May I recommend a short, amusing and educational publication? It is a great poolside read with actual court opinions. The title is Judges Say the Darndest Things. Check its availability in your Law Library by clicking the title.

The sections Fred Shackelford compiled for the book might just clarify concepts for you.

See one of the selected opinions published in rhyme on Westlaw: Fisher v. Lowe, 333 N.W.2d 67 (Mich. Ct. App. 1983) (You will have to log into your Westlaw account). See also Irvin v. Smith, 654 N.E.2d 189 (Ohio 1993) (You will have to log into your Lexis account).

The D.C. Circuit recently affirmed the decision to list polar bears as an endangered species. According to the court, “a number of industry groups, environmental organizations, and states challenged the Listing Rule as either overly restrictive or insufficiently protective of the polar bear.” This might be an excellent issue for an AWR! 

 In addition to the legal materials that you can find on Westlaw and Lexis, you should also explore the scholarly, non-legal resources in ProQuest Research Library on endangered species, climate change and the effects of the loss of polar bears on Native Peoples. ProQuest Research Library can be found in the drop-down menu on the Library’s website under Library Databases. If you need help searching ProQuest, you can always drop by the Legal Research Help Desk, Ask a Librarian  or if you are a self-learner, check out this research guide about how to use ProQuest Research Library.

Another Proquest Database, Proquest Congressional has this research guide on endangered species.  

Image from Morguefile.com

An article today from the legal blog Justia called, On PACER and FDSys, points to a recent press release from the US Courts website that describes a pilot project of 12 courts that will provide free public access to court opinions through FDSys (the search engine for government documents). The article also has an excellent explanation of what you can search for on PACER, and discusses how PACER is not exactly free.

The pilot project does not include any courts in Arizona, but hey, at least they're trying!

Those who have taken my SRU workshop on FireFox Legal Add-ons will be especially interested in this development, and how it could effect RECAP!

Picture from MorgueFile