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The SCOTUS Countdown

Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its opinion in five cases . The next announcement day is Thursday, June 25, although with a dozen opinions left to issue for this October Term, additional opinion days seem likely. As noted on the New York Times opinion tracker , the remaining cases are mostly on blockbuster topics, including the president's ability to fire members of the Federal Reserve Board and other government regulators, prohibitions on transgender athletes in girls' and women's sports teams, restrictions on mail-in ballot deadlines, Hawaii's firearm concealed carry restrictions, and the fate of Temporary Protected Status for Haitian and Syrian immigrants. How can a researcher keep up with the latest news as the Court marches toward adjourning its October Term 2025? SCOTUSblog features a free daily liveblog of these final announcements on opinion days, as well as longer articles on the opinions' impact. The site also includes a "Statist...
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Summer Access to Legal Research Databases

Whether you are graduating from Duke Law this month or continuing your legal studies next year, your access to legal research services and other campus databases may change this summer. Below is a summary of policies for the major legal research databases that you might wish to access over the summer. Continuing Students Westlaw  allows continuing students to use Thomson Reuters products, including Westlaw® and Practical Law, over the summer for non-commercial research ( i.e. , "to gain understanding and build confidence in your research skills, but you cannot use them in situations where you are billing a client"). Examples of permissible uses for your academic Westlaw password include the following: Summer coursework Research assistant assignments Law review or journal research Moot Court research Non-Profit 501(c)(3) work Clinical work Externship sponsored by the school Your Westlaw summer access will continue automatically - no action is needed on ...

Prep for Finals Like a Pro

Time to start preparing for spring exams! Just a few weeks separate you from your summer, and here are some resources to make the most of your remaining study time. Additional recommended strategies and time management tips are available from Thomson Reuters' Law School Survival Guide and the Duke Academic Resource Center's Study Strategies that Work . First, fill in those outline gaps with study aids, available in print and online via the Law Library. The West Academic Study Aids Library includes Acing, Concepts and Insights, Hornbooks, Nutshells, Black Letter Outlines, Legalines, and Sum and Substance audio. The Aspen Learning Library includes Examples & Explanations, Glannon Guides, and Emanuel Law Outlines. Elgar Advanced Introductions to Law provides accessible yet comprehensive overviews of more than two dozen legal topics, particularly strong in comparative and international areas of law. All three study aid databases can be accessed quickly from the Law Libra...

New Laws in the New Year

January 1 marks the effective date for many new laws passed by legislatures in the previous calendar year. While individual statutes (or subsections of statutes) may include language indicating that they will take effect immediately upon passage or at a different specified point in time, most jurisdictions have a default time period for new laws to take effect if the text does not otherwise specify an effective date. See charts of the general dates at LegiScan and StateScape . January 1 is the general effective date for laws passed in the states of California, Oregon, and Illinois (at least for laws enacted prior to May 31). Other popular dates for new state laws to usually take effect are August 1, October 1, or 60–90 days after enactment or legislative adjournment. The North Carolina General Assembly maintains annual Effective Dates compilations on its website, with the 2025-26 document available here . New laws or portions of laws taking effect on January 1 in North Carolina i...