ZiefBrief

Cal. Supreme Court Shares Background on Same-Sex Marriage Cases

As noted in recent ZiefBrief posts (link to post 1, link to post 2) the California Supreme Court recently released a ground-breaking expansion of all Californians' right to marry. In a welcome move, the Court has posted a handy web page designed to provide ready access to many of the case documents and other court information related to the decision. Included is the a link to the actual decision in .pdf format, a link to over 3 hours of audio and video of the oral arguments before the court, the Court's news releases, and briefs submitted by petitioners, respondents, and amici. They even provide docket, disposition, parties and attorneys, and lower court information. For researchers who want to continue to track the case there is a link to a page where you can set up an automatic e-mail notification of any future actions.

Now if we could only see their private notes and the minutes of their in-chamber deliberations...

The Debut of Google Health

Following a two-month trial at the Cleveland Clinic and over a year of development, Google Health is now available to anyone with a Google Account.  Google Health allows you to aggregate and store all of your medical records online, including information about prescription drugs, allergies, immunizations, medical procedures, and chronic health conditions.  If users enter information about a health condition, Google will automatically add links to reputable reference materials about the condition.  Google has also partnered with hospitals, pharmacies, and clinics so that users can import medical records from participating providers who treat them. The most useful feature is that users can send any portion of their Google Health records to their caregivers, which can be a huge time-saver for patients with complex health conditions who are seeing multiple providers. 

What about privacy protections?   Google Health isn't selling any advertisements, so users who create an account won't see pharmaceutical or provider ads.  The Google Health Privacy Policy promises that "Google will not sell, rent, or share your information (identified or de-identified) without your explicit consent, except in the limited situations described in the Google Privacy Policy, such as when Google believes it is required to do so by law."  As far as data storage, the Privacy Policy states:

1. Google's servers automatically record log information about your use of Google Health (such as number of sign-ins and number of times a link was clicked). This information is temporarily stored in association with your Google Account for two weeks, at which point it is aggregated with other data and is no longer associated with your account. The log information will be used to operate and improve the service and will not be correlated with your use of other Google services.
2. Google will use aggregate data to publish trend statistics and associations. For example, Google might publish trend data similar to what is published in Google Trends. None of this data can be used to personally identify an individual.

Additionally, all third parties that are able to send medical data to Google Health must adhere to the "Google Health Developer Policies, which establish strict privacy standards for how they collect, use, or share . . .  information."

There will be lots of people who will not find any solace in the Privacy Policy and will avoid Google Health or any other online repository of medical information like the plague.  But I think that Google Health, which is free and easy-to-use, will appeal to those with complex medical conditions who are struggling to stay atop a mountain of medical data from multiple providers.  Medical errors are the eighth leading cause of death in the United States, killing more people than motor vehicle accidents and breast cancer.  Patients who create an accurate online medical record that synthesizes data from multiple providers will at least have a fighting chance at minimizing the chances that they will become a medical error statistic. 

Full Acme Industries Catalog Will Be Boon To Personal Injury & Product Liability Bar

As noted in a recent ZiefBrief post, the pressure of exams can lead to the need for some comic relief.  One long-time favorite in the tiny realm of legal humor is the essay Coyote v. Acme by Ian Frasier, originally published in the February 26th, 1990 New Yorker magazine and later reprinted as part of the book Coyote v. Acme. This faux opening statement recounts the woes of one Wiley E. Coyote who on over 85 different occasions was injured using the products of Acme Industries in his pursuit of a roadrunner (the essay is currently reproduced in full at this page ).

Now our eagle-eyed reference librarian Julie Horst has located the Original Illustrated Catalog of Acme Products for our end-of-the-semester enjoyment.

From the web page:

ACME is a worldwide leader of many manufactured goods. From its humble beginnings providing corks and flypaper to bug collectors ("Buddy's Bug Hunt/1935") to its heyday in the American Southwest supplying a certain coyote, from Ultimatum Dispatchers to Batman outfits, ACME has set the standard for excellence.

For the first time ever, information and pictures of all ACME products, specialty divisions, and services featured in Warner Bros. cartoons (made by the original studio from 1935 to 1964) are gathered here, in one convenient catalog.

