My Former Professor on the Purpose of Law School

Balkinization: "'Lawyers are not 'produced' or even 'trained' by law schools,' declared former AALS President Reese Hansen in opposition to the changes (critics who excoriate law schools for doing a poor job of training lawyers would heartily agree, though Hansen undoubtedly did not mean to imply that). 'What lawyers must ultimately deliver is judgment....That kind of mature judgment is primarily created by personal interaction between individual faculty and individual students in countless educational settings.'"

Brian Leiter's Law School Reports

Brian Leiter's Law School Reports: "The magazine-turned-ranking machine has created a list of the top 10 law schools based on yield - that is, the number of matriculants divided by the number of people admitted. It turns out that this is a very curious list. In order, they are: Yale, BYU, Harvard, Southern, Liberty, Oklahoma, Regent, Memphis, NC Central and New Mexico. It appears that that most important indicators of high yield are: a perception of unmatched quality, strong group affinity(religion, HBCU), and being a public law school widely perceived to be the best law school in the state."

Obama Sets Bad Precedents - By Alvin S. Felzenberg - The Corner - National Review Online

Obama Sets Bad Precedents - By Alvin S. Felzenberg - The Corner - National Review Online: "The commander-in-chief, however, created more confusion in a situation that calls for clarity. He left open the door for Qaddafi to remain in power after stating in the clearest possible language — even for Obama — that this brutal dictator had to go. Any military action that leaves him in power will be interpreted as nothing less than a diplomatic and military defeat for the United States."

The Burdens of Citizenship - By John Derbyshire - The Corner - National Review Online

The Burdens of Citizenship - By John Derbyshire - The Corner - National Review Online: "Los Angeles Police Department officers manning sobriety checkpoints will no longer, as a matter of department policy, impound cars driven by unlicensed drivers. That is unless the unlicensed driver is a United States citizen or lawful resident, in which case he can say adios to his car for 30 days, as authorized by California law …

The change in policy was announced last week by LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, who called it a question of “fairness” …

The new rules, Beck said, were an attempt to mitigate somewhat “the current reality, which is that for a vast number of people, who are a valuable asset to our community and who have very limited resources, their ability to live and work in L.A. is severely limited by their immigration status.”"

The Corner - National Review Online

The Corner - National Review Online: "The mission, she added, “is seen by our European friends and our Arab partners as very vital to their interests.”"

Soldier to Plead Guilty in Afghan Murder Case - WSJ.com

Soldier to Plead Guilty in Afghan Murder Case - WSJ.com: "This week, the German news magazine Der Spiegel published three photographs said to show two U.S. soldiers accused of being part of a rogue 'kill team' last year during their tour in Afghanistan. Perhaps the most damaging image appears to show Spc. Morlock smiling as he lifts the head of a dead, bloodied Afghan man."

This story makes me sick to my stomach. What a disgrace.

Regime change in Libya isn’t America’s duty - The Washington Post

Regime change in Libya isn’t America’s duty - The Washington Post: "America’s war aim is inseparable from — indeed, obviously is — destruction of that regime. So our purpose is to create a political vacuum, into which we hope — this is the “audacity of hope” as foreign policy — good things will spontaneously flow. But if Gaddafi cannot be beaten by the rebels, are we prepared to supply their military deficiencies? And if the decapitation of his regime produces what the removal of Saddam Hussein did — bloody chaos — what then are our responsibilities regarding the tribal vendettas we may have unleashed? How long are we prepared to police the partitioning of Libya?"

SC electronic road sign warns 'Zombies Ahead' | WCNC.com | Charlotte News, Weather, Traffic, and Sports | WCNC.com | News for Charlotte, NC

SC electronic road sign warns 'Zombies Ahead' | WCNC.com | Charlotte News, Weather, Traffic, and Sports | WCNC.com | News for Charlotte, NC: "There have been no reports of zombies or tanks."

Senator Obama on the Constitution

Senator Obama on the Constitution: "‎The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation."

The Volokh Conspiracy » The National Jurist Ranks Law Schools on “Diversity”

The Volokh Conspiracy » The National Jurist Ranks Law Schools on “Diversity”: "Larsen ranks schools on the basis of the percentage of students and faculty who are African-American, Hispanic, or Asian, with a bonus if that percentage is significantly higher than the percentage of these groups in the state population. Under this system, most of the schools that get the highest possible rating (“A+”) turn out to be historically black schools where the student body is overwhelmingly black."

A Recent Comment

Here: I agree with points two and three, but I don’t think this slavery example is on point. This Josh fellow is making a utilitarian argument. A large amount of money in small number of hands provides more utility than the same amount of money in many hands. Your slavery example doesn’t illustrate this point. Slavery imposes a huge cost on slaves–a cost which likely is not matched or exceed by the utility slavery bestows upon the slave owner.

The Chess Master and the Computer by Garry Kasparov | The New York Review of Books

The Chess Master and the Computer by Garry Kasparov | The New York Review of Books: "There have been many unintended consequences, both positive and negative, of the rapid proliferation of powerful chess software. Kids love computers and take to them naturally, so it’s no surprise that the same is true of the combination of chess and computers. With the introduction of super-powerful software it became possible for a youngster to have a top- level opponent at home instead of needing a professional trainer from an early age. Countries with little by way of chess tradition and few available coaches can now produce prodigies. I am in fact coaching one of them this year, nineteen-year-old Magnus Carlsen, from Norway, where relatively little chess is played."

The Volokh Conspiracy

The Volokh Conspiracy: "Perhaps the most remarkable allegation involves Connell’s teaching People v. Goetz, which considers the legal standard for when self-defense is justified. Most casebooks go into detail about the race of the defendant and the race of the victim in this case. Dressler’s popular casebook, which I use, goes on for many pages about the role of race in the Goetz case. Dressler uses it for a long and interesting discussion about whether a “reasonable person” notices race, which goes more broadly as to the pros and cons of using rules versus standards. It’s a tricky question, and usually students divide on it. But Connell happened to use the Kaplan casebook, which doesn’t mention race at all. So Professor Connell told the class about the race of the individuals, and asked them if that should matter — essentially correcting the strange absence of that issue in the Kaplan casebook. Two students in the class apparently concluded that Connell was racist because he raised the issue himself even though it wasn’t mentioned in their casebook."

Searching for Bobby Fisher

Last night I re-watch Searching for Bobby Fisher for the first time since I saw it as a teenager. All I'll say, is that it was pretty much as good as I remember it being--which is very good. I will say I found the ending a touch saccharine, though. The director, Steven Zaillian, also directed A Civil Action, which is another movie I like a lot. Something about the way he tells a story works for me.

KausFiles | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment

KausFiles | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment: "P.S.: That’s one of the problems with campaign finance laws: the categories are inherently slippery. Everything John Edwards did–every breath he took–for four years was designed to get him elected president, after all. His antipoverty work was designed to make him look good. The payoffs to Rielle Hunter were designed to make him look good (by preventing him from looking bad). If the latter is a campaign expense, and has to be paid for with funds subject to individual limits, why not the former? And don’t say it’s because the former is a good thing and the latter is a bad thing. Criminal law isn’t supposed to be a blanket warrant to punish things we think are bad. "

TaxProf Blog: Most and Least Expensive BigLaw Feeder Schools

TaxProf Blog: Most and Least Expensive BigLaw Feeder Schools: "Here are the 10 Cheapest and 10 Most Expensive law school among the NLJ's Go-To Law Schools, along with their corresponding NLJ rank for percentage of 2010 graduates landing BigLaw jobs:
10 Cheapest
BYU ($19,960) (#47)
North Carolina ($20,835) (#41)
Howard ($24,490) (#31)
Houston ($28,439) (#42)
Temple ($29,516) (#46)
Georgia ($30,226) (#45)
William & Mary ($31,846) (#28)
Georgia State ($32,862) (#32)
Rutgers-Newark ($33,740) (#49)
Maryland ($35,041) (#38)"

iowahawk: Longhorns 17, Badgers 1

iowahawk: Longhorns 17, Badgers 1: "Your first question is probably, 'why do the union teachers in Wisconsin hate black students?' Sorry, can't help you there, I'm stumped too."

iowahawk: Longhorns 17, Badgers 1

iowahawk: Longhorns 17, Badgers 1: "To recap: white students in Texas perform better than white students in Wisconsin, black students in Texas perform better than black students in Wisconsin, Hispanic students in Texas perform better than Hispanic students in Wisconsin. In 18 separate ethnicity-controlled comparisons, the only one where Wisconsin students performed better than their peers in Texas was 4th grade science for Hispanic students (statistically insignificant), and this was reversed by 8th grade. Further, Texas students exceeded the national average for their ethnic cohort in all 18 comparisons; Wisconsinites were below the national average in 8, above average in 8."

iowahawk: Longhorns 17, Badgers 1

iowahawk: Longhorns 17, Badgers 1: "To recap: white students in Texas perform better than white students in Wisconsin, black students in Texas perform better than black students in Wisconsin, Hispanic students in Texas perform better than Hispanic students in Wisconsin. In 18 separate ethnicity-controlled comparisons, the only one where Wisconsin students performed better than their peers in Texas was 4th grade science for Hispanic students (statistically insignificant), and this was reversed by 8th grade. Further, Texas students exceeded the national average for their ethnic cohort in all 18 comparisons; Wisconsinites were below the national average in 8, above average in 8."

Althouse: The Westboro Baptist Church wins in the Supreme Court in the case about protesting at a soldier's funeral.

Althouse: The Westboro Baptist Church wins in the Supreme Court in the case about protesting at a soldier's funeral.: "Alito, the lone dissenter, stresses the value of the tort called 'intentional infliction of emotional distress':
Respondents’ outrageous conduct caused petitioner great injury, and the Court now compounds that injury by depriving petitioner of a judgment that acknowledges the wrong he suffered.

In order to have a society in which public issues can be openly and vigorously debated, it is not necessary to allow the brutalization of innocent victims like petitioner."

I'm surprised Alito would take this position.