Res Ipsa Blog

On Monday, in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, the Supreme Court upheld the Indiana law requiring voters to have a government issued photo identification card in order to vote. Suit was brought by opponents of the law who claimed that the requirement to have a photo identification card created a substantial barrier for voters have government issued photo identification. In the 6-3 decision, the Court held the burdens associated with the voter identification requirement did not amount to a constitutional ... Read More

Charming and surprisingly funny, at 72, Scalia seemed to be twenty years younger and in the best of health during his interview that aired today on 60 Minutes. "Nino," as he is affectionately known, is only child and was born to his Italian immigrant parents. Scalia grew up in Queens, New York and eventually earned his own way into Harvard through persistence and hard work. In his first-ever major television interview, Scalia provided insight into his position as an originalist, someone who ... Read More

As previously reported, Scalia will be on 60 Minutes tomorrow at 6 Central. Here is a preview: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjaB3cxH-XE&rel=0] SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "60 Minutes Preview: Scalia Speaks Out on Bush v. Gore", url: "http://resipsablog.com/2008/04/26/60-minutes-preview-scalia-speaks-out-on-bush-v-gore/" }); Read More

Highest Grossing Law Firms Based in Texas in 2007 Akin Gump $752 million Fulbright $649 million Vinson & Elkins ... Read More

The ribbon cutting ceremony for the Mark and Becky Lanier Professional Development, the newest addition to the Texas Tech School of Law, took place this morning. Prior to the ribbon-cutting ceremony, the Texas Supreme Court heard two cases  in the new building. The new building adds over 34,000 square feet of space to the law school, including a 150 seat courtroom which is one of the most technologically advanced courtrooms in the nation. The building was made possible by a $6 ... Read More

There is a new search engine in town. It's called "PreCYdent." PreCYdent is a free service, which will eventually be ad-supported, and hopes to become a contender in the legal search provider market currently dominated by Westlaw and LexisNexis. PreCYdent hopes to bring open access and 21st century technology to legal searches, effectively making searching case law as easy as running a search on Google. I decided to give PreCYdent a trial run to see how it compares to Westlaw and LexisNexis. Natural ... Read More

Today, in a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court held that lethal injections do not violate the Constitution. Writing for the plurality in Baze v. Rees, Chief Justice Roberts stated merely "showing a slightly or marginally safe alternative" was not enough to successfully challenge the method of execution. Instead, there must be proof that the alternate method prevents a "substantial risk of serious harm" As Justice Stevens pointed out, the issue before the Court was not whether the death penalty itself ... Read More

(click image for full size) Big Law: The University of Texas topped the list for graduates practicing at "Big Law" firms upon graduation at 28%. The next closest school was Southern Methodist University's Dedman School of Law. Private Practice: Texas Tech University School of Law had the highest percentage of students entering private practice. (81%). Judicial Clerkships: University of Texas students have the largest percentage (10%) of students entering judicial clerkships upon graduation. Government Jobs: Texas Wesleyan had the most students ... Read More

Catharina Haynes, a partner at Baker Botts, and a longtime insurance defense lawyer, was confirmed by the Senate for a lifetime appointment to the influential United States 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Haynes served as a state court judge, winning the 1998 and 2002 elections for the 191st District Court in Dallas. As a trial judge she presided over nearly 200 jury trials and 100 bench trials. Haynes, a graduate of Emory, also served on the Emory Law Journal. She is also ... Read More

Bob Morse, the creator of the U.S. News & World Report’s Annual Law School Rankings, spoke out in defense of the rankings today during a one-hour live chat session at ABAJournal.com. In response to Brian Leiter’s open letter to Morse calling for radical changes to the ranking system, Morse commented that the publication was going to “meet or respond to" the suggestions made by Leiter. While he noted that Leiter called for significant changes in the ranking system and data collection methods, ... Read More