ZiefBrief

Access Restrictions and Summer Construction at USF Law Library

There will be construction at the USF Law Library this summer.  Because the scope of the construction will temporarily limit the number of seats in the library, we regret that we will be closed to students from other law schools throughout the summer in order to accommodate the needs of USF law students and recent graduates.  We will evaluate our policy on access to students from other law schools at the beginning of the Fall 2012 semester and communicate our access policy to other Bay Area academic law libraries at that time.   

Professor Hing on Immigration Rights for Same-Sex Couples

Professor Bill Hing speaks out about immigration rights for same-sex couples on ImmigrationProf Blog today.  An excerpt from his post: 

President Obama’s bold endorsement of same-sex marriage sends a strong immigration-reform message to Congress: it's time to allow U.S. citizens lawfully married to same-sex partners the opportunity to apply for lawful immigrant status. Under current law, prospective immigrants who want to immigrate through marriage can only do so if they are parties to a heterosexual relationship. . . . 


The way out of this inequity is the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA).  UAFA would allow U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to sponsor their same-sex partners for immigration to the United States. The bill (and its predecessor) has been introduced into every subsequent Congress since the year 2000. Every year support has increased, and in the last Congress, more co-sponsors than ever before were garnered. In the 111th Congress (2009-2010), there was a record-breaking 135 co-sponsors in the House. And today there are more than 20 co-sponsors in the Senate. UAFA would amend the immigration laws by simply adding the term "permanent partner" in sections where "spouse" appears, thus ensuring that a non-citizen permanent partner may receive the same immigration benefits that a non-citizen spouse now receives. 

Avoiding the One Research Platform Trap

Greg Lambert over at 3 Geeks and a Law Blog brings up a very good point about the importance of being able to research across different platforms (Lexis, Westlaw, Bloomberg, etc...):

[D]on't let students fall into the vendor's trap of only learning one platform. The law student[s] that . . .  haven't activated their Lexis IDs because they like to use Westlaw better (or vice-versa) have played into the hands of the vendor at the expense of their own experience. Those students that go to their Summer Associate jobs this year and use their Bloomberg passwords to do firm work (which apparently Bloomberg is allowing them to do), are making a tactical error in their understanding how the law firm works, recovers costs, and tracks expenses of the work performed. Students should take the opportunity to learn a broad variety of resources while in school because never again will they have access to so many platforms with no pressure to think about the cost of the product.

One of the biggest mistakes I made as a law student was to do most of my research on one platform.  When I went to a firm that didn't use that platform at all and that didn't offer intensive research support from paralegals or librarians, it was stressful.  I managed, but I sure wished that I had been a more flexible researcher in law school when cost didn't matter!

Hing on Arizona's Immigration Law, SB 1070

Professor Hing just contributed the following essay, "Like It Or Not, Arizona's SB 1070 Is About Racial Profiling," on Huffington Post.  An excerpt from his post:

In the Obama administration's challenge to Arizona's anti-immigrant SB 1070, Department of Justice lawyers avoided arguing that any of the law's provisions, including the requirement that state police check the documents of suspected undocumented immigrants, invite racial profiling.

The technocrat lawyer in me might understand this strategy, reasoning that it's too soon to know if Latinos will be targeted by SB 1070 (although there's plenty of evidence already). The cynic in me believes that the Obama administration stayed away from racial profiling allegations because that claim falls too close to home. The framework for SB 1070 mirrors the federal immigration enforcement laws and guess what, ICE engages in racial profiling every day. The immigration historian in me, however, understands that SB 1070 is in fact all about racial profiling given the institutionalized racism under which the law and its copycat statutes across the country have emerged.

 

The Fourth Circuit on Wikipedia

In a recent opinion, United States v. Lawson, the Fourth Circuit had this to say about Wikipedia's reliability:

Given the open-access nature of Wikipedia, the danger in relying on a Wikipedia entry is obvious and real. As the "About Wikipedia" material aptly observes, "[a]llowing anyone to edit Wikipedia means that it is more easily vandalized or susceptible to unchecked information." Id. Further, Wikipedia aptly recognizes that it "is written largely by amateurs." Id.

Kaswan on Clean Air Act and Greenhouse Gases

Professor Kaswan recently authored the post, Applying the Clean Air Act to Greenhouse Gases: What Does It Mean for Traditional Pollutants?, on the CPRBlog. An excerpt from Professor Kaswan's post:

In a recently published article, Climate Change, the Clean Air Act, and Industrial Pollution, published in a UCLA Journal of Environmental Law and Policy symposium on the Clean Air Act and GHG regulation, I take up a slice of the complex debate about the value of the CAA.  I explore how using the Clean Air Act to reduce GHGs from stationary sources, including industrial and fossil-fuel electrical generating facilities, would affect many other pollutants, termed co-pollutants. Though co-pollutant impacts are only one of many relevant factors, the inquiry helps shed light on the benefits and drawbacks of the Clean Air Act as a climate policy mechanism, both on its own terms and in comparison with a frequently proposed alternative – a cap-and-trade program. The article reveals that there are no easy answers, and contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the CAA in particular and climate policy choices more generally.

Reminder About Lexis Advance Registration

Our campus Lexis representative would like to remind students and May 2012 graduates that you will need to register your Lexis Advance IDs if you want to use Lexis over the summer. Registering your Advance ID is a separate process than registering your Lexis.com ID. You should have received instructions on how to register earlier this semester. However, if you no longer have the email or don’t remember if you registered or not, email Alicia Luchetti at alicia.luchetti@lexisnexis.com.

Professor Freiwald Blogs About Cell Site Location Data

USF Law professor Susan Freiwald has just started a stint as a guest contributor at Concurring Opinions (ranked among the top 10 law blogs) this week. Her first blog post, Fifth Circuit Considers Constitutionality of Cell Site Location Data is a primer on topic that has grown more timely of late in light of information uncovered by the ACLU and reported extensively in the New York Times.

Prof. Freiwald specifically addresses a pending case before the Fifth Circuit which could add some clarity to the question of under what circumstances government agents will be required to seek a probable cause warrant for cell phone location data. She is eminently qualified to write on the subject having submitted an amicus brief in the case.

This blog post is only the first of a series of posts that will be appearing in Concurring Opinions by Prof. Friewald on the topic. Scholars and citizens with and interest in civil liberties and digital privacy will be interested in following what promises to be a lively series of posts.

WestlawNext Tip: Folder Descriptions

WestlawNext now allows users to add descriptions to folders -- from the latest newsletter:

You can now add descriptions—up to 250 characters each—to folders, subfolders, and saved documents in WestlawNext. While viewing your folders, hover your mouse over the folder or document name, click the Add Description icon that is displayed, type a description (e.g., leading cases—cite in Johnson brief!) in the text box, and click Save.

Professor Hing on Trayvon Martin's Death

Professor Bill Hing just published the post, "Honor Trayvon Martin's Death: Declare War on Racism," on HuffPost -- from the article:

The tragic shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin highlights the sad truth that racial profiling of African Americans and the country's racial divide continue. The juxtaposition of this incident and the winding down of our military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan provides us with an opportunity to declare another war -- a war on racism in America. With race on the front pages, the opportunity is ripe for President Obama and the GOP presidential hopefuls to declare war on bigotry and hate.