Law Library

Mark A. Drumbl, A Hard Look at the Soft Theory of International Law, in The Theory and Practice of International Criminal Law: Essays in Honor of M. Cherif Bassiouni (Martinus Nijohoff 2008).

Virginia's Circuit Court Judge Martin Clark's newest novel The Legal Limit has been added to the Escape Hatch Collection. The Washington Post called the book "a compelling legal thriller" and the New York Times has referred to the author as "the thinking man's John Grisham". Check out The Legal Limit and Clark's earlier work Plain Heathen Mischief from the Escape Hatch.

Same-Sex Marriage and Religious Liberty: Emerging Conflicts (Robin Fretwell Wilson, Douglas Laycock, and Anthony R. Picarello, Jr. eds.) ( Roman & Littlefield Pub. 2008).

The Virginia Supreme Court has struck down the state’s anti-spam law for violating the First Amendment because it bars anonymous transmission of political, religious and other speech protected by the First Amendment and fails to limit its restrictions to fraudulent or commercial e-mail or to unprotected speech such as defamation or obscenity. Writing for the court, Justice G. Steven Agee observed, "were the Federalist Papers just being published today via e-mail, that transmission by 'Publius' would violate the statute" because it bars anonymous transmissions. Read the opinion here.

President Bush signed new Federal Rule of Evidence 502, S. 2450, into law on September 19, 2008. The rule applies to the inadvertent disclosure in discovery of information protected by the attorney-client privilege and work-product doctrine. Check out the very good Federal Evidence Blog for the text of the rule, analysis and links, including this one to Statement of Congressional Intent Regarding Rule 502 of the Federal Rules of Evidence (154 Cong. Rec. H7818-H7819 (Sept. 8, 2008)).

Robin Fretwell Wilson, A Matter of Conviction: Moral Clashes over Same-Sex Adoption, 22 BYU J.Pub. L. 475 (2008).

The House is expected to debate its version of the financial industry bailout bill, Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, today. The text of the bill was released yesterday:
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
Summary of the Act

The Office of Legal Affairs Treaty Section has rolled out a redesign of the United Nations Treaty Collection. While the content remains free, the collection has been refined to offer a variety of advanced search features including: popular name search; title search; and participant search.