How Many Laws Has the Supreme Court Declared Unconstitutional?

The Supreme Court’s role in judging the constitutionality of Acts of Congress has been in the news this week, so an obvious question is: Just how many laws has the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional? Google that and you’ll get some good answers, including the top hit, from WikiAnswers:



But these answers don’t provide the full citation to a source you can cite, just a vague reference to where the answers came from, the Congressional Research Service.

Lexis Nexis Summer Student Access

I want to pass along a note the librarians received this past weekend about access to Lexis Nexis for students during this upcoming summer:

Summer Access Program: Students will have full access to Lexis Advance all summer for educational purposes. Students simply need to have a registered Lexis Advance ID as there is no longer a summer access registration requirement. Educational use includes:

      Summer course preparation and assignments

      Research associated with Moot Court, Law Review, or Law Journal

      Research associated with pursuing a grant or scholarship

      Services as a research assistant to a professor, whether paid or unpaid

      An internship, externship, or clinic position for school credit or graduation requirement

      Study for the bar exam

      Research skill improvement for educational purposes

Note: Student Lexis.com IDs will be restricted to a limited menu of Career resources from June 1^st to August 1^st.  However, if you have students that need access to specific content available only on Lexis.com (i.e. international materials), simply contact your Lexis Account Executive to obtain access for those individuals.

Mardi Gras Hours Announcement

The Loyola New Orleans Law Library will be CLOSED next Monday and Tuesday (February 20 & 21) for Lundi Gras and Mardi Gras. Regular hours return 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning the 22nd.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

The Legal History of Mardi Gras in Louisiana

As the Carnival Season is gearing up to full speed, and with Fat Tuesday two weeks from today, the law library has a new exhibit, “The Legal History of Mardi Gras in Louisiana.” It features some historic items from our collection, a summary of the Mardi Gras Krewe de-segretation legal battle of 1991-1992, and some humorous examples of how lawyers and the law are often the subject of parody and satire during Mardi Gras.

For those who can’t stop by and see it (and the exhibit comes down promptly on Ash Wednesday!) here is a slide show of the exhibit and some of the specific items in it.



(You'll need to advance the slides manually.) You can also view a full size version of the slide show.

Happy Mardi Gras!!!

Interested in some non law school reading?

If you are interested in some non law school reading perhaps you can check out Goodreads.com . Goodreads has been called "a book oriented social network" but maybe a better description is a digital bookclub. Goodreads combines ratings, reviews, recommendations, discussions, and a host of other neat options for those reading the same or similar books as the user. I will admit that I am a new user myself to Goodreads but from what I have seen so far I like it for helping determine that next possible reading selection.

Library Hours for Spring 2012

Just a quick note that regular library hours return to the Law Library on Sunday, January 8th.

Regular Hours consist of

Sunday: 10 am - 11 pm
Monday - Thursday: 7:30 am - midnight
Friday: 7:30 am - 9 pm
Saturday: 9 am - 10 pm

Today in 1991: Mardi Gras Krewes Desegregated

Twenty years ago today, the New Orleans City Council passed an ordinance that requires each Mardi Gras Krewe to provide an affidavit that they have:

“[N]o written or unwritten provision in its charter, bylaws, rules, regulations or policies which call for the refusal, withholding or denying of membership, or any of the services, accommodations, advantages, facilities or privilege offered by the respondent to members or others, because of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sexual orientation or ancestry...” New Orleans City Code 34-3.