California Gives Thumbs-Up to Gay Marriage

You can read the opinions for yourself - all 172 pages - here.  Commentary at ATL, Volokh, WSJ, or just about anywhere you turn.  Basically, the California Supreme Court has held that the state’s statutory provisions limiting marriage to heterosexual couples are unconstitutional.  Good decision?  Bad?  Activist?  Please discuss.

My (Legal) Job Went to India

The Washington Post has an interesting article today on U.S. legal work booming in India. Apparently, this new outsourcing industry is “growing 60 percent annually.” The impetus for this growth has been e-discovery laws and the massive volumes of data that need to be reviewed for litigation. Indian lawyers are trained in a common-law system, so it’s not too hard for young, Indian law graduates to pick up the work. And since they’re working for only “one-fifth the cost,” there’s great incentive for American companies to outsource their litigation needs. The only thing these young lawyers can’t do is sign the documents and appear in American court.

Since the Fall Recruitment Conveyor Belt is just a few months away, and you’re craving something to stress about now that finals are over, it might be a good time to start worrying about your future job. There’s also a slow economy, and the fact that associate-partner relationships have recently become a little icy. What do you think? Cause to worry?

Like Minded People Coming Together

Well, it didn’t take long. A group of dedicated Ron Paul supporters, hardcore Libertarians, have banded together to form their own gated community.  From the front page of the website, “The goal…is to establish gated communities containing 100% Ron Paul supporters and or people that live by the ideals of freedom and liberty.”

The group has already purchased its first tract of land in west Texas, and hopes to start developing the property soon.  If you are getting very excited by the prospect of living in a gated community with fellow Libertarians, just be warned that “these communities are not for the faint of heart,” as the group points out.  Also, if you don’t want to live in west Texas, Paulville has information on their site to help you start your very own Ron Paul community wherever you live.

I think this is a great idea.  We should all try to live in areas with people that we share values with.  Isn’t that why most people choose to live where they do, because they like the community?  I know some people out there might be rolling their eyes because the group is dedicated to Ron Paul, but I think there is something very American about starting a project like this.  Perhaps this is best way to change America, “one community at a time.”  Where this might become an issue though, is when groups that are centered around ideals other than those such as Paulville’s try to start forming gated communities - like cults.  We already know about the problems with the compound in Texas that has been in the news these past few weeks.  I suppose the Libertarian answer to that would be “live and let live,” but clearly, that is not a sufficient response when it comes to some of the accounts we have been hearing about children in that Texas compound.

Ridiculous Suit of the Week

Victoria Beckham is reportedly suing Rock & Republic - the manufacturers of her line of high-end jeans - for £50 million.  This is all rumor for now, as the complaint hasn’t been served on R&R yet.  But the Daily Mail reports that Mrs. Beckham is claiming the damages because her jeans were more profitable than initially thought… despite the fact that the jeans are not selling and instead are being shipped to discount retailers.  Anyone know whether the UK has sanctions for frivolous lawsuits?  (Via Pink Is The New Blog.)

America’s Tibet

Recently, a group of native Hawaiians, called the Hawaiian Kingdon Government, took over the historic Hawaiian monarch’s palace (CNN story) calling for a return to the constitutional monarchy that existed before the United States annexed the islands as a Territory in 1893 (later to become a state in 1959).  The end of the CNN story does a pretty good job of stating what really happened: the white landowners, with help from the U.S. government, bullied the monarchy into submitting itself to America, a story most people don’t learn in grade school (if you’re interested in historic falsities imposed through public education, check this book out: Lies My Teacher Told Me, it’s pretty good).  Anyway, the story got me thinking about how up in arms some Americans get about China’s rule over Tibet.  The premise being that Tibetans do not want to be governed by the Chinese so they should be granted autonomous rule, but if a similar situation happened here in the States, who’s side would you support?

For the sake of the argument let’s omit the human rights violations, etc. in Tibet and just say that the argument for their autonomy rests simply on the fact that a majority of Tibetans want self rule.  Now assuming that a majority of Hawaiians do not want to be a state any longer and want a return to the constitutional monarchy (or any other form of government for that matter), would you support a referendum vote by Hawaiians to determine the issue?  Or would you be Lincolnesque and allow no state to succeed from the Union?  This may not be 1860, but it’s something to think about.

Open Thread: The Last Day of the 2007-08 Year

Well, that’s that.  My 1L year is officially over.  10 classes, 9 exams, 5 papers, 2 oral arguments, and 8,237,423 hours in the library.  I suppose I should be really excited, and maybe in a week I will be, but right now I’m still a little tense and quite tired.  But I’m very, very happy that the year is over, and that there’s an excellent summer of 40-hours-a-week and happy hours and beaches and summer dresses to look forward to.

How about everyone else?  Thrilled to be done?  Plans for the summer?  Coming back for more in the fall?

The Final Countdown

Well, at least for the 1L’s among us…Section 21 rounds out the day with the Contracts exam from 6:30 to 8:30 tonight.

Yes, its the final countdown.

More on Hamdan

For those Con law enthusiasts out there, Salim Hamdan is up for trial again, this time based on the rules laid out in The Military Commissions Act, written by John McCain and Lindsey Graham with the help of Colonel Morris Davis. Col. Davis is the former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo who resigned as Chief Prosecutor because he felt the Pentagon was pressuring prosecutors to prosecute high profile detainees before the 2008 election to show the American people that the system is working. See the full Washington Post article here . Now Colonel Davis has said that he will testify for Hamdan to point out that these prosecutions have been “infected with political agendas and corrupted by the Achilles’ heel of military justice — unlawful command influence.”  What makes Col. Davis so interesting is that he believes most of the detainees at Guantanamo are guilty and should be punished, but he objects to the use of classified evidence that the detainee will never see and outside pressure.  Col. Davis’ has thoroughly defended Guantanamo in a NY Times editorial and has vigorously prosecuted many of the detainees at Guantanamo.

So why is he testifying for Hamdan? Because he believes that the Pentagon is exerting political pressure on the prosecutors at Guantanamo and is interfering with these detainees rights under the Military Commissions Act. It’s a shame that there aren’t more officers in the very highest ranks who view the Commissions like Col. Davis. While Davis’ belief that most of the detainees are guilty is not ideal, his insistence that the rules be followed and that these detainees receive all the rights–including an in-court presumption of innocence–they are guaranteed by the Military Commissions Act (and supposedly through that Act, their Geneva protections) is admirable. (Hat tip: WSJ Law Blog)

One more note for a little GW Law pride, Colonel Davis earned a Master of Laws in government procurement law from GW.

Justice Scalia to Judge Van Vleck Finals

For those of you who don’t read the portal religiously:

Justice Scalia has accepted our invitation to participate in the Van Vleck Constitutional Law Moot Court Competition Finals in Lisner Auditorium

This will take place in January 2009 in Lisner Auditorium. He will be joined on the bench by Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, who previously clerked for Justice Scalia.

So all you Scalia fans better practice all summer!

 

Football in Spring!

Yesterday, the NFL finally made an agreement with Matt Walsh, the former member of the Patriots coaching staff, to turn over any tapes he has and to talk with the NFL about the Patriots taping activity in past seasons. In case you haven’t been following this fascinating piece of sports drama, I’ll give a quick sum up. In a game against the NY Jets this season Eric Mangini, the Jets coach and former Patriots assistant coach, accused the Patriots of cheating by filming the signals coaches use to tell their players which plays to run. Though it is against the rules, many teams try to figure out each other’s signals. What they don’t do is tape other teams, which is expressly forbidden in the NFL’s rules. The Patriots and their coach Belichick were punished. Oddly enough, the league decided to destroy all of the evidence, without letting a single non-NFL employee view them.

Fast forward to the Super Bowl and this guy Matt Walsh surfaces in Hawaii (of course, it has to be a little exotic) to say that the league never talked to him, that he was involved in the taping and that he has information and maybe physical proof (see this post from when the story broke).