The first session I attended Friday was entitled "Globalization: The Next Frontier for Labor Rights and Democracy." I had hoped it would talk about organizing workers around the world to demand that human rights (and environmental protections) take their proper place at the forefront of so-called "trade negotiations." Instead, the speakers talked about how non-democratic the WTO and similar bodies are, how trade policy protects business interests, etc. It was all high level; workers were hardly mentioned. Sure, "the people" were the focus, but the panelists are all focused on the top, rather than the bottom. Perhaps they'll accomplish something great from that end, but I'm skeptical. The panel standout was Jonathan Hiatt, General Counsel for the AFLCIO, who focused on trade provisions similar to those in NAFTA Chapter 11 that almost guarantee that My impression of this panel is somewhat limited, however, because I had to curl myself into the smallest possible package just to sit in the room.

Note to convention organizers: Do not pack chairs into rooms so tightly that people cannot even sit in them! The room for this session had us packed in like sardines!

My second session was entitled, "Reframing Democracy: Texas, Georgia, Pennsylvania and the Redistricting Battles." This was much better and more lively, with Paul Smith arguing on the left that the gerrymandering of congressional voting districts is anti-democratic, and Michael Carvin arguing on the right that the Democrats are just being whiny babies. Carvin was really a sight to see, admitting that he'd go anywhere and argue anything the Republican party asked him to argue, before taking up the unbelievable and indefensible proposition that computer generated and manipulated voting districts are virtually problem-free in terms of democracy and constitutionality. He might be right on the strict constitutional argument, but that's the refuge of cowards in this fight, if you ask me (which you didn't, I know).

Not surprisingly, the best part of the convention was Justice Breyer's keynote. Detailed notes on that will follow in the next post.

Another highlight was Saturday morning's double-session on the 14th Amendment, followed by a lively lunch discussion on what's at stake in this fall's presidential election. Among the notable points were C. Boyden Gray arguments that turning public schools over to private enterprise will cure all of society's ills. Sure is working for health care, don't you think? (Don't even get me started on how cynical and plain anti-democratic Gray's arguments are—it won't be pretty.) Also, it was during this lunch session that Judge Calabresi noted that Bush "came to power" in the same way as Hitler and Mussolini. Calabresi stated that he wanted to make clear that he wasn't trying to equate Bush with Hitler, he was just trying to make the point that it's unusual for leaders to come to power in the way that Bush and these other figures did, and in light of that, Calabresi thinks Bush should check his use of presidential power, rather than attempting to expand it beyond all reasonable proportions. (See, for example, the torture memos.)

So in all, the sparks were flying, the food was ok, and a good time was had by all.

Briefly, I thought the conference needed a blog, and it needed to have wireless access in the conference rooms. I won't go into why, but I do think the ACS would be more successful in reaching a wider audience if it would get bloggy. Apparently there is an ACS Blog, but it appears unofficial and therefore not exactly what I had in mind.

Meanwhile, Professor Bainbridge says the ACS is "the least necessary organization in legal education," and leaves it to Professor Gordon Smith to explain why. Three Years of Hell and his readers offer some commentary.

UPDATE: See also:
Discussion and comments with links to news and blog coverage of Judge Calabresi's remarks about Bush from Matt and Scott at L-Cubed (here and here), from Professor Yin, and from Professor Althouse.

Now also, see Calabresi's apology.