Category: Public

What’s Up With SOPA?

By: Posted on Categories Intellectual Property Law, Public2 Comments on What’s Up With SOPA?

The tech blogosphere is abuzz with discussion of yesterday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, H.R. 3261. (Mainstream news sites seem not to have noticed; the New York Times website front page mentioned the impending sale of Yahoo, but not SOPA.) A good deal of that discussion refers to SOPA in apocalyptic terms: the bill would allegedly “break the Internet,” or “end the Internet as we know it,” or drive YouTube and Facebook out of business if enacted. Even non-lawyer relatives are asking me about it.

Does the bill really do all that? No. Copyright-related debates have been going on long enough, and at such a fever pitch, that such predictions are pretty much the price of admission now to rally the troops. There’s a pretty good inductive argument that predictions of the imminent death of the Internet or of the content industry are actually a reliable indicator that neither the Internet nor the content industry will die. But that doesn’t mean SOPA’s a good idea. So step one is figuring out what it does.

I’ve sat down and read the bill and there’s some aspects to it I think are misunderstood — perhaps by almost everyone. One of its provisions is much more narrowly targeted, and I think reasonable, than is generally being described. I’m going to break this discussion up into a few posts, and I’ll tackle that one first. A second provision is … deeply odd, in ways I haven’t seen mentioned, and I have serious reservations about it, but it is probably not the Vishnu-like destroyer of worlds it is being portrayed as. Finally, I’ll wrap up with some thoughts on what drives copyright rhetoric and politics generally. Continue reading “What’s Up With SOPA?”

Marquette Internship Program

By: Posted on Categories Marquette Law School, PublicLeave a comment» on Marquette Internship Program

“One must walk before one can run.” This statement is true in almost every facet of life. Do you remember playing football for the first time? It was truly a test of athleticism and courage as well as skill. However, a quarterback does not usually start out by throwing touchdowns. Even the great Brett Favre most likely started at square one. A player usually starts “walking” by playing peewee football. When one starts learning something new, no person typically masters the skill immediately. One needs to practice, practice, practice.

This is the same with the law. Law school classes teach you substantive law. However, you do not necessarily learn all you need to know to practice in the real world. This is where the importance of an internship comes in. I believe that a law school internship is vital to a law school education. I am currently interning with the Wisconsin Supreme Court. My internship is an extremely valuable experience because it is exposing me to the inner workings of our state’s highest court and, at the same time, forcing me to further develop my research and writing skills. An internship can give context to what is learned in law school, teach one valuable legal skills, and also help students’ resumes stand apart.

Continue reading “Marquette Internship Program”

New Issue of Marquette Law Review

By: Posted on Categories Legal Scholarship, Marquette Law School, Public1 Comment on New Issue of Marquette Law Review

Congratulations to the editors of the Marquette Law Review for the publication of Vol. 94, No. 4.  Here are the contents:

MELMS V. PABST BREWING CO. AND THE DOCTRINE OF WASTE IN AMERICAN PROPERTY LAW

Thomas W. Merrill ………………………………………………………………………… 1055

COMMENT ON MERRILL ON THE LAW OF WASTE

Richard A. Posner …………………………………………………………………………. 1095

CONTRACT AND PROCEDURE

Christopher Drahozal & Peter Rutledge ………………………………….. 1103

WISCONSIN’S ANTITRUST LAW: OUTSOURCING THE LEGAL STANDARD

Michael P. Waxman ………………………………………………………………………. 1173

BROKEN SYSTEMS, BROKEN DUTIES: A NEW THEORY FOR SCHOOL FINANCE LITIGATION

Aaron Y. Tang ………………………………………………………………………………. 1195

BARROCK LECTURE: HOW SHOULD WE PUNISH MURDER?

Jonathan Simon …………………………………………………………………………….. 1241

SEC V. DOROZHKO’S AFFIRMATIVE MISREPRESENTATION THEORY OF INSIDER TRADING: AN IMPROPER MEANS TO A PROPER END

Elizabeth A. Odian ……………………………………………………………………….. 1313

THE AMERICAN DREAM DEFERRED: FAMILY SEPARATION AND IMMIGRANT VISA ADJUDICATIONS AT U.S. CONSULATES ABROAD

Cain W. Oulahan …………………………………………………………………………… 1351

GENDER AND JUDGING

Diane S. Sykes ………………………………………………………………………………. 1381

Typography for Lawyers

By: Posted on Categories Legal Education, Legal Practice, Legal Writing, Public2 Comments on Typography for Lawyers

“The four most important typographic choices you make in any document are point size, line spacing, line length, and font, because those choices determine how the body text looks.” Matthew Butterick, Typography for Lawyers: Essential Tools for Polished and Persuasive Documents, “Summary of Key Rules” (2010).

