America’s obsessive watching — I. Bennett Capers’ "On Andy Warhol’s Electric Chair" explores who we see in the chair (Available at SSRN and forthcoming in the California Law Review)(Hat tip Concurring Opinions).  For additional perspective, visit the Warhol Education site, Reflecting on Capital Punishment in America. 

According to the Reporters Without Borders 2006 Annual Report on Internet censorship, some of the world’s most repressive regimes have shown determination and skill in monitoring Internet use within their borders and have been successful doing so thanks in large part to technology sold to them by Western, mostly US, firms. LAW LIBRARIAN BLOG, May 25 ,2006.

Though convinced of their own innocence, Lay & Skilling face sentencing this 9/11 … "Poetic Justice?"  [LA TIMES]

The May 26, 2006 edition of ASIL’s International Law in Brief (ILIB) arrived via email this morning. The ILIB is a monthly compilation of "Developments in international law," prepared by the Editorial Staff of International Legal Materials (ILM).  ASIL’s International Law in Brief archive is available online.  ILIB is a free electronic resource.

Jim Milles is podcasting "cool things" again from a northern border town.

The announcement [reported in JURIST] that New Orleans criminal trials should resume next week might qualify as good news, except that

"According to a report [LA Times report] from the US Justice Department, the Orleans County Public Defender’s Office [official backgrounder] needs 70 lawyers and more than $8 million in addition to the $2.8 million it is scheduled to receive from the federal government on May 31. Thirty-one of the office’s 39 public defenders have been laid off since Hurricane Katrina…."

ProQuest (electronic archived information provider) is [apparently] in serious financial trouble:  "A little more than a week ago, ProQuest released the preliminary results of an investigation into accounting problems the company believes will reduce its earnings by between $80 million and $100 million in 2004 and 2005…"  That’s a bunch when you consider the company reported profits of $52.7 million last year.  See, Ann Arbor News for more.

"The Law Library of Congress announces a new electronic publication, the Global Legal Monitor, which will track new legal developments from around the world. The first issue of the Global Legal Monitor may be accessed from the Law Library of Congress’s opening Web page, at

< http://www.loc.gov/law/public/law.html >

by clicking on the link labeled "NEW: Global Legal Monitor (GLM)."

beSpacific links to a Diebold voting machine security report.  The post links to an interesting California Voter Foundation press release as well — California first in nation to implement electronic voting reform (May 4, 2006):

"All 58 California counties are on track to deploy new or upgraded voting equipment that guarantees every ballot cast will be backed up on paper that voters can verify before leaving the polls. Fourteen counties acquired over 40,000 electronic voting machines in recent years, all of which are being replaced or retrofitted with printers in time for the June election, making California the first state in the nation to reform its electronic voting systems after widespread deployment of paperless e-voting machines."

So much for the paperless society.

A Chronicle of Higher Ed article reports on the findings of a lengthy report released Tuesday by a University of Colorado investigative panel regarding Ward Churchill’s alleged research misconduct (plagiarism?).  The article includes the text of Mr. Churchill’s response.  (USD access password protected).  Search Google News for more.