This week in the Law Library we are teaching Advanced Lexis & Westlaw Searching, Administrative Law, and Advanced Legal Research. We are also focusing on tax law resources and continuing our celebration of Black History Month.

This Week’s Research Sessions

Monday, Feb. 21, 2022

Advanced Legal Research

Legal Technology & Research Instructional Services Librarian, Shannon Kemen & Electronic Resources​  & Instructional Technology Librarian Ron Jones
1:30pm – 2:55pm
Room 100A

Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022

Advocacy, section 6

Legal Technology & Research Instructional Services Librarian, Shannon Kemen
Administrative Law
10:40am – 12:05pm
Room 100B

Advocacy, section 1

Associate Dean of Library Services, Michael Whiteman
Advanced Searching
1:30pm – 2:55pm
Room 204

Advocacy, section 3

Legal Technology & Research Instructional Services Librarian, Shannon Kemen
Administrative Law
1:30pm – 2:55pm
Room 100A

Advocacy, section 5

Electronic Resources​  & Instructional Technology Librarian Ron Jones
Advanced Searching
3:05pm – 4:30pm
Room 104

Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022

Advanced Legal Research

Legal Technology & Research Instructional Services Librarian, Shannon Kemen & Electronic Resources​  & Instructional Technology Librarian Ron Jones
1:30pm – 2:55pm
Room 100A

Robert S. Marx Lecture

The Making of The Whiteness of Wealth: How Institutions Shape Academic Thought
Professor Dorothy A. Brown, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law at Emory University
Monday, February 21
12:15pm – 1:15pm
Zoom
Registration Information

Professor Dorothy Brown’s decades of research looking at the role of systemic racism in federal tax policy ultimately found that when black and white Americans engage in the same behavior tax law benefits white Americans while disadvantaging black Americans. The underlying research received varying types of institutional support. The different types of support led to an evolving research agenda that ultimately resulted in the publication of The Whiteness of Wealth: How The Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans – And How We Can Fix It.

Featured Study Aids

Principles of Tax Policy (Concise Hornbook)

Available via the West Academic Study Aid subscription, this study aid explains the essential building blocks of the American tax system clearly and concisely, including the effects of changes adopted in the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017. Chapters range from the political process to individual and corporate income taxes, Social Security and other payroll taxes, state and local budgeting, and international tax planning. Each chapter opens with a brief description of the covered policy topic, providing a synopsis of the current state of the law.

Federal Income Tax: Examples & Explanations

Available via the Aspen Learning Library, this study aid provides students with a summary of topics and issues in federal income tax. Its index includes a Table of Cases and a Table of Internal Revenue Code Sections. Analysis is first provided for a topic and then examples are given to help students understand the analysis. A series of problems at the end of each section or chapter assist you in testing your understanding. Answers are provided for these problems.

Understanding Federal Income Taxation

Available via the LexisNexis Digital Library, this edition of Understanding Federal Income Taxation consists of forty-two chapters with each chapter addressing a basic topic in individual income taxation, e.g., the definition of “gross income,” the exclusion of gain from the sale of a principal residence, business deductions including the Section 199A deduction for qualified business income (added by the 2017 tax legislation), the treatment of capital gains and losses, the taxation of gains from the sale or exchange of real property, and the tax consequences of transfers between spouses and incident to divorce. Each chapter provides a detailed explanation of the interpretation and application of relevant Internal Revenue Code provision(s) and Treasury Regulations as well as summaries of leading cases and administrative rulings. The practical application of these authorities is illustrated in the numerous examples contained in each chapter. Because the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code are necessarily at the heart of tax study, each chapter also includes a part or all of the Code section(s) pertinent to the chapter topic. In summary, the book provides a detailed overview of the principles, policies, and law underlying federal individual income taxation.

Featured Guide

Guide to Researching US Tax Policy

This guide covers resources to help you study US tax policy. It includes information on legislative history research of the tax code, locating the Internal Revenue Code, researching IRS regulations and rulings, and much more.

Featured Treatise

Taxation: Philosophical Perspectives

Available on Oxford Scholarship Online, Taxation: Philosophical Perspectives is the first edited collection devoted to addressing philosophical issues relating to tax. The tax system is central to the operation of states and to the ways in which states interact with individual citizens. Taxes are used by states to fund the provision of public goods and public services, to engage in direct or indirect forms of redistribution, and to mold the behavior of individual citizens. As the chapters in this volume show, there are a number of pressing and significant philosophical issues relating to the tax system, and these issues often connect in fascinating ways with foundational questions regarding property rights, democracy, public justification, state neutrality, stability, political psychology, and a range of other issues. Many of these deep and challenging philosophical questions about tax have not always received as much sustained attention as they clearly merit. Our hope is that this book will advance the debate along a number of these philosophical fronts, and be a welcome spur to further work. The book’s aim of advancing the debate about tax in political philosophy has both general and more specific aspects, involving both overarching issues regarding the tax system as a whole and more specific issues relating to particular forms of tax policy. Serious philosophical work on the tax system requires an interdisciplinary approach, and this volume therefore includes contributions from a number of scholars whose expertise spans neighboring disciplines, including political science, economics, public policy, and law.

Featured Website

Office of Tax Policy Reports

The Office of Tax Policy produces reports to promote the understanding of the US Internal Revenue Code and specific tax proposals. This page contains some of those reports. This section also includes other reports by the Department of the Treasury that were written in conjunction with Office of Tax Policy staff.

Featured Video

How Tax Laws Disadvantage Black Americans but Subsidize White Americans, PBS News Hour

Tax returns are calculated based on income, but a new book highlights how the tax code disproportionately impacts people of color. Dorothy Brown, professor at Emory University School of Law and author of “The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans and How We Can Fix It” joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss.

Take the Law School Survey of Student Engagement (LSSSE)!

All UC Law students will receive an email invitation this week to complete the annual Law School Survey of Student Engagement (LSSSE), a national study on legal education. LSSSE helps us understand how the educational experience at UC Law compares with other law schools, and informs decisions on how to make UC Law better! Answers are anonymous to the law school.

February is Black History Month

This year’s theme for Black History Month is Black Health and Wellness. According to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, “[t]his theme acknowledges the legacy of not only Black scholars and medical practitioners in Western medicine, but also other ways of knowing throughout the African Diaspora. The 2022 theme considers activities, rituals and initiatives that Black communities have done to be well.”

UC College of Law & Campus Events Celebrating Black History Month

Robert S. Marx Law Library Display Showcasing the Life of Judge Nathaniel Jones

The law library is pleased to invite you to view the newest display showcasing the life of Judge Nathaniel Jones. The College of Law’s Center for Race, Gender and Social Justice is named in honor of Judge Jones and his life’s work in promoting social justice. The College of Law is privileged to host Judge Jones’s archives. Please come by the main entrance of the law library to view documents and artifacts
from Judge Jones’s storied career.

Previous Marx Markings posts on Judge Jones

UC Law Black History Month Interviews

Black History Month at UC Law: Ashley Nkadi

Ashley Nkadi is a second-year law student at the University of Cincinnati and a Nathaniel R. Jones Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice Fellow. She graduated from the University of Cincinnati, where she co-founded the Irate-8, a student-led digital social activist movement. She spoke with us about why celebrating Black History Month is important, especially in the context of the College of Law. Learn more about Ashley’s journey to law school in a Counselor Magazine feature from this past summer.

Black History Month at UC Law: Travis Hardee

Travis Hardee is a first-year UC Law student from South Carolina pursuing both his JD and MA in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies as part of UC’s dual degree program. He spoke with us about why closing the representation gap in the legal field—one of the least diverse industries—is important to him, and how he hopes to support other Black-identifying people in their pursuit of legal education.

