Legal History

ABA releases a cookbook to mark centennial of 19th Amendment’s ratification

“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex,” reads the 19th Amendment, which was ratified on this day 100 years ago.

Aug 18, 2020 1:00 PM CDT

Convicted of a crime that never occurred? It happens all too often, law prof says

We are used to hearing about wrongful convictions in which a murderer walked free because an innocent person was misidentified. But when Jessica S. Henry, a professor at Montclair State University in New Jersey, was researching material for her course on wrongful convictions, she discovered that in one-third of all known exonerations, the conviction was wrongful because there had not even been a crime.

Aug 12, 2020 9:00 AM CDT

Army lawyer let Sen. McCarthy ‘hang himself’ through his own words, says author of new bio

“The Army-McCarthy hearings would rightfully be compared to a soap opera, even though there was no infidelity or seduction, the plot meandered, and the only real star was a hired-gun solicitor,” writes author Larry Tye.

Aug 11, 2020 9:55 AM CDT

Appeals court won’t use word ‘grandfathering’ because of racist origins

The Massachusetts Appeals Court has taken a stand against the word “grandfathering” in a footnote highlighting its racist origins.

Aug 4, 2020 10:07 AM CDT

Activists are fighting new voter suppression tactics in court

Despite legislative achievements, it wasn’t long until end runs were made around voter protection laws, and those efforts are alive and well, election law attorneys and voting rights advocates say.

Aug 1, 2020 2:00 AM CDT

Sept. 5, 1969: Murder charges in My Lai massacre

“The fog of war—the uncertainty and confusion of battle—makes prosecution of war crimes difficult, at best. Dead civilians become collateral damage—the lamentable result of bad aim, poor training and faulty intelligence. But when the chain of command is complicit, it becomes all but impossible.”

Aug 1, 2020 12:05 AM CDT

Fans of baseball will be missed this upcoming season—but not their legal headaches

The national pastime, played in empty stadiums, at long last gets underway on Thursday. The cheer of the crowd will be sorely missed. But the absence of fans will also spare Major League Baseball teams from legal headaches that can arise when the seats are filled.

Jul 22, 2020 1:47 PM CDT

We need to reckon with feminism’s contributions to mass incarceration, says law professor

As a law professor at the University of Colorado Law School, Aya Gruber has seen her Millennial students wrestle with a problem that she has long struggled with herself: How to fight both gender-based violence and overpolicing.

Jul 15, 2020 1:30 PM CDT

Afternoon Briefs: California law schools announce fall online classes; law protects monuments, state AG says

2 California law schools announce plans for fall online classes Because of COVID-19 concerns, fall 2020 classes will be online at the University of California at Irvine School of Law and the University of California at Berkeley School of Law, the schools announced this week. At the Irvine law school,…

Jun 26, 2020 4:45 PM CDT

What does police abolition look like?

Alex S. Vitale explains the troubling origins of modern policing, why commonly suggested reforms like training and increased diversity have not been successful, and much more.

Jun 24, 2020 10:32 AM CDT

5 years after landmark gay marriage ruling by SCOTUS, lawyer in the case says it’s ‘gone swimmingly well’

“For the most part, states and employers are doing the right thing,” says Mary Bonauto, who argued Obergefell v. Hodges before the U.S. Supreme Court. But she says there are still some attempts to “shrink marriage.”

Jun 24, 2020 8:00 AM CDT

Law clerk speaks up after judge’s courtwide email sparks debate over removing Confederate symbols

A black law clerk was the first to respond after a federal appeals judge shared an email with hundreds of colleagues in which he opined as “madness” a proposal by Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

Jun 18, 2020 4:00 PM CDT

ABA commemorates Juneteenth with program exploring racial inequities

The ABA is hosting a webinar Friday to commemorate Juneteenth, an annual holiday marking the day that people who were still enslaved in Galveston, Texas, walked away from bondage after they were told that the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued two-and-a-half years earlier.

Jun 18, 2020 11:55 AM CDT

Dale Minami discusses his life of fighting injustice

“I lined up the qualities I wanted in a job, measured them against my strengths and weaknesses, and discovered that I was best fit to practice law with my partners who have the same passion for justice, hard work and great legal skills. I never had to look back.”

Jun 1, 2020 1:35 AM CDT

July 18, 1940: Democrats nominate FDR for unprecedented 3rd term

George Washington, having retired after two terms in office, set a precedent: that serving beyond two terms might suggest the office was intended for a ruler, not a democratically elected leader.

Jun 1, 2020 12:15 AM CDT