Dakota Disc Update Issues

It was reported yesterday on the USD Law list-serv that the South Dakota Statutes on the August 2013 Dakota Disc may not be completely updated. We checked with the Seventh Judicial Circuit technology administrator who confirmed that certain statutes on Dakota Disc do not reflect all changes in the pocket parts to the print South Dakota Codified Laws. In particular, we were directed to South Dakota Codified Laws Sections 23A-27-21.1 and 23A-27-21.2. These code provisions do not appear on the August 2013 version of Dakota Disc. Updates to other provisions also may be missing.

On the Legislative Research Council (LRC) website, use the "Statute Quick Find" search to locate South Dakota Codified Laws Sections 23A-27-21.1, 23A-27-21.2 and other code sections. You also may use West's South Dakota Codified Laws in print (located in the Reserve Room and on the main floor of the McKusick Law Library), WestlawNext, LexisAdvance, or Bloomberg Law for South Dakota statutory research.

Hat tip to Jeff Hurd and Cliff Crawford for their information and assistance.

Principles, Standards and Competencies for Legal Research

Based upon the need for improved legal research skills in law students and attorneys, as perceived by legal employers and legal academics, the American Association of Law Librarians (AALL) has developed its Principles and Standards for Legal Research Competency. As explained by AALL, the Principles are "broad statements of foundational, enduring values" for skilled legal research:

I. A successful legal researcher possesses foundational knowledge of the legal system and legal information sources.
II. A successful legal researcher gathers information through effective and efficient research strategies.
III. A successful legal researcher critically evaluates information.
IV. A successful legal researcher applies information effectively to resolve a specific issue or need.
V. A successful legal researcher distinguishes between ethical and unethical uses of information, and understands the legal issues associated with the discovery, use, or application of information.

The intent of AALL in formulating these Principles, and the accompanying Standards and Competencies, is that the Principles be applied in teaching legal research in law schools, evaluating bar applicants' legal research skills, developing continuing legal education programs, and conducting law firm training programs. In particular, the Principles can be used to assess legal research skills at any time in a legal professional's career.

On December 6th, AALL launched its online information center to promote the Principles and Standards within the legal profession. This center includes readings on legal research competency and provides opportunities to share best practices and assessment methods. In its outreach program, the center will compile information on how the Principles and Standards may be used by law schools, law firms, courts, and bar examiners.

Library Hours - Winter Break

With the exception of December 24 and December 25, the McKusick Law Library will be open to the public during the week of Monday, December 23 to Friday, December 27 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  The Law Library will be closed for the holiday break on Tuesday, December 24 and Wednesday, December 25.  The Law Library is also closed to the public on Saturday, December 28 and Sunday, December 29. On those days that the library will be open during the week of the 23rd, assistance will be available at the Circulation/Reference Desk from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and a reference librarian will be available from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the library offices.  If you need assistance at that time, please go to the room number posted at the Circulation/Reference Desk. 

On Monday, December 30 and Tuesday, December 31, the Law Library will be open to the public from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with desk staffing from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and reference assistance available until 5:00 p.m.  The Law Library will be closed Wednesday, January 1.  The library will resume a normal schedule on Thursday, January 2.  During the entire period of Winter Break (including Dec. 24, 25, and Jan. 1), students will continue to have 24/7 access to the Law Library using their swipe cards.

For those visiting the law library over Winter Break, be sure to stop by the Circulation/Reference Desk and check out our holiday tree, made of repurposed books.  Happy holidays!

Excuse Our Mess and Noise

Please be aware that on Wednesday, December 18, USD facilities and grounds staff will be dismantling and relocating shelving units throughout McKusick Law Library.  This process may result in extra noise and disruption.  However, the library will be open regular hours from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and the relocation should not affect access to any of the library's materials.

Bill of Rights Day

Monday, December 15th, was Bill of Rights Day. The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, known as the "Bill of Rights," were added to the Constitution as limitations on the powers of the federal government. Drafted by James Madison, the Bill of Rights was based on the Virginia Declaration of Rights. On December 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights took effect following their ratification by three-fourths of the thirteen states. For more information on the history of the Bill of Rights, visit the National Archives Museum website.

