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In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing by Matthew E. May
New York: Broadway Books, 2009
BF408.M329 2009 Basement

In Pursuit of Elegance is a fresh, compulsively readable narrative of the elusive element behind so many innovative breakthroughs, in fields ranging from physics and marketing to design and popular culture.

The Philosophy of International Law edited by Samantha Besson and John Tasioulas
Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2010
KZ3410.P54 2010 Basement

International law has recently emerged as the subject-matter of an exciting new field of philosophical investigation.The Philosophy of International Law contains 29 cutting-edge essays by leading philosophers and international lawyers, all published here in English for the first time, that address the central philosophical questions about international law. The volume's overarching theme is the moral and political values that should guide the assessment and development of international law and institutions. Some of the essays tackle general topics such as the sources and legitimacy of international law, the nature of international legal adjudication, whether international law can or should aspire to be 'democratic', and the significance of state sovereignty. The other contributions address philosophical problems arising in specific domains of international law, such as human rights law, international economic law, international criminal law, international environmental law, and the laws of war.

American Property: A History of How, Why, and What We Own by Stuart Banner
Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2011
KF562 .B36 2011 Balcony

In America, we are eager to claim ownership: our homes, our ideas, our organs, even our own celebrity. But beneath our nation's proprietary longing looms a troublesome question: what does it mean to own something? More simply: what is property? The question is at the heart of many contemporary controversies, including disputes over who owns everything from genetic material to indigenous culture to music and film on the Internet. To decide if and when genes or culture or digits are a kind of property that can be possessed, we must grapple with the nature of property itself. How does it originate? What purposes does it serve? Is it a natural right or one created by law? Accessible and mercifully free of legal jargon, American Property reveals the perpetual challenge of answering these questions, as new forms of property have emerged in response to technological and cultural change, and as ideas about the appropriate scope of government regulation have shifted.

The Constitution Goes to College: Five Constitutional Ideas That Have Shaped the American University by Rodney A. Smolla
New York: New York University Press, 2011
KF4225 .S636 2011 Balcony

American college campuses, where ideas are freely exchanged, contested, and above all uncensored, are historical hotbeds of political and social turmoil. In the past decade alone, The media has carefully tracked the controversy surrounding the speech of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Columbia, The massacres at Virginia Tech, The dismissal of Harvard's President Lawrence Summers, And the lacrosse team rape case at Duke, among others. No matter what the event, the conflicts that arise on our campuses can be viewed in terms of constitutional principles, which either control or influence outcomes of these events. In turn, constitutional principles are frequently shaped and forged by campus culture, creating a symbiotic relationship in which constitutional values influence the nature of universities, which themselves influence the nature of our constitutional values. In The Constitution Goes to College, Rodney A. Smolla; a former dean and current university president who is an expert on the First Amendment; deftly uses the American university as a lens through which to view the Constitution in action.

Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States by Joey L. Mogul, Andrea J. Ritchie, and Kay Whitlock
Boston: Beacon Press, 2011
KF4754.5.M64 2011 Balcony

Written by activists and legal advocates Mogul, Ritchie, and Whitlock, this work examines the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people within the contemporary US criminal legal system, particularly focusing on how other class, race, occupational, gender, immigrant, and other status marginalities interact with LGBT as a category in US crime and punishment. They argue that the way that the criminal legal system polices notions of sexual and gender "deviance" serves both as a tool of race-based law enforcement and as an independent basis for punishment within an institutionalized setting of systemic violence and injustice. Chapters address historical precedents, queer criminal archetypes, policing gender and sex after Stonewall, treatment of queers in criminal courts, queer experiences in prison, criminal legal responses to violence against LGBT people, and responses to the problem of criminal injustice towards LGBT people.

Constitutional Exclusion: The Rules, Rights, and Remedies That Strike the Balance Between Freedom and Order by James J. Tomkovicz
Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2011
KF4765.T66 2011 Balcony

Constitutional Exclusion, by James J. Tomkovicz contains in-depth analyses of each constitutional doctrine that dictates the suppression of evidence. The text begins with an extensive treatment of the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule which bars evidence acquired by means of unreasonable searches or seizures. It then addresses three distinct doctrines that suppress confessions---the due process and privilege against compelled self-incrimination bar to coerced confessions, Miranda v. Arizona's Fifth Amendment prophylactic presumption that certain confessions are inadmissible, and the Massiah doctrine's Sixth Amendment right to counsel bar to incriminating admissions. Next, the book explains two prohibitions on eyewitness identification evidence, one rooted in the Sixth Amendment right to counsel and another grounded in the due process guarantee. Finally, the text explores the exclusion of hearsay commanded by the Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause.

Cheaper by the Hour: Temporary Lawyers and the Deprofessionalization of the Law by Robert A. Brooks
Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2011
KF299.T46 B76 2011 Balcony

Recent law school graduates often work as temporary attorneys, but law firm layoffs and downsizing have strengthened the temporary attorney industry. Cheaper by the Hour is the first book-length account of these workers. Drawing from participant observation and interviews, Robert A. Brooks provides a richly detailed ethnographic account of freelance attorneys in Washington, DC. He places their document review work in the larger context of the de-professionalization of skilled labor and considers how professionals relegated to temporary jobs feel diminished, degraded, or demeaned by work that is often tedious, repetitive, and well beneath their abilities. Brooks documents how firms break a lawyer's work into discreet components that require less skill to realize maximum profits. Moreover, he argues that information technology and efficiency demands.

Losing Twice: Harms of Indifference in the Supreme Court by Emily M. Calhoun
New York: Oxford University Press, 2011
KF8748.C25 2011 Balcony

In Losing Twice, Emily Calhoun draws upon conflict resolution theory, political theory, and Habermasian discourse theory to argue that in such cases, the Court must work harder to avoid inflicting unnecessary harm on Constitutional losers. But for this to happen, Calhoun contends, the role of judges needs to be reconceptualized. She contends that the Court should not perceive itself simply as an adversarial forum, but also as a 'transactional' one, where losers are not simply losers but participants in a process capable of addressing and ameliorating the effects that come with loss. Filled with lucid discussions of well known cases, Losing Twice offers an intellectually powerful argument for transforming the decision-making process in Constitutional rights disputes.

Habeas for the Twenty-First Century: Uses, Abuses, and the Future of the Great Writ by Nancy J. King and Joseph L. Hoffmann
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011
KF9011.K56 2011 Balcony

For centuries, the writ of habeas corpus has served as an important safeguard against miscarriages of justice, and today it remains at the center of some of the most contentious issues of our time - among them terrorism, immigration, crime, and the death penalty. Yet, in recent decades, habeas has been seriously abused. In this book, Nancy J. King and Joseph L. Hoffmann argue that habeas should be exercised with greater prudence. Through historical, empirical, and legal analysis, as well as illustrative case studies, the authors examine the current use of the writ in the United States and offer sound reform proposals to help ensure its ongoing vitality in today’s justice system. Comprehensive and thoroughly grounded in a modern understanding of habeas corpus, this informative book will be an insightful read for legal scholars and anyone interested in the importance of habeas corpus for American government.

False Justice: Eight Myths that Convict the Innocent by Jim Petro and Nancy Petro
New York: Kaplan, 2010
KF9756.P47 2010 Balcony

When Jim Petro became Ohio's Attorney General, one of his first priorities was to make his state a national leader in the use of DNA technology to solve crimes. He succeeded in adding an impressive 210,000 criminal DNA profiles to the national CODIS database, helping to solve hundreds of cases. But he soon realized that DNA evidence was also proving the innocence of many wrongly convicted citizens.