Update to Law Library Services and Hours - Winter Break

The Law Library will be closing to the public at noon on December 24.  For more information about the Law Library's hours and services over the Winter Break, please see our previous post here. 

Happy holidays! 

Study Shows Waiting for Bar Exam Results Can Be Stressful

With the fall semester finals at USD Law now in the books, law students can attest to the anxiety that comes along with waiting for their scores.  The same is true for many bar exam takers, and a new study provides data indicating that those taking the bar exam are significantly stressed immediately after the exam and also in the weeks before the results were released.  The article, by Kate Sweeney and Sara Andrews, is titled Mapping Individual Differences in the Experiences of a Waiting Period, and it appears in a recent issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.  For the article, Sweeney and Andrews tracked 50 law school graduates who took the California bar exam in 2011. 

A recent post by the TaxProf Blog provides the abstract of the article, as well as comments from author Kate Sweeney, who is a professor of psychology at the University of California - Riverside. 

New Justice Department Guidance on Marijuana Sales and Use on Native American Reservations

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released an October guidance memorandum regarding enforcement of federal marijuana laws on Native American reservations.  The memorandum, available here, indicates that with regard to enforcement, "each United States Attorney should consult with the affected tribes on a government-to-government basis."

There has been fairly extensive coverage of the memorandum in the press, with a recent article appearing in the Los Angeles Times, which quotes U.S. Attorney Timothy Purdon of North Dakota, who chairs the Attorney General’s Subcommittee on Native American Issues, and U.S. Attorney John Walsh of Colorado.

According to the Los Angeles Times article, "the Justice Department will generally not attempt to enforce federal marijuana laws on federally recognized tribes that choose to allow it, as long as they meet eight federal guidelines, including that marijuana not be sold to minors and not be transported to areas that prohibit it."  Purdon is quoted for the proposition that "the federal government will continue to legally support those tribes that wish to ban marijuana, even in states that now permit its sale."  In fact, the memorandum was issued in response to tribal governments seeking clarification as to whether the DOJ would recognize tribal marijuana bans in states where recreational use has been legalized (see article from the Washington Post here).  

While the news coverage of the memorandum has varied, most coverage has framed the issue as one of tribal sovereignty.   As Purdon stated in the Los Angeles Times article, "the tribes have the sovereign right to set the code on their reservations."

Other news coverage is available here from U.S. News and World Report, here from USA Today, and here from the ABA Journal. 

Law Library Services and Hours - Winter Break

Effective today, the McKusick Law Library will be modifying circulation and reference service hours for the Winter Break.  Circulation and reference services will be available from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.  During the Winter Break, the Law Library will be open to the public from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, except for designated state or federal holidays.  The McKusick Law Library will be closed Thursday, December 25 and Friday, December 26.  The Law Library will also be closed on Thursday, January 1. 

Law classes resume on Wednesday, January 7.  Stay tuned to the Prairie Law Blog and the McKusick Law Library LibGuide for our service hours effective for the spring semester.

Library Hours - Thursday, December 11

The Law Library will be closing today to the public at our normal closing time of 5:00 p.m.  However, circulation and reference services for law students will not be available after 5:00 p.m. today. 

Tomorrow (Friday, December 12) is the last day of the finals period for law students.  Please stay tuned to the Prairie Law Blog for updates regarding circulation and reference service hours during the winter break.  Law classes resume on Wednesday, January 7. 

Update in Apple iPod Class Action Antitrust Case

Last week, the Prairie Law Blog posted about the beginning of the trial in a class action lawsuit against Apple, in which the plaintiffs alleged that Apple violated antitrust laws by preventing certain models of iPods from playing songs that were not purchased via Apple's iTunes Store.

The ABA Journal recently reported that the judge presiding over the trial disqualified the one remaining lead plaintiff, because she did not purchase the iPod device within the time period required by the class action lawsuit.  The judge ordered counsel for the plaintiffs to find a substitute lead plaintiff as soon as possible for the trial to proceed.  Bloomberg News reports here on efforts to name a new lead plaintiff in the case. 

Stay up-to-date with developments in the case via Bloomberg News' Antitrust Litigation news page here. 

ABA TECHREPORT Summarizes 2014 Trends in Legal Technology

For more than a decade, the American Bar Association (ABA) has published a yearly Legal Technology Survey Report, based on the results of a survey of practicing attorneys about their technology use and choices of technology.  Copies of the official survey report are available for purchase from the ABA. 

Beginning in 2013, the ABA began publishing the TECHREPORT, which includes articles that summarize the data available in the official report and provide additional analysis.  These articles are written by experts in the field of legal technology.  This year's TECHREPORT is available here, with links to each of the 10 articles, which cover the following topics:  Security, Cloud Computing, Practice Management, Blogging and Social Media, Technology Training, Legal Research, Mobile Technology, Virtual Law Practice, Litigation Technology, and Solo and Small Firm Technology. 

The 2013 ABA TECHREPORT is also available here from the ABA. 

