This Week in the Law Library ... April 21, 2025

This week in the Law Library we're teaching AI and Advanced Legal Research, preparing for exams, raising awareness for Sexual Assault Month, celebrating Arab American Heritage Month and Scottish American Heritage Month, and previewing US Supreme Court and Ohio Supreme Court oral arguments.

Monday, April 21, 2025

Advanced Legal Research: Transactional
Instructional & Reference Services Librarian Laura Dixon-Caldwell
Room 135
9:00am – 9:55am

Advanced Legal Research: Ohio
Associate Director Susan Boland
Room 135
10:05am – 10:55am

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

Lawyering II, Advocacy, Cohort 6
Research Instructional Services Librarian Shannon Kemen
Room 245
9:00am – 10:35am
Introduction to Using AI in Legal Research

Lawyering II, Advocacy, Cohort 3
Instructional & Reference Services Librarian Ashley Russell
Room 135
10:40am – 12:05pm
Introduction to Using AI in Legal Research

Lawyering II, Advocacy, Cohort 5
Associate Director Susan Boland
Room 245
10:40am – 12:05pm
Introduction to Using AI in Legal Research

Lawyering II, Advocacy, Cohort 4
Instructional & Reference Services Librarian Laura Dixon-Caldwell
Room 230
10:40am – 12:05pm
Introduction to Using AI in Legal Research

Lawyering II, Advocacy, Cohort 1
Instructional & Reference Services Librarian Ashley Russell
Room 245
3:00pm – 4:30pm
Introduction to Using AI in Legal Research

Lawyering II, Advocacy, Cohort 2
Electronic Resources Instructional Services Librarian Ron Jones
Room 230
3:00pm – 4:30pm
Introduction to Using AI in Legal Research

Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Advanced Legal Research: Fiction and Fact
Research Instructional Services Librarian Shannon Kemen
Room 107
10:05am – 11:00am

Stressed about exams? The Law Library can help! The Law Library has many resources to help you prepare for final exams, including 24/7 access to online study aids. These study aids can be an important tool to help you succeed in law school but the different types of study aids serve different purposes. Check out our Exam Study Guide for a look at the different study aid types to which we subscribe and how they can help you with exams.

Looking for a place to study? Reserve a study room through TWEN or study in the carrels in the basement, the second floor Law Library Reading Room, the fourth floor Quiet Reading Room, or the open seating on the fifth floor.

When you’re ready for a short break or need to decompress, the Law Library offers puzzles and coloring pages and colored pencils in room 110, the Law Library Services Suite. Best of luck to everyone!

Accessing Law Library Study Aids

CALI

If using CALI, you will need to create an account (if you have not already done so) using a Cincinnati Law authorization code. You can obtain this code from a reference librarian.

LexisNexis Digital Library (OverDrive)

If accessing study aids from the LexisNexis Digital Library, you will need to login using your UC credentials.

West Academic

To create an account, click the Create an Account link at the top right corner of the Study Aids Subscription page. Use your UC email as the email address. Once you have filled in the required information to set up an account, you will need to verify your email address (they will send you a confirmation email that you will need answer to verify the email address — be sure and check your junk mail). Once you have created an account and logged in, you can use the links below to access individual study aids or you can access all study aids through https://subscription.westacademic.com.

Aspen Learning Library

If accessing study aids from the Aspen Learning Library subscription, you will need to login using your UC credentials.

Selected Study Aids to Help with Outlining

There are issues with using commercial outlines. Your professor is emphasizing different things. You miss nuances and context. Reading an outline is not an effective learning technique. Studies have shown that if the reader has to decide which material is most important and has to think about the meaning of the text and how the different pieces relate to one another, they perform better on tests later.¹ Also, studies have shown that “writing about the important points in one’s own words produced a benefit over and above that of selecting important information….”² So, if you are using commercial outlines, be sure and use the review questions and practice tests. You may find it helpful to look at other outlines for structure. But be aware that each of your professors may have different ideas of what is important and what is not. Tailor your outline to the class. Also, each class is different from year to year so relying solely on other people’s past outlines may not be a good idea. Don’t just read the outline. Use it as a guide but make your own!

Outlining Basics

Available through CALI, this CALI lesson teaches you why, when and how to create outlines when preparing for your law school exams. On completion of the lesson, the student will be able to: 1. Recognize the importance of outlines as a learning and test preparation tool in law school, thus making the outlining exercise more valuable. 2. Develop outlines during an optimum timeline. 3. Create outlines that offer the student a tool that improves comprehension, synthesis, and exam performance.

