(4) Paper Size, Line Spacing, and Margins. The brief must be on 81⁄2 by 11 inch paper. The text must be double-spaced, but quotations more than two lines long may be indented and single-spaced. Headings and footnotes may be single-spaced. Margins must be at least one inch on all four sides. Page numbers may be placed in the margins, but no text may appear there.Rule 32(a)(7) covers the permissible length of a principal brief, limiting its length to 30 pages or 14,000 words (or 1,300 lines of text if using a "monospaced face"). If the attorney decides to use the latter limits, he or she is required to certify that the brief meets the word or line limits. As discussed in the above article, it is this rule about the length of the brief that is at issue in Abner v. Scott Mem'l Hosp., No. 10-2713 (7th Cir. Mar. 9, 2011).
The appellants' lawyer filed the required certification, stating that his brief contained 13,877 words. The appellee's brief, however, pointed out in a footnote that the appellants' brief was really 18,000+ words.
When the appellants' lawyer did not contest that his brief was "oversized," the court issued a show cause order why the brief should not be stricken and/or sanctions applied for filing such a brief without permission. The lawyer responded, admitting the excess and including a (belated) Motion for Leave to Exceed Word Count.
The Seventh Circuit opinion, written by Judge Posner, fairly bristles with displeasure at the lawyer's actions. The decision points out that the court has rejected "many briefs" for failing to comply with the FRAP (for instance, for failing to include the standard of review as required by FRAP28(a)(9)(B)). But in this instance, the attorney also mislead the court with an incorrect certification. Moreover, the brief was "rambling and would have been more effective if compressed...."
The court finds that the explanation provided for the incorrect word count is not convincing and strikes the brief. Judge Posner points out that the court could have gone further, even dismissing the appeal. Several decisions are cited where appeals were dismissed as sanctions for violations of FRAP30, which prescribes the form and content of appendices to briefs. In this particular instance, however, the court does not need to invoke dismissal as a sanction:
Just remember, when writing briefs, content AND form matter. You have been warned!The flagrancy of the violation in this case might well justify the dismissal of the appeal: let this be a warning. But in addition it is plain from the briefs that the appeal has no merit. To allow time for the appellants to file a compliant brief and the appellees to file a revised brief in response, and to reschedule oral argument, would merely delay the inevitable.
The motion to file an oversized brief is denied and the judgment of the district court summarilyAFFIRMED
A year after the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, there's still a need for studies of its potential impact. The Congressional Budget Office—a non-partisan office of Congress—prepared a number of analyses during the consideration of the law and earlier proposals. Now we have a handy compilation of these reports: Selected CBO Publicaitions Related to Health Care Legislation 2009-2010:
Responding to many requests, this report compiles a set of those estimates and analyses for easy reference. The report begins with the cost estimate for the final legislation and several analyses related to that legislation. It also includes several cost estimates and analyses of earlier versions of that legislation and alternative proposals that were considered in the House and Senate before final passage. In addition, this report brings together analyses that CBO issued during this period concerning insurance premiums and premium subsidies, the budgetary accounting of proposals, changes to the medical malpractice system, and certain related topics that arose during the Congressional debate. A number of related cost estimates and publications are not included in this volume but are available on CBO’s Web site. In keeping with CBO’s mandate to provide objective, nonpartisan analysis, this report makes no recommendations.
It's available in PDF on the CBO's website, if you want to read it online or download it to your laptop or other device. Or you can check out the library's print copy (RA410.53 .S428 2010 at Classified Stacks), because sometimes it's handier to flip through pages of budget analysis than to navigate through a long document online.
If you want to stay on top of this issue, you can follow the CBO Director's blog. The posts on health are here. The latest entry is Revisions to CBO’s Estimates of the Cost of Last Year’s Major Health Care Legislation, March 23, 2011.
In its ongoing monitoring of developments, CBO has seen no evidence to date that the steps that will be taken to implement the legislation—or the ways in which participants in the health care and health financing systems will respond to the legislation—will yield overall budgetary effects that differ significantly from the ones projected earlier. Therefore, the evolution of the estimates does not reflect any substantial change in the estimation of the overall effects of PPACA and the Reconciliation Act from what was projected in March 2010.
I haven't been following the whole Google Books issue closely, but last week there was a new development.
The basics (up to last week) are: Several years ago Google, cooperating with a handful of big research libraries, started digitizing millions of books. A group of publishers and authors sued. In 2008 the two sides negotiated a settlement that included a way for copyright holders to opt out of the digitization project—i.e., not to have their stuff in Google's huge digital library. And Google would set up a fund to compensate rights holders whose interests were infringed. Google in turn would get to sell access to millions of books that were out of print.
