Oct

22

ALWD Scholars’ Forum

Posted by: | October 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment

On October 9, the Law School hosted an Association of Legal Writing Directors Scholars’ Forum before the Central States Region Conference.  The Forum was an all-day event in which legal writing faculty from across the United States came to discuss their current scholarship in a roundtable format.  After Dean Rofes’ warm welcome, Professor Dan Weddle from UMKC [...]

Oct

22

Marquette Law School Celebrates Pro Bono Week

Posted by: | October 22, 2009 | 1 Comment

Yesterday, I had the good fortune to attend two inspiring events – the Milwaukee Bar Association’s first Pro Bono Publico Awards ceremony, held at the annual State of the Court luncheon. Marquette 3L Meghan O’Connor was among the honorees. Meghan was awarded this honor for her substantial pro bono commitment at the Law School, particularly [...]

Oct

22

Merit Selection Amendment Introduced

Posted by: | October 22, 2009 | 8 Comments

Yesterday, State Representative Mark Gottlieb (R-Port Washington) announced that he is drafting a constitutional amendment to replace Wisconsin’s current method of judicial elections with “merit selection.” Rep. Gottlieb is a former speaker pro tem of the Assembly, and he is widely regarded as one of the top policy gurus within the Republican caucus. Currently, the [...]

Oct

21

Federal Sentencing and the Lack of Theory in Criminal Justice

Posted by: | October 21, 2009 | 1 Comment

Defendants in federal criminal cases often cooperate with the government to get their sentence reduced, especially when facing an extremely high statutory mandatory minimum (it is not uncommon for federal defendants to face mandatory minimums of ten years or higher).  In these cases, to get below the mandatory minimum, the government must file a motion to [...]

Oct

21

Why Did Lincoln Try to Buy a Slave? (One of Lincoln’s More Troublesome Legacies)

Posted by: | October 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment

The Legacies of Lincoln Conference held on October 1 and 2, 2009 was, as Dean Joseph Kearney reported earlier, a terrifically successful program by any measure – attendance, audience response, and, most certainly, engaging presentations.  Jointly sponsored by the Law School and the History Department, the Conference featured lectures and comments by influential historians and lawyers [...]

Oct

20

Barry Bonds’ Contribution to the Growth of American Law

Posted by: | October 20, 2009 | 2 Comments

Baseball player Barry Bonds’ problems with perjury and illegal performance enhancing drugs have been well documented, but what is not nearly so well know is his contribution to the law regarding prenuptial agreements, particularly in California. In 1988, Barry Bonds married Susann “Sun” Margreth Blanco, a native of Sweden, in Las Vegas.  The two had [...]

Oct

19

Mayoral Control: Second Thoughts? Third Thoughts?

Posted by: | October 19, 2009 | 2 Comments

At the Marquette Educator, Dean Bill Henk has an interesting new post on the proposed mayoral takeover of Milwaukee Public Schools.  Bill chronicles Mayor Barrett’s hesitant, on-again-off-again embrace of the proposed takeover.  Contrary to the conventional wisdom that politicians always want more power, Barrett is displaying a marked lack of enthusiasm for taking on responsibility for [...]

Oct

19

Seventh Circuit Criminal Case of the Week: Good Enough for Government Work

Posted by: | October 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A), certain drug offenders face a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment if they have two prior drug felony convictions.  As befits such a draconian statute, special procedural protections have been adopted to ensure that the mandatory minimum does not take defendants by suprise at sentencing.  Thus, 21 U.S.C. § 851(a)(1) requires [...]

Oct

18

Justinians Honor Professor Blinka

Posted by: | October 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Last weekend, together with a number of colleagues (including Professor Emeritus James D. Ghiardi and Professors Irene Calboli and Thomas J. Hammer), I attended the Justinian Society’s annual Columbus Day dinner. The society consists primarily of Italian-American lawyers and their families and meets at the Third Ward’s Italian Community Center (which, former Milwaukee County Circuit [...]

Oct

18

Who Are Our People?

Posted by: | October 18, 2009 | 17 Comments

You may have heard that the Del Rio, Texas school district is policing a bridge that crosses the border with Mexico. Children crossing the bridge to attend school in the morning have been given letters seeking verification of their residency and explaining that non-residents will be expelled. When you live in walking distance from the US-Mexico border, [...]

Oct

17

The Obama “Hope” Poster Case — Whoa!

Posted by: | October 17, 2009 | 4 Comments

(This is the 8th in a series of posts on Fairey v. Associated Press. See below for other posts in the series.) I’ve been too busy to blog recently about the Hope poster case, but aside from the AP’s answer to Garcia’s claims of ownership, not much has happened. And frankly, given my schedule, I [...]

Oct

16

What Is Going On Over at the Internet?

Posted by: | October 16, 2009 | 1 Comment

On Thursday, I drafted a blog post inspired by the recent death of 89-year-old former major league baseball player Larry Jansen. Jansen was an outstanding pitcher in National League in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, and was also the primary plaintiff in an early right of publicity case.  I have found that very few [...]

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