U.S. Supreme Court Ethics Bill?

Two Democratic lawmakers have announced legislation that would significantly alter the ways in which U.S. Supreme Court justices handle ethical questions.

According to a recent news article, “[T]he legislation would require the Judicial Conference to set up a process for taking in ethics complaints about the justices, and for investigating those complaints. It would require justices to explain their decisions to recuse or not recuse from a case, and if a justice has turned down a motion to disqualify, it would allow the rest of the Court to disqualify the justice”.

Read more here.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Research Resources: Family Law Reporter

Are you looking for a family law resource? Try Family Law Reporter (BNA). The Family Law Reporter is a weekly publication containing new federal and state cases, legislation, trends, and issues in the area of family law.

To access Family Law Reporter (BNA):

* Go to the Library's home page, click "Online Resources"
* Click the "Family Law" link
* Click on "Family Law Reporter (BNA)"

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

"Free" Federal Court Documents

We have posted about free access to federal court documents before here and here.

This is just a note on how to get federal court documents for "free."

Justia's free federal dockets site republishes many of the federal court dockets that are available from PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) for 8 cents per page. Some of the individual court documents from those dockets are also available for free on Justia.

And even though PACER charges 8 cents per page to access court documents, if your bill is lower than $10 for the quarter, you will not be charged.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Full Text Reports

Full text reports is a site that offers the full text documents published by government, academic, research institutes and more. Not the easiest site to search but it does have subject categories and tabs for type of publisher and by government.

This is a good place to search for current, scholarly and authoritative documents.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Information for Submitting Articles to Law Reviews & Journals

The Information for Submitting Articles to Law Reviews & Journals is a helpful guide that contains information about submitting articles to law reviews and journals. It is available on SSRN and is written by Allen Rostron and Nancy Levit. The recently updated guide outlines methods for submitting articles for 202 law reviews. It also provides any special formatting requirements of the law review/journal, as well as the process on how to request an expedited review or to withdraw an article from consideration. Access the guide here(first time SSRN users must sign up for an account).
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Death Penalty Information Center

It has been more than three years since my last post about the Death Penalty Information Center, so it's time for an update. This nonprofit site remains a valuable resource for law students and faculty, with statistics, reports, state-by-state information, and the latest news on death penalty legislation, sentencing, and other issues. This is a great place to begin a research paper or just to keep up to date on developments related to the death penalty in the U.S. legal system.

The latest news from the Center is their free mobile app for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. As described here on the Sentencing Law and Policy blog, this application provides mobile access to the key resources available on the web site.



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Tracking Congress

Wonder what Congress is doing (or not doing) about Food Safety, on the health reform law or two of my interests, cybersecurity and claiming pets as dependents for tax deductions? Govtrack.us is your answer.

On Govtrack.us, you can set up email alerts or RSS feeds to track particular bills in congress, subject areas, members of Congress or general trackers for the activity of the whole Congress. Use the Trackers link to set these up.

By the way, the bill to deduct pet care expenses died in Congress last year, but I have set up my tracker for Animal protection and human-animal relationships . Know any good lobbyists?

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

New Litigation Skill: Facebook Stalking

Recent articles detail how attorneys now routinely search for information about potential jurors on the internet. These articles are summarized well by a Forbes blog post. The gist is that, if you have lax privacy settings on Facebook and you are called for jury duty, expect jury consultants or paralegals to analyze your Facebook page (at least if there are enough resources devoted to the litigation to pay for someone to do that sort of work).

This should not be too surprising. Law firms have hired jury consultants to do similar work for years, and everyone in the legal industry should already be aware of their Facebook privacy settings. But one wonders if this news will cause people to remove their Facebook privacy settings and post outrageous statements online, in hopes of getting out of jury duty.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Research Resources: Kluwer Arbitration

Are you looking for an online resource for international arbitration research? Try Kluwer Arbitration. Kluwer Arbitration contains a commentary from expert authors and an extensive collection of primary source materials. With Kluwer Arbitration, you can:

• Browse for specific documents.
• Use the search function to quickly find the documents you need.
• Print and/or email selected documents.

To access Kluwer Arbitration:

* Go to the Library's home page, click "Online Resources"
* Click the "Alternative Dispute Resolution/Mediation" link
* Click on "Kluwer Arbitration"
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

New Changes to the New York State Cell Phone Laws

On February 16, 2011, a new law became effective that imposes two points and a fine of $100 on drivers that use their cell phones or other hand held devices while driving. The relevant changes can be found under the New York Vehicle and Traffic Law §§ 1225-c and 1225-d. Read more about the new law here.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat