Jan

14

A Statistical Milestone: U.S. Correctional Population Declines

Posted by: | January 14, 2011 | 2 Comments

The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics released the latest data on the nation’s correctional population right before Christmas, and there was some big news: the correctional population declined in 2009 for the first time since BJS began tracking its size in 1980.  Given steadily decreasing rates of growth, I suppose a year of negative growth was inevitable.  [...]

Jan

13

Finding Your Own Path

Posted by: | January 13, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Life sometimes turns out not at all as we planned.  And that can be a very good thing. Take my life, for example.  As an undergraduate, I had it all planned:  I was going to be a career woman in corporate public relations or a professional writer, living in a large city — Chicago, perhaps [...]

Jan

11

Regulating the Yankees: Baseball and Antitrust in 1939

Posted by: | January 11, 2011 | 2 Comments

Baseball’s antitrust exemption, first recognized in the United States Supreme Court’s 1922 Federal Baseball Club v. National League decision and affirmed most recently by Congress in the Curt Flood Act (1998), is a well-known feature of Major League Baseball’s history. However, historians of baseball and sports law scholars have devoted very little time to exploring the [...]

Jan

10

Professor Lisa Mazzie Is a Ms. JD Writer-In-Residence

Posted by: | January 10, 2011 | 3 Comments

I am happy to report the news that our Associate Professor of Legal Writing, Lisa A. Mazzie, will be one of Ms. JD‘s writers-in-residence for 2011.  Ms. JD describes itself as follows: Ms. JD is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to the success of women in law school and the legal profession. Ms. JD is [...]

Jan

10

Ryne Duren and the Integration of Minor League Baseball

Posted by: | January 10, 2011 | 2 Comments

Rinold George “Ryne” Duren, one of Wisconsin’s most famous baseball pitchers, passed away at his Florida winter home on January 6, at age 81.   Born in Cazenovia, Wisconsin in 1929, Duren was not permitted to pitch while a high school student out of fear for the safety of the other players; however, he did star [...]

Jan

7

Tort Reform 2011: True Science or Pure Mischief?

Posted by: | January 7, 2011 | 6 Comments

Well, that didn’t take long.  In its first week of political life, the new legislature has proposed sweeping “tort reform” legislation.  The compass of the 30-plus page bill is manifold, embracing punitive damages, fee shifting, product liability claims, and damages caps.  What interests me more, however, are proposed changes to the Wisconsin Rules of Evidence [...]

Jan

7

Simon to Speak on Punishment for Murder

Posted by: | January 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment

I’m looking forward to the upcoming George and Margaret Barrock Lecture on Criminal Law.  Berkeley Professor Jonathan Simon will be visiting us on January 24 at 12:30 to speak on punishment for murder.  Here is the teaser: Although the death penalty may be dying out in the United States, the end stage of capital punishment leaves [...]

Jan

6

Rofes Receives Kutulakis Award

Posted by: | January 6, 2011 | 3 Comments

It was a privilege today to attend the lunch of the Section on Student Services at the Association of American Law Schools’ annual meeting. For our colleague, Professor Peter K. Rofes, received the section’s Peter N. Kutulakis Award. This award recognizes the outstanding contributions of an institution, administrator, or law professor in the provision of [...]

Jan

6

Preview of Sykes, the Supreme Court’s Latest ACCA Case

Posted by: | January 6, 2011 | 1 Comment

The Supreme Court will hear argument on January 12 in Sykes v. United States, the latest entry in its recent series of cases on the Armed Career Criminal Act.  This case may provide a good opportunity for the Court to clarify what state of mind is required for a prior conviction to trigger the ACCA’s fifteen-year [...]

Jan

5

The Social Security Tax Cut And A More Direct Route To Job Growth

Posted by: | January 5, 2011 | 6 Comments

The first pay day of 2011 is fast approaching and just about everyone is going to see an increase in the amount of their take home pay.  The amount of the change depends on how much money a person makes, but there will be a change that stems from the December passage of the Tax [...]

Jan

5

Appointment of Russ Feingold

Posted by: | January 5, 2011 | 35 Comments

The University has announced today that Russell D. Feingold will join us as Visiting Professor of Law. In addition to noting this announcement, I wish to elaborate briefly upon my decision to appoint Sen. Feingold. Let me begin with his background. Sen. Feingold is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, a former Rhodes Scholar, and [...]

Jan

4

Recommended Legal Writing Reads from Judge Easterbrook

Posted by: | January 4, 2011 | 1 Comment

This past October, as a Judicial Intern at the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, I had the pleasure of attending an informal, reoccurring brown bag lunch held among the court’s clerks. We gathered in a conference room down the hall from the Dirksen Federal Building’s second-floor cafeteria to hear this session’s [...]

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