Chicago-Kent Law Library

We'll be closing at 2 pm tomorrow for Labor Day weekend, and will reopen at 8:30 am on Tuesday, September 3.

The result of decades of union activity, Labor Day recognizes the labor movement and the efforts of workers around the country.

Today is the first day of class! To our new students, welcome, and to our returning students, welcome back!

As a reminder, the physical library space is closed this week, but reference staff can be reached at [email protected].

The physical library space will be closed from August 19-24 due to the Democratic National Convention. Librarians will be working remotely, and reference staff can be reached at [email protected]

The library will be closed tomorrow, July 4, and Friday, July 5, for Independence Day.

The Fourth of July commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Massachusetts was the first state to recognize it as a holiday, and did so in 1781. Independence Day became a paid federal holiday in 1938.

It should be noted that many U.S. residents did not become free from tyranny upon the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Frederick Douglass gave a speech on July 5, 1852 titled “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”, where he stated that while the founders of the nation were great statesmen and the principles in the Declaration of Independence were good ones, it is hypocritical to celebrate those principles while millions were enslaved. Part of the speech reads:

“This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony…

…What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.”

The library is closed today in honor of Juneteenth.

Officially known as Juneteenth National Independence Day, the holiday commemorates the emancipation of slaves in Texas. Although the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect in 1863, it couldn’t be implemented in areas under Confederate control. As a result, some areas were not free until much later. On June 19, 1865, more than two months following the end of the Civil War, more than 250,000 slaves were freed by Union troops in Galveston Bay, TX. Freed Texans began celebrating the day only a year later, and celebrations eventually grew to include the entire country. (It should be noted that people were still enslaved in Delaware and Kentucky until the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified on December 18, 1865.)

Celebrating the day became trickier following the implementation of Jim Crow laws in the South. During the Depression, many Black families were forced to move to cities to find work, where they found it difficult to take the day off to celebrate. The holiday was revived in the 1960s, and has been widely celebrated by Black Americans since the 1980s and 1990s.

Text taken from various sources, including the Smithsonian and Juneteenth.com

Under the general direction of the Head of Metadata and Access, the Acquisitions Assistant is responsible for creating purchase orders and invoices, and tracking and reporting budget related data. In addition, this position also performs other typical library duties such as shelving, circulating materials, routing materials, updating materials, maintaining the library’s appearance, and opening/closing the library.

Apply at https://iit7.peopleadmin.com/postings/10461

The library is closing at 2:00 pm today and will remain closed through Monday, May 27th, in observance of Memorial Day.

Congratulations to Chicago-Kent's newest graduates! We are so proud of you and what you've accomplished, and can't wait to see what you do as attorneys.

Want to know how to access databases such as Westlaw and Lexis post-graduation? Keep an eye out for an email from us in the next few weeks which will include instructions on database access!

Always remember that Kent graduates have lifetime access to the reference team! If you ever have a tricky research question, send it to our email: [email protected]

Final exams begin today! Study rooms are still available for reservation, and we have plenty of free ear plugs available. Good luck on exams!

With the last day of classes being only two days away (😱), here are some reminders of library procedures for the next couple of weeks!

Study rooms can be booked at the service desk like always, and you can also pick up free ear plugs courtesy of CALI. The library is open extended hours, but reference is on normal operating hours (Monday through Friday, 9-5). The library is a quiet study space, and we don't allow food in the library.

We hope that everyone finishes the semester on a high note, and as always, reach out if you have any questions or concerns!

We're open for extended hours during reading period, final exams, and commencement weekend! Students can reserve study rooms as usual, and we'll have free ear plugs available at the service desk courtesy of CALI

We have a new Copyright Law guide! Sections include secondary and primary sources, common topics in copyright law, practical guidance, and study aids.

The guide can be access through our A-Z Databases page or by going to guides.kentlaw.iit.edu/copyright

Have a suggestion for a new guide? Email us at [email protected]

April's Resource of the Month is HeinOnline's Military and Government Collection!

"Composed of books, congressional hearings, committee prints, legislative histories, CRS and GAO Reports, and more, this database allows users to research the functions of the federal government in administrating the armed forces and the issues confronting service personnel both on and off the battlefield, from women’s changing role in the military, hollow forces, the development of new weaponry, free speech rights, and navigating benefits offered by the Department of Veterans Affairs after service."

The collection can be access through our A-Z Database.

The library has a new Trademarks and Unfair Competition guide which includes trademark searching, primary and secondary research, practical guidance,
and study aids. The guide can be accessed by going to the Databases page
on the library website, or by going to https://guides.kentlaw.iit.edu/trademarks.

If there is a class or legal topic that you think we should have a guide for, let us know! Email [email protected] with your suggestion.

