Top of page

Category: In the News

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

Prisoner Swap Deals Under Israeli Law

Posted by: Ruth Levush

The recent release of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has forced Israelis to reflect again on the cost of releasing kidnapped soldiers. Shalit was abducted by the military wing of Hamas from inside Israel’s borders in June 2006 and had been held captive for over five years.  Israel agreed to release 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the …

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

Celebrating Veterans Day

Posted by: Christine Sellers

Veterans Day is November 11, 2011. As Andrew wrote last year, the Library is home to the Veterans History Project. The Veterans History Project was created by Congress in 2000 (P.L. 106-380) as part of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. The Project’s mission is to collect, preserve, and make accessible personal …

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn and caldron bubble…

Posted by: Christine Sellers

The following is a guest post by Francisco Macías, Senior Legal Information Analyst. Fillet of a fenny snake, In the caldron boil and bake; Eye of newt, and toe of frog, Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting, Lizard’s leg, and owlet’s wing,— from William Shakespeare’s Macbeth If you’ve read …

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

DSK: A Tale of Two Criminal Procedures

Posted by: Kelly Buchanan

The following is a guest post by Nicole Atwill, Senior Foreign Law Specialist in the Global Legal Research Center. I recently watched Dominique Strauss Kahn’s return to France on the French news as I vacationed there.  There was nonstop live television coverage during the day.  Many commentators pointed out that although Dominique Strauss Kahn (“DSK”) …

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

Weird Laws, or Urban Legends?

Posted by: Clare Feikert-Ahalt

As mentioned in my previous post, during my day-to-day work at my cool job, I never know what I’m going to stumble upon.  It so happened that, as I was gathering information for my post on sumptuary laws, I came across a page of ‘legal curiosities’ compiled by the UK’s Law Commission and published by …

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

¡Happy Day of the Race!

Posted by: Francisco Macías

If you’ve ever seen this day marked on your desktop calendars and wondered what it was, think La Niña (née La Santa Clara), La Pinta, and La Santa María. On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in the modern-day Commonwealth of the Bahamas.  Although Columbus Day was formally recognized here in the United States on …

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

Talking About THOMAS at the National Book Festival – Pic of the Week

Posted by: Christine Sellers

We had a great time at the National Book Festival this past weekend talking with visitors about how the Law Library can help people connect with Congress, including through THOMAS. We handed out lots of gavel pencils as souvenirs! Andrew gave a presentation in the Library of Congress tent on Saturday about “THOMAS Takeaways for …