Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Documents

In time for today’s Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, the collection of M.L.K. papers, books and other items are available to the public at the Woodruff Library at Morehouse College in Atlanta. The website provides archival descriptions and other study aides and describes the collection overview:

The Morehouse King Collection includes approximately 1,000 books from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s personal library with his handwritten notes throughout. In addition, there are hundreds of handwritten index note cards, possibly used for reference as Dr. King developed his many oratorical speeches and academic assignments, and many more typed and handwritten manuscripts and items, including: a telegram from President Lyndon B. Johnson inviting him to the signing of the voting rights act in 1965; handwritten edits of eulogies delivered on behalf of martyred adults and children of the Civil Rights Movement; drafts of numerous sermons, famous speeches; “to-do” lists for civil rights leaders the Rev. Joseph Lowery, Walter Fauntroy and Andrew Young; credit card receipts; travel coupons; examination blue books from college and even the cosmetics containers of found within a suitcase and briefcase used when he traveled.

More highlights are noted here.

Another collection of material related to Dr. King is the Complete FBI File on Martin Luther King, Jr. consisting of 16,659 pages. The FBI has posted 201 pages in two parts on its web site here. The rest of the file can be found online in a series of zip file on this site posted by The Memory Hole. Documents have been censored and many pages include blacked-out sections.

There are an additional 11,000 plus pages posted on this FBI web page here relating to the FBI file of security investigations of Stanley Levison from the 1950's through the early 1970's. Levison was a key advisor to Martin Luther King, Jr. LexisNexis Black Studies Research Sources has User Guides relating to both the King and the Levison files.

The FBI’s tracking of King is covered by David Garrow, The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr.: From “Solo” to Memphis (Call # E185.97.K5 G37 1981) available in the BLS Library collection.

The 16,659 pages are just a portion of King’s FBI files. The FBI withheld some pages under exemptions allowed by the Freedom of Information Act. On January 31, 1977, in the cases of Bernard S. Lee v. Clarence M. Kelley, et al. (U.S.D.C., D.C.) and Southern Christian Leadership Conference v. Clarence M. Kelley, et al. (U.S.D.C., D.C.), US District Judge John Lewis Smith, Jr., ordered the FBI to purge its files of all known copies of the recorded tapes relating to Martin Luther King, Jr. Judge Smith also ordered the FBI to deliver the tapes and documents to the custody of the National Archives and Records Service (NARA) to be maintained by the Archivist of the United States under seal for a period of fifty years. Part 1 of the User Guide above has more to read about this.

Five Electronic Tax Research Databases Compared

A recent post in the Law Librarian Blog linked to an abstract of interest to tax researchers. The link is to the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) article by three Loyola Law School tax professors entitled The Virtual Tax Library: A Comparison of Five Electronic Tax Research Platforms. The article comparrs five online tax research databases and the primary and secondary resources and features that they offer. The databases, LexisNexis, Westlaw, BNA Tax Management Library, CCH Tax Research NetWork and RIA Checkpoint, are all available on the BLS Library database page. Each of the databases is a virtual tax library offering tax researchers much of the content and functionality of a physical tax library, as well as some useful functionality features (e.g., direct linking of primary and secondary sources) a physical tax library cannot provide.

The Article provides detailed comparisons of the content and features offered by each of the five databases. It also explains how to access various types of primary and secondary tax sources in each database and provides detailed search pathways that will help tax researchers better navigate the databases. The article has two useful appendices to help tax researchers better understand the differences in the databases. Appendix A provides a side-by-side comparison of the primary source content available on the five electronic tax research databases with search pathways and date restrictions for each type of content. Appendix B provides a side-by-side comparison of the functionality features offered by each database. The chart includes quick reference guides for initiating various types of searches, as well as user support information for each platform.

Key Evidence Issues for 2008 and 2009

The Federal Evidence Blog recently posted a list of ten potential evidence issues worth watching in 2009. The list, in no particular order, follows and is described in greater detail in the blog post here:

1. Attorney General Confirmation Hearings (the Holder Memo on bringing criminal charges against corporations)
2. Supreme Court: Pending Melendez-Diaz Confrontation Clause Decision
3. New Rule: FRE 502 (Attorney-Client Privilege and Work-Product Doctrine)
4. The Selective Waiver Doctrine
5. Pending Rule Amendment: FRE 804(b)(3) (Declarations Against Interest)
6. Future Rule Amendment: "Restyling" The Federal Rules of Evidence
7. Expert Evidence: Tenth Circuit En Banc Ruling Pending in United States v. Nacchio
8. Legislation: Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act and Reporter Shield Law
9. Legislation: Reporter Shield Law
10. Pending Circuit Split: Resolving FRE 404(b) Elements Conflict

A look back at the ten evidence issues of 2008 is listed below and is explained in the blog entry here:

1. New Rule: FRE 502 (Attorney-Client Privilege and Work-Product Doctrine)
2. Supreme Court: Underscoring Primary Role of Trial Court in Making Initial Evidence Rulings: Sprint/United Management Co. v. Mendelsohn
3. Supreme Court: Giles v. California Confrontation Clause Forfeiture by Wrongdoing Decision
4. Expert Testimony: What are the Limits of an Expert’s Reliance on Inadmissible or Other Materials under FRE 703?
5. Legislation: Forestalling the Attorney Client Privilege Protection Act
6. Pending Open Issue: Whether Admitting Business Records Certified under FRE 902(11) May Violate the Confrontation Clause?
7. Expert Testimony: Explaining Online Behavior
8. Developing Consensus: Bruton Is Inapplicable in Bench Trials
9. Legislation: Reporter Shield Law
10. Developing Consensus: Enforcing Plea Proffer Waivers under FRE 410

Episode 035 - Conversation with Kiran Gore, Class of 2009

Episode 035 - Conversation with Kiran Gore, Class of 2009.mp3

This pod cast features BLS student Kiran Nasir Gore, Class of 2009, who won first place in the 2008 Hon. William C. Conner Intellectual Property Writing Competition sponsored by the New York Intellectual Property Law Association. Kiram discusses her note, “Trademark Battles in a Barbie Cyber World: Trademark Protection of Website Domain Names and the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act”.

The note discusses the tension between Mattel’s intellectual property rights and the public’s right to invoke the imagery of the iconic Barbie doll and examines the recent dispute between Mattel and a pornographic website using the Barbie name. “Barbie has become an American icon and taken on additional meanings and status at a societal level, attracting the attention of artists, writers, academics, and commentators in a way that is beyond the scope of Mattel’s trademark property rights,” Gore says. The note is scheduled for publication in the winter 2009 issue of the COMM/ENT, Hastings Communication and Entertainment Law Journal, Volume 28, No. 2.

Gore is currently a Notes and Comments Editor of the Brooklyn Law Review.

California Court Rules on Church Property Cases

In its first case of the New Year, the California Supreme Court issued its Episcopal Church Cases opinion to resolve property rights claims by a congregation that breaks with its parent church and whether the schism results in the loss of church buildings and property. The facts of the case involve the Episcopal Church, but the impact of the opinion will apply to other denominations. What prompted the litigation was the secession of the St. James Anglican Church in Newport Beach from the national church after the national church consecrated a gay man, V. Gene Robinson, as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003. The California Supreme Court in its opinion was careful to avoid deciding questions of religious doctrine and instead relied on the “neutral principles of law” standards articulated by the US Supreme Court in its 1979 decision in Jones v. Wolf, 443 U.S. 595.

The California Court ruled that the building and property of the local congregation belong to the Episcopal Church, not the parish, once the parish broke away and affiliated with the more conservative Anglican Church of Uganda. Using principles of general property law, the Court held that the Canons of the Episcopal Church provide that property held by a local parish is held in trust for the general church and for the diocese in which the local church is located. In its ruling, the Court said:

For these reasons, we agree with the Court of Appeal’s conclusion (although not with all of its reasoning) that when defendants disaffiliated from the Episcopal Church, the local church property reverted to the general church. As stated in one of the out-of-state cases involving the same Episcopal Church, “[t]he individual defendants are free to disassociate themselves from [the parish and the Episcopal Church] and to affiliate themselves with another religious denomination. No court can interfere with or control such an exercise of conscience. The problem lies in defendants’ efforts to take the church property with them. This they may not do.”

The outcome in a similar dispute involving the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia was much different. There a Fairfax County trial judge issued a letter opinion in litigation involving eleven break away Episcopal (now Anglican) congregations seeking to retain control of their church buildings and property. See In Re: Multi-Circuit Episcopal Church Property Litigation from Dec. 19, 2008. This opinion reaffirms prior holdings that the properties belong to the congregations, not to the Episcopal Church USA and the Diocese. Expect further litigation on this issue.

The current controversy over the role of gays in church and religion mirrors conflicts that churches in the past have managed to overcome. See the Los Angeles Times article Putting the Episcopal Rift in a Historical Context citing controversies such as those over slavery, the ordination of women and even the role of children in church life which have threatened the Church in the past.

For related reading, see SARA, the BLS Library catalog, for Church-State Relations in Crisis: Debating Neutrality edited by Stephen V. Monsma (Call # KF228.M568 C48 2002) a book of essays designed specifically for students of the law and religion and politics and a source for debate on the future of government and religion.

Bailout Explained

The BLS Library has acquired for its collection a new book published by CCH Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-343) as Signed by the President on October 3, 2008: Law, Explanation, and Analysis (Call # KF6276.62008 .A2 2008b). This item provides the complete text of added, amended, or repealed Code sections with controlling committee reports and CCH's explanation and analysis of tax provisions contained in the legislation. It also provides practical guidance of the impact of the law's changes, including how various taxpayer groups and situations are affected as well as sample client letters explaining the changes made by the law.


For a historical perspective on the bailout, see the post on Law Librarian Blog which links to a chronology of federal government bailouts since 1970 which ProPublic put together. The post traces a number of landmark bailouts including the 1970 Penn Railroad bailout and those involving Lockheed in 1971, Franklin National Bank in 1974, New York City in 1975, Chrysler in 1980, the Savings & Loan bailout of 1989 and the airline industry bailout of 2001. Of interest is how the Treasury did in the end after initial government outlays in each of these interventions. When the current credit crisis occurred in September 2008, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled Government Bailouts: A U.S. Tradition Dating to Hamilton with additional historical perspective on federal interventions showing that “in a panic or threatened financial collapse, governments intervene -- every government, every party, every country, every time."

Brooklyn Real Estate Developer Pardon Revoked

Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution says the President "shall have the power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment." A reprieve reduces the severity of a punishment without removing the guilt of the person reprieved. A pardon removes both punishment and guilt.

Historically, presidential pardons serve to heal and restore the nation, as when President Lincoln pardoned war deserters on the basis of their promise to return to their units to fight or when Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon after his resignation in the Watergate scandal or when Jimmy Carter pardoned all Vietnam draft dodgers. The end of a President’s term is usually a time for the issuance of controversial pardons. At the end of his term, George H.W. Bush pardoned Caspar Weinberger and other officials caught up in the Iran-Contra scandal. Bill Clinton provoked controversy by pardoning Marc Rich, the fugitive financier whose ex-wife donated $450,000 to the Clinton Presidential Library. This year’s controversial pardon is George W. Bush's pardon of Brooklyn real estate developer, Isaac R. Toussie.

Bush’s issuance of the pardon to Toussie is controversial given the predatory mortgage lending practices for which Toussie was convicted. Toussie’s real estate dealings began in the 1970s, when he and his father. Robert I. Toussie, began buying thousands of parcels of land for development on Long Island, mostly in Suffolk County, including the famed 39-acre Chandler estate in Mount Sinai. He bought that parcel for $500,000 in 1997 and sold it to Suffolk County for $5 million three years later which triggered charges of collusion with two Suffolk County officials and investigations by the NY Attorney General and the federal government. In all, the Toussies developed more than 5,000 parcels of land on Long Island in towns like Amityville, Hauppauge, Port Jefferson Station, Bellport, Center Moriches, Mastic, Manorville and marketed them to poor, minority homebuyers from Brooklyn. The pardon clears Toussie’s 2003 guilty plea for mail fraud and lying to the Department of Housing and Urban Development where he admitted to falsifying finances of prospective homebuyers seeking HUD mortgages for which he was sentenced to 5 months in prison and 5 months of home detention and fined $10,000.

In addition to the criminal convictions, Toussie faces class actions involving charges of inflated prices and misleading advertising for some of the Long Island developments. The ads offered single-family detached homes with backyards on Long Island and townhouses on Staten Island for "only $1,000 down and $999 per month” and “includes home, land, principal and interest". Those ads are part of an ongoing class action suit by more than 400 families alleging that the Toussies deceived them into buying overpriced, badly built homes. A Presidential pardon would preclude testimony about Toussie's prior convictions in the civil case.

The controversy of the issuance of the pardon was compounded when it was discovered Toussie’s father had donated more than $28,000 to the Republican National Committee and $2,300 to John McCain’s presidential campaign this year. Based on this conflict, Bush is now attempting to revoke the pardon in what may be the first instance of a president’s withdrawing a pardon after it was announced.

There are a number of questions that will likely be the subject of future litigation. Why did Toussie fail to submit a detailed petition of reasoning complete with character references and a five year waiting period to Office of the Pardon Attorney? Was Toussie’s request for a waiver of the DOJ’s 5-year waiting period denied by the Office of the Pardon Attorney? Why did Toussie’s attorneys circumvent the Office of Pardon Attorney and submit a pardon application directly with the White House?

Rep. Jerrod Nadler (D-NY), whose district includes parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan, has introduced H.Res.1531 to reduce the President’s pardon power so that he cannot issue pardons to senior members of his administration during the final 90 days of his term of office. The proposal requires a constitutional amendment which is highly unlikely to succeed. Nadler’s resolution appears to be a political effort to stem abuse of the pardon power.

Statistics on presidential clemency actions by administration from 1945 to the present are available here from the website of the Office of Pardon Attorney. Pardon Power, a blog dedicated to news about presidential pardons and the pardon power (or clemency powers) in each state is also worth reading for more on this topic.