March's Resource of the Month is the State Court Report, a project from

From the website: "State Court Report is a nonpartisan news source, resource, and commentary hub covering state constitutional developments in high courts across the 50 states. We promote awareness, understanding, and discussion about state constitutions and state courts."

Users can filter by state and/or issue, and the site includes case briefs, opinions, and commentary from experts.

The website is statecourtreport.org, and is free to use!

As pledged in the 2020 Faculty Antiracism Statement, Chicago-Kent College of Law continues this third annual writing competition to encourage and honor excellent student scholarship on racial justice. The Law Library is excited to sponsor this writing competition.

The winning paper receives $1000 cash prize. This contest is only open to Chicago-Kent students. The deadline to enter your paper is Monday, June 20, 2024.

The library is open its normal hours during spring break!

The Chicago-Kent College of Law Library seeks an enthusiastic, creative, and service-oriented law librarian as the Head of Metadata and Access. The Head of Metadata and Access reports to the Director of the Law Library. The Head of Metadata and Access provides leadership and oversees the daily operation of access and technical services in the Law Library. This position has administrative and supervisory responsibilities and collaborates with other law librarians to develop, expand, and provide library services for students and faculty. The position is a full-time position and is available immediately. To view the details of the position and to apply, visit https://iit7.peopleadmin.com/postings/10300

Today is the ninth anniversary of one of the most nitpicky SCOTUS decisions ever made, Yates v. US!

In 2007, John L. Yates, a commercial fisherman, was fishing in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico. His boat was boarded by officers of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conversation Commission, who discovered that Yates had reeled in undersized fish, which was a violation of federal regulations. The officer gave Yates a citation and ordered him to keep the fish on board until other federal officials could seize the fish. Instead, Yates threw the fish overboard and replaced them with larger fish. Yates was then charged with destruction and falsification of evidence.

This is where the extreme nitpickiness comes in: Yates was charged under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, a piece of legislation which resulted from the Enron scandal. The actual text of the statute prohibited "destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in Federal investigations and bankruptcy," and that it was a crime to destroy or conceal a tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence an investigation. Additionally, the title of the relevant section of the statute was "Criminal penalties for altering documents."

The majority opinion held that the individual terms of the statute must be read in the context of the statute itself, not with a general dictionary definition. The opinion noted that yes, fish are indeed tangible objects, but the context of the statute made it clear that here, "tangible object" referred to items related to financial fraud, and not every tangible objects that exists.

Basically, they held that within the context of the statute, fish were not tangible objects.

Justice Kagan, in her dissent, noted that the use of the word "any" before the phrase "tangible object" demonstrated that Congress intended for the statute to have a wide application. She also argued that "tangible object" should be given its ordinary meaning (and quoted Dr. Seuss's "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish").

The case is an excellent example of the differing results of statutory interpretation, and how language is frequently picked apart by SCOTUS justices.

Today is also the 55th anniversary of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District!

In December 1965, a group of students planned a public showing of their support for a truce in the Vietnam War, which included wearing black armbands. School administrators learned of the plan and created a policy that stated that any student wearing an armband would be asked to remove it. Refusal to do so would result in suspension.

Two students, Mary Beth Tinker and Christopher Eckhardt, wore armbands to school and were sent home two days in a row, then did not return to school until the planned end of the protest on New Year's Day. Through their parents, they sued the school district for violating their right to expression and sought an injunction to prevent the school district from further disciplining students.

SCOTUS held that the armbands represented pure speech that is entirely separate from the conduct of those wearing them, and that students do not lose their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech when they stepped on school property.

The case has been used as precedent in many subsequent student First Amendment cases.

Image source: Getty Images. Text adapted from Oyez.org

Today marks the 221st anniversary of Marbury v. Madison, the most foundational SCOTUS case of them all!

Background: Thomas Jefferson won the presidential election of 1800. Before he took office, outgoing President John Adams and Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1801 (also known as the Midnight Judges Act), which created new courts and judges while also giving the President more control over appointing judges. Adams then, in rapid-fire succession, appointed around 60 new judges. The Senate had to approve all appointees, but everything hinged on an appointee receiving a commission from the Secretary of State.

William Marbury was one such appointee, but his commission was never delivered. Marbury petitioned the Supreme Court, which at that point was only 12 years old and had done basically nothing of importance up to that point, to compel Secretary of State James Madison to deliver the commission.

The Court found that Madison's refusal to deliver the commission was indeed illegal, and that he should be ordered to turn over the document. However, Chief Justice Marshall recognized that any Court-ordered writ could easily be ignored, as they had no way of enforcing it. Instead, Marshall held that Section 13 of the Judiciary Act of 1789, which dealt with SCOTUS jurisdiction, was in conflict with Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution, and was therefore unconstitutional. This left the Court unable to order any writs in the case, as it was outside of the Court's jurisdiction.

