C-SPAN, the non-profit cable network whose mission is to provide public access to the political process, offers an extraordinarily rich source of video content via its Supreme Court Week web site. (You can also access the site through the Mendik Library’s online catalog.) The site includes the C-SPAN documentary The Supreme Court: Home to America’s Highest Court, video interviews with all living current and former Supreme Court Justices, and many other Supreme Court-related videos. Expect to see more C-SPAN video there once the Senate confirmation hearings for nominee Elena Kagan get underway.
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Summer Extension of LexisNexis and Westlaw Passwords
Student access to LexisNexis and Westlaw are based on academic subscription plans maintained by New York Law School.Beginning June 1st, passwords will either be deactivated or limited in use. LexisNexis and Westlaw have special summer access provisions. Register now to ensure that these research databases are there when you need them.
For more information, please visit: http://www.nyls.edu/library/for_students/extend_passwords
What are Blogs Anyway?
Blogs are frequently updated web pages that collect links to news, articles, or other types of material and often provide personal commentary on a particular subject. Law oriented blogs (sometimes called ‘blawgs’) have exploded in the past decade and like other types of blogs, they run the gamut in both focus and quality. When they are good, they can be a great way to keep up with legal news, novel legal theories, new technology, emerging case law, proposed statutes or regulations, and other trends that affect anyone involved in the law. You can subscribe to blogs and have them delivered directly to you via an RSS feed. The library web page (Current Awareness Sources >> Law Blogs) has a hyperlinked guide to finding blogs focused on law school, law teaching, and the practice of law, as well as a collection of links to selected law blogs.
Today in Legal History: Brown v. Board of Education
May 17 marks the anniversary of the unanimous 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Prior to Brown, many parts of the United States permitted segregation in public education based on the principle of ‘separate but equal,’ a doctrine based on the longstanding decision in Plessy v. Ferguson. Brown brought together cases from four different states challenging the validity of that doctrine.
The court considered whether segregation was consistent with the framers’ intent in the Fourteenth Amendment but found little support there for overruling Plessy. In order to forge a unanimous opinion, the justices rested their decision on the critical role education plays in determining personal opportunity and development, finding that racial segregation generated irreversible feelings of inferiority in black children. The court concluded that segregated schools were inherently unequal and abandoned the premise that ‘separate but equal’ did not cause harm or stigmatization.
Further resources:
Landmark Supreme Court Cases: A Reference Guide, Donald E. Lively (Greenwood Press, 1999).
Brown v. Board of Education: Caste, Culture and the Constitution, Robert J. Cottrol (University Press of Kansas, 2003).
Education Law Stories, Michael A. Olivas (Foundation Press, 2007).
Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States, David S. Tanenhaus (Macmillan Reference USA, 2008).
Problem connecting to LexisNexis Lawschool site
We are aware that there has been a
problem with LexisNexis timing out, or connecting very slowly (often up to 3
minutes) after a user tries to log in from the LexisNexis Law School site (www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool).
While this problem is being worked on, please log into Lexis at http://www.lexis.com.
More on Elena Kagan
The Law Library of Congress joins the University of Michigan Law Library in offering its own comprehensive web page detailing the background of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. The page contains links or cites to Kagan’s articles and books, transcripts of her oral arguments in the Supreme Court, the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Kagan’s nomination to be United States Solicitor General, and a variety of web resources and videos. The University of Michigan page is available here.
Elena Kagan Web Page
The University of Michigan’s Law Library has created an informational web page for the latest nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, Solicitor General Elena Kagan. The web page includes biographical information about Elena Kagan, links to her authored works, transcripts of speeches and links to confirmation hearings for Ms. Kagan’s nomination as Solicitor General. The site will be updated as new information becomes available and will include links to the hearing transcripts once the confirmation hearings begin.
We hope this web page will enable you to follow Solicitor General Kagan’s progress through the nomination process!
Celebrate Law Day
May 1 marks Law Day, a celebration of the rule of law and its contributions to Americans’ many freedoms. Celebrated this year on May 3, Law Day was first established by President Eisenhower in February, 1958. Congress later passed a joint resolution (now codified at 36 U.S.C. § 113) designating May 1 as Law Day and requesting the sitting president to issue a proclamation each year. Presidents have done so in each succeeding year.
The theme of Law Day 2010 is “Law in the 21st Century: Enduring Traditions, Emerging Challenges.” The American Bar Association held a public program on that topic on April 27, and offers an online map of Law Day programs across all fifty states. The New York City Bar Association will observe the day with free legal information fairs in Queens and Brooklyn on May 3 and 4. Click here for the New York State Bar Association programs.
Weekend OIT Help
OIT staff will be available to assist students with technology-related problems during the pre-exam weekends of May 1-2 and May 8-9, from noon until 6:00 p.m. each day. They will be located in the IT Help Desk office (Library Room L100.1).
Exam Prep Help!
Three important Library resources to keep in mind as you prepare for upcoming exams.
First: The Library’s Exam Preparation Resources web page offers a host of materials containing practical advice and strategies designed to help you navigate the exam process.
Second: The Library maintains an archive of previous years’ exams for most courses. You can access these exams by course or professor name. From the Library’s home page, click Find Sample Exams under How Do I . . . ?
Third: CALI offers a variety of lessons and podcasts with helpful tips and advice from faculty on preparing for and taking exams. To access these materials, log in to CALI; under CALI Topics, click Legal Concepts and Skills and scroll down to one or more of these lessons:
Exam Taking Skills, Outlines, and Advice for Law Students (Panel 1 PodCast)
Exam Taking Skills, Outlines, and Advice for Law Students (Panel 2 PodCast)
Exam Taking Skills, Outlines, and Advice for Law Students (Panel 3 PodCast)
Tips for Multiple Choice Exams in Law School (Podcast)
Top 10 Tips for Successfully Writing a Law School Essay
Writing Better Law School Exams: The Importance of Structure
Best of luck to everyone!