The new developments (told in headlines):
The UW Libraries own three books written by the late Geraldine Ferraro (1935-2011): 
Stones of Hope: how African activists reclaim human rights to challenge global poverty is a new book just added to our collection.
The Worldwatch Institute has dedicated its 2011 State of the World edition, Innovations that Nourish the Planet, to the global food crisis. 
OMB Watch today published an in-depth analysis of the Obama administration's progress on a wide-ranging set of open government recommendations. The recommendations were crafted by a diverse group of organizations and individuals as part of the 21st Century Right to Know Project, which was coordinated by OMB Watch in 2007 and 2008.Assessing Progress: Toward a 21st Century Right to Know is available here, in both PDF and browser-based ebook format.
The recommendations, presented to Obama's transition team and the incoming leadership of the 111th Congress after the 2008 elections, urged quick action on a number of key government openness issues while also encouraging a more systematic, longer-term approach to transparency problems that plague the federal government. The recommendations were endorsed by more than 300 organizations and individuals from across the political spectrum.more . . .
In The Art of Access blog two journalism professors post tips and commentary about getting access to public documents. David Cuillier (U. Arizona) and Charles Davis (U. Missouri) include a page of FOI Help: links to sample request letters, laws, allies, and more. For aspiring journalists, they link to sources of story ideas that would use public records.
In the blog I learned about a public records victory by a woman in our own state. As part of Sunshine Week, the American Society of News Editors honors a "local hero" -- an individual who fought to make state or local government more accessible. This year's first-place award goes to Gloria Howell of Stevenson, WA, "who used the courts to force the disclosure of public records that revealed corruption in her county auditor's office." Washington State Woman Wins Sunshine Week Contest, news release, March 14, 2011.Howell, a former Stevenson school board member, got involved after her daughter, Angela Moser, was allegedly fired from the Skamania County auditor's office for theft and because of her concerns about irregularities in ballot processing and alleged misuse of public funds. Howell filed suit to obtain the records. The suit resulted in a criminal investigation by the Skamania County Sheriff's Office, a criminal referral to the Washington State Attorney General, an investigation and report by the Washington State Auditor, and the resignation of Skamania County Auditor Michael J. Garvison.Gloria Howell's comments on her work are here. You can read clippings about the auditor controversy from the Skamania County Pioneer here (requires Adobe Flash).
A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance.Letter to W. T. Barry, Aug. 4, 1822, quoted in Fred R. Shapiro, The Yale Book of Quotations 484 (2006). Image is from James Madison Papers collection at the Library of Congress.
To the press alone, chequered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression.Report on the Resolutions, in 6 Writings of James Madison 389 (Gaillard Hunt ed., 1906), quoted in Respectfully Quoted 285 (Suzy Platt ed., 1989)
It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is to-day, can guess what it will be to-morrow.The Federalist 411-12 (Benjamin F. Wright ed., 1961) (Federalist no. 62), quoted in Respectfully Quoted 192-93. (Respectfully Quoted attributes this Federalist to Madison with a question mark. Shapiro says it might have been by Hamilton. The Yale Book of Quotations 483.)
Learned Institutions ought to be favorite objects with every free people. They throw that light over the public mind which is the best security against crafty & dangerous encroachments on the public liberty.Letter to W. T. Barry, Aug. 4, 1822, 9 Writings of James Madison 105, quoted in Respectfully Quoted 98.
Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people, by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations.Speech at Virginia Convention, 5 June 1788, in 5 Writings of James Madison 123, 126 (Gaillard Hunt ed., 1904), quoted in Fred R. Shapiro, The Oxford Dictionary of American Legal Quotations 153 (1993).
As the flagship initiative of the Department’s Open Government Plan, OIP is proud to announce the launch of FOIA.Gov, a comprehensive public resource for government-wide FOIA information and data. FOIA.Gov displays graphically a wealth of data on agency FOIA compliance, contains educational material about how the FOIA works, and contact information for all government agencies.FOIA, or the Freedom of Information Act, became effective in July, 1967. As explained at FOIA.GOV,
... the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides that any person has a right, enforceable in court, to obtain access to federal agency records, except to the extent that such records (or portions of them) are protected from public disclosure by one of nine exemptions or by one of three special law enforcement record exclusions. A FOIA request can be made for any agency record. ... The FOIA also requires that agencies automatically disclose certain information, including frequently requested records.Federal departments and agencies submit to the Department of Justice annual reports about their compliance with FOIA. Those reports cover details such as the number of requests received, their dispositions, and the amount of time for processing them. A visitor to the website can request that a report be generated from the information collected by Justice. In addition, recent and "most popular" reports that have been generated for visitors are available by clicking their links.
