WEBCASTS 11/20/02 The Rights and Wrongs of Going to War US 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Richard Posner debates Columbia Law School professor George Fletcher at Columbia Law School. Watch the debate. Recorded 11/15/02. MORE WEBCASTS
CONFERENCES 11/11/02 Law teaching The Institute for Law School Teaching at Gonzaga University announces its Tenth Annual Summer Conference, Reflecting on Our Teaching - 2003, to be held at the Sleeping Lady Mountain Retreat, Leavenworth, WA, from July 17-19, 2003. Click for further details. MORE CONFERENCES
FAMOUS TRIALS Nov. Susan B. Anthony tried for illegal voting This month, from the JURIST archives - University of Missouri-Kansas City law professor Douglas Linder takes a look back at the 1873 trial of women's rights leader Susan B. Anthony for voting illegally in the federal election of November 5, 1872. MORE FAMOUS TRIALS
THIS DAY IN LEGAL HISTORY... President Harding signed the "anti-beer bill"
On this day in 1921, President Warren G. Harding signed the Willis-Campbell Act, prohibiting doctors from prescribing beer or liquor for medicinal purposes. Read David Kyvig, America Sobers Up (chapter 2 of Repealing National Prohibition, 1979).
Noted 6:30 AM | #
Friday, November 22, 2002
OPINION... Making terrorists pay, civil liberties
Here are the legal editorials and op-eds from Friday's major papers:
in the New York Times, CUNY law professor Pamela Falk says that President Bush should support legislation that would allow victims of terrorism to make terrorists pay damages;
THIS DAY IN LEGAL HISTORY... UN passed Resolution 242
On this day in 1967, the UN Security Council called for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied during the Six Days' War, and for respect of the right of all States in the area to "live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries." Read Resolution 242, which remains the cornerstone of efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East.
Noted 6:30 AM | #
Thursday, November 21, 2002
OPINION... Death row, Iraq, and the INS
Thursday's New York Times calls for Illinois Governor George Ryan to end his tenure on a high note by issuing a blanket commutation of the sentences of everyone on that state's death row. Also in the Times, Michael Glennon wonders how the US can claim that UN Security Council Resolution 1441 is binding on Iraq, but not on itself. The Washington Post reflects on the future of the dysfunctional and demoralized Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Noted 8:23 AM | #
THIS DAY IN LEGAL HISTORY... Senate rejected Nixon nomination of Haynsworth to Supreme Court
On this day in 1969, the Senate voted down President Richard Nixon's nomination of US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Clement Haynsworth to the United States Supreme Court.
Noted 6:30 AM | #
Wednesday, November 20, 2002
OPINION... Homeland Security, asbestos litigation
Wednesday's USA Today bemoans the fact that at the last minute Congress loaded the just-passed Homeland Security Bill with special-interest provisions. In the Washington Post, Robert J. Samuelson says that asbestos litigation demonstrates how some profit-hungry lawyers can erode the rights of legitimate victims, drive dozens of companies into bankruptcy, and corrupt the court system.
Noted 8:37 AM | #
THIS DAY IN LEGAL HISTORY... Nuremberg war crimes trials began
On this day in 1945, the war crimes trials of Nazi World War II leaders began in the German city of Nuremberg. Read more about the Nuremberg Trials in JURIST's Famous Trials series. Review the Nuremberg Tribunal's Charter and the verdicts and sentences handed down on major war figures.
Noted 6:30 AM | #
Tuesday, November 19, 2002
US SENATE... Homeland Security Bill passed
The US Senate Tuesday passed HR 5005, establishing a Department of Homeland Security. The vote was 90-9. President Bush hailed the passage of the legislation.
Noted 9:47 PM | #
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL... Law school speech code plan draws fire
The Boston Globereported Tuesday that a Harvard Law School committee has announced plans to draft a speech code that would ban harassing or offensive language from the classroom. The announcement prompted a furious debate at a law school "town meeting" Monday evening. MORE ON JURIST: LAW SCHOOL NEWS
Noted 2:46 PM | #
NEBRASKA LEGISLATURE... Lethal injection bill dies in committee
Members of the Nebraska Legislature's Judiciary Committee voted 5-2 Tuesday to indefinitely postpone a measure that would have made lethal injection the primary form of execution in Nebraska. In 2002, Nebraska became the only state to utilize electrocution as its sole method of carrying out a death sentence. Some legal observers argued that without legislative action Nebraska’s mode of execution could be viewed by the U.S. Supreme Court as a violation of the Constitution’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. More from the Nebraska Legislature. MORE ON JURIST: DEATH PENALTY NEWS
Noted 1:05 PM | #
UNITED NATIONS... Secretary General: no-fly zone violations no breach of UN Resolution
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan suggested in press remarks Tuesday that Iraqi violations of the no-fly zone, which some American officials have declared put Iraq in breach of UN Resolution 1441, are not problematic in that regard: "I don't think that the Council will say that it is in contravention of the resolution which was recently passed", UN sources quote the Secretary General as saying. MORE ON JURIST: UNITED NATIONS NEWS
Noted 11:44 AM | #
US DISTRICT COURT - ALABAMA... Ten Commandments in State Judiciary Building must be removed
US District Judge Myron Thompson ruled[PDF] Monday that a monument to the Ten Commandments displayed on the grounds of the state judicial building in Montgomery, Alabama must be removed because it is in violation of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. Read an ACLU statement welcoming the ruling.
Noted 11:29 AM | #
UNITED NATIONS... Overspending of international criminal tribunal criticized
A UN committee considered the financing and expenditures of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia in New York Monday. Delegates said that the Rwanda tribunal in particular needed to control its costs to avoid "huge overspending." Read a summary of committee proceedings. MORE ON JURIST: UNITED NATIONS NEWS
Noted 10:34 AM | #
OPINION... Wiretaps, combatants, and Harvard Law School
Tuesday's New York Times says that the Supreme Court and Congress should reverse Monday's Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review ruling permitting the government to wiretap phone calls, intercept mail and spy on Internet use of ordinary Americans. The Washington Post says that responsibility for the legal problem the decision creates lies not with the court but with Congress, for the carelessness and haste with which it passed the USA Patriot Act. In the Washington Times, Frederick Grab draws a legal line between terrorists and combatants. In the Wall Street Journal, Dorothy Rabinowitz says that Harvard Law School's new program for freshman entitled "Managing Difficult Conversations" represents a trade of intellectual rigor for "flabby sensitivity."
Noted 8:50 AM | #
THIS DAY IN LEGAL HISTORY... Jay Treaty signed
On this day in 1794, US Chief Justice John Jay and British foreign secretary Lord Grenville signed a treaty in Philadelphia under which British forces pulled out of the disputed Northwest Territory. Review the Jay Treaty and associated documents.
Noted 6:30 AM | #
Monday, November 18, 2002
US 9th CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS... Challenge to detention of Afghan prisoners rejected
The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled[PDF] Monday that a group of clergy members and professors have no legal standing to challenge the detention of approximately 600 Afghan war detainees at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. Read a statement on the decision from the US Justice Department. MORE ON JURIST: WAR DETAINEES NEWS
Noted 8:52 PM | #
FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE... Expanded wiretaps do not violate Constitution
[UPDATED] The secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Review Court issued a public ruling[PDF] Monday holding that the US Justice Department has broad authority to use expanded surveillance powers granted it under the USA PATRIOT Act, and that court-ordered restrictions on that authority are not required by the law or the Constitution. Read the 56-page ruling overturning a May decision by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. George Washington University law professor Orin Kerr offers a case analysis. Watch a press conference with Attorney General John Ashcroft via C-SPAN, or read the transcript. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy made a statement on the ruling, which was also criticized by the ACLU. Learn more about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act from the Federation of American Scientists. MORE ON JURIST: FISA NEWS
Noted 1:43 PM | #
US SUPREME COURT... Court honors Byron White
The US Supreme Court held a special Memorial Monday for late Associate Justice Byron White, with remarks by Solicitor General Ted Olson and former Solicitor General Seth Waxman. Watch recorded video via C-SPAN. MORE ON JURIST: US SUPREME COURT NEWS
Noted 12:33 PM | #
EQUAL JUSTICE WORKS... Report: 50% of law school grads have debts above $75,000
A new report released in Washington Monday by Equal Justice Works (formerly the National Association for Public Interest Law) says that according to recent nationwide survey of third year law students, an alarming 94% of the Class of 2002 financed their studies through school loans and 50% graduated earlier this year with law school loan debts of $75,000 or more. Read the report, From Paper Chase to Money Chase: Law School Debt Diverts Road to Public Service. MORE ON JURIST: LAW SCHOOL NEWS
Noted 11:53 AM | #
OPINION... Surveillance, campaign finance, judges, special ed
Monday's New York Times says that Washington's efforts to create sophisticated surveillance systems for identifying potential terrorists cannot be allowed to undermine civil liberties. The Washington Post slams challengers of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law for shielding certain "confidential" documents from the public. The Washington Times says that one of the top issues that needs to be on the agenda for the next Congress (and many state legislatures as well) will be tort reform, while WT columnist Nat Hentoff says that fast-track review of judicial nominees is needed to clear the logjam in the federal courts. The Christian Science Monitor recommends that Congress consider allowing special education students to attend private schools with taxpayer-funded vouchers.
Noted 9:52 AM | #
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