Cornell’s University Computer Policy and Law (UCPL) Program is webcasting two lectures today by Wendy Seltzer, visiting professor at Northeastern University School of Law. Protecting the University from Copyright Bullies airs at 3:00 p.m. EDT, Righting the Copyright Balance at 7:30 EDT. 

If past performance is a guide, the lectures should be available on the UCPL website, which maintains a video archive of all past events.

Members of the Santa Clara Law faculty spoke with students on September 17th about noteworthy cases in the Supreme Court term that begins on Monday, October 1st. The faculty panel was introduced by Professor Angelo Ancheta, Director of the Katherine and George Alexander Community Law Clinic, and included Professors Ellen Kreitzberg, Gerald Uelmen, Margalynne Armstrong, Deep Gulasekaram, Margaret Russell, and Brad Jooneph. A review of the 2006-2007 Supreme Court term will follow on Monday, October 15th.

Among the Supreme Court cases noted were:
 • Hall Street Associates v. Mattel, dealing with standards of review under the Federal Arbitration Act
• Kimbrough v. U.S., challenging sentencing guidelines relating to crack cocaine
• New York City Board of Education v. Tom F., scheduled for oral argument on the first day of the term, examines limitations on parents’ ability to obtain reimbursement for the cost of a private school education for the their disabled children under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
• A petition for certiorari is currently pending in Parker v. District of Columbia, which challenges a ban on handguns in the District of Columbia. Parker could become the first case to strike down a gun statute on Second Amendment grounds, but the Court may not hear the appeal.
• Two Guantanamo Bay cases –  Boumediene v. Bush and Al Odah v. U.S. –  have been consolidated. Apart from their newsworthy topic, the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo, the cases are unusual because certiorari was originally denied in April 2007, but the Justices reconsidered and granted certiorari at the end of June. The Boumediene case is also of interest here at Santa Clara because Professor Beth Van Schaak  wrote an amicus brief for International Humanitarian Law Experts supporting the Petitioners. The brief is available on Westlaw (2007 WL 2441573) and LEXIS (2007 U.S. S. Ct. Briefs LEXIS 621).
• Medellin  v. Texas is a case concerning executive power.  The issue for review in Medellin is whether the President has the authority to make states comply with U.S. treaty obligations under the Vienna Convention by enforcing a decision of the International Court of Justice.

Concluding Monday’s discussion, Professor Joondeph called the audience’s attention to three additional cases, each of which could have an enormous economic impact:

• Third-party liability (ENRON):  Stoneridge Investment Partners v. Scientific-Atlanta
• Product liability: Riegel v. Medtronic
and
• State Bonds: Department of Revenue of Kentucky v. Davis

Some websites with additional information about the Supreme Court and its past and upcoming terms are:

• The Supreme Court webpage
• SCOTUS Blog / Supreme Court of the U.S. Blog
• Oyez
• On the Docket, Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism
and
• Justia: Supreme Court Cases

From the Chronicle of Higher Education, the second annual Constitution Day quiz by Lawrence Douglas and Alexander George. Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, September 17th, was created by Public Law 108-447 (see 118 Stat. 2809, 3344 - 3345) and requires all educational institutions that receive federal funds to hold an educational program on the Constitution.

The Chronicle is available on LEXIS (NEWS;CHEDUC) and Westlaw (CHONHIGHED), as is the full text of the Constitution (USC on Westlaw and GENFED;USCNST on LEXIS).

Again this year, Westlaw and LEXIS have provided free paperback copies of the United States Constitution for members of the law school community. Pick up yours at the reference desk today.

Out of the Jungle, a blog on legal information, legal research, and legal education, has a posting today about Professor Leah Christensen’s empirical study concluding that critical reading skills are among the best predictors of success in law school. The Christensen paper is in the Spring 2007 issue of the Seattle University Law Review – 30 SEAULR 603 on Westlaw; 30 Seattle Univ. L. R. 603 on LEXIS – and is also available on SSRN and at the University of St. Thomas School of Law website.

Professor Christensen’s study found a correlation between law students’ reading strategies and first semester grades. Part VI of her article, Qualitative Observations, provides examples of reading strategies used by the most successful law students in her study. As she summarizes the successful students’ technique:

•They connected with purpose (they read as a practicing attorney would);
•They established the context of the case before they began to read;
•They worked actively to resolve confusion; and
•They used a diversity of reading strategies and did not overuse a single reading
strategy over others (30 Seattle U. L. Rev. 603, 634).