of such a bill. JURIST has a good brief summary of the bill and the hearing.
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Cameras in the Supreme Court

The New York Times recently published an article on cameras in the Supreme Court. Currently, cameras are not allowed in the Supreme Court. However, C-Span has made a recent request to televise five and a half hours of oral arguments scheduled by the Court to hear the constitutional challenge to President Obama's health care law. The article presents the arguments for and against cameras in the Court as well as thoughts of some of the Supreme Court justices. Read the full article here.
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Another Free Speech Case for Supreme Court

This week the U.S. Supreme Court added to its already interesting docket for this term by taking up the federal government's appeal of a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling which struck down the Stolen Valor Act of 2005. This law makes it a federal crime to falsely claim, verbally or in writing, that you have received a military medal or decoration, with a one year prison term possible if the claim involves a major award such as the Purple Heart. The case of United States v. Alvarez involves an elected official of a California water district who falsely claimed to be a marine Medal of Honor recipient and pled guilty, but reserved the right to appeal on First Amendment grounds. The Supreme Court will now decide whether criminally proscribing this type of "false speech" makes the law "facially invalid" under the Free Speech Clause. You can read the court documents and follow commentary on this case at Scotusblog.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Making of Modern Law: U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978

The Making of Modern Law: U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs 1832-1978 offers a comprehensive collection of records and briefs for over 150,000 cases brought before the U.S. Supreme Court. The database is designed to serve as a primary source tool on aspects of American history as well as the U.S. judicial system. Documents include applications for review, motions, oral transcripts, briefs, petitions, supplements and more.

To access Making of Modern Law: U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs:

• Go to the Library's home page, click "Online Resources"
• Click the "History/Legal History" link
• Scroll down to "Making of Modern Law-USSC Records & Briefs "

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

New SCOTUSblog Launched

SCOTUSblog, a respected independent source for online coverage of the Supreme Court since 2002, introduced this week its new, expanded version that will take advantage of an exclusive sponsorship by Bloomberg Law. Tom Goldstein, the attorney founder of SCOTUSblog, will remain as publisher with editorial control of the content, which will remain free to all. Coverage of individual cases and analysis will continue, along with new features. Stephen Wermiel, a former Wall Street Journal Supreme Court reporter, has posted his first bimonthly column on the Court targeted at law students. In their joint press release, Goldstein and Bloomberg Law discussed plans to collaborate on other new features designed to help law students learn about the Court. Beyond the expert coverage, SCOTUSblog will be rolling out a new "community" section soon that will offer moderated discussion and debate of a specific Court-related topic each business day. Take a look at the new SCOTUSblog.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Supreme Court 2010-2011 Term Highlights

The Cornell Legal Information Institute recently published a collection of facts and arguments from selected cases in the 2010-2011 term. The selected cases cover significant doctrinal and public policy perspectives from the Court. Some of the issues covered are the First Amendment, state sovereignty, bankruptcy, patent law, credit regulation, labor law and more. Read the full term highlights here.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

End of term

It is Supreme Court decision season. Two of my favorite places to keep up to date and to read about the significance of new Supreme Court decisions:

SCOTUSblog

Free and also provides the decisions explained in "Plain English" and interesting analytical statistics regarding the Supreme Court decisions (scroll to bottom)

BNA Supreme Court Today (click on Supreme Court Today link on left)

Gives a short summary of the decision. To access from home, you will need to log in with your Hofstra 700 number.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Stealth Overruling and Shepardizing

An article in the May ABA Journal explains how the Supreme Court has recently taken to hollowing out precedents it wishes to overrule, rather than explicitly overruling them. This can create problems for attorneys doing legal research, because these drastically-changed, hollowed out opinions do not say "overruled" when you try to validate them in KeyCite and Shepard's. This is just one reason why, when you intend to use any case that has been treated negatively (i.e. cases that have yellow, orange, and red KeyCite and Shepard's symbols), you need to do a brief review of that negative treatment and its effect.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Visual History of the Supreme Court

Timeplots.com has created a beautiful poster/webpage which diagrams the history of the U.S. Supreme Court, including all of its justices, who appointed them, when they served, and landmark decisions. It is viewable here. A snapshot of part of it is below.

This is part of a three-part project which also includes wonderful diagrams of the histories of the U.S. Senate and the Presidency.





Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Week in Review

It has been a great week-long nap.

Now that I have stretched, I see I have missed a few big events. First, Elena Kagan has been confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court and will be the fourth women to serve on the nation's highest bench. Get details and follow developments on SCOTUS Blog under Kagan Resources .

Of course the other big event I slept through this week is the California District Court decision on same sex marriage. You can read and download the opinion here .

Finally, closer to home, check the Reference Librarians' Hours calendar for next week's hours. We will be extending hours as Orientation for new students approaches.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

End of term

Follow the wrap of the Supreme Court's 09-10 term on SCOTUSBLOG . You can also keep up-to-date with any developments on Elena Kagan's confirmation. Check out the sister site - SCOTUS WIKI for stats on the Supreme Court. These stats rival those kept by baseball.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Elena Kagan's Documents

Senate confirmation hearings for former Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan, U.S. Supreme Court nominee, are scheduled to begin June 28. While the media has featured and critiqued a small number of the documents released this month from Kagan's time working in the Clinton administration and as law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the best way to discover and assess the nominee as attorney and thinker is to read some of her writings for yourself.

A clear explanation of the Kagan documents released so far from her Clinton years--with links to pages of topical documents in full text--is at the National Archives web site. In addition, CBS News has posted five of Kagan's law clerk memos, culled from the Thurgood Marshall papers at the Library of Congress. For her background and qualifications, check out Kagan's Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire here.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Yale Exhibits Supreme Court Bobbleheads

Yes, there is a collection of Supreme Court justice bobbleheads, and they were recently given to the Yale Law Library for permanent safekeeping. They will be archived in the Library's Rare Book Collection, where an exhibit featuring some of them recently went on public display.

The bobbleheads are a project of The Green Bag, "An Entertaining Journal of Law," which has been making the dolls since 2003. The journal has created about one bobblehead per year, beginning with Chief Justice Rhenquist, mostly in order of seniority. Not simply dolls, the bobbleheads portray the work and character of each justice through clothing and accessories representing their most famous and representative cases.

For an entertaining read, check out the article on Yale's new acquisitions by New York Times reporter Adam Liptak. The Yale Law Library Rare Books Blog provides a wonderful sample of an "annotated bobblehead" here.



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Fantasy SCOTUS

For both those who don't follow sports but wish they had fantasy teams to brag about and those who are addicted to owning fantasy sports teams, a federal district court clerk brings us Fantasy SCOTUS. In Fantasy SCOTUS, players try to predict the outcomes of pending U.S. Supreme Court cases, the splits (5-4, 7-2, etc.), and the justices in the majority and minority in each case.

(hat tip to the Con. Law Prof Blog)

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Supreme Stats

For those interested in analyzing the decisions and justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, there are two great web sites for you. SCOTUS BLOG has a companion site, SCOTUS WIKI which provides Supreme Court statistics, such as Justice agreement, opinion tally and a circuit scorecard by term going back to 1995.

Another site, the Supreme Court database, provides downloadable data sets for you to manipulate and analyze in your favorite statistics software. Currently the data on this site goes back to 1953. According to the National Law Journal, they have just received funding to expand their data back to the first Supreme Court recorded decision in 1792.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat