Scott Horton of The Daily Best is reporting that, according to sources close to the case, Spanish prosecutors will be going forward with a criminal investigation of six Bush administration officials, including Chapman University School of Law visiting professor John Yoo, over their role in the torture of five Spanish citizens held at Gitmo.
Horton writes:
“Baltasar Garzón Real, the investigating judge, accepted the complaint and
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The Chapman University School of Law dean and a professor at the Orange County, Calif., law school gave LA Times readers a preview of what the upcoming debate between former Bush administration legal adviser John Yoo and professors at the school could look like.
Published in the LA Times Opinion section Thursday, Dean John C. Eastman and professor Lawrence Rosenthal wrote separate pieces arguing whether Chapman visiting professor John Yoo, who teaches at U.C. Berkeley’s Boalt Hall, is fit to mold and Socratize young legal minds.
Mr. Rosenthal, whose piece ran above Eastman’s, stated that Mr. Yoo should not be teaching because the memos he produced for the Bush administration, including one that said the president could allow torture, were flawed in their legal reasoning.
Mr. Rosenthal writes:
“While I yield to no one in my respect for academic freedom, the memos reflect a kind of tunnel vision that I would not tolerate in a student’s work and certainly not in the work of an attorney for our government.”
Dean Eastman disagrees, stating that Mr. Yoo’s presence on the campus inspires healthy debate, and Eastman even goes so far as to disagree with those who have criticized Mr. Yoo.
Mr. Eastman writes:
“As the dean of the law school, I welcome his presence and the debate it has provoked. The opportunity to confront positions with which one disagrees is the hallmark of a first-rate education. As a constitutional law scholar, I should also note my disagreement with Yoo’s detractors.”
Read why Mr. Eastman disagrees with the critics of Mr. Yoo’s memos here.
There’s no mention of the recent developments in Spain, where prosecutors took the first steps toward a possible criminal investigation for six Bush officials.
Mr. Rosenthal is one of two professors at Chapman scheduled to debate Mr. Yoo 11 a.m. Tuesday, April 21 in the university’s Memorial Hall in a dialogue titled “Presidential Power and Success in Times of Crisis”.
If you’re planning on going, it sounds like it would be a good idea to show up early. The university, in anticipation of a large turnout, has moved the event to a larger location than originally planned and will not be including lunch.
For more information on the event, Chapman’s Web site says to contact Barbara Babcock at bbabcock@chapman.edu.
Photo: John Yoo Wikipedia page / Wikimedia Commons
Author and British barrister (lawyer) Philippe Sands told The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer: “If I were they, I would think carefully before setting foot outside the United States. They are now, and forever in the future, at risk of arrest. Until this is sorted out, they are in their own legal black hole.”
And who is part of the “they” in question?
Sands, who released a book titled “Torture Team” last year, singles out six former Bush administration officials, including John Yoo, a former Justice Department lawyer and currently a visiting instructor at Chapman University’s School of Law.
When Sands book – which accuses Bush officials of complicity in acts of torture – came out, his predictions seemed far fetched, Mayer said. But Mayer writes that last week “Sand’s accusations suddenly did not seem so outlandish.” That’s because a court in Spain took the first steps toward the start of a criminal investigation of the Bush Six, the group of officials Sands cited in his book.
Here’s what happened in Spain. According to the New York Times, an official close to the case said the case was sent to the prosecutor’s office for review. According to the article, the official stated it was “highly probable” the case would go forward and that it could lead to arrest warrants for the six, though experts have said the warrants would be more symbolic than practical.
Mr. Yoo declined comment on the Times’ story, telling them he had not seen or heard of the petition. But, if you’re in the area, maybe you’ll luck out and he’ll speak on the matter when he debates Chapman Law professors 11 a.m. Tuesday, April 21 in the university’s Memorial Hall in a dialogue titled “Presidential Power and Success in Times of Crisis”.
I’m no psychic, but something tells me this is going to be a debate to watch. The university, in anticipation of a large turnout, has moved the event to a larger location than originally planned and will not be including lunch.
For more information on the event, Chapman’s Web site says to contact Barbara Babcock at bbabcock@chapman.edu.
And here’s a Q&A with John Yoo from the local newspaper, The Orange County Register.
Photo: Joe Gratz / Flickr
The picture just seems to get bleaker and bleaker for those of us who have yet to hear from the U.C. Irvine School of Law. Apparently, the first admitted students day for the new California law school was held Friday, April 3, and students on the Top Law Schools forum stated that 61 students were in attendance. Forum poster scantronix stated, however, that “a bunch” of the students were uncommitted.
Poster LawApp2012, who states that they went to the Friday reception for admitted students, said the school has admitted 109 students, 38 students have committed, 10 people have declined offers, leaving only 22 spots of the budgeted 60 slots for the school’s inaugural class. Hence, the sad, sad bunny picture. See, UC Irvine, you made the bunny sad.
LawApp2012 also stated:
“Dean Ortiz confirmed that (the school) will honor the admission offers to everyone who accepts even if it exceeds 60. Overall, the ASD was really inspiring and reaffirmed my decision to go to UCI.”
Scantronix, another user, followed up with a post stating that the committed students number 40, as a couple of students committed during the reception. Overall, scantronix says, the California’s newest law school made a strong showing.
“ASD was mostly meeting faculty and learning about the school and curriculum. It was really inspiring and I can’t stress how nice everyone was. That mattered to me a lot. It’s the most overtly social thing I’ve done in awhile. Also they fed us. OC legal community turned out in force, which was also very interesting. After ASD, I’d personally be surprised if they didn’t fill the class but as of leaving, there were 20 spots left. “
According to scantronix, the reception went about 11 hours.
Follow the conversation here.
Also checked the Facebook group U.C. Irvine School of Law Inaugural Class, and membership is at 31 students.
Photo: I Can Has Cheezburger
As if it didn’t have enough people shaking their fists and writing strongly-worded letters to them over the hiring of former Bush administration legal adviser John Yoo, Chapman University’s School of law will play host to a screening of controversial Dutch filmmaker Geert Wilders’ short film “Fitna” Saturday, April 4. To state that Wilders – who was banned from entering the United Kingdom for his points of view – is anti-Islam is putting it lightly.
“Islam is not a religion, it’s an ideology … the ideology of a retarded culture,” Wilders told The Guardian newspaper in the UK last year. He states that he intends the film to “show the real face of Islam. … I see it as a threat. I’m trying to use images to show that what’s written in the Koran is giving incentives to people all over the world.
As of the posting of this entry, I didn’t see any news on the Interwebz from the Council on American Islamic Relations, which has an office in Anaheim, regarding Geerts’ visit to the nearby campus.
Here’s the first 8 minutes and 15 seconds of the film on YouTube as a preview for tomorrow’s event. Be sure to read the lively debate in the comments section.
Geerts’ visit to the university marks the beginning of a weekend blitz of the West Coast, according to FrontPage magazine. Following his visit to Chapman, he will visit the David Horowitz Freedom Center in Sherman Oaks, Calif. to show his movie, then deliver a keynote speech in Beverly Hills. He’ll round out his tour Sunday in Los Angeles.
Saturday’s event takes place at 2 p.m. in Memorial Hall. It is co-sponsored by the Freedom Center, the Claremont Institute, the Lincoln Club of Orange County and the International Free Press Society. Students with ID are free, and public non-reserved seating is free. For reserved seating, a $50 donation to the Geert Wilders Defense Fund is requested. For more information, call 818-849-3470 or send an email to Stephanie@horowitzfreedomcenter.org.
(Read about this in an article by Ask a Mexican’s Gustavo Arellano on OC Weekly)
Photo: Wikipedia
If you’ve seen the word “gunner” in law school-related forums, you’ve probably interpreted the word to mean something bad. I mean, you can basically replace it with the word “leper” without changing the intent of the sentence too drastically.
Just how bad is a gunner? Here’s an Urban Dictionary definition:
A person who is competitive,overly-ambitious and substantially exceeds minimum requirements. A gunner will compromise his/her peer relationships and/or reputation among peers in order to obtain recognition and praise from his/her superiors.
Oh my word. Kill it. With fire. Seriously though: What does the world have against the high-performing student? I say this based purely on anecdotal evidence, but it seems that, in a scholastic setting, achieving academic prowess is seen to be at odds with ascending the popularity ladder.
Researchers in the UK, who studied children ages 12 to 13, have now discovered how to be good at both. And how is that accomplished? The researchers concluded that you can avoid being called a “nerd” (or, in the case of law school, a gunner) by … wait for it … being thought of as good looking and fashionable by your classmates. Like, ZOMFG! Obvious researcher is obvious.
Telegraph education correspondent Julie Henry writes:
“A number of the pupils interviewed were aware of the tensions inherent in being clever and popular. Some mentioned being chided jokingly for being ‘boffs’ by friends.
There was evidence that some of the pupils were carefully negotiating the “balance”. One middle-class boy said: ‘Well, you try to make yourself be funny as well as do the right answers.’ “
Read the full article here. (via Neatorama)
Photo: I Can Has Cheezburger
Yes, law school and the subject matter taught in it can be less droll and more “LOL!” At least as depicted by the members of The Libel Show at the University of Virginity School of Law. The show, which is similar to the New York University School of Law’s Law Revue, is:
“an annual theatrical production which has been humoring the Law School since 1908 (making us the longest running student organization on campus). Each year the Show lampoons our professors and life at the Law School through a variety of impersonations, song parodies, and skits. The Libel Show’s mission is to do everything within its power to help the Law School community enjoy raucous laughter.” (UVA’s Web site)
Above the Law posted a couple of preview videos from NYU’s 2009 Law Revue, and The Libel Show wanted in on the publicity action. They wrote ATL with a link to a video from last year that plays a bit like an odd mix of the Beastie Boys and the Backstreet Boys. A representative for UVA states that “in terms of humor … (the video) kicks the crap out of NYU’s Law Revue”.
UVA gets extra points from me for comparing a treatise by Chemerinsky (as in Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the new U.C. Irvine School of Law) to a thick booty.
“Excuse me! You don’t know what you do to me. Your booty triggers strict scrutiny. Fatal in-fact back that everyone can see. It’s thicker than a treatise by Chemerinsky.”
But ATL hits the nail on the head when they state its tough to get over “the resemblance between that one Con Luv Boy and Carson Kressley from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.”
If you haven’t already, watch the vid up top, and watch the South Park-inspired vid below from NYU to come to your own conclusions:
Whilst poking around Facebook today, I came across a closed group called the UC Irvine School of Law Founding Class, which currently lists 26 members.
I’ve written previously on UC Irvine and how folks have speculated about their admissions, and the number seems pretty close to what has been discussed. Check it out for yourself!
By the way, I hate my mailbox. And chances are about 2,400 people who applied to UC Irvine are also learning to hate their mailboxes while waiting to hear back from California’s newest public law school.
Photo: Joe Gratz / Flickr
So you’ve gotten into the law school of your (or your parents’) dreams, and you’ve already done the dance of joy to The Killers’ ‘Human’ (or, like in my law school admittance fantasy, to Justin Timberlake’s ‘Sexy Back‘). If you’re not currently in work or in school, you’ve got four months to kill before they lock you in and throw away the key. What do you do?
In the tons of the articles I’ve read regarding the summer before your 1L semester, law school students and administrators have pretty much the same advice: relax homeslice. So, I will. But I am also of the mind that these next four months will be the stuff of fantasy (like chocolate cake that subtracts calories as you eat it … mmm) six months from now. As a result, I’ve compiled something of a 0L Bucket List: a list of things that I or other 0Ls may want to do before we take the plunge.
- Learn a new language. You may not achieve full proficiency (or even be able to ask for the women’s loo) before the end of the summer, but it may be fun to take a language class at your local community college. Or you can take a gander at the BBC’s Languages page, which has some snazzy interactive videos to help you learn French, German, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Portugese, Chinese and snippets of other tongues.
- Go on a trip. If the price tag for college hasn’t already sent you looking for pennies underneath your sofa cushions, and you can bring yourself to part with several C-notes, you may want to consider taking a trip. And since you’re going to law school with the hope of changing the world someday (yes, I read your personal statement), it might be fun for you to go on a volunteer vacation. There are several programs out there that recruit people for one to three week stints for projects stateside and abroad. Through GlobeAware, which offers programs to 15 countries, you can take a one week trip to Brazil for about $1400. Or you can volunteer in the good ol’ U.S. of A with the Sierra Club, which lists dozens of volunteer trips on its Web site.
- Read a book. If you’re a bibliophile like me, you may want to knock out a couple of those quick reads. Judging from Boyfriend’s account of law school, most of your reading in the fall is going to be dense and done either at home or in the law library, so why not take that book tote outside to the local arboretum or park? You may also want to read some law school related books, like Scott Turow’s ’1L: The Turbulent Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School.’
- Spend time with the people that matter to you. Time is to law school as fabric is to a hirsute, male, thong-wearing beach goer in Brazil: There is never enough of it, and you hope it stretches out enough to cover all the, ahem, ‘material’. Which is why it is all the more important to bank as much good will as you can by scheduling outings with your friends, family and significant other, or even going on a summer trip with them before the time leech that is law school sucks all the time away.
- Start a blawg. You’re going to be writing a lot in law school, so why not brush up on subjects, verbs and dangling thingamajigs by starting your very own blog. It’ll get you into a daily habit of reading and writing something, and could turn into a fun little hobby when the fall rolls around. This blawg is powered by WordPress and hosted by a hosting company, but you can get a WordPress-hosted, out-of-the-box blog at WordPress.com, or at Blogger.com, for free.
Watch for future blog posts on the 0L Bucket List!
Photo: I Can Has Cheezburger
According to a note by Dean Erwin Chemerinsky published March 9, the school received 2,500 applications from applicants vying for 60 spots in the the UC Irvine School of Law’s inaugural class. In a “Visions of Change” note, which can be found on the law school’s Web site, Chemerinsky states:
“The admissions process for the founding class continues. We have received more than 2,500 applications for the 60 slots in the first-year class. This is the best ratio of applications to slots, an obvious measure of selectivity, of any law school in the country. We have admitted a number of students, received acceptances from some, and are continuing to process a large number of applications. By every measure, the applicants are tremendously impressive and we will succeed in our goal of having an outstanding entering class of students.”
I discuss some of the glawsip regarding how many of those slots may be open here.
Chemerinsky also discusses the hiring of two new professors: Christopher Leslie, a tenured professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law who specializes in contract law and antitrust law, and Tony Reese, a chaired professor at the University of Texas Law School who specializes in intellectual property law.
Thumbnail: Okinawa Soba / Flickr
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