ACSBlog: The Blog of the American Constitution Society

Here is this week's congressional hearings schedule, with links to the daily calendars for the House and Senate, the weekly House whip information (majority/minority), and the Senate floor schedule.

Of note: On Wednesday, the House Committee on the Judiciary will hold a hearing on “Allegations of Selective Prosecution Part II: The Erosion of Public Confidence in Our Federal Justice System.” On Thursday, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary will examine a judicial nomination to the Fourth Circuit.

On Friday, former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Gary Hart discussed a national security strategy for the next president at an event co-sponsored by ACS’ Connecticut Lawyer Chapter and the Council for a Livable World. Blogger Aldon Hynes described the event at Orient Lodge, and NPR interviewed the former senator. He wrote a new book entitled “Under the Eagle’s Wing.”

Senator Hart has spoken at numerous ACS events, including co-chairing “Building Freedom, Building Security: America’s Challenge for the Next Five Years” with former Governor Thomas Kean, participating a conversation on warrantless domestic surveillance, and examining the topic “Separation of Powers: Restoring the Balance Among the Branches.”

Stories

• Geoffrey R. Stone, University of Chicago law professor and ACS Board of Directors treasurer, examined the Framers’ views on the role of the courts.
• David Madland, director of the American Worker Project at the Center for American Progress and co-author of The Progressive Generation: How Young Adults Think About the Economy, discussed the progressive views of young adults and how those views are likely to influence labor and health care law.
• Sahr MuhammedAlly, Senior Associate with the Law and Security Program, Human Rights First reported on the Guantánamo military commission hearing for 21-year-old Omar Khadr and analyzed the hearing for Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al Bahlul.
• A humorous examination of the connection between immigration and America’s air travel, by Robert Weiner, a Washington, D.C. attorney.
• About 12 Indiana nuns were turned away Tuesday from a polling place because they didn't have state or federal identification bearing a photograph. ACS has assembled resources related to the recent Supreme Court decision in the Crawford cases.

Resources

• Video from a recent ACS discussion and book signing with David Stewart, Washington, D.C. attorney and author of The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution.
• ACS materials related to the State Secrets Privilege Act, which was passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday.
• Video from a conference co-hosted by ACS on civil rights, civil liberties and social justice.
• A report from Justice at Stake on “The New Politics of Judicial Elections in the Great Lake States, 2000-2008.”
• This week’s congressional activities.

ACS and the ABA Section on Individual Rights and Responsibilities co-hosted a day-long conference on civil rights, civil liberties and social justice. Video from the morning plenary session on the impact of the upcoming election on individual rights issues and from the afternoon plenary session on judicial elections and judicial independence is now available.

This week’s Economist discovers India as the final frontier for global corporate law firms. An Indian court is considering whether the 1961 Indian Advocates Act, which prevents foreign firms from practicing in India, should be liberally interpreted in the context of a dispute between local lawyers and three international law firms that had opened offices in India in the 1990s.

Indian firms are unique, according to the article. They cannot have more than 20 partners, may not advertise on the web, and attorneys are not permitted to provide a business card unless it has been requested.  In addition, the firms play a unique role within the society, being viewed as the “guardians of democracy” and associated with independence from Britain. The question of whether and how to integrate foreign practitioners, particularly in light of an increasing number of international deals, may be on its way to being answered.

On April 28, 2008, the American Constitution Society and its Washington, D.C. Lawyers Chapter hosted a discussion of The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution. The event included a conversation between the author, David O. Stewart, and Paul M. Smith, ACS Board of Directors Chair and partner at Jenner & Block LLP. Stewart and Smith delved into the personalities behind the creation of the nation's founding document. Stewart touched upon his interests in writing a book about the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 and how his research helped form his views of some of the U.S. Constituion's framers. Full video of the event is available here.

David O. Stewart discusses the framers that he believed have been wrongfully ignored by history.

According to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the White House admitted it failed to preserve any backup tapes for emails from March 1, 2003 to May 22, 2003. The administration previously admitted it did not keep backup tapes for September 30, 2003 to October 6, 2003. CREW notes that the earlier period coincided with the US invasion of Iraq, which took place from March 20 to May 1, and the latter period coincided with a Justice Department investigation into the disclosure of Valerie Plame Wilson’s covert identity

The White House’s declaration is available here.

Here is this week's congressional hearings schedule, with links to the daily calendars for the House and Senate, the weekly House whip information (majority/minority), and the Senate floor schedule.

Of note: on Tuesday, the House Committee on Judiciary (Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law) will hold a hearing on The Rulemaking Process and the Unitary Executive Theory. On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Judiciary will examine two nominations to the Sixth Circuit, and on Thursday it will consider whether to provide for the appointment of additional federal circuit and district judges.

Stories

• Testimony on secret law by ACS Board Member Dawn Johnsen before the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution.
• Reports on Colonel Morris Davis’ testimony and Salim Ahmed Hamdan’s boycott of the military commission system, by Deborah Colson, Senior Associate in the Law and Security Program at Human Rights First, who reported from Guantánamo Bay.
• An op-ed by attorney Al Meyerhoff suggesting that the Senate should not confirm any judicial nominees until the next president takes office.
• A study found new connections between the race of the defendant and the likelihood of receiving a death sentence.
• Coverage of Justice Scalia’s many recent media appearances.
• An examination of the Supreme Court’s decision upholding an Indiana law requiring voters to present government issued identification, by Justin Levitt, counsel, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law.

Resources

• An ACS Issue Brief on religious expression in public schools, summarized by its author, Edward Correia, a Washington, D.C. attorney and adjunct professor at the Washington College of Law at American University.
• A post about the launch of Fair Housing for All, a national organization for fair housing attorneys, by its founder, ACS member Professor Craig Durian.
• Materials and analysis related to the recent Supreme Court decision regarding requiring government issued voter IDs.
• This week’s congressional activities.

Crain's Cleveland Business published a profile of Cleveland ACS Chapter founder Gayle Horwitz, as one of its “Twenty in Their 20s,” who says, “Cleveland has a vibrant legal community. I saw a need for an ACS chapter.”

The chief of the Justice Department’s criminal division, Alice Fisher, announced she will leave the government on May 23, after three years of service in that position. After her departure, only three division chiefs will have been confirmed by the Senate. She was initially installed by President Bush as a recess appointment in August 2005, and ultimately was confirmed by the Senate in September 2006, but faced criticism during the nomination process for never having tried a case and lacking experience as a federal prosecutor.

The Blog of the Legal Times notes Fisher had served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General under then-Assistant AG Michael Chertoff. They had worked together during Kenneth Starr's Whitewater investigation.

Resources on the role of the Department of Justice are available here.

Here is this week's congressional hearings schedule, with links to the daily calendars for the House and Senate, the weekly House whip information (majority/minority), and the Senate floor schedule.

Of note: on Wednesday the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution will hold a hearing on “Secret Law.” Professor Dawn Johnsen will testify at the hearing. In addition to serving on ACS’ Board of Directors, she co-authored a white paper (along with 18 former OLC attorneys) on Principles to Guide the Office of Legal Counsel, a law journal article on the same topic, and participated in a panel discussion on principles to guide the Department of Justice. Bradford Berenson, who is also scheduled to testify, participated in a panel discussion on whether there will be limits to the commander in chief power in the 21st century. A third panelist, David Rivkin, has spoken at numerous ACS events.

There is also a hearing on judicial nominations on Thursday.

Here is this week's congressional hearings schedule, with links to the daily calendars for the House and Senate, the weekly House whip information (majority/minority), and the Senate floor schedule.

Please note hearings on Wednesday on national security letters, FBI oversight, and preserving presidential records, plus a hearing on Thursday on war powers.

Stories

• Richard B. Katskee, assistant legal director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State and attorney who argued before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Borden v. School District of the Township of East Brunswick, analyzed the recent Third Circuit decision, which ruled that a New Jersey high school football coach cannot participate in pre-game prayer activities with his players.
• Frank Kendall, an observer from Human Rights First, provided an account of a Guantanamo Bay detainee who refused to participate in military court proceedings and reported on the trial of Omar Khadr, captured in Afghanistan when he was 15 years old.
• Megan McCraken, an attorney with the Death Penalty Clinic at U.C. Berkeley School of Law, examined the Supreme Court's recent decision regarding the use of lethal injection.
• The federal government will soon require DNA samples from all citizens arrested in connection with any federal crime.
• Negotiations between Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Patrick Leahy and President George Bush resulted in a reshuffling of judicial appointments.
• Law school rankings can be a costly career guide.

Resources

• Video clips from a recent ACS panel discussion on the state secrets privilege.
• Video from an appearance by Jack Goldsmith, former United States Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel under President George W. Bush, on the Daily Show.
• Coverage of two hearings on national security letters.
• This week’s Supreme Court decisions and a cert denial.
• Register for the 2008 ACS National Convention!

Although prospective law students often choose their law school based on its ranking in U.S. News and World Report, some would be economically better off if they chose lower ranking law schools that offered more grants. Those students not admitted to the top-tier law firms often incur costly student loans to attend higher ranking schools that do not appreciably improve their job prospects.

Registration is now open for ACS's 2008 National Convention, which will take place from June 12-14, 2008 (with a student retreat on June 15).

Confirmed convention speakers include: Senator Patrick Leahy, Judge Stephen Reinhardt, Judge Marsha Berzon, Judge William Fletcher, Laurence Tribe, Jamie Gorelick, Wade Henderson, John Podesta, Elena Kagan, Linda Greenhouse, Walter Dellinger, Cass Sunstein, Jeffrey Rosen, Theodore Shaw, Dahlia Lithwick, Pamela Karlan and many more.

The schedule is available here.

On April 4, 2008, ACS hosted a panel discussion of the state secrets privilege in light of executive assertions of the privilege and congressional consideration of legislation to statutorily define the privilege. Experts from a variety of perspectives explored issues Congress should consider as it weighs bipartisan reform legislation, including whether the state secrets privilege is being properly invoked and the appropriate balance of national security concerns with meaningful access to justice. Below are video clips from a panel discussion that featured Aziz Huq, Richard Samp, Michael Vatis, Ben Wizner, Justin Florence and moderator Jonathan Turley. Full video of the event is available here.

Moderator Jonathan Turley provides an introduction to the discussion of state secrets privilege.

Stories

• Frank Kendall, an observer from Human Rights First who is blogging from Guantánamo Bay, posted his expectations for the trip, and attended his first military commission hearing.
• An analysis of recent preemption cases involving pharmaceutical companies.
• An interview with Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins.
• What will happen to detainees if Guantánamo Bay is closed?
• An ex-convict rehabilitation bill was signed into law on Wednesday.
• New evidence that the Bush Administration planned and approved details of the interrogations of al Qaeda suspects by the CIA.
• Videos of internal Wal-Mart corporation meetings have been made available for purchase by their former video production company, which has proved a boon to lawyers suing Wal-Mart.
• The Bush administration has increasingly employed “deferred prosecutions” of U.S. corporations accused of criminal liability.
• A New York law firm has banned BlackBerry devices at major meetings.

Resources

• A live webcast from a symposium on the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, held April 11th and 12th.
• A paper presented by Naomi Cahn, Professor of Law at George Washington University School of Law and June Carbone, Professor of Law at the University of Kansas-Missouri School of Law, entitled, “Deep Purple: Religious Shades of Family Law.”
• This week’s congressional activities.

A symposium on the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, where the high court invalidated a state sodomy law targeting same-sex couples is underway now at Emory University School of Law. Paul Smith, a partner in Jenner & Block’s Washington, D.C. office and ACS Board of Trustees member, argued against the constitutionality of the Texas sodomy statute and is providing the keynote address at today’s discussions. See Emory Law’s Web site for the webcast.

Here is a comprehensive list of the House and Senate schedule and hearings. The following links are to the daily calendars for the House and Senate. Here is the weekly House whip information (majority/minority) and the Senate floor schedule.

Of note: On Thursday, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs (Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight) held a hearing on “War Powers for the 21st Century: The Constitutional Perspective.”

We're a little behind Friday's announcement, but Adam Liptak, The New York Times' legal correspondent, will succeed Linda Greenhouse as its new Supreme Court reporter. Stories written by Adam Liptak are available here; stories written by Linda Greenhouse are available here. Here is his biography.

H/T SCOTUSBlog

U.S. District Court Judge Stephen G. Larson sided with the heirs of Jerome Siegel, creator of the action hero, Superman, in their longstanding attempt to gain a share of the character’s copyright. Siegel sold the rights to Superman 70 years ago to Detective Comics (DC) for $130. Time Warner has owned international copyrights to Superman via its ownership of DC Comics.

The 72-page decision in Siegel v. Warner Bros., details the ongoing efforts of Siegel’s heirs to capture a slice of Superman’s domestic copyrights.

ACS is pleased to announce it will make available a limited number of fellowships for attorneys to attend the ACS National Convention, held June 12-14. Open to attorneys working in the government and public interest sectors who have been in practice for 5 years or less, recipients will receive free registration for the convention, lodging at the Hyatt Regency and a stipend for travel.

More information, including additional requirements and an application form, are available here.

Aziz Huq, director of the Brennan Center for Justice's liberty and national security project, wrote recently about the state secrets privilege in The Hill's Congress Blog. He said:

The “state secrets” privilege does not merely entail that those harmed by reckless or foolish security policy are deprived of a day in court. When a plaintiff cannot air evidence in his own custody of government wrongdoing in court, the public also loses a constitutionally mandated avenue for testing their government’s claims to be acting lawfully and in line with the nation’s best interests. One of the Constitution’s two devices for systemic executive accountability—the other being congressional oversight—expires.

ACS is hosting a conference this Friday on Capitol Hill on the state secrets privilege, where Aziz Huq is scheduled to be joined by Justin Florence, Fellow, Georgetown Center for National Security and Law; Richard Samp, Chief Counsel, Washington Legal Foundation; Michael Vatis, Partner, Steptoe & Johnson LLP, former Director of the National Infrastructure Protection Center at the FBI and Special Counsel at the Department of Defense; Ben Wizner, Staff Attorney, American Civil Liberties Union; and Jonathan Turley, Professor of Law, The George Washington University Law School, who will moderate the event.

ACS will make available video from the event.

Here is a comprehensive list of the House and Senate schedule and hearings. The following links are to the daily calendars for the House and Senate. Here is the weekly House whip information (majority/minority) and the Senate floor schedule.

Of note: On Thursday, the Senate Committee on Judiciary will consider whether to statutorily define the state secrets privilege, five federal judicial nominations and a nomination for Assistant Attorney General.

Stories:

• Daniel Conkle, Professor of Law at Indiana University School of Law – Bloomington , explored the establishment clause and religious expression in governmental settings.
• “Is public reason counterproductive?” by Eduardo M. Peñalver, Associate Professor of Law at Cornell Law School.
• A look at federal privacy law in the wake of revelations of snooping in politicians' passport files.
• A discussion of “living constitutionalism.”
• An overview of this week’s Supreme Court arguments.
• Articles from the latest issue of the Harvard Law & Policy Review, the official journal of ACS.

"Former Gov. Don Siegelman, who has spent the past nine months behind bars, will be freed from prison today after a court ruled there were substantial questions about his conviction in a government corruption case, his lawyer said. . . . The ruling came the same day the U.S. House Judiciary Committee announced it wanted Siegelman to testify before Congress about the possible role of politics in his prosecution," the Birmingham News reported.

The Judiciary Committee is investigating allegations that partisans in the Justice Department pursued cases against Democrats for political reasons, and Siegelman's is one of several cases under scrutiny. Siegelman has maintained that Republicans out to derail his political career were behind his prosecution.

The Open Society Institute announced a new fellowship program to "enable outstanding individuals from around the world to pursue projects that will inspire meaningful debate and shape public policy." OSI will award $2 million in 2008 to people working in the following areas: national security and open society; citizenship, membership and marginalization; strategies and tools for advocacy and citizen engagement; understanding authoritarianism; and areas of emerging interest. Guidelines for applying to the fellowship are available here.

The law school rankings from U.S. News and World Report have leaked.  Abovethelaw has a PDF of the top 100.

This week’s Student Chapter of the Week, University of Colorado, Boulder, School of Law did a spectacular job pulling together logistics for a Regional round of the 3^rd Annual ACS Constance Baker Motley Moot Court Competition.  Not only did they help organize and staff the event but also they were in the score room, tallying up scores and helping make sure everything ran smoothly.  Holding the Moot Court competition was a huge endeavor that they handled effortlessly.  But that’s just icing on the cake for this chapter. This school year they have planned a number of excellent events for their student body, including a talk by Prof. David Cole on his book, “Less Safe, Less Free”, a discussion with Senior Judge John Kane of the U.S. District Court of Colorado on “ Endemic Secrecy in the Practice of Law” and a preview of the Supreme Court docket with Professor Melissa Hart.  By handling so many activities and doing them well, University of Colorado, Boulder, is our newest Student Chapter of the Week. For more great ideas from other chapters, click here for a list of all ACS events.

Stories:

• A look at federal privacy law in light of State Department officials accessing political candidate's passport files.
• D.C. v. Heller: Carl T. Bogus reviews the argument before the High Court; Yannick Morgan spends the night at the Court; video clips from an ACS Briefing on the argument; and a compilation of an online debate between Professors Winkler and Tushnet over the Second Amendment.
• A synopsis of the Court's decision regarding Washington State's primary election system.
• A synopsis of the Court's decision regarding the use of peremptory challenges to strike black jurors.
• A preview of Chamber of Commerce v. Brown by Scott Kronland.
• An overview of the Supreme Court's eight grants of certiorari this week.
• A report on two military commission hearings by Kevin Lanigan.
• Washington and Lee University adopts an experimental 3L curriculum.
• A look at the FBI's disregarding of FISA Court rulings on access to records.

Resources:

• The text of the order debarring I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby
• A link to Herman Schwartz's article on efforts to limit access to justice.
• A link to Slate's new blog, Convictions.

ACS seeks judges for our third annual Constance Baker Motley National Moot Court Competition in Constitutional Law held at Georgetown University. The competition will consist of two preliminary Regional Competition rounds, at the University of Colorado Law School at Boulder (March 15-16), and the Georgetown University Law Center (March 29-30), with the finals to be held at the ACS National Convention in June 2008. This is a great opportunity to meet ACS student members and share your expertise. Judging is approximately a three-hour commitment. To volunteer at Georgetown, please sign up here.

TaxProf Blog has a recently updated and rather comprehensive list of teaching fellowships here.

(H/T Volokh)

The Blog of the Legal Times reports that the D.C. Court of Appeals has disbarred I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. The decision is available here. It says (in part):

When a member of the Bar is convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude, disbarment is mandatory. D.C. Code § 11-2503 (a) (2001). When convictions on more than one count are involved, disbarment is mandated if any one of them involves moral turpitude. In re Lipari, 704 A.2d 851, 852 (D.C. 1997) (citation omitted). This court has held that obstruction of justice (18 U.S.C. § 1503) and perjury (18 U.S.C. § 1623) are crimes of moral turpitude per se. In re Gormley, 793 A.2d 469, 470 (D.C. 2002) (citations omitted). Since respondent was convicted of each of these offenses, as the Board concluded, disbarment is mandatory under D.C. Code § 11-2503 (a). Neither Bar Counsel nor respondent has taken exception to the Board’s Report and Recommendation.

Accordingly, it is hereby ORDERED that I. Lewis Libby, Jr. is disbarred from the practice of law in the District of Columbia, and his name shall be stricken from the roll of attorneys authorized to practice before this court.

This week, Slate launched Convictions, a new blog commenting on a wide range of legal issues.

Edited by Phillip Carter of McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP, the blog will include Slate's stalwart scribes Dahlia Lithwick and Emily Bazelon as well as a number of commentators from across the political spectrum. These include Dawn Johnsen, who serves on ACS's Board of Directors, Walter Dellinger, who serves on ACS's Board of Advisors, and a number of other regular participants in ACS programs.

We look forward to the discussion.

Harvard Law School announced today that it will launch the Public Service Initiative Program, a pilot program that would waive up to a year's tuition for all students who spend at five consecutive years after graduation in public-service jobs and have satisfied summer job, public interest clinic and community involvement requirements. The initiative is the first of its kind in the U.S., and will operate in addition to the school's current loan repayment forgiveness program. Those students who are not continuously employment in public service must pay up to 110% of the foregone amount at an above market interest rate over 10 years.

Dean Elena Kagan estimated that the initiative will cost the school around $3 million annually, and will save participating students more than $40,000 in tuition. “I want all of our students to have the ability to make public service their first choice after law school,” she said. The Chronicle of Higher Education noted that many law students graduate with more than $100,000 in debt, “making it difficult, if not impossible, for them to consider low-paying public-service jobs.” The WSJ Law Blog posed the underlying question: “Do loan forgiveness programs steer undecided law students into public interest careers?

• Any full time job for a governmental unit, which includes federal, military, state, or local government, or the overseas equivalent.
• Any full time job for a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization or the overseas equivalent, with the exception of jobs at institutions of higher education.
• Any full time job for a political campaign.

On March 13, 2008, ACS hosted a press briefing on the Supreme Court case, District of Columbia v. Heller, which concerns the constitutionality of the District of Columbia’s ban on the private possession of handguns. Experts from a variety of perspectives discussed whether the Second Amendment protects only militia-related rights or the rights of private individuals, the appropriate standard for reviewing gun control legislation and the potential legal and policy implications of the first Court decision in this area in nearly 70 years. The Supreme Court will hear oral argument on this case tomorrow.

Below are video clips from the panel discussion that featured Carl T. Bogus, Dave Kopel, John Payton and moderator Dahlia Lithwick. Video and a transcript of the event is available here.  ACS also hosted an online debate on the Second Amendment with Mark Tushnet and Adam Winkler, available here. Watch Lisa Brown, Executive Director of ACS, introduce the panel discussion.

The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are in recess until March 31, 2008.

The excellent programming sponsored by ACS’s Student Chapter at Quinnipiac University School of Law in Connecticut is a major reason why they are the newest Student Chapter of the Week. The ACS chapter at Quinnipiac is well on its way to having planned twenty events this school year. 

In the fall, the chapter’s six events included a program for 1Ls, Constitution in the classroom, a discussion about Guantanamo Bay, free speech and a study break during exams.  This spring the chapter already has eight events lined up. Speakers include Jeffrey Meyer, Don Nevins, James Silk, Lauran Dickinson, John Thomas, Sheila Hayre, Jennifer Brown, Stephen Gilles, David Forte and Leslie Jennings-Lax. 

Topics for discussion range from gay and lesbian rights to immigration law to U.S. drug policy.  While hosting all of these programs, the chapter has also used the opportunity to co-sponsor with other student organizations, including the Women’s Law Society, the Federalist Society and Q Alliance. 

Quinnipiac President Lauren Henault said that “[we] are very excited to be named Student Chapter of the Week. . .and look forward to the upcoming Rights Worker Lunch series, another Constitution in the classroom visit, along with a panel discussion on the status of reproductive rights.” 

Stories

• 10-part conversation on the Second Amendment.
• First-hand report from Guantanamo Bay on the trial of Mohammed Jawad.
• The debate over amending FISA, plus the FBI ignores a FISA Court ruling.
• President Bush's intelligence bill veto.
• A preview of the newly created Office of Congressional Ethics.
• The congressional contempt lawsuit against White House aides.
• An experiential, lecture-free 3L curriculum.

Resources

• A preview of D.C. v. Heller, from a recent ACS press briefing.
• A hate crimes report from the Southern Poverty Law Center.
• Supreme Court virtual tour.
• Sunshine week preview.
• This (past) week in Congress.

Following a tradition of appearing at least once before the U.S. Supreme Court, Attorney General Michael Mukasey will argue on behalf of the government in U.S. v. Ressam, a statutory interpretation case regarding whether explosives must be carried "in relation to" an underlying felony in order to trigger a mandatory 10-year prison sentence. Ressam is an al-Qaeda operative who was convicted of plotting to blow up Los Angeles International Airport in 1999, according to the Washington Post.

The last Attorney General to argue before the High Court was Janet Reno. Argument in Ressam is scheduled for March 25.

Washington and Lee University School of Law will replace all of its third year academic classes with experiential learning, including practical simulations, real-client interactions, and the development of law practice skills. The new curriculum, which will be phased in over the next few years, will

be presented in realistic settings that simulate actual client experiences, requiring students to exercise professional judgment, work in teams, solve problems, counsel clients, negotiate solutions, serve as advocates and counselors—the full complement of professional activity that engages practicing lawyers as they apply legal theory and legal doctrines to the real-world issues of serving clients ethically and honorably within the highest traditions of the profession.

More information:

• Message from the Dean (link)
• Announcement of Curriculum change (link)
• Third year at a glance (link)
• Example third year practicum courses (link)
• Frequently asked questions (link)

ACS held a press briefing earlier today on D.C. v. Heller, the Second Amendment case scheduled to be argued on Tuesday before the U.S. Supreme Court. Streaming video is the discussion is available here. (A transcript and video excerpts will follow).

The panel featured:

• Carl Bogus, Professor of Law, Roger Williams University School of Law
• Dave Kopel, Research Director, Independence Institute
• John Payton, Director-Counsel and President, NAACP Legal Defense Fund
• Moderator, Dahlia Lithwick, Senior Editor, Slate

ACSBlog is also hosting an online discussion between Professors Mark Tushnet and Adam Winkler on the Second Amendment.

A coalition of organizations will host a number of interesting events next week in honor of Sunshine Week.

On March 19th, OpenTheGovernment.org will host two discussions: one on executive branch power and secrecy, the other on helping citizens locate hard-to-find government information. The event will be webcast from 1-2:30 EST (registration required).

On March 20, the Sunlight Foundation and the Omidar Network will host Larry Lessig at the National Press Club to discuss his new initiative to combat the influence of money in American democracy. The event will be webcast from 1:30-3 EST.

Also worth noting is the Sunlight Foundation's excellent blog.

Yesterday, the House of Representatives created the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent panel with the power to initiate investigations of misconduct by House members, the Washington Post reported.

The Resolution, H. Res. 895, subsequently amended, was adopted when the House passed H. Res. 1031.

According to RollCall ($):

The office will comprise six board members, appointed jointly by the Speaker and Minority leader. Current Members or lobbyists cannot serve on the board. The body will initiate its own investigations but will not accept formal complaints from Congressional watchdog groups or other entities.  . . . . [T]he office would be prohibited from initiating an investigation within 60 days of a primary or general election.

Here is a comprehensive list of the House and Senate schedule and hearings. The following links are to the daily calendars for the House and Senate. Here is the weekly House whip information (majority/minority) and the Senate floor schedule.

Of note:

• A House Armed Services Committee subcommittee hearing examining the impact of the presidential signing statement on the Department of Defense’s implementation of the Fiscal Year 2008 National Defense Authorization Act. See this ACS Issue Brief and index of signing statements.
• The Senate Committee on Rules and Administration will look at issues relative to in-person voter fraud and voter disenfranchisement. ACS hosted panel discussions on voting, available here and here.
• The Senate Committee on Judiciary will consider the state secrets privilege, mortgages in bankruptcy, the False Claims Act, and a federal judicial nomination. See these ACS resources on the proper role of the Department of Justice. ACSBlog has more on the state secrets privilege.
• A House Committee on Foreign Affairs subcommittee will hold a hearing on war powers for the 21st century. See two law journal articles on war powers, emanating from an ACS sponsored symposium,  available here and here.

GAO Oversight Office at the NSA Remains Empty*
At a recent hearing, the outgoing director of the Government Accountability Office stated the GAO office at the National Security Agency remains empty because no one in Congress has asked the organization to perform oversight of the NSA. Government and public policy experts on the panel aid legislation is needed that would affirm the right of GAO to audit activities of the intelligence agencies.
(*Note: GAO is a Congressional Agency; NSA is an Executive Agency)

3 Nominations to Empty Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which has been empty for almost a month, may have members again. President Bush has nominated three individuals to the five-member Board, which has been vacant since January 30.

No Progress on FEC Nominations
Senate leaders and the Bush Administration have failed to reach an agreement for filling seats on the Federal Election Commission and for other agency-level nominations. The six-member commission has four empty seats, and is two votes short of the quorum needed to hand down official guidance to federal candidates.

PFIAB No More
In an executive order issued last week, President Bush re-designated the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) as the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB). Experts said that this move appeared to diminish the Board’s autonomy and establish greater presidential control over its activities.

ACS’s Student Chapter at University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law has organized numerous programs around some of the most relevant issues of the day.

The issues discussed include wiretapping, the internment of Japanese Americans, abortion restrictions, domestic violence and school desegregation. Speakers at their events have included Thomas Goldstein, Professor Reva Siegel, Judge Mary Schroeder and Judge Alice Vilardi. In addition, Boalt has organized a number of social events, including a large kick-off party at the beginning of the academic year, to increase the prominence of ACS on its campus.

Next week, the Boalt chapter will host a clerkship panel to help educate students about how to apply for clerkships and what to expect. For more great ideas from other chapters, click here for a list of all ACS events.

Stories:

• Congressional contempt citations thwarted by Mukasey.
• The government concedes a vaccine-autism case.
• Glenn Sugamelli writes about President Bush's judicial nominees.
• Judge: peremptory challenges based upon national origin are unconstitutional
• The Senate Judiciary Committee okays nominations.
• Warrantless surveillance and the Postal Service.
• Mississippi's voter purge.
• BU: No award for Mukasey.
• Treasury Department shutters 80 websites.

Resources:

• Video: state legislators on expanding voting rights.
• ACS to host briefing on the SCOTUS Second Amendment case.
• ACS Issue Brief: A Call to Protect Civilian Justice: Beware the Creep of Military Tribunals
  
• Doug Kendall: The Supreme Court term thus far.
• Upcoming conference on public-interest law at UGA.
• Advice for future law clerks.
• The ACS’s Student Chapter of the Week.

Joao Victor Portellinha de Oliveira passed the entrance exam and was enrolled in a Brazilian law school, but is only eight years old. He reportedly studied for a week before the exam. A federal investigation ensued after the child showed up to class. The Associated Press has more.

In a reversal, Attorney General Michael Mukasey will not be awarded Boston College Law School's Founder's Medal when he speaks at commencement, according to a Boston Globe report. As reported on ACSBlog last month, students, faculty, and alumni criticized Mukasey's selection as commencement speaker because the Attorney General refused, during his confirmation hearings, to declare that waterboarding constitutes torture.

In a memorandum, Boston College Law School Dean Garvey wrote "With [the controversies that have arisen over commencement invitations] in mind, we have decided that in the future we will not routinely confer Founder’s medals at graduation – a rule that will apply to this and future years."

The Globe reports that critics say the announcement "was designed to defuse criticism and find a middle ground to avoid rescinding the invitation."

More information is available via Eagleionline, Boston College Law School's online student newspaper.

In an op-ed on the upcoming Supreme Court gun-control case, Larry Tribe writes that "a legislature's choice to limit the citizenry to rifles, shotguns and other weapons less likely to augment urban violence need not, and should not, be viewed as an unconstitutional abridgment of the right of the people to keep or bear arms."

ACS will host a panel discussion on District of Columbia v. Heller on March 13 in Washington, D.C., featuring Carl Bogus, Dave Kopel, John Payton, and moderator Dahlia Lithwick. (RSVP). Starting this Monday, ACSBlog will host an online discussion, led by Mark Tushnet and Adam Winkler, on the Second Amendment and Professor Tushnet's new book "Out of Range: Why the Constitution Can't End the Battle Over Guns."

The University of Georgia School of Law is hosting the third annual "Working in the Public Interest: Challenging Poverty Through Law" conference on April 4-5, 2008. 

The conference will be held in Athens, Georgia, at the University of Georgia School of Law, approximately 65 miles northeast of Atlanta.

State legislators explored ideas on expanding voting rights and increasing citizen participation in the electoral process at a panel discussion hosted by ACS on February 25.

Below are video clips from the panel discussion that featured Representative Terrance D. Carroll (CO), Senator Jamie Raskin (MD), Representative Sandy Rosenberg (MD), and moderator Jocelyn Friedrichs Benson of Wayne State University Law School. Video of the event is available here.

ACS released an Issue Brief today entitled “A Call to Protect Civilian Justice: Beware the Creep of Military Tribunals,” by Anthony F. Renzo, Professor of Law at Vermont Law School.

Professor Renzo calls the Bush Administration’s claim of authority to subject civilians detained in the United States to trial by military commission unprecedented in scope and lacking in historical support. He explains that “[t]he Constitution places the power to punish a civilian for wrongdoing, including criminal conduct in support of enemy organizations, in the hands of an independent civilian court and jury.” 

Professor Renzo notes “[t]he very purpose of the original English common law right to trial by a civilian jury was to protect against the oppression of the King’s use of military courts and judges who owed their loyalty to the King.” He concludes that constitutional text and tradition require that civilians be provided with a civilian jury trial unless a civilian court determines that the detainee is “either under the command of the enemy’s armed forces or engaged in battlefield hostilities against American forces.” 

ACS's Duke Student Chapter is our newest Student Chapter of the Week. This academic year, it hosted a Brown Bag Lunch Series that covered the recent U.S. Attorney firings, school integration from both the parental and policy standpoints, immigration reform, presidential elections and the Constitution, the constitutionality of military commissions and the impact of electing judges and prosecutors. 

Speakers at events have included Erwin Chemerinsky, Neil Seigel, Colon Willogby, Anurima Bhargava, Judge Boyce Martin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and Judge Marcia Morey of the Durham County District Court.  Since the beginning of 2008, the chapter has had two new Brown Bag Lunch discussions covering a progressive vision of the Constitution and Medellin v. Texas. 

Next week, the chapter will be holding a public moot court round to prepare for ACS's 3rd Annual Constance Baker Motley National Moot Court Competition in Constitutional Law.  For more great ideas from other chapters, click here for a list of all ACS events.

Stories

• Should the Supreme Court allow an award of punitive damages arising from the Exxon Valdez disaster to stand?
• Guest blog on judicial nominations.
• Linda Greenhouse to retire.
• Current state regulations on judicial recusal compiled by Gavel to Gavel.
• The NLRB is now requiring the display of an American flag at every union representation election.

Resources

• Supreme Court argument schedule and cert grants for the week.
• OSI report on Justice Reform.
• The ACS Student Chapter of the Week.
• This week’s congressional activities.

ACS, Public Justice, and Cardozo Law School are sponsoring a one-day conference entitled "Justice and the Role of Class Actions" on Friday, March 28, at Cardozo Law School. The conference features panel discussions on the historic value of class actions, their contemporary application, and some of the threats and opportunities facing the class action system today. Ken Feinberg, founder of The Feinberg Group LLP and the former Special Master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, will provide the keynote address.

A limited number of student travel scholarships are available, with applications due by March 3, 2008. CLE credit is also available. More information here.

Here is a comprehensive list of the House and Senate schedule and hearings. The following links are to the daily calendars for the House and Senate. Here is the weekly House whip information (majority/minority) and the Senate floor schedule.

Of note: Hearings on "voter caging," nominees to the Department of Justice, and the examination of government-wide intelligence community reforms. ACS has resources available on voter identification laws, the role of the Justice Department, and oversight in the war on terror.

When Jane Fonda made a live, on-air slip describing her role in a revival of the Vagina Monologues, Today Show host Meredith Veira hastily apologized.  Now there is speculation that the incident may affect a pending case involving FCC penalties for Janet Jackson’s famous wardrobe malfunction during a live Superbowl broadcast.

ACS's Fordham Student Chapter began this semester with a recent trip to Washington, D.C. to hear oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court.  Last semester they held a debate on affirmative action, a discussion on doctors and the death penalty and a Supreme Court review.  Fordham Law was also the site of the ACS “International Law and the Constitution: Terms of Engagement“ forum last semester. 

This spring, the chapter will hold a number of events, including: a talk with Judge Paul Kelly of the 10th Circuit, a discussion on detainee rights, a survey of voter ID laws, a discussion about the electoral college, a lecture on progressive originalism, and an examination on Judicial Selection Reform co-hosted with the New York Lawyer Chapter.  Taylor Romigh, President of the Fordham Chapter, stated that chapter members were “very excited to be named the newest Chapter of the Week . . . and look forward to the new programs coming in the future.”

For more great ideas from other chapters, click here for a list of all ACS events.

Stories:

• A multi-part dialogue on the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education, with Professor Michael Klarman of the University of Virginia School of Law and Professor Mark Graber of the University of Maryland School of Law. (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
• More than 24,000 videotaped interrogations have been conducted at Guantánamo Bay since 2002, according to a recent report.
• Civil recovery statutes are a boon for retailers.
• Details about five new cases the Supreme Court has decided to hear and five opinions announced this week.

Resources:

• Video excerpts from the recent ACS panel discussion on three employment retaliation cases before the Supreme Court.
• Papers from “The Religion Clauses in the 21st Century” symposium.
• This week's congressional hearings.
• This week's Supreme Court arguments.

The Wall Street Journal reported that retailers are providing names to collection agencies of those they suspect of shoplifting, even when there is no conviction or solid evidence to indicate guilt.  Retailers turn over the names to collection agencies, who then write and telephone suspected shoplifters, threaten lawsuits or police involvement, and demand money (including "pre-litigation" legal fees) in amounts that often greatly exceed the value of the alleged theft. The collection agencies then split the money with the retailers.

Retailers need not have any intention to sue, and the "civil recovery" statutes do not limit who can be targeted. Lord & Taylor, for example, never follows up civil-demand letters with lawsuits, according to the report.

Last year, Florida Judge Donald Hafele filed a complaint with the state bar about the civil recovery practices used by the law firm Palmer, Reifler & Associates, P.A. While the judge’s complaint was dismissed due to jurisdictional issues, the bar association told the firm that, “harassment techniques in an effort to collect for your clients are not acceptable.”

The Harvard Crimson has this story on Cass Sunstein's joining Harvard's Law School's faculty.

A roundup of news from this past weekend.

• Trial judges often rely on their intuition – resulting in preventable mistakes, LegalBlogWatch
• reported.
• Law.com examined whether TV shows are responsible for the public's distrust of lawyers.
• Slate discussed the discrimination cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Courts in the western district of Missouri have adopted a novel approach to retroactive sentence-reduction procedures for crack convictions, Sentencing Law and Policy reported.
• Two convicted child murderers were exonerated in Mississippi, including the first- exoneration based upon post-conviction DNA testing in Mississippi.
• A federal judge approved an internet hosting company's placing the website Wikileaks offline and preventing the transfer of its content to another provider upon the request of a foreign bank implicated in money laundering -- without affording Wikileaks the opportunity to address the court, Wired reported. Wikileaks is a whistleblower website that aggregates leaked documents. 
• Americans United took a look at the religious beliefs of America's founders on President's Day. (Geoff Stone wrote about a similar subject last year).
• The CIA's efforts to create a network of front companies in Europe in the wake of 9/11 was mostly abandoned after the agency concluded "they were ill-conceived and poorly positioned," the L.A. Times reported.
• The FBI gained unauthorized access email accounts because of a miscommunication with an internet service provider, the New York Times reported.

ACS and the West Virginia Law Review are pleased to announce that papers written for “The Religion Clauses in the 21st Century” symposium held at the West Virginia University College of Law are now available. Video excerpts of the panelists discussing symposium topics are also available.

Written by scholars in the law of church and state, the symposium papers reflect perspectives on issues organized according to these themes: “The Religion Clauses in Institutional Contexts,” “Government Religious Expression,” “Accommodation of Religion,” and “Religion and Politics.”

Over the next few weeks, ACSBlog will publish short introductions by the authors to a number of the articles. A list of the papers written for the symposium can be found below the fold.