Moritz Legal Information Blog

For research needs, legal and otherwise... 1. Constitution for iPad 2. MyCongress 3. GoSkyWatch Planetarium for iPad 4. The Onion 5. Tip Calculator

WestlawNext offers a " Send to Amazon Kindle " option for document delivery along with email, print, and download options. Users can select the Kindle option from the drop-down menu next to the download button (green down arrow in upper right of screen). It is possible to send multiple documents and export folders . Users must provide their Kindle email address and add westlawnext@westlawnext.com to their Kindle's "Approved E-mail List." There is a 15 MB limit for documents sent to a Kindle, and this delivery option is not currently available via Kindle apps for BlackBerries, iPhones, and other devices.

Google has unveiled a new tool for analyzing the popularity of words over time. Using 5.2 million books (about 500 billion words, or 4% of all books ever published), the Ngram Viewer allows you to plug in up to five words or phrases, and see their frequency of use on a year-by-year basis. This New York Times article explains the database and its possible uses for research. For a more scientific approach, try this study .

Ever wonder how the law might apply to superheroes and supervillains? For instance, are mutants a protected class? Who is legally responsible when a hero damages property while fighting a villain? A new blog written by two attorneys/comic book enthusiasts called Law and the Multiverse tackles these difficult hypothetical questions. See also the coverage in the New York Times .

From the pages of O'Reilly Radar : Public.Resource.Org will partner with Fastcase in 2011 to produce RECOP (Report of Current Opinions), a weekly release of all opinions from appellate and supreme courts of the 50 states and federal government. The feed will be available for reuse without restriction and include star pagination.

Last year, Above the Law held its first law firm holiday card contest. The winner, by a landslide, was Akin Gump. The winning card can still be seen here . In related news, The Wall Street Journal Law Blog named Manatt, Phelps, & Phillips as their favorite holiday card of 2010, sparking a back-and-forth regarding the similarity of the two firms' cards and the vintage of the joke. Happy Holidays!

Reference and User Services Quarterly recently published its annual list of the best free reference websites. Notable sites include the Museum of the Moving Image's The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials, 1952-2008 . Others on the list are Washington University's Supreme Court Database , Abbreviations.com , and U.S. Economy at a Glance , a site of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. From: Georgetown Law Library Blog

An excerpt from an upcoming C-SPAN interview with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan provides insight into the brief-reading habits of the court. See also the commentary by Professor Berman on the Law School Innovation blog.

Colorado attorney Gary Fielder thinks that both full-body scans and enhanced pat-downs at the airport are a violation of his rights. Calling the pat-downs "disgusting, unconscionable, sexual in nature, unnecessary and a complete violation of his and his children's constitutional rights," Fielder's suit seeks both to enjoin the TSA from screening him without his express permission, and to require them to "immediately remedy the Fourth Amendment defects in their security policies and procedures." The court docket, including the full complaint, can be found at Justia . This is not the first or only lawsuit to be filed against the TSA or its employees: CNN North County Times , Justia

The non-profit Legal Information Institute of India recently launched its website providing free online access to numerous databases on Indian law. The site includes Indian Supreme Court decisions, the Indian federal code, a treaty series, law journal articles, and the law of India's 28 states and 7 union territories. LIIofIndia became the 34th member of the Free Access to Law Movement , which seeks to maximize public access to legal information. The Cornell University-affiliated Legal Information Institute , which provides free access to an abundance of U.S. legal material, is also a member. From: Georgetown Law Library Blog

Sunday was the tenth anniversary of the decision in Bush v. Gore . SCOTUSblog covered much of the commentary in its Monday Round-Up, including pieces by Brad Knickerbocker of The Christian Science Monitor and George Will of The Washington Post . There was also commentary from Slate , MediaMatters (responding to George Will), and The New York Times .

The Associated Press is reporting the release of Yale law librarian Fred Shapiro's ten most memorable quotes from 2010. At the top of the list is former Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell's statement in a campaign ad: "I'm not a witch." Other quotes include "I'm going to take my talents to South Beach" (LeBron James) and this priceless one from airline passenger John Tyner directed to a TSA agent in San Diego: "If you touch my junk, I'm gonna have you arrested." Nancy Pelosi, former BP CEO Tony Hayward, Christine O'Donnell (again), and former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown also make the list. See the full AP story picked up by the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Shapiro will apparently include these 2010 quotes in his next edition of The Yale Book of Quotations , originally published in 2006.

The ABA recently published an article about the ethics of attorneys or their agents using deception to "friend" adverse witnesses on social networking sites. The article examines opinions from the Philadelphia Bar Association , the New York City Bar Association , and the New York State Bar Association . From: Cocky Law Blawg

With the holiday travel season upon us, this site may help assuage some of the fear of flying. Questions and Answers

In case you missed the live broadcast on Monday, C-SPAN has archived its video of the Proposition 8 (California Marriage Protection Act) oral argument in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The "transcript" feature allows viewers to skip ahead to particular portions of the argument or to particular speakers.

Today is National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. From THOMAS : H.J. Res. 131 From The White House: Today's proclamation From Words and Deeds in American History : Naval dispatch from CINCPAC, December 7, 1941

For those considering the purchase of an e-book reader this holiday season, here is an online guide from PC World . Consumer Reports provides additional guides (accessible with OSU authentication) for e-book readers and tablets . In related news, Google entered the digital book market today with the launch of its ebookstore . As the New York Times reports, users can store e-books in a central online library and read them on a variety of devices including personal computers, tablets, smart phones, and e-readers.

The Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee of the Florida Supreme Court recently issued an opinion on a juvenile court judge's program that would allow juvenile offenders to complete their community service hours by jogging with the judge. The committee's conclusion: the well-intentioned program is contrary to Florida's Code of Judicial Conduct . See commentary from the ABA Journal and the Legal Profession Blog .

The Law Library of Congress, in its Guide to Law Online , has research pages for every nation of the world. Here, for example, is the page for Canada , including among its many links: Judgments of the Supreme Court of Canada Consolidated Laws and Regulations of Canada Guide to Children's Rights in Canada Library and Archives Canada

Academe, a publication of the American Association of University Professors, recently published an article by two Washington University law professors about attacks by legislators and corporate interests on law school clinics. The article, entitled "'Kneecapping' Academic Freedom," includes a timeline of publicized instances of interference in law school clinic activities. From: Law Librarian Blog