ZiefBrief

Arguing Parental Notification in Abortion

It's been 5 years since the Supreme Court last heard a case involving abortion, so there is keen interest in Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood (04-1144), particularly since this is the first chance to see how Chief Justice John Roberts will approach this incendiary issue.

SCOTUSblog's Lyle Denniston reports on today's argument is his post "Abortion: narrowing the focus," and over at How Appealing, Howard Bashman is linking to all manner of news reports and commentary.

For a completely unfiltered view, visit the Jurist - Monitor post "Ayotte abortion case oral arguments," which links to a complete audio file of the Ayotte oral argument.

Rolling Out the New California Criminal Jury Instructions

As of January 1, 2006, the Judicial Council’s new California criminal jury instructions will become the "official instructions for use in the state of California" whose use is "strongly encouraged." (Cal. Rules of Court 855.)

In preparation, both the Courts and LexisNexis (the official publisher) are making the instructions available to lawyers, scholars, and the public.

Researchers can download the new instructions (and related information) for free at the Criminal Jury Instructions Resource Center. The Resource Center offers —

• A Table of Contents (PDF, 151 KB)
• The complete text of the California Criminal Jury Instructions (PDF, 4466 KB)
• A User's Guide (PDF, 149 KB)
• Links to Rules of Court applicable to the new criminal jury instructions (Rules 855, 229, and 6.59

More information is available at the California Courts' New Criminal Jury Instructions Online Press Center.

LexisNexis has just announced the availability of the new source "Judicial Council of California Criminal Jury Instructions" (short source name: CAL;JUCACI). LexisNexis subscribers can use this source to find jury instructions by browsing a table of contents or by running a search using the "Terms & Connectors," "Natural Language," or "Easy Search" methods.

(Westlaw does not yet have a database of these instructions, but the smart money is that it's just a matter of days until we see one.)

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[Update, 12/12/05] As predicted, it did not take long for Westlaw to catch up. Today Westlaw announced the availability of a new database, "Judicial Council of California Criminal Jury Instructions" (CALCRIM), which contains the full text of the new instructions.

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[Update, 1/23/06] Print copies of the new California Criminal Jury Instructions have begun to arrive in the Zief Library. Our first set comes from Thomson/West: Judicial Council of California Criminal Jury Instructions: CALCRIM, KFC 1171.A65 S8 2006 Law Reserve.

Alito Documents & News on Westlaw - Two Convenient Collections

Westlaw subscribers looking for background information on Samuel Alito can take advantage of Westlaw's new database "Supreme Court Nominee Samuel Alito Opinions and Papers" (ALITO-NOMINEE). As Westlaw describes it -

The ALITO-NOMINEE database contains coverage of opinions joined or authored by Judge Alito while sitting on the United States Court of Appeals. The database also contains federal or state decisions in which Judge Alito was an attorney of record or party, and briefs filed in cases in which he is a party or judge. Selected coverage of articles written by Judge Alito is also contained in this database. A current resume of Judge Alito by West's Profiler is included, as well as his biography from the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary.

And once Alito's confirmation hearings begin, Westlaw's "Supreme Court Nominee Confirmation Hearings" (SCT-CONFIRM) database will have the transcripts.

[Update, Nov. 20, 2005]
Over the weekend, Westlaw launched "Supreme Court Nominee Samuel Alito News" (ALITO-NEWS), which complements the Alito documents database by bringing together in one place news articles and columns from scores (if not hundreds) of newspapers, magazines and wire services. Because these articles have been specially culled by Westlaw, researchers can be fairly confident that they will actually be about Alito rather than merely making an offhand mention of the nominee while discussing another topic.

Alito on Alito in 1985

Subscribers to FindLaw's Breaking Documents newsletter today received Alito's "Personal Qualifications Statement" from his 1985 application for the position of Assistant Attorney General. The statement refers in part to positions Alito had taken on affirmative action and abortion.  (The Breaking Documents newsletter alerts readers to new additions to  FindLaw's Feature Documents service.)

Wecome, Wex - An Almost-Wiki for Legal Information

The Blawgosphere is taking keen notice of Wex ("everyone's resource for law learning"), a spin-off of Cornell’s Legal Information Institute aimed at creating a freely-accessible, collaborative legal encyclopedia and dictionary.

Wex is starting off with over 130 dictionary-type entries (from "ALR" to "Writ of Error") and 126 encyclopedia-style articles addressing such diverse topics as contracts, the Geneva Conventions, the insanity defense, pollution, real property, and trademark law.

Is Wex a Wiki? Not quite. Wex actively seeks collaborators, but anyone who wants to participate will need to solicit an invitation via Wex's editorial contributions page.

[Thanks to Slaw for the tip!]

Alito by the Numbers: Financial Disclosure Forms

The Law Librarian Blog is reporting that (in a post entitled Adjunct Professor Alito) its sister blog TaxProf Blog links to Supreme Court Nominee Samuel Alito’s latest financial disclosure forms. The two files are:

• Financial Disclosure Report: Calendar Year 2003 [Alito, Samuel A.] (7 page PDF)
• Financial Disclosure Report for Calendar Year 2004 [Alito, Samuel A.] (7 page PDF)

Handbook for Federal Grand Jurors

The recent indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has brought the venerable institution of the Federal Grand Jury back into the public eye. Now you can download this Handbook for Federal Grand Jurors (.pdf; 11 pages). It contains a brief overview of the history and procedure of the Grand Jury system and is intended to orient new Grand Jurors as to their part in process.

From the Librarians' Internet Index [link to the LII]

The Nominee as an Undergraduate: Alito's Senior Thesis

When Samuel Alito's nomination was first announced, there was some buzz about his senior thesis, which at the time was missing from the Princeton libraries.  (The conspiracy theories never really got off the ground because the thesis had been missing since 1976.)

Now Alito's thesis adviser has donated his copy, and Princeton University's Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library has made it available for downloading.

You can download Alito's An Introduction to the Italian Constitutional Court [PDF; 137 pages] from the Mudd Library News & Information page.

[Thanks to the Princeton University Library for the document, and to Howard Bashman's How Appealing for the tip!]

Analyzing Alito - Raw Material Via U. Michigan & Library of Congress

The ever-helpful folks at the University of Michigan Law Library and at the Law Library of Congress have wasted no time in creating web pages to keep track of information about Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito.

So far, the University of Michigan Law Library's page, Hot Topics: Information on Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Nominee for Justice of the Supreme Court, covers: biographical information; majority, concurring and dissenting opinions  amicus & party briefs; Supreme Court oral argument transcripts; articles by Alito; New York Times articles about Alito; and various miscellaneous  documents. As the consideration of this nominee proceeds, Michigan's law library staff will add to this page. Space has already been set aside for confirmation hearing transcripts and other congressional documents and debates. [A tip of the hat to U. Michigan's Kincaid C. Brown, Barbara H. Garavaglia, Aimee S. Mangan and Jennifer L. Selby who collaborated on this essential web page.]

Notable features of Law Library of Congress's excellent Supreme Court Nominations - Samuel A. Alito: Selected Resources in the Law Library Reading Room include a PDF excerpt of Alito's 1990 confirmation hearings and citations to memoranda written by Alito during his service in the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel.  The Law Library of Congress's page also covers articles and book, congressional documents, selected cases, and web sites.  [Thanks to Emily Carr, Legal Reference Specialist, Law Library of Congress, for the tip!]