Chastek Library - Gonzaga University School of Law

The Law Library of Congress (part of the Library of Congress) has a blog called In Custodia Legis. It is very informative. From the In Custodia Legis page:

"In Custodia Legis is Latin for “in the custody of the law,” a nod to the fact that the Law Library of Congress is a custodian of law and legislation for both the nation and the world. Our team of bloggers covers current legal trends, developments and enhancements to Congress.gov, issues in collecting for the largest law library in the world, legal history and arcana and a range of international perspectives including New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Israel, Eritrea, China and Mexico."

https://blogs.loc.gov/law/

In Custodia Legis | Law Librarians of Congress In Custodia Legis: Law Librarians of Congress. A blog from the Library of Congress.

On February 19, 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) signed Executive Order 9066 giving the US military broad powers to ban any Japanese-American citizen from a fifty- to sixty-mile-wide coastal area stretching from Washington state to California and extending inland into southern Arizona. The order also authorized transporting these American citizens of Japanese ancestry to assembly centers hastily set up and governed by the military in California, Arizona, Washington state, and Oregon.

Yesterday (February 2, 2026) was Groundhog Day. Title 4 of the Revised Code of Washington Annotated (R.C.W.A.) emerged from its winter slumber and did NOT see its shadow, so that means spring is coming 6 weeks early to the Chastek Library at Gonzaga University School of Law.

Happy Bill of Rights Day!

Bill of Rights Day, observed annually on December 15, commemorates the ratification of the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution in 1791, protecting fundamental American liberties like freedom of speech, religion, and press, and it serves as a reminder of these essential rights and the nation's commitment to them, as established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941.

Trump v. Slaughter, No. 25-332 (U.S. 2025) is a pending United States Supreme Court case that deals with the issue of whether the statutory removal protections for members of the Federal Trade Commission violate the separation of powers?

The oral arguments were held on Monday, December 8, 2025. It is a very interesting case and deals with the power of the executive branch. Here is a link to the oral arguments:

Oral Argument - Audio File

On December 9, 2025, the Washington Supreme Court issued an order setting the passing score for the NextGen Bar Exam for the July 2026 exam. In addition, the Washington Supreme Court retroactively changed the passing bar exam score (260) for tests going back to July 2020. Here is the text of the order:

"That any examinee from the July 2020 bar exam forward (July 2020 through July of 2025) who received a UBE score of 260-265 may now apply for admission based on that score, and all applications must be made within one year of the date of this order, with detailed information for completing such applications to be provided by WSBA as soon as practicable."

Wow.

https://www.courts.wa.gov/content/publicUpload/Supreme%20Court%20Orders/25700-B-747%20FINAL%20ORDER%20NextGen%20Bar%20Exam.pdf

In Advanced Legal Research, we are discussing the West Topic & Key Number Digest System. Although this video from Thomson-Reuters is 11 years old, it is still very good. It is called "A Day in the Life of a Case at Thomson Reuters" and it discusses how West Publishing gets a case from the courts and what it does to "add value" to the case.

A Day in the Life of a Case at Thomson Reuters This video highlights the behind-the-scenes work at Thomson Reuters to post, fact-check, headnote and classify a U.S. Supreme Court case.

On Tuesday (October 14, 2025), the Chastek Library broke a record. The Chastek Library made over 20 packets of popcorn, breaking the old record of 16 packets! That is a lot of popcorn our law students are consuming. I blame it on midterms!

We are in the thick of midterm exams at the Chastek Library. The noise level has ratcheted up, so please keep noise to a minimum. People are getting a little cranky, so mind your manners and reduce the volume of your voice.

As previously mentioned, today is the first Monday in October and that means the United States Supreme Court traditionally convenes following its summer recess. Did you know that the United States Supreme Court and the first Monday in October are the backdrop to one Broadway play and one Hollywood movie?

First Monday in October is a 1978 play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. The play premiered on Broadway at the Majestic Theatre on October 3, 1978. It transferred to the ANTA Playhouse on November 14, 1978, where it closed on December 9, for a total of 79 performances. Directed by Edwin Sherin, the cast starred Jane Alexander (as Judge Ruth Loomis) and Henry Fonda (as Associate Justice Daniel Snow), with Larry Gates (as Chief Justice James Jefferson Crawford). Alexander was nominated for the 1979 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. The play had a pre-Broadway engagement at the Kennedy Center, starting in December 1977.

In 1981, Hollywood decided to make the play into a full-length motion picture. First Monday in October was produced by Paul M. Heller and Martha Scott, directed by Ronald Neame. The film starred Walter Matthau (for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy) and Jill Clayburgh (for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy).

Paramount Pictures originally scheduled First Monday in October for release in February 1982, but President Ronald Reagan's nomination of Sandra Day O'Connor as the first female Supreme Court justice on July 7, 1981, forced the film's release a month after her nomination, in August 1981.