McBlogmick

Up for argument tomorrow is an important Eleventh Amendment case. Here is the Scotusblog page for the case: Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy v. Stewart : SCOTUSblog.

The issue is whether an independent state agency can sue state officials in federal court for violations of federal law. The Fourth Circuit held that it could not, that Ex Parte Young was not a vehicle that the agency could use to bring suit against officials of the same state.

I’m sympathetic to the desire of the federal court to avoid getting involved in an intrastate dispute like this one, but 11th amendment immunity does not seem a good fit here. Why should the 11th amendment apply when a state is a plaintiff?

In the interests of full disclosure, I signed on to one of the amicus briefs in this case, so I have rather strong feelings on the subject.

Supreme Court case: Can a man exonerated of capital murder sue the prosecutor who convicted him? – By John Hollway – Slate Magazine.

I have taught civil rights in addition to criminal law, and this implicates habeas, too, a little, which I sometimes teach in federal courts, and every time I read one of these cases I’m stunned by how hard these cases are and the high cost of mistakes.

I mentioned this situation on Thursday in class, and this article in the NY Times shows how relevant in many ways this is for what we are studying. Bullying, Suicide, Punishment – NYTimes.com.

So what principles have we studied that are implicated? Culpability levels, causation, the theories of punishment and the legality principle all wrapped up together.  I’m guessing that this will be a final exam question in lots of criminal law classes this semester.

The NY Times has a really interesting article today on how innocent people end up confessing to crimes they didn’t commit and how they end up seeming to know things only the guilty person should know. The article reports on a study done by a law professor at the University of Virginia.  Here’s a link to a place where the professor’s study can  be downloaded, here’s the link to the article’s appendix, and here’s a link to the library of documents related to people who confessed but who were exonerated later by DNA evidence. It’s very interesting stuff.

Here is the audio podcast summary for the background material in federal courts. fctsintro. I’ll post the summary for justiciability at the end of the week, after we finish discussing the political question doctrine. In the meantime, let me know if you have questions, if you would like me to address things differently, or if you would like me to address anything in greater depth.

This originally appeared in September of 2009:

The 6th Circuit allows state taxpayer standing to challenge spending by state agencies in violation of federal establishment clause. See the ACLU’s press release for more details. So when you see a cause lawsuit like this one, it’s important to look at what injury the plaintiffs are alleging, in what capacity they allege that they are suing, and who caused the injury in what way. These plaintiffs didn’t have standing as federal taxpayers, but did as state taxpayers.

This originally appeared in August of 2009:

As we all get back into the swing of things, I wanted to share some links for useful information on organizing, note taking, and productivity. First, one don’t: Don’t try to multitask. It turns out that we’re not good at it. Second, one do: Do write about what you are reading or have heard. Writing and otherwise manipulating ideas, is learning.It’s not easy, but it’s worth it.

Here is a link to an overview of some cognitive psychology–it’s called Bloom’s taxonomy of learning, and it describes the different kinds of learning we do, and the difficulty level. Most people who come to law school are excellent at the knowledge and comprehension levels and expect that these are what they need to continue to do well in law school. That is true, but only as a first step. We’re trying to get you to become experts at all of the other levels that follow, and it is those kinds of learning you must demonstrate on exams.

So how do you get there? Here is one link about note taking and different ways to do it, and here is another (yes, I’m addicted to lifehacker). Here is another link about a particular method–one that I was actually taught in junior high school. Craziness, but it’s particularly useful for reading assignments.

Here is a general productivity description in the model of David Allen’s “Getting things Done.” And just to round things out, here is a good link on stress management.

Happy new semester!

This appeared originally in November 2008:

So Larry Langford, Mayor of Birmingham got arrested in a kickback scheme, and today, Rod Blagojevich, Illinois’ governor was arrested for making Illinois state government a pay to play system. Lots of good stuff in there . . .

This was originally posted in November of 2008:

You might find this current case interesting in light of our discussion in class on immaturity. Prosecutors in St. Johns, Arizona are seeking to try an 8-year-old as an adult. The article also explains the process the parties will have to go through to make the determination.

This was originally posted in July of 2008:

Jeff Lipshaw, a professor at Suffolk Law School has a nice post about choosing a litigation or transactional career here. He explains things in a way that lots of professors really can’t.