To observe Bill of Rights Day, the McKusick Law Library has prepared a display of selected resources related to the Bill of Rights. Included in the display are several law review articles authored by University of South Dakota School of Law professors, available on the Law School's Selected Works site: David S. Day, Some Reflections on Modern Free Exercise Doctrine: A Review Essay, 55 S.D.L. Rev. 498 (2010), Chris Hutton, Sir Walter Raleigh Revived: The Supreme Court Re-Vamps Two Decades of Confrontation Clause Precedent in Crawford v. Washington, 50 S.D.L. Rev. 41 (2005), Chris Hutton, The Landscape of Search and Seizure: Observations on Recent Decisions from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, 51 S.D.L. Rev. 51 (2006), and Jonathan K. Van Patten, In the End is the Beginning: An Inquiry into the Meaning of the Religion Clauses, 27 St. Louis U. L.J. 1 (1983).

Books from the Library's collection on the display are:

James Madison and the Struggle for the Bill of Rights/ By Richard Labunski

Limited Government and the Bill of Rights/ By University of South Dakota School of Law Professor Patrick M. Garry

Living the Bill of Rights/By Nat Hentoff

The Bill of Rights/By Akhil Reed Amar

The Complete Bill of Rights: The Drafts, Debates, Sources, and Origins/Edited by Neil H. Cogan

The Law Library's recent Health Law Resources Display is located on one of the bookcases just inside the front entrance. Included in the display are recent acquisitions concerning health law, an ABA newsletter, and a screen shot of available resources on Bloomberg Law. Some items of interest are Risks of Prescription Drugs, Worried Sick, Health Care Reform ,Hospital Merger, Health Care Law and Ethics in a Nutshell and Medical Records and the Law. Check out Hein Online for other titles in Health Law. One article on display is "Is Sugar the New Tobacco: How to Regulate Toxic Foods" 22 Annals Health Law 138 (2013).

80th Anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition

Last week, on December 5th, the United States marked the 80th anniversary of the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution. The Eighteenth Amendment, ratified in 1919, prohibited "the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof" from the United States and its territories. (Note that there was no restriction upon the consumption of alcohol.) This Amendment was repealed by the Twenty-first Amendment, ratified on December 5, 1933.

To celebrate the 80th anniversary of Prohibition's repeal, the ABA Journal created its own "legally-themed" cocktail, the "Mens Rea," or "guilty mind." Why celebrate with a cocktail? Prohibition brought about a "renaissance of cocktail creation," as a way to make moonshine whiskey and bathtub gin more palatable, according to The Voice of America.

The following resources in the McKusick Law Library shed more light on the reform movement that led to Prohibition, the struggle to enforce prohibition statutes, the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment by conventions in the states instead of by state legislatures, and the impact of Prohibition on the development of legal thought.

Shaping the 18th Amendment:Temperance Reform, Legal Culture, and the Polity/By Richard F. Hamm

Ill Starred Prohibition Cases: A Study in Judicial Pathology/By Forrest Revere Black (published in 1931 and particularly interesting for its stirring foreword by Clarence Darrow)

The Amendments to the Constitution: A Commentary/By George Anastaplo (Chapter 14)

Ratification of the Twenty-First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States: State Convention Records and Laws/Compiled by Everett Somerville Brown

Federal Criminal Law Doctrines: The Forgotten Influence of National Prohibition/By Kenneth M. Murchison

Nelson Mandela (1918-2013)

Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa and African National Congress leader, passed away last Thursday at the age of 95.  Mandela, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, served 27 years of a life prison sentence and devoted his life to end the system of apartheid in South Africa. In 1994, he became the first black president to lead South Africa.  An article from the ABA Journal is available here, acknowledging Mandela's role in teaching his nation -- and beyond -- the importance of the "rule of law" as opposed to "rule by law."  The article also provides links to other news sources.

