"Welcome to Earth" - Will Smith, Independence Day
Good morning all you Law Buffs and Calves,
“Welcome to Earth.” (Will Smith, Independence Day).
Happy Independence Day from the William A. Wise Law Library! We hope all of you are taking it easy and relaxing.
It is definitely summer. For those of you studying for the bar exam, remember that the law library will be open tomorrow, July 5th! Check out this webpage for more information!
If you need reference or circulation help, please reach out to one of your amazing law librarians. We’re here for you. Feel free to come in, study, relax, beat the heat, or whatever all you cool Law Buffs do in the summer.
The following are 10 interesting articles from the previous week. These articles were pulled from either the: ABA Newsletter, AALL Newsletter, vLex Newsletter, Law360, Law Practice Magazine Newsletter, LexisNexis’ Practical Guidance Newsletter, Bloomberglaw Filings of Note and/or Frontiers Newsletter. Enjoy!
“World Trade Organization Deputy Director-General Angela Ellard said Friday that close trade ties and a strengthened WTO are key to helping solve a recent surge of global calamities.”
“The Texas Supreme Court on Friday upheld a state ban on the manufacture and processing of smokable forms of nonpsychoactive hemp, finding that the hemp purveyors who challenged the law did not have a constitutionally protected interest affected by the ban.”
“A sharply divided Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that developers of a proposed high-speed rail line connecting Dallas and Houston have eminent domain authority, greenlighting the controversial project in a decision one dissenting justice calls a "devastating erosion" of landowner property rights in the state.”
“Conspiracy theorist podcaster Alex Jones lost his bid Friday to delay the payment of $1 million in sanctions ordered by a Texas state court judge in a defamation suit brought by families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting when the court said he is able to pay the fines and still continue defending himself in the proceedings.”
“As other conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices sought to blunt a political firestorm by emphasizing that their decision to overturn women's constitutional abortion rights on Friday was not an attack on other rights, like those protecting birth control and same-sex couples, Justice Clarence Thomas made it clear that the door should be wide open.”
“State and local lawmakers now have new powers to outlaw abortions and punish those who seek or perform the procedure under Friday's U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned abortion as a constitutional right.”
Excerpt: “Fortunately for the good of the nation, access to justice has become an increasingly important issue for many Americans. Law firms have expanded pro bono programs, and CLE courses address the issue. Although substantial challenges remain, at least people are talking about access to justice. But what about access to bankruptcy? If one needs to declare bankruptcy, it stands to reason that one might not be able to afford a lawyer. Although bankruptcy may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of access to justice, it did occur to an upstart 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.”
Excerpt: “On Wednesday, the court reversed the presumption against state jurisdiction, holding that unless Congress acts to preempt state jurisdiction, states can prosecute non-Indians for all crimes committed in Indian country. Writing for the court, Justice Brett Kavanaugh listed several of the court’s precedents that conflicted with the Worcester, concluding that “the Worcester-era understanding of Indian country as separate from the State was abandoned later in the 1800s,” presumably meaning the McBratney and Draper decisions.”
Introduction: ”The Supreme Court on Thursday truncated the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate greenhouse gases. The ruling may hamper President Joe Biden’s plan to fight climate change and could limit the authority of federal agencies across the executive branch. By a vote of 6-3, the court agreed with Republican-led states and coal companies that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was wrong when it interpreted the Clean Air Act to give the EPA expansive power over carbon emissions.”
Excerpt: “The doctrine at the heart of the case is known as the “independent state legislature” theory—the idea that, under the Constitution, only the legislature has the power to regulate federal elections, without interference from state courts. Proponents of the theory point to the Constitution’s elections clause, which gives state legislatures the power to set the ‘Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives.’”