The Goodson Blogson

While Sunday’s season premiere of Mad Men spawned countless 1960s-themed viewing parties, next week the National Archives and Records Administration is “taking you back to the 1940s” . On Monday, April 2, at 9:00 a.m., the individual records from the 1940 U.S. Census will be released online, to the delight of genealogists, historians, and other researchers. Why the delay? As NARA explains on its website, “[t]he 1940 and later censuses are not available for public use because of a statutory 72-year restriction on access for privacy reasons . (92 Stat. 915; Public Law 95-416; October 5, 1978).” (Seasoned legal researchers know that they can find this law via the U.S. Statutes at Large in our Federal Alcove, or in HeinOnline .) Although the 72-year privacy window will have closed, limitations on the database will present additional hurdles: upon initial release, Census researchers will be able to browse only by address (though an army of dedicated volunteers will begin to create a na...

Beginning today, the Supreme Court will hear the hotly-anticipated oral arguments on health care reform. In November 2011, the Court granted review of three separate Circuit Court of Appeals decisions related to the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, with each review limited to particular questions and issues. Orders and case filings are available on the Court’s website at http://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/PPAACA.aspx . How big is the health care reform case? Big enough that Court-watchers began lining up on Friday for tickets to first round of questioning. So big, in fact, that the Court is taking the unusual step of releasing the written transcripts and argument audio even earlier than normal. In a press release , the Court promises: “The audio recordings and transcripts of the March 26-28 morning sessions should be available no later than 2 p.m. The recording and transcript of the March 28 afternoon session should be available no later than 4 p.m.” The materials...

Getting ready for your summer job? Law firms consistently cite research and writing ability among the most important traits in new associates. LARW provides the basic foundation, but real-world legal research can be vastly different from your experiences preparing a motion memo, appellate brief, or seminar paper. Are your research skills up to the challenge? On Thursday, March 22, at 12:15 p.m. , join research instructors Jane Bahnson , Marguerite Most and Kristina Alayan in Room 3037 for the Goodson Law Library’s “ Legal Research Refresher: What to Know Before You Go .” The lunchtime session, co-sponsored by the Career & Professional Development Center, will introduce students to current awareness and litigation tools that are commonly used in real-world law practice, demonstrate how to navigate local court rules and dockets, and highlight low-cost research database alternatives. As if the opportunity to hone your research skills wasn’t reward enough, the first 20 attendees wil...

The U.S. Government Printing Office recently announced that Friday, March 16 will mark the official retirement date for its long-running GPO Access website. At the end of the week, FDsys , which has been available since its 2009 beta test (see earlier Blogson post ), will officially take over as the default source for federal government publications, including public and private laws; the federal budget; congressional reports, debates, and hearings; the Federal Register and Code of Federal Regulations ; federal court opinions; and countless other materials. Outdated links will redirect from GPO Access to FDsys for at least one more year, but GPO cautions: “In the event that an exact equivalent could not be provided, users will be directed to the best available resource or the FDsys homepage.” This has left some bloggers worried about resources which are still missing from the FDsys platform, including the e-CFR , an unofficial version of the Code of Federal Regulations which is upd...