The portion of the gasoline price each of these components accounts for can vary significantly over time. Crude oil is typically the largest cost component of gasoline, and its share of the price of a gallon of gasoline was significantly higher in 2010 than it was, on average, over the 2000-2009 period.When you look at the historical data (2000-2010) for crude oil costs, its percentage of the total we pay at the pump has varied from a low of 35% in May, 2001, to a high of 75.8 in July, 2008.
The Today in Energy website:
* Covers key energy issues and topics in a short-article, one-page format
* Includes a visual explanation — a chart (sometimes interactive), map, animation, or photo — to illustrate the point.
* Makes data series behind charts often available for download
* Is written in plain language for a broad audience
* Gives you a way to send feedback to EIA experts and analysts
* Contains archives so you can retrieve a favorite story.
* Enables you to subscribe to our RSS feed or email version so Today in Energy comes to your browser or inbox every weekday
the question whether it makes sense--as a policy matter--to expand the concept of common law marriage to include same-sex couples, including an analysis of whether being a closeted same-sex couple is consistent with being in a common law marriage.
The Seattle Journal of American Indian Law is a proposed academic collaboration at Seattle University among students, faculty, and practitioners. In an effort to fill a critical gap in the amount of current information available to those interested in the rapidly-developing field of Indian law, the Journal will employ an innovative online format. Containing a hybrid of shorter, timelier articles, to be published in parallel with legal developments in the field, as well as traditional, lengthier journal articles analyzing larger topics, the Journal will appeal to a broad range of readers.
At this stage in development of the Journal, the Editorial Board is seeking content to be submitted for a trial issue that will be circulated exclusively within the School of Law. Alongside a formal proposal, the trial issue will show the faculty and administration the caliber of substance and the high level of scholarship that the Journal will command, and will make our case that the Journal ought to be an officially accredited publication at the School of Law. We aim to publish the trial issue in early Fall 2011.
As this is only a trial issue and will not be formally published, the Editorial Board will not seek the rights to any submitted content. That said, articles will still be subject to rigorous technical and substantive editing, and we will be in contact with the authors each step of the way. As the journal is looking primarily for shorter, timelier pieces at this time, we would love to hear any ideas you may have for a shorter article. If you are at all interested in providing content to the trial issue, the deadline for submitting confirmation of interest and an abstract of the manuscript is March 15th. The draft of the manuscript is due May 15th. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Rebeka Osborne
Editorial Board, Seattle Journal of American Indian Law
seattlejournalail [at] gmail.com
Understanding the relationship between Indian law litigation and social movements will facilitate more effective lawyering, as law students come to understand better what is at stake for their future clients and the proper place for litigation in achieving their clients' ends.(pp. 8-9) The editors also talk about the importance of seeing the later effects of cases (often surprising) and considering the litigation choices made by lawyers and parties.
In an attempt to settle property disputes after an apocalyptic war, a village performs an ancient parable for its neighbors. In it, amidst civil strife and unrest, a young servant girl risks her life to save an abandoned child of noble birth. Years later, when the biological mother demands the child back, an unconventional judge, who is not always guided by the letter of the law, devises the test of the chalk circle to decide their fates.Take a culture break—and think about dispute resolution, too!
(Graphic from American Treasures of the Library of Congress, The Gerrymander)
This year, students at Columbia Law School can take a course called Redistricting and Gerrymandering. As part of the course, they try their hands at redistricting actual states. Each plan has to explain the principle the author was using -- e.g., minimizing the change from the current lines or maximizing proportional representation (matching the political mix of the state as a whole). They are sharing their maps with the world at DrawCongress.org.
This website and associated project have three goals. First, the project seeks to educate both the students involved and the general public about the redistricting process. We hope that the maps and redistricting plans contained here depict what is possible in the current round of redistricting and what nonpartisan plans might look like. Second, we hope that these plans serve as a benchmark against which incumbent-drawn plans can be assessed. While not passing judgment on the plans states adopt this redistricting cycle, we hope that the plans contained here illustrate alternative paths not taken and therefore, both the promise and potential pitfalls of nonpartisan redistricting. Finally, for those states that fail to craft redistricting plans, this website provides ready-made legally defensible congressional plans.Plans for only a handful of states are available so far. It is interesting to look at the substantial analysis that goes into a plan.
We also encourage others to submit plans to be posted to this website. Students in similar classes at other universities will be posting plans here later in the redistricting cycle.
The whole operation is overseen by Penny Hazelton, Associate Dean for Library and Computing Services.
