ABA Journal: Modern Law Library

As violent crime in New York City peaked from 1988-1991, policy makers were desperate for ways to combat and prevent it. In 1994, a new theory was embraced by the NYPD: that by controlling low-level “quality-of-life” violations like vandalism, noise complaints, traffic violations and aggressive panhandling, the police would ward off violent crime and more serious property crimes. Violent crime numbers had already begun to dip, but now misdemeanor arrests shot up, pulling in tens of thousands of people with no prior criminal record. In this episode of the Modern Law Library, Prof. Issa Kohler-Hausmann explains to the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles the impact this change in tactics had for New York City police, courts and residents, and discusses her new book, “Misdemeanorland: Criminal Courts and Social Control in an Age of Broken Windows Policing.”

In the 45 years since Roe v. Wade was decided, it has been a focal point for both anti-abortion and pro-abortion rights groups. But the opinion in the 1973 case has also been used by activists of liberal, libertarian and conservative ideologies to develop privacy arguments for issues ranging from access to experimental drugs to euthanasia to personal data security to sex worker rights. In this episode of the Modern Law Library, the ABA Journal's Lee Rawles speaks with Mary Ziegler, author of the new book Beyond Abortion: Roe v. Wade and the Battle for Privacy. Ziegler discusses what Roe v. Wade's legacy has been, and how it advanced–or failed to advance–Americans' right to privacy.

When we think of civil rights movements, the first to spring to mind might be the battles against African-American segregation or for women's suffrage. But one of the longest, most successful–and least-known–of these movements in America has been made on behalf of corporations. In this episode of the Modern Law Library, Prof. Adam Winkler, author of We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights, shares what he learned from his investigation into how corporations have achieved constitutional protections ranging from the right to sue and be sued, to individual rights like religious liberty protections and freedom of speech.

For nearly two decades, Dr. Steven Hayne and Dr. Michael West were the go-to experts that Mississippi law enforcement and prosecutors relied on when there was a potential homicide. Haynes performed the bulk of the autopsies in the state, while West was a dentist who touted his skill in bite-mark analysis. But after years of investigations and countless testimonies from the men, their claims of expertise began to fall apart–and wrongful convictions began coming to light. In The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South, authors Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington lay out how the state’s legal system aided and abetted the use of flawed forensic evidence; how systemic racism influenced Mississippi’s coroner system; and the stories of some of the innocent people whose lives were derailed. Carrington, the founding director of the Mississippi Innocence Project and Clinic at the University of Mississippi School of Law, joins the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles for this episode of the Modern Law Library.

Being trapped on an elevator leads to romance for the hero and heroine in The Wedding Date, written by attorney Jasmine Guillory. When a pediatric surgeon impulsively asks the mayor's chief of staff to be his date to his ex-girlfriend's wedding that weekend, sparks fly. But can the two make a long-distance relationship work? In this episode of the Modern Law Library, Guillory tells the ABA Journal's Lee Rawles that writing served as a stress release from her legal work and functioned as her creative outlet. She discusses the challenges of representation for women of color in the romance industry, and the issues she had to consider when writing about an interracial couple falling in love. Guillory also shares how her background in legal aid helped inspire a subplot of the book, as the heroine tries to win funding for a diversionary program for at-risk teens.

As general counsel for the Teamsters Union Local 810, Mark Torres spends his days arguing for workers' rights. But another of his passions is writing; he published his debut crime novel in 2015. So when he was approached by Hard Ball Press to write a bilingual children's book explaining the importance of labor unions in ways that kids could connect with, Torres agreed. In this episode of the Modern Law Library, he shares with the ABA Journal's Lee Rawles what the process of writing the children's book “Good Guy Jake” was like, why he feels it's necessary for kids to learn about the modern labor movement and how the book has been received by kids and Teamsters alike.

To Bryan Garner, editor in chief of Black’s Law Dictionary, Justice Antonin Scalia was a friend, a mentor, a collaborator and a fellow lover of words. In the wake of Scalia’s death on Feb. 13, 2016, Garner reflected back over their relationship, from their first brief introduction in 1988 to the trip they took to Asia together in the last weeks of Scalia’s life. In this episode of the Modern Law Library, Garner speaks with the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles about what gave him the confidence to ask a sitting Supreme Court justice to co-author two books; the four style issues he and Scalia were never able to agree on; and what it was like to write his first memoir.

You have reason to believe you’re being monitored by the government, that they are following you and cataloging everywhere you go and everyone you talk to. The knowledge haunts you, and has a chilling effect on everything you do. But can you sue to stop it? In this month’s episode, the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles speaks with Jeffrey Vagle about his new book, Being Watched: Legal Challenges to Government Surveillance about the current challenges to government surveillance, and a seminal Supreme Court case in 1972 whose effects are still being felt today. Vagle tells the story of Arlo Tatum, a Quaker and anti-war activist who went to prison twice as a conscientious objector rather than sign up for the WWII and Korean War drafts. When he discovered in 1970 that U.S. military intelligence had been following and gathering intelligence on him, he sued the Secretary of Defense. What happened next has had lingering ramifications.

In this month’s Modern Law Library, we read a thrilling tale of dueling toymakers, corporate espionage and a group of brats taking on the queen of the DreamHouse. Prof. Orly Lobel, author of “You Don’t Own Me: How Mattel v. MGA Entertainment Exposed Barbie’s Dark Side,” speaks to the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles about how an intellectual property dispute between the maker of Barbie and the creator of Bratz spun into a legal battle that would last more than a decade.

As a former federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., Paul Butler once worked to put people in prison. Now, he has come to believe that prisons should be abolished. In this episode of the Modern Law Library, Butler speaks with the ABA Journal's Lee Rawles about the racial inequities built into the system; his advice for young black men interacting with the police; and his view that radical re-imagining, rather than incremental reform, is the only way to fully address the harm done to civil rights by the criminal justice system.