Black Letter Outlines

Available through the West Academic study aid subscription, the Black Letter Outline Series is designed to help students recognize, understand and master the primary principles of law by gaining a good understanding of the rule of law first before applying it to complex fact patterns. They contain comprehensive outlines of particular areas of law, a capsule summary of each outline, practice examinations, and examples and review questions.

Emanuel Law Outlines

Available through the Aspen Learning Library subscription, the Emanuel Law Outlines series is a study aid that outlines the law, gives exam tips, and offers chances for you to quiz yourself.

Gilbert Law Summaries

Available through the West Academic study aid subscription, Gilbert Law Summaries give students a detailed, comprehensive outline to prepare for exams. Each title also includes a capsule summary that is perfect for last minute review. Students can also test their knowledge.

Quick Review (Sum and Substance)

Available through the West Academic study aid subscription, this series contains capsule summary outlines each section with a clear and concise explanation of legal concepts and terms, along with exam hints, strategies, mnemonics, charts, tables and study tips.

Be sure and see our Exam Study Guide for more information!

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. 

More Resources to Raise Awareness about Sexual Assault

Heather R. Hlavka & Sameena Mulla, Bodies in Evidence: Race, Gender, and Science in Sexual Assault Adjudication (e-Book)

Bodies in Evidence draws on observations of over 680 court appearances in Milwaukee County’s felony sexual assault courts, as well as interviews with judges, attorneys, forensic scientists, jurors, sexual assault nurse examiners, and victim advocates. It shows how forensic science helps to propagate public misunderstandings of sexual violence by bestowing an aura of authority to race and gender stereotypes and inequalities. Expert testimony reinforces the idea that sexual assault is physically and emotionally recognizable and always leaves material evidence. The court’s reliance on the presence of forensic evidence infuses these very familiar stereotypes and myths about sexual assault with new scientific authority. Bodies in Evidence reveals the human cost of sexual assault adjudication, and the social cost we all bear when investing in forms of justice that reproduce inequality and racial injustice.

Tamara Rice Lave, Campus Sexual Assault: Defending Due Process

Fair adjudication of campus sexual assault is one of the most divisive issues facing the United States. Victims contend that schools aren't doing enough to protect them, and accused students complain that they are presumed guilty. Sexual Assault on Campus: Defending Due Process begins by critically assessing the extent of the problem, before explaining why the criminal justice system has been unable to respond adequately. The book discusses the Department of Education's attempts to force schools to take campus assault seriously and uses original data in assessing the fairness of adjudication in the wake of the 2011 'Dear Colleague Letter.' It also includes excerpts from interviews with complainants, accused students, and administrators, which offer readers a first-hand account of these proceedings. Finally, the book provides a critical, in-depth look at the Title IX regulations put in place by the Trump Administration, with detailed recommendations for how they can be improved

B. Anthony Morosco, The Prosecution and Defense of Sex Crimes 

Available on Lexis, The Prosecution and Defense of Sex Crimes contains full coverage of legal problems involved in forcible and non-forcible sex crimes, including sexual and physical abuse of children and spouses, and prostitution. This resource delivers detailed authority on: investigatory techniques, pre-trial motions, trial strategies, jury selection, cross-examination, treatment of expert witnesses, sentencing alternatives, negotiated pleas, appeals,child sexual assault, and Megan's Law.

Paul DerOhannesian II, Sexual Assault Trials

Available on Lexis and in print this book provides guidance on discovery and pretrial issues, jury selection, direct and cross-examination, hearsay, expert testimony, presentation of evidence, and jury instructions. This third edition covers developing issues in sexual assault litigation, including:the effects of Crawford v. Washington in sexual assault litigation;  an expanded discussion of hearsay issues and expert psychological testimony, digital photographs, and authenticating of computer evidence; child pornography issues, such as the discovery of child pornography images and the determination of age in those images; expanded discussion of many areas such as disclosure of information under Brady and issues surrounding the use of polygraph evidence. The discussion also includes an analysis of the medical, scientific, and social science issues that come up in sexual assault litigation, such as the interpretation of physical findings in the examination of assault victims, the psychological aspects of sexual abuse, sensitivities involved in interviewing the child witness, and DNA and related technology. 

Sexual Violence: Evidence Based Policy and Prevention (e-Book)

This book examines the disconnect in the sexual violence prevention field between legislation, research and practice. The work is focused primarily on United States policies and initiatives, with key case studies internationally. Contributions show that current policies are mainly based on repeat offenders: residence restrictions, registration and notification statutes, and post-sentence initiatives. While these initiatives address public fears, they are not evidence-based and do not necessarily reduce offending. Research shows that post-sentence policies may destabilize offenders and limit their ability to reintegrate with society at a critical period, therefore increasing the chances of recidivism. Furthermore, the majority of sex crimes (95%) are committed by first time offenders. This innovative book is divided into two parts juxtaposing what is currently being done legislatively with what the research evidence suggests would be best practice.

About Scottish-American Heritage Month

April is also Scottish-American Heritage Month, celebrating the contributions of the Scottish-Americans who have had an impact on U.S. society. Tartan Day is observed on April 6th to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320. This document was Scotland's Declaration of Independence.

Resources to Learn More About Scottish-Americans

Global migrations: The Scottish Diaspora Since 1600

This book examines the impact since 1600 of out migration from Scotland on the homeland, the migrants, and the destinations in which they settled. It does so through a focus on the under-researched themes of slavery, cross-cultural encounters, economics, war, tourism, and the modern diaspora since 1945. From the seventeenth century to the current day, more than 2.5 million Scots have sought new lives elsewhere. This book of essays from established and emerging scholars examines the impact since 1600 of out migration from Scotland on the homeland, the migrants and the destinations in which they settled, and their descendants and 'affinity' Scots. It does so through a focus on the under-researched themes of slavery, cross-cultural encounters, economics, war, tourism, and the modern diaspora since 1945. It spans diverse destinations including Europe, the USA,  Canada, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Hong Kong, Guyana and the British World more broadly. A key objective is to consider whether the Scottish factor mattered.

Colin G. Calloway, Hard neighbors: The Scotch-Irish Invasion of Native America and the Making of an American Identity (e-Book)

Colin Calloway offers an intricate portrait of the early American settlers who came to be known as Scotch-Irish - from their origins on borderlands on one side of the Atlantic to their crucial part in conquering borderlands on the other. 'Hard neighbors', as they were called, the Scotch-Irish were the tip of the spear of white colonial expansion into Indian lands, earning a reputation first as Indian killers and then as embodiments of the American pioneer spirit.

Jim Hewitson, Tam Blake & Co: The Story of the Scots in America

In 1540, Tam Blake, mercenary and adventurer, became the first Scot in the New World. Since then, American-Scots have played central roles in all areas of America's history. Three became Indian chiefs, presidents of Scottish descent include Jackson, Grant, Roosevelt and Reagan. Western legends such as Kit Carson and Daniel Boone were joined by thousands of unknown fellow Scottish men and women in the opening up of the West. Scots had key roles in the American Revolution (on both sides) and in the American Civil War. This book documents the lives of settlers and their descendants, transported prisoners, refugees from clearances, poverty and repression, emigrants in search of land, fame or fortune, or those just trying to avoid having to milk the cows.

Transatlantic Scots

Transatlantic Scots is a multidisciplinary collection that studies the regional organization and varied expressions of the Scottish Heritage movement in the Canadian Maritimes, the Great Lakes, New England, and the American South. From diverse perspectives, authorities in their fields consider the modeling of a Scottish identity that distances heritage celebrants from prevalent visions of whiteness. Considering both hyphenated Scots who celebrate centuries-old transmission of Scottish traditions and those for whom claiming or re-claiming a Scottish identity is recent and voluntary, this book also examines how diaspora themes and Highland imagery repeatedly surface in regional public celebrations and how traditions are continually reinvented through the accumulation of myths. 

Ulster to America: The Scots-Irish Migration Experience, 1680-1830 (e-Book)

In Ulster to America: The Scots-Irish Migration Experience, 1680–1830, editor Warren R. Hofstra has gathered contributions from pioneering scholars who are rewriting the history of the Scots-Irish. In addition to presenting fresh information based on thorough and detailed research, they offer cutting-edge interpretations that help explain the Scots-Irish experience in the United States. While the Scots-Irish myth has proved useful over time to various groups with their own agendas—including modern-day conservatives and fundamentalist Christians—this book, by clearing away long-standing but erroneous ideas about the Scots-Irish, represents a major advance in our understanding of these immigrants. It also places Scots-Irish migration within the broader context of the historiographical construct of the Atlantic world.

About National Arab American Heritage Month

April is National Arab American Heritage Month (NAAHM) and celebrates the heritage, culture, and contributions of Arab Americans. Immigrants with origins from the Arab world have been arriving to the United States since before our country’s independence and have contributed to our nation’s advancements in science, business, technology, foreign policy, and national security. The Arab American Foundation and Arab America initiated the National Arab American Heritage Month in 2017. States and other organizations began recognizing April as National Arab American Heritage Month and last year President Biden issued an official proclamation.

The Arab American Institute estimates there are 3.7 million Arab Americans. Arab Americans are found in every state, but “[n]early 75% of all Arab Americans live in just twelve states: California, Michigan, New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Minnesota, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania …”

Resources to Learn More on Arab American Heritage  

Kanopy Arab American Heritgage Month

Available through the UC Libraries’ Kanopy subscription, view Arab films and documentaries.

PBS, Celebrate Arab American Heritage Month

Watch documentaries and programs that celebrate the diversity and history of Arab American communities.

Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, Becoming American?: the Forging of Arab and Muslim Identity in Pluralist America (e-Book)

Countless generations of Arabs and Muslims have called the United States "home." Yet while diversity and pluralism continue to define contemporary America, many Muslims are viewed by their neighbors as painful reminders of conflict and violence. Becoming American? first traces the history of Arab and Muslim immigration into Western society during the 19th and 20th centuries, revealing a two-fold disconnect between the cultures--America's unwillingness to accept these new communities at home and the activities of radical Islam abroad. Urging America to reconsider its tenets of religious pluralism, Haddad reveals that the public square has more than enough room to accommodate those values and ideals inherent in the moderate Islam flourishing throughout the country. 

Between the Middle East and the Americas: The Cultural Politics of Diaspora (e-Book)

Between the Middle East and the Americas: The Cultural Politics of Diaspora traces the production and circulation of discourses about "the Middle East" across various cultural sites, against the historical backdrop of cross-Atlantic Mahjar flows. The book highlights the fraught and ambivalent situation of Arabs/Muslims in the Americas, where they are at once celebrated and demonized, integrated and marginalized, simultaneously invisible and spectacularly visible. The essays cover such themes as Arab hip-hop's transnational imaginary; gender/sexuality and the Muslim digital diaspora; patriotic drama and the media's War on Terror; the global negotiation of the Prophet Mohammad cartoons controversy; the Latin American paradoxes of Turcophobia/Turcophilia; the ambiguities of the bellydancing fad; French and American commodification of Rumi spirituality; the reception of Iranian memoirs as cultural domestication; and the politics of translation of Turkish novels into English. Taken together, the essays analyze the hegemonic discourses that position "the Middle East" as a consumable exoticized object, while also developing complex understandings of self-representation in literature, cinema/TV, music, performance, visual culture, and digital spaces. 

John Tehranian, Whitewashed: America's Invisible Middle Eastern Minority (e-Book)

The Middle Eastern question lies at the heart of the most pressing issues of our time: the war in Iraq and on terrorism, the growing tension between preservation of our national security and protection of our civil rights, and the debate over immigration, assimilation, and our national identity. Yet paradoxically, little attention is focused on our domestic Middle Eastern population and its place in American society. Unlike many other racial minorities in our country, Middle Eastern Americans have faced rising, rather than diminishing, degrees of discrimination over time; a fact highlighted by recent targeted immigration policies, racial profiling, a war on terrorism with a decided racialist bent, and growing rates of job discrimination and hate crime. Oddly enough, however, Middle Eastern Americans are not even considered a minority in official government data. Instead, they are deemed white by law. The author explains how American constructions of Middle Eastern racial identity have changed over the last two centuries, paying particular attention to the shift in perceptions of the Middle Easterner from friendly foreigner to enemy alien, a trend accelerated by the tragic events of 9/11. Focusing on the contemporary immigration debate, the war on terrorism, media portrayals of Middle Easterners, and the processes of creating racial stereotypes, Tehranian argues that, despite its many successes, the modern civil rights movement has not done enough to protect the liberties of Middle Eastern Americans.

You can view the live stream of oral arguments on the Court’s website or see them after the arguments take place in the Ohio Channel archives.

