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In honor of Thanksgiving, here are some holiday- related legal stories.

Presidential Turkey Pardoning

The presidential tradition of pardoning a turkey at Thanksgiving has an interesting history. You can read a full history of this tradition at the White House Historical Association’s website. Abraham Lincoln was not the first President pardon a turkey, as it is commonly thought. As it turns out, President George H. W. Bush was the first to use the term “pardon” after a turkey was presented to the president and was sent to live on a nearby children’s farm.

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As a techno geek I’ve been fascinated by the concept of Artificial Intelligence (or “AI” as it also known). Maybe it’s the Star Trek-iness of it, but the I like idea of having a bot do some of the work for me. The advertising for Google’s Bard AI system says it can help you write your novel. In a recent article a Londoner asked Bard to plan a weekend in London (including what they should wear!). Even if you don’t get the information you were hoping for, at least it provides for an amusing anecdote.

Lately I’ve seen articles published about using AI to aid in legal research and was wondering what the consensus was about using an AI platform to do legal research.

Above the Law has an interesting piece on how AI is transforming legal research, including a brief history of legal research all the way back to the “Unwieldy Rocks” of Hammurabi’s Code.

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The contest’s essay topic for 2022: The First Amendment and the Schoolhouse Gate: Students’ Free Speech Rights

High school students who live within U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit jurisdiction may enter the contest.

“An essay and video contest for high school students in the western United States and Pacific Islands….”

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Mandamus Proceeding: Kristof v. Fagan (Feb 2022)

Filed: February 17, 2022

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF OREGON

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In honor of Halloween and the need for scary stories, I recommend this June 2021 article from “The Atlantic” for anyone and everyone who wants to believe that information can be found online 1, 5, 50, or possibly 500 years from now. (Hahahaha)

Note: “The Atlantic” is a subscription service, but may still allow a few free article downloads. You can also check if one of your library databases (academic or public) includes access to “The Atlantic.” 

“The Internet Is Rotting: Too much has been lost already. The glue that holds humanity’s knowledge together is coming undone,” by Jonathan Zittrain

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Do the journalists, bloggers, and talking heads who refer endlessly to “Title 42” when speaking or writing about immigration and border issues (usually the U.S. Mexico border) know what Title 42 is? Can those “reporters” cite the exact law? Have they read the so-called “Title 42?”

Saying “Title 42” is about as useful as hearing a radio or podcast host say “it’s Tuesday and it’s 20 minutes past the hour” (which Tuesday and what hour?!), or a subject line that says “Don’t miss today’s meeting!” (“today” has no meaning online, without a date!), or the so-called market reports saying “yesterday, the market ended up 13%” (what market, up from or to what?!). It’s meaningless, which listeners and readers know, but seemingly not the talking heads. Sigh.

Back to “What is Title 42?”

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I’m no fan of the blood and drugs True Crime sub-genre, but I can’t resist a well written true (or alleged to be true) financial crime story, aka Follow the Money crime, no longer just associated with political crimes.

It’s possible I like them because the best of them are written by people who know their subjects, are excellent story tellers, and who almost always have a sense of humor that takes a slight edge off the outrage.

These are only a few of the many books written about financial and political flim-flams, confidence tricks, swindles, and scams, but they are some of my favorites. There are many more political, financial, and judicial true crime stories I could include … maybe later:

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Read on for a bit of Oregon “Civics Education” from me:

Senate Bill 513 A (2021) requires that Oregon high school students receive one half-credit in civics education prior to graduation. It has been approved by both legislative chambers and will (we assume) be signed by the Governor. (Visit the Governor’s homepage, look under the Administration tab, and click on the Bills Signed link for a list.)

How this law will be implemented will be fun, um, interesting to watch. It appears everyone is fairly realistic about the speed of this process. The bill says: “Applies to high school diplomas awarded on or after January 1, 2026.”

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Portland, Oregon: CLASSROOM LAW PROJECT is looking for a PROGRAM MANAGER

Excerpt: “POSITION DESCRIPTION

The Program Manager (PM) will lead the collaborative CLP team effort to develop and deliver our Mock Trial program, including statewide student competitions and showcases, as well as related professional development workshops, and collaboration with teachers to support their implementation of these active-learning strategies in their classrooms. In addition, the PM will serve as the instructor for the Street Law seminar at Lewis & Clark Law School, which places law students in high school classrooms to teach lessons in practical law. The PM will also oversee our annual Law Day Conference for Students and We the Readers Book Club for teachers, and contribute to development and implementation of our major annual events for teachers, the Oregon Civics Conference for Teachers and the Summer Institute, as well as our online Educator Resource Community. They will provide active support across all CLP programs including teacher, student, and volunteer recruitment, relationship development within the legal and education communities, and representation of CLP and its civics education mission in a variety of public venues.

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Memorandum on Restoring the Department of Justice’s Access-to-Justice Function and Reinvigorating the White House Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable (MAY 18, 2021 • PRESIDENTIAL ACTIONS)

Excerpt: “By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to increase meaningful access to our legal system and an array of Federal programs, it is hereby ordered as follows: ….” [Link to the Memorandum at the Whitehouse website or Briefing Room or at the Federal Register (and eventually the CFR) website.]

Legal Research Tips: Researching Administrative Law: Federal and State

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