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CMLawLibraryBlog

The CM Law Library Blog seeks to inform the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law community about key legal education, research, practice, and law library news, with a particular focus on Cuyahoga County and Ohio as well as faculty research interests.

Web Page Redesign

Sue Altmeyer, Electronic Services Librarian, sue.altmeyer@law.csuohio.edu | October 13, 2007 - 09:27

You probably noticed that the law school and law library web page have a new look. Not only is the web site more visually appealing, navigation features have been added to make information easier to find. Note the links to main categories on the left, and subcategory links on the right.

You may be trying to find where some of your favorite sources have been relocated. For a brief list of where certain items have been relocated on the library's page, click the <More> link, below. If you have trouble finding other items, please do not hesitate to ask the library staff.

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Justice Blackmun's Secret "Pool Memos" Now on the Web

Sue Altmeyer, Electronic Services Librarian, sue.altmeyer@law.csuohio.edu | October 13, 2007 - 09:20

Those curious about how the U.S. Supreme Court decides which cases to hear may want to access Justice Harry Blackmun's pool memos in the Blackmun Archive Browser. A pool memo is written by a Supreme Court law clerk, who summarizes the facts and issues in a case, and recommends whether or not the court should grant certiorari. The pool memorandums are confidential Supreme Court documents. Justice Blackmun's papers became available five years after his death, and the pool memorandums written by his clerks were part of those papers.

The pool memorandums provide insight into whether the "cert pool" process is working. The "cert pool" process has been criticized because it presumably places too much power in the law clerk who wrote the pool memo, who is typically a recent law school graduate. The process is thought to have a built-in bias for denying certiorari. See Demystifying the U.S. Supreme Court's Cert Granting Process , Howard J. Bashman, Law.com, Oct. 15, 2007.

For an article on the release of Justice Blackmun's papers in 2004, see Blackmun Contributions to History: Papers and Oral History, Richard G. Kopf, The Historical Society of the United States Courts in the Eighth Circuit Newsletter, Vol. 10, 2005. Cleveland Marshall College of Law Professor Dena Davis examined Justice Blackmun's sermons, also released in his personal papers, to provide insight into his theory of Constitutional interpretation. See "Moral Ambition: The Sermons of Harry A. Blackmun", Dena S. Davis, LexisNexis® 72 Brooklyn L.Rev 211. This article points out that Blackmun's Constitutional interpretation and Biblical interpretation are both based upon compassion and protecting outsiders and the marginalized.


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