Any recent legal decisions I should know about?

February 9, 2009 9:08 AM

A New York State bar exam question

Having piddled around doing other things the last few years, I find myself studying for the bar with old law outlines.

Is there anything recent from either the Supreme Court or New York State Court of Appeals that I might be tested on? My books cover Kelo, so anything more recent than that.

posted by rakish_yet_centered to Law & Government (5 answers total)

Probably not, but you should read the results of Hammon v. Indiana and Washington v. Davis. They're both Crawford v. Washington progeny from a couple years ago that are tailor-made for exam hypos.
posted by aswego at 9:15 AM on February 9, 2009

I have no idea how bar examiners choose questions, but if you're looking for cases more recent than 2005 that have significantly changed the legal landscape, read DC vs. Heller. And you should probably follow the progression of cases about enemy combatants/detention/6th Amendment rights that have been decided over the last several years.
posted by decathecting at 10:55 AM on February 9, 2009

Response by poster: Yes decathecting, I meant to be asking about changing the legal landscape. I qualified with "might be tested on" because I'm not too worried about the legal landscapes regarding legal areas not covered on the bar exam
posted by rakish_yet_centered at 11:10 AM on February 9, 2009

if you're looking for cases more recent than 2005 that have significantly changed the legal landscape, read DC vs. Heller. And you should probably follow the progression of cases about enemy combatants/detention/6th Amendment rights that have been decided over the last several years.

I'm not sure this is such great advice. The NY bar examiners hate controversial issues or areas of law that are still unsettled.
posted by Jaltcoh at 1:47 PM on February 9, 2009

hudson v. michigan, maybe? There's a couple of years' lag, though, so that might not make it.
posted by mercredi at 8:52 PM on February 9, 2009