Nov

29

No Harm, No Foul — But How Do You Know If There Was Harm?

Posted by: | November 29, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that gives the Court an opportunity to clarify a longstanding ambiguity in harmless error law.  Even if a defendant’s procedural rights have been violated at trial, a conviction will not be reversed on appeal if the error was harmless.  However, the Court has at different [...]

Nov

29

Federal Jurisdiction Over Claims of Corporate Liability Under International Law

Posted by: | November 29, 2011 | 1 Comment

[Editor's Note: This month, faculty members have been posting on upcoming judicial decisions of particular interest. This is the third post in the series.] The Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”) creates federal jurisdiction over “any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United [...]

Nov

29

How the NBA Should Have Handled the Recent Labor Dispute

Posted by: | November 29, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Most fans of professional basketball were probably delighted to learn of the recent agreement between the NBA owners and their players which will make possible a 66-game regular season beginning on Christmas Day. However, for fans of sports law (like myself), the resolution was disappointing.  Had the players’ antitrust suit gone to trial, followed by [...]

Nov

29

A.B.A. Rejections of Obama Judicial Nominees

Posted by: | November 29, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Speaking through its judicial vetting committee, the A.B.A. has rejected fourteen of President Obama’s potential nominees for the federal bench. The overall rejection rate was 7.5 percent, a rate three and a half times that for the eight-year administrations of both President George W. Bush and President Bill Clinton. Why has the A.B.A. been less [...]

Nov

28

New Affirmative Action Cases

Posted by: | November 28, 2011 | 2 Comments

[Editor's Note: This month, faculty members are posting on upcoming judicial decisions of particular interest. This is the second post in the series.] It seems almost certain that the Supreme Court will again take up the issue of affirmative action in higher education, as two highly controversial cases separately make their way up the appellate ladder. On two [...]

Nov

28

Two Flaws in the SOPA

Posted by: | November 28, 2011 | Leave a Comment

This is the second post in a series looking at the Stop Online Piracy Act, a House bill that’s been getting a lot of attention lately. In Part I of this series I looked at Section 102 and concluded that it was largely unobjectionable. Section 102 essentially provides the DOJ with supplemental provisional remedies it [...]

Nov

27

Trying to Get Away From Lawyers? Wisconsin May Not Be Such a Bad Place to Be

Posted by: | November 27, 2011 | Leave a Comment

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates what it calls the “location quotient” for individual occupations.  This statistic is computed on a state-by-state basis and reflects the percentage of a jurisdiction’s population employed in a particular job or profession. The “location quotient” looks at the place in which the job is performed and not [...]

Nov

24

Happy Thanksgiving

Posted by: | November 24, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Most law students are likely frantically preparing for finals, even over this holiday weekend. Yet, remember to spend time with family and friends.  It’s important during this busy time to reconnect with our loved ones and to remember – and be thankful for – what is really important.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Nov

23

Beware Black Friday

Posted by: | November 23, 2011 | 5 Comments

In honor of the upcoming shop-a-thon known as Black Friday, I am linking to last week’s article in Newsweek about how we need to shop.  The science behind this impulse is the same that we deal with in negotiation in terms of how clients view risk, loss, and gratification.  In full disclosure, here’s a picture of  my most recent inability to [...]

Nov

22

U.S. Probation Population Continues to Drop: Who’s Leading the Way and Why

Posted by: | November 22, 2011 | Leave a Comment

The Bureau of Justice Statistics released a new report yesterday showing that the number of adults under community supervision declined by 1.3 percent in 2010.  Entitled Probation and Parole in the United States, 2010, the report summarizes the most recent national data on community supervision.  The decline in 2010 built on a smaller drop in 2009, and may [...]

Nov

21

Answers to Some Common Questions About American Indians

Posted by: | November 21, 2011 | Leave a Comment

This blog is written largely for the benefit of non-Indians, readers who have no affiliation with one of the hundreds of federally recognized tribes, eleven of which are found in Wisconsin.  I teach a course on federal Indian law at Marquette’s law school, and the questions that follow are just a few of the ones [...]

Nov

20

Stirring the Education Policy Pot

Posted by: | November 20, 2011 | 3 Comments

Can you change the world with a conference? Patch things up with a few panel discussions? The answer, of course, is rarely yes. So I don’t make any huge claims about what was accomplished at the conference, “Fresh Paths: Ideas for Navigating Wisconsin’s New Education Landscape,” on Nov. 17 in Eckstein Hall. (I say that [...]

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