Tulane's Curriculum Cited by Supreme Court

In the recent Supreme Court case Connick v. Thompson, the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office conceded that in prosecuting Thompson for attempted armed robbery, prosecutors violated Brady v. Maryland, 373 U. S. 83, by failing to disclose a crime lab report.

In her dissent, Justice Ginsberg noted her displeasure with the training a prosecutor had received at Tulane University Law School:

On what basis can one be confident that law schools acquaint students with prosecutors’ unique obligation under Brady? Whittaker told the jury he did not recall covering Brady in his criminal procedure class in law school. Tr. 335. Dubelier’s alma mater, like most other law faculties, does not make criminal procedure a required course.21



—————— 21See Tulane University Law School, Curriculum, http://www.law.tulane.edu (select “Academics”; select “Curriculum”) (as visited Mar.21, 2011, and in Clerk of Court’s case file).

Ouch.
Connick v. Thompson, 563 U. S. ____ (2011), at 29

Loyola Law School in the Early 1920s

Prior to the Loyola Law Review, our flagship law review here at Loyola New Orleans was the Loyola Law Journal. Begun in 1920, when the law school had been open only six years, it was published up until 1932 but wasn’t replaced by the Review until almost a decade later, in 1941 (perhaps such publications were an unnecessary luxury for the law school during the depression).

Scalia Rear-Ends Car

Justice Scalia was cited for driving too close, thereby causing a four car accident on the way to work yesterday.

BMW

Therapy for Law Students

This is an interesting development at Yale. We do not have therapy dogs available yet, but we do have dog-eared books on therapy.

For Law Students With Everything, Dog Therapy for Stress

Mardi Gras Parades, Krewe Liability, and Assumption of Risk

Louisiana has a statute that may be unique in American law. Louisiana Revised Statutes § 9:2796, “Limitation of liability for loss connected with Mardi Gras parades and festivities; fair and festival parades,” does just that: it states that “no person shall have a cause of action against any krewe or organization” that participates in a Mardi Gras parade. It goes on to also state that anyone attending a parade “assumes the risk of being struck by any missile whatsoever which has been traditionally thrown, tossed, or hurled by members of the krewe” and that those “items shall include but are not limited to beads, cups, coconuts, and doubloons.” The only exception to both parts of this statute is if an injury is caused by “the deliberate and wanton act or gross negligence of the krewe or organization.”

Scotistics

Are you interested in the U.S. Supreme Court? Do you enjoy statistics? Then this website will prove to be both fascinating and invaluable to you:

http://www.scotusblog.com/reference/stat-pack/


How many unanimous majority opinions did Roberts write in the October 2005 Term? Which circuit had the most cases affirmed by the Court? How many appellants had blue eyes? The answers to these questions and many more may be found at this website.

Tom Goldstein has compiled and posted Supreme Court statistics since OT95. That's a lot of material to explore.