Judge Friendly's Unpublished Opinion

In the first abortion rights case ever filed in federal court. Judge Randolph of the D.C. Circuit discusses this interesting historical "what if" in the Barbara K. Olson Memorial Lecture. Here is a link.

EXAM INFO--IMPORTANT!!!

Since the exam is CLOSED BOOK, the essay portion of your exam must be typed on your laptop (or lab computer).

You will need to load the latest version of EXAM 4 which should be available about a week before exams begin.Check with Dean Pierce or Vicki Lill if you have any questions about Exam 4 software. If you need to use a lab computer, please see Vicki ASAP to reserve one for the day of the exam.

Remember, our next class will be Wed. Nov.30, when we will have a question/review session for those who wish to attend.

Terri Schiavo & Rights of Disabled

An interesting article, written by Nat Hentoff and published by the Council for Secular Humanism, noting that "twenty-nine national disability-rights organizations... filed legal briefs and lobbied Congress to demonstrate that Terri Schiavo's was a disability-rights case, not a right-to-die case. They included the National Spinal Cord Injury Association; the National Down Syndrome Congress; the World Association of Persons with Disabilities; and the largest American assembly of disability-rights activists, the American Association of People with Disabilities." If you are interested, the article can be found at this link.

Judge Alito: "Free Speech Libertarian"

Prof. Eugene Volokh has an article at WSJ online about Judge Alito's views of the First Amendment. Click here.

The New "Chief"

Linda Greenhouse has a great article in the New York Times about the impact of the new Chief Justice, John Roberts, on the culture of the Supreme Court.

Censoring Narnia

Con Law II preview!

Here is a press release about an interesting attempt by Americans United to censor the reading of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in public schools:

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund say they will offer free legal representation to any Florida schools threatened with lawsuits for participating in the governor's reading contest involving The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

On Oct. 20, Americans United for Separation of Church and State issued a press release condemning Gov. Jeb Bush's "Just Read, Florida!" campaign, which this year encourages public school students to read the Lewis novel in conjunction with the release of the Disney movie based on the book Dec. 9. AUSCS claims this year's campaign is designed "to promote a religious story."

"The governor's campaign is clearly designed to promote reading in conjunction with a much-anticipated film; it is not designed to promote religion," said ADF Senior Counsel Gary McCaleb. "ADF will defend any school district in the nation that gets sued by AUSCS, the ACLU, or any other group for having students read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, as long as the school allows students to opt out of reading it if they or their parents don't want to."

According to the 2001 executive order establishing the "Just Read, Florida!" program, the campaign is "a comprehensive, coordinated reading initiative aimed at helping every student become a successful, independent reader." Nonetheless, AUSCS called it "an offense to the First Amendment."

Abortion: Two Interesting Articles

1. Abortion and the Law What would a world without Roe look like?

2. Pro-Wife Extremism: Judge Alito was right on spousal notification

Good Alito Links

The University of Michigan Law Library has posted numerous links to information on Judge Alito and his record. Click here.