Marshall was in a position where he felt he needed to create more power for the Supreme Court and place it on a equal level with the executive and legislative branches, while also not angering the ruling political parties of the time. By ruling that withholding the commission was illegal while simultaneously ruling that the Court had no power to force its delivery, he made both parties happy. By also giving his fledgling Court the power of judicial review, he placed the Supreme Court on equal footing with the other branches of government.

Marbury v. Madison is the bedrock of American Constitutional law, and has been analyzed endlessly in the past 221 years.

Today is Presidents Day, which is a federal holiday that honors all U.S. Presidents. The holiday originally began as a recognition of George Washington's birthday, which is February 22. As Abraham Lincoln's birthday is February 12, he was often celebrated as well.

In order to give federal employees a consistent three-day holiday, the 1968 Uniform Monday Holiday Act moved the observance to the third Monday in February.

This has led to the holiday having a variety of names, including Washington's Birthday, Washington and Lincoln's Birthday, President's Day, Presidents' Day, and Presidents Day. (Whether the title of "Presidents Day" should include an apostrophe is up for debate; some include it to make the day belong to all presidents, while others leave it off to use the word "presidents" as a descriptor of the day itself.)

Regardless of the actual name of the holiday, its intent is to celebrate all who have served as U.S. President, and many federal offices will be closed today. Chicago-Kent will remain open and classes will proceed as normal.

February's Resource of the Month is the Law Library of Congress Reports collection on HeinOnline!

From Hein's introduction to the collection: "The Law Library of Congress was established in 1832 as a separate department of the Library of Congress. Its mission is to provide authoritative legal research, reference and instruction services, and access to an unrivaled collection of U.S., foreign, comparative, and international law. To accomplish this mission, the Law Library has assembled a staff of experienced foreign and U.S. trained legal specialists and law librarians, and has amassed the world's largest collection of law books and other legal resources from all countries, now comprising more than 2.9 million items, including one of the world's best rare law book collections and the most complete collection of foreign legal gazettes in the U.S.

The Law Library produces reports on foreign, comparative, and international law in response to requests from Members of Congress, Congressional staff and committees, the federal courts, executive branch agencies, and others. Selected reports are provided for the public for reference purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. The information provided reflects research undertaken as of the date of writing, which has not been updated unless specifically noted."

Chicago-Kent students and faculty can access the collection through our A-Z Databases page.

Happy Lunar New Year! In this tradition, the new year typically begins with the first new moon that occurs between the end of January and spans the first 15 days of the first month of the lunar calendar—until the full moon arrives. This year, Lunar New Year is mostly widely celebrated from February 10-24.

Many cultures celebrate their own version of Lunar New Year, including Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Hmong, Mongolian, Taiwanese, Indian, Indonesian, and the Nisg̱aʼa (although their dates are a bit different - the Nisg̱aʼa calculate the new year based on the emergence of the first crescent moon).

In Chinese tradition, 2024 is the Year of the Dragon. Throughout Chinese history, the dragon has represented good luck, justice, prosperity, and strength

Today is the beginning of Black History Month, which celebrates and honors the history of Black Americans and other cultures in the African diaspora.

You can recognize this month by reading Black authors, learning a new topic within Black history, and supporting local Black-owned businesses!

The Chicago-Kent College of Law Library seeks an enthusiastic, creative, and service-oriented law librarian to join our team as the Research and Instructional Services Librarian. The Research and Instructional Services Librarian collaborates with other law librarians to develop, expand, and provide library services, including reference and research services for students and faculty, in-class instruction, and research tools such as research guides. The position is a full-time, hybrid position and is available immediately. Job duties include, but are not limited to, providing guest lectures to legal writing and doctrinal classes, developing instructional materials, and creating and managing LibGuides. For the full job posting and to apply, visit https://iit7.peopleadmin.com/postings/10184

The library has a new Patent Law guide which includes essentials, patent searching, primary and secondary research, practical guidance, patent prosecution information, and study aids. The guide can be accessed by going to the Databases page on the library website, or by going to https://guides.kentlaw.iit.edu/patent-law.

If there is a class or legal topic that you think we should have a guide for, let us know! Email [email protected] with your suggestion.

Today is the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

Although this monumental court case was overturned in 2022, its impact should not be ignored. Roe v. Wade solidified an inherent right to privacy in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This right to privacy guaranteed the right to choose to have an abortion, while also balancing the government's interest in health and the potentiality of human life.

Roe was one in a line of right-to-privacy cases; earlier cases included the right to birth control (Griswold v. Connecticut) and the right to in*******al marriage (Loving v. Virginia), while the elimination of so**my laws (Lawrence v. Texas) and the right to same-sex marriage (Obergefell v. Hodges) used Roe as precedent.

Image: Bloomberg