Student Loan Repayment & Forgiveness: New Report

Before a new semester or new job absorbs your attention, this might be a good time to browse through "Federal Student Loan Forgiveness and Loan Repayment Programs," a new Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report published last week. Up-to-date, clear and authoritative, this report provides an overview of the various federal student loan repayment and forgiveness programs currently available, including specific eligibility requirements and features of financial and employment based programs. Check it out.  

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

CRS Reports on HeinOnline

Congressional Research Service reports (CRS) are now available on HeinOnline.  CRS is a division of the Library of Congress that conducts research and analyses on a wide range of topics such as national policy, taxation, bankruptcy and more.  HeinOnline has acquired over 880 reports, you can see the full title list here.  The reports are available both in the Taxation & Economic Reform in America Parts I & II and History of Bankruptcy: Taxation & Economic Reform in America Part III libraries.  To learn more the CRS reports click here.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Cybersecurity Resources

With the FBI investigation of the Boston bombing suspects' social media presence and the passage of an amended version of H.R. 624, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) by the U.S. House of Representatives in the news this week, cybersecurity promises to be an increasingly important topic for legal research. Many of the key legal issues related to cybersecurity--from corporate liability and freedom of information to consumer privacy and civil liberties--are summarized in a new Congressional Research Service (CRS) report also published this week. Cybersecurity: Selected Legal Issues provides a brief (28-page) up-to-date nonpartisan overview of the subject, and is an excellent starting point for background and primary source citations.  Complementing this publication is another newly issued CRS report: Cybersecurity: Authoritative Reports and Resources.  This is a goldmine of information, listing legislative documents, executive orders, topical reports, and news and association websites with current, authoritative information on cybersecurity and public policy.  If you have an interest in this subject, don't overlook these newly published resources.   

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Presidential Recess Appointments

Last January, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued an opinion holding that the Senate had not in fact "recessed" in January 2012 when President Obama appointed three new members of the National Relations Board, the validity of these and other similarly made appointments during a Congressional session were cast into serious doubt.  Recess appointments and the limits on a president's power to make them quickly became a legal "hot topic."  The NLRB has announced its intention to seek Supreme Court review.

This week, a Congressional Research Service report discussing recess appointments and what impact the Court of Appeals decision, if upheld, will have on recent and future presidential appointments, became available here.  Like all CRS reports, this is an excellent resource for reliable, objective analysis of a debated issue, written by nonpartisan staff in the Congressional Research Service within the Library of Congress.  To find CRS reports on a wide variety of policy-related topics for research papers or legislative histories, try the links listed in this helpful guide from the University of Washington's Gallagher Law Library.

Acknowledgment to The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.  

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Open CRS

A project of the Center for Democracy & Technology, Open CRS collects reports created by the Congressional Research Service and makes them available in PDF format. The web site employs an easy to use search box and full-text search capabilities. The collection is updated frequently as members of the public are encouraged to acquire CRS reports and add them to the collection.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat