Vincent G. Rinn Law Library

Law Professor Bandes Speaks to Value of "Empathy" for All Judges

With the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor by President Obama for the Supreme Court, the flurry of debate around questions of his singling out empathy as an essential quality for a Supreme Court Justice, has gone into high gear.

In a posting on the American Constitutional Society Blog, Empathetic Judges and the Rule of Law, DePaul law Professor Susan Bandes comments on the importance of differentiating between sympathy and empathy. She says that empathy, the ability to understand the perspective of another, is not extrinsic to the process of judicial decision making. But is a necessary attribute for making the difficult interpretative choices , especially in constitutional questions.

Life experiences and values help define what empathy judges will be able to bring to bear in making well-founded decisions. As she says, "Let's not get sidetracked, as we have in the past, by the notion that Supreme Court justices are mere technocrats who can simply apply the law without making value choices."

( "Hat tip" to Lenore Boehm of our staff )

Learning the Facts About GITMO

For those who may be attending the screening of the Guantanamo docu-drama, "The Response", mentioned in the previous posting or anyone interested in the important legal and moral issues raised by the Guantanamo prison's existence, here are some background materials that may prove insightful :

A story from last weeks Chicago Tribune Magazine, "The Guantanamo labyrinth" , about a Chicago storefront lawyer, Candace Gorman, tells how volunteering to provide legal counsel to two Guantanamo detainees, lead her into a Kafka-esque world of government bureaucracy, deceit and hubris. She had to suspend her normal legal practice and is now doing consulting work for the ICC (International Criminal Court) . Ms. Gorman is in good company with as many as 200 different law firms involved in representing the detainees.

The article's author, Tom Hundley, mentions that up to " 86 percent, according to a detailed study by Seton Hall University School of Law -- were rounded up by the Northern Alliance or Pakistani security forces in exchange for the reward money, or because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time."
( See also, Many Held at Guantanamo Not Likely Terrorists,  Los Angeles Times By Greg Miller, Times Staff Writer , December 22, 2002 )

The Center for Policy and Research at Seton Hall is comprised of  legal scholars and fellows who employ their investigative skills to advance the rule of law on a national and international scale. The reports have been introduced into the Congressional record by the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee, the House Armed Services Committee, and as part of a Resolution by the European Parliament.

"Professor Mark Denbeaux, one of Seton Hall's most senior faculty members, is also the Director of the Seton Hall Law School Center for Policy and Research, which is best known for its dissemination of the internationally recognized series of reports on the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp."

"Professor Denbeaux's interest in the conditions of detainment arose from his representation of two detainees there. Following his visits to GITMO, and his participation in amicus briefs arising from the rules governing the hearings for "enemy combatants," Professor Denbeaux realized the need for an analysis of the government's assumptions and the principles governing the detention process. The Guantánamo report series is primarily produced by Seton Hall Law students of all levels. Several graduates have remained research fellows, as well."

Links to the full text of the reports can be found at the Center's Guantanamo Reports page

Film: "The Response" - Guantanamo Courtroom Drama

AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION PUBLIC PROGRAM

"The Response," Guantanamo Courtroom Drama
Screening and Q&A with filmmaker,Sig Libowitz

The ABA Public Program Series will continue with a screening of "The Response," a courtroom drama based on actual transcripts of the Guantanamo military tribunals. The 30-minute film recently received the 2009 ABA Silver Gavel Award for Drama & Literature. After the screening, producer/writer/actor (and lawyer) Sig Libowitz will engage in a Q&A session with the audience. "The Response" also stars Kate Mulgrew ("Star Trek: Voyager") and Peter Riegert ("Damages," "Traffic") as military judges and Aasif Mandvi ("The Daily Show") as a detainee on trial.

Visit  www.abanet.org/publiced/programseries/invite.shtml  for program details and to register. You will receive a confirmation after completing the form.Please note that seating for this event is limited.

Get Your Free Case Law on the Web !

  A March 19, 2008 posting on this blog, FastCase Inc. Enters Rich Public Legal Portal Arena, provided a listing of a dozen free major online legal research portals that were available on the web. These are still around today. Some have offerings beyond access to court cases.

 A May 8 posting by lawyer/blogger, Robert J. Ambrogi, on the law.com website, provides a useful update to those sites specializing in providing free access to court cases from various jurisdictions. The posting entitled, Get Your Free Case Law on the Web, gives capsule reviews of these sites :

  1. Fastcase and Casemaker.  2. FindACase.  3. PreCYdent.

  4. The Public Library of Law.     5. AltLaw.        6. Justia.

  7. FindLaw.     8. Public.Resource.Org.      9. LexisONE.

10. Legal Information Institute. 

                ************************************************

Also take a look at the response to a question about that post, Free Case Law - and a History Lesson that reminds us of the probably forgotten fact that, "None of the decisions appearing in the first volume and most of the second volume of United States Reports are actually decisions of the United States Supreme Court. Instead, they are decisions from various Pennsylvania courts, dating from the colonial period and the first decade after Independence."

Law Day Release of New Books on U.S. Constitution By American Constitution Society

On Law Day, May 1,The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS) has released two important new books on the Constitution. The ACS  is one of the nation’s leading progressive legal organizations, comprised of lawyers, judges, students and policy makers committed to promoting the vitality of the Constitution and the fundamental values it expresses.

