UHLC Nota Bene

Cambridge University Press has recently published the third edition of Federal Taxation in America: A History by W. Elliot Brownlee. The author thoroughly reviews the history of U.S. tax regimes covering the tax programs during the revolutionary crisis, the Civil War, World War I, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency. The Tax Reform Act of 1986, the 1990's Contract with America, the 2001 tax cuts, and tax policy during the Great Recession are also discussed. This book is now on the law library's new titles shelf ( KF6289.B76 2016 ).

Carolina Academic Press has just published, Understanding Federal Income Taxation, 5th ed . by J. Martin Burke and Michael Friel, which is now on the law library's new titles shelf ( KF6369.3.B87 2016 ). This is an excellent source for those wishing to obtain a background in federal income tax law and ideal for those taking a federal income tax class. This forty-four chapter book includes excerpts of relevant Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C.) sections as well as examples and analyses that illustrate tax concepts. Computation of tax liability, gross income concepts and limitations, capital gains and losses, bad debts, fringe benefits, like-kind exchanges, gifts, discharge of indebtedness, depreciation, travel and education expenses, deductions, limitations on tax shelters, and the alternative minimum tax are among the topics covered. There are tables of statutes, cases, and agencies as well as a subject index.

With the election just 26 days away, it’s time for another flurry of political campaign ads on television. This year, there is a new online resource for information about those ads. The Political TV Ad Archive , a project of the Internet Archive, is a searchable video library of this election season's political ads, along with metadata and fact-checking items from journalistic sources. The metadata categories include the subject of the ad, who sponsored it, and where and when it was aired. A word of warning: the archive is not comprehensive. During the primaries, it collected ads from 20 markets in nine states. In the general election season, it is collecting ads from major broadcast stations in ten markets in ten battleground states: Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. It also collects some ads that may air exclusively on social media. Even with its limited selection, however, the archive is a valuable resou...

If you are a student looking for an internship or other work experience with the federal government, you might want to check out this new report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS). It provides information on internship opportunities with the executive branch, Congress, the federal courts, and independent agencies such as NASA and the Environmental Protection Agency. It also contains a bibliography for further reading.  This CRS Report was made available online by the Federation of American Scientists . For more information on finding CRS reports online, see our blog post on the subject.

The Law Library of Congress now provides free, online access to Treaties and Other International Agreements of The United States of America , a publication compiled by Charles Bevans.   The 13 volumes in this set include bilateral and multilateral treaties signed by the United States from 1776 to 1949. The set also includes a general index to help in locating relevant treaties.    The Law Library of Congress is also currently working to digitize treaties from 1950 to 1984, while newer treaties can be found on the US Department of State website . To access the treaties, visit the Law Library of Congress website .  

Each semester the law library presents a series of presentations covering legal research topics. These presentations are held at 12 noon on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and will take place in Room 115 BLB (except for Federal Administrative Law Research on Wednesday, October 12, which will be held in 113 BLB). We will be offering the following sessions for the Fall 2016 semester (click here for more details): 1. Federal Legislative Research Tuesday, 9/27, Wednesday, 9/28 Robert Clark, Reference and Research Librarian 2. Power Searching on Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg Law Tuesday, 10/4, Wednesday, 10/5 Katy Badeaux, Reference and Research Librarian 3. Federal Administrative Law Research Tuesday, 10/11, Wednesday, 10/12 Dan Donahue, International and Foreign Law Librarian 4. Empirical Legal Research Tuesday, 10/18, Wednesday, 10/19 Mon Yin Lung, Associate Director of the Law Library 5. Advanced Databases Search Strategies Tuesday, 10/25, Wednesday, 10/26 Emily Lawson, R...

You may have read in the news that the United States and China recently ratified the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But what exactly does the agreement say, and how many nations must ratify it before it goes into effect? The United Nations provides answers to these questions online , along with the full text of the agreement itself (available in English , French , Spanish , Arabic , Chinese , and Russian ). For some historical context, as well as a helpful summary that isn’t written in legalese, you might also want to check out this report from the Congressional Research Service: Climate Change: Frequently Asked Questions about the 2015 Paris Agreement . The report explains the agreement’s requirements and recommendations, the ratification process, and the relationship of the agreement to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol.     The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has issued lots of useful reports ...