This Day in the Law: Roe v. Wade

Forty-two years ago, on January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its split decision in Roe v. Wade, which liberalized abortion rights.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Online Research Resources: BNA Collective Bargaining Negotiations & Contracts

If you are looking for a source that reviews information about negotiating and administering contracts, in addition to providing sample contract clauses relating to collective bargaining, try Collective Bargaining Negotiations & Contracts (BNA).  The manual contains chapters on pay plans, employee benefits, working conditions and provides sample clauses on economic weapons of labor, wages/hours and more.

To access the Collective Bargaining Negotiations & Contracts manual:

• Go to the Library's home page, click "Online Resources"
• Click the "Labor and Employment Law" link
• Scroll down to "Collective Bargaining Negotiations & Contracts (BNA)"

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Supreme Court Rules on Religious Rights of Prisoners

In a unanimous decision today, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the refusal of the Arkansas Department of Corrections to allow Muslim inmate Gregory Holt to grow and keep a short beard for religious reasons violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA), specifically 42 U.S.C 2000cc-1, despite the Department's claim that the restriction was necessary for security reasons such as keeping contraband out of its prisons. The full opinion in Holt v. Hobbs, including the concurrences of Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor, is available here.

For a clear understanding of this interesting case and its implications, a good starting point is Amy Howe's SCOTUSblog post, "A Unanimous Court Endorses Religious Liberties in Prison: In Plain English." And for those interested in keeping up with cases involving religion and the Constitution and related church-state and religious liberty issues, I also recommend Religion Clause, one of only 30 legal blogs comprising ABA Journal's 2014 Blawg 100 Hall of Fame.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Interactive Tutorials on Lexis Advance

Are you looking to enhance your research skills on Lexis Advance?  Try Lexis Advance's new comprehensive and interactive tutorials. Tutorial subjects include secondary sources, case law, legislative history and more.  The tutorials include short quizzes to refresh learned material. To access the tutorials click on the student home page under Online Learning in Lexis Advance.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat