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

Please join the Friends of the Law Library, National Equal Justice Library, The Innocence Project, Georgetown Criminal Law Association, the Georgetown chapter of the National Lawyers’ Guild, Outlaw, WETA, and Law Docs at the latest co-sponsored Law at the Movies event, part of the ongoing Georgetown Law Library Equal Justice Film Festival:

Movie: The Central Park Five (2012, runtime 119 mins)
Date: Monday, April 1, 2013
Time: 6:00pm (refreshments & seating), showtime 6:30pm
Location: Hart Auditorium, Georgetown University Law Center

Heralded as one of 2012's most powerful documentaries, The Central Park Five tells the story of five black and Latino youths who were convicted and served sentences for the 1989 rape of a white woman, only to be exonerated when the true offender confessed the crime 13 years later. Ken Burns and his co-directors chronicle the "Central Park Jogger" case, for the first time from the perspective of the five teenagers whose lives were upended by this miscarriage of justice.

After the screening, stay for a discussion with the film's creators and one of the five accused men:

• Sarah Burns - Director, writer, and producer, The Central Park Five
• David McMahon - Director, writer, and producer, The Central Park Five
• Yusef Salaam - Central Park Five defendant

Sarah Burns will also sign copies of her book, which was the basis for the movie.

For information on other upcoming events in the Georgetown Law Library Equal Justice Film Festival, visit www.law.georgetown.edu/library/about/125/filmfestival.cfm.

To learn more about the Friends of the Georgetown Law Library program and the benefits of becoming a member, visit www.law.georgetown.edu/library/visitors/friends.

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

Please join the Friends of the Law Library, National Equal Justice Library, The Innocence Project, Georgetown Criminal Law Association, the Georgetown chapter of the National Lawyers’ Guild, Outlaw, and Law Docs at the latest co-sponsored Law at the Movies event, part of the ongoing Georgetown Law Library Equal Justice Film Festival:

Movie: The Loving Story (2011)
Date: Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Time: 6:00pm (refreshments & seating), showtime 6:30pm
Location: Hart Auditorium, Georgetown University Law Center

This 2011 documentary explores the Civil Rights Era story of an interracial couple whose challenge to state anti-miscegenation laws criminalizing their marriage led to the historic U.S. Supreme Court decision of Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967).

After the screening, stay for a discussion led by panelists with valuable insights on the history and context of the film:

• Philip Hirschkop, attorney who litigated on behalf of the Lovings throughout their legal battle
• Patricia King, Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Law, Medicine, Ethics, and Public Policy at Georgetown Law
• Elisabeth Haviland James, producer and editor of The Loving Story and founder of Thornapple Films

For information on other upcoming events in the Georgetown Law Library Equal Justice Film Festival, visit www.law.georgetown.edu/library/about/125/filmfestival.cfm.

To learn more about the Friends of the Georgetown Law Library program and the benefits of becoming a member, visit www.law.georgetown.edu/library/visitors/friends.

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?

To recognize the fiftieth anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Gideon v. Wainwright, the Georgetown Law Library has created a research guide devoted to the subject of indigent criminal defense.

This new guide combines primary and secondary legal sources, as well as original source material held in the National Equal Justice Library and Special Collections here at the law library. Also included are related materials such as statistics and items from our popular materials, such as the movie Gideon’s Trumpet, starring Henry Fonda.

We have organized the material into three main sections: One dealing with the law before Gideon; one devoted to Gideon itself; and one covering post-Gideon developments. The guide is designed to help students and others who want to quickly immerse themselves in the case law, scholarship, and historical materials concerning this essential element of our criminal justice system.

Library recognizes 50^th Anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright with exhibit, film screening, research guide

Fifty years ago, on Monday, March 18, 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overruled its own 1942 decision in Betts v. Brady. The Court mandated that states must provide lawyers for persons who are facing serious criminal charges, and who cannot afford counsel. Gideon v. Wainwright was a reflection of the broad awareness toward poverty at the time (President Johnson declared the War on Poverty in 1964), paving the way for the establishment -and improvement of -- public defender structures and systems in all U.S. states. The case had broad constitutional implications, and represented a victory for the position that the rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights were applicable to the states under the Fourteenth Amendment. One of the leading advocates of that position was Justice Hugo Black, who wrote the option of the Court. "Any person haled into court, who is too poor to hire a lawyer, cannot be assured a fair trial unless counsel is provided for him...lawyers in criminal courts are necessities, not luxuries." 

In recognition of this significant anniversary, Georgetown Law Library is featuring an exhibition about the case. In addition, we will screen Gideon's Trumpet tonight, kicking off the Equal Justice Film Festival, and will also launch an indigent defense research guide.

The exhibit in the atrium of the E.B. Williams Law Library tells the story of Gideon v. Wainwright based on materials from the National Equal Justice Library's collections, including the Gideon's Trumpet script and stills collection, and other items. The 1980 TV movie Gideon's Trumpet was based on Anthony Lewis' book with the same title, which was initially published in 1964. The movie followed the book closely, but the director also took some artistic freedoms. Photographs in the exhibit, for example, contrast the 1963 Warren Court with the Hollywood Supreme Court. Sam Jaffe, representing Felix Frankfurter, remained on the Hollywood court, while in fact he had already resigned from the Supreme Court. As one of the supporters of Betts v. Brady, he was left on the Hollywood court to represent the opinion skeptical of overturning the 1942 decision.

The movie ends with Gideon's acquittal after a second trial, where he was represented by an attorney (Fred Turner). But what happened after the happy ending? "It's fair to say that all of the hopes that we had have not been fulfilled," said Abe Krash, a Georgetown Law faculty member who worked on Abe Fortas defense team for Clarence Gideon, in an NEJL oral history interview. Later this spring, the library will continue its Gideon anniversary programs, and will be highlighting the General Charles L. Decker/NLADA collection in another exhibit, which will address some of the challenges of implementing and sustaining Gideon's mandate following the 1963 decision.

In addition to the oral history with Abe Krash, the NEJL collections include oral history interviews with Bruce Jacob, who argued against Gideon on behalf of the State of Florida as a young Assistant Attorney General, and with Anthony Lewis, the author of Gideon's Trumpet (1964), who followed the case as a reporter. Full videos and transcripts of the interviews can be accessed at: http://www.law.georgetown.edu/library/collections/nejl/gideon/index.cfm.

Please join us for the screening of Gideon's Trumpet tonight: http://www.law.georgetown.edu/library/about/125/filmfestival.cfm

As the Georgetown Hoyas advance in their last Big East tournament, as we know it, you can bet that there are hundreds of lawyers out there not only watching the conference tournament games, but also negotiating the athletic contracts of their NCAA clients, the basketball officials, the arena owners, etc. A simple search for NCAA in FeeFieFoeFirm, the legal search engine, locates thousands of legal guidance memos, law firm profiles and practitioner work product in the area of college sports law.

Georgetown Law Library maintains a Sports Law Research Guide for those looking to do more than just watch the games this weekend and strategize about their upcoming March Madness bracket. If you have any questions about researching in this practice area, feel free to ask a reference librarian for assistance and good luck with those brackets! Hoyas all the way!

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.

In a recent discussion with Georgetown law graduates working in a D.C. law firm, many commented that they wish they had become more familiar with databases other than Westlaw and Lexis. A bulk of their research has turned out to be interdisciplinary in nature. ScienceDirect is one of those databases provided by the library, which supports interdisciplinary research in both the physical sciences and the social sciences.

Now, there is even a mobile app available for researchers using ScienceDirect. Once members of the Georgetown Law community connect to ScienceDirect,  look in the QuickLinks box for a link to the ScienceDirect Info Site.

On this site, there is a direct link to Go Mobile!

You will then be able to select the appropriate mobile app for your device.

Use ScienceDirect to access journal articles on psychology, decision making, business management, as well as pharmacology and environmental science.