Honorable Judge Romonda D. Belcher to Speak at Thurgood Marshall Lecture on April 11 - LibGuide and Display

The Honorable Judge Romonda D. Belcher will speak at the annual Thurgood Marshall lecture at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, April 11 in the Law School Courtroom.  Judge Belcher was appointed as an Iowa District Associate Judge on August 20, 2010, becoming the first African American female judge in the State of Iowa. As a District Associate Judge, she presides over various substantive civil and criminal matters, as well as small claims matters.  She also currently presides over Juvenile Court dependency and delinquency cases.  (Jurisdiction of District Associate Judges is governed by Iowa Code Section 602.6306.) 

The title of Judge Belcher's lecture is "The Making of Thurgood Marshall: A Road Paved Perservering Discrimination."

The Law Library has prepared a LibGuide and a display to accompany the lecture.  Both offer additional information about this year's speaker, Judge Romonda D. Belcher, as well as additional background reading on Thurgood Marshall.  Click here to link directly to the LibGuide.

PIN Auction This Thursday, April 10 - Law Library Resources on Public Interest Law

The Public Interest Network (PIN) Auction will be held on Thursday, April 10 at the Eagles Club in downtown Vermillion, beginning at 6:00 p.m. The purpose of the Auction is to raise money for grants for law students interested in pursuing summer pro bono internships in public interest organizations.

For those seeking more information about public interest law, consider the following resources available in the McKusick Law Library:

Bringing Justice to the People: The Story of the Freedom-based Public Interest Law Movement / edited by Lee Edwards

Fifty Unique Legal Paths: How to Find the Right Job / Ursula Furi-Perry
(With a chapter on nonprofit and public interest careers)

Cause Lawyers and Social Movements / edited by Austin Sarat and Stuart A. Scheingold

Building Your Practice With Pro Bono For Lawyers / Nelson P. Miller

Standards for the Provision of Civil Legal Aid / American Bar Association, Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants

Lavender Lecture To Be Held at Law School on Monday, April 7 - Law Library Display

This year's Lavender Lecture, presented by OUTlaws, will feature Professor Dale Carpenter, who is the Earl R. Larson Professor of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Law at the University of Minnesota. Professor Carpenter writes in the areas of constitutional law, First Amendment law, and sexual orientation and the law. Professor Carpenter's lecture will focus on marriage equality, DOMA, and LGBT advocacy.

The lecture will be held Monday, April 7 at 2:00 p.m. in the Law School Courtroom.  The official USD press release is available here. 

The McKusick Law Library is currently featuring a display with offers several articles authored by Professor Carpenter, as well as print resources related to the topic of Professor Carpenter's lecture.

Update on Cherokee Nation v. Nash - Approaching Oral Arguments

Oral arguments have been scheduled in the case of Cherokee Nation v. Nash (D.D.C., Case No. 1:13-cv-01313) for April 28, 2014, upon motion for summary judgment.  The parties' briefs are available here, courtesy of Turtle Talk, the Indigenous Law and Policy Center Blog at Michigan State University College of Law.

UPDATE:  The oral arguments have been rescheduled to Monday, May 5, 2014.  See here.  

The case is part of a larger ongoing dispute between the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and the Cherokee Freedmen, regarding tribal citizenship.  The Cherokee Freedmen, who are descendants of former slaves of the Cherokee, desire to obtain citizenship in the Cherokee Nation.  At issue in the case are provisions of an 1866 Treaty between the Cherokee Nation and the United States as well as the Cherokee Nation's Constitution, and amendments thereto.  Tribal sovereignty is also central to the case in terms of the Cherokee Nation's rights to determine their own membership.

For other news on the case, see the following links to articles from News on 6 (Tulsa, OK) and the Tahlequah Daily Press (Tahlequah, OK):

Cherokee Freedmen Continue Fight for Citizenship (Dan Bewley, News on 6, March 8, 2014)

Interior Files For Motion for Summary Judgment in Freedman Case (Teddye Snell, Tahlequah Daily Press, February 1, 2014)

New Article Regarding Sentencing Disparities for Tribal Citizens in the Dakotas

B.J. Jones and Christopher Ironroad have recently published an article in the North Dakota Law Review titled "Addressing Sentencing Disparities for Tribal Citizens in the Dakotas: A Tribal Sovereignty Approach."

A link to the abstract and a PDF of the article are available here, from Turtle Talk, the Indigenous Law and Policy Center Blog at Michigan State University College of Law.  The citation is 89 N.D. L. Rev. 53.

Sentencing of Native Americans through tribal courts is one of the topics being discussed at the Biennial Indian Law Symposium currently being held at the University of South Dakota School of Law.  The theme of this year's symposium is "Public Safety in Indian Country: Tribal, Federal, and State Responses."  Panel discussions focus on the Tribal Law and Order Act, the Protection of Women, and Tribal, Federal and State Relations.  The Law Library has prepared a LibGuide to accompany the symposium, which is available here. 

Additions to Women's History Month Display - With Thanks to Professor Hutton

The McKusick Law Library has been featuring a display commemorating March as Women's History Month, including several biographies in the library's collection about pioneering women in the legal field.  See our previous post here.

The Law Library is pleased to announce that we have added additional photos and information to the display, featuring some of the first female attorneys in South Dakota, and first women graduates of the University of South Dakota School of Law.  The photos and historical information were provided to the Law Library by Professor Hutton, and the Law Library would like to express our thanks and appreciation to her in making these materials available.

Although Women's History Month officially concluded at the end of March, the new items will continue to be on display through the end of the week.

(The Law Library also thanks Stephanie Trask, Law Library Student Assistant, for her assistance in preparing the materials for the display.)

Biennial Indian Law Symposium To Be Held at USD Law School April 2 to April 4 - LibGuide and Display

The long-standing Biennial Indian Law Symposium will be held at the University of South Dakota Law School from Wednesday, April 2 to Friday, April 4.  The title of the symposium is "Public Safety in Indian Country: Tribal, Federal & State Responses."  The official press release for the symposium is available here. 

The keynote address will feature Brendan Johnson, United States Attorney for the State of South Dakota.  Panels, featuring several experts, will focus on the implementation of the Tribal Law and Order Act, issues involving the protection of women in Indian Country, including amendments to the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), and Tribal and State relations involving public safety.

The Law Library has prepared a LibGuide and display to accompany the symposium, which offer additional resources available on the symposium topics.  To link directly to the LibGuide, click here.