New Survey of State Taxes

April 15 is fast approaching, but while the Internal Revenue Service awaits our tax returns, the U.S. Census Bureau released this week a gem of statistical data for anyone interested in state taxation or budget issues. The 2012 Annual Survey of State Government Tax Collections has a wealth of information on many types of state taxes and license fees imposed by the 50 states, including income, property, sales, and excise taxes. It breaks down the nearly $800 billion collected in FY2012, a record high total, by state and detailed tax categories. The Census Bureau web site is home to the official announcement of the Survey's release, a brief Summary Report, pages of detailed data for every state, and a ranking of the states by their total tax collections, as well as related surveys.  If you need reliable current data on state tax categories and revenues for research or personal interest, begin with the Census Bureau's Annual Survey.   

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Entertaining law

So for those of you who follow celebrities, now is a great time to be into the law.  For questions about what constitutes a contract and when is a law suit frivolous, read about the latest celebrity spat between Donald Trump and Bill Maher.   (Trump has withdrawn his suit against Mayer . . . for now.)

And if you really are a celebrity-in-the-law junkie, check out Flavorwire for an interesting retrospective on celebrities suing celebrities.  Who knew Cary Grant sued Chevy Chase?

Hat tip to Legal Blog Watch

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

D.C. Code Available Online

In an effort to make the District of Columbia statutory code freely available, the D C Council posted a digital version of the D.C. Code.  Click here for the unofficial copy.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Shielding Your Smartphone

It is easy to loose track of your phone, especially now when gadgets have become a constant part of our daily life.  Your phone is essentially a mini-computer containing all kinds of personal information, pictures, family information and other things we don't want to be accessed by strangers and it can be disastrous to us when our phone is lost or stolen. 

Trying to recreate and close out our apps and stored information is too high a price to pay and might be avoided with a few protections, such as activating a "lock screen" passcode and installing a phone tracking app.

The New York Times has a page full of helpful hints for keeping your Android and iPhone safe.  As the article notes, "[for Android phones] The Lookout app can even secretly snap a photo of a thief’s face with the front-facing camera and send an e-mail to you with the picture and the location where it was taken."  How's that for a great feature! 

Read How to Shield Yourself from Smartphone Snoops here.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

LLT Lab Informational Open House Today and Tomorrow

The Law, Logic and Technology (LLT) Lab is dedicated to inventing and making available tools that make legal practice and legal education more effective and more efficient.

The LLT Lab is engaged in empirical research and students learn by doing.

The Lab is holding an informational open house today (April 8) and tomorrow (April 9) from 10 AM to 4 PM in room 113 (Law School).

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

Taxing matters

Yes, for those procrastinators in the audience, it is that time of year - time to file your taxes.

If you still need forms, they are easily found online - at IRS.gov for federal taxes and NY Dept of Taxation for New York.   You can get other states' tax forms online as well.

 If you meet certain criteria, you can file online at IRS.gov for free.  You may even be eligible to use free tax filing software if your income is below $57,000 .

And, believe it or not, there are some who see taxes as a good thing.  Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famously said  "Taxes are what we pay for civilized society" (275 U.S. 87,100) (an alternate phrasing can be found above the IRS building entrance).  For a brief history of the perception of paying taxes, see the N.Y. Times Op Ed "When We  Loved Form 1040" by a Duke law professor.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

LLRX: Statistics Resources and Big Data on the Internet 2013

Marcus P. Zillman's Statistics Resources and Big Data on the Internet 2013 is an  updated "best practices bibliography of sites and reliable sources focused on the hot topic of statistics and big data. These sources are representative of multiple publishers, national and global - government, academia, NGOs, and industry, many of which leverage open source and collaborative applications."

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

17 Ways to Be Happier at Work

17 Ways to Be Happier at Work - Sales Source column written by Geoffrery James at Inc.com - is based on "rules for a happier life" that he applies to the workplace.  These "rules" apply just as well to law school life since being a law student is a full time job.

Really like Rule #1:  Don't Compare Yourself to Others
This can be hard in such a competitive and rank conscious environment.   As is pointed out we all have different life paths and it is a waste of time to draw comparisons.

It is likely that you have encountered these "Rules" or similar tips; however, a reminder every now and then is not amiss.

Hat Tip to 3 Geeks and a Law Blog.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

SCOTUS Hears Arguments About Prop 8 & DOMA

This week, the Supreme Court heard two landmark cases which may be pivotal to the future of marriage in the United States.  On Tuesday, the Supreme Court took up, Proposition 8, California's same-sex marriage ban.  The California case, Hollingsworth v. Perry, was the first of two arguments. Today, the justices heard arguments on a challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law that defines marriage as between a man and a woman for the purposes of federal law, in Windsor v. U.S.

Listen to the audio of these arguments or read the transcripts.

 The audio recording and unofficial version of the transcript of the oral arguments in the Defense of Marriage Act case (United States v. Windsor) are available here.

The audio recording and unofficial version of the transcript of the oral arguments in the Proposition 8 case (Hollingsworth v. Perry) are available here. 

Click here to read orders, case filings, and other information pertaining to the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8 cases.  Click on each item to access further information.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat