Library News & Events
You can browse for events by using the links below, or search our entire calendar by clicking here http://morris.law.yale.edu/iii/calendar/month.
Forthcoming Yale Law Journal article: Before (and After) Roe v. Wade
In a forthcoming Yale Law Journal article, Before (and After) Roe v. Wade: New Questions About Backlash, Professor Reva Siegel and Linda Greenhouse challenge the conventional narrative that the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade caused the polarizing conflict over abortion. The authors examine the escalation of the conflict both in the years prior to Roe (when more Republicans than Democrats supported abortion decriminalization) and the post-Roe period, where evidence suggests that party realignment helped escalate and shape the conflict over abortion. Importantly, by questioning the backlash narrative, the article undercuts the argument that vindicating rights in the courts should be avoided as counter-productive.
Further reading:
Linda Greenhouse & Reva Siegel, Before Roe v. Wade: Voices That Shaped the Abortion Debate Before the Supreme Court’s Ruling (2010).
Video of the book talk with commentary by Prof. Jack Balkin: http://vimeo.com/17680860
Bloomberg Law Visit on April 12th
Bloomberg Law will be on campus Tuesday, April 12th. BLAW provides access to federal & state dockets/opinions, global company financial information, secondary sources including Bloomberg News, and a wide variety of transactional sources. It is also *free* to all YLS student users through the summer. Yale Law students may register for an account by emailing our Bloomberg representative Pamela Haar.
LexisNexis Webcast: Researching Cost-Effectively for Clients
On Tuesday April 12th at 3:00 PM, LexisNexis will be hosting a webcast entitled: Researching Cost-Effectively for Clients. Lexis's Senior Manager of Legal Programs, Geoffrey D. Ivnik, Esq., will demonstrate the top cost-effective researching techniques and answer participant questions. Register for the webcast here.
New Law Library Acquisitions for March 2011
The Law Library's list of new acquisitions for March 2011 is available here.
Use the subject, category or language facets to refine the list. The full and refined lists are searchable.
The Library Subscribes to the New York Times Online
You can find the New York Times Image Edition by going to Online Journals and Newspapers and searching for the “New York Times Image Edition” by title. More information is available from the Yale Daily News.
Professors Ackerman and Hathaway on Limited War and Libya
Responding to the Administration's decision to attack Libya without Congressional authorization, Rep. John Boehner was uncharacteristically generous in yesterday's press release, requesting only that the Administration improve its communication skills. I'm just a librarian -- and certainly not a fan of the Jamahiriya. Still, if like me you thought the Constitution requires something more than a heads-up on this kind of thing, two recent pieces by Professors Bruce Ackerman and Oona Hathaway will be of interest.
In the January, 2011 issue of the Michigan Law Review, Professors Ackerman and Hathaway throw Congress a lifeline for reclaiming the authority it lost when the Bush Adminstration unilaterally transformed the limited war in Iraq as originally authorized by Congress into an open-ended conflict. After a discussion of the constitutional checks and balances involved in the decision to go to war, the authors illustrate how the Bush Administration set a precedent for aggrandized presidential power. They also lay some of the blame on Congress for failing to alter the appropriations process to deal with the distinct problems presented by limited wars. To both foster democratic debate over the use of force and to restore the balance of power, the authors propose Congress adopt "Rules of Limited War" that would "create a presumption that any authorization of military force will expire after two years, unless Congress specifies a different deadline."
Professors Ackerman and Hathaway followed up with a piece in the Huffington Post in which they emphasized that the Constitution grants Congress, not the President, the power to declare war. "If [President Obama] acts unilaterally, he will be consolidating on of the worst aspects of the Bush era, and set a precedent for further abuses by future presidents". Cue future abuses.
Further Reading:
Letter from the President Regarding the Commencement of Operations in Libya (March 21, 2011)
Jennifer K. Elsea et al., Cong. Research Serv., RL 33837, Congressional Authority to Limit U.S. Military Operations in Iraq (2008).
Memorandum from John C. Yoo, Deputy Ass't Att'y Gen., Office of Legal Policy, Dep't of Justice, to the Deputy Counsel to the President, The President's Constitutional Authority to Conduct Military Operations Against Terrorists and Nations Supporting Them (Sept. 25, 2001).
Michael A. Genovese, Presidential Prerogative: Imperial Power in an Age of Terrorism (2011).
Victor M. Hansen, The Case for Congress: Separation of Powers and the War on Terror (2009).
Upcoming Westlaw Career Focus Classes: Researching Cost Effectively
Career Focus Cost-Effective Research is a training program that was developed for summer associates, new associates, and law clerks. It covers both Westlaw and WestlawNext research and will help researchers frame better queries, master KeyCite and other features, as well as organize, refine, and extend research.
Each session lasts 40 minutes. Register for Cost-Effective Research HERE or at lawschool.westlaw.com, or on your mobile device at m.lawschool.westlaw.com. Please contact Holly Rush if you have questions.
The following classes are in the Computer Classroom:
Monday. March 21
11:10am Career Focus Cost Effective Research
12:10pm Career Focus Cost Effective Research
Monday, March 28
12:10pm Career Focus Cost Effective Research
Wednesday, March 30
11:10am Career Focus Cost Effective Research
12:10pm Career Focus Cost Effective Research
Tuesday, April 5
11:10am Career Focus Cost Effective Research
12:10pm Career Focus Cost Effective Research
Wednesday, April 13
11:10am Career Focus Cost Effective Research
12:10pm Career Focus Cost Effective Research
2 Special Sessions in Classroom SLB 124
Wednesday, April 6: 5pm Career Focus Cost Effective Research (SLB 124)
Thursday, April 14: 12:10pm Career Focus Cost Effective Research (SLB 124)
Combine, Save & Search Favorite Databases in MORRIS
MORRIS now incorporates "Research Pro" a federated-search application that streamlines access to multiple data sources including the law library catalog, full-text databases and digital collections.
After a keyword search in MORRIS or in ENCORE, click “More resources” on Encore results screen:
Next, log in using your Yale NetID and Password. Then choose your favorite resources and name the group when prompted. You may then go ahead and finish your search.
At a future time you can log in to your MORRIS record...
... and call up “My Database Searching"
Enter your search, then choose the group of databases you wish to search and click “Search”
Nice Customs Curtsy to Great Kings(?)*
In a recent essay posted in the Yale Law Journal Online, Professor Lea Brilmayer and Isaias Yemane Tesfalidet respond to the claim that states ought to be able to unilateraly opt out of customary norms -- even long after the norm in question had been an accepted part of customary international law, and even if the state had originally approved of the norm. This model for withdrawal (the Default View) was proposed by Professors Curtis Bradley and Mitu Gulati and has been the subject of a recent symposium edition of the Duke Journal of Comparative and International Law. Bradley and Gulati find support for the Default View in an anology between customary and treaty law and in the model's purported functional advantages.
Brilmayer and Tesfalidet challenge Bradley and Gulati's model for unilateral withdrawal by first highlighting the legal distortion underlying the analogy to treaties (there isn't a comparable unilateral right to opt out of treaties). As for the claimed functional advantages of the Default View, Brilmayer and Tesfalidet argue that customary international law already provides the flexibility claimed for the Default View by Bradley and Gulati. The essay concludes with the suggestion that the proposed Default View might be a sign of the times in U.S. politics, but that international law -- including customary norms -- remains a significant protective force for smaller states against the Great Kings of the world.
* Shakespeare's Henry V
Further Reading
Yale Law Library Research Guides: Foreign, International, and Transnational Law Resources; Treaty Research
Alexander T. Alienikoff, International Law, Sovereignty, and American Constitutionalism: Reflections on the Customary International Law Debate, 98 Am. J. Int'l. L. 91 (2004).
Aoife Duffy, Expulsion to Face Torture? Non-refoulement in International Law, 20 Int'l. J. Refugee L. 373 (2008).
Charles Quince, The Persistent Objector and Customary International Law (2010).
Els Reynaers Kini, The Precautionary Principle, Multilateral Treaties and the Formulation of Customary International Law (2008).
LexisNexis Prepare to Practice Training
Learn how to research efficiently and cost effectively in a variety of databases to prepare for your summer or fall employment. Each session lasts 40 minutes and will take place in the computer classroom. Register here.