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

• In re: L.E.S., E.S., N.S. - whether the Ohio and U.S. constitutions allow a state court to ignore Ohio statutes barring common law marriage and to institute a marriage, and associated parental rights, for same-sex couples who couldn’t marry before Obergefell. Court News Ohio Oral Argument Preview
• State v. Clark (2024-0401/2024-0539) - (1) when an appellant’s application for reconsideration is granted under App.R. 26(B)(5) on the grounds that there was a genuine issue as to whether the applicant was deprived of the effective assistance of counsel on appeal but appellant then fails to separately address in their brief the claim that representation by prior appellate counsel was deficient and that the applicant was prejudiced by that deficiency as required by App.R. 26(B)(7), can the appellate court presume appellant is arguing that appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to raise the arguments set forth in his new assignments of error, or must the court affirm its previous judgment due to appellant’s failure to comply with the explicit requirements set forth in App.R. 26(B)(7) and (2) if an appellant receives ineffective assistance of counsel on a reopened appeal due to counsel's failure to properly demonstrate ineffective assistance of prior appellate counsel under App. R. 26(B)(7), can the appellant apply for delayed reconsideration in the court of appeals due to the ineffective assistance of counsel on the reopened appeal under State v. Murnahan, 63 Ohio St.3d 60, 584 N.E.2d 1204 (1991), so as not to foreclose on appellants opportunity to vindicate his right to the effective assistance of counsel on direct appeal? Court News Ohio Oral Argument Preview
• State v. Kisil - whether the terms ‘clean,’ ‘safe,’ and ‘sanitary’ as related to property maintenance are unconstitutionally void for vagueness in that they fail to apprise an ordinary property owner or occupant as to what is prohibited. Court News Ohio Oral Argument Preview
• In re Application Dayton Power & Light Co. (2023-0111 and 2023-0130) -  (1) whether a standard service offer is a component of an electric security plan or is it a form of an electric security plan;(2) whether the Public Utilities Commission Ohio can remove a rate stabilization charge that is a component of a reinstated electric security plan; (3) whether the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio erred in requiring AES Ohio to include language in its tariff making the Rate Stabilization Charge ("RSC") refundable "to the extent permitted by law."  Court News Ohio Oral Argument Preview
  

Wednesday, April 23, 2025

• State v. Crawl - whether the act of making non-threatening comments to an individual’s public social media platforms posts, when there is no relationship between the individuals, and the person who posts on social media takes no action to put the commentor on notice that she finds the comments offensive, unwanted, or considered them threatening, is sufficient to support a finding that the comments were knowingly made to cause the poster on social media platform to feel threatened with harm or to cause her mental anguish to support a conviction of stalking under Ohio Rev. Code sec. 2903.211(A)(1). Court News Ohio Oral Argument Preview
  
• State v. Balmert - (1) whether an operating a vehicle while under the influence (OVI violation, by itself, is sufficient to satisfy the proximate cause requirement of aggravated vehicular assault or homicide; and (2) whether a court can use evidence presented to support OVI based on actual impairment, which the defendant was acquitted of, to find that OVI based on metabolite levels proximately caused serious physical harm. Court News Ohio Oral Argument Preview
• State v. Diaw - (1) whether the United States Supreme Court's holdings in Carpenter v. United States and related cases applies to a single latitude and longitude
  generated by voluntarily logging onto a website or cell-phone application; and (2) whether social media users have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the location data collected by a social media provider.

US Supreme Court by Jarek Tuszyński CC-BY-SA-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

From SCOTUS Blog:

Monday, April 21, 2025

Kennedy v. Braidwood Mgmt. - whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit erred in holding that the structure of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force violates the Constitution's appointments clause and in declining to sever the statutory provision that it found to unduly insulate the task force from the Health & Human Services secretary’s supervision.

Parrish v. United States - whether a litigant who files a notice of appeal after the ordinary appeal period under 28 U.S.C. § 2107(a)-(b) expires must file a second, duplicative notice after the appeal period is reopened under subsection (c) of the statute and Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4.

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

Comm'r of Internal Revenue v. Zuch - whether a proceeding under 26 U.S.C. § 6330 for a pre-deprivation determination about a levy proposed by the Internal Revenue Service to collect unpaid taxes becomes moot when there is no longer a live dispute over the proposed levy that gave rise to the proceeding.

Mahmoud v. Taylor - whether public schools burden parents’ religious exercise when they compel elementary school children to participate in instruction on gender and sexuality against their parents’ religious convictions and without notice or opportunity to opt out.

Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Diamond Alt. Energy LLC v. Env't Prot. Agency - whether a party may establish the redressability component of Article III standing by relying on the coercive and predictable effects of regulation on third parties.

Posted April 21, 2025 by Susan Boland

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