The Georgia Code regulates many aspects of when and where fireworks can be used; however, those statutes also indicate that local noise ordinances can place further limits on when you can use fireworks that cause noise. Most Georgia local codes are available in Municode, which makes it easy to look to see if any local ordinances limit when you can use fireworks over the weekend!
President Biden signing the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act. Image from President Biden’s Twitter Account.
Tomorrow, Saturday, June 19th, marks our most recently enacted federal holiday, Juneteenth. After the bill swiftly made its way through Congress, President Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act yesterday. The Act makes Juneteenth the 12th federal holiday and the first new federal holiday since 1983, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established. Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery, and much of the federal government was closed today to commemorate the new federal holiday. We wrote a blog post on Juneteenth a few years ago; for that post, see below.
This isn’t the only news regarding Juneteenth in recent years. More states adopted Juneteenth as a holiday, and last year the National Archives located the original written order. What a great update to our post and something to celebrate over the weekend!
On June 19, 1865, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger stood on the balcony of a house in Galveston, Texas, and read out the text of General Order No. 3, informing the people of Texas of the effects of the Emancipation Proclamation. Annual celebration of Juneteenth (a portmanteau of “June” and “nineteenth”) began the next year; although celebration of the day declined in the early 20th century and was primarily centered in Texas, in more recent years recognition of the day has increased and spread. Juneteenth was officially recognized as a state holiday in Texas in 1980. Today, 46 states and the District of Columbia recognize Juneteenth through legislation.
Styles L. Hutchins, the first Black attorney admitted to the Georgia Bar. From Wikimedia Commons.
As we celebrate Black History Month, we reflect upon the important history of the Black legal community in Georgia. The first Black attorney admitted to the Georgia Bar, Styles Hutchins, was admitted in 1878. He spent much of his career practicing in Chattanooga, and served as a member of the Tennessee legislature. In the early 1940s future Atlanta Municipal Court Judge Rachel E. Pruden-Herndon became the first Black woman to pass the Georgia bar exam and be admitted to the Georgia Bar.
Several other Black members of the Georgia legal community played key roles in the civil rights movement and desegregation efforts in Georgia. Georgia attorneys including future United States District Judge Horace T. Ward, legendary civil rights attorney Donald Hollowell, and Vernon Jordan, a future leader of the National Urban League and political advisor, launched a series of challenges that ultimately led to the beginning of desegregation at the University of Georgia and Georgia State University. Another prominent Black Atlanta attorney, Howard Moore, Jr., was involved in the landmark case Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States, in which the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed Congress’s authority to prohibit discrimination in public accommodations by private businesses involved in interstate commerce.
In 1948 ten African-American Atlanta lawyers, including attorney and mentor A.T. Walden, founded the Gate City Bar Association, a professional association dedicated to supporting African-American attorneys in Georgia. The Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys was founded in 1981 to promote the involvement of Black women attorneys and increase focus on women’s and children’s issues. These associations continue to work to support African-American attorneys in Georgia through education, community involvement, and events. These efforts include the Justice Robert Benham Law Camp, an three-week summer program presented in partnership with the Georgia State University College of Law. The program, named after the first African-American member of the Georgia Supreme Court, introduces minority high school students to the study of law and gives them an opportunity to intern with lawyers in the metro Atlanta area.
The Law Library and other GSU libraries have numerous books and other resources available for those wishing to learn more about the history of Black attorneys in Georgia. These resources include the following books:
Over the past few years an increasing number of courts have provided the public with the opportunity to view or listen to court proceedings online. Georgia’s appellate courts, the Georgia Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Georgia, have offered live video of their oral argument sessions for several years now. The Supreme Court of Georgia has announced that its oral arguments for the week of April 20th will take place on Zoom and will be live-streamed as normal.
As for the Supreme Court of the United States, there is no indication when oral arguments will resume. On April 3rd the Court issued an order postponing oral arguments originally scheduled for the April session. UPDATE: On April 13th the Court announced that in early May it will hold oral arguments by telephone conference. The Court also stated that it “anticipates providing a live feed of these arguments to news media.”
Georgia State University is now a member of HathiTrust, a partnership between research institutions to provide online access to a vast searchable collection of materials digitized from libraries around the world. The HathiTrust Digital Library currently contains over 16 million volumes, of which approximately 37% are in the public domain.
Membership in HathiTrust means that Georgia State University researchers gain access to the full range of HathiTrust features, such as expanded full-text downloading of public domain and Creative Commons-licensed works, creation of custom collections, and special access to in-copyright materials for users with print disabilities. The HathiTrust Research Center supports computational analysis using the works in the HathiTrust Digital Library.
One of HathiTrust’s major collections is of federal government documents. As of January 1, 2018, the HathiTrust Digital Library contained over 1 million federal documents. These documents include a wealth of historical agency materials previously unavailable digitally. The ultimate goal of the HathiTrust U.S. Federal Government Documents Program is to build a complete digital collection of federal documents previously distributed to libraries in print.
The Law Library is currently accepting applications for graduate research assistants (commonly known as GRAs) for the summer and fall semesters. The Law Library has two types of GRAs – Reference GRAs and Research GRAs. Position descriptions are linked below:
Law Library GRA positions are open to all GSU law students who have completed their first two semesters of classes. Part-time students are eligible. Students applying for Summer positions must be enrolled in at least 4 hours of Summer classes. Students may apply for both types of GRA position, but cannot be hired for both positions at the same time.
Submission
Applications are due at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 8, 2016.
Reference GRA applicants: Email one document which includes a 1) cover letter, 2) current resume, and 3) completed availability form to Patrick Parsons (pparsons@gsu.edu). Include your last name in the file name.
Research GRA applicants: Email one document which includes a 1) cover letter and 2) current resume to Patrick Parsons (pparsons@gsu.edu). Include your last name in the file name.
The Law Library (and the rest of Georgia State University) will be closed for winter break from Saturday, December 19th, 2015 through Sunday, January 3rd, 2016. We will reopen for the new year on Monday, January 4th, 2016. Thanks for a great semester, and we hope you all have a wonderful break!
Just so you know, we’re changing up the library’s hours for the next few weeks due to the Thanksgiving holiday and the upcoming exam period. During the week of Thanksgiving we are operating with reduced hours, as follows:
We will reopen for regular hours on November 29th and November 30th.
We will be open until midnight during the exam period, from December 1st through December 15th. (Remember, you can call a safety escort when you are here late studying!)
After the exam period, we will again have reduced hours until the winter break, as follows:
Orientation is over, and fall semester starts on Monday – welcome (back) to law school! As you’re no doubt aware, quite a bit has changed. We got some new DVDs. We have some new brightly colored book trucks. There are some awesomenew faculty.
Oh, and we moved buildings.
What does this mean for you?
Windows!
Stairs!
An actual quiet floor (the 6th floor)!
More study rooms!
Terraces!
A cafe in the library (coming soon)!
If you want to see what the new building looks like, stop by (bring your PantherCard to prove you’re a law student!) any time we’re open. If you want an online preview, check out the photos from our earlier post about the new library. If all of this makes you nostalgic for the old place (or if you’re a 1L and not sure why we’re so excited about our new building), we have photos of that, too.
Progress is being made but construction continues in the College of Law and the Law Library. The library will continue with temporarily shortened hours through Sunday, July 19, with slightly expanded hours for July 20-26. The library will be open to current Georgia State Law students, Georgia State Law faculty and Georgia State Law staff to use study aids, reserves, or for research assistance.
Beginning mid-day on Wednesday, July 15, the library will also begin having designated areas for study by current Georgia State Law students. Remember that the library still is a construction area and there may be periods of noise that are outside our control. There are only certain areas of the library where students will be allowed so you will need to check in at the Circulation Desk on the Fifth Floor to be directed to the study area.
8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, July 14-16
8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, July 17
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, July 18-19
8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Thursday, July 20-23
8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, July 24
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, July 25-26
Students will need to show their ID and sign in at the Security Desk and proceed immediately to the Circulation Desk on the Fifth Floor. Library personnel will retrieve materials and direct students to an area of the library where they may sit. Students needing research assistance can also use the Red Chat Reference button in the upper left corner of the Law Library’s home page.
At this time, the computer lab, printers, copiers, and scanners are not available. Wireless access is available. We will continue to update you as construction progresses and more resources become available. If you have any questions, contact Associate Dean Kris Niedringhaus at krisn@gsu.edu or 404-413-9140.
Georgia State University is now a member of 
The Blackacre Times 
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