David Schwartz on 'Federalist 37'

David Schwartz, Frederick W. & Vi Miller Professor of Law and Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor, published "The Rhetoric of Deception: Madison’s Federalist 37 and the Structure of the Ratification Debates" in the Wake Forest Law Review. In the paper, Schwartz challenges conventional readings of "Federalist 37," arguing James Madison wrote it "to reassure moderate members of the ratifying public that the Constitution should not be rejected merely on account of its ambiguities." Schwartz writes that scholars analyzing the essay have correctly identified that element, but by addressing "Federalist 37" at too high a level of generality, they have tended to miss the more specific task that Madison set for himself. "That task was not to make his readers okay with the Constitution’s ambiguity, either because ambiguity was productive of salutary compromise or because post-ratification 'liquidation' would clear it up. Nor was he primarily concerned with constitutional ambiguity in general," he writes. Rather, Madison set out to address a specific ambiguity — the nature and extent of the enumerated powers — and to explain away that ambiguity as "immaterial."

Torey Dolan and Steven Wright Discuss Voting Rights Act

In a special edition of the Wisconsin Law in Action podcast, Torey Dolan and Steven Wright discuss how the Voting Rights Act has been challenged and debated at the Supreme Court in recent years. Specifically, the discussion centers on Louisiana v. Callais, a case that was recently argued before the court and focuses on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Dolan, who submitted an amicus brief in the case on behalf of the Navajo Nation, discusses the potential impact the case may have on voting rights for not only voters in Louisiana, but across the United States, and highlights other cases that may impact voting rights. Wright, drawing on his experience working for the Department of Justice in bringing voting rights cases, explains adverse effects the finding may bring about if Section 2 is dismantled. As an added bonus, get a sneak peek at Wright's upcoming second novel. The Wisconsin Law in Action podcast explores a variety of legal topics and new developments in the field by interviewing UW Law faculty and staff. Listen and follow on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

Bonnie Shucha Explores NotebookLM for Lawyers

In December, Bonnie Shucha, associate dean for Library and Information Services and director of the Law Library at UW Law School, published "NotebookLM for Lawyers: AI That Focuses on Your Documents." The paper examines NotebookLM, a document-grounded artificial intelligence tool developed by Google that helps users interact with and analyze texts they upload. Rather than generating responses from a broad internet corpus, NotebookLM confines its answers to the specific documents a user has provided, which can improve accuracy and relevance for legal professionals working with complex texts.

"The value lies in precision and verifiability," said Shucha. "Every answer points back to a specific passage in a document the user has uploaded, making it easy to verify the AI’s work and ensuring that the AI tool is working only with the user’s materials."