In recognition of Mandela's contributions to the rule of law, the law library is currently featuring a display which highlights several print titles in the library's collection concerning the history of South Africa and the movement against apartheid.  Especially featured is Politics by Other Means: Law in the Struggle Against Apartheid, 1980-1994, by Richard L. Abel, with a foreword written by Nelson Mandela.  The display also features an article available from HeinOnline: Daisy M. Jenkins, From Apartheid to Majority Rule: A Glimpse Into South Africa's Journey Toward Democracy, 13 Ariz. J. Int'l & Comp. L. 463 (1996).

Those interested in learning more about the life of Nelson Mandela may want to visit the Nelson Mandela Centre for Memory, a digital archive project which aims to "locate, document, digitise, and provide access to all archival materials related to Nelson Mandela."  The Centre offers several digital exhibits chronicling different periods in Mandela's life, from his early life and imprisonment, to his presidential and retirement years.  Other exhibits focus on personal aspects of Mandela's life, such as his love of children and commitment to charitable work on behalf of youth in South Africa and around the world.  Each exhibit offers detailed information woven together with digitized documents.  For example, the exhibit on Mandela's prison years offers digital images of his Warrants of Committal, photographs of Mandela's cell and the prison, and letters to family members and others.  A smuggled letter from Mandela to his attorneys is featured in the law library's display.

What Legal Employers Want from Recent Law School Grads

According to a recent study conducted by faculty at the University of Dayton School of Law and reported by the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, legal employers want law grads with both developed people and research skills. Interestingly, it was noted that employers wanted new grads to be able to conduct research of primary and secondary authority. Further, it was specifically mentioned that law grads should be able to conduct secondary authority research in both print and electronic formats.

Looking for a tune-up on your legal research skills? The law library offers several titles devoted to legal research skills:

Legal Research in a Nutshell / By the late Morris L. Cohen and Kent C. Olson

Fundamentals of Legal Research / By J. Myron Jacobstein, Roy M. Mersky, and Donald J. Dunn

Legal Research Guide: Patterns and Practice / By Bonita K. Roberts and Linda L. Schlueter

Law students may also want to consider the CALI lessons which focus on Legal Research. Registration is required for law students. If you are not registered, see a law librarian about obtaining an authorization code.

(This entry was originally posted by Darla Jackson)

From "Dust Mites" to the Digital Age: Making Constitutional Historical Sources Available to the Legal Community

For those that are interested in the history of the Constitution and issues of original meaning, a Supreme Court case worth following is NLRB v. Canning. The case was brought by a Washington state company that appealed a decision of a panel the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Two of the three members of the NLRB panel at the time of the decision were appointed by President Obama during a Senate recess in 2012. The company has argued that the NLRB decision is invalid because the recess appointments were unconstitutional. Attorneys on both sides of the issue have focused on the historical meaning of the recess appointments clause in Article II, Section 2, which gives the president "power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate."

A recent article in the National Law Journal focused on the efforts of the attorneys on both sides of the case to obtain historical documents to assist them in determining what was originally intended by the recess appointments clause. Text from the article is also available here from the Constitutional Accountability Center. Specifically, the attorneys utilized the help of a digital library project called ConSource (The Constitutional Sources Project), which has been digitizing many of the historical documents that are relevant to the Canning case, such as letters written by Attorney General Edmund Randolph in the 1790s which discuss the recess power. Making the documents accessible digitally allows for greater access outside the "dusty" corners of archives and also makes the documents searchable. Click here for more information about ConSource.

For further reading on Constitutional history and issues of original meaning, consider some of the Law Library's titles, including:

Original Intent and the Framers of the Constitution: A Disputed Question / By Harry V. Jaffa with Bruce Ledewitz, Robert L. Stone, and George Anastaplo

Original Intent and the Constitution: A Philosophical Study / By Gregory Bassham

Original Intent and the Framers' Constitution / By Leonard W. Levy

Tribal Sovereign Immunity Case Pending Before the Supreme Court

The Prairie Law Blog recently posted an update to the "Baby Veronica" case regarding the claims of the child's adoptive parents to collect attorneys' fees from the birth father and the Cherokee Nation, and the arguments of the Cherokee Nation that tribal sovereign immunity bars their claim for fees.  The post is available both here and here. 