Does that sentence make any sense to you? If so, find Butterick’s book: you will love it.

If not, run out and get Butterick’s book: you need it.

After running a website on typography for lawyers, www.typographyforlawyers.com, Matthew Butterick last year published a book on the subject. The book seems designed to do for typography what Bryan Garner’s work has done on matters of style and usage—to convince more lawyers that this “small stuff” matters in their writing, in their approach to the practice.

Indeed, Butterick’s belief that “typography” should become part of the vocabulary and professional awareness of lawyers forms the “core principles” of his book:

  1. Good typography is part of good lawyering.
  2. Typography in legal documents should be held to the same standards as any professionally published material. Why? Because legal documents are professionally published material. (Corollary: much of what lawyers consider “proper” legal typography is an accumulation of bad habits and urban legends. These myths will be set aside in favor of professional typographic habits.)
  3. Any lawyer can master the essentials of good typography.

Continue reading “Typography for Lawyers”

The Original Intent of the Recall Power

By: Posted on Categories Constitutional Interpretation, Election Law, Legal History, Political Processes & Rhetoric, Public, Wisconsin Law & Legal System1 Comment on The Original Intent of the Recall Power

Some opponents of the effort to recall Governor Scott Walker have claimed that the recall provisions of the Wisconsin State Constitution are intended solely to permit the recall of elected officials when they have engaged in criminal or grossly unethical conduct. The latest example of this claim can be seen in the column by Jonathan Rupperecht that appeared in the November 3rd edition of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. In it, Mr. Rupperecht says, “Recalls are designed as special interventions when elected officials become guilty of serious malfeasance in office or when they engage in illegal actions or indulge in offensively immoral behavior.”

This statement is objectively false. The recall provisions contained in the Wisconsin State Constitution were never intended to be limited in such a fashion. The original design of the right of recall is, in fact, intended to permit voters to recall elected officials for virtually any reason so long as the procedural mechanisms of the State Constitution are followed.

For present purposes, I take no position on whether a recall of Governor Walker based upon his actions since taking office is a good idea. However, Governor Walker’s supporters contend that the original “design” of the recall provisions is limited to circumstances where there is evidence of criminal conduct or a serious ethical violation. In making such claims, Walker’s supporters are attempting to cast doubt on the underlying legitimacy of the proposed recall drive, rather than arguing that the recall is unwise. Assuming that a recall petition against Governor Walker is filed on November 15, it is therefore worthwhile to ask whether the use of the recall power in this instance would be consistent with the original design of Article XIII of the Wisconsin Constitution. The answer to that question is “yes.” Continue reading “The Original Intent of the Recall Power”

Ellen Gilligan: Optimism Amid Big Problems

By: Posted on Categories Education & Law, Marquette Law School, Milwaukee, Milwaukee Public Schools, Public, Speakers at Marquette1 Comment on Ellen Gilligan: Optimism Amid Big Problems

A wave of new leaders is one of the reasons to believe a new initiative to improve Milwaukee’s overall level of educational success can bring progress, one of the most influential of those new leaders said Tuesday at Eckstein Hall.

“I think it’s huge” that people who weren’t part of past events are now stepping into key roles, Ellen Gilligan, president and CEO of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, told Mike Gousha, the Law School’s distinguished fellow in law and public policy in the last “On the Issues” session for this semester.

Gilligan is the key figure behind the recent launching of Milwaukee Succeeds, an effort that has brought together more than 40 key leaders and organizations with the goal of improving Milwaukee’s record in moving children successfully “from cradle to career,” to use the effort’s subtitle. Continue reading “Ellen Gilligan: Optimism Amid Big Problems”

Reflections from a Semester Abroad

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It is as though I am back in my college years, spending my semester abroad. This fall I am living in the beautiful city of Leuven, Belgium, a city of about 100,000 people and located about twenty miles outside of Brussels. I am teaching at the Catholic University of Leuven Law School’s Criminology Institute where there is a vibrant and well-known restorative justice department. A group of professors here, led by highly respected Dr. Ivo Aertsen, as well as many Ph.D. students and researchers, are examining and writing about the impact of restorative justice programs in many different countries and cultures.

