Ten Great Novels About the Supreme Court

10 Great Novels About the Supreme Court by  lawyer in Arnold & Porter’s appellate and Supreme Court practice and author of The Advocate’s Daughter , Anthony Franze

At the U.S. Supreme Court, a single vote can alter the outcome of the country’s most hot-button disputes – abortion, affirmative action, campaign finance, gun control and immigration, to name a few. So it’s no surprise that within minutes after the announcement of Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, members of Congress began drawing battle lines about the next nominee. Conspiracy theories flashed across the Internet. And with President Barack Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland, the battle rages on.

The Supreme Court is back in the spotlight. It’s not the first time, and won’t be the last. If you’re interested in the high court, but want an escape from the pundits and political theater of the coming months, several novels have explored the mysteries of 1 First Street. Here are 10 notables:

1. Murder in the Supreme Court by Margaret Truman
2. The Tenth Justice by Brad Meltzer
3. Nine Scorpions in a Bottle by Max Lerner
4. Supreme Courtship by Christopher Buckley
5. The Pelican Brief by John Grisham
6. Supreme Justice by Phillip Margolin
7. Supreme Justice by Max Allan Collins
8. Supreme Ambitions by David Lat
9. Allegiance by Kermit Roosevelt
10. Tuttle in the Balance by Jay Wexler

Murder in the Supreme Court, The Tenth Justice, Nine Scorpions in a Bottle, and Supreme Courtship are all available in our collection for check out.

Read the entire article here.

 

Happy Birthday, Thomas Jefferson!

It is the 273rd anniversary of Thomas Jefferson’s birth today. Please come join us in the library tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. to have some cake to celebrate. While you are there, please check out our Thomas Jefferson collection located near the circulation desk, next to our study aids collection. We also have a display of United States currency featuring Thomas Jefferson, generously on loan from Professor Steve Semeraro.

Happy National Library Week!

Celebrate National Library Week 2016 (April 10-16) with the theme “Libraries Transform”

We will celebrate National Library Week with a few events. On Thursday, April 14, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. in the library lobby, please join us for cake to celebrate both National Library Week and Thomas Jefferson’s birthday (which is on April 13th). While you’re there, take a look at our display of U.S. currency featuring Thomas Jefferson, generously on loan from Professor Steve Semeraro.

Starting on Monday and continuing all week, there is a legal research trivia contest open to students. A correct entry in the trivia contest enters you into a drawing to win a gift certificate to Macy’s. Handouts of the trivia contest will be available next to the circulation desk on the fourth floor library.

Also starting on Monday and lasting all week, we will have a student survey on library services. After completing the anonymous survey, you can enter to win a gift certificate to Macy’s. I hope everyone participates in the survey, because we depend on your feedback to improve the library.

You may access the survey here.

 

 

Chief Justice Calls for Webcast of Oral Arguments, Bail Reform

Chief Justice Calls for Webcast of Oral Arguments, Bail Reform by Staff Writer for the California Bar Journal, Amy Yarbrough

In a move aimed at making the state’s court system more transparent, the California Supreme Court will soon start webcasting its oral arguments.

The announcement came during the annual State of the Judiciary address to legislators on March 8, when Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye also highlighted other court improvements and called for reforms, including to the bail system.

The webcasts will begin at the court’s May oral argument sessions in San Francisco, according to Cathal Conneely, a spokesman for the Judicial Council. Although the court’s special outreach sessions with high school and law students have been broadcast online since 2005 and audio and video in other select cases have been made available, webcasts have not been a regular practice until now, Conneely said.

Now in her sixth year as chief justice, Cantil-Sakauye also spoke of the need to eliminate inequities in court fees and fines, which she said have “morphed from a system of accountability to a system that raises revenue for essential government services.”

Of the approximately $1.7 billion the judicial branch brings in each year, more than 60 percent pays for programs at the state and local level. The rest goes back into the court system, she said.

Read the entire article here.