Tribal sovereign immunity is also at issue in the pending U.S. Supreme Court case, Michigan v. Bay Mills Indian Community, in which oral arguments were just heard on Dec. 2.  (A transcript of the oral arguments is available here.)  The case involves a gaming facility operated by the Bay Mills Indian Community (Bay Mills) near its reservation in Northern Michigan and in close proximity to another facility operated by the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (LTBBO).  The LTBBO and the State of Michigan sought to enjoin operation of the facility, as Bay Mills had not followed the formal process of first placing the off-reservation lands into trust.  While the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled in favor of Bay Mills and continued operation of the facility, the case was successfully brought to the U.S. Supreme Court by the State of Michigan.  Indian Country Today has published several articles regarding this case, including a two-part series by Ryan Seelau and Ian Record which contains a detailed analysis of the legal issues presented as well as four speculated possible outcomes of the case.  Those two articles are available here and here. 

According to Seelau and Record, Bay Mills' defense rests on complex issues involving jurisdiction, tribal sovereign immunity and the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA).  When the Supreme Court issues its decision, it will have a great impact on the tribal sovereign immunity doctrine.  Due to the far-reaching implications of the case, Seelau and Record offer suggestions on how tribes can begin preparing now for possible outcomes.      

In addition to the law library's resources on tribal sovereign immunity, the law library also has several resources which focus on the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and gaming policy:

Indian Gaming Law and Policy / By Kathryn R.L. Rand and Steven Andrew Light
 
Indian Gaming and Tribal Sovereignty: The Casino Compromise / By Steven Andrew Light and Kathryn R.L. Rand

States and the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act / By Pam Greenberg and Judy Zelio

International Human Rights Day

December 10, 2013 is International Human Rights Day.  This day is observed to mark the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948.  The year 2013 marks 20 years since the creation of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Vienna World Conference of Human Rights.  Accordingly, this year's theme is "20 Years Working For Your Rights."  For more information on this year's commemoration of International Human Rights Day, see the UN's Human Rights Day webpage.  The UN site also provides a timeline of achievements in human rights that have occurred in the last 20 years. To learn more about the origins and history of Human Rights Day, information is available here from the Library of Congress.

Please also take a moment to visit the Law Library's current display which features materials from our collection concerning international human rights, including the 2nd edition of Professor Jo Pasqualucci's book, The Practice and Procedure of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (2012).

National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day and World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument

On December 7, 1941, Japanese military planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. The attack killed more than 2,000 American military personnel and many civilians. This Saturday, December 7, 2013, is National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day pursuant to 36 U.S.C. §129. This statute requests that the President issue a proclamation asking the people of the United States to observe this day with ceremonies and activities, and United States governmental units and others to fly the United States flag at halfstaff in honor of those who died as a result of their service at Pearl Harbor. In Yankton, the Elks Lodge will hold a "Remembering Pearl Harbor" event on Saturday evening, with a presentation of "The Sleeping Giant Awakens" by University of South Dakota Law School Professor Roger Baron.


To coincide with the recognition of Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day in 2008, President George W. Bush issued a proclamation establishing the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument pursuant to his authority under 16 U.S.C. §431 (the "Antiquities Act"). This Monument encompasses nine historic sites in three states. Five of the sites are in Pearl Harbor, including the USS ARIZONA Memorial and Visitor Center, the USS UTAH Memorial, the USS OKLAHOMA Memorial, the six Chief Petty Officer Bungalows on Ford Island, and mooring quays F6, F7, and F8 which constituted part of Battleship Row. Three sites are in Alaska's Aleutian Islands, including the crash sites of a Consolidated B-24D Liberator bomber on Atka Island, the site of Japan's occupation on Kiska Island, and the Attu Island battle ground. The ninth site is the Japanese-American internment camp at Tule Lake in California.

Free Coffee During Finals

Studying for law school exams and in need of a little caffeine boost?  The law school and law library are offering free coffee during finals from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  The coffee is available at the Circulation/Reference Desk in the law library.  Please come and help yourself.  However, the library staff asks that you please be careful with open coffee containers in the library.