ALR Student’s Corner: Regulations.gov Blog

The Regulations.gov is a great place to locate information on the development of Federal regulations (e.g Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and Environmental Protection Agency) issued by the United States government. This site provides helpful information regarding various rules, proposed rules, and public comments on regulatory issues that affect the entire society.  Regulations.gov is managed by the eRulemaking Program Management Office with the assistance of several federal agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency. The eRulemaking Program was created in 2002 as an E-Government project. Additionally, Regulations.gov aims to promote more efficient and effective rulemaking through public involvement.

Searching Regulations.gov.

 

Let’s research whether the Bureau of Prison has enacted or proposed any new rules that deal with overcrowding and housing conditions in federal prisons.  First, we need to click the Advanced Search link located in the middle of the page, just below the main search box.  When using the “Advance Search” field, there are options to limit your search results to keywords, document types, and by agency or docket.  A keyword search is search based on a general topic and common words used in the rule or topic. The document type option allows the user to limit the search result document to public submission, notice, rule, proposed rule and/or other supporting and related material.

Let’s now run a keyword search by typing “housing condition” in the text box.  Scroll down to middle of the page and in the “By Agency” box, type “Federal Prisons Bureau.” This section encompasses an auto-fill feature that allows the user to limit the agencies results as the text is being typed. Then click, search.  When searching by agency filed, we can search particular agencies to locate documents in a particular area of law.

After the page redirects, you will see a list of two proposed rules, one enacted rule, and three public submissions.  The page is displayed by title, document type, agency,  document identification, and posted date. Using the option field located at top left of page, you can sort your results by display topic, filter the result by other agencies, by category, or by comment status.

By clicking on an enacted rule, you can review the comments, the summary of rules, and the contents of the new rules.  By clicking on the Proposal Rule, you can review the notice of proposal changes, the deadline, the procedure for submitting comments, and the summary of proposal changes. The Public Submission is a detailed list of comments submitted by the community.

After reviewing the regulation of interest, you can provide comments to a document that is open for comments. To do so, click the “Submit a Comment” link either on the Search Results page or Document Details page.

After click the “Submit a Comment” link, a web form will open and allow you to enter your contact information and submit a comment.  The comment will be sent directly to the particular agency.

After submitting your comment, a comment tracking number will be issued.  This number can be used to quickly search for and locate your comment once it has been posted to Regulations.gov. This number is also permanently tied to your comment.  (Note: Since the Federal Prison Bureau comments for housing condition have closed, the section above is an illustration on how to submit a comment.)  

~Brian Tyson, L’12~

Blogs – They’ve Come A Long Way!

A blog posting about blogs?  Go figure!

Since 2007, the American Bar Association has listed its favorite 100 “Blawgs.”  (The term “blawg” originated with Denise Howell, an attorney at the Reed Smith firm.) Readers are invited to go to the ABA Journal website and vote for their favorite blogs in each category before the close of business on December 30^th.  There are 12 categories to choose from and by registering, one is able to obtain 12 votes for 12 different blogs.  If you’re not sure of what blogs are available to choose from, you can access the BLAWG Directory and view by topic, author type, region, or law school.

Very few of you need to be brought up to date, but here goes.  Blog is short for web log. At one time, blogs were equated with online journals.  They’ve become popular because anyone can start a blog. You don’t have to be a website developer or invest a lot of time or money. Over the years, blogs have become more specialized and are often linked to online resources.     Another site, in addition to the ABA BLAWG Directory, for locating law-related blogs is www.blawg.com.  The directory is arranged topically and there is a category for “Law Libraries and Research.”

Not all blogs/blawgs are created equally.  What is the role of a blog in our profession?  Not all blogs qualify as scholarship, yet almost everyone is beginning to see that blogs have an important role to play in conveying information.   J. Robert Brown in his December 21, 2009 “The Influence of Law Blogs on the Judicial Process,” noted that judicial law clerks are using blogs to prepare their judges for oral argument or to draft opinions.  He theorized that blogging “can be a form of post-oral argument analysis.”

I understand that Supreme Court clerks …often check the blogs that cover their cases.  Appellate lawyers are aware of this practice, and, as a result, blogging is sometimes used as a kind of back-door, post-argument supplement briefing. In most appellate courts, particularly the Supreme Court, the court will only very rarely allow the filing of a post-argument brief to address an issue that arose during oral argument. However, since bloggers discuss and comment on the oral argument in prominent cases, and since the clerks (and possibly the Justices themselves) read these posts, the blogosphere can serve as a vehicle to, in effect, continue the oral argument or supplement the briefing.

Let’s return to the topic of choosing favorite blogs as part of the annual ABA Journal survey.  There are too many to choose from.  The three I recommend are:

• SCOTUSblog, which is useful when searching for news and analysis regarding the U.S. Supreme Court;
• 3 Geeks and a Law Blog , which is coordinated by law librarian, Greg Lamber, discusses developments in research, law libraries and knowledge management.  This is often the site to monitor when information vendors release new products, such as WestlawNext;
• Above the Law, which covers lawyers and the business of law. During 2009, this blog was often the go-to site to learn which firms were quietly laying off employees in massive numbers.

There are too many good (and not as good) blogs out there to monitor.  It can’t be denied that blogging is affecting how information is disseminated, even in the legal profession.

~Susan Catterall~