Black History Month at UC Law: Janelle Thompson

Janelle Thompson is a third-year law student at Cincinnati Law, a Nathaniel R. Jones Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice Fellow, president of the Black Law Student Association (BLSA), Secretary of the Student Bar Association, and a member of the Intellectual Property Club. Janelle was an intern at KMK Law in the summer of ‘21 and plans to join the firm following graduation. You can read more about Janelle and her story on UC Law’s website.

UC Libraries

UC Libraries resources in celebration of Black History Month:

CECH Library’s Social Issues for Criminal Justice Careers, a guide of anti-racism resources for students to help equip them for law enforcement jobs in a diverse society.

Source article highlighting Lucy Oxley, MD, the first person of color ever to receive a medical degree from the College of Medicine.

History LibGuide highlighting African American collections, including The Amistad Research Center providing open access to materials on ethnic & racial history, African Diaspora & civil rights.

Theodore M. Berry Papers, an exhibit highlighting the papers of Theodore Moody Berry, Cincinnati’s first Black mayor.

Oesper Collection Highlights: Honoring African-American Chemists (Alice Ball)

This first installment in the Oesper Collection Highlights celebrates African-American History Month. African-American Chemists selected for these profiles were early pioneers in the field – some were the first to achieve PhDs in chemistry, whereas others made significant contributions to study and practice. Sometimes their stories and voices have not been heard. The Oesper Collections and Museum in the History of Chemistry at the University of Cincinnati is highlighting and celebrating these accomplished African-American chemists who contributed across the spectrum of the chemistry discipline.

UC Reflects on 200 Years of Enormous Contributions by Its Black Students and Alumni

This video, produced by the UC’s Alumni Association, debuted at the 2019 Onyx & Ruby Gala, hosted by the UC African American Alumni Affiliate. Looking back on its 200-year history, UC reflects on the experiences of its Black students and the enormous contributions of its Black alumni.

UC’s Black History Trail

This PocketSights tour, accessed through a digital app, shares some of the most important people, places and events in UC’s Black history including triumphs like the creation of the African American Cultural & Resource Center, as well as the early Black struggles for inclusion in residence halls and campus organizations. This trail will help educate students, faculty and neighbors on the importance of African American history around us every day and push us to work for a better racial future for our school, our city and our nation. UC’s Black History Trail was developed as a small group student project in professor Anne Delano Steinert’s African American History in Public course in the spring of 2021.

UC Athletics Celebrates Black History Month

Throughout February, UC Athletics will celebrate with a month-long digital storytelling effort on GoBEARCATS.com and the Bearcats social platforms. Student-athletes from all sports will discuss the meaning and importance of this month through social posts and graphics.

• Honoring the Past. Striving for the Future (Video)
• Spencer Tuckerman, Black History Month: The Legend of London Gant (Feb. 4, 2022).
• Spencer Tuckerman, Black History Month: Cheryl Cook (Feb. 11, 2022).
• Spencer Tuckerman, Black History Month: Tom Thacker (Feb. 18, 2022).

 

College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH) Black History Month Stories

Black History is a collection of stories, movements, and accomplishments that have contributed to our country’s progress and evolution. CECH proudly acknowledges influential African American students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community partners who made history locally or beyond as we celebrate Black History Month.

Monday, February 21, 2022

Kuamka: Meet the Candidates

6:00pm – 8:30pm
AACRC, 60 W. Charlton
Kuamka, which is Swahili for the phrase “in the beginning,” is a week of exciting events where students will compete in several areas to become the next Mr. and Ms. Kuamka. Join in the academic and leadership excellence celebrations, attend social programming and more. This year, Kuamka parallels with “Uthabiti” as the candidates demonstrate great resiliency while navigating through the challenges of the pandemic in order to achieve Kuamka crowns.