The university was founded in 1425, making it the oldest Catholic university in the world. There are 40,000 students here (and I think they all ride bicycles). I also have the privilege of living in what is called the Groot Beginjnof (or for us French speakers “the Grand Beguinage.”) In about 1325, groups of women from the Low Countries decided to create their own religious communities and build small towns in which they lived. They were strong, independent women who did not want to attach themselves to religious orders (and wanted to maintain control over their personal finances rather than give them to the Catholic Church).

Continue reading “Reflections from a Semester Abroad”

SCOTUS to Revisit Life Without Parole for Juveniles

By: Posted on Categories Criminal Law & Process, Public, U.S. Supreme CourtLeave a comment» on SCOTUS to Revisit Life Without Parole for Juveniles

Yesterday, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in two new cases that will test the limits of the Court’s important 2010 ruling in Graham v. Florida, which banned the sentence of life without possibility of parole for most juvenile offenders.  Graham recognized an exception, however, for juveniles convicted of homicide.  It is this exception that is at issue in the two new cases, both of which involve fourteen-year-old killers.

The two cases are Miller v. Alabama (opinion below: 63 So. 3d 676 (Ala. Crim. App. 2010)) and Jackson v. Hobbs (2011 Ark. 49).  The question granted in each case is the same, and they are to be argued together.  It appears that the defendants are presenting a categorical challenge to the constitutionality of “LWOP” as applied to fourteen-year-olds.

Continue reading “SCOTUS to Revisit Life Without Parole for Juveniles”

The Libya Intervention: Legality and Lessons (Part III)

By: Posted on Categories International Law & Diplomacy, Public1 Comment on The Libya Intervention: Legality and Lessons (Part III)

In my last two posts, I discussed some of the legal and practical issues raised by the U.S. intervention in Libya, including the issue of whether the Obama Administration violated the War Powers Resolution by declining to seek congressional approval for participation in the conflict. Although there is room for debate, I concluded that the Administration probably did violate the Resolution insofar as the statutory meaning of “hostilities” aligns with the word’s colloquial meaning. But the question of meaning probably depends on more than text alone. As with most other questions of statutory interpretation, we should also look to precedent as an interpretive guide. My purpose in this post is to identify some relevant precedent and discuss how it might affect the analysis. Continue reading “The Libya Intervention: Legality and Lessons (Part III)”

Recent College Football Realignments Are Nothing New

By: Posted on Categories Public, Sports & LawLeave a comment» on Recent College Football Realignments Are Nothing New

The realignment of major college football conferences has been one of the most important sports stories of the fall. As teams shift from one conference to another, many commentators have described these happenings as unprecedented, and in the minds of many, these developments appear to threaten the stability of college athletics. Rumor has it that the National Sports Law Institute is planning to hold a conference on the legal implications of such changes.

However, the wailing and gnashing of teeth reflects more than anything else a lack of historical awareness on behalf of the wailers and the gnashers. In reality, the history of college athletic conferences has largely been a story of instability and change and not of stability and respect for tradition.

First of all, conferences themselves have come and gone on a fairly regular basis over the history of college sports. For example, most of the major football-playing conferences of today were created in the past half-century. There are currently eleven Football Bowl Division college conferences (Division 1-A, in the previous nomenclature), and 14 Football Championship Division conferences (formerly Division 1-AA). Only three of the former and three of the later (6 of 24 conferences) existed in 1952. As late as 1974, only 6 of the 11 I-A conferences and 3 of the 14 I-AA conferences of today had yet appeared. The remaining 16 were created after 1974. Four of the 11 current FBS conferences—Big 12, Mountain West, Conference USA, and Big East football—were created in the 1990’s. Continue reading “Recent College Football Realignments Are Nothing New”

A Belated Review of Criminal Cases in the Supreme Court Last Term

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At Life Sentences Blog, I’ve just finished a series of posts reviewing the Supreme Court’s criminal cases from last term.  In light of their belated nature, I have not cross-posted them, but here are the links: