Constitutional Law Expert Opines on Equal Treatment for Same-Sex Couples in Nevada

On December 16, 2012 in an article entitled "Right to 'vote with their feet' odious" published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, UNLV Boyd Law Professor Thomas B. McAffee discussed the November 26, 2012 federal district court ruling in Sevcik v. Sandoval, slip copy, 2012 WL 5989662 (D. Nev. 2012) and an editorial published in the Review-Journal on December 4, 2012 about the ruling.

Sevcik v. Sandoval presented the question of whether "the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits the People of the State of Nevada from maintaining statutes that reserve the institution of civil marriage to one-man-one-woman relationships or from amending their state constitution to prohibit the State from recognizing marriages formed in other states as “marriages” under Nevada law if those marriages do not conform to Nevada's one-man-one-woman civil marriage institution." Sevcik, *1.

In an order granting summary judgment, District Judge Robert C. Jones ruled that "it does not." Sevcik, *1.

In "Right to 'vote with their feet' odious," Professor McAffee discusses the role of the federal Constitution and its primacy over the Nevada Constitution in matters of constitutional protection for fundamental rights. He also writes about the role of courts in enforcing equal protection of fundamental rights such as marriage. Professor McAffee is an expert on constitutional law, American legal history, and jurisprudence.

July 2011 Bar Results

The results of the July 2011 Nevada Bar Examination are in. Congratulations to all of the new members of the State Bar of Nevada who were sworn in at the October 19, 2011 ceremony in Reno and the October 21, 2011 ceremony in Las Vegas and to everyone who passed the bar exam!

Here are some of statistics:

Overall Pass Rate*

*This includes first-time student takers, repeat student takers, and attorneys licensed in other jurisdictions.

Overall: 66%

Boyd Alum: 81% - a new record for the law school!

First-time Student Takers

Overall: 79%

Boyd Alum: 87% - a new record for the law school!

Repeat Student Takers

Overall: 26%

Boyd Alum: 50% 

Thanks to Jennifer Carr (Boyd '06), Director of the Academic Success Program at the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for making this information available.

Rebel Law

UNLV law students recently created a great new web resource for incoming law students: Rebel Law. This is great example of the positive atmosphere and strong community spirit at the William S. Boyd School of Law. Congratulations to the creators of the Rebel Law web site!

Nevada Business Law

Despite Nevada's growing popularity as a location for the incorporation of new businesses, Nevada business law resources are few and far between. There are some basic public resources: the Nevada Revised Statutes are available online and Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller has developed a website to answer the question "Why Nevada?" The Nevada Law Journal, which is run by students of the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, publishes Nevada Supreme Court Summaries, Nevada Supreme Court Commentaries, Nevada Legislative Summaries, and Nevada Legislative Commentaries. A local law firm, Lionel Sawyer & Collins, also publishes a guide entitled "Doing Business In Nevada: A Practical Guide." However, although Nevada has dedicated business courts and judges, case law is limited because lower courts in Nevada do not publish opinions and, in fact, often do not issue opinions. On this blog, I will post information about Nevada business law and, hopefully, create a space where practitioners and others will contribute their knowledge of business law in Nevada and engage in a useful discourse.