ABA Journal

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Supreme Court still reluctant to allow livestreaming of opinion announcements

Opinion announcements and oral dissents make for high drama at the court. The court has been livestreaming its arguments since May 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic at first led to telephone arguments, and then continuously since the justices returned to the courtroom in the fall of 2021. But it has never offered live or timely access to the audio of opinion announcements.



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As copyright concerns halt California's plan for Kaplan bar exam, non-NCBE options being explored

The State Bar of California says it will continue to explore options outside of the National Conference of Board Examiners’ bar exam offerings after putting on a hold a plan to create a proprietary exam with Kaplan North America.



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5th Circuit took 'overly cramped view' of precedent in retaliatory arrest suit, Supreme Court says

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday for a former city council member who claims that her arrest for placing her citizen petition into a binder stemmed from a retaliatory political vendetta.



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Louisiana requires Ten Commandments to be displayed in public classrooms

Gov. Jeff Landry (R) signed legislation Wednesday requiring every public classroom in Louisiana to display the Ten Commandments, becoming the first state with such a law and inflaming tensions over the separation between church and state.



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BigLaw firm was key in launching historic Stonewall project

Over the past few years, lawyers from international law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner have devoted thousands of pro bono hours to helping create the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center, set to open June 28 in New York City. It will be the first LGBTQIA+ visitor center within the National Park Service.



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Supreme Court upholds Trump tax provision on offshore earnings

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a challenge to an obscure provision of President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax package, ending a lawsuit that many experts feared could destabilize the nation’s tax system.



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Over 100 deans commit to training lawyers to sustain constitutional democracy, rule of law

More than 100 deans of U.S. law schools signed an open letter pledging to train law students in ways that will sustain constitutional democracy while encouraging future lawyers to champion the rule of law through advocacy, public education and clinical work.



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Maryland governor pardons 175,000 marijuana convictions in sweeping order

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore issued a mass pardon of more than 175,000 marijuana convictions Monday morning, one of the nation’s most sweeping acts of clemency involving a drug now in widespread recreational use.



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Want to understand the logic behind a Supreme Court opinion? Focus on footnotes, says professor

Numerous books have been written about the U.S. Supreme Court, including some by justices and former justices themselves. But a new book by Peter Charles Hoffer, a distinguished research professor at the University of Georgia, looks at historic rulings through a different lens in The Supreme Court Footnote: A Surprising History.



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New dean at Columbia Law brings free expression experience

Daniel Abebe, vice provost for academic affairs and governance at the University of Chicago Law School, will become the dean of Columbia Law School on Aug. 1.



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