The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations is holding a hearing today on Apple, Inc.'s use of complex structures of foreign subsidiaries to minimize or avoid U.S. income taxes (e.g., "Dutch-Irish sandwiches") and subsidiaries that have no country of residence. 

The following documents are currently available: 

• Subcomittee memoradum by Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI) and John McCain (R-AZ)
• Exhibits

Video of the hearing is available from the Subcomittee's website.

Witness List:

Panel #1:

• J. Richard Harvey (Villanova) Testimony
• Stephen E. Shay (Harvard) Testimony

Panel #2: 

• Timothy D. Cook (Chief Executive Officer, Apple) Testimony
• Peter Oppenheimer (Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, Apple) Testimony
• Phillip A. Bullock (Head of Tax Operations, Apple) Testimony

Panel #3: 

• Mark J. Mazur (Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, U.S. Treasury Department) Testimony
• Samuel M. Maruca (Director, Transfer Pricing Operations, Large Business & International (LB&I) Division, IRS) Testimony

In November, we posted about the IRS's digital release of 10 years' worth of tax-exempt organization returns, which contained more than 6.5 million documents.

ProPublica, a news organization that "produces investigative journalism in the public interest," has now launched an easy-to-use search engine for these returns. You can search by keyword, state, non-profit category, and organization type (e.g., 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4))

For example, if you're interested in the current IRS controversy, searching on "Tea Party", "constitution", or "patriot" will pull up information on numerious 501(c)(4) orgainizations and links to pdf scans of their Form 990 returns.

Dear Graduates,

On behalf of the entire law library staff: Congratulations!  We hope you have had a fantastic and enriching experience here. It has been rewarding to work with all of you.

Please add one more item to your list of things to do to prepare for graduation.

Please return your library books as soon as possible. As of April 26th a TEMPORARY charge of $120 has been placed with Student Accounts for each item still checked out by a graduating student. Those who have unpaid accounts on graduation day will not receive either their transcript or diploma during the commencement ceremony.

How to remove a fine:

Simply return the item. Once you return all of your library materials, we will remove those charges. Credits will be issued as the books are returned.

Please make every effort to return your books by noon on May 14. This will give both the Library and the Student Accounts department ample time to clear your records with the Registrar and ensure that you receive both your final transcript and diploma at the graduation ceremony.

We invite you to stop by either the Wolff or Williams circulation desk to see if you have any outstanding library books to return. You may also check your Library Account online by logging in with NetID at https://gull.georgetown.edu/patroninfo.

If you do not return all items by May 14, you will have to take a few more steps -- but don't worry. 

If you need your library materials after May 14 to complete a paper or take an exam, simply see the staff of either the Wolff or Williams Libraries. We can work with you and the registrar's office so that you won't have outstanding library fines on graduation day.

How do you remove library holds on your record after May 14?

Simply return the items. Once all books are returned, the library will promptly remove all charges.

Once again the library applauds your accomplishments.  We look forward to your future visits as returning graduates.

On Tuesday April 9th Georgetown recognizes its 6th annual Denim Day. Denim Day promotes public awareness of sexual violence against women. This year Denim Day is especially noteworthy because of recent rapes that have gathered international notoriety, such as those in India and Brazil.

Denim Day began in 1999 in response to an Italian Supreme Court (Corte de Cassazione) decision that overturned a rape conviction. The case involved a dispute about conset. In the decision on the consent issue, the court found that "it is nearly impossible to slip off the tight jeans even partly without the active collaboration of the person who is wearing them." In response to this decision female legislators appeared on the doorsteps of Parliament wearing jeaning and holding signs that read "Jeans: An Alibi for Rape."

There was a second, similar case in 2008 where the Supreme Court (Corte de Cassazione) reviewed a lower court decision with very similar reasoning which had found that "it was impossible to, with the girl wearing jeans and being seated, put his hand under her pants and touch" her. This time high court overturned the lower court and its own 1999 ruling, finding that "[t]he fact that the girl was wearing jeans was not an obstacle to her intimate parts, because it is possible for him to penetrate with his hand under the garment, which is not comparable to a chastity belt."

This development has "closely aligned the Italian Supreme Court with the European Court of Human Rights' dictates, and ultimately has marked a step forward towards gender equality and women's right to sexual autonomy."

Denim Day endures as a a reminder and as a tool to combat such attitudes.

The Supreme Court has posted audio and transcripts of today's hearing in United States v. Windsor (The Defense of Marriage Act case)

The Supreme Court has posted audio and transcripts of today's hearing in Hollingsworth v. Perry (The Proposition 8 case).

The Supreme Court today announced its decision in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Kirtsaeng was an enterprising Cornell student, who asked his relatives in Thailand to ship him cheaply-published textbooks, which he resold in the United States, undercutting the exclusive U.S. publisher's editions sold at the university bookstore. The Court, in a 6-3 decision, held that the First Sale doctrine of copyright law applies to permit the resale of these "gray market" imported textbooks. 

Justice Breyer wrote the majority opinion (joined by Justices Roberts, Thomas, Sotomayor, Alito, and Kagan). Justice Kagan filed a concurrance (joined by Justice Alito). Justice Ginsburg filed the dissent, which was joined by Justices Scalia and Kennedy.

Will the opening of a "global marketplace" for textbooks ultimately lower prices for students?

If you are interested in New York City's much-discussed plan to block the sale of large sugary drinks by restaurants and other establishments, make sure to read Georgetown Law Professor Lawrence Gostin's March 13th CNN opinion piece Banning Large Sodas is Legal and Smart

For more on the background of the ban, check out NYC's Department of Health & Mental Hygiene Sugary Drinks web site, which includes links to selected relevant documents, and the Wall Street Journal Law Blog's A Legal Guide to the Soda Ban Ruling, a short explanation with links to New York State Supreme Court documents, including the March 11 ruling.

Thirsty for more? Learn about researching the laws of New York City from the City of New York section of our New York Research-in-Depth Guide.

The electronic version of the Official Journal of the European Union has heretofore not been legally valid; a status reserved for the print version. A proposal was drafted to "ensure better access to the law by enabling everyone to rely on the electronic version [] as being official, authentic, up-to-date, and complete." The Council has been formally invited to adopt the proposal, and "the Regulation shall enter into force on the first day of the fourth calendar month following its adoption." So, we look forward to the e-version of the Official Journal of the EU to be legally valid in the near future.

Georgetown University's undergraduate library recently streamlined off-campus access to its catalog and online resources for all members of the Georgetown community. Law faculty, students and staff have access to the vast majority of Lauinger's interdisciplinary databases to complement the law library's electronic resources. When using the Lauinger library catalog, make use of your MyAccount section of George to request books from the undergraduate library. By signing in with your NetID and password initially, you will only have to authenticate once to use the catalog and ebook resources from the main campus.

For off-campus acccess to Lauinger's electronic resources, beginning with this sign-on page also simplifies that process. Once signed on, Georgetown researchers can move across multiple databases without multiple sign-ons.

If you have any questions about any of Lauinger's resources or remote access, feel free to consult a reference librarian.