This Week in the Law Library ... November 2, 2026
Happy Election Week! This week in the Law Library we're teaching Final Grading in Canvas and Catalyst, Researching Statutes, Using AI, Advanced Legal Research, and Law and the Legal Profession. We're also previewing US Supreme Court cases and celebrating Native American Heritage Month.
This Week's Research Sessions
Tuesday, November 3, 2026
Technology Tuesdays
- Final Grading in Canvas & Catalyst
- 12:15pm - 1:15pm
- Zoom
- Shannon Kemen, Legal Technology & Research Instructional Services Librarian
AI & the Law
- 1:30am - 2:50pm
- Profs. Laura Dixon-Caldwell, Shannon Kemen, Ashley Russell, and Michael Whiteman
Wednesday, November 4, 2026
Advanced Legal Research: Transactional Law
- 11:10am - 12:05pm
- Instructional & Reference Services Librarian Laura Dixon-Caldwell
LLM Research & Writing
- Using AI in Legal Research
- 3:05pm - 4:30pm
- Legal Technology & Research Instructional Services Librarian Shannon Kemen
Thursday, November 5, 2026
Lawyering I, Cohort 7
- 9:00am - 10:25am
- Researching Statutes
- Susan Boland, Associate Director
Introduction to Law & the Legal Profession
- 12:30pm - 1:50pm
- Electronic Resources Instructional Services LibrarianRon Jones Electronic Resources Instructional Services Librarian Ron Jones
AI & the Law
- 1:30am - 2:50pm
- Profs. Laura Dixon-Caldwell, Shannon Kemen, Ashley Russell, and Michael Whiteman
Asynchronous
Advanced Legal Research: Beyond the Basics
- Instructional & Reference Services Librarian Ashley Russell
November 3rd Is Election Day!
Election day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Have you voted yet? If not, please vote tomorrow! Elections matter and so does your vote. Need voter information? You can find links to resources in our Election Law Guide or check out the resources below:
State of Ohio voting information site. Register to vote, change your address, find polling locations, see ballots, etc.
Kentucky State Board of Elections
The official website for Kentucky elections and voting, you can use this site to register to vote, see the election schedule and find your polling location.
State of Indiana Voting Website
The official website for Indiana elections and voting, you can use this site to register to vote, see the election schedule and find your polling location.
In honor of election day, our featured resources will focus on election law.
Featured Study Aids
- Available via the West Academic Study Aid subscription, this Nutshell provides a succinct and thorough description of the law governing elections, the right to vote, and the political process in the United States. The topics addressed include “one person, one vote,” gerrymandering, minority voting rights, ballot access, voter identification, recounts, direct democracy, and campaign finance. The Nutshell examines U.S. constitutional law in these areas, as well as the Voting Rights Act, Federal Election Campaign Act, and other essential statutes. It covers cases decided through the 2022-23 Supreme Court term, including Allen v. Milligan (on the Voting Rights Act) and Moore v. Harper (on the independent state legislature theory).
Examples & Explanations: Legislation, Statutory Interpretation, and Election Law
- Available via the Aspen Learning Library study aid subscription, this text covers statutory interpretation, lobbying, bribery, redistricting, campaign finance law, and voting rights. New to the 2nd Edition: coverage through the Supreme Court's June 2019 decisions, including partisan gerrymandering, court deference to agency interpretations, and the litigation over a citizenship question on the 2020 census; updated discussion of textualist methods of statutory interpretation following the death of Justice Scalia and the arrival of Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh; consideration of how increased political polarization shapes the legislative process and judicial review of legislation; and updated material on campaign finance and voting rights.
Understanding Election Law and Voting Rights
- Available via the LexisNexis Digital Library study aid subscription, this study aid explains election-law doctrine while also introducing the theoretical concerns that underlie the debates. Readers will come away from Understanding Election Law and Voting Rights knowing not only the holdings of cases and the meanings of important statutes, such as the Voting Rights Act, but they will also understand the contending views of free speech, equality, judicial authority, and political fairness that are present throughout the field. It takes readers through the electoral process, beginning with the right to vote and continuing through the election itself. Along the way, the authors provide thorough explanations of manifold topics, including Congress's power to protect voting rights, the use of race in districting, political gerrymandering, political parties' rights, the place of third parties, free speech and the First Amendment rights to participate in campaigns and run for office, campaign-finance regulation, vote-counting, and the role of courts in adjudicating disputes about political power and challenges to election "irregularities."
Featured Guide
- This guide is intended as a starting point for research in the law of elections.
Featured Database
LexisNexis U.S. Voting Laws & Legislation Center
- This voting law tool is provided by the LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation to provide citizens with free access to the most comprehensive collection of US voting laws, legislative developments, and news.
Featured Treatise / Books
- Available on HeinOnline and in print at Law Stacks KF 4886 .P752 2019, this work is focused on the principles, rules, and procedures applicable to recounts and ballot disputes, as well as the rules for "non-precinct" voting-the casting of ballots by means other than traditional polling places on election day.
Featured Videos
Election Law Program Webinars
- A series of webinars for judges on Election Administraton and the Courts. 2026 webinars include:
- What Every Judge Needs to Know about Election Administration
- Ballot Security and Judicial Remedies
- Mail Ballot Administration and Litigation
- Navigating Post-Election Deadlines and Conflicts
Featured Website
- Created in 2005 as a joint venture of the National Center for State Courts and the William & Mary Law School, the Election Law Program seeks to provide practical assistance to state court judges called upon to resolve difficult election law disputes. Resources include a Manual for judges that discusses and analyzes election law issues and the judicial relief available for election law violations. The Program also produces a series of web-based lectures designed to educate judges and journalists about the fundamentals of election law.
November Arguments at the United States Supreme Court
Monday, November 2, 2026
Maxwell v. Dinis - whether a claim regarding application of time credits under the First Step Act of 2018 seeking accelerated transfer to a halfway house or home confinement, can be brought in a habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241.
Younge v. Fulton Jud. Cir. Dist. Attorney's Off., Georgia - whether, where a defendant has filed an answer without pleading an affirmative defense, the defendant may nonetheless assert that affirmative defense as the basis for a summary judgment motion, without amending or seeking to amend its answer to plead that affirmative defense, and whether a defendant may do so even if an amendment adding that affirmative defense would be barred by Rule 16(b)(4).
Tuesday, November 3, 2026
St. Mary Cath. Par. in Littleton v. Roy - (1) whether proving a lack of general applicability under Employment Division v. Smith requires showing unfettered discretion or categorical exemptions for identical secular conduct; (2) whether Carson v. Makin displaces the rule of Employment Division v. Smith only when the government explicitly excludes religious people and institutions.
Wednesday, November 4, 2026
Guerrero v. Johnson - whether a claim relies on a “a new rule of constitutional law, made retroactive to cases on collateral review by the Supreme Court, that was previously unavailable” when the habeas petitioner could have asserted a claim based on the rule in a prior federal habeas petition.
American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month
November is American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month! Celebrate with us as we explore the contributions and history of the Native people in the United States of America.
History Behind the Month
As far back as the late 1970s, Congress enacted legislation, and subsequent presidents issued, annual proclamations designating a day, a week, or a month to celebrate and commemorate the Nation’s American Indian and Alaska Native heritage.
On Aug. 3, 1990, Congress finally passed Pub. L. 101-343 which designated the month of November 1990 as “National American Indian Heritage Month.” Then, in 1991, Congress passed Pub. L. 102-123 which “authorize[s] and request[s] the President to proclaim the month of November 1991, and the month of each November thereafter, as ‘American Indian Heritage Month.’” President George H.W. Bush issued Proclamation 6368 (PDF) on October 30, 1991.
Posted November 2, 2026 by Susan Boland