Law Commons^™

The Benefits Of Integrating Statutory Construction And Analysis In A First-Year Legal Writing Course, Lauren E. Sancken, Mireille Butler

Articles

Teaching statutory analysis to first-year law school students not only reinforces important principles of legal analysis and writing (from gaining a better understanding of the hierarchy of legal authorities to continuing to practice IRAC/CRAC methods of organization), but it also prepares students better for the actual practice of law.

Other Uses Of Legislative History, Mary Whisner

Librarians' Articles

Although we usually think of using legislative history to determine legislative intent when interpreting statutes, Ms. Whisner shows that legislative documents can be useful for other, less controversial purposes as well.

The Dangers Of The Digital Millennium Copyright Act: Much Ado About Nothing?, Steve P. Calandrillo, Ewa A. Davison

Articles

In 1998, Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a landmark piece of legislation aimed at protecting copyright holders from those who might manufacture or traffic technology capable of allowing users to evade piracy protections on the underlying work. At its core, the DMCA flatly prohibits the circumvention of “technological protection measures” in order to gain access to copyrighted works, but provides no safety valve for any traditionally protected uses.

While hailed as a victory by the software and entertainment industries, the academic and scientific communities ties have been far less enthusiastic. The DMCA’s goal of combating piracy is …

Legislative History, Initiatives, And Bill Tracking, Peggy Roebuck Jarrett

Librarians' Chapters in Books

• Introduction
• How a Bill Becomes a Law
• The Process of Researching Legislative History in Washington
• Sources of Legislative History Documents
• Researching Initiatives and Referenda
• Legislative Bill Tracking
• Tips on Using the Legislature's Search Feature

Legislative History And Bill Tracking, Peggy Roebuck Jarrett

Librarians' Chapters in Books

• Researching Legislative History in Washington
• Legislative Bill Tracking

Affirmative Action And The Legislative History Of The Fourteenth Amendment, Eric Schnapper

Articles

This article contends that the legislative history of the fourteenth amendment is not only relevant to but dispositive of the legal dispute over the constitutional standards applicable to race-conscious affirmative action plans. From the closing days of the Civil War until the end of civilian Reconstruction some five years later, Congress adopted a series of social welfare programs whose benefits were expressly limited to blacks. These programs were generally open to all blacks, not only to recently freed slaves, and were adopted over repeatedly expressed objections that such racially exclusive measures were unfair to whites. The race-conscious Reconstruction programs were …