The Debate Over C.O.O.L. Heats Up With U.S. Appeal of WTO Decision

Country-of-Origin Labeling (or C.O.O.L for short) has been a long-debated topic on the international level.  U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rules promulgated under 2008 legislation passed by Congress require country-of-origin labeling on packaged cuts of meat, as well as some fruits and vegetables.  (See the USDA's fact sheet here regarding labeling for meat and chicken.)  These rules have been targeted by Canada and Mexico, who claim that the labeling requirements put their products at a disadvantage with American consumers.  These countries won success in a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling 3 years ago, which held that the U.S. rules were illegal in their discrimination against imported meat, according to a recent article from Reuters News here. 

The U.S. appealed the initial ruling and new labeling regulations were promulgated by the USDA in 2013 (see the recent article published by AgWeek).  However, the most recent WTO ruling in October 2014 determined that the new regulations were still non-compliant.  On November 28, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative appealed this subsequent ruling. 

According to an article by the Minnesota Star-Tribune, the appeal and the labeling requirements are supported by the National Farmers Union, while many meatpackers oppose C.O.O.L. because it increases costs and paperwork.  A blog post (written by the President of the National Farmers Union) on "The Hill" Blog indicates that the majority of Americans support the labeling, based on a public opinion poll.

Interested in more information about international trade and agriculture?  Consider one of the following titles available in the McKusick Law Library:

International Trade and Economic Relations in a Nutshell / by Ralph H. Folsom, Michael Wallace Gordon, John A. Spanogle, & Michael P. Van Alstine

Agriculture in the New Global Economy / by William Coleman, Wyn Grant & Tim Josling

Come Visit Our Holiday Book Tree and Donate to the NALSA Toy Drive

Q: How many books does it take to make a 6 foot holiday tree in the Law Library?

A:  A lot!

The Law Library invites you to come take a look at our holiday tree on the main floor of the library.  The tree is made out of books from the upper level of the library -- mostly green, with a few other colors interspersed for "ornaments"!

Also, the Law Library is happy to be partnering with the USD Law Native American Law Students Association (NALSA) to collect donations for the NALSA Toy Drive in the bins by the tree.  The NALSA Toy Drive provides gifts during the holiday season to Native American children in need.  Suggested donation items include color books, crayons, markers, nail sets, crafts, books, dolls, cars, hair accessories or toys of any kind.

December is Universal Human Rights Month - Law Library Display

The month of December is recognized as Universal Human Rights Month, and December 10 is International Human Rights Day.  International Human Rights Day commemorates the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations in 1948.  For more information about Human Rights Day, see the UN's website here.  A copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is available here. 

In the spirit of these observances, the Law Library is currently featuring a display with resources on international human rights law.  Especially featured is the recent 2nd edition of USD Law Professor Jo Pasqualucci's book, The Practice and Procedure of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (2012), as well as a CALI lesson on Human Rights Research authored by USD Law Library Director Darla Jackson.  Other print and electronic resources on human rights law offered by the Law Library are also included on the display.

The display also features information about the UN's theme for this year's International Human Rights Day which is "Human Rights 365." This year's theme encompasses the idea that every day is Human Rights Day and that that "each one of us, everywhere, at all times is entitled to the full range of human rights." The UN is encouraging the international community to support human rights via social media using the tag #rights365.  More information on the UN's social media campaign is available here. 

Plaintiffs Seek a Bite out of Apple in Class Action Lawsuit

A trial in a class action lawsuit brought against Apple commenced this week in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.  The class includes consumers who purchased certain iPod models between specified dates in 2006 and 2009.  The class plaintiffs claim that Apple violated antitrust laws by preventing (in the form of required software updates) these models of iPods from playing songs that were not purchased via Apple's iTunes Store.  The plaintiffs allege that Apple diminished the market for other music players and thus raised iPod prices higher than they would have been otherwise.

Apple contends that the software updates were necessary for product improvements and security of the devices.  A detailed summary of the litigation (which began in 2005) is available here from c|Net.

Emails from former Apple president Steve Jobs are included as evidence in the trial and a video deposition of Jobs will be played posthumously in court later this week.  More information about the ongoing trial is available here from Reuters News. 

Interested in more information about Antitrust Law or class action lawsuits?  Professor Thomas Horton has written many articles in the area of Antitrust Law which are available via his USD Law Selected Works author page here.  Consider also some of the following titles available in the Law Library:

Antitrust Law: An Analysis of Antitrust Principles and Their Application / Phillip E. Areeda

Federal Antitrust Policy: The Law of Competition and its Practice / Herbert Hovenkamp

Consumer Class Actions / Stuart T. Rossman, et al.

Class Actions and Other Multi-Party Litigation in a Nutshell / Robert H. Klonoff

Finals Are Here... And So Is Free Coffee!

The Law Library and the Law School administration are pleased to again provide free coffee at the Circulation/Reference Desk during the finals period.  The coffee will be available from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. weekdays throughout the finals period (Monday, December 1 through Friday, December 5, and Monday, December 8 through Friday, December 12).

Please stop by for a caffeine boost!  Styrofoam cups (and sugar/sweetener) are provided, but feel free to bring the container of your choice.