The most prominent of our selection for today is 24-year old, Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986). In this historic case, the Supreme Court ruled that a prosecutor cannot use preemptory challenges (no-cause dismissal of jurors) to dismiss jurors based on race.

Today is also the 31st anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Addington v. Texas, 441 U.S. 418 (1979). In this decision the Court raised the burden of proof required for involuntary commitment to a psychiatric facility from “preponderance of the evidence” to “clear and convincing” evidence.

Unless you are an intellectual property lawyer, you may not be familiar with Microsoft v. AT&T, 550 U.S. 437 (2007), a 3-year old decision in which the Supreme Court placed restrictions on the extraterritorial reach of U.S. Patent law. In short, after Microsoft, holders of U.S. software patents face significant barriers in enforcing their U.S. patents overseas.

cc licensed flickr photo shared by The Library of Congress

And here are some other historical happenings from April 30th — courtesy of HistoryOrb.com — a very cool resource:

1803 — the Louisiana purchase was agreed to in principle (it was signed on May 2).

1904 — the ice cream cone debuts at the St. Louis World’s Fair.

2004 — the U.S. media releases controversial photos from Abu Ghraib prison.

In an effort to bring order back to the court, the federal Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Management recently issued a set of model jury instructions that explicitly advise jurors not to “not consult dictionaries or reference materials, search the internet, websites, blogs, or use any other electronic tools to obtain information about this case or to help you decide the case.”

In other words, jurors “may not communicate with anyone about the case on your cell phone, through e-mail, Blackberry, iPhone, text messaging, or on Twitter, through any blog or website, through any internet chat room, or by way of any other social networking websites, including Facebook, My Space, LinkedIn, and YouTube.“  For the full jury instructions, click here or here.

Will the jury instructions actually stop jurors from violating the rules against communicating about and researching cases?  Probably not.  But clear instructions ought to make it easier to discipline jurors for their transgressions.