News, Multimedia, and Faculty Posts Temple University Beasley School of Law http://www7.law.temple.edu Fri, 17 May 2013 00:00:00 Fri, 17 May 2013 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/pennsylvania-attorney-general-kathleen-kane-to-deliver-commencement-remarks-to-class-of-2013/ Kathleen Granahan Kane '93, the first woman elected to serve as Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, will address the Class of 2013 at next week's commencement exercises. Attorney General Kane was born and raised in northeastern Pennsylvania. She attended elementary school and high school in Scranton, PA, and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Scranton. Kane went to Philadelphia to attend Temple Law School and remained in the city to work at the firm of Post & Schell, handling civil cases. In 1995, Kane moved back to Scranton to accept a position as Assistant District Attorney of Lackawanna County. It was in this role that she established herself as a force to be reckoned with in the courtroom, prosecuting more than 3,000 cases related to child sexual assault, elder abuse, and public corruption.   Recognized for her distinguished service, she was selected to head up Lackawanna County's first Insurance Fraud Task Force. In addition, she contributed to law enforcement programs aimed at improving local communities. In 2012, Kathleen Kane became the first woman to be elected Pennsylvania Attorney General. Since becoming elected she has: closed the "Florida Loophole," which allowed some people to obtain a concealed carry permit despite having been denied one in Pennsylvania; launched initiatives to protect Pennsylvania's senior citizens from scams; greatly increased the investigation and prosecution of child sexual predators; charged eight people in connection with Turnpike "pay to play" allegations; and challenged the contract that would have privatized the state's lottery.   http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/pennsylvania-attorney-general-kathleen-kane-to-deliver-commencement-remarks-to-class-of-2013/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/pennsylvania-attorney-general-kathleen-kane-to-deliver-commencement-remarks-to-class-of-2013/ Fri, 17 May 2013 00:00:00 Jaya Ramji-Nogales http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/introducing-sari-long/ Sari Long is a third year law student at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston. A proud Minnesota native, Sari graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Religious Studies and from Harvard University with a Master’s degree in Management. She was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Turkmenistan and has worked […] Via IntLawGrrls http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/introducing-sari-long/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/introducing-sari-long/ Thu, 16 May 2013 16:15:25 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/bangladesh-fire-safety-accord-watershed-innovation-in-global-governance/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro Here’s the text of the agreement described in reports in the NY Times and elsewhere today. It’s the most significant institutional response to the massive loss of life (now above a thousand dead) in the April Bangladesh factory collapse. This may be a signal episode in the continuing evolution of the global constraint [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/bangladesh-fire-safety-accord-watershed-innovation-in-global-governance/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/bangladesh-fire-safety-accord-watershed-innovation-in-global-governance/ Tue, 14 May 2013 14:53:50 Jaya Ramji-Nogales http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-ilc-on-the-expulsion-of-aliens/ At work on a new article discussing the failures of international human rights law to adequately protect undocumented migrants, I was delighted to learn that the United Nations International Law Commission has been at work for nearly ten years on draft articles relating to the expulsion of aliens.   Provisionally adopted by the Drafting Committee in […] Via IntLawGrrls http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-ilc-on-the-expulsion-of-aliens/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-ilc-on-the-expulsion-of-aliens/ Thu, 09 May 2013 17:55:55 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/public-health-law-research-call-for-proposals-opening-june-5/ Public Health Law Research (PHLR) program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will be opening its fifth call for proposals (CFP) in early June. Short-term studies are no more than 18 months long, and will be funded up to $150,000 … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/public-health-law-research-call-for-proposals-opening-june-5/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/public-health-law-research-call-for-proposals-opening-june-5/ Thu, 09 May 2013 13:06:52 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/a-new-collection-of-phlr/ By Scott Burris The latest issue of the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law showcases the range of projects and researchers filling out the field of Public Health Law Research.  An excellent introduction by the editors, Michelle Mello and … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/a-new-collection-of-phlr/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/a-new-collection-of-phlr/ Wed, 08 May 2013 14:20:41 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/there-are-lots-of-reasons-to-oppose-ted-cruz-for-president-his-birthplace-isn’t-one-of-them/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro Ted Cruz is running for president, and an election-addled media is training its sights on his nascent candidacy in the absence of many alternatives this early in the cycle. His birth outside the United States is inevitably raising the eligibility question. Cruz was born in Calgary to a US-citizen mother and a [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/there-are-lots-of-reasons-to-oppose-ted-cruz-for-president-his-birthplace-isn’t-one-of-them/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/there-are-lots-of-reasons-to-oppose-ted-cruz-for-president-his-birthplace-isn’t-one-of-them/ Tue, 07 May 2013 09:00:12 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/there-are-lots-of-reasons-to-oppose-ted-cruz-for-president-his-birthplace-isn’t-one-of-them/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro Ted Cruz is running for president, and an election-addled media is training its sights on his nascent candidacy in the absence of many alternatives this early in the cycle. His birth outside the United States is inevitably raising the eligibility question. Cruz was born in Calgary to a US-citizen mother and a [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/there-are-lots-of-reasons-to-oppose-ted-cruz-for-president-his-birthplace-isn’t-one-of-them/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/there-are-lots-of-reasons-to-oppose-ted-cruz-for-president-his-birthplace-isn’t-one-of-them/ Mon, 06 May 2013 12:49:17 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/more-on-the-gop-and-the-internet/ (David Post)Back last fall, I suggested (here, and here) that there appeared to be some movement among the Republicans to take on the mantle of “Internet freedom/innovation” as a political position, both because it is an issue on which the Democrats, with their hands deep into Hollywood’s pockets and vice versa, are very vulnerable, and because [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/more-on-the-gop-and-the-internet/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/more-on-the-gop-and-the-internet/ Sun, 05 May 2013 10:33:28 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/samuel-moyn-applauds-the-death-of-the-alien-tort-statute/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro Columbia University historian Samuel Moyn has a tough post up on the Foreign Affairs website on Kiobel and the arc of the Alien Tort Statute, which he sees as having served the narrow constituency of us rather than being true to the historical origins of human rights: The ATS has been a [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/samuel-moyn-applauds-the-death-of-the-alien-tort-statute/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/samuel-moyn-applauds-the-death-of-the-alien-tort-statute/ Fri, 03 May 2013 08:56:14 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/some-important-thoughts-about-internet-governance/ (David Post)David Bollier and John Clippinger have an extremely interesting short essay on “The Next Great Internet Disruption: Authority and Governance” that is well worth reading.  They start from Reed’s Law: When we look back on the past twenty years of Internet history, we can more fully appreciate the prescience of David P. Reed’s seminal 1999 [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/some-important-thoughts-about-internet-governance/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/some-important-thoughts-about-internet-governance/ Thu, 02 May 2013 18:23:10 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/will-the-bangladesh-factory-tragedy-kill-voluntary-corporate-codes/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro Probably not. The tragedy in Bangladesh — more than 400 dead — on the heels of a fire there in November, is no doubt casting a negative light on non-governmental certification schemes. But it’s not clear what’s the alternative. Voluntary codes of conduct are now routinely subject to third party supply-chain monitoring [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/will-the-bangladesh-factory-tragedy-kill-voluntary-corporate-codes/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/will-the-bangladesh-factory-tragedy-kill-voluntary-corporate-codes/ Thu, 02 May 2013 16:37:26 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/is-it-better-for-one-student-to-get-a-job-than-n-students-to-fail-the-bar/ A student’s final law school GPA predicts bar passage better than other independent variables. But the relationship isn’t causal: raising the mean GPA of all students does not promote bar passage.  Indeed, some investigators have suggested that the inverse is more likely to be true. When GPA rises for all students, individuals at the bottom of the class aren’t sufficiently signaled that their grades are really and truly bad, and consequently such badly-warned students don’t approach bar study with the requisite degree of seriousness. That is, if a school has a mean of a 3.3 at graduation, the bottom 20% of the class probably has GPA of around a B-.  B- students may well say to themselves “sure, I’m at the bottom of the class, [...] Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/is-it-better-for-one-student-to-get-a-job-than-n-students-to-fail-the-bar/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/is-it-better-for-one-student-to-get-a-job-than-n-students-to-fail-the-bar/ Wed, 01 May 2013 14:22:19 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/more-on-nsf-and-nih-funding/ By Scott Burris   Here’s where some in Congress would like us to go: ScienceInsider reports:   The new chair of the House of Representatives science committee has drafted a bill that, in effect, would replace peer review at the … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/more-on-nsf-and-nih-funding/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/more-on-nsf-and-nih-funding/ Mon, 29 April 2013 12:25:30 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/a-tale-of-two-polities/ By Scott Burris   Last week, Northeastern University’s effort to convene a much-needed conference on the future of health policy was a casualty of the successful manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombers.  One hardly wants to make too much of … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/a-tale-of-two-polities/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/a-tale-of-two-polities/ Fri, 26 April 2013 08:15:21 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-student-wins-burton-award-for-fourth-time-in-five-years/ April 26, 2013- Laura Adams '12 has been named a 2013 Burton Award for Distinguished Legal Writing recipient for her article "Reconsidering Spoliation Doctrine through the Lens of Tort Law." Laura is the fourth Temple Law student to be recognized with a Burton Award in the last five years. The article, which discusses the changing nature of spoliation in the Information Age and recommends a new approach based on tort theory for determining whether to sanction destruction of evidence, is also finding an audience among practitioners. Thanks to the efforts of adjunct professor David Kessler, Laura's work has been circulated among the members of the Advisory Committee for the Federal Rules on Civil Practice, which has recently proposed an amendment to Rule 37 (e) that would create a national standard regarding the culpability that warrants sanctions for spoliation. If accepted, the amended rule would represent one of the most significant changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in twenty years. The Burton Awards for Legal Achievement is a nonprofit program associated with the Library of Congress. Only fifteen student authors in the nation are recognized by the Burton Awards each year.  Winners are invited to receive their awards at an event in Washington, D.C. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-student-wins-burton-award-for-fourth-time-in-five-years/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-student-wins-burton-award-for-fourth-time-in-five-years/ Fri, 26 April 2013 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-temple-law-rome-summer-program/ "Study International and comparative law in the heart of Rome and immerse yourself in la dolce vita for five weeks in the longest-running summer law program in Rome"   http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-temple-law-rome-summer-program/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-temple-law-rome-summer-program/ Fri, 26 April 2013 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2013-friel-scanlan-lecture/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2013-friel-scanlan-lecture/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2013-friel-scanlan-lecture/ Thu, 25 April 2013 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2013-stern-moot-court-competition/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2013-stern-moot-court-competition/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2013-stern-moot-court-competition/ Thu, 25 April 2013 00:00:00 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/while-we-sleep/ By Scott Burris Nothing threatens a know-nothing more than the prospect of someone knowing something. Hence there has been increasing pressure on and from some in Congress to reduce government funding of social science research.  I hope every reader of … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/while-we-sleep/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/while-we-sleep/ Tue, 23 April 2013 18:34:09 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/three-temple-law-students-receive-louis-d-brandeis-law-society-awards/ April 23, 2013 - The Louis D. Brandeis Law Society recognized three Temple Law students at their annual awards luncheon on April 19 th . The 2013 Judge Sandra Mazer Moss Scholarship Award was given to Karissa Rodriquez '14, while Jacqueline Robbins '14 received the Mayer Horwitz Scholarship Award and Yael Kalman '13 received the Brandeis Law Society Scholarship Award. The Louis D. Brandeis Law Society is named in honor of the late Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis. Its mission is "rooted in deep Jewish traditions and values," among them "the Talmudic tradition of Tikkan Olam -'repairing the world' -  and the principles of upholding the rule of law in a just society." http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/three-temple-law-students-receive-louis-d-brandeis-law-society-awards/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/three-temple-law-students-receive-louis-d-brandeis-law-society-awards/ Tue, 23 April 2013 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/three-temple-law-students-named-as-2013-barristers-scholarship-recipients/ April 23, 2013 - The Barristers Association of Philadelphia has named Joel Clymer '13, Amelia McKee '14, and Shonterra Jordan '15 as 2013 Scholarship recipients.  The students will receive their distinguished awards at the Barristers Annual Awards and Scholarship Soiree on May 17 th . Established in 1950, the Barristers Association of Philadelphia exists "to address the professional needs and development of Black  lawyers in Philadelphia." http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/three-temple-law-students-named-as-2013-barristers-scholarship-recipients/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/three-temple-law-students-named-as-2013-barristers-scholarship-recipients/ Tue, 23 April 2013 00:00:00 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/further-on-the-fake-anti-government-electorate/ By Scott Burris In recent posts, I have been pointing to research that suggests that government intervention for public health is actually rather popular as a general matter. Now comes a neat paper that takes on the question of whether … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/further-on-the-fake-anti-government-electorate/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/further-on-the-fake-anti-government-electorate/ Fri, 19 April 2013 16:18:04 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/peggy-browning-fund-awards-fellowships-to-two-temple-law-students/ The Peggy Browning Fund has awarded 10-week summer fellowships to Katrina Liu '13 and to Danielle Newsome '15. Katrina will spend her fellowship working at the U.S. Dept. of Labor, Office of the Solicitor, while Danielle will spend hers working at Sheet Metal Workers' Local Union No. 19. Katrina earned her Bachelor of Arts in English and Communications at the University of Pennsylvania. She then worked in the sales division of General Mills for over three years before returning to school for a dual degree at Temple Law and Fox School of Business. In addition to taking classes, Katrina has held internships with the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, and the Temple Small Business Development Center. She also served as a staff editor for the Temple Political & Civil Rights Law Review , which will soon publish her student comment on employment protection for ex-offenders. In applying for a Peggy Browning Fellowship, Katrina noted, "I witnessed what it means to live in a country without strong labor and employment laws when I lived in Ghana as a volunteer teacher. I learned that the enforcement of fair labor laws is something not to be taken for granted." Danielle is a native of Philadelphia, where her mother is a member of the Philadelphia Federations of Teachers, AFT local 3. While completing her undergraduate degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University, Danielle interned for the Congress of South African Trade Unions where she coordinated and co-facilitated a strategic corporate research training for local union staff in the Western Cape. Danielle also worked as an organizer for the Northeast Region Organizing Project of the American Federation of Teachers, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, and the Change to Win Federation. Danielle currently serves as vice president for membership and recruitment for the Philadelphia chapter of the Coalition of Labor Union Women and is active in the chapter's Young Women's Committee. In 2012, Danielle completed the Pennsylvania New Leaders Program of the Center for Progressive Leadership. For the past two years she has taught at the Cornell/AFL-CIO Strategic Corporate Research Summer School and plans to return for the 2013 school. The Peggy Browning Fund is a not for-profit organization established in memory of Margaret A. Browning, a prominent union-side attorney who was a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from 1994 until 1997.  Peggy Browning Fellowships provide law students with unique, diverse and challenging work experiences fighting for social and economic justice.  These experiences encourage and inspire students to pursue careers in public interest labor law. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/peggy-browning-fund-awards-fellowships-to-two-temple-law-students/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/peggy-browning-fund-awards-fellowships-to-two-temple-law-students/ Fri, 19 April 2013 00:00:00 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-the-ken-burns-documentary-“the-central-park-five”-finally-turned-me-against-the-death-/ I've been a holdout, declining to join the progressive movement to abolish the death penalty everywhere in the United States and the world. I've thought that in an open, democratic society with a fully developed modern legal system and lots of lawyers, there would be no risk of error in high stakes, high profile criminal cases. The documentary "The Central Park Five", by Ken Burns, David McMahon and Sarah Burns, recently broadcast on PBS, has finally convinced me that I was wrong. Everyone should see this fine piece of filmmaking the next time it's broadcast or appears again in a theater, or if it becomes available on the internet. The basic story is this: In 1989, a young, white, professional woman working on Wall Street went for a jog at night in New York City's Central Park. She was found the next morning brutally beaten and raped, just barely alive, with no expectation that she could survive. I remember clearly and personally the anger and fear that this crime generated throughout the country but especially, obviously, in New York. Media coverage of the crime was non-stop. The pressure on the New York Police Department to apprehend the perpetrator was at maximum intensity. The police proceeded to extract confessions to the crime from five black and Hispanic males between 14 and 16 years old. The media and politicians demanded maximum punishment for these depraved savages. One commentator in the film observes that the anger level was so high that, 50 years earlier, these young men might all have been lynched without a trial. Prosecutors celebrated their victory in obtaining guilty verdicts against all the young men, tried as adults, based solely on their confessions, even though DNA evidence from the crime scene did not match any of them, and the defendants insisted their confessions had been coerced. All the defendants served their full sentences of between 6 and 13 years before another man, a convicted rapist whose DNA had been in the possession of the NYPD, confessed to the attack on the Central Park jogger. There was a definitive DNA match to this confessed and convicted rapist, and the convictions of the Central Park Five were finally vacated in 2002. Oops! Throughout their ordeal, the Central Park Five insisted on their innocence. At their parole hearings when asked, as a condition for parole, to admit to the crime for which they had been convicted, they refused to do so, and so had to serve out their full prison sentences. So much for my theory about developed, modern legal systems with plenty of lawyers. I doubt that any place has a more developed legal system, or a greater concentration of lawyers, than New York City. An unusual hero appears in the film. In addition to the defendants' families who stood by them and insisted on their innocence from beginning to end, a young and then very overweight Reverend Al Sharpton, who now hosts an evening talk show on MSNBC, appears in the film leading a noisy but seemingly hopeless demonstration at the time of their trial asserting the innocence of the Central Park Five. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-the-ken-burns-documentary-“the-central-park-five”-finally-turned-me-against-the-death-/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-the-ken-burns-documentary-“the-central-park-five”-finally-turned-me-against-the-death-/ Thu, 18 April 2013 14:28:19 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-students-work-with-us-attorney’s-office-to-create-youth-court-at-strawberry-mansion-high-school/ Temple Law students Michelle Ashcroft, Alex Dutton, and Jonathan Lauri have partnered with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of PA and with EducationWorks to develop and implement an innovative peer justice program at Strawberry Mansion High School.  Youth Court, as the program is known, is a non-adversarial system in which a student who has been charged with a Level I infraction (eligible for an out of school suspension) is given an advocate and a hearing before a jury of her peers, who act as both fact finder and decision maker. The goal of the program is to provide a restorative justice alternative to out of school suspensions and to support the school district's new policy to use suspension only as a last resort.  http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-students-work-with-us-attorney’s-office-to-create-youth-court-at-strawberry-mansion-high-school/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-students-work-with-us-attorney’s-office-to-create-youth-court-at-strawberry-mansion-high-school/ Thu, 18 April 2013 00:00:00 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/human-rights-will-survive-kiobel/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro This is a tough loss for the human rights advocacy community, ending an era that began with the Second Circuit’s rediscovery of the Alien Tort Statute in its 1980 decision in Filartiga v. Pena. As Julian highlights below, Justice Kennedy may have left the door ajar to future claims, but only barely. [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/human-rights-will-survive-kiobel/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/human-rights-will-survive-kiobel/ Wed, 17 April 2013 12:09:31 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-student’s-firm-is-a-finalist-in-fox-school’s-be-your-own-boss-bowl/ April 16, 2013 - MIGWiz, a firm founded by Jason Lamb '13 and business partner Rahman Carter, is a finalist in the Fox School's Be Your Own Boss Bowl business plan competition, which encourages and supports the launch of sustainable new firms. Firms will compete for a grand prize of over $125,000 in cash and professional products and services. The total prize pool is over $200,000.  As described by Lamb, "MIGWiz addresses the frustration of MIG welders, caused by the constant removal of stubborn spatter from the MIG welding gun." Lamb explained further that "spatter is molten metal that can build up and clog the welding gun during the welding process. The current MIG welding plier has only limited utility as a spatter removal device, and often the welder must stop work and use separate files and chipping tools to clean spatter. MIGWiz adds a file grooved surface to the pliers' jaws, allowing for easy removal of spatter build up without interrupting the welding process. This innovation saves time, increases productivity and lowers costs, creating value for both welders and welding shop owners. Through our patented MIG plier design, we hope to gain a foothold in the $28 million per year US MIG welding plier market." Lamb's business partner is Rahman Carter, a welder first class with six years experience and the inventor of the patented improvement to the standard MIG welding plier. Carter is a former student of the Fox School. The Be Your Own Boss Bowl results will be announced on at a reception at the Fox School on April 25, 2013. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-student’s-firm-is-a-finalist-in-fox-school’s-be-your-own-boss-bowl/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-student’s-firm-is-a-finalist-in-fox-school’s-be-your-own-boss-bowl/ Wed, 17 April 2013 00:00:00 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/colin-davis,-rip/ (David Post)British conductor Colin Davis died this past Sunday, age 85.  Davis was an extraordinarily gifted musician – to my ears, the greatest conductor of the last 30 years* (the one possible exception: James Levine).  He holds a special place in my affections because he “taught” me what conductors do, and how important they are.  In [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/colin-davis,-rip/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/colin-davis,-rip/ Tue, 16 April 2013 09:58:03 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-student-wins-media-law-resource-center-fellowship/ April 16, 2013 - Amaris Elliott-Engel '13 has been awarded a one year fellowship by the Media Law Resource Center (MLRC) to commence September 2013.  Elliott-Engel, an evening student, is currently a reporter for the Legal Intelligencer.  In her role as MLRC fellow, she will research and write about a wide array of media law issues, including but not limited to First Amendment law. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-student-wins-media-law-resource-center-fellowship/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-student-wins-media-law-resource-center-fellowship/ Tue, 16 April 2013 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professor-kathy-stanchi-elected-to-alwd-board-of-directors/ April 16, 2013 - Professor Kathy Stanchi has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Association of Legal Writing Directors (ALWD). ALWD is a nonprofit organization for legal writing directors "dedicated to improving legal education and the analytic, reasoning, and writing abilities of lawyers." Professor Stanchi is an established leader in the field of legal research and writing as well as a respected academic authority on the art of rhetoric and persuasion. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professor-kathy-stanchi-elected-to-alwd-board-of-directors/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professor-kathy-stanchi-elected-to-alwd-board-of-directors/ Tue, 16 April 2013 00:00:00 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/note-to-trademark-office-this-is-not-trademarkable/ (David Post)ATX Brands LLC, which owns Bikinis Sports Bar and Grill (in Bikinis, TX), has obtained a federal trademark for the mark “Breastaurant” in connection with “restaurants and bars.”  [I was hoping that this Yahoo story got it wrong somehow - but I checked at the Trademark Office site, and indeed, the term has been registered [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/note-to-trademark-office-this-is-not-trademarkable/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/note-to-trademark-office-this-is-not-trademarkable/ Thu, 11 April 2013 18:11:42 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/bribery-extortion-political-speech/ (David Post)Here’s an interesting case:  Someone posts a video on YouTube showing State Rep.Tarah Toohil (R PA) as a young woman smoking what appears to be a bong and about to kiss a woman sitting nearby.  Rep. Toohil acknowledges that she is the young woman in the video, but in  a video response says “I am [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/bribery-extortion-political-speech/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/bribery-extortion-political-speech/ Thu, 11 April 2013 17:38:20 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/public-health-law-research-program-to-host-live-tedmed-simulcast/ Are you interested in public health law? Will your practice be impacted by developments in the world of health and medicine? Are you curious about how health data collection happens and the implications for personal privacy? If you answered yes to any of the above, please join PHLR and co-sponsors on April 17 th from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.  Come see the world's most creative minds talk about the future of health and medicine at a live, exclusive HD simulcast of the TEDMed conference. Presenters include computer scientists, a playwright, doctors, the Oklahoma City Mayor, economists and Richard Simmons! Stop by the Gittis Center Room 200C on April 17 from 8 a.m. - 1 p.m. Breakfast will be served.  This event is brought to you by the Public Health Law Research program, the Department of Public Health & Grad Student Council, the CHPSW Dean's Office, the Healthcare Management Program, and the Temple Honors Program.   http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/public-health-law-research-program-to-host-live-tedmed-simulcast/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/public-health-law-research-program-to-host-live-tedmed-simulcast/ Wed, 10 April 2013 00:00:00 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/rutgers-abuse-cover-up-continues-nj-taxpayers-and-students-will-pay-/ Rutgers men's basketball head coach Mike Rice was fired on April 3, after video of his physical and homophobic verbal abuse of his players was broadcast on ESPN, setting off a growing scandal over who knew what and when, that may yet result in additional removals and resignations. Rice got a million dollar payoff from Rutgers, as did Athletic Director Tim Pernetti, who was asked to and did resign. The University General Counsel John Wolf resigned from his position, but may have negotiated remaining on the Rutgers payroll in another capacity. Assistant men's basketball coach Jimmy Martelli was implicated on the video in the abuse of players. He resigned, and if he didn't get paid off, too, he may be the only one who wasn't. Rutgers University President Robert Barchi claimed not to have viewed the video until broadcast by ESPN, though it was in the possession of Athletic Director Pernetti as early as November 26, 2012. Instead of viewing the video himself, President Barchi authorized payment of $64,000 for a 50-page outside report which described the coaching methods of Mike Rice as "permissible training." Anyone think that was public money well spent? Rutgers Board Chairman Ralph Izzo and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie have rallied around University President Robert Barchi, seeking to protect him in his job despite his admission of error in not regarding the matter are serious enough to view a video of alleged abuse of his students by their coach. But we know that members of the Rutgers board did view the video as early as last December, and apparently took no action. So in protecting President Barchi, and saying that no further dismissals are called for, the Rutgers board is also protecting its own members. Meanwhile, the former assistant to Coach Mike Rice who released the video to Rutgers and ESPN, Eric Murdock, is suing Rutgers for damages for wrongful loss of his job. And Rutgers is bracing itself for possible lawsuits by the basketball players alleging abuse by Coach Rice as documented on the video. Good thing Rutgers is anticipating a financial windfall from joining the Big Ten athletic conference, which was announced right around the time last year when Rutgers became aware of the troublesome video. Good thing the video wasn't made public then, since that might have spoiled the party. Or was the party and joining the Big Ten, the reason it was covered up? Does anyone think Rutgers will be anything but a doormat in the Big Ten in the wake of the current scandal? Why would quality athletes with other choices choose a college where abuse like that presented on the video is considered "permissible training"? Who else is to blame for the situation at Rutgers? Or is no one else to blame, because Rutgers is merely experiencing the normal and typical pressures of a big-time athletics program? Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/rutgers-abuse-cover-up-continues-nj-taxpayers-and-students-will-pay-/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/rutgers-abuse-cover-up-continues-nj-taxpayers-and-students-will-pay-/ Tue, 09 April 2013 15:18:31 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/philadelphia-vip-recognizes-temple’s-atlas-program/ Philadelphia VIP has named Temple's ATLAS Program the April 2013 Volunteer of the Month for its law students' commitment to providing language access to VIP clients. For the past seven years, students at Temple University Beasley School of Law have offered to translate for Philadelphia VIP clients who are unable to communicate in English. The partnership between VIP and Temple law students was formalized last fall through the creation of the ATLAS Program. Founded by law student Rachel Eisenberg and former VIP paralegal Michael Wooten, ATLAS, which stands for "Advocacy Through Language Access Services," provides bi-lingual law students the opportunity to serve low-income Philadelphians by assisting with interpretation, translation, and legal writing in multiple languages, including Russian, Tagalog, French, Spanish, and Mandarin. ATLAS is now a sub-committee of the Temple Law Student Public Interest Network, and keeps a database of students who are fluent in a language beside English. When a client cannot communicate with his or her attorney in English, an ATLAS student will work directly with an experienced attorney to advocate for the client in the legal matter or case. Students like Katie Cooper and Denise Negron-Bennett have helped women in domestic violence cases protect their families and their homes. Other students have supported clients with a range of legal issues, including family law matters, housing matters, driver's license procedures, and other legal concerns. Both Katie and Denise cited awareness of the vulnerability experienced by non-English speaking community members when navigating the legal process. For Katie, this awareness developed when she encountered personal emergencies while traveling abroad. For Denise, her experiences in the courts, working with underserved populations, and at her childrens' schools underscored the need. Maureen Olives, Director of Public Interest Programs at Temple Law, believes that the students in the ATLAS program "solve a critical need because language access is essential for guaranteeing justice for the clients VIP serves. Our students accept the obligation all lawyers have to provide pro bono service while they are still in school. Our students understand that a client with limited English proficiency deserves to be heard." Mariana Fernández, VIP Pro Bono Case Manager, says, "ATLAS is a great program that has allowed our volunteers and clients to communicate with each other in a meaningful way. This program promotes our mission to provide equal justice for all. We are delighted to have Temple Law students provide assistance on such an emergency basis thus allowing language access for both our volunteers and our clients." http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/philadelphia-vip-recognizes-temple’s-atlas-program/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/philadelphia-vip-recognizes-temple’s-atlas-program/ Tue, 09 April 2013 00:00:00 Jaya Ramji-Nogales http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/introducing-karen-alter/ It’s our great pleasure to welcome Karen Alter as an IntLawGrrls contributor.  Karen is Professor of Political Science and Law at Northwestern University, where she teaches, among other courses, international courts and tribunals.  She is also co-director of the institutionalization research cluster at the iCourts Center of Excellence, Copenhagen University Faculty of Law.  Karen received [...] Via IntLawGrrls http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/introducing-karen-alter/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/introducing-karen-alter/ Mon, 08 April 2013 13:22:30 Jaya Ramji-Nogales http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/intlawgrrls-at-asil!/ Thanks so much to all of you who came out to celebrate Diane’s receipt of the Prominent Woman in International Law award.  It was wonderful to see so many IntLawGrrls contributors there! For those wanting to hear more about international law and the future of peace, IntLawGrrl Molly Land’s interview with Diane on the topic [...] Via IntLawGrrls http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/intlawgrrls-at-asil!/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/intlawgrrls-at-asil!/ Mon, 08 April 2013 09:15:36 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/immigration-amnesty-is-a-formula-for-permanent-dysfunction/ Our immigration system is not broken. We don't need, and Congress shouldn't enact, amnesty. Both my parents were immigrants. All Americans are either immigrants or descendants of ancestors who came from somewhere else, including Native Americans. We should all respect and admire immigrants. But that's not the question. The question is: how many? Specifically, should we enforce a numerical limit on immigration to the U.S., or alternatively, should we allow unlimited immigration, as we did for our first century? It's a binary choice: an enforced limit or no limits. Our failure and inability to clearly choose is at the root of our dilemma over immigration policy. We keep searching for a third way, but there isn't one. I respect those who openly advocate for unlimited immigration to the U.S. Open borders is an intellectually coherent, defensible position. Different arguments can be made for unlimited immigration including philosophical, religious, historical, utilitarian, libertarian, and social justice. But it is neither intellectually coherent nor defensible to argue that we should retain legal limits on immigration, but we don't have to enforce them, and we can instead periodically amnesty immigration law violators whenever they attain a large number. If we're going to allow unlimited immigration anyway, why pay for the expensive window dressing of immigration enforcement? The U.S. immigration system is the most generous in the world, providing each year more green cards for legal permanent residence with a clear path to full citizenship than all the rest of the nations of the world combined. But to enforce the numerical limitation, U.S. immigration law provides that immigration violators can be removed from the U.S. after being found inadmissible or deportable. The enforcement provisions of U.S. immigration law are essential to maintaining the limit on immigration. We are told our immigration system is broken, the main evidence for which is the presence of 11 million illegal immigrants. Actual causes include ineffective employer sanctions, the mistaken belief that the 1986 amnesty would "solve" our illegal immigration problem instead of attracting more illegal immigrants, and ineffective management and political interference in immigration enforcement. Illegal immigrants make a rational choice when they choose to violate our immigration laws. A former Temple University colleague said, "The poor people of the world may be poor, but they are not stupid. They are as capable of doing cost-benefit analysis to determine their own self-interest as anyone in this room." Those considering illegal immigration to the U.S. weigh costs, like the risks of getting caught, against benefits of a better life. To get more illegal immigration, we should lower costs, through discretionary prosecution of violators, and increase benefits, through amnesty. Conversely, to reduce the number of illegal immigrants, we should increase costs, through more effective enforcement, and lower benefits through more certain removal from the U.S. Border enforcement alone will never suffice to enforce an immigration limit. Would-be law violators have to be deterred from making the attempt through proof that costs outweigh benefits. Why is enforcing an immigration limit hard? First, there's a constant argument over what the limit should be. And within the limitation, are we admitting the right kind of immigrants or not? Do we need more high skill or low skill labor? That's a permanent, continuing fight. The hardest thing about enforcing a limit on immigration is requiring us to say no to people who remind us of our ancestors, who are neither criminals nor national security threats, who just want to work hard for a better life. And if they come in violation of our limit, we have to deport them to raise the costs of illegal immigration and deter other would-be illegal immigrants. Can we do that? If not, we should just declare the borders open to all hard-working immigrants like our ancestors. We can then save the billions in taxpayer dollars spent trying to enforce immigration limits. What we can't do is keep the limits, but not enforce them against anyone but criminals and national security threats. We can't keep spending money on enforcement, but then give amnesty all who come illegally. That's a formula for permanent dysfunction. The alternative to the false fix of "comprehensive immigration reform" is a series of smaller reforms, continuing review and adjustments to our immigration limits, and more certain enforcement of whatever limits on immigration we enact. We must banish the illusion of a big, one-time "fix" of our immigration system, that we can get it off our plates once-and-for-all, and never have to deal with it again. We will be dealing with immigration forever. Get used to it! Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/immigration-amnesty-is-a-formula-for-permanent-dysfunction/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/immigration-amnesty-is-a-formula-for-permanent-dysfunction/ Sat, 06 April 2013 12:26:00 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/more-on-the-mm-study/ By Scott Burris Stephanie Morain and Michelle Mello’s recent paper in the March issue of Health Affairs is an extremely important contribution. It reports on a survey of American adults investigating their support for a range of current health interventions, … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/more-on-the-mm-study/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/more-on-the-mm-study/ Fri, 05 April 2013 14:57:26 Jaya Ramji-Nogales http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/international-law-and-the-future-of-peace/ Several participants noted that the Women and International Law Interest Group Luncheon honoring Diane Marie Amann with the Prominent Woman in International Law Award was the highlight of this year’s ASIL annual conference.  The event, which sold out twice (even after being moved to a larger space), was crowded with many of us grateful for [...] Via IntLawGrrls http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/international-law-and-the-future-of-peace/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/international-law-and-the-future-of-peace/ Thu, 04 April 2013 17:29:24 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/updating-osha-inspection-policies/ by Adam M. Finkel, Sc.D. For many of the federal agencies that promulgate and enforce regulations to protect public health, safety, and the environment, the era of “big government” never even began.  The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/updating-osha-inspection-policies/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/updating-osha-inspection-policies/ Wed, 03 April 2013 11:44:06 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/anti-bullying-legislation-safer-schools-through-legal-intervention/ Bullying is the most frequent form of peer victimization in schools, impacting about 10-25% of all children across the United States. The effects of bullying on children have been well-documented, from psychological and physical harm, poor academic performance, alcohol and … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/anti-bullying-legislation-safer-schools-through-legal-intervention/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/anti-bullying-legislation-safer-schools-through-legal-intervention/ Tue, 02 April 2013 15:48:01 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/public-health-protection-under-the-epa-lead-and-copper-rule/ Dr. Yanna Lambrinidou and Dr. Marc Edwards It is generally safe to assume that, when it comes to contaminants in drinking water, consumers are protected by regulation and proactive water utilities. One noteworthy exception is the federal law promulgated to … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/public-health-protection-under-the-epa-lead-and-copper-rule/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/public-health-protection-under-the-epa-lead-and-copper-rule/ Mon, 01 April 2013 15:54:02 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/happy-public-health-week-“we’re-good-enough,-we’re-smart-enough,-and-doggone-it,-people-like-us”/ By Scott Burris We may be living in a golden age of group-think. A weekly reminder is poor Paul Krugman railing against the apparently universal belief in America and Europe that we’ve got to cut budgets right now or disaster … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/happy-public-health-week-“we’re-good-enough,-we’re-smart-enough,-and-doggone-it,-people-like-us”/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/happy-public-health-week-“we’re-good-enough,-we’re-smart-enough,-and-doggone-it,-people-like-us”/ Mon, 01 April 2013 09:47:51 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/disseminating-where-it-matters/ By Scott Burris Public Health Law Research funded Dr. Caleb Banta-Green and  to evaluate the implementation and initial effects of a Washington State “Good Samaritan 911″ law meant to encourage people witnessing a drug overdose to call for help. The research results … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/disseminating-where-it-matters/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/disseminating-where-it-matters/ Sun, 31 March 2013 14:29:27 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2013-honorable-clifford-scott-green-lecture/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2013-honorable-clifford-scott-green-lecture/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2013-honorable-clifford-scott-green-lecture/ Wed, 27 March 2013 00:00:00 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/times-report-models-worst-practices-for-policy-research-reporting/ By Scott Burris I read the Times daily, and so naturally would like to be able to think it deserves to be regarded as a credible “newspaper of record.”  Today the paper outdid itself to disappoint, in a story by … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/times-report-models-worst-practices-for-policy-research-reporting/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/times-report-models-worst-practices-for-policy-research-reporting/ Mon, 25 March 2013 11:02:02 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/dean-william-m-carter-presents-2013-clifford-scott-green-lecture/ March 25, 2013 - William M. Carter, Dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, presented the 2013 Clifford Scott Green Lecture to a packed house in the Duane Morris LLP Moot Court Room. Dean Carter's remarks were titled "The Promises of Freedom: The Contemporary Relevance of the Thirteenth Amendment." Prior to his appointment at Pitt,  Dean Carter served on Temple's faculty for five years, teaching popular courses in constitutional law, civil procedure, political and civil rights, and litigation. A Cleveland native, Dean Carter studied law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. Following graduation in 1998, he joined Squire, Sanders & Dempsey and Ropes & Gray in Washington, D.C., where he worked as a litigator. He returned to Case Western as a member of the law faculty in 2001, and was named professor of the year three years in a row. Today, Dean Carter is recognized as a legal scholar with a deep interest in social justice and community issues. He is a past board member of the Ohio Racial Fairness Report Project, has done pro bono work for Ugandan nongovernmental organizations and has written and spoken on issues of civil rights, racial profiling and affirmative action. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/dean-william-m-carter-presents-2013-clifford-scott-green-lecture/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/dean-william-m-carter-presents-2013-clifford-scott-green-lecture/ Mon, 25 March 2013 00:00:00 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/will-international-law-impact-the-gay-marriage-cases-conservatives-seem-to-hope-so/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro It should be no surprise that there is an amicus brief in support of striking down the Defense of Marriage Act, supplying evidence of a global trend towards recognition of same-sex marriages. (The brief is on behalf of a select lawprof group – Harold Koh, Sarah Cleveland, Larry Helfer, and Ryan Goodman, [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/will-international-law-impact-the-gay-marriage-cases-conservatives-seem-to-hope-so/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/will-international-law-impact-the-gay-marriage-cases-conservatives-seem-to-hope-so/ Sun, 24 March 2013 19:05:56 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/ranking-law-v-undergrad/ Inspired by this 2007 Taxprof post, I decided to compare the 2013 US News undergrad ranking to the 2013 overall law school rank. This project was a bit more complicated than it was six years ago,  due both to scandal & to the proliferation of regionally rankings.  But, ignoring schools that aren’t present on both lists, the results are illuminating.  For figures, follow me after the jump. First, I’ll list the schools with a +20 or more difference between law and undergrad rankings — i.e., those schools with a significantly better ranked law school than their home institution.   Next, those schools with a -10 or more difference — i.e., those law schools lagging the most behind their home institutions. You’ll note that there are more law schools [...] Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/ranking-law-v-undergrad/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/ranking-law-v-undergrad/ Sun, 24 March 2013 18:46:19 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/thomas-kline-delivers-2013-edward-j-ross-lecture/ Thomas R. Kline recently delivered the 2013 Edward J. Ross Memorial Lecture in Litigation. His talk was titled "Childhood Sexual Abuse: Out of the Shadows into the Courtroom." "A really tough topic," Dean JoAnne Epps remarked,  "one that exists in our world but we wish weren't so." Kline has extensive experience representing young victims of sexual abuse, and recently emerged as a prominent national spokesperson for the victims of convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky while representing victim No. 5. He is a founding partner, with Shanin Specter, in the Philadelphia law firm of Kline & Specter, PC and past president of the Inner Circle of Advocates, described by The Washington Post as "a select group of 100 of the nation's most celebrated trial lawyers." "I admire very much the Ross family," Kline said, "not only what Ed did during his career but his family's devotion to him, his memory, and the accomplishments that he has." You can watch Kline's speech in its entirety below.  http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/thomas-kline-delivers-2013-edward-j-ross-lecture/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/thomas-kline-delivers-2013-edward-j-ross-lecture/ Fri, 22 March 2013 13:31:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2013-edward-j-ross-lecture-in-litigation/ Thomas R. Kline delivers the 2013 Edward J. Ross Lecture in Litigation. His talk is titled,  "Childhood Sexual Abuse: Out of the Shadows into the Courtroom."     http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2013-edward-j-ross-lecture-in-litigation/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2013-edward-j-ross-lecture-in-litigation/ Fri, 22 March 2013 00:00:00 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-supreme-court’s-small-(but-helpful)-step-towards-copyright-sanity/ (David Post)The Court’s opinion in the Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley case, which came out on Tuesday, has some interesting fodder for those looking for glimpses of how copyright law is evolving these days.  The case centered on a hyper-technical question involving three interlocking statutory sections in the Copyright Act (I blogged about it in some detail [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-supreme-court’s-small-(but-helpful)-step-towards-copyright-sanity/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-supreme-court’s-small-(but-helpful)-step-towards-copyright-sanity/ Thu, 21 March 2013 12:56:06 Duncan Hollis http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/cyberwar-games-in-high-school/ by Duncan Hollis by Duncan Hollis I got my first taste of international law some 25 years ago when I joined my high school’s model UN team.  So, what does it says that today’s high school students have model cyberwar teams?  The link’s a bit short on details, but, I wonder whether they have a student playing the lawyer on [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/cyberwar-games-in-high-school/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/cyberwar-games-in-high-school/ Tue, 19 March 2013 21:40:46 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/alex-radus-’13-holds-benefit-concert-for-spin-at-world-café-live/ It's that time of year when the Temple Law community rallies around SPIN, the Student Public Interest Network, to raise grant money for students doing public interest work over the coming summer. The organization's signature event - the annual SPIN Auction - is happening online all week and live at Duane Morris LLP this Thursday evening. Not everyone's donation is ideal for auction, however, which prompts some members of the community to get creative. Alex Radus, an established singer-songwriter in his final year at Temple Law, found a way this year to do just that. "I've been promising my law school friends that I'd do a show in Philly since 1L year. I live pretty far north of Philly and most of my performances are up here, so they're usually hard for people to attend," Alex explained. "But I thought it would be a lot more fun for everyone--and more impactful--if the show was bigger than just me, and more about the law school community .... a musical fundraiser for SPIN seemed like the ideal opportunity." Alex 's agent got in touch with Hal Real, the owner of World Café Live and himself a member of the class of 1977. They worked out a deal that put Alex on stage before a packed house on March 10, 2013 and more than $500 in the hands of SPIN when all was said and done.  It also gave Alex something that he had been looking for throughout his law school career: the chance to give back. "I haven't been able to give back the way many of my classmates have-through clubs, ACE, or working as a TA (due to his long commute)," Alex explained. "It was important to me to join their efforts." Click here for details about this week's SPIN Auction. Click here for more information about Alex Radus. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/alex-radus-’13-holds-benefit-concert-for-spin-at-world-café-live/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/alex-radus-’13-holds-benefit-concert-for-spin-at-world-café-live/ Mon, 18 March 2013 00:00:00 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/public-school-closings-reflect-our-priorities-weapons-are-more-important/ Thinking and reading about last week's closing of 23 public schools by the Philadelphia School Reform Commission, I've concluded that the closings are necessary, though insufficient to address the fiscal crisis of the school district. Other school districts including some of the nation's largest are expected to do the same thing, including Chicago, Newark, and Washington, D.C. But those protesting the school closings are right, too. The closings are an outrage against poor children. The Philadelphia School District is in crisis, with a projected budget deficit over the next five years of $1.35 billion. Its funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was reduced by $400 million over the last two years. It had to borrow $300 million this year just to pay current expenses. The School District has 53,000 empty seats out of 195,000, more than 27% of available classroom seats. Since 1997, 84 charter schools have opened in Philadelphia, drawing both students and funding from the School District. Closing 23 schools this fall will reduce operating costs by about $20 million every year, and permit a one-time benefit from the sale of surplus school property of about the same amount. Not nearly enough to balance the School District budget, but still an absolutely necessary step. The schools to be closed have been identified as underperforming, with students disproportionately poor and minority. The students, parents and staff protesting the closings say it's bad enough that resources have not been provided to improve the educational product of these schools. But now these disadvantaged students will lose the schools themselves, which they describe as refuges in poor communities that have little else. The students will be forced to transfer to larger and more distant schools. Compare the $20 million annual savings to the School District of closing 23 public schools with the cost of a single military procurement order for the Lockheed-Martin F-35 fighter jet, which is now seven years behind schedule and 70% over its original cost. Each of the 2400 F-35's ordered for the U.S. military is now expected to cost $618 million including operating and maintenance, a total of $1.5 trillion over the projected useful life, an average of $30 billion every year for the next 50 years, if there are no additional cost overruns or developmental setbacks. The F-35 has been described as a money pit and in a fiscal death spiral making it unaffordable, but Congressmen receiving Lockheed-Martin political contributions in 2011 formed a Congressional Joint Strike Fighter Caucus to keep the weapons system fully funded. Seems like there's plenty of money for high-tech weapons systems, plenty of money to bail out big banks that have made bad bets, plenty of money to keep funding Social Security and Medicare for senior citizens without rationing or any other new limitations, but not even a trickle of money to fund neighborhood schools for poor American children. The protesters are right. It is an outrage. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/public-school-closings-reflect-our-priorities-weapons-are-more-important/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/public-school-closings-reflect-our-priorities-weapons-are-more-important/ Wed, 13 March 2013 22:35:58 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/pennsylvania-lieutenant-governor-james-cawley-visits-temple-law/ March 7, 2013 - Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor James Cawley  spoke to Temple Law student leaders at the invitation of Dean JoAnne Epps. He discussed his political career, the importance of networking, and the value of volunteer work.  Lt. Gov. Cawley holds an undergraduate degree from Temple University and is a member of the Temple Law Class of 1994. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/pennsylvania-lieutenant-governor-james-cawley-visits-temple-law/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/pennsylvania-lieutenant-governor-james-cawley-visits-temple-law/ Wed, 13 March 2013 00:00:00 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/hollis-treaty-volume-garners-asil-award/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro OJ’s own Duncan Hollis has been awarded the American Society of International Law’s “Certificate of Merit for High Technical Craftsmanship and Utility to Practicing Lawyers and Scholars” for his edited volume The Oxford Guide to Treaties. (Other honorees this year are Jeremy Waldron and Petros C. Mavroidis.) From the citation: The Oxford Guide [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/hollis-treaty-volume-garners-asil-award/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/hollis-treaty-volume-garners-asil-award/ Tue, 12 March 2013 10:14:47 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-rises-to-56-in-us-news-and-world-report-rankings/ The 2014 US News rankings are out, and once again Temple Law's upward movement has continued.  The school's overall ranking rose to #56, the second highest ranking for a Pennsylvania law school behind Penn.  In addition, four Temple specialty programs were ranked - itself a recognition of the breadth and depth of the school's success. Temple Law is ranked #2 in Trial Advocacy, #5 in Legal Research & Writing, #12 in part-time programs and #13 in International Programs. "What's striking to me as I look at this report is Temple's sustained record of excellence, particularly in skills-based programs, and our markedly lower tuition relative to similarly ranked schools.  We're very conscious of the fact that law school is a considerable investment, and we work hard to ensure that every dollar our students spend on their education is worth it," said Dean JoAnne Epps. "I'm proud to see that commitment to our students reflected in these rankings." http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-rises-to-56-in-us-news-and-world-report-rankings/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-rises-to-56-in-us-news-and-world-report-rankings/ Tue, 12 March 2013 00:00:00 Jaya Ramji-Nogales http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/weve-revived!/ Encouraged by our contributors and readers , we've revived IntLawGrrls on International Women's Day.  You can find us at a new website: www.ilg2.org .  Please visit us there, and don't forget to visit Diane Marie Amann at her new solo blog: www.dianemarieamann.com . This site will remain up as an archive for researchers. Via IntLawGrrls http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/weve-revived!/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/weve-revived!/ Fri, 08 March 2013 12:11:00 Duncan Hollis http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/hilj-symposium-consent-to-the-use-of-force,-jus-cogens,-and-manifest-violations-of-domestic-law/ by Duncan Hollis by Duncan Hollis This post is part of the Harvard International Law Journal Volume 54(1) symposium. Other posts from this series can be found in the related posts below. In my previous response to Ashley Deeks’ article, “Consent to the Use of Force and the Supremacy of International Law,” I examined some of the practical, [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/hilj-symposium-consent-to-the-use-of-force,-jus-cogens,-and-manifest-violations-of-domestic-law/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/hilj-symposium-consent-to-the-use-of-force,-jus-cogens,-and-manifest-violations-of-domestic-law/ Thu, 07 March 2013 14:16:10 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/hot-off-the-presses-new-texts-by-professors-little-and-dunoff/ Professors Laura Little and Jeff Dunoff each have acclaimed new books out in their respective fields. Professor Little, a nationally recognized scholar who writes about federal courts, conflict of laws, and constitutional law, has published Conflict of Laws: Cases, Materials, and Problems.  This progressive new casebook was written to "encourage enthusiasm for the elegance of conflict of laws doctrine" while grounding the discussion in the context of human affairs that lie at the heart of all systems of law. Professor Dunoff, a global leader in the field of international law/ international relations (IL/IR), has co-edited, with Temple political science professor Mark Pollack, Interdisciplinary Perspectives on International Law and International Relations: The State of the Art. The book, which is being hailed as a "striking book" and "essential reading," brings together leading scholars from around the world to illuminate the emerging field of IL/IR. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/hot-off-the-presses-new-texts-by-professors-little-and-dunoff/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/hot-off-the-presses-new-texts-by-professors-little-and-dunoff/ Wed, 06 March 2013 00:00:00 Duncan Hollis http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/hilj-symposium-a-response-to-“consent-to-the-use-of-force-and-international-law-supremacy”/ by Duncan Hollis by Duncan Hollis [Duncan Hollis is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and James E. Beasley Professor of Law at Temple University School of Law] This post is part of the Harvard International Law Journal Volume 54(1) symposium. Other posts from this series can be found in the related posts below. INTERNATIONAL LAW VERSUS DOMESTIC LAW: [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/hilj-symposium-a-response-to-“consent-to-the-use-of-force-and-international-law-supremacy”/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/hilj-symposium-a-response-to-“consent-to-the-use-of-force-and-international-law-supremacy”/ Tue, 05 March 2013 09:54:32 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-team-excels-at-international-criminal-court-moot-competition/ Temple Law's inaugural International Criminal Court (ICC) Moot Court team traveled to New York City, where they advanced to the ICCMC semi-finals round before being eliminated. It was a stellar first effort and a sure sign of much success to come.  The team, which consists of Michael Encke, Keith Greenwald, Stephanie Kammer, Lauren Vogel, and Nishana Weerasooriya was assisted in their preparations by Professors Meg deGuzman, Rick Greenstein, and Jim Strazzella. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-team-excels-at-international-criminal-court-moot-competition/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-team-excels-at-international-criminal-court-moot-competition/ Tue, 05 March 2013 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-fields-talented-team-in-jessup-international-moot-court-competition/ TempleLaw sent a talented team to the qualifying rounds of the Jessup International Moot Court Competition, held February 23-24 in Washington, D.C. Despite a close team loss to AmericanUniversity that eliminated Temple from the international rounds, team members Michael Encke and Matthew Packard took home individual Best Oralist honors.  Best Oralist awards are given to the ten highest scoring competitors from a field of 128. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-fields-talented-team-in-jessup-international-moot-court-competition/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-fields-talented-team-in-jessup-international-moot-court-competition/ Tue, 05 March 2013 00:00:00 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/what-can-law-review-editors-do-to-attract-8220better8221-articles/ While academics angst, law journal editors toil to manage the fire hose of submissions, real and fake expedites, and the uncertainty that comes with a new job.  Many journal editors now seem to have the goal of “improving their ranking“.  Seven years ago (!) I wrote some advice on that topic.  It seems mostly right, but I want to revise and extend those comments below, in letter form. Dear Incoming Chief and Under-Chiefs! Congratulations.  You’ve won the pie-eating contest. In a better world, you’d be paid in cash. You’ll have to take prestige. Many people will tell you that (after running the show on time & not making anyone cry) your primary goal for the next year is to select articles that will be cited often, raising your prestige [...] Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/what-can-law-review-editors-do-to-attract-8220better8221-articles/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/what-can-law-review-editors-do-to-attract-8220better8221-articles/ Mon, 04 March 2013 17:53:15 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/that-troublesome-first-amendment,-michigan-edition/ (David Post)On January 18, 2013, the Circuit Court in Wayne County preliminarily approved a settlement in a class action charging that  McDonald’s had sold non-”halal” Chicken Mcnuggets that had been advertised as “halal.”  A local activist named Majed Moughni was unhappy with the settlement terms (which required McDonalds to pay some money to two local Dearborn [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/that-troublesome-first-amendment,-michigan-edition/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/that-troublesome-first-amendment,-michigan-edition/ Sat, 02 March 2013 16:02:07 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/obama’s-fiscal-cliff-tax-deal-led-us-into-sequestration/ I believe President Obama genuinely opposes the sequestration spending cuts now going into effect. I don't believe the cynics who think he secretly welcomes the spending cuts as long as he can blame them on Republicans. But if the President really wanted to prevent sequestration, he made a strategic mistake back on January 1, when he agreed to make permanent most of the so-called Bush tax cuts which had been scheduled to expire automatically. President Obama claimed $600 billion in new tax revenue from the rich over 10 years from his fiscal tax deal. But compared to what? That's new revenue only compared to what would have happened if all the Bush tax cuts had been extended, something that was never going to happen, as the President himself guaranteed. As a result of the January deal, the rich saw their tax rate on corporate dividends permanently reduced to only 20% from 39.6% under President Clinton, and they shared in the tax cuts on income under $400,000. The Congressional Budget Office actually scored the fiscal tax deal as INCREASING federal deficits over 10 years by $3.9 trillion compared to if it had not passed. So much for deficit reduction and finding new net revenue. If instead, President Obama had allowed all the Bush tax cuts to expire on December 31, he would have put himself in the strongest possible position for a grand bargain on taxes, spending, and the debt ceiling. Republicans would be incentivized to support tax cuts from the higher restored Clinton-era tax rates. And increased tax revenues would have reduced some of the political pressure to cut spending to slow deficit growth. While everyone claims to favor simplification and reform of the tax system, the January fiscal tax deal resurrected mind-boggling tax complexity including phase-outs of the personal exemption and itemized deductions for certain taxpayers. There was no constituency for these phase-outs. There were no lobbyists pushing for them. The only supporters were politicians trying to find some tax revenue enhancements without further increasing tax rates. These phase-outs would be a top target of any true tax reform. Having made the expiring Bush tax cuts permanent for 98% of taxpayers, and allowing even the top 2% to keep some, but not all of those tax cuts, Republicans have little incentive to head off cuts in federal spending which they advocate as policy. The January tax compromise they negotiated with President Obama enabled Republicans to be intransigent on spending cuts, even as they shed crocodile tears over the details and methodology of sequestration. So the automatic spending cuts of sequestration have begun, and are likely to proceed for awhile with no prospects for compromise on the horizon. But I doubt that the consequences for the economy will actually be as dire as predicted by the Obama administration. The stock market is near record highs. Clearly investors do not see 2.4% sequestration cuts from a $3.5 trillion federal budget as a major threat to the U.S. economy. We will have to adjust to the mandated across-the-board spending cuts of sequestration. And who knows? Limiting federal spending might prove to be good for us. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/obama’s-fiscal-cliff-tax-deal-led-us-into-sequestration/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/obama’s-fiscal-cliff-tax-deal-led-us-into-sequestration/ Fri, 01 March 2013 11:28:32 Duncan Hollis http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcome-back-intlawgrrls!/ by Duncan Hollis by Duncan Hollis Back in December, Peggy noted with sadness the shuttering of IntLawGrrls and the wonderful insights and coverage it had brought to the field of international law during its five-plus year run. Happily, it seems reports of IntLawGrrls’ death were a bit exaggerated.  Beginning this Sunday, IntLawGrrls will return to full activity, albeit with a new [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcome-back-intlawgrrls!/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcome-back-intlawgrrls!/ Fri, 01 March 2013 08:56:04 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-student-awarded-independence-foundation-fellowship/ Theresa Brabson '13 has been awarded a prestigious Independence Foundation Fellowship. The Fellowship will fund her work with the Legal Clinic for the Disabled (LCD) to expand PhilaKids, LCD's existing Medical-Legal Partnership (MLP) with St. Christopher's Hospital for Children.  There she will advocate, negotiate, and litigate on behalf of low-income children to obtain and maintain the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefit. Medical-Legal Partnerships place lawyers in medical settings where they can help patients address legal issues that impact their physical health.  St. Christopher's, where Philakids is located, sits in one of the poorest congressional districts in the country.  Brabson noted that in the context of such poverty, "the wrongful denial or termination of SSI benefits can create a domino effect that negatively impacts the health and well-being of St. Christopher's young patients and their families," noting further that "the SSI benefit is often a critical determinant of a child's access to basic necessities like healthcare, food, clothing and shelter." In addition to directly representing clients, Brabson will also be training healthcare providers on the procedural requirements related to issues such as medical record-keeping and plans of care. By working to ensure that healthcare providers know and understand how to best advocate for their patients in SSI cases, she explains, she will be able to be a better legal advocate. Noting that she "came to Temple because I wanted to learn how to use the law to promote social justice," Brabson quickly found that the work of LCD helped her advance that purpose every day. Also helpful was the support of Temple Law administration and faculty.  Brabson cited Director of Public Interest Programs Maureen Olives and faculty members Lee Carpenter, Susan DeJarnatt, and Ellie Margolis as particularly helpful throughout the application process. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-student-awarded-independence-foundation-fellowship/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-student-awarded-independence-foundation-fellowship/ Fri, 01 March 2013 00:00:00 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-the-proposed-immigration-amnesty-should-and-will-fail/ The so-called comprehensive immigration reform proposed by a group of Senators and President Obama amounts to immediate amnesty for millions of immigration law violators, the lifting of limits on future immigration, with some window dressing designed to assuage skeptical voters. We've seen this act before. The 1986 amnesty promised to fix the immigration problem by amnestying 3 million immigration law violators, strengthening the border, and penalizing employers for hiring illegal immigrants. It didn't work then, and it won't work now. We know that merely strengthening the border and threatening employers who hire illegal immigrants are not sufficient to limit the numbers of foreigners seeking a better life in the U.S. An amnesty simply attracts more illegal immigrants, now conservatively estimated at 11 million. Illegal immigrants make a rational choice when they decide to violate our immigration laws. They weigh the costs, including the risks of getting caught, against the benefits of a better life. We attract more illegal immigrants by reducing the costs through discretionary enforcement and improving the benefits through amnesty. The Pew Research Center estimates that the U.S. population will increase from 300 million to over 400 million by 2050, mainly because of immigration, and that's if we do nothing. And expect 600 million by the end of the century, again if we do nothing.  Another amnesty will accelerate that rapid population growth. Where will another 100 or 300 million people obtain schooling and health care and energy to heat their homes? Where will they drive and park their cars?  Anyone here concerned about the environment, waste disposal, open space preservation, clean air and water? Both my parents were immigrants. I respect and admire immigrants, as we all should. But that's not the issue. The issue is: how many? The United States is experiencing a protracted period of unemployment still hovering around 8%. Prolonged unemployment is a tragedy of broken lives, broken families, foreclosed homes, and life without health insurance. Legal immigrants, including those amnestied, will be able to compete with unemployed Americans for jobs. If we're willing to accept unlimited immigration in order to keep wages low and corporate profits high, we should just say so and stop paying for all the immigration enforcement window dressing. But if we want to set and enforce a limit on immigration, we have to be willing to say no to would-be immigrants who look a lot like our own ancestors, not because there's anything wrong with them, but simply because admitting them would exceed our legal limit. And if those immigrants come anyway in violation of our immigration laws, we have to be willing to deport them, in order to raise the costs and decrease the benefits of illegal immigration, to deter future immigration law violators. That's not an easy choice. But I think the American people want to enforce a numerical limit on immigration, even if it means turning away people who look like our ancestors. To do so, they will have to repeatedly contact their members of Congress to tell them to stop the amnesty. Start by sending a fax with a click at the website numbersusa.com . Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-the-proposed-immigration-amnesty-should-and-will-fail/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-the-proposed-immigration-amnesty-should-and-will-fail/ Thu, 28 February 2013 09:04:08 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-ban-on-federal-funding-of-syringes-—-continued/ People arguing that our federal government spend “too much” sound more and more like cynics by Oscar Wilde’s famous definition: knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing.   I’m neither for big government nor small government. I’d … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-ban-on-federal-funding-of-syringes-—-continued/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-ban-on-federal-funding-of-syringes-—-continued/ Wed, 27 February 2013 19:00:15 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/flu-vaccine-mandates-for-health-care-workers/ According to officials, the worst of this year’s devastating flu season should be over in most parts of the country. But in early January, the flu had hit 47 of 50 states. According to the CDC, a total of 78 … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/flu-vaccine-mandates-for-health-care-workers/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/flu-vaccine-mandates-for-health-care-workers/ Wed, 27 February 2013 13:43:23 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-hosts-first-ever-american-conference-on-bullying-across-the-lifespan/ Temple Law hosted Bullying: Redefining Boundaries, Responsibility, and Harm on Saturday, February 23, 2013. The conference, believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, was organized by Professor Nancy J. Knauer and sponsored by the Temple Political and Civil Rights Law Review. In her introductory remarks, Dean JoAnne Epps noted that the conference was "very Temple" in two ways. After remarking on the high number of familiar faces among the presenters, several of whom were Temple Law graduates, faculty, or staff, Epps remarked that the conference was "the latest in a series that we've hosted at Temple Law emphasizing not just interdisciplinary dialogue but dialogue about real solutions."  Epps then observed that "there is one other way in which this is a very Temple conference, and that is the belief that the law can be a useful tool in solving real human problems. We believe that through the law we can decrease human suffering and increase human joy." The conference brought together scholars, advocates, policy makers, and practitioners from a variety of social and institutional settings to examine how bullying culture manifests across the lifespan and what legal remedies exist in each setting. Professor David Yamada, an expert on workplace bullying, praised the structural organization of the conference, citing the decision to take a "chronological approach, starting with bullying among school kids, moving on to higher education settings, then to the workplace, and finally to seniors" and noting that "the final panel examined best practices across that span. It was a great decision to organize the day that way." The day's keynote address was delivered by Emily Bazelon, senior editor at Slate and author of Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy . Ms. Bazelon, who is also the Truman Capote Fellow for Creative Writing and Law at Yale Law School, emphasized the human toll of bullying culture as she described how various courts have grappled with it as an emerging legal issue. The conference also brought Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, to Temple Law as the moderator of a panel on workplace bullying. Mr. Minter, who was one of the architects of the case that established a constitutional right to same-sex marriage in California, recalled the important role that LGBT advocates and activists have played in drawing attention to the impact bullying has on targets and the need for real remedies under the law. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-hosts-first-ever-american-conference-on-bullying-across-the-lifespan/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-hosts-first-ever-american-conference-on-bullying-across-the-lifespan/ Tue, 26 February 2013 00:00:00 Duncan Hollis http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/an-ejil-symposium-on-treaty-reservations/ by Duncan Hollis by Duncan Hollis Last fall, I was very pleased that, in conjunction with the publication of my book – The Oxford Guide to Treaties, Opinio Juris was able to host an interesting (and I hope useful) discussion of the current state of international law on treaty reservations, including some prominent reactions to the ILC’s recent Guide to Reservations [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/an-ejil-symposium-on-treaty-reservations/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/an-ejil-symposium-on-treaty-reservations/ Mon, 25 February 2013 07:54:09 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/plf-noses-around-the-california-law-review/ Via Josh Blackman comes this news: “The Pacific Legal Foundation has sent requests under the California Public Records Act (the equivalent of FOIA) to the University of California Berkeley and University of California Davis, seeking information about how they use race and gender in making decisions about what articles to publish. You can download the requests here: [UC Davis PRA request; UC Berkeley PRA request.] The letters were sent to the Dean of the law schools, and carbon copied to the Editor in Chief and the Faculty Adviser.” The PLF demands a response by March 2, which seems like an awfully short time, not least because the students involved on the board have important work to do, like reading this. Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/plf-noses-around-the-california-law-review/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/plf-noses-around-the-california-law-review/ Sat, 23 February 2013 20:18:36 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/dean-epps-named-to-obabl-power-100-list-again/ For the second time in as many years, Dean JoAnne Epps has been listed among the 100 most influential black attorneys in the country by On Being a Black Lawyer (OBABL). OBABL will publish the 2 nd annual edition of "The Power 100" on February 1, 2013 in honor of Black History Month. The publication will be available online and will feature profiles of the nation's most influential black attorneys working in government, academics, and both the public and private sectors. It will also include profiles of non-black attorneys who have championed diversity. To read Dean Epps' profile, click here . OBABL's editorial team, together with a group of advisers, spent months researching prospective candidates. The selection committee read trade publications, blogs, and critical reviews. A portion of the candidates had appeared on past lists of influential lawyers. For this group, the committee considered whether the candidate's influence and relevance had increased since the time he or she was last honored. In addition to naming the 100 most influential black attorneys, the committee also included profiles of ten up and coming black attorneys. OBABL publisher Yolanda Young notes that according to the American Bar Association, less than 5% of U.S. attorneys are African American. OBABL seeks to help advance diversity in the legal profession. On Being a Black Lawyer, which is owned by Lawyers of Color Inc., has been recognized by the American Bar Association, National Black Law Students Association, and National Association of Black Journalists. Founded in 2008 as a news and resource center, the company has grown into a social media firm providing research, career development, and brand marketing opportunities to clients. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/dean-epps-named-to-obabl-power-100-list-again/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/dean-epps-named-to-obabl-power-100-list-again/ Thu, 21 February 2013 00:00:00 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/hypercard-redux/ (David Post)[NOTE:  This brief essay comes from my friend and colleague David Johnson [from whom I first learned about Hypercard on our old Mac SE, many years ago)/DP] Why we need an Open Source Hypercard By: David R. Johnson Livecode has launched a kickstarter campaign to raise the funds needed to allow it to re-engineer their [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/hypercard-redux/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/hypercard-redux/ Mon, 18 February 2013 16:05:12 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/what-is-the-point-of-symposia/ Over at the Faculty Lounge, the estimable Michelle Meyer argues that it’s possibly inconsistent to take account of race, gender, and sexual orientation in symposia invitations but not to do so when selecting articles in law reviews.  Her post is thoughtful and well-written, though I believe it rests on a false premise.  Go over there and read it and then come back to find out which one. Michelle largely responds to an anonymous commentator, who wrote: “I know you don’t direct this question to me but to Dave, but let me chime in. I see them as analytically different. I think diversity is very important in symposia, and I agree that editors should seek a wide group of people taking of demographic facts there. The [...] Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/what-is-the-point-of-symposia/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/what-is-the-point-of-symposia/ Sun, 17 February 2013 21:46:57 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/dodge-v-wholefoods/ Like many corporate law teachers, I have mixed views about the old chestnut of Dodge v. Ford.  On the one hand, it’s very quotable. On the other, shareholder wealth maximization is a normative goal, not a rule with teeth.  Still you go to war with the data you have. Now we’ve more data – useful for an exam fact pattern, at least!  An alert student (thanks, C.M) found this choice quote in a recent interview of Wholefoods CEO John Mackey: “JOHN MACKEY: I think that Whole Foods does have higher purposes. We take them very seriously. We don’t exist primarily to maximize profits. We’re fulfilling the mission that we set for ourselves of helping people to live healthier lives, to hopefully reverse this obesity [...] Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/dodge-v-wholefoods/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/dodge-v-wholefoods/ Fri, 15 February 2013 11:45:48 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/law-school-receives-$15-million-gift-to-establish-social-justice-center/ Stephen and Sandra Sheller, who have spent their respective careers in law and behavioral health treatment advocating for the poor, powerless and those experiencing injustice, have made a $1.5 million gift to establish a new center to further that cause at the Temple University  Beasley School of Law . The Stephen and Sandra Sheller Center for Social Justice will partner with non-profit groups and city agencies to identify and address urgent social justice needs in the city and region. Set to open this spring in Temple's Howard Gittis Student Center, the  new center  will build on Temple Law's 50-year tradition of offering legal assistance to those in need, while providing hands-on learning experience for law students. "The law school is always seeking creative solutions to address the ways in which our society falls short of the promise of justice for all," said Temple Law Dean JoAnne Epps. "The Stephen and Sandra Sheller Center for Social Justice will help us do just that. This gift is a recognition of the historic mission of Temple and our abiding commitment to assist the community around us as we educate our students." "Temple is the perfect place for this," said Stephen Sheller. "If we can affect the way justice happens, we can impact, on a large scale, a lot of lives for the better." In more than four decades as a leading national litigator, Sheller's causes have ranged from civil rights, to voter protection, to employment discrimination, to consumer fraud and protection. He has won some of the largest civil and criminal settlements in U.S. history. As an art and family therapist, Sandra Sheller's work with families experiencing homelessness and those who serve them birthed in her a passion to broaden her sphere of influence in helping those struggling with poverty, oppression and disenfranchisement. In 2006, the Shellers founded the Sheller Family Foundation to expand their commitment to improving lives. The foundation has become a vehicle to support institutions and programs that champion the causes of the underprivileged, underserved and marginalized; expose and remediate corrupt and unethical conduct; and effect significant, structural social change. "I have seen that a lot of struggling people have really lost their voice," said Sandra. "We talk a lot about freedoms that Americans have, and a lot of times, if you're combating poverty and oppression, you can't really partake of those freedoms. So the whole idea is on a higher level to advocate for those people who don't have a voice and maybe even empower them to advocate for themselves." According to Epps, the center will follow the needs of the community, whether they be in civil liberties, the environment, consumer protection or disabilities rights. A board of directors comprising legal experts and community leaders to be organized this summer will meet with non-profit agencies and community leaders. They will identify the causes that are most urgent and support area residents who lack access to adequate legal representation. The center will be a think tank where participating law students and young alumni work together with faculty and practicing lawyers to receive invaluable experiential training in legal research, advocacy and policy development. When issues call for changes to policy, the center will work to make those changes through white papers and legislative proposals. And when litigation is required, they will pursue that as well. The center is an extension of Temple Law's significant commitment to public service. Each year, the school places graduates in public interest positions at rates well above regional and national averages. In a typical year, one-third of graduating students are members of the Public Interest Law Honor Society, which requires 50 hours of pro bono work. "I hope we will be a model for how a law school can both contribute to the education of their students and make meaningful change in the community," said Epps. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/law-school-receives-$15-million-gift-to-establish-social-justice-center/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/law-school-receives-$15-million-gift-to-establish-social-justice-center/ Fri, 15 February 2013 00:00:00 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/is-another-treaty-question-headed-to-the-supreme-court/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro Is there a private right of action under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction? The Fourth Circuit said no in 2006, the Second Circuit now says yes in, in an opinion released on Monday (the case is Ozaltin v. Ozaltin; Reuters recap here).  Sounds like SCOTUS will have to [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/is-another-treaty-question-headed-to-the-supreme-court/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/is-another-treaty-question-headed-to-the-supreme-court/ Thu, 14 February 2013 14:53:32 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-is-privatized-procedure-so-rare/ For some time, I’ve been mulling over how closely parties can tailor the rules of civil procedure to their own purposes. That is: are parties actually writing enforceable contract terms which state that if they sue each other, the ordinary procedural rules won’t apply . For example, they might contract to be able to take 5 depositions in a case instead of the default 10. Or they might dispose of the rules of hearsay.  The literature here arguably started with the Scott/Triantis piece, Anticipating Litigation in Contract Design, and has gotten new momentum from Bone, Kapeliuk/Klement, Dodge, and Drahozal/Rutledge. My contribution ended up being slightly more empirical than I’d expected — though I guess this won’t surprise any of our long-time readers.  In Why Is Privatized Procedure [...] Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-is-privatized-procedure-so-rare/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-is-privatized-procedure-so-rare/ Thu, 14 February 2013 10:33:51 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/affirmative-action-for-law-scholarship/ There are several issues in this unfolding story about Scholastica, law review submissions, and “diversity” preferences. Let’s break them out. I’m shocked!  Shocked!:  Over at Prawfs, Professor Mannheimer and various anonymous commentators think that Orin, Josh and I are naive.  Everyone knows that law reviews routinely take race, gender and sexual orientation into account when choosing between articles.  Indeed, Josh got an email from a former editor at the California Law Review saying that the practice “is nothing new and not exactly a secret.” Well, shucks. I guess I’m the sucker here.  Even if this had crossed my mind, I would have naively thought that law faculties would never permit law student boards to make decisions about articles based on race, gender and sexual orientation without clearly thinking through [...] Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/affirmative-action-for-law-scholarship/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/affirmative-action-for-law-scholarship/ Thu, 14 February 2013 09:52:58 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/scholastica-amp-law-review-selection/ As several commentators noted (most in private emails, because they are afraid of negative consequences in the submission market), a very disturbing aspect of Scholastica’s new submission process is that it appears to facilitate and encourage law reviews to use sexual orientation, race, and gender in selection decisions.  Josh Blackman has investigated, and written a very useful follow-up post which I hope you all will read. My own view is that whatever the merits of law reviews giving “plus” points to authors are less prestigious schools, providing plus points on account of race, gender, and sexual orientation is a terrible, terrible idea, especially if the plus points are awarded in an opaque manner by a largely unsupervised student board at an instrumentality of the state. Scholastica [...] Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/scholastica-amp-law-review-selection/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/scholastica-amp-law-review-selection/ Wed, 13 February 2013 17:24:27 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/obama’s-new-citizenship-(is-anyone-listening)/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro From the closing of last night’s State of the Union: We may do different jobs, and wear different uniforms, and hold different views than the person beside us. But as Americans, we all share the same proud title: We are citizens. It’s a word that doesn’t just describe our nationality or legal [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/obama’s-new-citizenship-(is-anyone-listening)/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/obama’s-new-citizenship-(is-anyone-listening)/ Wed, 13 February 2013 15:25:50 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/against-scholastica/ Like many of you, I’ve an article out in the Spring submission season. (More on that in a separate post later.) Let the agonizing begin! Seriously, where’s the thread? This year, in addition to ExpressO, email, website submission, Redyip, and printed copies, we’ve a new way to deliver our articles to their ultimate masters: Scholastica. You may have learned about Scholastica when your favorite law review wrote you to inform you that they were exclusively taking submissions through that system, or when your associate dean told you that the institution would prefer not to pay pay more per submission than ExpressO for a substantially similar service. Here are some key things you might not know: As far as I can tell only two of the top fifty journals – [...] Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/against-scholastica/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/against-scholastica/ Wed, 13 February 2013 09:14:00 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-law-school-reform-panic/ By Scott Burris I am going to take a slight detour from health law to talk about legal education. This week the Times was all over a story about the need to drastically reform law school right now, and in … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-law-school-reform-panic/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-law-school-reform-panic/ Tue, 12 February 2013 21:31:57 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/trial-team-retains-regional-championship/ This past weekend, Temple's National Trial Team defended its NTC Regional Championship of the National Trial Competition at the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia. It was Temple's 25th regional championship in 27 years of competition. The members of the championship team are Caroline Power (2L) and James Price (3L). Third Circuit Chief Judge Theodore A. McKee presided at the final round. In the double bracketed competition, a second team of Dan Theveny (3L) and Britt Walden (2L) dropped a highly competitive semi-final contest on a split ballot. Twenty-two teams from eleven law schools representing Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania competed. The Team travels to Texas on April 3 to compete for the National Trial Championship against the twenty-four winners and runners-up from the twelve other regional contests. The teams are coached by Professor Jen Bretschneider, Director of Experiential Programs, Alex Gosfield, Esq. ('08)(Chester County DA's Office) and Professor Edward Ohlbaum.  The tournament was sponsored by Temple's LL.M. in Trial Advocacy Alumni Association and the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, directed by Marissa Boyers Bluestine and adminstrated by Mary Beth Wilson. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/trial-team-retains-regional-championship/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/trial-team-retains-regional-championship/ Mon, 11 February 2013 00:00:00 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/no-one-needs-snail-mail-more-than-3-times-a-week/ The current controversy over eliminating Saturday mail delivery prompted me to look up something I wrote two years ago.  Here it is: The U.S. Postal Service is probably the government agency which has been most adversely affected by the internet revolution. The high volume of personal and business correspondence which used to be mailed is now e-mailed at much lower cost. Despite cutting jobs and raising postage rates and fees, the Postal Service remains in desperate financial condition, running multi-billion dollar deficits annually, unable to fund health benefits for future retirees, and predicting default on other payments due if relief isn't granted by Congress. Congress should authorize the Postal Service to take the necessary steps towards financial stability, including flexibility in funding employee benefits, authority to eliminate underused post offices, and reducing the current six-day per week delivery system. Delaware's Senator Tom Carper who chairs the relevant Senate subcommittee has introduced legislation authorizing some of those reforms. But the Postal Service itself has been reluctant to embrace the reform which would do the most to address its financial crisis: reducing mail delivery to 3-times per week. In 2010 the Postal Service paid for an expensive study by business consultants McKinsey & Co. which recommended reducing mail delivery to 3-times per week. But the head of the Postal Service immediately rejected that recommendation, which it had paid for, saying, "I think that would negatively impact our business.... If we change delivery from six to three, the ubiquity of our product and the value would be diminished." Nobody needs mail delivery more than 3 times a week in the age of the internet. Most communications go faster by e-mail. Express deliveries can still be done for extra fees by the Postal Service or by private carriers like UPS or FedEx. Gradual conversion to three-times a week delivery would permit a significant reduction in the number of Postal Service employees, which could be accomplished through attrition without layoffs. Eventually half the mail could be delivered on Monday-Wednesday-Friday. The other half could be delivered Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday. Reducing employees means reducing expenses including health and retirement benefits. The Postal Service is not and cannot be run as a jobs program. The multi-billion dollar annual deficits must end. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/no-one-needs-snail-mail-more-than-3-times-a-week/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/no-one-needs-snail-mail-more-than-3-times-a-week/ Thu, 07 February 2013 18:42:04 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/copyright-nonsense/ (David Post)In my Copyright Law class, I’m teaching a fairly well-known (in copyright circles) trilogy of cases from the 9th Circuit on the permissible scope of copying of computer software (MAI v. Peak Computer, 991 F.2d 511 (1993), Triad Sys. v. Southeastern Express 64 F.3d 1330, (1995), and Wall Data, v. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dep’t, [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/copyright-nonsense/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/copyright-nonsense/ Thu, 07 February 2013 11:18:15 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/uber-regulation/ (David Post)A nice discussion by Larry Downes, over on Forbes.com, about the trials and tribulations of the Uber ride-dispatching service and what it says about the relationship between regulation and innovation. Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/uber-regulation/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/uber-regulation/ Thu, 07 February 2013 10:58:31 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/reducing-gun-violence-in-america/ Typically, we would avoid such a shameless plug for our researchers — we’d be a little more subtle. But, we can’t help it this time. This book is the best $10 you’ll spend all year. A little less than a … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/reducing-gun-violence-in-america/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/reducing-gun-violence-in-america/ Wed, 06 February 2013 12:50:19 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professors-carpenter-and-little-discuss-same-sex-marriage-and-the-supreme-court-on-american-law-journal/ Professors Lee Carpenter and Laura Little appeared on an episode of American Law Journal to discuss same sex marriage and the path to the Supreme Court. You can hear what they had to say by clicking here . http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professors-carpenter-and-little-discuss-same-sex-marriage-and-the-supreme-court-on-american-law-journal/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professors-carpenter-and-little-discuss-same-sex-marriage-and-the-supreme-court-on-american-law-journal/ Tue, 05 February 2013 00:00:00 Duncan Hollis http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/a-native-american-mutual-defense-treaty-against-tar-sands-projects/ by Duncan Hollis Last week, a Ceremonial Grand Council was held on Ihanktonwan homelands (located within the boundaries of the U.S. State of South Dakota) which concluded and negotiated the "International Treaty to Protect the Sacred from Tar Sands Projects".  I can't find a specific list of participants, but  news reports  suggest signatories included representatives from an array of U.S native American Tribes and Canadian First Nations.  The treaty (see  here  for the text) is seven articles long, most of which involve establishing the authority of indigenous peoples' over their remaining land, including the authority to oppose tar sands oil projects (tar sands are unconventional oil deposits in sand and sandstone that are saturated with a particular form of petroleum; oil is produced from these deposits either by strip mining or using wells that inject steam, solvents and/or hot air into the sand).  The treaty signatories oppose oil work on tar sands for manifold reasons, including their degradation of the "the soil, the waters, the air, sacred sites, and our ways of life".  In Article VI, the signatories [A]gree to mutually and collectively, as sovereign nations, call upon the Canadian and United States governments to respect our decision to reject tar sands projects that impact our sacred sites and homelands; to call upon the Canadian and United States governments to immediately halt and deny approval for pending tar sands projects because they threaten the soil, water, air, sacred sites, and our ways of life; and, confirm that any such approval would violate our ancestral laws, rights and responsibilities. Article VII then goes on to establish a mutual defense commitment of sorts, wherein the signatories [A]gree to the mutual, collective, and lawful enforcement of our responsibilities to protect our lands, waters, and air by all means necessary, and if called on to do so, we will exercise our peace and friendship by lawfully defending one another’s lands, waters, air, and sacred sites from the threat of tar sands projects, provided that each signatory Indigenous Nation reserves and does not cede their rights to act independently as the tribal governments see fit to protect their respective tribal interests, further provided that each signatory Indigenous Nation reserves its inherent sovereign right to take whatever governmental action and strategy that its governing body sees fit to best protect and advance tribal interests affected by the pipeline project consistent with the agreements made herein and subject to the laws and available resources of each respective nation. I find this treaty enormously interesting from a constitutional and international law perspective.  Of course, the treaty implicates other issues as well -- environmental degradation, indigenous peoples' rights, Canadian law, etc., but I'm not enough of an expert to opine on such questions.  Whatever its merits, though, I wonder what legal authority U.S. Native American tribes had to consent to conclude this treaty, let alone consent to be bound by it in the future (which the treaty says will occur via ratification by the "governing bodies of the signatory nations"). Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/a-native-american-mutual-defense-treaty-against-tar-sands-projects/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/a-native-american-mutual-defense-treaty-against-tar-sands-projects/ Sun, 03 February 2013 12:52:32 Duncan Hollis http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/psis-for-dwis-–-what-should-the-public-know/ by Duncan Hollis In order for diplomatic missions to function, international law has long accorded diplomats and their families immunity from all local criminal laws.  And when a  major crime  occurs involving a diplomat, there's often a lot of press attention on the case by virtue of the privileges and immunities (Ps&Is) involved. But Ps&Is aren't limited to allegations of rape or manslaughter, they extend to ALL local laws, often posing problems for the host State as it tries to police dangerous behavior while also complying with its international law obligations.  So, how do States deal with day-to-day misdemeanors or mid-level criminal activities?  In Australia, they write letters.  As  this story  in ninemsn notes: More than two dozen foreign diplomats and consular officials have been warned about repeated or serious driving offences on Australian soil over the past three years. The offences include drink driving, speeding more than 30km/h over the limit, running red lights, driving while talking on a mobile phone and not wearing a seat belt. But none of the offenders can be prosecuted or even lose their driving licence because of diplomatic immunity. The offences are outlined in 26 warning letters sent by the Department of Foreign Affairs since 2010 to the heads of various foreign embassies and consulates about members of staff who had lost seven or more demerit points on their licence or who were involved in a serious driving incident that came to the attention of police. One letter describes a diplomat who lost 15 demerit points from 11 speeding fines in just 15 months. Another refers to a diplomat who was deemed too drunk to continue driving after being intercepted by police on Canberra's Commonwealth Avenue Bridge at 1am on a Sunday. Police only agreed to release him when one of his own passengers agreed to get behind the wheel and take him home. The story links to the actual letters sent out by the Australian Foreign Ministry - see  here .  I found the extensive redactions especially interesting -- looking at the documents, you don't know who did what or what government she or he represented.  The Australian Chief of protocol explains that disclosing such details could damage Australia's good relations with foreign governments and "their willingness to cooperate and communicate with Australian government officials in the future." Hmmm.  Now, I'm a supporter of P&Is for their functional value -- I truly believe they are a key cog in diplomatic machinery.  But, I'm less sanguine about the lack of transparency the Australian letters suggest. Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/psis-for-dwis-–-what-should-the-public-know/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/psis-for-dwis-–-what-should-the-public-know/ Sat, 02 February 2013 22:12:02 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/dave-purchase-and-naloxone,-life-savers/ By Scott Burris Start with the sad news of the week. Dave Purchase died, aged 73. Dave was the father of needle exchange in the US, which as far as anyone can say started with Dave and a TV tray … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/dave-purchase-and-naloxone,-life-savers/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/dave-purchase-and-naloxone,-life-savers/ Sat, 02 February 2013 13:53:34 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professor-sinden-recognized-for-professional-contributions-at-temple-women’s-basketball-game/ Professor Amy Sinden was recognized by the Temple University Athletics Department at the January 16 th women's basketball game for her contributions to the Temple community. Professor Sinden was recognized for her deep commitment to public interest law and the betterment of our society. Professor Sinden specializes in environmental and property law. She has won multiple awards for her publications in law journals focusing on the misuse of economic theory in environmental law. She has also written about the application of classical human rights norms to environmental conflicts. Prior to joining Temple, she served as senior counsel for Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, an associate attorney for the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund in Seattle, Washington and a staff attorney at Community Legal Services here in Philadelphia. ( Photo credit Mitchell Leff ) http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professor-sinden-recognized-for-professional-contributions-at-temple-women’s-basketball-game/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professor-sinden-recognized-for-professional-contributions-at-temple-women’s-basketball-game/ Mon, 28 January 2013 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professor-richardson-recognized-by-aals-with-the-clyde-ferguson-award/ Professor Henry Richardson has been recognized by the Minority Groups Section of the Association of American Law Schools with the Clyde Ferguson Award, which is the highest award bestowed by the Section. The Clyde Ferguson Award is given to "an outstanding law teacher, who in the course of his or her career has achieved excellence in the areas of public service, teaching and scholarship." The award is particularly intended for law professors "who have provided support, encouragement, and mentoring to colleagues, students, and aspiring legal educators." Professor Richardson has a long and distinguished record of international service and activism and has published widely on international law and development questions in Africa, legal questions arising from the anti-apartheid movement relative to South Africa, international protection of human rights, self determination, international law and African-Americans, and the interpretation of international law through critical race theory. He teaches courses on international law, constitutional law and foreign policy, international human rights and international organizations. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professor-richardson-recognized-by-aals-with-the-clyde-ferguson-award/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professor-richardson-recognized-by-aals-with-the-clyde-ferguson-award/ Mon, 28 January 2013 00:00:00 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/phlr-annual-meeting-post-mortem/ This past week, PHLR hosted 150 researchers, lawyers, public health practitioners and others for our fourth annual meeting. With our theme for the conference in mind, “Driving Legal Innovation,” our attendees shared results of evaluations of laws and regulations, offered … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/phlr-annual-meeting-post-mortem/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/phlr-annual-meeting-post-mortem/ Fri, 25 January 2013 16:03:47 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/joe-biden-for-president-in-2016/ It's less than three years now before the first presidential primary elections of 2016. Anyone who wants to be a serious candidate in those primaries will need to start organizing a campaign soon. My home state of Delaware knows Vice President Joseph Biden well. He was first elected to the U.S. Senate from Delaware in 1972 when he was only 29 years old. Delaware voters re-elected him six times to additional six-year terms in 1978, 1984, 1990, 1996, 2002, and 2008. Delaware is a small state consisting of a single congressional district. Most Delaware voters resident more than a few years can tell personal stories about Joe Biden and their contacts with him. Senator Biden has demonstrated his desire for higher office by twice campaigning for President in 1988 and again twenty years later in 2008, before accepting nomination for Vice President. He resigned from the U.S. Senate in 2009 upon his inauguration as Vice President. No one who observed Vice President Biden during his and President Obama's recent second inauguration can doubt his interest in at least keeping all his options open for 2016. Stepping out of the motorcade from the Capitol to the White House, the Vice President literally ran to shake as many hands of spectators as he could reach. In contrast, President Obama, who does not expect to ever be a candidate again, made no such exertions during the walking parts of the motorcade. President Obama's "private" swearing-in on Sunday was attended only by his family and the press. In contrast, Vice President Biden's "private" swearing-in the same day was attended by more than a hundred invited guests, including many from early primary states like New Hampshire, Iowa, and South Carolina, and others who will be "superdelegates" at the Democratic nominating convention in 2016. Both the Vice President's age and the ambitions of Hillary Clinton will be factors affecting his viability as a presidential candidate in 2016. If elected President in 2016, Joe Biden would by 74 on Inauguration Day 2017, and the oldest President ever elected and inaugurated. Ronald Reagan, America's oldest president, was 69 when inaugurated in 1981 and 73 at his second inauguration in 1985. Soon after leaving office, President Reagan was afflicted with Alzheimer's disease, and in retrospect, some observers thought that there were symptoms of the disease during his second term. The incidence of that disease and others obviously increases with age. Hillary Clinton would be only 69 on Inauguration Day 2017, the same age as Reagan at his first inauguration. If Hillary Clinton decides to seek the presidency in 2016, she will have the advantage of being a "first", which proved to be a net plus factor for Barack Obama in 2008. Joe Biden also has a reputation for gaffes and loquaciousness. Some might argue that's part of his working class charm which helps to humanize him. No one can deny his apparent comfort and common touch as a campaigner. But the biggest factor affecting Joe Biden's political prospects in 2016 will be President Obama's success or lack thereof during his second term. A successful second term which leaves voters wishing for a third would be good news for any vice president. Conversely, an unsuccessful second term that leaves voters looking for a change would be an invitation to candidates other than an incumbent vice president. Vice President Biden has promised to do whatever he can to help President Obama achieve success in their second term. He certainly has every reason to do so. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/joe-biden-for-president-in-2016/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/joe-biden-for-president-in-2016/ Thu, 24 January 2013 00:02:53 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/obama-citizenship-discourse-watch-(second-inaugural-edition)/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro It was a liberal speech, but also a nationalist one. Obama returned to the citizenship theme of his DNC acceptance speech: What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/obama-citizenship-discourse-watch-(second-inaugural-edition)/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/obama-citizenship-discourse-watch-(second-inaugural-edition)/ Mon, 21 January 2013 14:09:56 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/jefferson-lives!/ (David Post)Lots and lots of nice, and nicely-wrought, Jeffersonian echoes, to my ears, in Obama’s speech today. We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What makes us exceptional – what makes us American – is our [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/jefferson-lives!/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/jefferson-lives!/ Mon, 21 January 2013 12:50:47 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/20th-annual-update-for-feminist-law-professors-cle-conference-to-air-on-temple-tv/ The 20 th Annual Update for Feminist Law Professors CLE Conference, which was led by Professor Marina Angel and took place in December 2012, will be broadcast on Temple TV on January 22 nd at 12:30 pm and 8:30 pm.  Coverage will include the lead presentations by Professor Angel, Liz Schneider of BrooklynLawSchool, and Kit Kinports of PennState-DickinsonLawSchool.  Jill C. Engle of Penn State-Dickinson Law School also spoke on Town of Castle Rock, Colorado v. Gonzales, 545 U. S. 748 (2005), and a subsequent opinion on the same matter by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. TempleTV airs on Comcast at Channel 50 and on Verizon at Channel 45 in the Philadelphia area.  The broadcast can also be accessed online at www.templetv.net . No CLE credit is available for watching the broadcast. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/20th-annual-update-for-feminist-law-professors-cle-conference-to-air-on-temple-tv/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/20th-annual-update-for-feminist-law-professors-cle-conference-to-air-on-temple-tv/ Mon, 21 January 2013 00:00:00 Duncan Hollis http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/supreme-court-decides-to-revisit-missouri-v-holland-after-all!/ by Duncan Hollis by Duncan Hollis Just a quick entry (it’s late here in Tokyo) to note that the Supreme Court is going to hear the case of U.S. v. Bond, which, in effect, revisits the question of Missouri v. Holland and the scope of Congress’s power to implement U.S. treaty obligations.  Over at Volokh this past week, Nick Rosenkranz [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/supreme-court-decides-to-revisit-missouri-v-holland-after-all!/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/supreme-court-decides-to-revisit-missouri-v-holland-after-all!/ Sat, 19 January 2013 08:48:03 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/can-obama-overcome-these-nra-shibboleths/ My dictionary defines a "shibboleth" as a "saying used by adherents of a party, sect, or belief and usually regarded by others as empty of real meaning." In response to the latest mass gun murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, the National Rifle Association (NRA) has trotted out its usual shibboleths. First divert attention from guns onto something else. NRA executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said on December 21, "There exists in this country a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people." Sounds like he's describing the American gun manufacturing and sales business, but actually he's trying to blame the video game and movie industries, and American culture in general, including music videos which he says "portray life as a joke". But the whole world watches American movies and American television and plays American video games. So how can our movies, video games, and music videos explain America's high gun-related death rate, the highest among all developed nations? By the way, the NRA has been caught glorifying the particular guns used in violent movies and videos, and has removed those links from its website since the Sandy Hook massacre. Second, Wayne LaPierre also condemned "our nation's refusal to create an active national database of the mentally ill". And in response to President Obama's gun control proposals, LaPierre on January 16 more broadly proposed "fixing our broken mental health system". Actually, most states already authorize or require consideration of mental health records in background checks for firearms, and most authorize or require reporting mental health records to the federal National Instant Criminal Background Check System, known as "NICS". But states and mental health experts do not agree on which mental health records should be maintained and shared by governments. The number of Americans who experience some degree of mental illness is large, but the number who constitute a physical threat to others is small, and difficult to identify. Nothing wrong with paying more attention to the challenges of the mentally ill, but the NRA's concern is clearly more focused on turning attention away from guns. A third distraction of the NRA is its bold assertion that more guns make us safer, that "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun", and that the proper solution to the Sandy Hook massacre is to put more guns in schools. But if more guns make a society safer from gun violence, as the NRA asserts, the United States would have the lowest level of gun violence in the developed world instead of the highest. On the same day as the Sandy Hook massacre, there was an attack on elementary school children in Chengping, a city in Henan province, China. A deranged attacker stabbed 22 school children. But here's the difference: All those children survived. The difference was the available weapon, a knife instead of a gun. If President Obama's gun control initiatives are to gain any traction, the NRA shibboleths must be refuted, and our concern over gun violence properly focused on the accessibility of guns. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/can-obama-overcome-these-nra-shibboleths/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/can-obama-overcome-these-nra-shibboleths/ Fri, 18 January 2013 22:47:05 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/copyright-unbalanced/ (David Post)Back in November, I made mention of a new book from the Mercatus Center on the Great Copyright Debate(s) — Copyright Unbalanced:  From Incentive to Excess — in which I had contributed a chapter (on the SOPA debacle).  I’m told that today – the second  anniversary of the SOPA “Internet blackout” — the publishers are [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/copyright-unbalanced/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/copyright-unbalanced/ Fri, 18 January 2013 13:31:13 Duncan Hollis http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/still-waiting-to-revisit-missouri-v-holland/ by Duncan Hollis by Duncan Hollis I’m in Tokyo for the Spring semester teaching in Temple Law’s semester abroad program.  But that hasn’t stopped me from watching the Supreme Court, particularly it’s decision on whether or not to revisit Missouri v Holland via the case of Carol Anne Bond and the question of the scope of Congress’s power to [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/still-waiting-to-revisit-missouri-v-holland/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/still-waiting-to-revisit-missouri-v-holland/ Fri, 11 January 2013 00:48:46 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/where-are-we-now-post-5,-ways-of-being-wrong-–-and-opportunities-to-be-right/ By Scott Burris The main contests (a summary of previous posts): A lot of people in public health practice seem to be (appropriately) concerned about our public health infrastructure – the agencies within public health systems where day to day … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/where-are-we-now-post-5,-ways-of-being-wrong-–-and-opportunities-to-be-right/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/where-are-we-now-post-5,-ways-of-being-wrong-–-and-opportunities-to-be-right/ Thu, 10 January 2013 18:31:03 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/where-are-we-now-post-4,-looking-in-the-mirror,-or-3-games-in-public-health/ By Scott Burris In a well-known exchange, Richard Epstein argued that modern public health had strayed far outside its traditional and proper work of preventing epidemics and injuries into a realm of social engineering in which it lacked both competence … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/where-are-we-now-post-4,-looking-in-the-mirror,-or-3-games-in-public-health/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/where-are-we-now-post-4,-looking-in-the-mirror,-or-3-games-in-public-health/ Tue, 08 January 2013 05:41:35 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/where-are-we-now-post-3,-the-agony-(and-potential-ecstasy)-of-defeat/ By Scott Burris Law has been an extremely effective mode of public health intervention in the last thirty years, which means that proponents of its use have won more than a few tough political battles.  Nonetheless, it is hard to … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/where-are-we-now-post-3,-the-agony-(and-potential-ecstasy)-of-defeat/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/where-are-we-now-post-3,-the-agony-(and-potential-ecstasy)-of-defeat/ Sun, 06 January 2013 06:28:48 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/obama-should-make-chuck-hagel-our-secretary-of-defense/ Having lofted Chuck Hagel's trial balloon for Secretary of Defense, and having taken political fire for it, President Obama needs to move forward with that nomination and make it a key test for his administration to get Chuck Hagel confirmed by the U.S. Senate. President Obama can't afford the political cost of backing down again in the face of partisan criticism of his favored nominee, as he did with Susan Rice, whom he had planned to name successor to Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State. Having failed thus far to achieve any sort of grand bargain on the budget deficit, and with the prospects for gun control he promised after the Sandy Hook massacre uncertain at best, the President needs to take a stand on something that he should and can win. Chuck Hagel will be a great Secretary of Defense. He's a combat veteran of Vietnam where he attained the rank of sergeant and received two Purple Hearts, later earning his college degree on the GI Bill. This is important because he knows first-hand the human cost of war. A lifelong Republican, he campaigned for Ronald Reagan, and served briefly in the Veterans Administration under President Reagan until resigning over policy and budget differences. He became a successful businessman, and then achieved political success serving from 1997 to 2009, as a popular United States Senator from Nebraska, keeping the two-term pledge he made in his first campaign. From 2005 to the end of his term in the Senate, Hagel was the most outspoken Republican critic of the Bush administration's military intervention in Iraq. Since 2009 he has served as Chairperson of President Obama's Intelligence Advisory Board and as a Distinguished Professor at the School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University. Many of Hagel's fellow Republicans have never forgiven his criticism of the Bush administration's war in Iraq. They charge him now with being soft on Iran or insufficiently supportive of Israel. He is neither. But by experience he is skeptical of the kind of provocative, interventionist military action that got us into Vietnam and Iraq. Hagel also doesn't regard the Defense Department as a sacred cow. He has publicly described it as "bloated" and suggested it could be "pared down". Sounds like the taxpayer's Secretary of Defense to me. If President Obama is looking for an independent thinker on defense policy, who can manage, lead, and inspire the military and its civilian staff, Chuck Hagel is a great candidate. And as long as he enjoys the President's confidence, the President should put some of his political capital on the line to see his choice for the critical position of Secretary of Defense confirmed. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/obama-should-make-chuck-hagel-our-secretary-of-defense/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/obama-should-make-chuck-hagel-our-secretary-of-defense/ Sat, 05 January 2013 17:50:14 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/facebook,-governance,-and-virtual-representation/ (David Post)Governing Online Spaces:  Virtual Representation David R. Johnson & David G. Post   ”The introduction of this new principle of representative democracy has rendered useless almost everything written before on the structure of government . . .” Thomas Jefferson, August 1816 Facebook recently terminated its commitment to hold a vote on all policy changes that received comments from [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/facebook,-governance,-and-virtual-representation/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/facebook,-governance,-and-virtual-representation/ Thu, 03 January 2013 08:38:15 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/annals-of-crime/ (David Post)The estimable Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post has written a wonderful article about the Jeffrey MacDonald murder case (the subject, originally, of Joe McGinniss’ “Fatal Vision,” and, more recently Errol Morris’ “A Wilderness of Error.”  It’s an extraordinary case — The McGinniss book, which I read when it first came out some 30 years [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/annals-of-crime/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/annals-of-crime/ Thu, 03 January 2013 08:23:54 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/michel-de-montaigne-invents-craigslist!/ (David Post)I’ve spent much of the past several months reading through the extraordinary Essays of Michel de Montaigne (in the terrific Donald Frame translation — very, very highly recommended), and I recently stumbled across this, at the beginning of #35 ["On Administration"] My late father, a man of a decidedly clear judgement, based though it was [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/michel-de-montaigne-invents-craigslist!/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/michel-de-montaigne-invents-craigslist!/ Wed, 02 January 2013 18:16:48 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/pa-gov-corbett-tells-ncaa-where-to-put-its-sanctions/ (David Post)A couple of days after the now-fairly-infamous Freeh Report was released with the results of the investigation into the Penn State child abuse scandal, I wrote the following here on the VC (in “NCAA To the Taxpayers of Pennsylvania:  Drop Dead“): So let me get this straight: The NCAA is ordering the taxpayers of Pennsylvania, [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/pa-gov-corbett-tells-ncaa-where-to-put-its-sanctions/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/pa-gov-corbett-tells-ncaa-where-to-put-its-sanctions/ Wed, 02 January 2013 18:03:10 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/researchers-to-lawmakers-naloxone-distribution-to-prevent-overdose-death-is-cost-effective/ By Scott Burris   Phil Coffin and Sean Sullivan have published a cost-effectiveness study of interventions that equip heroin users and others to administer naloxone in the event of a witnessed opioid overdose.  Naloxone is the standard antidote, and can … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/researchers-to-lawmakers-naloxone-distribution-to-prevent-overdose-death-is-cost-effective/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/researchers-to-lawmakers-naloxone-distribution-to-prevent-overdose-death-is-cost-effective/ Tue, 01 January 2013 08:33:31 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/where-are-we-now-post-2,-the-thrill-of-victory/ By Scott Burris   Between budget cuts and “nanny state” attacks, it’s easy to feel that public health is a perennial political loser.  As for the courts, the first two constitutional amendments alone are throwing up enough barriers to reasonable … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/where-are-we-now-post-2,-the-thrill-of-victory/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/where-are-we-now-post-2,-the-thrill-of-victory/ Fri, 28 December 2012 14:48:14 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/not-too-late-for-that-ethically-inclined-law-and-society-loved-one’s-stocking/ Nicky Priaulx of Cardiff and Anthony Wrigley of Keele have edited the latest volume in the Ashgate book series, “Ethics, Law and Society.”  Matthew Weait and I have contributed a piece on the ethics of sex with HIV, but the … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/not-too-late-for-that-ethically-inclined-law-and-society-loved-one’s-stocking/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/not-too-late-for-that-ethically-inclined-law-and-society-loved-one’s-stocking/ Tue, 25 December 2012 22:35:31 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-state-of-public-health-law-post-i,-“who-am-i-why-am-i-here”/ By Scott Burris Early in January, Lindsay Wiley and the Network for Public Health Law will convene a group of health law professors and (and a few colleagues from public health law practice) in Washington.  They will be spending a … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-state-of-public-health-law-post-i,-“who-am-i-why-am-i-here”/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-state-of-public-health-law-post-i,-“who-am-i-why-am-i-here”/ Thu, 20 December 2012 21:50:49 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/pick-up-the-phone!/ From Redstone Federal Credit Union’s credit card agreement: “Collection. If your Account should become past due, or otherwise in default, you will accept telephone calls from us regarding collection of your Account. You understand that the calls may be automatically dialed and a recorded message may be played. You agree that such calls shall not be “unsolicited” calls for the purpose of state or federal law.” Translation: screening us is breach of contract! Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/pick-up-the-phone!/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/pick-up-the-phone!/ Thu, 20 December 2012 09:43:50 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-good-life-and-gun-control/ Like many of you, I’ve been horrified by the events in Newtown, and dismayed by the debate that has followed.  Josh Marshall (at TPM) thinks that “this is quickly veering from the merely stupid to a pretty ugly kind of victim-blaming.”  Naive realism, meet thy kettle!  Contrary to what you’ll see on various liberal outlets, the NRA didn’t cause Adam Lanza to kill innocent children and adults, nor did Alan Gura or the army of academics who helped to build the case for an individual right to gun ownership.  Reading discussions on the web, you might come to believe that we don’t all share the goal of a society where the moral order is preserved, and where our children can be put on the bus [...] Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-good-life-and-gun-control/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-good-life-and-gun-control/ Wed, 19 December 2012 21:39:50 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/gun-violence-lessons-learned-from-car-crashes/ By Scott Burris, JD “I have an absolute right to drive any vehicle I want, on any road, at any time, at any speed, and under any conditions.” That’s an argument few people would take seriously. And few people would … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/gun-violence-lessons-learned-from-car-crashes/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/gun-violence-lessons-learned-from-car-crashes/ Wed, 19 December 2012 12:43:24 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/more-fallout-on-the-right-re-the-right-to-copyright/ (David Post)Like I said (see “Republicans Going Copyleft”), things are getting pretty interesting now that  the political “right” has discovered that there might be some mileage to be gained by seizing the initiative on copyright reform, an issue  (a) that is appealing to young voters, and one that (b) the Democrats, dependent on Hollywood dough, have [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/more-fallout-on-the-right-re-the-right-to-copyright/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/more-fallout-on-the-right-re-the-right-to-copyright/ Wed, 19 December 2012 11:13:08 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/dissertation-grants-for-public-health-law-research/ The Public Health Law Research program’s Strategic and Targeted Research Program funds research to fill critical gaps in the public health law evidence base. As part of this effort, PHLR is offering dissertation grants to train doctoral students in public … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/dissertation-grants-for-public-health-law-research/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/dissertation-grants-for-public-health-law-research/ Wed, 19 December 2012 11:06:24 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/unrepresentative-turkers/ Like many others, I’ve been using Amazon Mechanical Turk to recruit subjects for law & psychology experiments.  Turk is (i) cheap; (ii) fast; (iii) easy to use; and (iv) not controlled by the psychology department’s guardians.  Better yet, the literature to date has found that Turkers are more representative of the general population than you’d expect — and certainly better than college undergrads! Unfortunately, this post at the Monkey Cage provides a data point in the contrary direction: “On Election Day, we asked 565 Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) workers to take a brief survey on vote choice, ideology and demographics.  . . . We compare MTurk workers on Election Day to actual election results and exit polling.  The survey paid $0.05 and had seven questions:  gender, [...] Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/unrepresentative-turkers/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/unrepresentative-turkers/ Wed, 19 December 2012 09:56:13 Duncan Hollis http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/china-invokes-unclos-in-claiming-sovereignty-over-the-diaoyusenkaku-islands/ by Duncan Hollis by Duncan Hollis I’m gearing up for a Spring Semester teaching at Temple’s Tokyo campus.  As part of my preparations, I’ve begun to read-into some of the maritime boundary disputes between China and Japan that have caused so much friction between the two nations of late.  Recent news reports have emphasized (i) China’s moves by air [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/china-invokes-unclos-in-claiming-sovereignty-over-the-diaoyusenkaku-islands/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/china-invokes-unclos-in-claiming-sovereignty-over-the-diaoyusenkaku-islands/ Mon, 17 December 2012 23:37:20 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/boehner-and-house-republicans-lack-mandate-to-oppose-obama/ On November 6, Republican House Speaker John Boehner noted that while the American people re-elected President Obama and a Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate, they were also, "renewing our House Republican majority." Boehner added. "With this vote, the American people have also made clear that there is no mandate for raising tax rates." But here's the problem: Most American voters cast their ballots for the Democratic candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives. The most recent tabulation has 59,318,160 votes for Democratic candidates, and only 58,143,273 votes cast for Republican candidates for the U.S. House. So how come the Republicans retain control of the U.S. House with 234 representatives to only 201 representatives for the Democrats? The answer is gerrymandering, the drawing of congressional district lines to create the maximum number of Republican majority districts while concentrating Democratic voters in a few districts which are then overwhelmingly Democratic (or vice versa). Pennsylvania is a good example. Because Republicans elected a Republican governor and a Republican majority in both houses of the state legislature in the Republican landslide year of 2010, they alone controlled the reapportionment of congressional districts based on the 2010 census. As a result, in the 2012 election, Republican candidates won most of Pennsylvania's 18 congressional districts, although most Pennsylvania voters supported Democratic candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives. The actual vote in Pennsylvania was 2,710,827 votes for Democratic candidates, and 2,642,952 votes for Republican candidates, though the result was only 5 Democratic members of Congress and 13 Republican members of Congress from Pennsylvania. Readers should google and examine the 2012 maps of Pennsylvania's 7th and 6th congressional districts for especially egregious examples of gerrymandering. Republicans argue with some justification that Democrats often do the same kind of gerrymandering when they control state government after a national census. Consequently, Republicans argue that the 2012 election result, that leaves them in control of the U.S. House of Representatives although most voters supported Democrats, is not unusual. If fact, the 2012 outcome was rare and anomalous, reflecting the extreme degree of political polarization and gerrymandering in the U.S. today. Republicans say the same thing happened in 1996 when they retained control of the House despite a national majority of votes for Democratic House candidates. Sharp-eyed observers, however, have noted that Louisiana elections concluded that September would have given the Republicans a national popular vote majority if counted together with the November results. It turns out that we have to go back 60 years to 1952 to find another example of one party (Republicans) controlling the U.S. House of Representatives although the candidates of the other party (Democrats) received a majority of the votes. (Similar anomalies occurred in 1942 and 1914 when Democrats ended up in control of the House, although most votes were cast for Republican candidates.) The solution to this imperfection in our democracy is obvious. In California where Democrats dominate state government, they have created a non-partisan commission to re-apportion congressional and legislative districts according to clear and transparent guidelines, as is also done in Iowa, Australia, Canada, and many European democracies. Non-partisan reapportionment commissions won't guarantee a correlation between the popular vote for House candidates and party control of the U.S. House of Representatives. But they can guarantee that if a mismatch ever happens again, it won't be because of deliberate political manipulation of congressional district lines by one political party in order to achieve a gerrymandered majority. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/boehner-and-house-republicans-lack-mandate-to-oppose-obama/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/boehner-and-house-republicans-lack-mandate-to-oppose-obama/ Fri, 14 December 2012 21:49:06 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/ohio-joins-in/ By Hosea H. Harvey, JD, PhD Last week, Ohio joined the vast majority of states that have enacted laws designed to reduce long-term health consequences for youth athletes who suffer concussions (technically, traumatic brain injuries or TBIs) in organized youth … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/ohio-joins-in/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/ohio-joins-in/ Fri, 14 December 2012 10:25:38 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/thoughts-on-the-future-of-the-internet-and-its-rules-and-regulations/ (David Post)[Early last week the folks who run the blog at the American Constitution Society asked me to contribute a posting on the World Conference on International Telecommunications, taking place in Dubai.  The original posting is here; I've also reprinted it in full below.  I decided against just giving the link and sending you all over [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/thoughts-on-the-future-of-the-internet-and-its-rules-and-regulations/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/thoughts-on-the-future-of-the-internet-and-its-rules-and-regulations/ Fri, 14 December 2012 10:03:18 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/moment-of-thanks-toy-drive-a-huge-success/ December 14, 2012 - The Moment of Thanks Toy Drive benefitting CORA services in the lower Northeast section of the city has concluded and has been a huge success.  Almost 700 toys were collected, far exceeding the challenge of 500 toys issued by Dean JoAnne Epps.  Congratulations and thanks to all who contributed to the effort! The toys will be distributed through CORA, a nonprofit organization that provides education, counseling, therapy, and guidance to more than 16,000 children and families experiencing emotional, academic, and social challenges. All toys will go to benefit needy families in the lower Northeast section of the city (Frankford/Juniata/Bridesburg/Northwood).  The drive was coordinated in partnership with Kim Washington '09, who works for CORA. To see NBC10's coverage of the drive, click below.  http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/moment-of-thanks-toy-drive-a-huge-success/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/moment-of-thanks-toy-drive-a-huge-success/ Fri, 14 December 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/“lawcappella”-groups-help-the-law-school-end-semester-on-a-high-note/ Temple Law faculty, staff, and students were treated to a musical performance by the school's three musical groups - Women's Rea, Habeas Chorus, and Negli-gents - over the lunch hour on November 29 th . Click here to enjoy a brief video clip of performance highlights. Lawcappella consists of the following students: Women's Rea: Alex Lastowski (Director), Lily Colon, Liz Bailey, Emma Tuohy, Cathy (Cramer) Climaco, Sarah Sharpless, Laura Cook, Meghan Byrnes, Helene Sivak, Nalynn Park, Sharon Ulak, Melissa Pang Negli-gents: Alex Varghese (Director), Alex Radus, Eric Spangler, Jared Burns, David McHale, Adam Wright, Gabe Epstein, Anson Jeng, Patrick Shea Habeas Chorus: Emma Tuohy (Director), Alex Lastowski, Rebecca Prosper, Teena Handline, Melissa Pang, Sarah Sharpless, Brian Auerbach, Jared Burns, Gabe Epstein, Frank Klepadlo, Alex Radus, Eric Spangler, Victor de Meireles, Anson Jeng, Alex Varghese http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/“lawcappella”-groups-help-the-law-school-end-semester-on-a-high-note/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/“lawcappella”-groups-help-the-law-school-end-semester-on-a-high-note/ Fri, 14 December 2012 00:00:00 Jaya Ramji-Nogales http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/go-grrl!-diane-marie-amann-is-special-adviser-to-icc-prosecutor-on-children-in-armed-conflict/ Exciting news! International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has appointed our own Diane Marie Amann, IntLawGrrls founder and editor-in-chief, to be her Special Adviser on Children in and affected by Armed Conflict . Bensouda announced Diane's appointment in a notice posted today at the ICC website.  This newly created position is for a  term of one year, subject to renewal on a yearly basis by the Prosecutor. As I've posted below, the ICC's notice also announces the appointment of two other Special Advisers, Patricia Viseur Sellers and Leila Nadya Sadat. They join Brigid Inder, who already has served several months as a Special Adviser. In her capacity as Special Adviser on Children in Armed Conflict, Diane will, among other tasks: ► Provide advice on issues related to children involved in or affected by armed conflict; ► Support and advise on Office of the Prosecutor policies and training or awareness with regard to children involved in or affected by armed conflict; and ► Contribute to the development of a wide support base for the work of the that office. It's a position for which Diane's amply qualified, as IntLawGrrls readers will know from having read her numerous IntLawGrrls posts .  Most recently, she presented on “Children and the Early Jurisprudence of the International Criminal Court” at the November 11-12 conference entitled ICC @ Ten , at Washington University Law in St. Louis; a paper based on those remarks is forthcoming in the Washington University Global Studies Review . Her scores of articles on international criminal law and international humanitarian law include Calling Children to Account: The Proposal for a Juvenile Chamber in the Special Court for Sierra Leone and Message as Medium in Sierra Leone , both of which focus on child soldiers. Diane teaches Public International Law, International Criminal Law, and the Laws of War at the University of Georgia, where she's the Emily and Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law , and her husband, Dr. Peter D. O'Neill (prior posts ), is Assistant Professor of Comparative Law, and their son, Tiernan O'Neill (prior posts ), is a freshman at Clarke Central High School (all three are dual U.S.-Irish citizens). Diane joined Georgia Law in 2011 from the University of California, Davis, School of Law, where she was Professor of Law, Martin Luther King Jr. Research Scholar, and founding Director of the California International Law Center. Diane's also been honored for her tremendous contributions to the field of international law more generally. In addition to serving as a Vice President of the American Society of International Law, she's received an honorary doctorate in law from Utrecht Universiteit , the American Bar Association's Mayre Rasmussen Award for the Advancement of Women in International Law , and the Article of the Year in International Criminal Law Award from the American National Section of the International Association of Penal Law. Beyond her expertise, we at IntLawGrrls have benefited immeasurably from Diane's energy and dedication to this blog.  Her new position, of course, will mean changes to come here at IntLawGrrls, about which we will post soon.  In the meantime, we are so proud of you, Diane, and wish you the best in your new venture! Heartfelt congratulations! Via IntLawGrrls http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/go-grrl!-diane-marie-amann-is-special-adviser-to-icc-prosecutor-on-children-in-armed-conflict/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/go-grrl!-diane-marie-amann-is-special-adviser-to-icc-prosecutor-on-children-in-armed-conflict/ Wed, 12 December 2012 11:15:00 Jaya Ramji-Nogales http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/patricia-viseur-sellers-and-leila-nadya-sadat-named-special-advisers-to-icc-prosecutor/ Delighted to report that, in addition to Diane's new post, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced today the appointment of Patricia Viseur Sellers ( pictured r ight) as Special Adviser on International Criminal Law Prosecution Strategies and IntLawGrrls contributor Professor Leila Nadya Sadat ( pictured below left) as Special Adviser on Crimes against Humanity. Patricia's position will focus on the OTP's policies and training around international criminal law prosecution strategies.  Leila will assist in the formulation of the OTP's strategic policies relating to crimes against humanity.   Patricia , a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University, has extensive experience in international criminal litigation.  She has worked as Acting Senior Trial Lawyer, Legal Advisor for Gender, and Deputy Head of the Legal Advisory Section in the OTP at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).  In those roles, she advised teams of investigators and trial attorneys on the prosecution of sex-based crimes in international criminal law and international humanitarian law.  Patricia has worked several prominent international prosecutions, including the Furundžija, Kunarac and Akayesu cases. She has been widely published on sexual violence in armed conflict and has advised governments, international organizations and civil society groups on international criminal law strategies. She is a recipient of the American Society of International Law’s Prominent Women in International Law Award . Leila is a leading global authority on crimes against humanity.  She is currently the Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law at the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, where she directs the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute and the Crimes Against Humanity Initiative . She is also the Alexis de Tocqueville Distinguished Fulbright Chair, University of Cergy-Pontoise and the the Director and Co-Founder of the Summer Institute for International Law and Policy at Utrecht University in The Netherlands. Leila the author of over 75 articles and books, for which she has won several awards, including the recently-published  Forging A Convention For Crimes Against Humanity which won the International Association of Penal Law's Outstanding Book of the Year Award in 2011.  Her extensive work in the field of international law has been recognized through her membership on the Council on Foreign Relations as well as her numerous leadership positions in professional associations and societies, including the International Law Association, the American Society of International Law, and the American Society of Comparative Law. Heartfelt congratulations! Via IntLawGrrls http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/patricia-viseur-sellers-and-leila-nadya-sadat-named-special-advisers-to-icc-prosecutor/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/patricia-viseur-sellers-and-leila-nadya-sadat-named-special-advisers-to-icc-prosecutor/ Wed, 12 December 2012 09:45:00 Duncan Hollis http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/knock-knock-who’s-there-best-treaty-in-the-world/ by Duncan Hollis by Duncan Hollis It’s that time of year when things get really busy in the law school environment (not to mention the pre-holiday press of government service, firm work, etc.).  So, for those of you looking for a momentary break from the memo-drafting, exam-writing, grading, article research, whirlwind of holiday events, etc., I submit to [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/knock-knock-who’s-there-best-treaty-in-the-world/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/knock-knock-who’s-there-best-treaty-in-the-world/ Tue, 11 December 2012 11:44:34 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-problem-with-voting-about-corporate-policies/ The problems of corporate democracy are well illustrated by this embarrassing showing: “The largest experiment yet in direct voting ended with a whimper on Monday, when Facebook closed its user polls on its new proposed terms of service, with what looked to be just 668,872 of Facebook’s 1.01 billion global users having even cast a vote, or just 0.067 percent (sixty-seven tenths of a percent) . . . Kicking-off December 6, Facebook had given all of its over 1.01 billion users around the globe one full week to vote on the changes it has proposed to its key “governing documents,” the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and Data Use Policy, which spell out what type of user data Facebook can collect and what Facebook may do with it.” Regarding corporate democracy (and its cousin, shareholder franchise): [...] Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-problem-with-voting-about-corporate-policies/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-problem-with-voting-about-corporate-policies/ Mon, 10 December 2012 20:22:22 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/villanova-law-school-put-on-2-year-probation-by-association-of-american-law-schools/ I take no pleasure in reporting this news about a local law school. Villanova Law School admitted in 2011 that under its previous dean it had intentionally submitted false data to the American Bar Association (ABA) regarding the grades and Law School Admissions Test scores of its incoming classes. This revelation resulted in censure of Villanova Law School by the American Bar Association. Now another regulatory body has weighed in on the Villanova Law School scandal. In a public letter dated November 28, 2012, addressed to the President of Villanova University and the Dean of the Villanova Law School, the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), a voluntary association of member law schools, announced that it was placing Villanova Law School on probation for two years, commencing when the school posts the letter on its website. The American Bar Association had also required Villanova Law School to prominently post a copy of the ABA censure on the law school website. Villanova Law School's home page now has links at the bottom of the page to the ABA and AALS letters of reprimand. The AALS explained its delay in responding to the scandal by noting, "The AALS had no precedent for responding to conduct of this kind by a member school." It said that, "the serious nature of the unethical behavior, and the continuing nature of the harm done, calls for a strong response on the part of this Association." It found that, "The Law School's intentional submission of false data over a period of several years... constitutes 'a material failure to comply with the requirements of (AALS) membership,' warranting sanctions." In other writing I have tried to make the connection between this particular scandal and the larger crisis in American legal education resulting from too many law schools, having to charge higher tuition to stay competitive, competing for too few tuition-paying law students, many of whom incur enormous student loan debt, only to find fewer and more limited job opportunities after graduation than they expected. I think it's entirely fair for Villanova Law School's students, faculty and alumni to wonder in the midst of this legal education crisis, if, and how many, other American law schools may have done the same thing as Villanova, in an effort to market themselves to tuition-paying students, but not admitted it as Villanova has done. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/villanova-law-school-put-on-2-year-probation-by-association-of-american-law-schools/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/villanova-law-school-put-on-2-year-probation-by-association-of-american-law-schools/ Sun, 09 December 2012 00:30:41 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/need-revenue-taxes-that-promote-health/ The Congressional Budget Office just released a comprehensive new report investigating the budgetary effects of a hypothetical increase in the federal excise tax on cigarettes and small cigars from, $1.01 to $1.51 in fiscal year 2013. The report’s level of … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/need-revenue-taxes-that-promote-health/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/need-revenue-taxes-that-promote-health/ Fri, 07 December 2012 09:30:43 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/jon-stewart-takes-down-treaty-rejectionists-“please-tell-me-this-is-rock-bottom”/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro In case you missed it, Jon Stewart at his best on the Senate’s rejection on Tuesday of the Disabilities Convention: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook   The floor debate on the CRPD can be found in the [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/jon-stewart-takes-down-treaty-rejectionists-“please-tell-me-this-is-rock-bottom”/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/jon-stewart-takes-down-treaty-rejectionists-“please-tell-me-this-is-rock-bottom”/ Thu, 06 December 2012 21:10:12 Jaya Ramji-Nogales http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-olga-martín-ortega/ It's our great pleasure today to welcome Dr. Olga Martín-Ortega (right) as an IntLawGrrls contributor. Olga is a Reader in Public International Law at the University of Greenwich in the United Kingdom. She holds a law degree from the University of Sevilla in Spain, and received her Ph.D. cum laude in International Human Rights Law from Spain's University of Jaen. Prior to joining Greenwich, she was Senior Research Fellow and member of the Management Team at the Centre on Human Rights in Conflict , School of Law and Social Sciences, University of East London. Olga conducts research in the areas of business and human rights, post-conflict reconstruction and transitional justice. Her latest research has focused on the impact of the activities and working methods of multinational enterprises in conflict zones and peacebuilding and transitional justice in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Spain. Her introductory post today draws lessons from the experience of Bosnia and Herzegovina in multilevel international justice efforts to address war crimes. Olga is a founding member of the London Transitional Justice Network and the European Society of International Law Interest Group on Business and Human Rights . Among her publications are: a monograph, Empresas Multinacionales y Derechos Humanos (2008); three co-edited volumes, Peacebuilding and Transitional Justice on the Ground: Victims and Ex-Combatants (2012), Peacebuilding and the Rule of Law in Africa (2010), and Surviving Field Research (2009); and two co-authored textbooks, International Law (2009) and War, Conflict and Human Rights (2009). Heartfelt welcome! Via IntLawGrrls http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-olga-martín-ortega/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-olga-martín-ortega/ Thu, 06 December 2012 06:00:00 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/senate-rejects-disabilities-treaty-(sovereigntism-lives,-or-does-it)/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro Story here on how the CRPD went down. The tally was 61-38, five votes short of the two-thirds necessary for approval. On the one hand, the defeat demonstrates sovereigntism’s staying power. The anti-internationalist Right has been energized by a flight of treaties baring the putative menace of global governance — the Law of [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/senate-rejects-disabilities-treaty-(sovereigntism-lives,-or-does-it)/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/senate-rejects-disabilities-treaty-(sovereigntism-lives,-or-does-it)/ Tue, 04 December 2012 14:00:49 Jaya Ramji-Nogales http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-jill-goldenziel/ It's our great pleasure to introduce Dr. Jill Goldenziel (left) as an IntLawGrrls contributor. Jill is a Lecturer at Harvard College and the Boston University School of Law , teaching courses in International Law, International Human Rights, and the Law and Politics of the Middle East. She holds a Ph.D. and an A.M. in Government from Harvard University, a J.D. from the NYU School of Law, and an A.B. from Princeton University. Jill was previously a Climenko Fellow and Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School, a Fellow of the Center for Migration and Refugee Studies at the American University of Cairo, and a Fellow of the American Center for Oriental Research in Amman, Jordan. She is a speaker for the U.S. Speaker and Specialist Program of the U.S. Department of State. Jill's introductory post below draws on her article forthcoming in the American Journal of Comparative Law in order to discuss judicial independence in Egypt. Heartfelt welcome! Via IntLawGrrls http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-jill-goldenziel/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-jill-goldenziel/ Mon, 03 December 2012 06:00:00 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-don’t-people-get-it-about-jefferson-and-slavery/ (David Post)We seem to have once again entered a  period in which we will be subject to more Jefferson-the-Perpetuator-of-Slavery bashing – witness the rather appalling Op-Ed piece in today’s NYT by Paul Finkelman on “The Monster of Monticello.”   The founding generation, Finkelman writes, helped perpetuate a “treason against the hopes of the world,” by “fail[ing] to place [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-don’t-people-get-it-about-jefferson-and-slavery/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-don’t-people-get-it-about-jefferson-and-slavery/ Sat, 01 December 2012 10:54:47 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/obama-and-democrats-should-support-republican-stem-jobs-act-immigration-reform-bill/ The Republican controlled U.S. House of Representatives by a bi-partisan vote of 245-139, has passed the STEM Jobs Act which makes 55,000 additional immigrant visas available to foreigners who have earned advanced degrees from U.S. universities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and whom U.S. employers want to hire. Twenty-seven Democrats joined 218 Republicans in supporting the bill. Five Republicans joined 134 Democrats in voting "no". The 55,000 visas were added by the new act without increasing the overall level of immigration by abolishing the so-called Diversity Visa Lottery, which purports to award 55,000 prized immigrant visas each year in an on-line lottery. Also known as the "green card lottery", it discriminates on the basis of ethnicity in order to steer visas to politically favored races and nationalities. It completely excludes, for example, people from Mexico, Haiti, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, China, the Philippines, South Korea, India, and 11 other countries from even applying. Originally created to bring more white immigrants to the U.S., particularly from Ireland, it was sometimes referred to as "the Anti-Diversity Lottery". Currently the largest group of Diversity immigrants come from Africa, which is why some Democrats opposed the STEM Jobs Act, despite claiming to support more immigrant visas for those holding advanced degrees in the STEM fields. Besides being discriminatory, the so-called Diversity Visa Lottery is rife with fraud. Because applications are accepted over the internet, people can apply multiple times using different names to increase their chance of winning. When I testified to Congress in 2004 in favor of abolishing the Visa Lottery, I was joined by other witnesses and former government officials who testified that fraud in the program is widespread. A third important part of the STEM Jobs Act makes temporary visas available to the spouses and minor children of legal permanent residents of the U.S. This allows family reunification while spouses and children await their permanent immigrant visas. Over 300,000 are on this waiting list, mainly from Mexico and the Dominican Republic. Refusal of Senate Democrats and President Obama to support this bill means that these families of legal permanent residents already in the U.S. will continue to be separated. Democrats are holding the STEM Jobs Act hostage until they get what they want, which is a big amnesty for all the millions of aliens who have entered the U.S. in violation of our immigration laws. They don't like to use the word "amnesty", and prefer the vague, ambiguous, and meaningless phrase "comprehensive immigration reform". This is ironic since the Democrats accuse the Republicans of holding hostage the extension of the expiring Bush tax cuts for middle-class taxpayers, until they also get a tax cut extension for the richest 2% of American taxpayers. How's this for a deal: Democrats agree to allow the STEM Jobs Act to become law. And in exchange, Republicans allow the middle-class tax cut extension to become law. All other legislative ideas get considered separately and on their own merits. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/obama-and-democrats-should-support-republican-stem-jobs-act-immigration-reform-bill/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/obama-and-democrats-should-support-republican-stem-jobs-act-immigration-reform-bill/ Fri, 30 November 2012 23:33:35 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professor-nancy-j-knauer-receives-university-service-award/ November 30, 2012 - Professor Nancy J. Knauer was among eighteen Temple faculty members who were honored by the Office of the Provost and Faculty Senate Steering Committee for their many service contributions to the university during the second annual Outstanding Faculty Service Awards brunch held earlier this month. The award was made in recognition of Professor Knauer's leadership in creating the D.C. Law & Public Policy Program . http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professor-nancy-j-knauer-receives-university-service-award/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professor-nancy-j-knauer-receives-university-service-award/ Fri, 30 November 2012 00:00:00 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/you-have-to-read-this/ By Scott Burris Australian public health law savant Chris Reynolds recently stopped by Temple Law School to discuss the South Australia Public Health Act of 2011.  It is a fresh look at how to write a basic public health law … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/you-have-to-read-this/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/you-have-to-read-this/ Thu, 29 November 2012 09:15:04 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/pennsylvania-state-representative-elect-brian-sims-names-temple-law-student-as-chief-of-staff/ November 29, 2012 - Temple Law student Mason Lane '13 has been named Chief of Staff by Pennsylvania State Representative-Elect Brian Sims. Lane, who has been serving as Sims' Transition Director since the April 24 primary victory over longtime incumbent Representative Babette Josephs,  will develop and implement legislative initiatives, advise on policy matters, and oversee office operations. This is not the first foray into Pennsylvania politics for Lane, a native of Center City who is also an alumnus of the Center for Progressive Leadership.  He previously served as the Eastern Pennsylvania Field Organizer and Policy Coordinator for Equality Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth's LGBT political advocacy organization. In commenting on his selection of Lane and District Office Director Anna Aagenes, Sims remarked that "Philadelphia is full of really strong, progressive professionals and I knew I had an opportunity to recruit some of the best for these new positions. Mason and Anna will be fully integrated in every part of the work that I do to represent Center City. I'm pleased to work with them, but I'm also very excited by the talents that each will bring to the District and to Harrisburg." http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/pennsylvania-state-representative-elect-brian-sims-names-temple-law-student-as-chief-of-staff/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/pennsylvania-state-representative-elect-brian-sims-names-temple-law-student-as-chief-of-staff/ Thu, 29 November 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-student-wins-international-writing-competition/ November 29, 2012 - Temple Law student Steven Silver '13 has been selected to receive the 2012 Shannon Bybee Scholarship Award from the International Association of Gaming Advisors (IAGA) for his paper, "The Curious Case of Convenience Casinos." Silver, who worked before law school as a reporter for the Las Vegas Sun, wrote the article to examine how courts and legislatures in various states have addressed the hidden industry of Internet sweepstakes cafés, which operate in a gray area between unlawful gambling and legitimate business promotions.  "With 3,000 to 5,000 convenience casinos in the U.S. representing a $10-15 billion industry, the stakes are high," explains Silver in his abstract.  "Does a state regulate the sweepstakes cafes and allow them to compete with traditional bricks-and-mortar casinos or does it craft new gaming statutes to ban the sweepstakes?" Silver explores the growing thicket of conflicting court opinions before proposing a free market approach to legalizing and regulating the highly profitable industry. Silver was advised by Professor Ed Ellers, an authority on gaming law.  "Steve has done an outstanding job identifying and addressing the legal and other issues in play with respect to convenience casinos," remarked Ellers.  "This is a cutting edge issue in gaming law, and Steve has advanced a thoughtful proposal for its resolution." The IAGA committee responsible for judging submissions to the competition found Silver's paper to be of "outstanding merit." The version of the paper submitted for the competition will be published online at  http://www.theiaga.org/web/guest/scholarship , and the full length version will be published in January by the John Marshall Journal of Computer and Information Law. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-student-wins-international-writing-competition/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-student-wins-international-writing-competition/ Thu, 29 November 2012 00:00:00 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/more-on-the-(still-pending)-“anti-internet-treaty”/ (David Post)Courtesy of Larry Downes and the (indispensable) WCITLeaks.org document repository, some evidence that the UN is gearing up for a public relations push in support of what Downes is (rightly) calling the “Anti-Internet Treaty” — viz., various proposals on the table  at the upcoming World Conference on International Telecommunications which would give the UN’s  International [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/more-on-the-(still-pending)-“anti-internet-treaty”/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/more-on-the-(still-pending)-“anti-internet-treaty”/ Tue, 27 November 2012 10:11:12 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/when-is-it-ok-to-be-8220descriptive8221/ I presented a taxonomy of federal litigation today to a terrific audience at Rutgers-Camden. As I’ve covered in exhausting detail, the paper sets out to describe how lawyers organize causes of action together into complaints.  It uses a method called spectral clustering to illustrate the networks of legal theories that typically are pled together.  (It does some more stuff, but that’s the gist.)  As often happens when presenting this particular paper, it was pointed out to me that the project lacks a clearly defined normative “so what”.  This is basically correct. The “so what” of the paper is “this is a different, more-finely grained, way to see how attorneys think and produce cases. With pretty pictures. How do you like them apples?” As I said, I tend to get [...] Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/when-is-it-ok-to-be-8220descriptive8221/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/when-is-it-ok-to-be-8220descriptive8221/ Mon, 26 November 2012 20:42:27 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/sephardic-jews-get-right-of-return-–-to-spain/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro Spain is now granting citizenship automatically without any residency requirement to those who can demonstrate descent from those Jews expelled from Spain more than 500 years ago. The rule could make as many as 3 million Sephardic Jews worldwide eligible for Spanish citizenship (600,000 of them in the United States, including a [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/sephardic-jews-get-right-of-return-–-to-spain/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/sephardic-jews-get-right-of-return-–-to-spain/ Mon, 26 November 2012 09:53:15 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/fear-not-the-fiscal-cliff!/ The so-called "fiscal cliff" is the confluence of three separate legal events on January 1, 2013: expiration of a temporary payroll tax cut, expiration of the so-called "Bush" income and estate tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003, and mandatory spending cuts also known as "sequestration". Many commentators are expressing concern that unless Congress intervenes by January 1, the economy will suffer a serious setback. But I don't think that's the worst thing that could happen. First, the expiration of the payroll tax cut is going to happen in any event. The payroll tax was lowered in 2011 and 2012 as a temporary economic stimulus. But there is bi-partisan agreement that the payroll tax should be restored to pre-2011 levels to adequately fund Social Security. No controversy here. Payroll taxes will increase in 2013. The so-called "Bush tax cuts" of 2001 and 2003 were enacted as temporary responses to the economic recession triggered first by the collapse of the internet bubble and then the September 11 terrorist attacks. The Republican sponsors of those tax cuts agreed that they would expire at the end of 2010. As that deadline approached, and President Obama and congressional Republicans continued to argue over whose taxes should be allowed to go up, the President and his political adversaries agreed to extend the tax cuts for two more years, until the end of 2012. President Obama campaigned on allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire for households earning $250,000 or more, but extending the tax cuts for households earning less than that amount. Republicans advocate making the tax cuts permanent for all taxpayers regardless of income, and also making permanent the elimination of the federal estate tax on decedent millionaires, which they call the "death tax". Unless Congress acts, all the Bush tax cuts will expire on December 31, and both income and estate tax rates will be restored to the levels that applied before 2001. As part of the 2011 agreement to increase the debt ceiling, Congress pledged to cut federal spending by $1.2 trillion over 10 years, with specific cuts to be determined by a joint select deficit-reduction "super committee". To insure that the cuts would happen, Congress specified that if by the super committee failed to designate sufficient spending cuts, and Congress failed to take any superseding action by December 31, 2012, those $1.2 trillion cuts would happen automatically, spread equally between defense and non-defense spending. These automatic, across-the-board spending cuts have been labeled "sequestration". Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke coined the worrisome phrase "fiscal cliff" to describe the consequences if Congress fails to act by December 31, and the Bush tax cuts all expire, and sequestration spending cuts begin. But that's not the worst scenario. The worst scenario would be for Congress to extend all the Bush tax cuts and repeal its commitment to cut federal spending by $1.2 trillion over 10 years. That worst case scenario would mean growth of the federal government's $1 trillion annual budget deficit would continue to accelerate, and the now $16 trillion national debt would continue to expand in excess of gross domestic product, the total value of all goods and services produced in the U.S. The political reality is that it's very difficult for elected officials who want to be re-elected to either cut spending or raise taxes. But cutting spending and raising taxes are both what is needed to reduce the deficit and slow the growth of the national debt. It is both irresponsible and dangerous for us to burden future generations of Americans with the obligation to pay for our accelerating current spending. It would be nice if Democrats and Republicans could get together and reach agreement on exactly how to reduce spending and raise taxes. But in the current gridlocked political environment, that is a fantasy. Anyone who recognizes that should understand that the so-called fiscal cliff is not so bad. Allowing all the Bush tax cuts to expire will raise everyone's taxes, but only to the levels that applied during President Clinton's administration when the economy was strong and expanding. Sequestration is a blunt instrument to reduce federal spending, but there does not appear to be a better way. Does anyone seriously doubt that there is tremendous unnecessary spending and waste which can and should be cut from the federal budget? There's nothing irrevocable about the fiscal cliff. Congress could act any time before or after January 1, 2013, to fine tune the already mandated spending cuts and tax increases. Republicans deserve both the credit and the blame for making the Bush tax cuts expire and requiring spending cuts as a condition for increasing the debt ceiling. President Obama should be willing to allow those events to happen if that's the only way to address our growing deficit and national debt. He will be in a stronger position after January 1, to make a better and fairer deal than he could negotiate this year. And if he can't? Bring on the fiscal cliff! Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/fear-not-the-fiscal-cliff!/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/fear-not-the-fiscal-cliff!/ Sat, 24 November 2012 21:52:41 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/university-of-michigan-seeking-assistant-dean-for-international-affairs/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro Job posting here. This would be a fabulous opportunity for someone with an international law background. Michigan of course has one of the country’s top international law faculties and led the way in requiring transnational law as part of its first-law curriculum. Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/university-of-michigan-seeking-assistant-dean-for-international-affairs/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/university-of-michigan-seeking-assistant-dean-for-international-affairs/ Tue, 20 November 2012 16:37:46 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/and-speaking-of-libertarians,-conservatives,-and-radical-copyright-reform/ (David Post)Following on what I posted earlier about the Republican Study Commission’s now-retracted Report on Copyright reform and what it might mean for a developing new consensus on the right about the failure(s) of current copyright policy.  I should have noted there that the Mercatus Center is about to publish a book on this very topic [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/and-speaking-of-libertarians,-conservatives,-and-radical-copyright-reform/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/and-speaking-of-libertarians,-conservatives,-and-radical-copyright-reform/ Mon, 19 November 2012 16:03:09 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/obama-centers-(rohingya)-citizenship-in-burma/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro President Obama’s visit to Burma/Mynamar has centered the status of the country’s Muslim minority Rohingya community which has been denied Burmese citizenship notwithstanding their historical presence in the country. (The issue gets a lot more coverage in the Muslim world than in the West.) Obama’s speech today welcomed recent steps by the Burmese [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/obama-centers-(rohingya)-citizenship-in-burma/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/obama-centers-(rohingya)-citizenship-in-burma/ Mon, 19 November 2012 12:24:06 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/republicans-going-copyleft!/ (David Post)The Republican Study Committee  in the House of Representatives has issued an extremely interesting (though rather clumsily written and clumsily titled) Report on “Three Myths About Copyright Law, and Where to Start to Fix it.”  The Report is posted here Actually, it’s not posted there anymore, having been removed by the RSC itself  . . [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/republicans-going-copyleft!/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/republicans-going-copyleft!/ Mon, 19 November 2012 09:19:43 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/overdose-update-celebrity-edition/ By Scott Burris   You’ve probably heard about the good news/bad news experience of Stephanie Bongiovi, daughter of rocker Jon Bon Jovi. A college student, she ODed on heroin, but help was summoned and she’s going to be fine. The (temporary) … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/overdose-update-celebrity-edition/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/overdose-update-celebrity-edition/ Sat, 17 November 2012 13:58:10 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-prescription-drug-abuse-and-overdose-crisis-focus-on-the-supply-chain/ By Scott Burris There’s so much we still don’t know about the prescription opioid problem. The partial remedies advanced so far reflect this: Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs, which in essence define the problem as doctor-shopping patients; treatment guidelines, which define … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-prescription-drug-abuse-and-overdose-crisis-focus-on-the-supply-chain/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-prescription-drug-abuse-and-overdose-crisis-focus-on-the-supply-chain/ Wed, 14 November 2012 15:33:57 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/petraeus-scandal-and-international-law-the-honorary-consul/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro Everyone else has a piece of this reality show, so why not international law? It turns out that Jill Kelley (for those of you not keeping score at home, here’s the roster) is the honorary consul of Korea in Tampa. She’s now looking to use the status defensively. From USA Today: Jill [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/petraeus-scandal-and-international-law-the-honorary-consul/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/petraeus-scandal-and-international-law-the-honorary-consul/ Wed, 14 November 2012 10:53:50 Jaya Ramji-Nogales http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-sarah-houlihan-katherine-romero/ It's our great pleasure today to welcome as IntLawGrrls contributors Sarah Houlihan and Katherine Romero , attorney and senior attorney, respectively, in the Bogotá office of the NGO Women’s Link Worldwide. Sarah Houlihan ► Sarah works primarily on sexual and reproductive rights within Latin America and Africa. She is an Irish qualified barrister, and practiced before the Superior Courts in Ireland before moving to Colombia. Sarah completed legal internships with the Office of the Prosecutor, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and in judicial chambers at the U.S. District Court in Charleston, South Carolina. She holds an LL.M. in International Human Rights Law from the University of Nottingham, as well as a degree in Corporate Law with German, and a postgraduate degree in law from the National University of Ireland, Galway. Sarah recently completed a Diploma in Human and Women's Rights: Legal Strategies for Advocacy at the University of Chile Centre for Human Rights. Katherine Romero ► Katherine began work with Women’s Link in 2005, in the field of sexual and reproductive rights. She is part of the legal team on LAICIA, a litigation project that worked toward the 2006 liberalization of abortion law in Colombia. Since 2010, Katherine has directed the sexual and reproductive rights program in Latin American and Africa. She is also an occasional speaker for the Inter American Institute of Human Rights . Katherine graduated with a joint degree in law and political science from the University of the Andes in Bogotá, and holds a Masters in Human Rights Protection from the University of Alcala de Henares, Madrid, Spain. In 2009, Katherine was a visiting attorney at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. In their introductory post below , Sarah and Katherine discuss the legal underpinnings of a model aimed at addressing high maternal mortality rates, particularly in the context of deaths from unsafe abortion. The post is drawn from their co-authored report, Maternal Mortality, Unsafe Abortion and the Harm Reduction Model: the Legal Platform . Heartfelt welcome! Via IntLawGrrls http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-sarah-houlihan-katherine-romero/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-sarah-houlihan-katherine-romero/ Wed, 14 November 2012 06:00:00 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/empirical-studies-workshop/ Intrigued by the goings on at CELS VII?  Join the revolution.  Andrew Martin asked me to post the following: Title: Conducting Empirical Legal Scholarship Workshop, May 22-24, 2013 On Wednesday, May 22, 2013 through Friday, May 24, 2013, Lee Epstein and Andrew Martin will be teaching their annual Conducting Empirical Legal Scholarship workshop.  This workshop will be held in Los Angeles, and is co-sponsored by USC Gould School of Law and Washington University Law. There is more information available about the workshop here: http://law.usc.edu/EmpiricalWorkshop The Conducting Empirical Legal Scholarship workshop is for law school and social science faculty interested in learning about empirical research.  The instructors provide the formal training necessary to design, conduct, and assess empirical studies, and to use statistical software (Stata) to analyze and manage data. [...] Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/empirical-studies-workshop/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/empirical-studies-workshop/ Tue, 13 November 2012 20:55:41 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/drug-law-factoids-for-your-consideration/ By Scott Burris This is a succinct paragraph from the weekly newsletter of U. Maryland’s Center for Substance Abuse Research. Seems relevant both to the conference on law  enforcement and public health I reported on earlier this week, and the … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/drug-law-factoids-for-your-consideration/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/drug-law-factoids-for-your-consideration/ Tue, 13 November 2012 20:00:46 Duncan Hollis http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-oxford-guide-to-treaties-symposium-evidence-of-“secondary”-fragmentation/ by Duncan Hollis First of all, I need to say thank you to all the contributors to the current symposium on my book,  The Oxford Guide to Treaties .  It's quite common in academic circles to have symposia on "affairs of the day" (and, to be clear, those affairs often trigger very important issues like targeted killing, cyberwar, climate change, the EU fiscal crisis, etc.).  But, I think it's equally important to step back from time to time and have conversations about the international legal system itself, of which treaty law and practice now forms a large part.  Thus, I've greatly appreciated the discussions over the last several days on whether reservations can be severed, the rule(s) of treaty interpretation, the increasing "publicness" of treaty functions, and the role of non-State actors in modern treaty-making. In reading these posts, moreover, I was struck by how some of them suggest (albeit implicitly) a new way to think about the fragmentation of international law.  To date, we have tended to think about fragmentation in one of two ways.  First, we have the question of "normative" fragmentation, where two rules produced by different legal regimes conflict or compete with each other, meaning that a State has to choose to which rule to give priority.  We normally talk about this as the "trade and . . ." problem where WTO rules have been said to conflict with rules of international environmental law, international labour law, etc.  But, normative fragmentation is not limited to the trade context as witnessed by the question of what to do when UN Security Council resolutions on international peace and security conflict with EU Law in  the Kadi case .  Second, fragmentation may also arise where the conflict is not between the rules but who applies them; that is, competition or conflict over which tribunal or court should be authorized to have the final say on which rules apply or what a particular rule means in a given situation.  The MoX case is a paradigmatic example of this inter-tribunal competition, with three different proceedings under three different normative regimes: an  arbitral tribunal pursuant to the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea , dispute settlement under the  Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic , and proceedings before the  European Court of Justice pursuant to the European Community and EURATOM treaties . As I think about the law of treaties, however, I see the potential for a third type of fragmentation within international law, or what I'll call "secondary" fragmentation.  My basic idea is that fragmentation is not limited to competition and conflict among primary rules, but can also occur with secondary rules.  Here, I'm employing  H.L.A. Hart's famous division of rules  into primary and secondary categories.  Primary rules are rules of conduct -- telling States and other subjects of international law what they are obligated to do (or not do).  Secondary rules, in contrast, are "rules on rules", or rules that tell us how to form, interpret, amend, or extinguish primary rules.  When we talk about normative fragmentation, however, almost all the existing discussion has emphasized conflicts and competition among primary rules, e.g., should a WTO rule trump or defer to an international environmental rule? In looking at the various posts on interpretation and Geir Ulfstein's  post  on treaty functions, however, it seems there's some evidence of a different kind of fragmentation emerging among the secondary rules of international law.  For example, Geir suggests at the end of his post that "Treaty law must be complemented by international institutional law".  But treaty law and international institutional law are not required by any rule of international law to get along -- it's equally possible that the result produced by the law of treaties (say an interpretation of a treaty constituting an International Organization under VCLT Article 31) and international institutional law (say an interpretation of the same treaty employing the implied powers doctrine) could generate competing or conflicting results with respect to the same primary rule.  Catherine's  post  makes this point more descriptively, noting how international institutional law has come to supplant the general law of treaties in the IO treaty context.  As with fragmentation among tribunals or primary rules, however, international law doesn't tell us if this is the correct result.  Examples of secondary rules that are conciliatory to other secondary rules are relatively rare -- although the VCLT does include a few examples with respect to IO treaties in Articles 5 and 20(3).  But, on the whole, the international legal order says little, if anything about whether one set of secondary rules should be accorded priority over another. Moreover, I don't think this competition over interpretative rules is an isolated case.  Although  The Oxford Guide to Treaties   does not explicitly flag this idea of secondary fragmentation specifically, there is evidence of it in several other chapters.  For example, although the VCLT's rules on material breach purport to function differently than the law of state responsibility, Bruno Simma and Christian Tams' chapter on remedies for treaty breach makes clear that these two sets of "secondary" rules are in competition with one another (and, moreover, that the law of state responsibility on countermeasures may be winning in the sense that it is those rules not the VCLT provisions on which States currently rely).  Malgosia Fitzmaurice's chapter makes a similar point about tensions over exceptional circumstances where the law of treaties has doctrines -- impossibility, and  rebus sic stantibus  -- that may be threatened by the law of state responsibility's doctrine of necessity. Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-oxford-guide-to-treaties-symposium-evidence-of-“secondary”-fragmentation/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-oxford-guide-to-treaties-symposium-evidence-of-“secondary”-fragmentation/ Mon, 12 November 2012 17:19:42 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-oxford-guide-to-treaties-symposium-enter-non-state-actors/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro I’ll join the chorus of praise for my colleague Duncan’s book. It will clearly become the standard reference work in the area. As IL scholarship proliferates, there is a lot of smart money in handbook volumes such as this one. The Oxford Guide to Treaties is a one-stop source for the best [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-oxford-guide-to-treaties-symposium-enter-non-state-actors/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-oxford-guide-to-treaties-symposium-enter-non-state-actors/ Mon, 12 November 2012 15:37:29 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/cels-vii-low-variance,-high-significance/ [CELS VII, held November 9-10, 2012 at Stanford, was a smashing success due in no small part to the work of chief organizer Dan Ho, as well as Dawn Chutkow (of SELS and Cornell) and Stanford's organizing committee.  For previous installments in the CELS recap series, see CELS III, IV, V, and VI. For those few readers of this post who are data-skeptics and don’t want to read a play-by-play, resistance is obviously futile and you might as well give up. I hear that TV execs were at CELS scouting for a statistic geek reality show, so think of this as a taste of what’s coming.] Survey Research isn't just for the 1%! Unlike last year, I got to the conference early and even went to a methods [...] Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/cels-vii-low-variance,-high-significance/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/cels-vii-low-variance,-high-significance/ Mon, 12 November 2012 11:33:23 Temple Law School http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-finalist-national-intellectual-property-law-meet/ TEMPLE LAW SCHOOL - FINALIST IN THE NATIONAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW TRANSACTIONAL MEET Congratulations to Temple Law School's team of Ramana Rameswaran , Jason Lamb and Brian Auerbach ,  finalists in the National IP Law Meet hosted by Earl Mack School of Law at Drexel University.  The National IP LawMeet® is the premier lawyering competition for students, involving transactional practice focused on Intellectual Property.  The competition included teams from twelve law schools around the country including, American University, Drexel University, New York Law School, Northwestern University, Santa Clara University, South Texas College of Law, Suffolk University, University of Missouri-Kansas City, University of Pennsylvania, Widener University and William and Mary College of Law. This year's problem involved a cross-licencing deal for technology required to design and construct a mass energy storage facility. The Temple team also received first place for the best draft. The team was coached by Michael Dunnam (Woodcock Washburn), Hal Fullmer '96 (Woodcock Washburn) , Professor David Post and Assistant Dean Shyam Nair '97 .   http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-finalist-national-intellectual-property-law-meet/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-finalist-national-intellectual-property-law-meet/ Mon, 12 November 2012 00:00:00 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/an-international-meeting-of-public-health-and-law-enforcement/ By Scott Burris We know, and now most people acknowledge, that police activity has some clear, and in some instances intentional, effects on health.  To start with the obvious, police are instrumental in reducing the number of people who are … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/an-international-meeting-of-public-health-and-law-enforcement/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/an-international-meeting-of-public-health-and-law-enforcement/ Sun, 11 November 2012 21:24:25 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/greatest-american-novelist-since-faulkner-hangs-it-up/ (David Post)Without much fanfare, Philip Roth has declared that he is retiring.  There’s a very nice appreciation by Panio Gianopoulos here on Slate, with others, surely, to follow.  The best American novelist since Faulkner?  Here’s my idiosyncratic list of his true masterpieces: Portnoy’s Complaint, American Pastoral, The Ghost Writer, The Human Stain, The Plot Against America, Everyman, and Sabbath’s Theater.   Who else [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/greatest-american-novelist-since-faulkner-hangs-it-up/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/greatest-american-novelist-since-faulkner-hangs-it-up/ Sun, 11 November 2012 09:12:56 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-were-republicans-surprised-by-their-election-losses-what-should-they-do-now/ A lot of Republicans seemed genuinely surprised that they lost, that Mitt Romney was defeated by President Obama, and that Republicans lost seats in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. Republicans were both stunned and shocked. They actually thought they were going to win! How could they have believed they were going to win? Scientific polling offered by Nate Silver of the New York Times, the Pew Research Center, and others showed with granular clarity that President Obama had maintained his narrow national lead, and had a high probability of success in most of the swing states. Throughout the campaign, Republicans had criticized as flawed or biased any polling showing Mitt Romney trailing President Obama. But the recent track record for polling has been very good, which is why campaigns study polls. What critics of polling fail to understand is that polling is a science. That's not the same thing as saying that polling, or any other science, is the absolute truth or is always going to be correct. It just means that polling uses a scientific methodology to figure out what works and what fails to work in predicting outcomes. It's true that every polling sample is by definition too small. But by aggregating the results of different polls, a larger and more accurate sample can be assembled. It's also true that every poll is flawed in some way. But again, by aggregating different polls, and adjusting for known variables, those flaws can be minimized. It is perhaps predictable that those who deny and criticize the science of climate change would also deny and criticize the science of polling, which this year again accurately predicted the election results. Republicans lost, and will continue to lose, until they recognize demographic trends, and adjust their unpopular ideas accordingly. If only the 19th Amendment to the Constitution could have been repealed and American women disenfranchised, Mitt Romney would be the president-elect. If only young voters, however defined, could have been disenfranchised, Mitt Romney would be the president-elect. If only lower-income voters, however defined, could have been disenfranchised, Mitt Romney would be the president-elect. If only minority voters could have been disenfranchised, and only white Americans allowed to vote, Mitt Romney would be president-elect. How can Republicans appeal to the growing demographics of women, younger generations, lower-income voters, and minorities? First, stop threatening to repeal the Roe v. Wade decision recognizing reproductive rights. Everyone is entitled to his or her personal or religious view of the morality of abortion. But Republicans should stop trying to legally impose their views on Americans with a different point of view on reproductive rights. Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican Party, has proclaimed his party "proudly pro-life". In that context, the anti-abortion--with no exception for rape--statements of failed Senate candidates Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock were not extreme statements at all. They were the logical conclusions of believing that human life begins and must be protected from conception. They were mainstream beliefs of the pro-life movement and its political arm, the Republican Party, though not of the demographics Republicans need to court. Same thing with same-sex marriage. Again, everyone gets his or her own opinion on the propriety of same-sex marriage. But no one should try to impose his or her personal views on others to deny them equal rights. Younger voters in particular understand this. Republican candidates and elected officials should stop signing written pledges to outside lobbyists like Grover Norquist, giving up their power to cast independent votes in the best interests of their constituents and the country as they may determine at the time of any vote. Republicans can and should play a positive role in questioning and challenging excessive and unnecessary government spending, including defense spending. Republicans should clearly oppose President Obama's plan for a big immigration amnesty which past experience shows only leads to more and faster illegal immigration. But they should stop blaming the illegal immigrants themselves for responding predictably to the promise of past and future amnesties and the failure to enforce our immigration laws. Republicans should explain that the only alternative to unlimited immigration is setting and enforcing numerical limits. Pretending we have numerical limits but not enforcing them, as President Obama proposes, and instead giving amnesty to all who violate our laws, is not a serious or practical alternative. Shipping American jobs overseas to be done by cheaper foreign workers is predictably condemned. Importing unlimited foreign workers to compete for those jobs in America should be equally objectionable to American voters. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-were-republicans-surprised-by-their-election-losses-what-should-they-do-now/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-were-republicans-surprised-by-their-election-losses-what-should-they-do-now/ Sat, 10 November 2012 22:17:21 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-were-republicans-surprised-by-their-election-losses-what-should-they-do-now/ A lot of Republicans seemed genuinely surprised that they lost, that Mitt Romney was defeated by President Obama, and that Republicans lost seats in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. Republicans were both stunned and shocked. They actually thought they were going to win! How could they have believed they were going to win? Scientific polling offered by Nate Silver of the New York Times, the Pew Research Center, and others showed with granular clarity that President Obama had maintained his narrow national lead, and had a high probability of success in most of the swing states. Throughout the campaign, Republicans had criticized as flawed or biased any polling showing Mitt Romney trailing President Obama. But the recent track record for polling has been very good, which is why campaigns study polls. What critics of polling fail to understand is that polling is a science. That's not the same thing as saying that polling, or any other science, is the absolute truth or is always going to be correct. It just means that polling uses a scientific methodology to figure out what works and what fails to work in predicting outcomes. It's true that every polling sample is by definition too small. But by aggregating the results of different polls, a larger and more accurate sample can be assembled. It's also true that every poll is flawed in some way. But again, by aggregating different polls, and adjusting for known variables, those flaws can be minimized. It is perhaps predictable that those who deny and criticize the science of climate change would also deny and criticize the science of polling, which this year again accurately predicted the election results. Republicans lost, and will continue to lose, until they recognize demographic trends, and adjust their unpopular ideas accordingly. If only the 19th Amendment to the Constitution could have been repealed and American women disenfranchised, Mitt Romney would be the president-elect. If only young voters, however defined, could have been disenfranchised, Mitt Romney would be the president-elect. If only lower-income voters, however defined, could have been disenfranchised, Mitt Romney would be the president-elect. If only minority voters could have been disenfranchised, and only white Americans allowed to vote, Mitt Romney would be president-elect. How can Republicans appeal to the growing demographics of women, younger generations, lower-income voters, and minorities? First, stop threatening to repeal the Roe v. Wade decision recognizing reproductive rights. Everyone is entitled to his or her personal or religious view of the morality of abortion. But Republicans should stop trying to legally impose their views on Americans with a different point of view on reproductive rights. Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican Party, has proclaimed his party "proudly pro-life". In that context, the anti-abortion--with no exception for rape--statements of failed Senate candidates Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock were not extreme statements at all. They were the logical conclusions of believing that human life begins and must be protected from conception. They were mainstream beliefs of the pro-life movement and its political arm, the Republican Party, though not of the demographics Republicans need to court. Same thing with same-sex marriage. Again, everyone gets his or her own opinion on the propriety of same-sex marriage. But no one should try to impose his or her personal views on others to deny them equal rights. Younger voters in particular understand this. Republican candidates and elected officials should stop signing written pledges to outside lobbyists like Grover Norquist, giving up their power to cast independent votes in the best interests of their constituents and the country as they may determine at the time of any vote. Republicans can and should play a positive role in questioning and challenging excessive and unnecessary government spending, including defense spending. Republicans should clearly oppose President Obama's plan for a big immigration amnesty which past experience shows only leads to more and faster illegal immigration. But they should stop blaming the illegal immigrants themselves for responding predictably to the promise of past and future amnesties and the failure to enforce our immigration laws. Republicans should explain that the only alternative to unlimited immigration is setting and enforcing numerical limits. Pretending we have numerical limits but not enforcing them, as President Obama proposes, and instead giving amnesty to all who violate our laws, is not a serious or practical alternative. Shipping American jobs overseas to be done by cheaper foreign workers is predictably condemned. Importing unlimited foreign workers to compete for those jobs in America should be equally objectionable to American voters. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-were-republicans-surprised-by-their-election-losses-what-should-they-do-now/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-were-republicans-surprised-by-their-election-losses-what-should-they-do-now/ Sat, 10 November 2012 22:17:21 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/dispatches-from-apha-2012/ By Scott Burris Two thoughts for the Friday following the 2012 APHA Annual Meeting: (1) This is a public service message for public health lawyers and their extra-disciplinary significant others. The American Public Health Association now has a Health Law … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/dispatches-from-apha-2012/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/dispatches-from-apha-2012/ Fri, 09 November 2012 14:21:30 Jaya Ramji-Nogales http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-julia-chamberlin/ It's our great pleasure today to welcome Julia Chamberlin (right) as an IntLawGrrls contributor. Julia is a third-year law student at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law in Salt Lake City.  For the past five months, she has been an intern at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague, Netherlands, where she works in the Office of the Prosecutor on the Ratko Mladić team. In conjunction with Utah Law Professor Amos N. Guiora , Julia is writing an article addressing the harm that polygamy causes to children. Julia's introductory post below focuses on a paper that she and Guiora have co-authored, concerning harms to women caused by religious extremism. ( credit for circa-1955 photo) Julia dedicates her post to the civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks (prior posts), pictured at left with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In Julia's words, 'Rosa Parks so eloquently stated: “I'm tired of being treated like a second-class citizen.” Our paper addresses women relegated to the back of the bus, and no formative female figure more aptly defied her subjugation than Rosa Parks.' Today Parks joins the many inspiring women honored on IntLawGrrls' list of transnational foremothers . Heartfelt welcome ! Via IntLawGrrls http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-julia-chamberlin/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-julia-chamberlin/ Fri, 09 November 2012 06:00:00 Duncan Hollis http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-oxford-guide-to-treaties-an-opinio-juris-symposium/ by Duncan Hollis by Duncan Hollis I’m extraordinarily pleased to be able to announce that today marks the start of the Opinio Juris symposium on my recently-edited volume, The Oxford Guide to Treaties (you can buy your copy here and there’s even a discount for Opinio Juris readers!). The Oxford Guide provides a current and comprehensive guide to treaty law [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-oxford-guide-to-treaties-an-opinio-juris-symposium/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-oxford-guide-to-treaties-an-opinio-juris-symposium/ Thu, 08 November 2012 05:00:22 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/book-panel-celebrates-launch-of-professor-hollis’-oxford-guide-to-treaties/ November 8, 2012 - Temple Law celebrated the launch of Professor Duncan Hollis' most recent book, The Oxford Guide to Treaties, with a panel featuring Professor Hollis and book contributors Christopher Borgen from St. John's University School of Law and Edward Swaine from George Washington School of Law. Following an introduction by Professor Hollis that traced the development of treaty law from the time of Deuteronomy to the present, Dean Borgen spoke briefly about treaty conflicts and Professor Swaine about treaty reservations.  The panel was followed later in the week by an online symposium about the book hosted by the popular international law blog Opinio Juris. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/book-panel-celebrates-launch-of-professor-hollis’-oxford-guide-to-treaties/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/book-panel-celebrates-launch-of-professor-hollis’-oxford-guide-to-treaties/ Thu, 08 November 2012 00:00:00 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/ok-—-so-is-nate-silver-a-witch,-or-not/ (David Post)Eugene’s post does raise one of the truly “unforeseen consequences” of this election:  the world of polling, and statistical analysis, will never be the same.  Not to take anything at all away from Silver — who has proven himself to be a very, very smart guy — but the point is: it’s not that he’s some [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/ok-—-so-is-nate-silver-a-witch,-or-not/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/ok-—-so-is-nate-silver-a-witch,-or-not/ Wed, 07 November 2012 12:07:09 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/election-eve-predictions-on-pennsylvania-and-new-jersey-races/ I'm a great believer in coattails. In a presidential election year, candidates in down ballot races get caught in the draught of the presidential race, for better or for worse. This year, especially in Pennsylvania, enthusiasm is running high for both presidential campaigns, which complicates in particular the U.S. Senate race between Senator Bob Casey and Republican challenger Tom Smith. Tom Smith, by investing his own fortune in his campaign, has shown surprising strength against the incumbent, and has benefited from the revived Romney campaign interest and spending in Pennsylvania. But in the end, I still think President Obama will carry Pennsylvania, and Senator Bob Casey will be a beneficiary of that win. President Obama will carry New Jersey by a larger margin than Pennsylvania, so Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Menendez can expect a comfortable victory over Republican challenger Joe Kyrillos. The Pennsylvania Attorney General race between Democrat Kathleen Kane and Republican David Freed has been hot and bitter. But an Obama victory in Pennsylvania should mean a victory for Kane, who also benefits from the checks-and-balances idea that the Attorney General should be from a different political party than the Governor. In Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district, incumbent Republican Jim Gerlach has survived tough and close challenges. But thanks to redistricting after the 2010 census, he now finds himself in a more Republican, if oddly shaped, new district, and should again be able to defeat his 2010 Democratic challenger Iraq war veteran and physician Manan Trivedi. In Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district, Republican incumbent Mike Fitzpatrick has been resisting a tough challenge from Democratic lawyer Kathy Boockvar. Boockvar has a shot if President Obama carries the Bucks County district, which he probably will. This one is too close to call, but I'll make one prediction: Mike Fitzpatrick will have a tougher time beating Kathy Boockvar in a presidential election year than he had two years ago when he defeated Democratic Congressman Patrick Murphy in a Republican surge in a non-presidential election. In New Jersey's historically Republican 3rd congressional district, the former Eagles football player Jon Runyan seems likely to win re-election over Democratic challenger Shelley Adler, widow of one-term Democratic Congressman John Adler, whom Runyan defeated and replaced two years ago. Lawyer Shelley Adler has raised a million dollars to seriously challenge the incumbent. But Runyan benefits from reapportionment which has made the district more Republican. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/election-eve-predictions-on-pennsylvania-and-new-jersey-races/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/election-eve-predictions-on-pennsylvania-and-new-jersey-races/ Mon, 05 November 2012 15:47:03 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/election-eve-predictions-on-pennsylvania-and-new-jersey-races/ I'm a great believer in coattails. In a presidential election year, candidates in down ballot races get caught in the draught of the presidential race, for better or for worse. This year, especially in Pennsylvania, enthusiasm is running high for both presidential campaigns, which complicates in particular the U.S. Senate race between Senator Bob Casey and Republican challenger Tom Smith. Tom Smith, by investing his own fortune in his campaign, has shown surprising strength against the incumbent, and has benefited from the revived Romney campaign interest and spending in Pennsylvania. But in the end, I still think President Obama will carry Pennsylvania, and Senator Bob Casey will be a beneficiary of that win. President Obama will carry New Jersey by a larger margin than Pennsylvania, so Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Menendez can expect a comfortable victory over Republican challenger Joe Kyrillos. The Pennsylvania Attorney General race between Democrat Kathleen Kane and Republican David Freed has been hot and bitter. But an Obama victory in Pennsylvania should mean a victory for Kane, who also benefits from the checks-and-balances idea that the Attorney General should be from a different political party than the Governor. In Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district, incumbent Republican Jim Gerlach has survived tough and close challenges. But thanks to redistricting after the 2010 census, he now finds himself in a more Republican, if oddly shaped, new district, and should again be able to defeat his 2010 Democratic challenger Iraq war veteran and physician Manan Trivedi. In Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district, Republican incumbent Mike Fitzpatrick has been resisting a tough challenge from Democratic lawyer Kathy Boockvar. Boockvar has a shot if President Obama carries the Bucks County district, which he probably will. This one is too close to call, but I'll make one prediction: Mike Fitzpatrick will have a tougher time beating Kathy Boockvar in a presidential election year than he had two years ago when he defeated Democratic Congressman Patrick Murphy in a Republican surge in a non-presidential election. In New Jersey's historically Republican 3rd congressional district, the former Eagles football player Jon Runyan seems likely to win re-election over Democratic challenger Shelley Adler, widow of one-term Democratic Congressman John Adler, whom Runyan defeated and replaced two years ago. Lawyer Shelley Adler has raised a million dollars to seriously challenge the incumbent. But Runyan benefits from reapportionment which has made the district more Republican. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/election-eve-predictions-on-pennsylvania-and-new-jersey-races/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/election-eve-predictions-on-pennsylvania-and-new-jersey-races/ Mon, 05 November 2012 15:47:03 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/truly-universal-franchise-(or,-a-world-wanting-to-vote)/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro As everyone gets a little weary form the blizzard of last-week polls in the lead-up to the election itself, it’s not surprising that pollsters have widened their scope to measure the preferences of non-Americans outside the United States. The result: overwhelming for Obama. (The only country in which Romney bests Obama is Pakistan. [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/truly-universal-franchise-(or,-a-world-wanting-to-vote)/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/truly-universal-franchise-(or,-a-world-wanting-to-vote)/ Mon, 05 November 2012 11:41:32 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/a-grouchy-post-about-the-election/ I’m on record as basically hating blogging by law professors about politics, never more so than when the election is near. Obviously, given the state of commentary on the more popular law professor blogs of late, too few agree with me about how unenlightening most political blogging by professors is.   Well, it takes all kinds!  And there’s always Orin Kerr, writing about actual cases, to read. But here’s something we can all agree on, I would hope. Law professors have no business telling students who to vote for.  I wonder what percentage of the academy already has, or will, violate this simple rule in the next two days?  My bet: over 25%, and the age distribution would be illuminating. Some additional percentage have probably told [...] Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/a-grouchy-post-about-the-election/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/a-grouchy-post-about-the-election/ Sun, 04 November 2012 21:16:44 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/at-cels-2012/ I’m really looking forward to next week’s 7th Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies, to be held at Stanford.  Here’s the preliminary program.  As usual, I’ll blog the conference after the fact.  If there are particular papers you want to make sure I get to and highlight, drop me a line.  As a taste, here’s a line from an abstract that made me very curious about the presentation to follow: “Our overall estimates suggest that pornography caused between 10 and 25 percent of all divorces in the United States in the sixties and seventies.”  Caused?!  That must be some kicker of an instrumental variable. Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/at-cels-2012/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/at-cels-2012/ Fri, 02 November 2012 20:00:31 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/could-americans-abroad-decide-the-election/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro I subscribe to the new conventional wisdom that Tuesday’s result won’t be close, but who knows? If it is, there’s always the chance that U.S. citizens living outside the United States will cast the deciding votes. Non-resident U.S. citizens are entitled under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act to cast absentee [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/could-americans-abroad-decide-the-election/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/could-americans-abroad-decide-the-election/ Fri, 02 November 2012 14:02:50 Duncan Hollis http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-oxford-guide-to-treaties-an-opinio-juris-symposium/ by Duncan Hollis by Duncan Hollis Attentive readers will note our calendar had indicated that we were supposed to start a new symposium today on The Oxford Guide to Treaties.  It appears, however, that we are not immune from hurricane Sandy’s effects.  I’ve received several requests for postponement from participants given this week’s events and I’m also told that much [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-oxford-guide-to-treaties-an-opinio-juris-symposium/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-oxford-guide-to-treaties-an-opinio-juris-symposium/ Thu, 01 November 2012 08:47:56 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/occupy-public-health-a-social-determinants-tea-party/ By Scott Burris Kathy Ward is a veteran public health worker in Nebraska. She has a neat idea, which I summarize here in mostly her words: Public health policy needs more proponents who are knowledgeable and able to express their … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/occupy-public-health-a-social-determinants-tea-party/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/occupy-public-health-a-social-determinants-tea-party/ Thu, 01 November 2012 08:16:58 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/global-fema/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro Okay, only as thought experiment, prompted by this week’s experience with Hurricane Sandy. There seem to be two major justifications for a national disaster relief apparatus (a surprisingly recent innovation — think Carter era, not New Deal). First are the economies of scale: money and expertise. A small state may not have [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/global-fema/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/global-fema/ Wed, 31 October 2012 15:40:02 Jaya Ramji-Nogales http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-charlesworth,-chinkin-wright/ We at IntLawGrrls are delighted to welcome comments from Hilary Charlesworth , Christine Chinkin , and Shelley Wright . Today the three offer comments to wrap up our month-long series reviewing the impact of their ground-breaking article, "Feminist Approaches to International Law," 85 American Journal of International Law 613-645 (October 1991). Hilary Charlesworth ► We've already had the pleasure of introducing Australian National University Law Professor Hilary Charlesworth as an IntLawGrrls contributor, and have welcomed numerous posts relating to her and her work. ► Christine Chinkin is Professor of International Law at the London School of Economics and a barrister. In 2005, she and Hilary won the American Society of International Law's Goler T. Butcher Medal "for outstanding contributions to the development or effective realization of international human rights law."  An Overseas Affiliated Faculty Member at the University of Michigan, Christine also has been a Visiting Professor at Columbia University and Australian National University. Her publications cover a broad range of fields and topics, from human rights and women's rights in particular to international criminal justice to international dispute resolution to the laws of occupation. She is inter alia a co-editor of The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women: A Commentary (2012), which IntLawGrrl Lisa R. Pruitt reviewed in this IntLawGrrls post , and a co-author of  The Making of International Law (2007). Christine Chinkin Christine's activities , which are too numerous to list here, include being an Editor of the American Journal of International Law and a member of the Advisory Board for the Leiden Journal of International Law , the European Journal of International Law , and the British Yearbook of International Law .  Christine has been a consultant on gender issues for many organizations, including Amnesty International, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the UN Development Program, the UN Division for the Advancement of Women, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. She has also been a member of the Kosovo Human Rights Advisory Panel and the UN Human Rights Council Fact-Finding Mission to Gaza. ► Shelley Wright left Australia and the University of Sydney in 2002 to take up the Northern Directorship of the Akitsiraq Law School – a law degree program offered to Inuit students in Iqaluit, Nunavut . All but one of the graduates of this program were women. She was in the Arctic, where she's pictured below, for almost 3 years. Shelley then moved down to Vancouver, Canada, where she is Chair of the Department of Aboriginal Studies at Langara College . In Shelley's words: 'Although I still have a strong interest in women's issues, this has been overtaken to some extent by a major interest in Aboriginal rights both within Canada (including especially Inuit) and internationally. I am no longer focusing primarily on international law or feminist perspectives, but instead incorporate all these interests into teaching courses in Aboriginal Studies (including Global Indigenous Perspectives and Aboriginal Women in Canada as well as other courses) and my current research project on the Arctic and climate change. Shelley Wright 'The continuing interest in the work that Hilary, Chris and I did changed our lives as well as helping to change the direction of thinking about what seemed to us at the time the last bastion of male privilege in law – international law. In many ways it still is of course, but in other ways international law has changed dramatically, not only in better recognizing women's issues but also the perspectives and rights of Indigenous peoples and other vulnerable groups. I credit my own feminist background in helping make it easier for me to see the differing perspectives of Indigenous peoples, although in many ways Aboriginal women's issues and feminism are not always a comfortable fit.' In their joint post below , Hilary, Christine, and Shelley discuss the making of their article and reflect on the piece 21 years after its publication. Heartfelt welcome! Via IntLawGrrls http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-charlesworth,-chinkin-wright/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-charlesworth,-chinkin-wright/ Wed, 31 October 2012 06:00:00 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/mitt-romney-and-hurricane-sandy/ Although my neighborhood in northern Delaware was right in the projected bull's eye for Hurricane Sandy, we came out of it with just two power outages, each of less than one day, and a few wet basements. Coastal residents of Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and other states were not so fortunate, victims of historic and unprecedented storm surges of sea water. The nation has been shocked by the death and devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy, and inspired by the heroism of the nation's first responders. President Obama has directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to insure that those first responders have the resources they need to bring relief to suffering Americans, for which he has been praised by both Republican and Democratic governors, including Republican Convention keynoter Chris Christie of New Jersey. Mitt Romney told us what he thinks of FEMA back on June 13, 2011, when in response to a direct question about FEMA from CNN's John King who was moderating a Republican presidential primary debate, Romney said that FEMA's responsibilities should be removed from the federal government and transferred to the states, and that if they could be transferred "back to the private sector, that's even better." When John King incredulously asked, "Including disaster relief?", Romney replied that, "We cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids." After Romney's improvised "storm relief" political event in Ohio on Tuesday, October 30, 2012, the press pool report for the event states, and video tape confirms, that Romney was asked at least five times if he would eliminate FEMA, but in each case refused to answer the question. At that event, Romney demonstrated his empathy by collecting canned goods for storm victims, and comparing disaster relief to volunteers picking up the litter from a football field. Romney running mate Paul Ryan's budget proposal, which actually passed the Republican controlled House of Representatives, would only have cut 41% from the government function that includes FEMA and disaster relief. Would Ryan's political inspiration Ayn Rand, or Mitt Romney, have thought that cut sufficient? Finally, Romney expressed his contempt for any concern over climate change in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Tampa on August 30, 2012. In that speech, Romney mocked President Obama's stated concern over climate change and specifically rising sea levels. Romney smiled as he said, "President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans..." At this point Romney paused for jeers and laughter from the partisan audience before continuing, "... and heal the planet." Even louder jeers and laughter. Romney smiled some more. Romney liked that line so much that he repeated it on "Meet the Press" on September 9, 2012, when he said, "I'm not in this race to slow the rise of the oceans or to heal the planet." We should believe him. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/mitt-romney-and-hurricane-sandy/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/mitt-romney-and-hurricane-sandy/ Tue, 30 October 2012 22:21:56 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/mitt-romney-and-hurricane-sandy/ Although my neighborhood in northern Delaware was right in the projected bull's eye for Hurricane Sandy, we came out of it with just two power outages, each of less than one day, and a few wet basements. Coastal residents of Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and other states were not so fortunate, victims of historic and unprecedented storm surges of sea water. The nation has been shocked by the death and devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy, and inspired by the heroism of the nation's first responders. President Obama has directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to insure that those first responders have the resources they need to bring relief to suffering Americans, for which he has been praised by both Republican and Democratic governors, including Republican Convention keynoter Chris Christie of New Jersey. Mitt Romney told us what he thinks of FEMA back on June 13, 2011, when in response to a direct question about FEMA from CNN's John King who was moderating a Republican presidential primary debate, Romney said that FEMA's responsibilities should be removed from the federal government and transferred to the states, and that if they could be transferred "back to the private sector, that's even better." When John King incredulously asked, "Including disaster relief?", Romney replied that, "We cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids." After Romney's improvised "storm relief" political event in Ohio on Tuesday, October 30, 2012, the press pool report for the event states, and video tape confirms, that Romney was asked at least five times if he would eliminate FEMA, but in each case refused to answer the question. At that event, Romney demonstrated his empathy by collecting canned goods for storm victims, and comparing disaster relief to volunteers picking up the litter from a football field. Romney running mate Paul Ryan's budget proposal, which actually passed the Republican controlled House of Representatives, would only have cut 41% from the government function that includes FEMA and disaster relief. Would Ryan's political inspiration Ayn Rand, or Mitt Romney, have thought that cut sufficient? Finally, Romney expressed his contempt for any concern over climate change in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Tampa on August 30, 2012. In that speech, Romney mocked President Obama's stated concern over climate change and specifically rising sea levels. Romney smiled as he said, "President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans..." At this point Romney paused for jeers and laughter from the partisan audience before continuing, "... and heal the planet." Even louder jeers and laughter. Romney smiled some more. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/mitt-romney-and-hurricane-sandy/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/mitt-romney-and-hurricane-sandy/ Tue, 30 October 2012 22:21:56 Jaya Ramji-Nogales http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-noura-erakat/ It's our great pleasure today to welcome Noura Erakat (right) as an IntLawGrrls contributor. Noura, a human rights attorney and writer, is currently a Freedman Teaching Fellow at my home institution, Temple University, Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia.  She is also the US-based Legal Advocacy Coordinator for Badil Center for Palestinian Refugee and Residency Rights . Noura has taught International Human Rights Law and the Middle East at Georgetown University since Spring 2009. Most recently, she served as Legal Counsel for a congressional subcommittee chaired by U.S. Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio). She has helped to initiate and organize several national formations, including Arab Women Arising for Justice and the U.S. Palestinian Community Network . Noura has appeared on Fox’s “ The O’ Reilly Factor ,” NBC’s “ Politically Incorrect ,” MSNBC, Democracy Now , and Al-Jazeera Arabic and English. Her publications include: "Litigating the Arab-Israeli Conflict: The Politicization of U.S. Federal Courts" in the Berkeley Law Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Law , "BDS in the USA: 2001-2010," in the Middle East Report , and "U.S. vs. ICRC-Customary International Humanitarian Law and Universal Jurisdiction," forthcoming in the Denver Journal of International Law & Policy . She is a Co-Editor of Jadaliyya.com . You can follow her on Twitter at @4noura. Noura's introductory post below responds to comments on the doctrine of responsibility to protect delivered by Patricia O'Brien , Under-Secretary for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel, at the American Society of International Law Midyear Meeting earlier this month. In an IntLawGrrls post yesterday , Patricia (who'd posted on the same issue this past spring) contributed those remarks in full. Noura dedicates her post to Hoda Shaarawi (1879-1947), an Egyptian feminist leader and the first Egyptian advocate of women’s rights. In Noura's words: 'She strove to raise awareness among Egyptian women, calling on them to claim their rights. Not only did she study in Europe and accompany her husband to many political meetings, but in 1923 she removed her face veil in public. She led the first women's first street demonstration, the first women's social service organization, and published the first feminist magazine.' Today, Shaarawi (left) joins our list of transnational foremothers . Heartfelt welcome! Via IntLawGrrls http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-noura-erakat/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-noura-erakat/ Tue, 30 October 2012 07:00:00 Temple Law School http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/trial-team-re-claims-national-civil-rights-trial-championship/ TRIAL TEAM RE-CLAIMS NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS TRIAL CHAMPIONSHIP This past weekend, in Queens, NY, before the Honorable Miriam Cyrulnik and a jury of trial lawyers and judges from New York, Temple Law School's National Trial Team won its second invitational title of the season by winning the National Civil Rights Competition sponsored by St. John's Law School. The team defeated South Texas in the semi-final and Hofstra Law School in the final round from a field which included the following schools: Pace, Fordham, DePaul, American, Louisiana State, Seton Hall, Emory, Mississippi College, Southern Methodist, Brooklyn, Florida Coastal, Drexel and St. John's. The new NCRC champs are Catherine Cramer (3L), Kyle Garabedian (2L), Adriel Garcia (3L) and Ben McKenna (3L). The team was coached by Assistant District Attorney Sara Guccini and Justin Oshana, Esq. '06 of Saltz, Mongeluzzi, Barrett & Bendesky http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/trial-team-re-claims-national-civil-rights-trial-championship/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/trial-team-re-claims-national-civil-rights-trial-championship/ Tue, 30 October 2012 00:00:00 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/how-about-a-clean-air-shave/ By Scott Burris Somewhere along the way, environmental law and public health law got separated.  Despite the importance of clean air and water to public health – not to mention parks, recreation, salubrious zoning – the two fields developed independently … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/how-about-a-clean-air-shave/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/how-about-a-clean-air-shave/ Mon, 29 October 2012 15:45:24 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/what-if-hurricane-sandy-causes-power-outages-lasting-through-election-day/ As I write this, residents of the Mid-Atlantic states are being warned to prepare themselves for a long-lasting power outage because of Hurricane Sandy, billed as "the perfect storm" and the storm of the century. When Hurricane Irene roared through New England last year, many residents were still without power after a week. And Hurricane Irene had already weakened to a tropical storm when it hit land. The Philadelphia Inquirer is describing Hurricane Sandy as a historic and catastrophic storm. The Wilmington News Journal's banner headline reads, "Monster threatening to slam state head-on". So what happens if the resulting power outages last beyond Election Day, November 6? Delaware has electronic voting. All voting machines are electronic. Even in states with mechanical voting machines, power outages and the other effects of the storm may impede voting. Can states extend voting for a few more days, or designate a different day as Election Day? That might seem reasonable, but what if lawsuits are filed alleging that a particular extension is illegal and intended to favor one party? What if some voters are able to vote on November 6, but others are not? Will lawsuits be filed attempting to end voting as originally scheduled to preserve a temporary lead for one party or candidate? If some states are unable to conduct or complete elections on November 6, and become enmeshed in lawsuits, how will that affect the outcome of local elections and the contest for the presidency? The Mid-Atlantic states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, are all predicted to be Obama states. Even without Hurricane Sandy, the potential for lawsuit Armageddon was already high because of the closeness of the race electorally and in multiple swing states. I've been warning that because the presidential race seems so close, we may end up experiencing a re-play of the 2000 Florida recount battle, but on a larger scale, in multiple states, that could last as long, or even longer than the 2000 litigation. Both the Romney and Obama campaigns have studied and learned from what happened in 2000. Both campaigns have lawyers ready in every state to file lawsuits demanding recounts and citing voting irregularities if a close vote turns against them. The stakes are as high as can be for both campaigns. Neither has fought as long and as hard as they have, just to raise the white flag of surrender when confronted with close electoral results that hinge on contestable vote counts or procedures. And that was true before Hurricane Sandy. So brace yourselves. It's going to be a bumpy ride! And maybe in more ways than one! Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/what-if-hurricane-sandy-causes-power-outages-lasting-through-election-day/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/what-if-hurricane-sandy-causes-power-outages-lasting-through-election-day/ Sat, 27 October 2012 23:28:39 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/what-if-hurricane-sandy-causes-power-outages-lasting-through-election-day/ As I write this, residents of the Mid-Atlantic states are being warned to prepare themselves for a long-lasting power outage because of Hurricane Sandy, billed as "the perfect storm" and the storm of the century. When Hurricane Irene roared through New England last year, many residents were still without power after a week. And Hurricane Irene was a relatively weak Category 1 hurricane. The Philadelphia Inquirer is describing Hurricane Sandy as a historic and catastrophic storm. The Wilmington News Journal's banner headline reads, "Monster threatening to slam state head-on". So what happens if the resulting power outages last beyond Election Day, November 6? Delaware has electronic voting. All voting machines are electronic. Even in states with mechanical voting machines, power outages and the other effects of the storm may impede voting. Can states extend voting for a few more days, or designate a different day as Election Day? That might seem reasonable, but what if lawsuits are filed alleging that a particular extension is illegal and intended to favor one party? What if some voters are able to vote on November 6, but others are not? Will lawsuits be filed attempting to end voting as originally scheduled to preserve a temporary lead for one party or candidate? If some states are unable to conduct or complete elections on November 6, and become enmeshed in lawsuits, how will that affect the outcome of local elections and the contest for the presidency? The Mid-Atlantic states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, are all predicted to be Obama states. Even without Hurricane Sandy, the potential for lawsuit Armageddon was already high because of the closeness of the race electorally and in multiple swing states. I've been warning that because the presidential race seems so close, we may end up experiencing a re-play of the 2000 Florida recount battle, but on a larger scale, in multiple states, that could last as long, or even longer than the 2000 litigation. Both the Romney and Obama campaigns have studied and learned from what happened in 2000. Both campaigns have lawyers ready in every state to file lawsuits demanding recounts and citing voting irregularities if a close vote turns against them. The stakes are as high as can be for both campaigns. Neither has fought as long and as hard as they have, just to raise the white flag of surrender when confronted with close electoral results that hinge on contestable vote counts or procedures. And that was true before Hurricane Sandy. So brace yourselves. It's going to be a bumpy ride! And maybe in more ways than one! Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/what-if-hurricane-sandy-causes-power-outages-lasting-through-election-day/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/what-if-hurricane-sandy-causes-power-outages-lasting-through-election-day/ Sat, 27 October 2012 23:28:39 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/once-again-into-the-breach/ (David Post)Every four years I submit myself to the slings and arrows of outraged VC readers and declare my personal views on the Presidential race.  Once again, the choice seems rather astonishingly clear, and once again the Dems have the better man. Here’s how things look to me.  I’d give Obama maybe a B or B+  [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/once-again-into-the-breach/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/once-again-into-the-breach/ Sat, 27 October 2012 12:01:26 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/amicus-brief-in-(very-interesting)-aereo-case-in-the-2d-circuit/ (David Post)Yesterday, a group of 34 law professors filed an amicus brief that I drafted in the 2d Circuit’s WNET  et al v Aereo case.  The case is a really interesting one — techdirt has a good write-up here about it.  Aereo is in the business of allowing consumers, in effect, to rent a little teeny [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/amicus-brief-in-(very-interesting)-aereo-case-in-the-2d-circuit/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/amicus-brief-in-(very-interesting)-aereo-case-in-the-2d-circuit/ Sat, 27 October 2012 11:47:05 Jaya Ramji-Nogales http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-julie-ayling/ It's our great pleasure today to welcome Julie Ayling (right) as an IntLawGrrls contributor. Julie is a Research Fellow in the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Policing and Security based in the Regulatory Institutions Network at the Australian National University in Canberra. Before joining the Regulatory Institutions Network in 2003, she worked for many years as a senior government lawyer, on issues of international law and communications law. Her research interests include policing, transnational crime, criminal groups and state responses. Among her publications is the book Lengthening the Arm of the Law: Enhancing Police Resources in the Twenty-First Century (2009), co-authored with with Professors Peter Grabosky, of Australian National University, and Clifford Shearing, of the University of Cape Town. In 2010, Julie won the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology New Scholar Prize for her article "Criminal Organizations and Resilience," published in the International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice in 2009. Julie recently spent time as a visiting fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. She holds a BALLB degree with first class honours from Macquarie University in Sydney, and a Master of International Law degree from Australian National University. She dedicates her post to Judith Wright (1915-2000), an Australian poet, author, and environmental and indigenous rights activist. Wright was founder and later president of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland , fighting for conservation of the Great Barrier Reef when oil drilling was proposed, and campaigning against sand-mining on Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. She also campaigned tirelessly for the rights of Aboriginal Australians. In Julie's words: Judith Wright 'To me Judith Wright personifies persistence in the face of opposition and personal difficulties (amongst other things, she suffered deteriorating hearing loss and near blindness).  Judith’s writing was inspired by the country in which she lived. One of her constant themes was the relationship between humans and their environment. She believed that the written word has the power to alter perceptions and she put this conviction into practice.' Julie's introductory post below aims to shape perceptions about the illicit trade in black rhinoceros horns. Heartfelt welcome! Via IntLawGrrls http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-julie-ayling/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-julie-ayling/ Sat, 27 October 2012 06:00:00 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/in-the-crosshairs-of-a-hurricane/ Usually those of us in the temperate Mid-Atlantic states think of ourselves as climatically fortunate and ideally situated for year round living. Summers are not too hot. Winters are not too cold. Extreme weather events are rare. And we thank our lucky stars when reading the news from other parts of the country beset by tornadoes or hurricanes or flooding or drought or forest fires or earthquakes. But now we find ourselves in the crosshairs of Hurricane Sandy which threatens to converge, right on top of us, with other weather systems into what some are predicting may be "the perfect storm". And we are reminded of the stark reality that our comfortable, modern lives are always, always at the mercy of Mother Nature. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/in-the-crosshairs-of-a-hurricane/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/in-the-crosshairs-of-a-hurricane/ Fri, 26 October 2012 15:09:53 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/in-the-crosshairs-of-a-hurricane/ Usually those of us in the temperate Mid-Atlantic states think of ourselves as climatically fortunate and ideally situated for year round living. Summers are not too hot. Winters are not too cold. Extreme weather events are rare. And we thank our lucky stars when reading the news from other parts of the country beset by tornadoes or hurricanes or flooding or drought or forest fires or earthquakes. But now we find ourselves in the crosshairs of Hurricane Sandy which threatens to converge, right on top of us, with other weather systems into what some are predicting may be "the perfect storm". And we are reminded of the stark reality that our comfortable, modern lives are always, always at the mercy of Mother Nature. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/in-the-crosshairs-of-a-hurricane/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/in-the-crosshairs-of-a-hurricane/ Fri, 26 October 2012 15:09:53 Temple Law School http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/inclement-weather-policy/ Inclement   Weather Information It is Law School policy not to cancel classes or exams unless classes have been cancelled for the entire university.  Always call first when uncertain of a cancellation. Instructors may cancel individual classes, and will make arrangements in advance for notifying their students of cancellations and make-up dates. If in doubt, a student should check blackboard, e-mail, the instructor's voice mail, or the Law School web site. SNOW &   INCLEMENT   WEATHER INFORMATION LINE - Call the University Hotline -   (215) 204-1975   or Law School Information (215) 204-7861/7862.  Class cancellation numbers:     Day Classes - 101,      Evening Classes - 2101 In the event of   inclement   weather, messages will also be left at the above law school numbers regarding school closings.  Radio station KYW (1060 AM) will broadcast school closings.  Information for faculty, students, and staff will also be aired on Temple's radio station, WRTI (90.1 FM). Instructors may leave additional messages on their individual voice mail numbers or via email or Blackboard. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/inclement-weather-policy/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/inclement-weather-policy/ Fri, 26 October 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/dean-epps-honored-as-a-2012-distinguished-daughter-of-pennsylvania/ Dean JoAnne Epps was honored this month by Governor Tom Corbett and First Lady Susan Corbett as a 2012 Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania. "The exceptional accomplishments of this talented group of women bring both honor and respect to Pennsylvania," Governor Corbett said. "I am grateful for their continued commitment to making our state a better place." The award for Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania was established in 1948 to honor outstanding women who have shown distinguished service through a professional career and/or voluntary service, according to a press release from the Office of the Governor.  Since the creation of the award, only 475 women have been selected for recognition. The candidates are nominated for this prestigious award by Pennsylvania nonprofits. Dean Epps was nominated by Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/dean-epps-honored-as-a-2012-distinguished-daughter-of-pennsylvania/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/dean-epps-honored-as-a-2012-distinguished-daughter-of-pennsylvania/ Wed, 24 October 2012 00:00:00 Duncan Hollis http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/breaking-news-the-fourth-restatement-on-the-foreign-relations-law-of-the-united-states/ by Duncan Hollis by Duncan Hollis I’ve long wondered whether and when the American Law Institute (ALI) might try to update its 3rd Restatement on the Foreign Relations Law of the United States.  Since its 1987 publication, the two-volume set, culled together under the leadership of Professor Lou Henkin, has had a tremendous impact.  It has been a [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/breaking-news-the-fourth-restatement-on-the-foreign-relations-law-of-the-united-states/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/breaking-news-the-fourth-restatement-on-the-foreign-relations-law-of-the-united-states/ Tue, 23 October 2012 16:18:16 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/preventing-teen-crashes-with-stickers/ By Scott Burris Graduated Drivers’ License Laws have apparently been a major success in reducing crashes among novice drivers. (A couple of studies have suggested the laws might just be postponing crashes, but so far that hypothesis remains unproved, and … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/preventing-teen-crashes-with-stickers/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/preventing-teen-crashes-with-stickers/ Tue, 23 October 2012 14:56:05 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-election-and-international-law-silence-may-be-golden/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro Let’s just say international law was not a fulcrum in last night’s debate. It’s not like the topic was being discriminated against — many important topics were ignored.  (Among them the Eurozone crisis, climate change, NATO, anything much of Asia beyond China, Mexico or Canada.)  Bob Scheiffer asked a question about drones, [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-election-and-international-law-silence-may-be-golden/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-election-and-international-law-silence-may-be-golden/ Tue, 23 October 2012 11:48:59 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/2012-year-of-the-low-information-voter-and-electoral-lawsuit-armageddon/ In an exciting and issues-rich election year, polls find us evenly divided between President Obama and his challenger Mitt Romney. Swing states are being subjected to an unprecedented assault of political advertising, enabled by the Supreme Court's opinion in Citizens United treating unlimited political spending as the equivalent of free speech. To whom is all this advertising directed, since nearly all of us have already made up our minds? Is anyone reading this, for example, likely to change his or her vote because of a TV commercial? All that expensive advertising is directed at the very small number of voters whose votes are susceptible to being changed by advertising. Who are those voters? They are voters who haven't been paying attention to the campaign, don't know much about the issues or the candidates, but who will cast a vote anyway. This plays to the advantage of Mitt Romney, who is trying to recast himself as a reasonable moderate, after declaring himself "severely conservative" throughout the primary campaign. Although he repeatedly pledged to repeal all of Obamacare, Romney now declares his intention to preserve all the popular parts of Obamacare, and get rid of only the bad parts. Although he condemned the entire Dodd-Frank law placing restrictions on Wall Street, he now says he will keep the reasonable parts of that law, too. What a reasonable guy! Having signed the Republican pledge to never, ever raise taxes by even a penny, Romney promised during the primary campaign that he would reject a deficit-cutting deal that cut spending by $10 for every $1 in new taxes. But now he criticizes President Obama for failing to enact the proposals of the Simpson-Bowles commission on the deficit, which called for big spending cuts together with big tax increases. New, more reasonable Romney can ignore Paul Ryan's vote, as a member of the commission, against the proposals. As top Romney advisor Eric Fehrnstrom predicted in response to a question whether Romney had tacked too far to the right to re-position himself as a moderate in the general election, "I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It's almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again." That turns out to be a good strategy to reach the undecided low-information voter. And as a result, the race is a dead heat in both the popular vote and the more important Electoral College. I hope I'm wrong, but if the outcome turns out to be as close as the polls are predicting, we can expect a re-play of the 2000 Florida recount battle, but on a larger scale, in multiple states, that could last as long, or even longer than the 2000 litigation. Both campaigns have studied and learned from what happened in 2000. Both campaigns have lawyers ready in every swing state to file lawsuits demanding recounts and citing voting irregularities if a close vote turns against them. And don't think this could have been avoided by switching to a simple popular vote to decide the presidency. In a close election, that would trigger election challenges in every jurisdiction where any allegation of voting irregularity could be made, including absentee, military and overseas voting. That could mean high-stakes lawsuits in all 50 states and even the District of Columbia! So we should be grateful to still have the Electoral College written into the Constitution by the founding fathers. And I'm sure all the candidates agree, whatever the result, we should be grateful this long political campaign is finally coming to an end! Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/2012-year-of-the-low-information-voter-and-electoral-lawsuit-armageddon/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/2012-year-of-the-low-information-voter-and-electoral-lawsuit-armageddon/ Mon, 22 October 2012 14:04:00 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/2012-year-of-the-low-information-voter-and-electoral-lawsuit-armageddon/ In an exciting and issues-rich election year, polls find us evenly divided between President Obama and his challenger Mitt Romney. Swing states are being subjected to an unprecedented assault of political advertising, enabled by the Supreme Court's opinion in Citizens United treating unlimited political spending as the equivalent of free speech. To whom is all this advertising directed, since nearly all of us have already made up our minds? Is anyone reading this, for example, likely to change his or her vote because of a TV commercial? All that expensive advertising is directed at the very small number of voters whose votes are susceptible to being changed by advertising. Who are those voters? They are voters who haven't been paying attention to the campaign, don't know much about the issues or the candidates, but who will cast a vote anyway. This plays to the advantage of Mitt Romney, who is trying to recast himself as a reasonable moderate, after declaring himself "severely conservative" throughout the primary campaign. Although he repeatedly pledged to repeal all of Obamacare, Romney now declares his intention to preserve all the popular parts of Obamacare, and get rid of only the bad parts. Although he condemned the entire Dodd-Frank law placing restrictions on Wall Street, he now says he will keep the reasonable parts of that law, too. What a reasonable guy! Having signed the Republican pledge to never, ever raise taxes by even a penny, Romney promised during the primary campaign that he would reject a deficit-cutting deal that cut spending by $10 for every $1 in new taxes. But now he criticizes President Obama for failing to enact the proposals of the Simpson-Bowles commission on the deficit, which called for big spending cuts together with big tax increases. New, more reasonable Romney can ignore Paul Ryan's vote, as a member of the commission, against the proposals. As top Romney advisor Eric Fehrnstrom predicted in response to a question whether Romney had tacked too far to the right to re-position himself as a moderate in the general election, "I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It's almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again." That turns out to be a good strategy to reach the undecided low-information voter. And as a result, the race is a dead heat in both the popular vote and the more important Electoral College. I hope I'm wrong, but if the outcome turns out to be as close as the polls are predicting, we can expect a re-play of the 2000 Florida recount battle, but on a larger scale, in multiple states, that could last as long, or even longer than the 2000 litigation. Both campaigns have studied and learned from what happened in 2000. Both campaigns have lawyers ready in every swing state to file lawsuits demanding recounts and citing voting irregularities if a close vote turns against them. And don't think this could have been avoided by switching to a simple popular vote to decide the presidency. In a close election, that would trigger election challenges in every jurisdiction where any allegation of voting irregularity could be made, including absentee, military and overseas voting. That could mean high-stakes lawsuits in all 50 states and even the District of Columbia! So we should be grateful to still have the Electoral College written into the Constitution by the founding fathers. And I'm sure all the candidates agree, whatever the result, we should be grateful this long political campaign is finally coming to an end! Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/2012-year-of-the-low-information-voter-and-electoral-lawsuit-armageddon/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/2012-year-of-the-low-information-voter-and-electoral-lawsuit-armageddon/ Mon, 22 October 2012 14:04:00 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/remembering-abe-chayes-on-the-cuban-missile-crisis/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro With all the 50th anniversary retrospectives, seems like a good time to revisit Abram Chayes’ foreign relations law classic, The Cuban Missile Crisis: International Crises and the Role of Law. It’s a slim volume, a good primer on the legal aspects of the crisis. The quarantine decision might seem legally anodyne to [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/remembering-abe-chayes-on-the-cuban-missile-crisis/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/remembering-abe-chayes-on-the-cuban-missile-crisis/ Mon, 22 October 2012 13:31:55 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/trial-team-wins-puerto-rico-trial-advocacy-competition/ This past weekend, in the US District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, before the Honorable Hector M. LaFitte and a jury of trial lawyers and judges from Puerto Rico, Temple Law School's National Trial Team won the Puerto Rico Trial Advocacy Competition. The team defeated Harvard Law School in the semi-final and Catholic University in the final round from a field which included the following schools: Brooklyn, Emory, Howard, Interamerican University of Puerto Rico, Lewis & Clark, Suffolk, Alabama, Houston and South Dakota. The new PRTAC champs are Michelle Ashcroft (2L), Emilia McKee (2L), Cindy Morgan (3L), Dan Theveny (3L) and Britt Walden (2L). Dan Theveny was awarded "Best Cross-examiner in the competition." The team was coached by Professors Sara Jacobson, Director of Trial Advocacy Programs and Jen Bretschneider, Director of Experiential Programs. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/trial-team-wins-puerto-rico-trial-advocacy-competition/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/trial-team-wins-puerto-rico-trial-advocacy-competition/ Mon, 22 October 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/eight-law-and-public-policy-scholars-invited-to-present-at-mid-atlantic-law-and-society-association’s-annual-conference/ Eight members of the inaugural class of TempleLaw and Public Policy Scholars were invited to present at the Mid-Atlantic Law and Society Association's annual conference, held this past weekend at DrexelUniversity's Earle Mack School of Law. Andrea Anastasi, Patrick Bianchi, Erin Bramhall, Jared Burns, Christina Gilfillan, Jason Lamb, Lucas Michelen, and Sean Rust all presented either work done for credit during the course or work that grew out of that initial focus.  Dean JoAnne A. Epps remarked to the Scholars after the conference that she was "thrilled for them - delighted that they are having professional successes and coming to understand that they have much to contribute."  She also credited Professor Nancy J. Knauer, Director of the Law and Public Policy Program, with giving the Scholars the "life gifts of knowledge, insight, and confidence" and citing their accomplishments as "proof positive of the impact of her work." For more information on the TempleLaw and Public Policy Program, please click here . For more information about the Scholars, please click here . http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/eight-law-and-public-policy-scholars-invited-to-present-at-mid-atlantic-law-and-society-association’s-annual-conference/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/eight-law-and-public-policy-scholars-invited-to-present-at-mid-atlantic-law-and-society-association’s-annual-conference/ Mon, 22 October 2012 00:00:00 Jaya Ramji-Nogales http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-janine-lespérance/ It's our great pleasure today to welcome Janine Lespérance (left) as an IntLawGrrls contributor. Janine is in her final year of the M.A./J.D. program offered by the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law in conjunction with the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs of Carleton University. She is specializing in international law, and Conflict Analysis and Resolution, and has specific interests in post-conflict justice and corporate accountability. She earned her undergraduate degree from St. Francis Xavier University. Janine has worked as a legal intern at the Bufete Jurídico Popular de Rabinal (Rabinal Community Legal Clinic) in Guatemala, as a research assistant at the Human Rights Research and Education Centre in Ottawa, and as a volunteer cooperant for Lawyers Without Borders Canada in the internal armed conflict section of the Guatemalan Ministerio Público. Recently, she received a University of Ottawa Public Interest Fellowship in Human Rights to support her work for  Amnesty International Canada and the Canadian Centre for International Justice . Her personal observations respecting the ongoing Mungwarere genocide trial in Canada, which she monitored for CCIJ, are recounted in Janine's introductory post below . H eartfelt welcome! Via IntLawGrrls http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-janine-lespérance/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-janine-lespérance/ Sat, 20 October 2012 06:00:00 Duncan Hollis http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/harold-koh-twenty-first-century-international-law-making/ by Duncan Hollis by Duncan Hollis Earlier this week, Harold Koh gave a speech.  And it wasn’t about conflicts, drones, or cyberwar, topics that have dominated the attention of international lawyers in recent years.  Rather, Koh’s speech was a meditation on the processes of international law-making that confront the State Department on a daily basis.  It was, simply put, [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/harold-koh-twenty-first-century-international-law-making/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/harold-koh-twenty-first-century-international-law-making/ Fri, 19 October 2012 23:36:12 Duncan Hollis http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/progress-reports-from-the-cyber-norms-20-workshop/ by Duncan Hollis by Duncan Hollis As Peter’s post yesterday noted, there’s a growing push to fundamentally re-align cyberspace governance via amendments to the ITU Regulations, which are set to be negotiated in December in Dubai.  I’m not sure that the ITU is up to the task.  But I do agree that the time is ripe for States [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/progress-reports-from-the-cyber-norms-20-workshop/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/progress-reports-from-the-cyber-norms-20-workshop/ Fri, 19 October 2012 05:41:42 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/first-amendment,-alive-and-well-in-nebraska/ (David Post)Yesterday, the federal district court in Nebraska issued its decision declaring most of Nebraska’s Sex Offender Registry statute unconstitutional as an abridgement of the freedom of speech protected by the 1st Amendment.  I was the Plaintiffs’ Expert in the case, so I was delighted with the outcome (and I will oh-so-discreetly point you to footnote [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/first-amendment,-alive-and-well-in-nebraska/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/first-amendment,-alive-and-well-in-nebraska/ Thu, 18 October 2012 16:21:58 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/diversity/ (David Post)A local law firm is coming to our law school to do some recruiting, and the memo posted around the school notes that the firm has a “Diversity Scholarship” program, and goes on to say:  ”Women and Diverse Students Encouraged to Apply.” Aargh.  There are no “diverse students” here, or anywhere else — diversity is [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/diversity/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/diversity/ Thu, 18 October 2012 15:11:17 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/us-delegation-to-dubai-internet-negotiations-to-be-larded-with-(dominated-by)-industry-reps/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro This from the very informative blog at The Hill: Representatives from Google, Cisco, Facebook, Microsoft and AT&T will join Obama administration officials at a December conference in Dubai to negotiate the terms of an international telecommunications treaty. The industry members are part of the 95-person delegation representing the United States as it opposes [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/us-delegation-to-dubai-internet-negotiations-to-be-larded-with-(dominated-by)-industry-reps/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/us-delegation-to-dubai-internet-negotiations-to-be-larded-with-(dominated-by)-industry-reps/ Thu, 18 October 2012 13:42:18 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/is-contract-law-really-pragmatic/ I’ll begin by joining the others who’ve written in already to praise Larry’s excellent Contracts in the Real World.  It is highly accessible, entertaining, and offers a ream of examples to make concrete some abstract and hard doctrinal problems. Larry has the gift of making complex problems seem simple – much more valuable and rare than the common academic approach of transforming hard questions into other hard questions! This would be an ideal present to a pre-law student, or even to an anxious 1L who wants a book that will connect the cases they are reading, like Lucy, Baby M, or Peevyhouse, to problems that their peers are chatting about on Facebook. Larry’s typical approach is to introduce a salient modern contract dispute, and then show how [...] Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/is-contract-law-really-pragmatic/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/is-contract-law-really-pragmatic/ Thu, 18 October 2012 11:25:28 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/nih-plus-nfl-=-phlr/ By Scott Burris, JD The National Football League has given the National Institutes of Health $30 million for research on traumatic brain injury. There is much we don’t know about the causes, effects, prevention and treatment of sports-related brain injury … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/nih-plus-nfl-=-phlr/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/nih-plus-nfl-=-phlr/ Thu, 18 October 2012 10:10:32 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/using-the-taxing-power-for-public-health/ By Scott Burris In a Perspective in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine, Michelle Mello and Glenn Cohen, both professors at Harvard, write about the prospects for using the constitutional Taxing Power to adopt innovative laws to advance public … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/using-the-taxing-power-for-public-health/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/using-the-taxing-power-for-public-health/ Thu, 18 October 2012 09:20:38 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/early-warning-on-heroin-and-syringe-exchange/ By Scott Burris It’s hard to believe that after all these years, all the evidence, and all the reductions in HIV among injection drug users, we still only have 15 states that explicitly authorize syringe exchange programs (SEPs). (See LawAtlas … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/early-warning-on-heroin-and-syringe-exchange/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/early-warning-on-heroin-and-syringe-exchange/ Tue, 16 October 2012 16:10:31 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/speaking-of-soccer,-cont’d/ (David Post)This weekend is “international qualifying” weekend in the world of international soccer, when the players leave their club teams and return home to play in qualifying matches for their countries for the next World Cup.  In Europe, as elsewhere, you’re entitled to participate in this pre-World Cup qualifying tournament if (a) you’re a country, and [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/speaking-of-soccer,-cont’d/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/speaking-of-soccer,-cont’d/ Sun, 14 October 2012 13:50:01 David Post http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/‘twas-a-cruel,-cruel-night-/ (David Post). . . in DC, for those of us who call ourselves Nationals fans.  The Nats’ collapse was excruciating, and epic; 6-0 lead with your ace on the mound?  Sigh.  And coming, as it did, 24 hours after the exhilaration of one of the great postseason moments in history – Jayson Werth’s walk-off homerun on [...] Via Volokh Conspiracy http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/‘twas-a-cruel,-cruel-night-/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/‘twas-a-cruel,-cruel-night-/ Sat, 13 October 2012 15:01:40 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/what-joe-biden-accomplished-in-his-debate-with-paul-ryan/ On foreign policy, Vice President Biden made clear that House Republicans including Paul Ryan are responsible for cutting $300 million for embassy and diplomatic security to pay for more tax cuts, even as they try to score political points off the murder by terrorists of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and other Americans. Biden made clear that despite constant Republican criticism of U.S. policy towards Iran, Romney and Ryan don't specify anything different, and that international sanctions are in fact hurting Iran. Romney and Ryan have only been willing to hint at another open-ended U.S. war in another Islamic country in the Middle East, but so far have not yet openly advocated such a war. On the economy, Biden contrasted the Obama administration's success in saving the auto industry and millions of American jobs when Romney advocated letting the auto industry go bankrupt. Biden contrasted the administration's concern for American workers with Mitt Romney's stated contempt for the 47% of Americans, including retirees, the military, students, and the unemployed and underemployed, who don't pay federal income taxes. Romney called them unwilling to assume responsibility for their own lives. Ryan called them "takers". And Biden rejected Ryan's suggestion that Romney misspoke by inviting everyone to listen to the tape of Romney's carefully chosen and scripted words. Biden exposed Paul Ryan's hypocrisy in personally requesting stimulus funds to create jobs in Wisconsin, even as he criticized the stimulus for not creating jobs. On Social Security and Medicare, Biden asked who should Americans trust to defend those programs, the Democrats who created and defended those programs at every step over Republican opposition, or the Republicans who have never supported those programs and the guarantees they represent. On the health insurance reform now known as Obamacare, Biden made clear that the Romney-Ryan alternative is for the uninsured to seek health care at hospital emergency rooms, which happens to be the most inefficient and expensive way to try to deliver health care. On taxes, Biden exposed the absurdity of Romney's 20% across the board tax cuts, which give the biggest cuts to the rich, to be made deficit neutral by closing of unspecified loopholes and deductions. Which ones? Whose? Not the capital gains loophole that lets Mitt Romney pay 13% taxes on $20 million in reported income. Romney and Ryan defend that loophole and advocate reducing the capital gains rate as well as the federal estate tax rate, paid only by the very richest decedents, to zero. On defense, Biden made clear that Ryan and congressional Republicans insisted on the impending sequestration budget cuts they now bemoan, as a condition to raising the debt ceiling, and that Romney and Ryan would have kept American troops in Iraq, and would keep American troops in Afghanistan without the 2014 deadline set by President Obama. On abortion, Biden made clear that he and the administration are not going to impose their personal religious views on a diverse American society with many differing religious and philosophical beliefs. Conversely, Paul Ryan made clear that he and Mitt Romney, if elected, will try their best to do just that. Thank you, Mr. Vice President! Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/what-joe-biden-accomplished-in-his-debate-with-paul-ryan/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/what-joe-biden-accomplished-in-his-debate-with-paul-ryan/ Fri, 12 October 2012 22:37:53 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/what-joe-biden-accomplished-in-his-debate-with-paul-ryan/ On foreign policy, Vice President Biden made clear that House Republicans including Paul Ryan are responsible for cutting $300 million for embassy and diplomatic security to pay for more tax cuts, even as they try to score political points off the murder by terrorists of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and other Americans. Biden made clear that despite constant Republican criticism of U.S. policy towards Iran, Romney and Ryan don't specify anything different, and that international sanctions are in fact hurting Iran. Romney and Ryan have only been willing to hint at another open-ended U.S. war in another Islamic country in the Middle East, but so far have not yet openly advocated such a war. On the economy, Biden contrasted the Obama administration's success in saving the auto industry and millions of American jobs when Romney advocated letting the auto industry go bankrupt. Biden contrasted the administration's concern for American workers with Mitt Romney's stated contempt for the 47% of Americans, including retirees, the military, students, and the unemployed and underemployed, who don't pay federal income taxes. Romney called them unwilling to assume responsibility for their own lives. Ryan called them "takers". And Biden rejected Ryan's suggestion that Romney misspoke by inviting everyone to listen to the tape of Romney's carefully chosen and scripted words. Biden exposed Paul Ryan's hypocrisy in personally requesting stimulus funds to create jobs in Wisconsin, even as he criticized the stimulus for not creating jobs. On Social Security and Medicare, Biden asked who should Americans trust to defend those programs, the Democrats who created and defended those programs at every step over Republican opposition, or the Republicans who have never supported those programs and the guarantees they represent. On the health insurance reform now known as Obamacare, Biden made clear that the Romney-Ryan alternative is for the uninsured to seek health care at hospital emergency rooms, which happens to be the most inefficient and expensive way to try to deliver health care. On taxes, Biden exposed the absurdity of Romney's 20% across the board tax cuts, which give the biggest cuts to the rich, to be made deficit neutral by closing of unspecified loopholes and deductions. Which ones? Whose? Not the capital gains loophole that lets Mitt Romney pay 13% taxes on $20 million in reported income. Romney and Ryan defend that loophole and advocate reducing the capital gains rate as well as the federal estate tax rate, paid only by the very richest decedents, to zero. On defense, Biden made clear that Ryan and congressional Republicans insisted on the impending sequestration budget cuts they now bemoan, as a condition to raising the debt ceiling, and that Romney and Ryan would have kept American troops in Iraq, and would keep American troops in Afghanistan without the 2014 deadline set by President Obama. On abortion, Biden made clear that he and the administration are not going to impose their personal religious views on a diverse American society with many differing religious and philosophical beliefs. Conversely, Paul Ryan made clear that he and Mitt Romney, if elected, will try their best to do just that. Thank you, Mr. Vice President! Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/what-joe-biden-accomplished-in-his-debate-with-paul-ryan/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/what-joe-biden-accomplished-in-his-debate-with-paul-ryan/ Fri, 12 October 2012 22:37:53 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-ranked-11-nationally-for-black-law-students/ TempleLaw has been ranked #11 nationally for black law students by On Being A Black Lawyer (OBABL), a respected social media firm recognized by the American Bar Association, National Black Law Students Association, and National Association of Black Journalists. The full rankings report will be released on Wednesday, October 17. Rather than compile a single numerical score, OBABL designed a new matrix intended to provide an accurate portrayal of the experiences and opportunities most likely to be available to black law students during and after law school at each of the ranked institutions.  OBABL ranks law schools as follows: The Best 25 National Law Schools for Black Students; The 5 Best Regional Law Schools (For each of the 6 regions); The 10 Best Bargain Law Schools; and The 10 LL.M. Programs We Recommend for Foreign Students. "We highly endorse the law schools that appear on our list. After months of careful and meticulous research, we are confident these law schools provide the clearest path to law school success for future black attorneys," said OBABL's CEO and publisher, Yolanda Young. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-ranked-11-nationally-for-black-law-students/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-ranked-11-nationally-for-black-law-students/ Fri, 12 October 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/dean-epps-elected-to-the-board-of-the-national-association-of-women-lawyers/ Dean Epps has been elected to the Board of the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL). NAWL is a national voluntary legal professional organization devoted to promoting the interests and progress of women lawyers and women's legal rights. Founded in 1899, long before most local and national bar associations admitted women, NAWL serves as an educational forum and an active voice for the concerns of women in the legal profession. NAWL is about solutions, both for workplace issues facing women lawyers and for societal problems confronting women in our nation and worldwide. NAWL, through its members and committees, functions as the voice of women in the law™, providing a collective voice in the bar, courts, Congress, and workplaces to make women's concerns heard. NAWL continues to support and advance the interests of women in and under the law, and in so doing, supports and advances the social, political, and professional empowerment of women. Through its programs and networks, NAWL provides the tools for women in the profession to advance, prosper and enrich the profession. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/dean-epps-elected-to-the-board-of-the-national-association-of-women-lawyers/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/dean-epps-elected-to-the-board-of-the-national-association-of-women-lawyers/ Fri, 12 October 2012 00:00:00 Jaya Ramji-Nogales http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-aoife-odonoghue/ It's our great pleasure today to welcome Dr. Aoife O'Donoghue (left) as an IntLawGrrls contributor. Aoife has been a lecturer at Durham Law School since 2007.  She specializes in public international law, with a specific interest in international governance. Aoife's current research focuses on international constitutionalization and the legal structures that have developed within international law to regulate governance. Aoife received her Ph.D. from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands; her dissertation examined the constitutionalization of international law. Aoife earned her bachelor's degree from University College Cork, and completed an LL.M in International Law at City University, London. With another IntLawGrrls contributor, Dr. Máiréad Enright , now of Kent Law School, Aoife is a Co-Director of the Irish Feminist Judgments Project . Aoife is also co-convenor of the Law and Conflict at Durham research cluster. In her introductory post below , Aoife continues our series reflecting on the twenty-first anniversary of the publication of Feminist Approaches to International Law , which Hilary Charlesworth, Christine Chinkin, and Shelley Wright published in the American Journal of International Law . Heartfelt welcome!  Via IntLawGrrls http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-aoife-odonoghue/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-aoife-odonoghue/ Thu, 11 October 2012 06:00:00 Duncan Hollis http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/debating-the-need-to-revisit-missouri-v-holland/ by Duncan Hollis by Duncan Hollis I want to briefly interrupt the LJIL symposium to flag the fact that the Bond case is back on the U.S. Supreme Court’s radar screen and with it the prospect that the Court may revisit one of the most canonical cases of U.S. foreign relations law: Missouri v. Holland. The facts are a bit lurid [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/debating-the-need-to-revisit-missouri-v-holland/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/debating-the-need-to-revisit-missouri-v-holland/ Tue, 09 October 2012 23:03:27 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/good-news-and-bad-news-about-gun-laws,-mental-illness-and-violence-—-part-3/ This is Part 3 in a three-part series on gun laws, mental illness and violence in the United States. Read Part 1 and Part 2. By Jeffrey Swanson, PhD So what can the law do about gun violence?  The US … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/good-news-and-bad-news-about-gun-laws,-mental-illness-and-violence-—-part-3/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/good-news-and-bad-news-about-gun-laws,-mental-illness-and-violence-—-part-3/ Tue, 09 October 2012 09:43:25 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-review-and-the-pennsylvania-innocence-project-to-host-symposium-on-false-confessions/ The Innocence Project  estimates that approximately 25% of their cases resulting in exoneration after examination of DNA evidence involve people who made incriminating statements, including confessions, about crimes they did not commit.  Why do innocent people confess? What is it about law enforcement methods, interrogation techniques, and trial procedures that make it possible for our justice system to convict not only the truly guilty but also the truly innocent? And how can we bring about effective systematic change, permitting law enforcement officials to seek "the golden standard" of the true confession, yet root out the false positives? The Temple Law Review's 2012 Symposium, False Confessions: Intersecting Science, Ethics, and the Law, will explore the intersections between social science, ethics, and the law to find answers to these pressing questions. The Symposium will take a multidisciplinary approach, featuring leading scholars and practitioners who will provide their insight in the interest of raising awareness, explaining new developments in the law and their scholarly research, and suggesting new policies to deal with the life-altering consequences of False Confessions. Featured speakers include Saul Kassin of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Byron Halsee, a DNA exoneree. To register, please visit http://sites.temple.edu/lawreview/symposia/2012-symposium/ . http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-review-and-the-pennsylvania-innocence-project-to-host-symposium-on-false-confessions/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-review-and-the-pennsylvania-innocence-project-to-host-symposium-on-false-confessions/ Tue, 09 October 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/school-discipline-advocacy-services-to-be-honored-by-education-law-center/ School Discipline Advocacy Services (SDAS), the Temple Law student group formerly known as Student for Students, will be honored as a public education champion by the Education Law Center on December 5, 2012. SDAS addresses the school-to-prison pipeline crisis by representing students and parents at school disciplinary hearings.  In addition to direct representation and advice, they educate parents and students about their rights at community workshops, and network with other law schools to develop similar programs in other regions.  Their network of student advocates helps to minimize the disproportionately punitive effects of "zero-tolerance" discipline policies and promote alternative resolutions that keep students in school.  Professor Lee Carpenter, who advises SDAS, found the recognition to be well deserved, remarking: "I'm thrilled that SDAS is being recognized for their work in establishing a new resource for our city's most at-risk youth.  Temple Law students have put endless hours into building this program from the ground up, and I have been incredibly impressed with their dedication to the task - particularly in light of their numerous other obligations.  The students of SDAS have a combination of commitment to justice and real-world problem-solving skills that represents the very best of our law school." http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/school-discipline-advocacy-services-to-be-honored-by-education-law-center/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/school-discipline-advocacy-services-to-be-honored-by-education-law-center/ Tue, 09 October 2012 00:00:00 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/good-news-and-bad-news-about-gun-laws,-mental-illness-and-violence-—-part-2/ This is Part 2 in a three-part series on gun laws, mental illness and violence in the United States. Read Part 1. By Jeffrey Swanson, PhD It is hard to find good news in our nation’s gun violence statistics, but … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/good-news-and-bad-news-about-gun-laws,-mental-illness-and-violence-—-part-2/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/good-news-and-bad-news-about-gun-laws,-mental-illness-and-violence-—-part-2/ Mon, 08 October 2012 09:40:10 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-student-wins-2012-ruth-bader-ginsburg-writing-competition/ The Philadelphia Bar Association has announced that Mark Franek '13 has won the Ruth Bader Ginsburg "In Pursuit of Justice" writing competition with his essay, "Bending Toward Justice: Why Plaintiffs Deserve a Mixed-Motives Cause of Action for Retaliation under Title VII."  In the essay, Mark makes the case for Congressional expansion of the mixed-motives framework to explicitly cover retaliation and to arm the framework with some form of required economic recovery for plaintiffs and for plaintiff's counsel, once liability is established. Mark, who is currently a member of the Temple Law Review, explains that the impetus for the paper actually predates his admission to law school: "When I was thinking about applying to law school, several years ago, I watched my wife argue a pre-trial motion [in a mixed-motives case] before a federal judge and I was blown away by the whole experience…. There I was, an educator, with over 15 years of experience in some of Philly's best independent high schools and universities, and I was completely in the dark about the whole conversation." Now in his final year of law school, Mark has gone from being in the dark to "knowing more about the mixed-motives framework than the lawyers who were in the courtroom that day."  He credits the faculty at TempleLaw with not just helping him to explore the law but with holding him "accountable to the highest standards" in his research and writing. The Ruth Bader Ginsburg writing competition is open to 2L and 3L students at six Philadelphia-area law schools: Drexel University, University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University, Temple University, Villanova University, and Widener University. Temple Law students have won the competition for the past six years and for eight of the past ten. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-student-wins-2012-ruth-bader-ginsburg-writing-competition/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-student-wins-2012-ruth-bader-ginsburg-writing-competition/ Mon, 08 October 2012 00:00:00 Duncan Hollis http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/avena-lives!-supreme-court-of-nevada-cites-icj-in-granting-gutierrez-evidentiary-hearing/ by Duncan Hollis by Duncan Hollis On September 19, the Supreme Court of Nevada ordered a new evidentiary hearing for Mexican national Carlos Gutierrez on his ability to overcome the State’s procedural bars to further consideration of his death sentence.  I’ve posted a copy of the court’s order here. Gutierrez was one of 51 Mexican nationals whose convictions [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/avena-lives!-supreme-court-of-nevada-cites-icj-in-granting-gutierrez-evidentiary-hearing/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/avena-lives!-supreme-court-of-nevada-cites-icj-in-granting-gutierrez-evidentiary-hearing/ Fri, 05 October 2012 21:16:49 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/cited-by-the-supreme-court-oh,-the-indignity-and-humiliation-of-it!/ By Scott Burris   A law professor is usually thrilled to have an article cited by the Supreme Court.  An empirical researcher will, likewise, be pleased that evidence he or she helped create shapes a decision of the highest court … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/cited-by-the-supreme-court-oh,-the-indignity-and-humiliation-of-it!/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/cited-by-the-supreme-court-oh,-the-indignity-and-humiliation-of-it!/ Fri, 05 October 2012 12:59:03 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/good-news-and-bad-news-about-gun-laws,-mental-illness-and-violence-—-part-1/ This is Part 1 in a three-part series on gun laws, mental illness and violence in the United States. by Jeffrey Swanson, PhD Federal and state efforts to restrict firearms access to potentially dangerous people with mental illness have focused … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/good-news-and-bad-news-about-gun-laws,-mental-illness-and-violence-—-part-1/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/good-news-and-bad-news-about-gun-laws,-mental-illness-and-violence-—-part-1/ Fri, 05 October 2012 09:30:46 Jaya Ramji-Nogales http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/october-treat-celebrating-feminist-approaches-to-international-law-by-charlesworth,-chinkin-wright/ (1st in a series celebrating "Feminist Approaches to International Law") It's IntLawGrrls' great pleasure today to kick off a celebration of the 21st anniversary of " Feminist Approaches to International Law ." This seminal article by Hilary Charlesworth , Christine Chinkin , and Shelley Wright was published by the American Journal of International Law in its October 1991 issue. Just as we at IntLawGrrls honor our transnational foremothers in order to draw attention to women's oft-overlooked contributions to international law and policy, this month we celebrate the crucial role that this article has played in opening up space for women's voices in the international arena. Over the next few weeks, we will welcome posts from several leading female international law scholars, each of whom will reflect on Feminist Approaches and its impact on her work.  Our list of participants includes IntLawGrrls contributors Doris Buss , Fiona de Londras , Sari Kouvo , and Fionnuala Ní Aoláin .  We also welcome a new IntLawGrrl, Aoife O'Donoghue and will end the series with a contribution from the article's authors, Charlesworth, Chinkin, and Wright.  We begin the celebration today by offering a couple of thoughts on the article's ongoing contribution to the field of international law. In Feminist Approaches – awarded the 1992 Francis Deák Prize by the American Society of International Law – Charlesworth, Chinkin, and Wright set forth numerous valuable critiques of international law and organizations. Here we focus on 2: ► Rendering women's perspectives visible in international law; and ► Promoting diversity of women's voices. Visibility Though we've made progress on both counts, women's work, to these ends, is not done. Despite substantial female interest and talent in the field, international law has long been dominated by male voices. There remains today a gender gap in the American international legal academy. One measurement worth considering is women's leadership and participation in the American Society of International Law . Early on, ASIL rejected applications from women like Belva Ann Lockwood , the 1st to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court, and Jane Addams , who would go on to win the Nobel Peace Prize. (Both have been honored as IntLawGrrls foremothers .) The Society admitted women as members in 1920 , just as the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women's vote took effect. A half-century later, Dr. Alona Evans (left) – a Wellesley professor who, as previously posted , was the 1st woman elected to the AJIL board and would become ASIL’s first woman president – published an article in a 1974 edition of AJIL . In it, she and her co-author, Carol Per Lee Plumb , assessed women's involvement in the Society. Their findings: From 1943 to 1973, women constituted 6% to 7% of ASIL’s annual membership. During this period, there were only 2 female officers of the Society. From 1960 to 1973, only 21 women in total presented talks at the Society’s annual conference. From 1927 to 1973, women published only 30 articles in the AJIL , and in 1974 only 2 of the Journal ’s 24 editors, or 8%, were women. By way of comparison, IntLawGrrls' current findings: As of 2012, according to the most recent information available on the Society's website, 27 out of 63, or 43%, of the its Executive Council are female . Since 1974, of 20 ASIL Presidents , 4, or 20%, have been women. (They include an IntLawGrrls contributor, Lucy Reed .) Seven of 25, or 28%, of the editors of AJIL are currently female. At this year’s annual conference, we counted 101 women presenting talks. In short, women have moved, from invisible to somewhat visible, within the Society and its principal publication.   The gender consciousness raised by Feminist Approaches and the literature that followed has inspired efforts to increase gender diversity at ASIL and elsewhere in the field of international law.  But we've yet to attain full equality. We resist in particular the “pink ghetto” phenomenon that attaches to certain subfields of international law. (It's a concern about which IntLawGrrls contributor Leila Nadya Sadat wrote a thoughtful article in the special issue of the International Criminal Law Review that IntLawGrrls edited last year.) While many of us research and write in the areas of international criminal law and international human rights law, we note that, like many women in the field, these are not our only areas of specialization. IntLawGrrls blog boasts female experts in fields ranging from military law to international investment and trade law, to international legal theory.  As with gender representation at ASIL, we've seen progress in the form of greater inclusion of female voices at international law conferences in a variety of subfields, but gender gaps persist.   Diversity We also aim to extend international legal discourse beyond American voices. As Charlesworth, Chinkin, and Wright note in Feminist Approaches : '[A] diversity of voices is not only valuable, but essential, and . . . the search for, or belief in, one view, one voice is unlikely to capture the reality of women’s experience. . .' We at IntLawGrrls believe the same to be true for men’s experiences – notwithstanding that, in the United States at least, there is a tendency for American navel-gazing to pass for international dialogue. If the discourse of international law is to live up to the name of, well, international law, our field must include in the conversation perspectives from every continent, class, ethnic or other group, sexual orientation, and gender. Our blog will continue to try to expand the field beyond its current confines, taking up the challenge that Hilary Charlesworth (bottom right), Christine Chinkin (upper right), and Shelley Wright put to all of us more than 20 years ago. We welcome posts from IntLawGrrls contributors and readers on the impact that Feminist Approaches has had on your work.  Please contact us at intlawgrrls@gmail.com if you are interested in contributing to our celebration of this article. Via IntLawGrrls http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/october-treat-celebrating-feminist-approaches-to-international-law-by-charlesworth,-chinkin-wright/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/october-treat-celebrating-feminist-approaches-to-international-law-by-charlesworth,-chinkin-wright/ Thu, 04 October 2012 06:00:00 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/delawares-hot-political-races/ What are the hot political races this year in Vice-President Biden's home state of Delaware, where campaigns are underway for all the top offices including Governor, Lt. Governor, U.S. Senate, Congress, and all the seats in the state legislature? You have to look pretty far down the ballot to find a competitive race in what is now deeply blue Delaware. Popular Democratic Governor Jack Markell is headed for a comfortable re-election, along with his running mate Lt. Governor Matt Denn. U.S. Senator Tom Carper, the most successful politician in Delaware history, is about to be re-elected to his third term in the Senate, despite a vigorous self-funded challenge from Independent businessman and lawyer Alex Pires. With the anti-incumbent opposition divided between Pires and a Republican challenger, Tom Carper is again a shoo-in. Delaware's freshman member of Congress, former Lt. Governor John Carney, is waging an all-out re-election campaign, even though most Delaware voters couldn't pick his Republican challenger's name out of a multiple choice. With President Obama and Vice-President Biden at the top of the ballot, and a Democratic plurality in Delaware voter registration, all the statewide Democratic officeholders can expect to be re-elected by big margins, including Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart, who survived a serious primary challenge. I would pick three state senate races to be competitive, in which both major parties should and will concentrate their spending. The single most competitive race in Delaware is in northern Delaware's 4th senatoral district where freshman Democratic Senator Mike Katz is being challenged by State Representative and Republican Minority Leader Greg Lavelle. This is a district which has always had a Republican registration plurality, and still does even after the 2010 redistricting by the Democratic controlled state legislature. Senator Mike Katz is a practicing physician, and currently the only physician in the legislature. I believe he is the first Democrat elected in the 4th senatoral district since at least before the Civil War, and would welcome any information or correction pertaining to this belief. Republicans are raising money to try to stop his re-election, and Democrats know this is a seat that needs to be vigorously defended. Senator Katz has been politically independent and during his first term challenged the leadership of Senate President Anthony DeLuca who was this year defeated for re-election in the Democratic primary. A second competitive state senate race is in the 12th senatoral district which straddles the northern Delaware communities of New Castle, Bear, and Glasgow, where 16-year incumbent Republican Senator Dori Connor, age 65, is being challenged by Democratic special-needs advocate Nicole Poore, age 39. The age contrast in this race is striking, but it's hard to predict which candidate will benefit from it. A third race to watch is Sussex County's newly constituted 6th senatoral district where Republican Ernie Lopez faces off with Democrat Andrew Staton. Both candidates had to win their nominations in contested primaries. Although there's a Republican registration plurality in the district, which ought to favor Lopez, his primary victory over Tea Party favorite Glen Urquhart was both close and heated, which could affect turnout for this race in the general. If these, the most competitive races in Delaware this year, seem relatively small potatoes, take heart from the fact that Tea Party insurgent Christine O'Donnell, who upset veteran Congressman Mike Castle in the 2010 Republican primary for U.S. Senate, has signaled her intent to make a fourth run for the U.S. Senate in 2014. In a move welcomed equally by both conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats, O'Donnell has indicated her interest in challenging U.S. Senator Chris Coons, to whom she lost in the 2010 general election to fill the final four years of Vice-President Biden's last Senate term. A replay of the Coons-O'Donnell race should again put Delaware back on the national political frontburner in 2014! Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/delawares-hot-political-races/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/delawares-hot-political-races/ Wed, 03 October 2012 15:39:09 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/delawares-hot-political-races/ What are the hot political races this year in Vice-President Biden's home state of Delaware, where campaigns are underway for all the top offices including Governor, Lt. Governor, U.S. Senate, Congress, and all the seats in the state legislature? You have to look pretty far down the ballot to find a competitive race in what is now deeply blue Delaware. Popular Democratic Governor Jack Markell is headed for a comfortable re-election, along with his running mate Lt. Governor Matt Denn. U.S. Senator Tom Carper, the most successful politician in Delaware history, is about to be re-elected to his third term in the Senate, despite a vigorous self-funded challenge from Independent businessman and lawyer Alex Pires. With the anti-incumbent opposition divided between Pires and a Republican challenger, Tom Carper is again a shoo-in. Delaware's freshman member of Congress, former Lt. Governor John Carney, is waging an all-out re-election campaign, even though most Delaware voters couldn't pick his Republican challenger's name out of a multiple choice. With President Obama and Vice-President Biden at the top of the ballot, and a Democratic plurality in Delaware voter registration, all the statewide Democratic officeholders can expect to be re-elected by big margins, including Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart, who survived a serious primary challenge. I would pick three state senate races to be competitive, in which both major parties should and will concentrate their spending. The single most competitive race in Delaware is in northern Delaware's 4th senatoral district where freshman Democratic Senator Mike Katz is being challenged by State Representative and Republican Minority Leader Greg Lavelle. This is a district which has always had a Republican registration plurality, and still does even after the 2010 redistricting by the Democratic controlled state legislature. Senator Mike Katz is a practicing physician, and currently the only physician in the legislature. I believe he is the first Democrat elected in the 4th senatoral district since at least before the Civil War, and would welcome any information or correction pertaining to this belief. Republicans are raising money to try to stop his re-election, and Democrats know this is a seat that needs to be vigorously defended. Senator Katz has been politically independent and during his first term challenged the leadership of Senate President Anthony DeLuca who was this year defeated for re-election in the Democratic primary. A second competitive state senate race is in the 12th senatoral district which straddles the northern Delaware communities of New Castle, Bear, and Glasgow, where 16-year incumbent Republican Senator Dori Connor, age 65, is being challenged by Democratic special-needs advocate Nicole Poore, age 39. The age contrast in this race is striking, but it's hard to predict which candidate will benefit from it. A third race to watch is Sussex County's newly constituted 6th senatoral district where Republican Ernie Lopez faces off with Democrat Andrew Staton. Both candidates had to win their nominations in contested primaries. Although there's a Republican registration plurality in the district, which ought to favor Lopez, his primary victory over Tea Party favorite Glen Urquhart was both close and heated, which could affect turnout for this race in the general. If these, the most competitive races in Delaware this year, seem relatively small potatoes, take heart from the fact that Tea Party insurgent Christine O'Donnell, who upset veteran Congressman Mike Castle in the 2010 Republican primary for U.S. Senate, has signaled her intent to make a fourth run for the U.S. Senate in 2014. In a move welcomed equally by both conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats, O'Donnell has indicated her interest in challenging U.S. Senator Chris Coons, to whom she lost in the 2010 general election to fill the final four years of Vice-President Biden's last Senate term. A replay of the Coons-O'Donnell race should again put Delaware back on the national political frontburner in 2014! Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/delawares-hot-political-races/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/delawares-hot-political-races/ Wed, 03 October 2012 15:39:09 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-increased-cost-of-distance-education/ For uninteresting reasons, I just read Indiana University’s Strategic Plan for Online Education.  Here’s a fact I didn’t know, and haven’t seen well-advertised in the blog discussion on the cost transformative effects of distance learning: IU (and the remainder of higher education) needs to educate policy makers and the public that online education generally is more, not less, expensive than on‐campus education at both undergraduate and graduate levels. The biggest reason for this is that a universal experience is that equivalent quality online education requires greater individual student attention than on‐campus education at all levels. Units deal with this either by decreasing class sizes, increasing the credit given to faculty teaching online in calculating their teaching load, or providing additional instructional assistants; all of [...] Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-increased-cost-of-distance-education/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-increased-cost-of-distance-education/ Wed, 03 October 2012 14:48:15 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/a-question-of-insurance-fraud/ By Scott Burris No, I mean it: this is a question to Bill of Health readers who know about the law on this topic. This week, a colleague handed me a palm card she’d been given at a subway station … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/a-question-of-insurance-fraud/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/a-question-of-insurance-fraud/ Wed, 03 October 2012 14:15:42 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-price-of-bankruptcy/ Credit Slips highlights a very cool new paper, Bankruptcy Spillovers: Distance, Public Disclosure, and Opaque Information.  In the paper, Barry Scholnick examines bankruptcy filings in Canada at a micro level.  Looking at the postal code of every filer – which code is a much more precise geographic identifier than our zip codes – Scholnick concludes: “The punch line of my study is that there is indeed a significant impact from the past bankruptcies of neighbors (as defined by the very small Canadian Post Codes) to the probability that an individual in the neighborhood will file . . . I propose, and provide evidence for, the hypothesis that if a defaulter lives in a neighborhood with a large number of previous bankruptcies among the neighbors, then [...] Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-price-of-bankruptcy/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-price-of-bankruptcy/ Mon, 01 October 2012 19:15:27 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/kiobel-argument-goes-badly-for-shell-(fwiw)/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro The transcript in the Kiobel case has been posted here. Shell counsel/former Stanford dean Kathleen Sullivan seems to have been on her heels for much of her argument time. Big sticking point on her claim that the ATS was not intended to cover piracy or a “reverse Marbois.” (No, that is not [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/kiobel-argument-goes-badly-for-shell-(fwiw)/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/kiobel-argument-goes-badly-for-shell-(fwiw)/ Mon, 01 October 2012 16:11:20 Jaya Ramji-Nogales http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/nuff-said/ (Taking context-optional note of thought-provoking quotes) 'September 2012 marks one year since the Palestinian leadership introduced its bid for membership and recognition at the United Nations . Then, an international community – comprised of UN member states, NGOs, and Palestinians – watched the Palestinian leadership with apprehension and hope, eager that it would use the UN platform to embark on a new chapter of the Palestinian struggle for self-determination. One year onwards, it is clear that this leadership is more committed to preserving its rule in a truncated statelet than achieving national liberation.' –  Noura Erakat , Abraham L. Freedman Teaching Fellow at Temple University, Beasley School of Law and the U.S.-based Legal Advocacy Consultant for the Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Refugee and Residency Rights, in an editorial entitled " Statehood Bid One Year Later: No State, No Bid, No Freedom ," posted on Jadaliyya , the e-zine she co-edits.  As previously posted , Noura's scheduled to present her paper entitled "U.S. v. ICRC – Customary International Humanitarian Law and Universal Jurisdiction" at the ASIL Midyear Meeting to be held in Atlanta and at the University of Georgia School of Law, Athens, from October 19 to 21 (meeting registration here ). Via IntLawGrrls http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/nuff-said/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/nuff-said/ Sat, 29 September 2012 06:00:00 Jaya Ramji-Nogales http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-mónica-roa/ It's our great pleasure today to welcome Mónica Roa (right) as an IntLawGrrls contributor. Mónica is Programs Director at Women’s Link Worldwide (prior posts here and here ), a not-for-profit human rights organization based in Colombia and Spain that seeks gender justice throughout the world. She views the judiciary as a pivotal branch in democratic society and has worked at Women's Link to foster greater dialogue between civil society and the courts on how to interpret rights from a gender perspective. In 2006, she successfully argued before the Constitutional Court of Colombia to overturn the country’s restrictive ban on abortion.  Mónica was named "Person of the Year" by leading media outlets in Colombia in 2005 and 2006, and was recognized in 2011 as one of the ten most important leaders in Colombia. She has also faced threats to her life , as recently as this year, for her work on reproductive rights.  Mónica holds a law degree from the University of the Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.  She earned her Master of Laws (LL.M.) as a Global Public Service Law Scholar from New York University.   Mónica teaches at the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the American University, Washington, D.C. College of Law.  Her publications include: "Bodies on Trial: Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Latin American Courts" (2002) and "Litigating Reproductive Rights at the Inter-American System for Human Rights" (Harvard, 2003). In honor of International Right to Information Day, in her introductory post below , Mónica discusses a recent, landmark case in the Constitutional Court of Colombia regarding the right to access complete and impartial information from the government. As have other contributors (prior posts ), Mónica has chosen to honor Olympe de Gouges (right) as her international law foremother. (image credit )  Mónica writes of this French feminist who lived from 1748 till she perished beneath the guillotine in 1793: 'My job is to work so that justice is adjudicated with a gendered perspective. I think of her every time that I demand equality and justice for women and some would like to behead me. So far we have come, so far we still have to go.' Heartfelt welcome! Via IntLawGrrls http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-mónica-roa/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-mónica-roa/ Fri, 28 September 2012 08:30:00 Jeffrey L. Dunoff & Mark A. Pollack http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/more-than-trivial-dissent-as-design-element/ Jeffrey L. Dunoff (left) is Professor of Law and Laura H. Carnell Chair at Temple University. Mark A. Pollack (right) is Professor and Jean Monnet Chair  in the Department of Political Science at Temple University. Kudos to Dapo for triggering an entertaining and informative set of posts (also here, here and here)about the use of dissents in international courts.   The [...] Via EJIL Talk http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/more-than-trivial-dissent-as-design-element/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/more-than-trivial-dissent-as-design-element/ Thu, 27 September 2012 10:00:43 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/needing-a-lawyer-on-the-team/ by Wendy Parmet It’s easy to see the value of including scientists in public health law research teams; most public health lawyers lack the training to conduct rigorous empirical research.  It may be harder to see the need for adding … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/needing-a-lawyer-on-the-team/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/needing-a-lawyer-on-the-team/ Thu, 27 September 2012 09:00:15 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/infrastructural-law-the-lesser-known-cousin/ by Jennifer Ibrahim, PhD, MPH An article by Julia Costich, MPA, JD, PhD, and Dana Patton in the October 2012 edition of the American Journal of Public Health reveals the tip of the iceberg on a highly discussed and yet … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/infrastructural-law-the-lesser-known-cousin/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/infrastructural-law-the-lesser-known-cousin/ Tue, 25 September 2012 13:27:31 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/mitt-romney-crashes-on-taxes-in-the-final-stretch/ Only when candidates speak in private do they reveal who they really are and what they really think. Mitt Romney did that in his remarks secretly recorded at a dinner for $50,000 and up donors to his campaign in Boca Raton, Florida, in May. We should not forget what he said to those donors: Read more... Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/mitt-romney-crashes-on-taxes-in-the-final-stretch/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/mitt-romney-crashes-on-taxes-in-the-final-stretch/ Mon, 24 September 2012 00:18:36 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/mitt-romney-crashes-on-taxes-in-the-final-stretch/ Only when candidates speak in private do they reveal who they really are and what they really think. Mitt Romney did that in his remarks secretly recorded at a dinner for $50,000 and up donors to his campaign in Boca Raton, Florida, in May. We should not forget what he said to those donors: "There are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what....who are dependent on the government, who believe they are victims....These are people who pay no income tax....My job is not to worry about those people....I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives." Romney has since described his taped comments as "inelegant", but has defended them as reflecting what he apparently believes. Who are those approximately 47% of households who don't pay federal income tax? A portion of them, about 22%, are retired senior citizens living on Social Security, Medicare, retirement savings, and modest pensions. About 8% are either unemployed or full-time students or disabled, including military veterans. Most of the remaining households that don't pay federal income taxes are simply lower-income families of workers who pay federal payroll taxes on their earnings but don't make enough income to owe federal income tax. The federal government collects payroll taxes in excess of 15% only on wages earned by labor, so Mitt Romney is exempted from paying payroll taxes to the extent he treats his compensation from Bain Capital as income from capital, either dividends or capital gain. Working families actually pay a higher total rate of federal taxes than Mitt Romney, who has reported paying only 13.9-14.0% federal income tax for the only two years for which he has chosen to release his tax returns. That low rate of federal income tax means that virtually all of Romney's income is being reported at the capital gains rate which is capped at 15%, unlike the rate on ordinary earned income from labor which is capped at 35%. For 2011 Romney reported adjusted gross income of $13.7 million, none of which was from wages subject to payroll taxes. Romney has already said he's not worried about the very poor because there's a safety net. And now he says he's not going to worry about the working poor either, or non-contributing retirees or students or the disabled. Instead Romney will focus on across-the-board cuts in the federal income tax which 47% of households don't pay. The tax cuts he advocates include lowering the rate on capital gains to zero percent, and eliminating entirely the federal tax on the largest decedent's estates, which Romney calls the "death tax". He says he can make the cuts revenue neutral by eliminating unspecified loopholes and deductions, which would increase taxes for unfavored taxpayers. But nobody believes that can actually and politically be done. The arrogance of the richest man ever nominated to run for president towards working American families ought to be disqualifying. Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum were right. Romney is indeed the worst possible candidate the Republicans could put up against President Obama. Romney divides the population into makers and takers, self-made entrepreneurs such as himself, and teeming masses of lazy freeloaders. Born into a wealthy family, educated in private schools, Romney is among those born on third-base but who think they hit a triple. America applauds and rewards its entrepreneurs, but they achieved their success on the infrastructure, the highways, airports, schools, law enforcement, national defense, courts, and other institutions, including the social safety net, which have been achieved through democratic self-government. Romney's Ayn Rand-ist vision of America is blind to that reality. We are, in fact, all in this together. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/mitt-romney-crashes-on-taxes-in-the-final-stretch/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/mitt-romney-crashes-on-taxes-in-the-final-stretch/ Mon, 24 September 2012 00:18:36 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/“overcriminalization”-and-hiv/ By Scott Burris The concept of “overcriminalization” is gaining traction across the political spectrum. The Heritage Foundation, which has a website devoted to the phenomenon, defines it as “the trend in America – and particularly in Congress – to use … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/“overcriminalization”-and-hiv/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/“overcriminalization”-and-hiv/ Fri, 21 September 2012 13:39:47 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-unenforceability-of-contracts-to-abort/ TMZ has a scoop.  (Yes, I read TMZ.  Every day.)  Tagg Romney (son of Mitt) and his wife Jen entered into a surrogacy contract which contained a clause purporting to require the surrogate to abort on demand given a particular set of contingencies: We’ve learned Tagg and his wife Jen, along with the surrogate and her husband, signed a Gestational Carrier Agreement dated July 28, 2011.  Paragraph 13 of the agreement reads as follows: “If in the opinion of the treating physician or her independent obstetrician there is potential physical harm to the surrogate, the decision to abort or not abort is to be made by the surrogate . . . In the event the child is determined to be physiologically, genetically or chromosomally abnormal, the decision [...] Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-unenforceability-of-contracts-to-abort/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-unenforceability-of-contracts-to-abort/ Fri, 21 September 2012 07:50:42 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-penn-state-disaster-pool/ So this is interesting: “The mediator who managed the Sept. 11 victims-compensation fund and settlements with those affected by the 2010 BP Gulf oil spill has been hired by Pennsylvania State University in the hope of settling the civil claims of Jerry Sandusky’s victims. The university announced Thursday that it had hired Kenneth R. Feinberg to facilitate negotiations for the four current lawsuits and more expected to be filed by those sexually abused by the former assistant football coach.” One way to read this is that PSU is going to make available a large pool of money to a diverse victim class, and has hired Feinberg for his expertise dividing complex pies in ways that leave most folks relatively satisfied.  But there’s another reading [...] Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-penn-state-disaster-pool/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-penn-state-disaster-pool/ Thu, 20 September 2012 22:57:37 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/when-is-a-horse-a-vehicle/ In Kentucky. Lowering the Bar explains: WKYT reported on Monday that a 55-year-old Jessamine County man had been cited for riding while intoxicated. The man said he was trail-riding with some friends and had stopped to have something to eat “when the deputy arrived and told me to get off my horse.” He explained that he is severely diabetic and hadn’t eaten, and that is why he staggered after dismounting, not because he was intoxicated . . . The report says the man was charged with a violation of Section 189.520, “Operating a vehicle not a motor vehicle while under influence of intoxicants or substance which may impair driving ability prohibited.”  . . .  The statutory language is better than the title: “No person under the influence of [...] Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/when-is-a-horse-a-vehicle/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/when-is-a-horse-a-vehicle/ Thu, 20 September 2012 11:04:52 Jaya Ramji-Nogales http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/write-on!-asil-international-organizations-session/ (Write On! is an occasional item about notable calls for papers) The International Organizations Interest Group of the American Society of International Law will hold a works-in-progress workshop on Saturday, December 1, 2012, at the Arizona State University Building in Washington, DC. If you are interested in presenting a paper at the workshop, please submit an abstract to Lorena Perez (lperez@oas.org), Justin Jacinto (jjacinto@curtis.com) and David Gartner (David.Gartner@asu.edu) by the end of the day this Friday, September 21 . Abstracts should be a couple of paragraphs long but not more than one page. Papers should relate to the subject "international organizations." Papers selected for presentation are due no later than November 17, as they will be pre-circulated. Papers should not yet be in print; ideally, authors will have time to make revisions based on the comments from the workshop. The workshop's format will be as follows. Each paper will be introduced by a commentator, after which the author will have the opportunity to respond if he or she wishes. The floor will then be opened up for discussion. The workshop is conducted on the assumption that everyone has read all of the papers in advance. After the organizers have selected papers, they will ask for volunteers to serve as commentators. One need not present a paper or comment on a paper to participate. Registration for the workshop will open in October. Please do not hesitate to contact the organizers should you have any questions about the workshop or paper submissions. Via IntLawGrrls http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/write-on!-asil-international-organizations-session/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/write-on!-asil-international-organizations-session/ Wed, 19 September 2012 04:30:00 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-an-unsigned-per-curiam-opinion-from-pennsylvania-supreme-court-on-voter-id-law/ The decision of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on the state's controversial Voter ID law has been much anticipated. So it was disappointing to see the high court punt on the issue and remand the case back to Commonwealth Court which had upheld the law relying on testimony of state officials that it could be implemented by the November 6 election without disenfranchising eligible citizen voters. And it was especially disappointing to see the high court do so by an unsigned per curiam opinion. In that unsigned opinion , the Supreme Court stated its dissatisfaction "with a mere predictive judgment based primarily on the assurances of government officials". It directed the Commonwealth Court "to consider whether the procedures being used for deployment of the cards comport with the requirement of liberal access which the General Assembly attached to the issuance of PennDOT identification cards. If they do not, or if the Commonwealth Court is not still convinced in its predictive judgment that there will be no voter disenfranchisement arising out of the Commonwealth's implementation of a voter identification requirement for purposes of the upcoming election, that court is obliged to enter a preliminary injunction." Why was the court's decision made per curiam, which is Latin for "by the court"? Usually Supreme Court opinions are signed, so everyone knows which justice wrote the opinion. Per curiam opinions occur most often in cases where the court finds the issues non-controversial, which is certainly not the case with the Voter ID law. The most glaring example of a per curiam opinion issuing in a controversial case was the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Gore deciding the year 2000 presidential election. Perhaps in that case no justice was willing to sign a hasty and imperfect decision sure to be criticized. And perhaps that's the same reason no justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court was willing to sign its Voter ID opinion remanding the case back to the lower court. Kudos to Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices Debra Todd and Seamus McCaffery who issued clear and impassioned dissenting statements, which they signed. Justice Todd found that, "the lower court indeed abused its discretion in failing to find that irreparable harm of constitutional magnitude — the disenfranchisement of a substantial number of eligible, qualified, registered voters, many of whom have been proudly voting for decades — was likely to occur based on the present structure, timing, and implementation of" the Pennsylvania Voter ID law. Justice McCaffery stated that, "I cannot in good conscience participate in a decision that so clearly has the effect of allowing politics to trump the solemn oath that I swore to uphold our Constitution. That Constitution has made the right to vote a right verging on the sacred, and that right should never be trampled by partisan politics." Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-an-unsigned-per-curiam-opinion-from-pennsylvania-supreme-court-on-voter-id-law/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-an-unsigned-per-curiam-opinion-from-pennsylvania-supreme-court-on-voter-id-law/ Tue, 18 September 2012 23:43:37 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-an-unsigned-per-curiam-opinion-from-pennsylvania-supreme-court-on-voter-id-law/ The decision of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on the state's controversial Voter ID law has been much anticipated. So it was disappointing to see the high court punt on the issue and remand the case back to Commonwealth Court which had upheld the law relying on testimony of state officials that it could be implemented by the November 6 election without disenfranchising eligible citizen voters. And it was especially disappointing to see the high court do so by an unsigned per curiam opinion. In that unsigned opinion , the Supreme Court stated its dissatisfaction "with a mere predictive judgment based primarily on the assurances of government officials". It directed the Commonwealth Court "to consider whether the procedures being used for deployment of the cards comport with the requirement of liberal access which the General Assembly attached to the issuance of PennDOT identification cards. If they do not, or if the Commonwealth Court is not still convinced in its predictive judgment that there will be no voter disenfranchisement arising out of the Commonwealth's implementation of a voter identification requirement for purposes of the upcoming election, that court is obliged to enter a preliminary injunction." Why was the court's decision made per curiam, which is Latin for "by the court"? Usually Supreme Court opinions are signed, so everyone knows which justice wrote the opinion. Per curiam opinions occur most often in cases where the court finds the issues non-controversial, which is certainly not the case with the Voter ID law. The most glaring example of a per curiam opinion issuing in a controversial case was the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Gore deciding the year 2000 presidential election. Perhaps in that case no justice was willing to sign a hasty and imperfect decision sure to be criticized. And perhaps that's the same reason no justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court was willing to sign its Voter ID opinion remanding the case back to the lower court. Kudos to Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices Debra Todd and Seamus McCaffery who issued clear and impassioned dissenting statements, which they signed. Justice Todd found that, "the lower court indeed abused its discretion in failing to find that irreparable harm of constitutional magnitude — the disenfranchisement of a substantial number of eligible, qualified, registered voters, many of whom have been proudly voting for decades — was likely to occur based on the present structure, timing, and implementation of" the Pennsylvania Voter ID law. Justice McCaffery stated that, "I cannot in good conscience participate in a decision that so clearly has the effect of allowing politics to trump the solemn oath that I swore to uphold our Constitution. That Constitution has made the right to vote a right verging on the sacred, and that right should never be trampled by partisan politics." Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-an-unsigned-per-curiam-opinion-from-pennsylvania-supreme-court-on-voter-id-law/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-an-unsigned-per-curiam-opinion-from-pennsylvania-supreme-court-on-voter-id-law/ Tue, 18 September 2012 23:43:37 Scott Burris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/law-professors-organize/ By Scott Burris Over the past fifty years, law has become an important tool for promoting public health – and a site of dramatic social and political contests.  Public health law has been an integral part of “great achievements” in … Continue reading → Via Harvard Bill of Health http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/law-professors-organize/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/law-professors-organize/ Tue, 18 September 2012 17:54:19 Dave Hoffman http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/quote-approval/ Our platonic media guardians worry about the increasingly common practice of giving sources “quote approval”.  At the NYT’s public editor explains, “Some parts of the practice, I believe, do fall into a black-and-white realm. The idea that a reporter must send a written version of a quotation to a source or his press representation for approval or tweaking is the extreme version of the “quote approval” practice and it ought to be banned in a written rule.” This is nonsense.  There’s a simple reason that most sources (including me) ask for quote approval: we don’t trust reporters to avoid making a hash out of our comments, pulling quotes selectively to fit a pre-existing narrative, and consequently turning the source into the reporter’s sock puppet.  It’s [...] Via Concurring Opinions http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/quote-approval/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/quote-approval/ Mon, 17 September 2012 20:55:58 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/in-free-trade-move,-honduras-privatizes-three-cities,-extremely-(a-new-kind-of-company-town)/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro Story here: Investors can begin construction in six months on three privately run cities in Honduras that will have their own police, laws, government and tax systems now that the government has signed a memorandum of agreement approving the project. . . . The “model cities” will have their own judiciary, laws, [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/in-free-trade-move,-honduras-privatizes-three-cities,-extremely-(a-new-kind-of-company-town)/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/in-free-trade-move,-honduras-privatizes-three-cities,-extremely-(a-new-kind-of-company-town)/ Mon, 17 September 2012 13:25:11 Jaya Ramji-Nogales http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-savina-sirik/ It's our great pleasure to welcome Savina Sirik (right) as an IntLawGrrls contributor. Savina is a Team Leader for the Living Document Project and Public Information Room of the Documentation Center of Cambodia , where she has worked since 2004. She has conducted extensive field research on the psychological impacts of the Khmer Rouge regime, worked on a documentary film about sexual abuse under the Khmer Rouge, and directed a comprehensive public information campaign about the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). Savina focuses on encouraging women’s participation both within the tribunal process and in the broader political system. She hopes to foster greater involvement of community members in political processes, particularly by encouraging women to take on community leadership roles. Savina received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Archaeology from the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and also holds a Master of Arts in Peace and Reconciliation Studies from Coventry University in the United Kingdom. Recently, Savina interviewed Duch , who ran the Khmer Rouge's infamous Tuol Sleng prison, to which "enemies of the revolution" were sent. As IntLawGrrls have detailed in posts available here , Duch was the defendant in the first case before the ECCC, which found him guilty of crimes against humanity, torture, and murder, sentencing him to 35 years in prison. Savina discusses the interview in her introductory post below . Heartfelt welcome! Via IntLawGrrls http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-savina-sirik/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/welcoming-savina-sirik/ Mon, 17 September 2012 06:00:00 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/desperate-and-losing,-romney-makes-unforced-errors/ In Mitt Romney's appearance on NBC's Meet the Press on September 9, he reiterated his promise of an across-the-board income tax cut for all Americans including those like himself in the top 1%. The Romney-Ryan tax plan actually would cut taxes on income from capital, as opposed to labor, from 15% to 0%. Romney said those tax cuts would not add to the deficit because they would be offset by eliminating loopholes and deductions. But when asked by NBC's David Gregory which loopholes and deductions he would cut, Romney was unable to name a single one. After campaigning on the promise to repeal Obamacare in its entirety, Romney announced in the same Meet the Press appearance that, "Well, I'm not getting rid of all of health care reform. Of course there are a number of things that I like in health care reform that I'm going to put in place. One is to make sure that those with pre-existing conditions can get coverage." Immediately after the broadcast, the Romney campaign had to clarify its candidate's remarks as not in fact supporting the Affordable Care Act's assurance of health care insurance for Americans with pre-existing conditions. That assurance could only be achieved through the Act's individual mandate requiring that everyone purchase health insurance who can afford to do so. On Tuesday, September 11, Romney tried to find political advantage in the attacks on U.S. embassies and consulates by saying, "It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks." Sympathize? What was Romney talking about? Apparently he was criticizing a statement from the U.S. embassy in Cairo which had been released before the demonstrations expected in response to an anti-islamic video. The statement said that the U.S. embassy, "condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims..." After being told that the embassy statement had been issued before the demonstrations and attacks had occurred, Romney denounced President Obama for not defending the filmmakers' free speech rights. "Apology for America's values is never the right course," said Romney. Apology? Again, what the heck was Romney talking about? After a day of associating himself with the extremist filmmakers preaching hatred of Islam, Romney was forced to eventually denounce them himself , notwithstanding his earlier criticism of President Obama for the administration's criticism of the film. As President Obama has observed of his Republican opponents, they are "new to foreign policy." Romney's the guy who criticized British preparations for the Olympics while in Britain, and contrasted Palestinian cultural flaws against Israeli financial acumen while in the Middle East. Romney promises a trade war with China from day one of his administration, and identifies Russia, not Al Qaeda, as our Number One enemy. Romney should not be president of the United States. And fortunately, he won't be. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/desperate-and-losing,-romney-makes-unforced-errors/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/desperate-and-losing,-romney-makes-unforced-errors/ Sun, 16 September 2012 23:59:17 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/libya-killings-and-speech-labels-the-first-amendment-according-to-google/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro At risk of dipping back into this touchy subject, there’s this interesting development as reported in today’s NY Times: Google has blocked the film that has provoked embassy (and now KFC) attacks from youTube sites in Libya and Egypt: Google said it decided to block the video in response to violence that [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/libya-killings-and-speech-labels-the-first-amendment-according-to-google/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/libya-killings-and-speech-labels-the-first-amendment-according-to-google/ Fri, 14 September 2012 11:12:52 Peter Spiro http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/us-envoy-killing-bolsters-case-for-hate-speech-ban/ by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro The deplorable killing of Chris Stevens in Libya suggests a foreign relations law rationale for banning hate speech. Remember, the Benghazi protests were prompted by this film depicting the prophet Mohammed in not very flattering terms. The equation from the protesters at the US consulate in Benghazi: this film was produced by [...] Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/us-envoy-killing-bolsters-case-for-hate-speech-ban/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/us-envoy-killing-bolsters-case-for-hate-speech-ban/ Wed, 12 September 2012 13:17:40 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/a-personal-remembrance-of-911/ September 11, 2001 was a Tuesday, just like September 11, 2012, and it was a beautiful sunny day, just like September 11, 2012, with hardly a cloud in the brilliant blue sky. I was driving to Temple Law School in Philadelphia to teach a morning class. Stopped at a red light on Broad Street in front of the law school, I heard the first radio report that smoke was coming out of one of the World Trade Center towers which had apparently been hit by an airplane. I thought that was odd, to happen on such a clear day, and that planes ought to be banned from flying near skyscrapers. I parked my car and proceeded to my class, where students informed me and each other of what they had heard, that a second plane had hit the second tower, that the Pentagon and perhaps the State Department had been attacked in Washington, D.C., and that commercial aircraft were missing and believed hijacked. Still not comprehending the scope of the tragedy, I proceeded to start teaching my class on Citizenship and Immigration Law, though I did tell the class that if foreigners were responsible for these attacks, we could expect big changes in U.S. immigration law and practice. About halfway through my class Assistant Dean Esten and then Associate Dean Epps walked into my class and announced that all classes were cancelled immediately. They told us what they knew, that one of the World Trade Center towers had collapsed killing many, that the Pentagon had indeed been attacked, and that there were reports of an airplane crash in western Pennsylvania. They said that because no one knew exactly what was happening, or the scope of the attacks underway, everyone should feel free to leave the law school and return home or to their families. That made sense to me, and I dismissed the class after suggesting that they consider any immigration implications of what was happening that morning. I drove home to Delaware where I turned on the television and for the first time saw the unbelievable pictures of what was happening in New York and at the Pentagon. News reports urged people not to make telephone calls to New York to keep the lines open for emergency use. That seemed like a reasonable request, and I resisted the urge to call our older daughter who was a medical student at New York University, knowing that the medical school was mid-town, not downtown. My wife came home from work, and our younger daughter came home from high school, and we watched TV and discussed what we were seeing. Our older daughter called home and reported that her group of medical students had been assigned to do triage at the emergency room of Bellevue Hospital which expected to be overwhelmed with casualties from downtown. But they waited all day without seeing the anticipated flood of patients. It gradually became clear that there were relatively few injuries because so many had died at the World Trade Center. Like most Americans, I was shocked and angry, and ready to support our government in whatever action it decided to take to protect the country and strike back at those who attacked us. No one knew if there would be more attacks the next day, or the next week, or the next month. Cooler heads than mine urged us not to let fear drive us to actions we would later regret. In hindsight, they were right. The invasion of Iraq in 2003 proved to be the most misguided of all our fearful responses to the 9/11 attacks. And I was mostly wrong in my prediction of big changes in U.S. immigration law and practice in response to the terrorist attacks of foreigners. Although there have been many changes, the basic framework of the U.S. immigration system remains surprisingly similar to how it was before that sunny morning in September. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/a-personal-remembrance-of-911/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/a-personal-remembrance-of-911/ Wed, 12 September 2012 11:30:09 Duncan Hollis http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-duty-to-protect-diplomatic-and-consular-premises/ by Duncan Hollis Amidst the memorials to 9/11 yesterday came more tragic  news  with mob attacks on the U.S. embassy in Cairo and the consulate in Benghazi, including the  deaths  of U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.  My condolences go out to the victims' families and the U.S. Foreign Service community, the Marines who guard them, as well as the local security and staff who accept the risk of working in places that are clear targets for violence.  Stevens was the first U.S. Ambassador killed on assignment since 1979, but it seems all too frequently we get stories of attacks on diplomatic or IO premises, from those in Syria  last year , to the 2003  attacks  on the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq to the  1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies  in Nairobi and Dar es Salamm.  For my part, I will never forget walking the grounds of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi several weeks after the bombing (before it was torn down), and witnessing first hand the horror perpetuated there. For centuries, the international legal order has existed to regulate relations among States (and that remains true whatever one makes of its evolution to accommodate the regulation of non-State actors as well).  To allow "relations" among States, however, requires means and methods of inter-State communication, of which embassies and consulates are the most visible symbols.  As the ICJ put it in  the case of US Diplomatic and Consular Staff in Tehran  (paras 38-40): [t]here is no more fundamental prerequisite for the conduct of relations between States than the inviolability of diplomatic envoys and embassies . . . [T]he institution of diplomacy, with its concomitant privileges and immunities, has withstood the test of centuries and proved to be an instrument essential for effective co-operation in the international community, and for enabling States, irrespective of their differing constitutional and social systems, to achieve mutual understanding and to resolve their differences by peaceful means . . . [and] the inviolability of consular premises and archives, are similarly principles deep-rooted in international law... Thus, violations of the diplomatic or consular mission premises like those that occurred yesterday are clearly unlawful under international law.  The more challenging question is whether Egypt or Libya can be held responsible for these attacks.  There are at least two ways this could occur:  (a) via the law of state responsiblity; or (b) via their treaty obligations. Via OpinioJuris http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-duty-to-protect-diplomatic-and-consular-premises/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/the-duty-to-protect-diplomatic-and-consular-premises/ Wed, 12 September 2012 10:15:27 Jaya Ramji-Nogales http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/write-on!-global-participation-of-children/ (Write On! is an occasional item about n otable calls for papers)   From Tali Gal of the School of Criminology at the University of Haifa and Benedetta Faedi Duramy of Golden Gate University School of Law comes a call for book chapters for their forthcoming edited volume Promoting the Participation of Children and Youth across the Globe: From Social Exclusion to Child-Inclusive Policies .  Proposals are due October 31 ; submission details are below.  The authors describe the book as follows: 'The 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has inspired advocates and policy makers across the globe, injecting children’s rights terminology into various public and private arenas. Children’s right to participate in decision-making processes affecting their lives is the acme of the Convention and its central contribution to the children’s rights discourse. At the same time the participation right presents enormous challenges in its implementation. Laws, regulations and mechanisms addressing children’s right to participate in decision-making processes affecting their lives have been established in many jurisdictions across the globe. Yet these world-wide developments have only rarely been accompanied with empirical investigations. The effectiveness of various policies in achieving meaningful participation for children of various ages, cultures and circumstances have remained largely unproven empirically. With the growing awareness of the importance of evidence-based policies it becomes clear that without empirical investigations on the implementation of children’s right to participation it is difficult to promote their inclusion in decision making. ( credit ) How do children experience various fora of decision-making? To what extent do children feel that they are able to express their views freely and that their viewpoints are given due weight, in accordance with their age and maturity? What kind of representation do they regard as empowering and effective? How important do children consider their ability to influence the outcome of the process? Who do they want to be present in decision making mechanisms? These are some examples of child-centered investigations toward effective child participation that the various chapters of this book aim at describing. Other chapters may consider outcome variables focusing on the opinions of parents, professionals and family members regarding the way decision-making processes include children. The overall goal of the book is to identify practices that promote child-inclusive decision making processes that allow children of various ages and other characteristics to engage in meaningful dialogue with others toward the achievement of optimal decisions. The book aims to provide a wide range of empirical data collected from various arenas and different localities. Child-participation in schools, child-protection processes, restorative justice mechanisms, family disputes and courts may be discussed in the various chapters through data collected from different countries, cultures and samples, creating a mosaic of child-participation mechanisms and their level of success.' Interested?  Submit a proposal of 500 words, describing the main topics covered in the chapter, chapter structure, and an overview of the relevant sources.  Include a biographical sketch of 50-60 words identifying where you earned your highest degree, current affiliation and position, current research interests, and an email address.  You'll hear back by February 1, 2013.  If your proposal is accepted, the editors expect a full (7,000-10,000 word) chapter by November 30, 2013 for winter 2014 publication.  There's the possibility of a four-day writing retreat in May or June of 2013 to exchange drafts with other authors. Send submissions to: ► Assistant Professor Dr. Tali Gal, School of Criminology, University of Haifa: tali.gal.04@gmail.com ► Associate Professor Dr. Benedetta Faedi Duramy, Golden Gate University School of Law: bfduramy@ggu.edu Via IntLawGrrls http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/write-on!-global-participation-of-children/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/write-on!-global-participation-of-children/ Mon, 10 September 2012 04:30:00 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-romney-should-and-will-lose/ First, Mitt Romney is a two-faced opportunist, who told Massachusetts voters they should elect him governor because he's pro-choice, pro-gay rights, and "progressive". Now he says we should elect him President because he's anti-choice, anti-gay rights, and "severely conservative". Read more... Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-romney-should-and-will-lose/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/why-romney-should-and-will-lose/ Mon, 03 September 2012 00:29:21 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professor-jen-bretschneider,-director-of-experiential-programs,-reflects-on-t-spec’s-first-summer/ Ed. note:  Temple Law piloted an innovative new experiential program this summer.  T-SPEC, which stands for Temple Summer Professional Experience Curriculum, was an integrated experience that connected internships with classroom work, paired students with formal mentors and provided them with informal networking opportunities.  In this article, Director of Experiential Programs Jen Bretschneider explains why a group of faculty and administrators developed T-SPEC and how it contributes to the legal education of Temple Law students. The Temple Summer Professional Experience Curriculum (T-SPEC) was created as a way for students to begin to understand the responsibility that lawyers assume when they enter the profession of law.  Because the law is a powerful tool for achieving justice and equality in society it was important to us to create an opportunity for students to thoughtfully examine the profession and their place it.  To accomplish this, we wanted rising second year day and third year evening students to experience their summer internships in a unique and innovative way.  In T-SPEC the students learned using a multi-dimensional curriculum.  First, each student was placed in an internship for 10 weeks, working Monday through Thursday for thirty-two hours a week.  At the placement, each student worked on real issues, observed courtroom proceedings and saw how the law changed lives.  Second, the students were paired with mentors; attorneys outside of their placements who met with the students to answer questions, think through professional goals and serve as a link to the broader legal community.  Third, the students created a private blog called Do.Process. and used this tool to process their experiences and share information.  Fourth, the students attended a classroom component every Friday where they came prepared to discuss the professional and ethical issues that arose during their week and considered relevant material on an eclectic array of topics, such as defining success, considering cultural competence in lawyering, exploring the value of pro bono work and honing practical skills such as interviewing and networking.  Fifth, the students networked with area leaders.  They attended panel presentations during which yet another group of local lawyers spoke to the students about professionalism.  Students also went to evening events where they met alumni and other attorneys.  Finally, the students synthesized what they learned by preparing and delivering a presentation on a current ethical or professional issue.  The presentations explored topics such as discretion in federal sentencing, the use of informants, the limitations on using social media while working as a federal law clerk, the criminalization of mental health and the appropriateness of using the adversarial system in family court.  The presentations resulted in a rich dialogue about the issues and a glimpse into the many areas of law that are open to our students after graduation. By spending their summer in this new way, Temple Law T-SPEC students had an opportunity to reflect on how the law comes to life in the various courtrooms and workplace settings that make up the Philadelphia area legal community.  Through a partnership with area attorneys, we were able to provide a ten week experience that left each student with a new perspective and new skills.  As one T-SPEC student wrote, "No legal opinion could teach me what I have learned this summer. Being a lawyer is a challenging and delicate balance of interests, and we must always respect that challenge using our intuition and intellect to tackle tough problems that change lives."  That is T-SPEC. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professor-jen-bretschneider,-director-of-experiential-programs,-reflects-on-t-spec’s-first-summer/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professor-jen-bretschneider,-director-of-experiential-programs,-reflects-on-t-spec’s-first-summer/ Mon, 03 September 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/joe-h-tucker-jr-89-inducted-into-international-academy-of-trial-lawyers/ Joe H. Tucker, Jr. '89, Managing Partner of Tucker Law Group, LLC, has been inducted into the International Academy of Trial Lawyers at its Mid-Year Meeting held July 25-29, 2012 in Vail, Colorado. Recognized as the most prestigious organization of trial advocates in the world, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers limits membership to 500 Fellows from the United States, from both the plaintiff and defense bars.  As an invitation-only membership organization, the Academy seeks out, identifies, acknowledges and honors those who have achieved a career of excellence through demonstrated skill and ability in jury trials, trials before the court and appellate practice.  A comprehensive screening process identifies the most distinguished members of the trial bar by means of both peer and judicial review.   Standards for Admission into the Academy include excellent character, absolute integrity, demonstrated professionalism and promotion of the highest standards of the civil justice system. The Academy's general purposes are to cultivate the science of jurisprudence, promote reforms in the law, facilitate the Administration of Justice, and elevate the standards of integrity, honor and courtesy in the legal profession. Mr. Tucker has been evaluated by his colleagues and the judges in his jurisdiction, and has been highly recommended by them as possessing these qualifications and characteristics. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/joe-h-tucker-jr-89-inducted-into-international-academy-of-trial-lawyers/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/joe-h-tucker-jr-89-inducted-into-international-academy-of-trial-lawyers/ Fri, 10 August 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/morris-dees-accepts-aba-medal/ VIDEO: Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center accepts the ABA Medal, the highest award conferred by the American Bar Association, at the ABA Annual Meeting currently underway in Chicago. Dean JoAnne A. Epps, who was in attendance, noted that Mr. Dees' remarks "served as a profound reminder of why lawyers matter." Please enjoy the video below, courtesy of the American Bar Association. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/morris-dees-accepts-aba-medal/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/morris-dees-accepts-aba-medal/ Wed, 08 August 2012 00:00:00 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/penn-state-plea-bargain-exposes-ncaa-spinelessness-it’s-all-about-the-money/ Those in the know at Penn State are relieved that the university escaped the death penalty for its football program which could, and should, have been imposed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association for the cover-up of child sex abuse. The $60 million contribution Penn State pays to the NCAA to fund national child abuse prevention programs is equal to Penn State's direct revenue from football for one single year. The erasure of Penn State's football victories from 1998 through 2011 mainly affects the legacy of its now dismissed, discredited, disowned and deceased former head coach Joe Paterno. Penn State willingly embraced these penalties and others, including temporary ineligibility for bowl games and loss of football scholarships, because it knows a good deal when it sees one. Its football program will continue through a period of rebuilding, as all programs periodically must, with the hope and expectation of soon re-emerging as the dominant cultural life force in the Happy Valley. The NCAA loves to slap around non-revenue member schools like Cal Tech for technical rules violations. It once imposed a death penalty on the football program at Southern Methodist for impermissible benefits to players. Top-tier football programs get treated differently. Ohio State suffered a year of bowl ineligibility and temporary loss of some scholarships for impermissible benefits to players. And now Penn State has been allowed to negotiate its own penalties for protecting its football program by having, as the Freeh report found, "failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children" sexually assaulted by a Penn State assistant coach. Yes, it might have been a hassle to impose the death penalty on Penn State, which could have resisted and claimed and been entitled to due process. More importantly, a death penalty on Penn State would have resulted in significant revenue loss to other NCAA member schools for forfeiture of already scheduled games. We certainly don't want that to happen! And what about all the innocent adults who would be harmed by a death penalty? There are no innocent adults among the Penn State students, alumni, faculty, and merchants who promoted and profited from the football culture that nurtured and protected a predator who preyed on children. There are only enablers. Both Penn State and the NCAA are out there promoting the completely false notion that the penalties imposed are somehow worse than the death penalty. And if that's true, can everyone just move along? Nothing more to see here. But it's not true, and Penn State football survives to play another day. Shockingly, they will play this year according to their pre-arranged game schedule, as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile the child sex abuse victims that Penn State deliberately chose to ignore in order to protect the football program are on their own to seek justice for what Penn State allowed to be done to them. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/penn-state-plea-bargain-exposes-ncaa-spinelessness-it’s-all-about-the-money/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/penn-state-plea-bargain-exposes-ncaa-spinelessness-it’s-all-about-the-money/ Mon, 23 July 2012 15:55:19 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/penn-state-removes-paterno-statue/ Penn State has finally done one thing right, and has this morning removed the statue of Joe Paterno from outside Beaver Stadium.  But it's not enough.  Read my comments here :  http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/blogs/brandywine-to-broad/item/41743-penn-state-students-alumni-and-faculty-are-enablers-not-victims-of-the-child-sex-abuse-scandal Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/penn-state-removes-paterno-statue/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/penn-state-removes-paterno-statue/ Sun, 22 July 2012 12:14:31 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/penn-state-students,-alumni,-and-faculty-are-enablers,-not-victims,-of-the-child-sex-abuse-scandal/ The devastating Freeh report on the Penn State University child sex abuse scandal makes clear that the problem at Penn State is not confined to a few individuals who chose to ignore child abuse rather than compromise the reputation of a money-making and money-generating football program. Rather Penn State has a cultural problem. Penn State culture has centered on worship of its successful football program, to the point that everyone down to janitors understood that nothing would be allowed to threaten the image of that program and its future of inspiring donors and generating profits and wealth. Everyone who bought into that football-first, "We are Penn State" culture was an enabler of the continuing child abuse. That includes the alumni who promoted it and the students and faculty who profited from it. So I'm not swayed by expressions of concern for the "innocent" football players, students, or faculty whose careers could be affected by the punishments which should be imposed on Penn State. They chose to buy into that culture, and they should be willing to bear the consequences of having done so. If the situation described in the Freeh report doesn't demonstrate the lack of institutional control over the Penn State football program warranting the "death penalty" for that program, which is within the powers of the National Collegiate Athletic Association to impose, what does? The failure of Penn State to voluntarily impose such a death penalty on its football program demonstrates its continuing state of denial and hope to avoid consequences for its failure of morals, culture and values. And should Penn State be allowed to keep the football victories it won over many years while the sexual abuse of children was covered up to protect the football program? What kind of values does a decision like that uphold? The criminal liabilities of Penn State's leaders and former leaders who are still alive will become clear in due course. The determination of their and the university's civil liabilities to the victims of child abuse which was tolerated by the university promises to be protracted and difficult. Where are the Penn State trustees and alumni willing to step-up and fund the (your name here) Child Sex Abuse Victims Compensation Fund? The penalties imposed on Penn State for its money- and football-worshipping culture need to be sufficient both to break with its past, and to deter other institutions from pursuing the same goals with the same moral blindness. Does anyone think they will be? Alternatively, Penn State University could be formally re-named Paterno Sandusky University (PSU). And then they can keep the statue. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/penn-state-students,-alumni,-and-faculty-are-enablers,-not-victims,-of-the-child-sex-abuse-scandal/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/penn-state-students,-alumni,-and-faculty-are-enablers,-not-victims,-of-the-child-sex-abuse-scandal/ Fri, 20 July 2012 15:26:42 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/voting-should-be-mandatory/ Republicans are attempting to limit voter turnout in various states, including Pennsylvania, by requiring citizens to produce particular forms of photographic identification on election day in order to exercise their right to vote. We should be doing just the opposite, doing whatever we can to increase voter turnout on election day. The easiest way to do that would be to require all citizens to vote under penalty of paying a small, perhaps $3, fine for failing to vote, as is done in Australia, Brazil, Singapore, Uruguay, and several other democracies. Mandatory voting would insure that elected officials are truly representative of their electorates, and not just those most interested in and most able to vote on election day. In the U.S. we are experiencing political gridlock because both major political parties are dominated by their most extreme wings which are most likely to vote and be politically active. Mandatory voting would force both political parties and all candidates to pitch their campaigns towards the political center where the less politically attentive have been prone to not voting. Mandatory voting will insure that even the least privileged segments of the electorate will have a say in the outcome of elections, and may to some extent mitigate the impact of money on elections since "get out the vote" efforts will no longer be required. Citizens may be more attentive to political developments and issues knowing that they are required to vote on election day. Mandatory voting would prevent efforts at voter suppression by employers or special interests or anyone else. U.S. citizens have many obligations under our Constitution and laws. Citizens are required to pay taxes and to attend school up to a certain age. Citizens are required to show up for jury duty when summoned, and are subject to military conscription whenever Congress requires. Citizens who are financially able, we recently learned, can be compelled to purchase health insurance or pay a fine. In comparison, requiring citizens to vote would be a minor imposition, but with big, positive consequences for democracy. Mandatory voting will not insure a 100% voter turnout. Exceptions will have to be made for those physically unable or who otherwise have a good excuse. There will always be some who neglect or who deliberately choose not to vote. The fine for not voting may be difficult to collect. But jurisdictions which have imposed the legal requirement of a small payment for every disposable grocery or merchandise bag, have seen a dramatic increase in customers bringing their own re-usable bags or alternatively juggling their purchases without a bag to avoid paying an extra nickel or dime. Most voters can be expected to make considerable effort to vote if it means avoiding a fine of even just a few dollars. Functioning democracies require citizen participation. Higher participation by citizens gives legitimacy and respect to elected leaders and the electoral process. We should stop trying to restrict voting for citizens, and instead should do what is necessary to insure that every citizen votes. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/voting-should-be-mandatory/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/voting-should-be-mandatory/ Tue, 17 July 2012 15:57:30 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professor-lee-carpenter-selected-as-a-best-lgbt-lawyer-under-40/ Professor Lee Carpenter has been selected as a Best LGBT Lawyer Under 40 by the National LGBT Bar Association.    The LGBT Bar established this award to recognize outstanding lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender legal professionals under the age of 40 who have distinguished themselves in their field and demonstrated a profound commitment to LGBT equality.    Professor Carpenter, who is the former Legal Director of Equality Advocates Pennsylvania, remains active in the LGBT and public interest communities while teaching Legal Research and Writing and Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and the Law. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professor-lee-carpenter-selected-as-a-best-lgbt-lawyer-under-40/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professor-lee-carpenter-selected-as-a-best-lgbt-lawyer-under-40/ Tue, 17 July 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-and-public-policy-scholar-sean-rust-13-on-fox-news/ Sean Rust, a 3rd year law student and a Temple University Law and Public Policy Scholar in Washington D.C. this summer, guest-wrote a column for Forbes online on how to strengthen unions. His Forbes articles led to an invitation to go to New York to appear on Fox News,  Here's the link to Sean's appearance . He also has blog postings on immigration and health care topics. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-and-public-policy-scholar-sean-rust-13-on-fox-news/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-and-public-policy-scholar-sean-rust-13-on-fox-news/ Wed, 11 July 2012 00:00:00 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/too-many-harvard-lawyers-setting-national-policy/ The American Bar Association reported 1,225,000 lawyers in the U.S. as of 2010, when the official U.S. population was determined to be 308,746,000. So that's about one lawyer for every 300 Americans. But 25 out of our 44 presidents have been lawyers, Presidents Obama, Clinton, Ford, and Nixon most recently. And it's not unprecedented to have both leading nominees for the office of president trained as lawyers. The last time that happened, before this year, was in 1996 when Bob Dole ran against President Clinton. But it is unprecedented, I believe, for both nominees for president to be graduates of the same law school, as are Mitt Romney and President Obama. There are over 200 ABA-accredited law schools in the United States. What are the odds against both nominees for president having graduated from the same law school, studied law in the same classrooms, and with the same law faculty? The presidential race between Governor Romney and President Obama was directly affected by the Supreme Court's recent 5 to 4 vote upholding President Obama's Affordable Care Act, in which Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion and cast the decisive swing vote. What are the odds that Chief Justice Roberts would have attended the same law school as the two presidential contenders? In fact, Mitt Romney graduated from Harvard Law School in 1975, President Obama in 1991, and Chief Justice Roberts in 1986. And the Chief Justice is not the only Harvard Law School graduate on the high court. A majority of the nine current Supreme Court justices are graduates of the same law school located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In addition to the Chief Justice, Justice Scalia graduated in 1960, Justice Kennedy in 1961, Justice Breyer in 1964, and Justice Kagan in 1986. Harvard Law School also claims a sixth Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as an alum because she attended two of her three law school years there (1956-58) before transferring to Columbia to accompany her husband, HLS class of 1958, to his new job in New York. The other three Supreme Court Justices are all graduates of Yale Law School, Justice Thomas in 1974, Justice Alito in 1975, and Justice Sotomayor in 1979. There are three illogical characteristics of the legal profession in the United States today. First, it really matters what law school a lawyer attended. Second, it really matters if a lawyer was selected to serve on the law review as a student. And third, law school grades really matter, especially in the first year of law school. These are illogical characteristics because of the abundance of successful and influential American lawyers who happen to have none of those enumerated highlights in their biographies. There are in fact many pathways to a successful career in the law. Yet the traditional hierarchies of the legal profession persist as sorting devices at the critical early stages of some lawyer career paths, like the one leading to the Supreme Court. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/too-many-harvard-lawyers-setting-national-policy/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/too-many-harvard-lawyers-setting-national-policy/ Sat, 07 July 2012 18:28:03 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/a-visual-comment-on-the-weather/ I'm in the summer doldrums, and here's why. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/a-visual-comment-on-the-weather/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/a-visual-comment-on-the-weather/ Fri, 06 July 2012 11:46:00 Jan C. Ting http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/chief-justice-roberts-and-supreme-court-uphold-the-individual-mandate-and-the-affordable-care-/ In its eagerly awaited decision on the Affordable Care Act, a/k/a Obamacare, the Supreme Court's decisive swing vote surprisingly belonged, not to Justice Anthony Kennedy as expected, but instead to Chief Justice John Roberts, who was appointed to the court by President George W. Bush. Although five of the nine Supreme Court justices were appointed by Republican presidents, Chief Justice John Roberts joined with the four justices appointed by Democratic presidents to uphold the controversial individual mandate and Medicaid expansion provisions of President Obama's Affordable Care Act. Chief Justice Roberts assigned to himself the job of writing the majority opinion. He found that the Act's individual mandate requiring citizens to purchase health insurance or pay a fine, though not authorized by the Commerce clause of the Constitution, nonetheless was authorized under the Congressional power to tax. He also wrote that the expansion of Medicaid coverage could stand, but without the power specified in the Act to revoke existing Medicaid funding to states if they decline to comply with the expansion. Chief Justice Roberts also was the decisive swing vote in the Court's 5-3 decision earlier in the week striking down three of four contested provisions in the Arizona immigration law S.B.1070. In that case, if either he or Justice Kennedy had instead dissented, the resulting 4-4 split, because of Justice Elena Kagan's recusal, would have sustained the lower court opinion striking all four contested provisions. In the immigration case, the Chief Justice's vote may have enabled one of the contested Arizona provisions to survive. But on the Affordable Care Act, it's hard to see any silver lining for conservatives in the Chief Justice's vote. I think the Chief Justice voted the way he did because he didn't want, and he didn't want "his" Supreme Court, to end up on the wrong side of history. Few, if any, people are as conscious of the history of the Supreme Court as those who currently sit as justices. Maintaining respect for, and the reputation of, the high court is the particular concern of the Chief Justice whose name is associated with the court. All students of the Supreme Court are aware of its history in blocking Congressional efforts to regulate hours for child labor, to establish a minimum wage, and President Franklin Roosevelt's early initiatives to respond to the Great Depression. No one remembers the obstructionist justices. But the justices who dissented like Louis Brandeis and Oliver Wendell Holmes have been honored by history. History is written by the winners. I think the Chief Justice believes that he and his court will be judged to have been on the right side of history. Via Brandywine to Broad http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/chief-justice-roberts-and-supreme-court-uphold-the-individual-mandate-and-the-affordable-care-/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/chief-justice-roberts-and-supreme-court-uphold-the-individual-mandate-and-the-affordable-care-/ Thu, 28 June 2012 12:03:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/mari-carmen-aponte-’75-confirmed-as-ambassador-to-el-salvador/ Mari Carmen Aponte '75 was confirmed as Ambassador to El Salvador on June 14, 2012. Ambassador Aponte had been serving in the role under a recess appointment since August 19, 2011. President Obama originally nominated her to the post in December 2009. Before assuming the position of U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador, Mari Carmen Aponte worked as an attorney and consultant with Aponte Consulting, and served on the Board of Directors of Oriental Financial Group.  From 2001-2004, Ms. Aponte was the Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Federal Affairs Administration. Prior to that, she practiced law in Washington D.C. for nearly twenty years.  Ms. Aponte has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Council of La Raza, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the University of the District of Columbia.  She was a member of the Board of Rosemont College, and served as president of the Hispanic National Bar Association; the Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia; and as a member of the District of Columbia Judicial Nominations Commission.  In 1979, as a White House Fellow, Ms. Aponte was Special Assistant to United States Housing and Urban Development Secretary Moon Landrieu.  Ms. Aponte has a B.A. in Political Science from Rosemont College, an M.A. in Theatre from Villanova University, and a J.D. from Temple University. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/mari-carmen-aponte-’75-confirmed-as-ambassador-to-el-salvador/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/mari-carmen-aponte-’75-confirmed-as-ambassador-to-el-salvador/ Tue, 26 June 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2012-commencement-highlights/ Watch the best moments of the 2012 Commencement Exercises.    http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2012-commencement-highlights/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2012-commencement-highlights/ Wed, 20 June 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-ranked-highly-for-value-and-standard-of-living-in-national-jurist-magazine/ Temple Law has once again been named a Best Value law school by National Jurist Magazine . The only other school in the Philadelphia region to be included on the list was Rutgers - Camden.  The magazine also released the results of a study measuring the standard of living for law school graduates entering private practice. Temple Law was ranked 34th; only the University of Pennsylvania was ranked higher among regional schools. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-ranked-highly-for-value-and-standard-of-living-in-national-jurist-magazine/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-ranked-highly-for-value-and-standard-of-living-in-national-jurist-magazine/ Fri, 15 June 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/2012-commencement-highlights/   http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/2012-commencement-highlights/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/2012-commencement-highlights/ Wed, 23 May 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2012-student-scholarship-symposium/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2012-student-scholarship-symposium/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2012-student-scholarship-symposium/ Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-student-wins-burton-award-for-third-time-in-four-years/ Michael Dillon '12 has been named a 2012 Distinguished Legal Writing Award recipient by the Burton Awards for Legal Achievement, a nonprofit program associated with the Library of Congress.  Dillon was nominated for his article,Water Scarcity and Hydraulic Fracturing in Pennsylvania: Examining the Potential for Pennsylvania Water Law to Adequately Manage Potential Water Shortage Issues Presented by Natural Gas Operations in the Marcellus Shale, 84 Temp.L.Rev. _ (2011).  His paper was supervised by Professor Amy Sinden. Only fifteen student authors in the nation are recognized by the Burton Awards each year.  Winners are invited to receive their awards at an event in Washington, D.C. This year's event features United States Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens (retired) as the guest speaker and a performance by two-time Emmy award winner Bernadette Peters. 2012 marks the third time in four years that a Temple Law student has been recognized by the Burton Awards. While at Temple Law, Dillon has served as the managing editor of the Temple Law Review. In September 2012, he will begin his legal practice with the environmental and energy law firm Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox, LLP in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-student-wins-burton-award-for-third-time-in-four-years/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-student-wins-burton-award-for-third-time-in-four-years/ Tue, 08 May 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-professor-william-“chip”-carter-named-dean-at-university-of-pittsburgh-school-of-law/ Temple Law Professor William "Chip" Carter has been named to the deanship at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He will start July 1 and will be taking over for Mary Crossley, who has held the position since 2005 and will return to Pitt Law's faculty.   Professor Carter has served as a professor at Temple since 2007. His scholarly focus has been on constitutional law, civil rights, critical race theory and international human rights law. He also teaches litigation and civil procedure .  Professor Carter graduated from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1998 and joined Squire, Sanders & Dempsey in Washington as a litigation associate. He    moved over to Ropes & Gray's litigation department in 1999 and stayed there until 2001 when he went back to his alma mater to serve as an assistant and then associate professor at Case Western. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-professor-william-“chip”-carter-named-dean-at-university-of-pittsburgh-school-of-law/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-professor-william-“chip”-carter-named-dean-at-university-of-pittsburgh-school-of-law/ Thu, 26 April 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2012-adams-lecture/ Kathleen Sullivan presents "Free Speech, Federalism and the Political Valence of Constitutional Law." Kathleen M. Sullivan is partner and chair of the national appellate practice at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, the nation's largest law firm devoted solely to business litigation, as well as Stanley Morrison Professor of Law at Stanford, where she served as Dean from 1999 to 2004. The first woman dean of any school at Stanford, she is also the first woman named partner at any American Lawyer 100 firm. Widely recognized as one of the nation's most prominent constitutional scholars and appellate litigators, Ms. Sullivan has been named by The National Law Journal as one of the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America. As a professor of law at Harvard and Stanford Law Schools for over 25 years, Ms. Sullivan has taught constitutional law to thousands of law students, served as co-author with the late Gerald Gunther of the nation's leading casebook onConstitutional Law, and published law review articles on a wide range of constitutional topics, including federalism, separation of powers, freedom of speech, freedom of religion and the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court.  She has also provided pro bono representation in a variety of case involving civil rights and civil liberties, including the right of privacy. Now based in Quinn Emanuel's New York office, Ms. Sullivan handles appeals and motions in a wide range of business litigation matters. She has argued six cases in the US Supreme Court, winning victories for such clients as Wyeth, Inc. involving federal preemption of design defect suits under the Vaccine Act, Shell Oil in a case involving "arranger" liability under the Superfund statute, and California wineries in a case involving the ability to ship wine directly to consumers across state lines.She also has argued numerous cases in the US Courts of Appeals, including the First, Second, Third, Fifth, Seventh, Ninth and Federal Circuits; and various cases in state appellate courts, including a historic victory in the New York Court of Appeals for the right of New York Governor David Paterson to appoint a lieutenant governor to fill a vacancy in that office Ms. Sullivan holds a B.A. from Cornell University, where she was a Telluride Scholar, an M.A. from Oxford University, which she attended as a Marshall Scholar, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she won the Ames Moot Court competition. She is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an elected Member of the American Philosophical Society, founded by Benjamin Franklin and based in Philadelphia http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2012-adams-lecture/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2012-adams-lecture/ Wed, 25 April 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2012-stern-moot-court-competition/ Finalists compete in the 2012 Herman Stern Moot Court Competition.   http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2012-stern-moot-court-competition/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2012-stern-moot-court-competition/ Thu, 19 April 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2012-student-scholarship-symposium/ The 2012 Student Scholarship Symposium highlights the importance of scholarship at Temple Law.    http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2012-student-scholarship-symposium/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2012-student-scholarship-symposium/ Mon, 16 April 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-university-law-student-awarded-prestigious-peggy-browning-fellowship/ The Peggy Browning Fund has awarded a 10-week summer fellowship to Martín Klein '13.  He will spend the fellowship working at Working Hands Legal Clinic in Chicago, Illinois. The application process is highly competitive, and the award was based on his outstanding qualifications. In 2012 The Peggy Browning Fund will support nearly 70 public interest labor law fellowships nationwide. With more than 500 applicants from 125 participating law schools, securing a Peggy Browning Fellowship is not an easy task. Peggy Browning Fellows are distinguished students who have not only excelled in law school but who have also demonstrated their commitment to workers' rights through their previous educational, work, volunteer and personal experiences. Martín Klein is no exception. Martín's earliest memories involve picket lines, rallies and inflatable rats. A graduate of Loyola University Chicago, he worked two years at St. Augustine College in the north side of Chicago, providing recent migrants access to the American higher education system. Martín enrolled in law school with the intention to practice union-side labor law and advocate for the improvement of the conditions for working people. To date, Martín has clerked with Friends of Farmworkers, Inc. and Philadelphia Legal Assistance's Farmworker Project, both located in Philadelphia, Pa. These experiences have reinforced Martín's belief in the combination of advocacy, organizing, and cultivating the leadership present the people we represent. The Peggy Browning Fund is a not for-profit organization established in memory of Margaret A. Browning, a prominent union-side attorney who was a Member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from 1994 until 1997. Peggy Browning Fellowships provide law students with unique, diverse and challenging work experiences fighting for social and economic justice. These experiences encourage and inspire students to pursue careers in public interest labor law. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-university-law-student-awarded-prestigious-peggy-browning-fellowship/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-university-law-student-awarded-prestigious-peggy-browning-fellowship/ Mon, 16 April 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-wins-2nd-annual-deans’-cup-basketball-tournament/ The Temple Law basketball team was triumphant in the 2 nd  Annual Deans' Cup Basketball Tournament, outpacing the Villanova squad en route to a 57-38 victory.  The win evens the series at a game apiece.  Coached by Professor Jim Shellenberger, the Temple Law team consisted of Andrew Katz, Chris Nana-Sinkam, Kyle Payne, Zack Migeot, Nick Smith, Matt Thomas, Dave Pugh, Scott Vernick, Nickel Heimann, Ryan Renfrow, JP Faunes, Rebecca Mescio, Devin McCauley, Professor Mark Anderson, Professor Dave Hoffman, Professor Chip Carter, and Professor Kristen Murray.  Temple Owls men's basketball coach Fran Dunphy gave some welcoming remarks and introduced the players.  Dean Louie Thompson served as emcee and Hooter the Owl kept Will D. Cat at bay. The Deans' Cup Basketball Tournament is an annual event and raises funds for students at both schools who are serving in public interest jobs this summer. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-wins-2nd-annual-deans’-cup-basketball-tournament/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-law-wins-2nd-annual-deans’-cup-basketball-tournament/ Fri, 13 April 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-focus-on-professor-dave-hoffman/ Professor Dave Hoffman was profiled by Temple University News.  Here's what he had to say.   http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-focus-on-professor-dave-hoffman/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-focus-on-professor-dave-hoffman/ Thu, 12 April 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/blog-post-archive/ In Other ECHR News: Greeks Have No Right to Vote, At Least Not in Strasbourg  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, April 10, 2012 Up With "PostParadigmism" (In IR Theory and Elsewhere)  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, April 9, 2012 Cultural Cognition and the Trayvon Martin Case  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, April 8, 2012 Motivated Cognition and the Mandate  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, April 1, 2012 Injecting Transactional Skills Into the First Year  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, March 26, 2012 In Other Supreme Court News: Political Question Doctrine Takes A Hit In Jerusalem Passport Case  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, March 26, 2012 Does Assad Spouse Have A Right to Keep UK Citizenship?  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, March 26, 2012 Epic Fantasy and Plot Plumping  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, March 23, 2012 Noneconomic Damages for Breach of Contract  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, March 19, 2012 Casebooks and Geographic Bias  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, March 19, 2012 ….At Least Not On the High Seas  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, March 16, 2012 No More Re-Fouling Around …. - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, March 15, 2012 The Tragedy of Anonymous Comment Threads  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, March 15, 2012 Don't Use Et. Al.  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, March 8, 2012 Occupy Wall Street and Neoliberal Governmentality  - Brishen Rogers, Concurring Opinions, March 2, 2012 Sovereigntism (Straight Up), Courtesy of John Fonte  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, March 2, 2012 A Nice Test of the Calder "Exception" to McIntyre v. Nicastro  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, February 29, 2012 Measurable Things  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, February 26, 2012 Fair Use?  A Poll  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, February 27, 2012 As Santorum Causes Ruckus in Holland, Will Candidates Have to Play It Straight With Foreign Law?  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, February 27, 2012 Reaction to Departure of Temple University President Ann Weaver Hart  - Jan Ting, WHYY Newsworks, February 21, 2012 Simple Justice and Blogging Exhaustion  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, February 21, 2012 Georgetown Symposium:  Corporate Responsibility and the Alien Tort Statute  - Duncan Hollis, February 20, 2012 Labor Law in the Age of Social Media  - Brishen Rogers, Concurring Opinions, February 20, 2012 Dockets and Data Breach Litigation  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, February 19, 2012 An Argument Against the Traditional Structure of the Civil Procedure Course  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, February 16, 2012 Veil Piercing Is Probably Not the Most Litigated Issue in Corporate Law  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, February 15, 2012 Lifecycles and The Firm  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, February 10, 2012 Can't the Supreme Court Just Say No to Cameras?  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, February 10, 2012 How and Why to Boycott Apple  - Brishen Rogers, Concurring Opinions, February 8, 2012 The Psychology of Contract Precautions  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, February 7, 2012 A Blogging Hiatus And A Book  - Duncan Hollis, Opinio Juris, February 7, 2012 Looking for Twitter Follower No. 2000  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, February 7, 2012 Who's Afraid of Job Training?  - Brishen Rogers, Concurring Opinions, February 3, 2012 How Drones Help Break the Monopoly of States  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, January 31, 2012 How Are The Super-Rich Like Romney Different From Us?  They Pay Taxes at a Lower Rate  - Jan Ting, WHYY NewsWorks, January 31, 2012 SOPA Debate on Tuesday  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, January 27, 2012 Higher Education Costs:  What Could The Federal Government Do?  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, January 25, 2012 A Milestone Week for the Net  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, January 20, 2012 Walker v. City of Birmingham  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, January 17, 2012 Interesting Facts You Learn From Reading Supreme Court Opinions  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, January 10, 2012 FACTA Fallout:  Mass Renunciations?  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, January 8, 2012 This Just In:  File-Sharing is a Religion  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, January 7, 2012 Chess and the Open Source Revolution  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, January 7, 2012 Impressions of Rick Santorum  - Jan Ting, WHYY Newsworks, January 6, 2012 US Tax Overreach:  Enforcing Against Expats  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, January 4, 2012 To a Worm in Horseradish, the World is Horseradish  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, January 3, 2012 R.I.P. Larry Ribstein  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, December 25, 2011 Talk About Scale!  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, January 1, 2012 Code Is Law  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, December 21, 2011 Don't Break the Internet (Cont'd)  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, December 19, 2011 Supreme Court Takes Review of Arizona's SB 1070 - But Why?  - Peter Spiro, December 12, 2011 Remittances On the Rise….  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, December 12, 2011 Are States Down to Pocket Change?  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, December 8, 2011 Transactional Internships in the Summer After the First Year  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, December 8, 2011 David J. Bederman (1961-2011)  - Duncan Hollis, Opinio Juris, December 7, 2011 Nondisclosure, Non-disparagement, and Contract Law  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, December 6, 2011 The Hidden AIDS Crisis  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales,IntLawGrrls, December 5, 2011 Kahan on Science and Law School Education  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, December 2, 2011 Does the Secured Transactions Course Make Sense?  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, December 3, 2011 Paying People Not to Use Talk to Their Cellphones Virtual Assistants in Public  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, December 3, 2011 Exam-taking Mistakes  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, December 4, 2011 Second-Hand Music?  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, December 4, 2011 Stopping the Stop Online Privacy Act  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, December 4, 2011 Foreign Relations Federalism:  The Promise of Targeted Retaliation, in Alabama  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, November 28, 2011 After the Arab Spring  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, November 28, 2011 "Mentoring" vs. "Scamming"  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, November 23, 2011 Educating Refugees  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, November 22, 2011 Happy (?) American Censorship Day  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, November 16, 2011 Deference Undone  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, November 14, 2011 M.B.Z. v. Clinton: Getting to the Merits on the Recognition Power  - Robert Reinstein, Opinio Juris, November 7, 2011 Will Schengen Follow the Euro?  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, November 7, 2011 How About Occupy Hollywood?  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, November 4, 2011 Nondisclosure Agreements and Herman Cain  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, November 3, 2011 Progress and Pumpkins  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, November 3, 2011 Congress as Foreign Relations Actor (Pathological Strain)  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, November 1, 2011 Joe Biden, Cyberspace, and International Law  - Duncan Hollis, Opinio Juris, November 1, 2011 The Law and Economics of Tort Accidents, Illustrated  - Dave Hoffman, Concurrring Opinions, October 31, 2011 A Fair Trial in Rwanda?  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, October 31, 2011 Book Roundtable:  Rudi Teitel's Humanity's Law  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, October 24, 2011 Outsourcing Immigration Detention:  A Recipe for Abuse  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, October 24, 2011 Hey, 2d Circuit!  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, October 19, 2011 Job Talk Alternatives?  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, October 18, 2011 Why Should We Care What Jefferson Thought About Copyright?  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, October 19, 2011 Which Yale College has Produced the Most Law Professors?  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, October 18, 2011 Still Kicking at 60?  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawgrrls, October 17, 2011 Talk on Jefferson, Copyright Law, and the Net  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, October 13, 2011 The Question is Whether "Kafkaesque" or "Orwellian" is the Appropriate Adjective  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, October 13, 2011 Article 8′s Appetite  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, October 7, 2011 Public Service Reminder:  Baby Selling is Illegal  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, October 5, 2011 al-Awlaki and Citizenship  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, October 3, 2011 Reversal Rates, Reconsidered  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, September 30, 2011 Aging in the US Conference  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, October 3, 2011 Regional Migration  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, September 30, 2011 Aging Conference at Temple  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, September 28, 2011 A Shipwreck and Sovereign Immunity  - Duncan Hollis, Opinio Juris, September 26, 2011 So, Do You Have Any Questions for Us?  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, September 23, 2011 The Price of Law School Cost Transparency, Part II:  An Interview with Law School Transparency  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, September 20, 2011 Pushing the Boundaries of Asylum Law  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, September 16, 2011 Sex, Lies, and Videogames  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, September 13, 2011 The Sweetest Place on Earth?  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, September 12, 2011 Jack Goldsmith Comes Out Against Concept of "LawFare"  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, September 8, 2011 Law's Arbitrary Endpoints  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, September 7, 2011 Guest Blogger: Toni Holness  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, September 7, 2011 (and Toni Holness '11′s post, titled  Participation as Reparations ) Good News From Down Under  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, September 2, 2011 Don't Screw Around With That State Whose Capital is Austin  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, September 2, 2011 No More Fire, The Water Next Time  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, August 30, 2011 The Future of Empirical Legal Studies  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, August 29, 2011 Refugee Roulette, European Style  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, August 26, 2011 My Annual Rant (Tinkerbell Returns!) - Now in Dialogue Form  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, August 24, 2011 More on the "Internet":  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, August 23, 2011 TJ for the UK?  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, August 19, 2011 On Villanova's "Censure" by the ABA  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, August 17, 2011 It's "the Internet." Please.  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, August 11, 2011 Measuring Kenyan Preferences  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, August 5, 2011 Assessing Twiqbal  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, August 5, 2011 Our Bar … is … an Asylum For the Lame, and the Halt, and the Blind From the Law Schools of This Country. And They Are Still Coming  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, August 4, 2011 Defining Persecution to Minimize Fraud  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, July 29, 2011 Summer Reading Recommendation:  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, July 22, 2011 A Book Discussion:  International Law in the US Supreme Court  - Duncan Hollis, Opinio Juris, July 23, 2011 Let's Hope They Don't Ask This On the Bar Exam:  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, July 21, 2011 Refugee Law Meets International Criminals  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, July 15, 2011 I'm Not - Really - Making This Up:  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, July 15, 2011 A Last Word on Cyberthreats  - Duncan Hollis, Opinio Juris, July 15, 2011 Breaking:  Children of Diplomats Getting US Citizenship!  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, July 14, 2011 My Career Comes Full Circle:  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, July 14, 2011 Duncan B. Hollis Responds to Professors Eric Jensen and Jonathan Zittrain  - Duncan Hollis, Opinio Juris, July 13, 2011 An E-SOS for Cyberspace  - Duncan Hollis, Opinio Juris, July 13, 2011 New Internet Top-Level Domains Coming  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, July 11, 2011 International Criminal Law Meets Non-Refoulement  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, July 8, 2011 And Speaking of the Inalienable Right to the Pursuit of Happiness ….  David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, July 4, 2011 The Forced Migration Count (Afghanistan)  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, July 1, 2011 Too Bad Administration's WPR "Hostilities" Gambit Isn't Working (It Might Have)  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, June 30, 2011 A Bill to Ban Kosher Slaughtering Practices  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, June 28, 2011 Expanding HIV Prevention in Africa  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, June 24, 2011 The Agents of Social Change  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, June 21, 2011 New Rules for Cyberwar?  - Duncan Hollis, Opinio Juris, June 23, 2011 Let's Not Confuse War Powers with the War Powers Resolution  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, June 21, 2011 Will the Supreme Court Revisit Missouri v. Holland?  More Likely as of Yesterday  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, June 17, 2011 Immigrants:  More Educated Than You Think They Are  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, June 16, 2011 The Power of the Aesthetic Dimension  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, June 17, 2011 Proposed Legislation Seeks VCCR Compliance by the United States  - Duncan Hollis, Opinio Juris, June 17, 2011 Latest on War Powers and Libya: Resurrecting the WPR? (Probably Not)  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, June 17, 2011 CFR Study Advocates National Prosecutions for International Crimes  - Duncan Hollis, Opinio Juris, June 3, 2011 House Libya Resolution: Pretty Tame Stuff  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, June 3, 2011 Look On!  Gaza Reels  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, June 3, 2011 Transactional Lawyering at the Movies  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, June 2, 2011 Grading and Politics  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, June 2, 2011 Pennoyer v. Neff, By God!  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, May 31, 2011 The Price of Law School Cost Transparency  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, May 29, 2011 What Can the ICC Do For Kenyan IDPs?  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, May 27, 2011 Facts, Values, and Circumcision  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, May 26, 2011 Supreme Court Upholds AZ Undocumented Alien Employer Sanctions Measure  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, May 26, 2011 For the "Life Imitates Law School Exam" File: Tattoo Copyright  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, May 25, 2011 The Turner Symposium:  Coming Soon!  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, Concurring Opinions, May 23, 2011 Can We All Just Agree That the War Powers Resolution is Dead?  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, May 20, 2011 Meanwhile, Back in Iraq…  Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, May 20, 2011 Don't Quote Me  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, May 18, 2011 Blame Email Disclaimers on Judge Harmon?  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, May 17, 2011 What's Malcolm Gladwell Talking About?  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, May 17, 2011 Beneath the Lamp Post  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, May 15, 2011 What Kind of Immunity Does the IMF Managing Director Have?  - Duncan Hollis, Opinio Juris, May 15, 2011 More on DHS and Copyright Enforcement  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, May 9, 2011 Frum/Greenwald on International Law  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, May 8, 2011 Deeks on Self-Defense and Pakistani Sovereignty  - Duncan Hollis, Opinio Juris, May 8, 2011 Homeland Security, At It Again  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, May 8, 2011 Transgender Students In A Socratic Classroom  - Dave Hoffman,Concurring Opinions, May 4, 2011 Preaha Vihear All Over Again  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, May 2, 2011 Breaking News:  Superman to Renounce U.S. Citizenship  - Duncan Hollis, Opinio Juris, April 28, 2011 Birthers Next Line of Retreat:  Obama Was A Dual Citizen?  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, April 27, 2011 Stopping Survival Sex in Liberia  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, April 22, 2011 The Role of Intermediaries in Conspiracy Theories  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, April 21, 2011 The Course of International Law Through HLS Exams  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, April 21, 2011 Copyright Tale Wagging the Internet Dog Number 153 , David Post, April 16, 2011 The Council of Europe Steps Up  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, April 15, 2011 The Contradictions of Tenure  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, April 11, 2011 Fortress Asia:  Bali Process Proceeds  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, April 8, 2011 OLC Issues Libya War Powers Opinion  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, April 7, 2011 TV Law, The Good Wife, and Barry Bonds  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, April 6, 2011 Expressive Case Selection at ICC  - Meg DeGuzman, IntLawGrrls, April 5, 2011 Applying Feminism Globally  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, April 3, 2011 Thank God for UCC 2-309!  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, April 1, 2011 Of Possible Interest?   - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, April 1, 2011 Bensouda on ICC Prosecutions  - Meg DeGuzman, INtLawGrrls, March 31, 2011 Randomization Uber Alles?   - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, March 29, 2011 Randomization, Intake Systems, and Triage  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, Concurring Opinions, March 28, 2011 Mandatory (Randomized) Clinical Trials?  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, March 28, 2011 Beyond ECCC  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, March 25, 2011 Google Books, Dead for Now  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, March 24, 2011 Packing a Regional Punch  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, March 18, 2011 Would No-Fly Zone Require Congressional Authorization?  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, March 17, 2011 Copyright Tail Wags the Internet Dog:  Episode 39  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, March 16, 2011 A Grim (and Fantastic) View of Law  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, March 16, 2011 Takeaways From the Raymond Davis Episode  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, March 16, 2011 The Glass Castle -  Hosea Harvey, Concurring Opinions, March 15, 2011 Egyptian Constitutional Reform:  Presidential Eligibility Clause Only a Birther Could Love?  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, March 14, 2011 Copyright and Free Expression  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, March 13, 2011 Selecting Special Rapporteurs  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, March 11, 2011 Is @StateDept's eDiplomacy Unit Going Slightly Rogue?  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, March 9, 2011 'Nuff Said  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntlawGrrls, March 8, 2011 Libya:  Did Citizen Evacuations Stand In the Way of Better Policy?  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, February 26, 2011 Unions, Union-Bashing, and All That  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, February 25, 2011 Will Anyone Publish Saif Gaddafi's Book on Civil Society?  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, February 25, 2011 Leaving Libya  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, February 25, 2011 Brazil's First Insider Trading Conviction?  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, February 23, 2011 DOMA and the Mandate:  Tit for Tat?  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, February 23, 2011 People Power Meets Fortress Europe  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, February 18, 2011 Egypt Right Here in America  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, February 11, 2011 Egypt and the Internet  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, February 8, 2011 Cognitive Illiberalism and the Speech-Conduct Distinction  - David Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, Feburary 8, 2011 From Principles to Process:  Mexico's New Asylum Law  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, February 4, 2011 Should International Courts Prosecute Sex Crimes?   - Margaret DeGuzman, IntLawGrrls, February 3, 2011 More Outrageous Domain Name Seizures by Our Vigilant Department of Homeland Security  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, February 2, 2011 U.S. and Pakistan in Diplomatic Immunity Dustup  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, February 2, 2011 The Representation Debate Continues  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, January 31, 2011 2009 Digest of U.S. Practice in International Law  - Duncan Hollis, Opinio Juris, January 31, 2011 Wikipedia's First Lawyer  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, January 24, 2011 Harvard Clinic Responds to Greiner Study  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, January 24, 2011 On Art!  The Rape of a Nation  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, January 21, 2011 Root Root Root for the Home Team  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, January 14, 2011 For the Sake of the Children  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, January 14, 2011 Southern Sudan:  Drawing Citizenship Boundaries  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, January 6, 2011 Speaking (Soft) Law to Power  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, January 6, 2011 News Flash:  Bolivia Opts Out of Nation-Statehood  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, January 4, 2011 States To Take A Stab at Birthright Citizenship  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, January 3, 2011 On the Brink of Genocide  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, December 31, 2010 Best Post of 2010?   - Duncan Hollis, Opinio Juris, December 31, 2010 Go Viral - Go!  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, December 30, 2010 Mighty Barca!  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, December 24, 2010 Tearing Apart Immigrant Families  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, December 24, 2010 New Jersey's Law Faculty Can Stay Put  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, December 23, 2010 Indian Diplomatic Passport = TSA Profile Match?   - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, December 23, 2010 Trends in Law  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, December 22, 2010 Experiments in Lawyering - Does the Harvard Legal Aid Clinic Deserve a Merit Badge?  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, December 21, 2010 Sovereigntism In a Nutshell  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, December 21, 2010 Trends in Law  - Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, December 17, 2010 Going Back to Baghdad  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, December 17, 2010 Lighthouse No Good  - David Hoffman, Concurring Opinions, December 17, 2010 Non-Selection of Assange Infuriates Time Man of the Year  - 1938 - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, December 16, 2010 State's QDDR and its Academic Cognates  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, December 16, 2010 Assange Non-Citizenship Should be Irrelevant to Possible Espionage Charges  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, December 14, 2010 World's Oddest Copy-Protection Scheme  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, December 10, 2010 Diplomatic Pat-Downs Back to TSA  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, December 9, 2010 There's No Place Like Home  - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, IntLawGrrls, December 9, 2010 The Many Fronts of the First Infowar  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, December 6, 2010 John Bolton for President (No Joke!)  - Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, December 1, 2010 Copyright Enforcement Tail Wags Internet Dog Cont'd - Or - What The Hell Ever Happened To Due Process?  - David Post, The Volokh Conspiracy, December 1, 2010 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/blog-post-archive/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/faculty-blog-posts/blog-post-archive/ Wed, 11 April 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professor-reinstein-accepts-justice-sotomayor-diversity-award-on-behalf-of-liacouras-committee/ Professor Robert Reinstein delivered brief remarks in accepting the Justice Sotomayor Diversity Award on behalf of the Liacouras Committee. His remarks are available here .  The Liacouras Committee was convened in 1970 to investigate racial bias in the Pennsylvania bar examination process.  The Committee's report confirmed the presence of widespread bias and made several recommendations for eliminating discrimination in the bar examination process, which were adopted by the Board of Law Examiners.  The Committee is credited with bringing about a "sea change" in the ability of African-Americans to practice law in Pennsylvania. http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professor-reinstein-accepts-justice-sotomayor-diversity-award-on-behalf-of-liacouras-committee/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/professor-reinstein-accepts-justice-sotomayor-diversity-award-on-behalf-of-liacouras-committee/ Wed, 04 April 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2012-friel-scanlan-lecture/ Professor David Hoffman delivers the 2012 Friel Scanlan lecture, titled "The Secret Life of Trial Dockets."     http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2012-friel-scanlan-lecture/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2012-friel-scanlan-lecture/ Thu, 22 March 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2012-myers-lecture/ Charles J. Ogletree delivers the 2012 Herbert Myers Memorial Lecture, titled, "The Conundrum of Race in the Age of Obama."    http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2012-myers-lecture/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2012-myers-lecture/ Tue, 06 March 2012 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-herbert-f-kolsby-lecture/ Robert J. Mongeluzzi LL.M. '94 delivers the 2011 Herbert F. Kolsby distinguished lecture in trial advocacy.    http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-herbert-f-kolsby-lecture/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-herbert-f-kolsby-lecture/ Tue, 13 December 2011 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/deans-forum-carla-dowben/ Carla Dowben, Class of 1955, talks with Professor Nancy Knauer on her experiences at Temple University Beasley School of Law and her career.    http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/deans-forum-carla-dowben/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/deans-forum-carla-dowben/ Tue, 13 December 2011 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-polsky-moot-court-competition/ Finalists argue for the Polsky Cup in the 36th Annual Samuel Polsky Competition.     http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-polsky-moot-court-competition/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-polsky-moot-court-competition/ Tue, 22 November 2011 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-service-day/ Take a look back at images from Temple Law's 3rd Annual Day of Service.    http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-service-day/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-service-day/ Thu, 03 November 2011 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/recapping-the-2011-polsky-competition/ 2011 Polsky Moot Court Competition Ikram Ally talks about his experience and lessons learned from the competition.     http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/recapping-the-2011-polsky-competition/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/recapping-the-2011-polsky-competition/ Wed, 26 October 2011 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/orientation-week-2011/ Check out all the highlights as Temple Law school welcomed the class of 2014/2015 to campus during Orientation Week 2011.     http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/orientation-week-2011/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/orientation-week-2011/ Fri, 02 September 2011 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/life-on-the-moot-court-honor-society/ Students reflect on their experience competing in the Polsky Moot Court competition and joining the Moot Court Honor Society.     http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/life-on-the-moot-court-honor-society/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/life-on-the-moot-court-honor-society/ Thu, 11 August 2011 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-vita-program/ Professor Alice Abreu talks about her new tax practicum course, which will change the way tax policy is taught by focusing on tax policy for low income taxpayers.     http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-vita-program/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-vita-program/ Thu, 28 July 2011 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/highlights-of-the-2011-commencement-ceremony/ Did you miss Temple Law's 2011 Commencement Exercises? Catch up with all the highlights in under five minutes.    http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/highlights-of-the-2011-commencement-ceremony/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/highlights-of-the-2011-commencement-ceremony/ Mon, 23 May 2011 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/advancing-the-ball/ Prof. Jeremi Duru and Cyrus Mehri talk about "Advancing the Ball: Race, Reformation, & the Quest for Equal Coaching Opportunity in the NFL"     http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/advancing-the-ball/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/advancing-the-ball/ Thu, 14 April 2011 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-stern-moot-court-competition/ The final four contestants take part in the 2011 Stern Moot Court Competition.   http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-stern-moot-court-competition/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-stern-moot-court-competition/ Wed, 13 April 2011 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-honorable-clifford-scott-green-lecture/ The 2011 lecture features a conversation with the Honorable William T. Coleman Jr. and the Honorable Ann Claire Williams.    http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-honorable-clifford-scott-green-lecture/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-honorable-clifford-scott-green-lecture/ Mon, 11 April 2011 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-friel-scanlan-lecture/ Professor David Post is the 2011 Friel Scanlan Award Recipient.     http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-friel-scanlan-lecture/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-friel-scanlan-lecture/ Mon, 11 April 2011 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-edward-j-ross-lecture/ Stephen A. Sheller, founding partner of Sheller, P.C., delivers the 2011 Edward J. Ross Memorial Lecture in Litigation.    http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-edward-j-ross-lecture/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-edward-j-ross-lecture/ Thu, 31 March 2011 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/nina-olsen/ National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olsen visits Temple Law School.          http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/nina-olsen/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/nina-olsen/ Mon, 21 March 2011 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-adams-lecture-in-constitutional-law/ Owen Fiss, Sterling Professor from Yale University, delivers the 2011 Arlin and Neysa Adams Lecture in Constitutional Law.    http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-adams-lecture-in-constitutional-law/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2011-adams-lecture-in-constitutional-law/ Fri, 04 March 2011 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2010-scanlan-lecture/ Peter Spiro challenges our view of National Identity in his 2010 Friel Scanlan Lecture, entitled "The End of Citizenship"     http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2010-scanlan-lecture/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2010-scanlan-lecture/ Thu, 28 October 2010 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2010-herbert-f-kolsby-lecture/ Michael E. Tigar delivers the 2010 Herbert F. Kolsby lecture, titled, "Why You Should Be An Advocate."   http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2010-herbert-f-kolsby-lecture/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2010-herbert-f-kolsby-lecture/ Tue, 26 October 2010 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2010-polsky-moot-court-competition/ The 2010 Samuel Polsky Moot Court competition finals with Judges Ann Lazarus, Alice Beck, and Professor Lou Natali.   http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2010-polsky-moot-court-competition/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2010-polsky-moot-court-competition/ Mon, 25 October 2010 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-laws-2010-annual-service-day/ Faculty, Staff, and Students participate in Temple Law's 2nd annual Service Day.     http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-laws-2010-annual-service-day/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/temple-laws-2010-annual-service-day/ Wed, 13 October 2010 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2009-polsky-moot-court-competition/ The finals of the 2009 Samuel Polsky Moot Court Competition.   http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2009-polsky-moot-court-competition/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2009-polsky-moot-court-competition/ Fri, 01 October 2010 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2009-scanlan-lecture/ Professor Amy Sinden delivers the 2009 Scanlan Lecture.     http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2009-scanlan-lecture/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2009-scanlan-lecture/ Fri, 24 September 2010 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/a-life-in-the-law/ Professor Craig Green welcomes students at the 2010 First Year Orientation.   http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/a-life-in-the-law/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/a-life-in-the-law/ Tue, 17 August 2010 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2010-stern-moot-court-competition/ The final round of the 2010 Stern Moot Court Competition.    http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2010-stern-moot-court-competition/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2010-stern-moot-court-competition/ Tue, 03 August 2010 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2010-myers-lecture/ The 2010 Myers Lecture is titled, "Justice for Sale: Luzerne Country, Corrupt Judges, and the Sounds of Silence."   http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2010-myers-lecture/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2010-myers-lecture/ Tue, 03 August 2010 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2009-adams-lecture-in-constitutional-law/ The Honorable Diane P. Wood delivers the Arlin M. and Neysa Adams Lecture in Constitutional Law.       http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2009-adams-lecture-in-constitutional-law/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2009-adams-lecture-in-constitutional-law/ Tue, 03 August 2010 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2010-commencement-exercises/ Relive the 2010 Commencement Exercises, featuring guest speaker Carolyn Lamm, President of the American Bar Association (ABA).      http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2010-commencement-exercises/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2010-commencement-exercises/ Thu, 20 May 2010 00:00:00 http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2010-honorable-clifford-scott-green-lecture/ University of Maryland School of Law Dean Phoebe Haddon delivers the 2010 Clifford Scott Green Lecture.    http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2010-honorable-clifford-scott-green-lecture/ http://www7.law.temple.edu/news-and-events/the-2010-honorable-clifford-scott-green-lecture/ Mon, 12 April 2010 00:00:00