Tuesday, February 22, 2022

Kuamka: Names, Monuments and Stories: Changing the Narrative of Tributes and Symbols in our Society 

Time TBA
AACRC, 60 W. Charlton
In our society, there have been many stories and tributes to the confederate history of the U.S.  Efforts have been made to change the narrative through removal of confederate names, monuments and symbols across the country. Digital storytelling has also provided a means to change the stories being told.  This panel brings together historians, student activists and documentary film makers to share their experiences in this process and engage in discussion to further these efforts.

Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Kuamka Talent Showcase

7:00pm
DAAP Auditorium (4400 Aronoff)
Cheer on the Kuamka 2022 contestants as they display their respective talents in an artistic showcase. From spoken word to dancing and many more acts, this artistic event will put the candidates one step closer in hopes of achieving King and Queen status.

Thursday, February 24, 2022

Uses of My Body: Writing, Performing, Working Out

11:00am
TUC Atrium
Join Simone Savannah for a morning of performance and poetry reading from her recent book, “Uses of My Body.” Savannah is a Black feminist writer, teacher, certified personal trainer, winner of the Barrow Street Poetry Book Prize chosen by Jericho Brown and currently postdoctoral fellow in UC’s Taft Research Center. During her short talk, Savannah will share the stories behind her poems about being a Black woman, the body, working out and writing. For more information, contact Simone Savannah.

Removing the Mask: Black Mental Health Roundtable

4:00pm – 6:00pm
Zoom
The AACRC and the UC Black Graduate and Professional Student Association invite you to this virtual roundtable on February 24th from 4:00 – 6:00 pm. Attendees will learn ways to self-monitor mental health, various myths and deterrents to seeking out mental health care, and resources and information that can be used to empower the community moving forward.

Film in Context: Meet Bayard

5:00pm
AACRC, 60 W. Charlton
Join UC’s AACRC and LGBTQ Center as they collaborate to feature Bayard Rustin, a renowned African American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, nonviolence and gay rights, and who is best known for his work as adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1950s and ’60s. Also to his credit, Rustin worked with A. Philip Randolph on the March on Washington Movement in 1941 to press for an end to racial discrimination in employment. Composer and writer Steve Milloy and lyricist Bruce Preston will help guide the stories that helped shape the rich legacy of Bayard Rustin.

‘Who we are: A celebration of Black art,’ All Arts Art Extravaganza

6:00pm – 8:00pm
UC Blue Ash Muntz 119 and Zoom
View art pieces and performances from amazing local Black artists and hear them discuss what and who influenced them to become an artist. Extravaganza follows the eras of Black American history: Pre-Slavery, Slavery, Reconstruction, Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights, Early Modern and Hip-Hop.

Friday, February 25, 2022

Black Career Prep

1:00 pm – 4:00pm

Kautz  Attic, 4th floor Lindner Hall
The AACRC, Linder College of Business and the African American Chamber of Commerce collaborate to bring the all-important tools desired from professionals in the career industry. Areas pertaining to interview and career preparation such as resume writing, interview prep, how to dress  and other important areas of career preparation will be the focus. The fair will also provide first hand learning about internships and co-op opportunities.

‘Furaha’ Friday

6:00pm
AACRC, 60 W. Charlton
Join in on the first ”Furaha,” which is Swahili for fun, for a perfect opportunity to meet new people and kick back with old ones. Bring any personal cards or games for a night of fun.

Saturday, February 26, 2022

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center Tour

12:00pm – 3:00pm
Zoom
Join UC history classes on a virtual tour of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, featuring a visit to the John Parker genealogy room. More information

Kuamka Ball

6:00pm – 10:00pm
UC Tangeman University Center or virtual link (TBA)
The annual ball will culminate a week of events by showcasing each Kuamka candidate. Activities include presenting the Transitions 2021-2022 class, celebrating student grades and highlighting accomplishments of graduate and professional students. At the end of the night the new Mr. and Ms. Kuamka will be crowned. Suggested dress is formal attire or African Garb.

