Welcome to the Supreme Court of the United State's Blog, or, SCOTUS Blog.
The blog features commentary on current issues that the Supreme Court faces. Written by the below pictured authors, the blog features an archive and search feature.
Yale Law School’s Nicholas deB. Katzenbach Professor of Law, Reva Siegel, will present the 2009 Quinlan Lecture in OCU LAW’s Homsey Family Moot Courtroom at 5 p.m. Thursday, October 29. Professor Siegel’s lecture is titled "Race Talk and Ricci: The Court and the Confirmation Process.“
To view Reva Siegel's publications, please visit the Quinlan Lecture Display outside the Law Library Reference Offices.
Cases involving criminal charges against juveniles have been around for a long time. Last weeks edition of Newsweek Magazine contained an article penned by a former juvenile offender. Please take a look at it here.
The author, Raphael Johnson, points to two current cases coming before the supreme court that deal with the contentious issue of convicting children to life terms in prison.
Thanks to the 196 law students who participated in the library's recent student survey. We are pouring over the results and are learning a lot about how students view the collection and services. We will use the information to improve what we offer students. Some improvements will happen quickly, others will take some planning before we implement them. But we appreciate the strong response from the student body to the survey.
As promised all those who completed the survey will have any fines they owed for overdue materials waived as of the date they took the survey. We are in the process of doing this now. If you owed any fines and took the survey watch for an email soon confirming the waiver of your fines. We also gave away an iPhone to one lucky winner who completed the survey, Keegan Harroz. Her name was chosen at random from the list of all those who completed the survey.
On the site you'll find links to projects sponsored by entities like the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, and the National Archives.
You'll also find links to the amazing images used to create the site as well as illustrate the history of Hispanic culture in the United States.
If you find yourself more interested in an audio/visual explorations, we suggest you take a look at the audio/video page of the Hispanic Heritage site.
National Hispanic Heritage month runs from September 15th through October 15th. The Law Library has set up a display that celebrates this rich tradition.
Earlier this week, OCU welcomed author John Grisham to speak on campus to help solicit donations for the future Innocence Project to be housed at the Oklahoma City University Law School.
For more information on the project, one can browse their site.
The site features an interesting blog that features convictions that have been over turned and other related news items.
If you're interested in keeping up with Mr. Grisham's publications, you can check out his official website.
This survey will ask your opinion of the Law Library facility, services, and collection. The survey should only take 5 minutes to complete. We value your input. As a thank you for completing this survey we will:
1. Waive any fines that you owe for books you have already returned to the Law Library as of the date you take the survey. Lost items are not eligible for this waiver. 2. Enter you in a drawing to win an Apple iPhone (pre-owned 1st generation)
At the end of this survey you will be asked for your contact information so we can waive your fines and enter you into the prize drawing. Only one entry per student is allowed. Please give us your honest opinion. If you have any trouble completing the survey please contact Lee Peoples (lpeoples@okcu.edu) The survey will be available from October 2 to 16, 2009. Click here to take this short survey: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB229Q3SMYB4B
Wired GC also has several postings about technology and the practice of law. Posts include online advertising and virtual law partners. Read about those topics here.
Bestselling author John Grisham will appear at a special event on OCU’s campus on October 13 to help raise funds for a program at OCU LAW to address erroneous convictions.
Additional information concerning the event is available here. Visit a display of Grisham publications and information on the Innocence Project outside the Reference Office in the Library.
Find this and other issues and episodes of the Diane Rehm Show here.
Diane's guests include:
Jeffrey Rosen, professor of law at the George Washington University and legal affairs editor of "The New Republic." He's the author of "The Supreme Court," "The Most Democratic Branch," "The Naked Crowd," and "The Unwanted Gaze."
David Savage, reporter, "Los Angeles Times." Barry Friedman, professor, New York University School of Law; author, "The Will of the People: How Public Opinion Has Influenced the Supreme Court and Shaped the Meaning of the Constitution."
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the country is experiencing a resurgence of radical militias for the first time since the beginning of their decline in the 1990s.
"A key difference this time is that the federal government — the entity that almost the entire radical right views as its primary enemy — is headed by a black man. That, coupled with high levels of non-white immigration and a decline in the percentage of whites overall in America, has helped to racialize the Patriot movement, which in the past was not primarily motivated by race hate. One result has been a remarkable rash of domestic terror incidents since the presidential campaign, most of them related to anger over the election of Barack Obama. At the same time, ostensibly mainstream politicians and media pundits have helped to spread Patriot and related propaganda, from conspiracy theories about a secret network of U.S. concentration camps to wholly unsubstantiated claims about the president's country of birth."
This resurgence is bringing back thoughts and images from the Oklahoma City Bombing, perpetrated by Timothy McVeigh, a sympathizer to the militia movement.
In fact, the Southern Poverty Law Center puts the number of militant plots against the government since the bombing in Oklahoma City at 75. Read more about each plot here.
Currently, the government is looking into a YouTube video posted by suspected militia members threating the government with reprisal by war.
Nancy Cowden, OCU Law Library's Asst. Director for Technical Services, was recognized as OCU Employee of the Month at a reception on October 7, 2009. The nominations for this award all noted that she has worked as a part of the Law Library team and OCU Community to accomplish whatever task needs to be done for over 25 years.
The dog fighting scandal that has surrounded Michael Vick of late has brought the specter of animal cruelty regulation into the forefront of many prosecutors and law enforcement officers in the country.
The Humane Society of the United States has put together a resource for those faced with prosecuting the crime of Animal Cruelty.
Guides and Manuals for Investigating and Prosecuting Animal Cruelty
Other Legal Resources
Recent Victories in Court
The Michigan State University College of Law also has a website dedicated to legals resources and historical information dedicated to animals and animal cruelty.
A lot has been written about online rating systems like Angie's List- and now, with Avvo.com, an online rating system has come to the world of law.
Avvo.com states that "At Avvo, our mission is to help people navigate the complex and confusing legal industry. Choosing a lawyer is an incredibly important decision—yet most people have no idea how to go about doing it, and resources to guide them are scarce."
The tool is mostly for the layman, but the site offers professional lawyers the opportunity to network and answer questions that the public post to the site. While the site has not reached all states (Oklahoma, for instance, is not included), each person represented as a lawyer on the site must be registered with the Bar in their state. Only confirmed lawyers can post answers to legal questions.
Current law students should be aware of this site as they move into their professional roles. In today's digital age a reputation can be made or broken on the open web. But professionals can use the site to build their online reputation, which is of increasing importance. For a deeper look at Avvo, please look here.