Putting Today's Same-Sex Marriage Decision in Context

Those looking to build a law review topic out of today's California Supreme Court decision in In re Marriage Cases  (No. S147999, Cal. May 15, 2008) [PDF; 172 pages] (News release [PDF; 7 pages]) might want to explore these research leads:

• Same-Sex Marriage: A Selective Bibliography of the Legal Literature, by Paul Axel-Lute

• Sexual Orientation and the Law: A Research Bibliography, from the Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues, a special division of the American Association of Law Libraries' Social Responsibilities Special Interest Section. (See especially the section on couples) This bibliography is also available in print. The Zief Library's copy is at: KF 4754.5 .A1 S494 2006 Law Reference.

• Searches for books —

• A quick keyword search to find some useful books in your library would look something like this:

  "same-sex marriage" and law (This link will run a search for scholarly books on same-sex marriage in the Zief Library stacks.)

• You can also search for books worldwide via WorldCat. Try this search:

  "same sex marriage" law

• Or, you can use Google Book Search to search inside the book. Try this search:

  "same sex marriage" law

CA Supreme Court Rules on Same-Sex Marriage

The California Supreme Court ruled today that language within California laws designating marriage as a union solely between "a man and a woman" is "unconstitutional and must be stricken from the statute."  A larger excerpt of the court's holding appears below:

[W]e conclude that retention of the traditional definition of marriage does not constitute a state interest sufficiently compelling, under the strict scrutiny equal protection standard, to justify withholding that status from same-sex couples. Accordingly, insofar as the provisions of sections 300 and 308.5 draw a distinction between opposite-sex couples and same-sex couples and exclude the latter from access to the designation of marriage, we conclude these statutes are unconstitutional. . . .

[I]t is readily apparent that extending the designation of marriage to same-sex couples clearly is more consistent with the probable legislative intent than withholding that designation from both opposite-sex couples and same-sex couples in favor of some other, uniform designation. In view of the lengthy history of the use of the term “marriage” to describe the family relationship here at issue, and the importance that both the supporters of the 1977 amendment to the marriage statutes and the electors who voted in favor of Proposition 22 unquestionably attached to the designation of marriage, there can be no doubt that extending the designation of marriage to same-sex couples, rather than denying it to all couples, is the equal protection remedy that is most consistent with our state’s general legislative policy and preference.

The *?$%! Bluebook

Let's face it.  The Bluebook can be a baffling, frustrating experience for first-time cite-checkers.  Our wise colleague, Mary Whisner, at the University of Washington's Gallagher Law Library, has a helpful essay in the Law Library Journal on Bluebook woes, "The Dreaded  Bluebook," which is a "must read" for anyone who has ever thrown a Bluebook against the wall in sheer frustration.  In this essay, Mary reveals one of the tips that I often recommend to newbie cite-checkers -- when in doubt about how to cite to a particular authority, use Lexis or Westlaw to search the footnotes of existing law review articles to find out how other editors are citing the authority. For example, if I need to figure out how to cite to a  Congressional Research Service report entitled, "Federal and State Laws Regarding Pharmacists Who Refuse to Dispense Contraceptives," I would search the JLR database on Westlaw or the ALLUS database on Lexis with the following search:

federal /2 state /5 pharmacists /2 refuse /2 dispense /2 contraceptives

From there, I can browse the footnotes of the articles appearing in my search results to see how editors are handling this CRS report citation.  Of course, as Mary notes, you may find that different law reviews cite the authority in different ways, but you can usually decide which conforms most closely to the Bluebook rules and go from there. 

The most important point made in Mary's essay is this -- don't be afraid to ask the law librarians for help with the Bluebook's rules.  Some of us have toiled as student editors ourselves, and we have lots of arcane Bluebook knowledge that we would love to put to good use!

Lost and Found Items at Circ Desk

Did you ever wonder what happened to your travel coffee mug? Did you leave your phone charger behind somewhere? Are you missing a hat? Stop by the Circulation Desk and look through our Lost and Found items to see if there is anything that may belong to you. These items will be on display until May 16th and what is not claimed will be donated to a charitable organization.

McSweeney's List on Law School Classes

At this point in the semester, everybody needs a little dark humor, right?  Check out this McSweeney's List of "Classes My Top-Tier Law School Should Have Offered As Warnings About the Profession."  Thanks to Above the Law for posting this link.