5 Resources to Learn More about Black History

Last week we focused on databases to help you in researching issues faced by African-Americans. This week we look at selected books in our collection.

Black and Blue: How African Americans Judge the U.S. Legal System (e-book)

It is not hyperbole to proclaim that a crisis of legal legitimacy exists in the relationships between African Americans and the law and legal authorities and institutions that govern them. However, this legitimacy deficit has largely (but not exclusively) been documented through anecdotal evidence and a steady drumbeat of journalistic reports, but not rigorous scientific research. Based on two nationally-representative samples, this book ties together four dominant theories of public opinion: Legitimacy Theory, Social Identity Theory, theories of adulthood political socialization and learning through experience, and information processing theories, especially the Theory of Motivated Reasoning and theories of System 1 and System 2 information processing. The findings reveal a gaping chasm in legal legitimacy between black and white Americans. More importantly, black people themselves differ in their legal legitimacy. Group identities and experiences with legal authorities play a crucial role in shaping whether and how black people extend legitimacy to the legal institutions that so much affect them.

Blind Goddess : A Reader on Race and Justice

Blind Goddess brings together the most significant writings of practitioners, professors, and advocates to make sense of what is perhaps the nation’s most astonishing and shameful achievement: the highest per-capita incarceration rate anywhere in the world compounded by the shockingly disproportionate imprisonment of poor people of color. Although there is growing awareness of the huge fiscal cost of mass incarceration, the moral, human, and social devastation of racially skewed law enforcement remains largely unrecognized.

Critical Race Theory: An Introduction (e-book)

From two of the founders of the Critical Race Theory movement, this is a primer on one of the most influential intellectual movements in American law and politics. The third edition covers a range of emerging new topics and events and also addresses the rise of a fierce wave of criticism from right-wing websites, think tanks, and foundations, some of which insist that America is now colorblind and has little use for racial analysis and study.

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (e-book)

The New Jim Crow is a stunning account of the rebirth of a caste-like system in the United States, one that has resulted in millions of African Americans locked behind bars and then relegated to a permanent second-class status—denied the very rights supposedly won in the Civil Rights Movement. Since its publication in 2010, the book has appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for more than a year; been dubbed the “secular bible of a new social movement” by numerous commentators, including Cornel West; and has led to consciousness-raising efforts in universities, churches, community centers, re-entry centers, and prisons nationwide.

White Men’s Law: The Roots of Systemic Racism (e-book)

An account of the legal and extra-legal means by which systemic white racism has kept Black Americans ‘in their place’ from slavery to police and vigilante killings of Black men and women, from 1619 to the present.

February Arguments at the United States Supreme Court

From SCOTUS Blog:

Tuesday, February 22, 2022

Ysleta del Sur Pueblo v. Texas – whether the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama-Coushatta Indian Tribes of Texas Restoration Act provides the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo with sovereign authority to regulate non-prohibited gaming activities on its lands (including bingo), as set forth in the plain language of Section 107(b), the act’s legislative history and the Supreme Court’s holding in California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, or whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit’s decision affirming Ysleta del Sur Pueblo v. Texas (Ysleta I) correctly subjects the Pueblo to all Texas gaming regulations.

Denezpi v. United States – whether the Court of Indian Offenses of Ute Mountain Ute Agency is a federal agency such that Merle Denezpi’s conviction in that court barred his subsequent prosecution in a United States district court for a crime arising out of the same incident.

Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Arizona v. City and County of San Francisco, California – whether states with interests should be permitted to intervene to defend a rule when the United States ceases to defend.

West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency – whether, in 42 U.S.C. § 7411(d), an ancillary provision of the Clean Air Act, Congress constitutionally authorized the Environmental Protection Agency to issue significant rules — including those capable of reshaping the nation’s electricity grids and unilaterally decarbonizing virtually any sector of the economy — without any limits on what the agency can require so long as it considers cost, nonair impacts and energy requirements.