A call to arms?

John Nichols writes:

It sounds as if Al Gore is about to deliver what could be not just one of the more significant speeches of his political career but an essential challenge to the embattled presidency of George W. Bush.

In a major address slated for delivery Monday in Washington, the former Vice President is expected to argue that the Bush administration has created a “Constitutional crisis” by acting without the authorization of the Congress and the courts to spy on Americans and otherwise abuse basic liberties.

I'm going to be there so I'll let you know how significant and challenging it ends up being.

Posted 12:03 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | general politics

Pity the downtrodden landlord

Look! It's a right-wing screed against law school legal clinics! It condemns those clinics for attempting to help those among us who have the least because, well, that's “activism” or something. Instead, it advocates these clinics teach law students to help capitalists and crime victims—those for whom the existing legal and criminal justice system already work. It all makes eminent sense, don't you think?

Thanks to JD2B for bringing this screed to my attention.

Posted 11:54 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack | law school

A Plainspoken Public Defender

I haven't been following this case so I might not have the story straight here, but as best I can tell it goes like this: A Missouri Mississippi attorney had a contract with two counties to be their public defender. He apparently also does his own private work. He considers taking on an unpopular case. One of the counties for whom he's the PD says if he takes the case, they'll terminate his PD contract. He takes the case. The county fires him.

Awesome, don't you think? It means you have the right to an attorney but only one who only takes cases approved by the local bigshots. But don't listen to me, listen to the public defender involved:

I have been Prentiss public defender officially (salaried) since February 1995 and unofficially for several years prior. During that time not one official complaint has been communicated to me about my performance. Of course, there have been many unofficial complaints about me “getting all those guilty people off.”

What it boils down to is something that I have known and personally observed about members of the “unwashed masses” for many years: When the Constitution and Bill of Rights are applied to benefit others, the right to counsel, due process, fair trial et al. are “technicalities”. Criminals get off on technicalities such as the 4th Amendment. Only when one of their asses is in a sling are these same documents “fundamental rights”.

Ain't that the truth. The same is true for all those people who say they don't care if the NSA is spying on them b/c they have nothing to hide. If they were arrested (say, because of some “misunderstanding”), they'd quickly sing another tune.

I wish people weren't so selfishly shortsighted, but then, if wishes were fishes...

BTW, I originally learned of this story via Alaskablawg, which is an awesome blog for anyone thinking about becoming a public defender. Excellent stuff. Plus, he's a celebrity: His trial is going to be webcast next week on CourtTV!

UPDATE: This post originally said that this situation happened in Missouri. My apologies to the Missouri State Public Defender for the error.

Posted 11:09 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | 3L crimlaw

The Rule Of Law?

In his first day of confirmation hearings for a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Samuel Alito said :

“The role of a practicing attorney is to achieve a desirable result for the client in the particular case at hand. But a judge can't think that way. A judge can't have any agenda,” he said. “The judge's only obligation, and it's a solemn obligation, is to the rule of law.”

Hm. No agenda, huh? The rule of law? What the heck does that mean? Take President's domestic spying, for example; is it legal? To answer the question, we have to figure out what law applies and what that law means. So is this the law that applies to Bush's domestic spying? If so, it's illegal. Or is this the law that applies? If so, it might be legal. In other words, with this and many many other issues, saying that a judge's only obligation is to the rule of law is the same as saying that a judge's only obligation is to his own values, experience, and preferences of interpretation.

A judge can't have any agenda? Poppycock. Judges are human, humans have agendas, and Alito—like Roberts before him—is more dangerous for the fact that he either doesn't recognize this or has chosen to lie about it.

Posted 08:40 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack | law general

School? Work? What?

I just realized I had an awesome holiday vacation the last few weeks. I did almost nothing and it was awesome. Total relaxation. Sure, I talked to everyone and her brother about where I'm going to take the bar and how I'm going to find a job and the fact that I really don't have answers to those questions, so that was a bit of a drag, but otherwise I hardly thought about law school or my incredibly uncertain future at all. It was great.

Unfortunately, that's so over. The semester started yesterday and suddenly I feel buried in obligations, responsibilities, and work. Yet before it's even really begun I'm feeling a lot like DG—completely checked out already. I mean, I was worried about graduation but now that that's settled (not going), I'm done.

But no. Not done at all. I've got three “and the law” classes to take and a mountain of clinic work to do. The clinic work is cool, the classes I'm sure will be great, so what's the problem? Maybe this is what they call burnout, but I'm going to try to shake it off for one last time and see if I can make this the best semester yet. Wish me luck!

And good luck to all of you who may be starting your last or second or fourth or whatever semester of law school. There are lights at the end of this tunnel and regardless of where we are inside it, those lights get a little brighter every day.

Posted 11:25 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | 3L

Graduation: What's it good for?

What does graduation mean? I'm talking about the actual ceremony here. Is it important? Should I go?

My final semester of law school starts tomorrow. That's obviously a great thing— 5 down, one to go. But it also means I have to find that job, figure out where to sit for the bar, and whether to go to graduation.

Yeah, that last one might be a no-brainer for most law students. You go to school for three years, borrowing an arm and a leg for the privilege, jumping through all manner of hoops to get this Juris “Doctor” degree, so why wouldn't you go to graduation?

My answer is not very clear, but it begins with the fact that I've never really thought much of such ceremonies. They seem to be empty gestures, silly rituals devoid of meaning. Will I actually feel any different after I hear my name called or walk across a stage and receive a ceremonial piece of paper?* I don't think so.

In addition, I don't really want to be part of or support a big ceremonial event that will consist largely of my school bragging about how great it is. Although I feel I have received a fine, relatively average legal education at GW, I see it as a very average sort of law school and therefore a cog in the larger machine of legal education that is failing its students and the general public by producing classes of money-grubbing technical functionaries rather than effective advocates for true equality and justice in this country. In this light, attending graduation and joining the collective self-congratulations of the school and my fellow graduates makes me more complicit in the whole broken system. That's stupid, I know. If a graduation ceremony makes me complicit, what does three years of school make me? I'm a cog already.

So what it comes down to is I have what may be an irrational desire to, in some small way, express my disappointment in GW and the larger legal education machine of which it is a part, and I have this idea that refusing to participate in graduation will constitute such an expression. Plus, as I said, it seems like an empty gesture and a big hassle and expense for myself and my family to attend. It will cost my family upwards of $1000 to get and stay here for a few days and since they've all been to D.C. before, it just seems like a waste. I'm pretty sure they would rather use their vacation days and dollars some other way.

Finally, graduation from law school seems so anticlimactic. The hard part seems to be making it through the first year; after that, the real challenge is passing the bar and getting a good job, so graduation shrinks to little more than a door prize on the way to those main events. Why make a big deal out of such a relatively small thing?

On the other hand, I could be all wrong. Perhaps there is something about graduation that makes it more than an empty gesture. Does it play a role in people's lives like other ceremonies or rituals? For example, a funeral is not for the person who died—being dead, that person can't get anything out of it. So the funeral is for those left behind, a ritual to perform in order to assure themselves and others that the deceased was beloved by and important to them. Weddings have something of this about them as well—if two people choose to marry, they shouldn't need a ceremony to confirm their feelings; rather the ceremony confirms those feelings to those who attend.

So, again, what purpose do graduations serve? It seems possible they are a way for the graduate to thank those who have supported him/her through school. If this is true it seems you thank those you love simply by inviting them. Do you need to actually go? But perhaps there is also a value to those supporting family members in actually attending a graduation ceremony; perhaps in some small way it allows them to share in the sense of accomplishment that comes from graduating law school. Maybe even I, as a graduate, would get something out of it. Then again, maybe not.

What do you think? Have you attended the graduation ceremonies for which you were eligible? If so, why? If not, why not? Do you think I should attend mine?

* At the only graduation I attended (high school) I recall that when I walked across the stage I got a nice looking folder w/the name of my school embossed on the front. Inside I thought I would find my diploma; instead I found a piece of paper that said I would get my diploma in the mail some time in the future once final grades were calculated and they were sure I had graduated. This wasn't because there was really any doubt about my graduating; it was just the standard way the school did graduation. But like I said, that made the whole exercise seem pretty meaningless.

Posted 02:27 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack | 3L

Congratulations Caravan4Christmas

Congratulations to Law-Rah for successfully collecting and delivering a truckload of toys to needy kids whose Christmas was dramatically changed by hurricane Katrina. The project was a big one and she and her team had to overcome many obstacles along the way, but they did it and it looks like it was a huge success!

Posted 12:50 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | law school life generally