"Keeping Faith with the Constitution" was written by constitutional scholars Goodwin Liu, Pamela S. Karlan and Christopher H. Schroeder. The companion title, "It Is a Constitution We Are Expounding: Collected Writings on Interpreting Our Founding Document", was edited by Pamela Harris and Karl Thompson, with a foreword by Professor Laurence H. Tribe.

The ACS page says  about "Keeping Faith With The Constitution",  "The authors describe what they call “constitutional fidelity,” a principle that “serves not only to preserve the Constitution’s meaning over time, but also to maintain its authority and legitimacy. The words and principles of the Constitution endure as our fundamental law because they have been made relevant to the conditions and challenges of each generation through an ongoing process of interpretation.”

Regarding " It Is a Constitution We Are Expounding", it says that it  "... contains excerpts from some of the finest existing writing on methods of constitutional interpretation, taken from decisions of the Supreme Court and other opinions and speeches by Justices and judges, the scholarly literature, and other sources. The materials gathered in this volume explore a variety of interpretive resources that can help illuminate the Constitution’s meaning,..."

Click on the headings below to jump to the section:

What They're Saying About the ACS Books

Learn About the Authors

Download the Books

Disbarment Complaints Mounted To Address Conduct of Bush-era Legal Advisers

A previous posting on this blog, "The Trial of Donald Rumsfeld", Book From The Center for Constitutional Rights, highlighted the legal case that could be brought against high level Bush Administration officials for alleged violations of domestic and international law on the treatment of detainees in the "War On Terror".

Senator Leahy and the Brennan Center have also proposed a truth commission as "...the best way to achieve both accountability and an understanding of how to design an effective counter-terrorism policy that also comports with our fundamental values." ( See posting "Senators Re-introduce "State Secrets" legislation to Fill Legal Gap )

Since the recent release of formerly secret Bush-era legal memos  justifying "enhanced interrogation" of prisoners accused of being part of al Qaeda, there have been various proposals to respond to the formulation and content of these memos.

Today an article in OpEdNews.com by David Swanson reports that "... a broad coalition of organizations dedicated to accountable government, and representing over one million members, filed disciplinary complaints with state bar licensing boards against twelve attorneys who advocated the torture of detainees during the Bush Administration."

The website of the Velvet Revolution,  states, "We  have asked the respective state bars to revoke the licenses of the foregoing attorneys for moral turpitude. They failed to show “respect for and obedience to the law, and respect for the rights of others,” and intentionally or recklessly failed to act competently, all in violation of legal Rules of Professional Conduct." See the detailed presentation of their position here, which includes links to the specific complaints to the respective bar associations, plus exhibits attached to each complaint.

An article from the May 10, San Francisco Chronicle, by Matthew B. Stannard, "Torture allegation probes run political risks", has a very useful chart listing five main options that may be used in addressing different levels of accountability for the behaviors disclosed by these memos : congressional review, truth commission, special prosecutor, disbarment/impeachment/firing, criminal charges. The chart provides capsule summaries of the benefits and the criticisms of each of the possible approaches.

DePaul Law Professor Franklin Quoted In Story About Obama Supreme Court Nomination

A May 13 Washington Post article that is looking at the qualifications that President Obama may be considering in his appointment of a new Supreme Court justice, quotes Professor David L. Franklin on the issue. Franklin, now a faculty member at the DePaul University Law School, was a student of President Obama when he was attending law school at the University of Chicago and he also clerked for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

As the article author, Peter Slevin,  observes, President  Obama seems to have criteria in mind that some people see as going outside the usual profile for a justice.  "...he ticks the predictable boxes -- intellect, integrity, respect for the Constitution and the law. But "...Obama spoke of empathy as "an essential ingredient for arriving at just decisions and outcomes." He said he would look for someone "who understands that justice isn't about some abstract legal theory."

Professor Franklin observes that "He didn't seem to really want to talk theory in the classes," ... "He wanted to talk about what worked and what the real-world testing of those theories had yielded." While this approach may seem like a useful balancing of what President  Obama may perceive as  the courts too often favoring the rich and advantaged.  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) raises the question  of whether this means choosing a justice with "perceived sympathy for certain groups or individuals" and whether this would undermine public faith in the judiciary.

Modern-day Cassandra, Brooksley Born, Might Have Prevented "Credit Tsunami"

The May 2009 ABA Journal reprints an interesting biographical article from the Stanford magazine about attorney, Brooksley Born, who in the 1990s took on  Wall Street and the US government as head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ( CFTC) during the Clinton administration. On her way there, she had graduated at the top of her class at Standford Law School and was the first woman to edit a major American law review. She became a top commercial lawyer and was very active around initiatives for women's rights.

The article recounts how she was one of the few government regulators who perceived the inherent dangers to the economy in the unbridled and unregulated  trading in the over-the-counter derivatives market. As head of the CFTC she tried to raise the alarm and proposed modest reforms to laissez faire investors and regulators. But rather than even listen to her analysis and proposals, she was viciously attacked . She did not give in under the pressure. So Congress specifically changed the law "barring the CFTC from taking action in the six months left in her term." Later they finished off the job by passing the ironically named "Commodity Futures Modernization Act which effectively gutted the ability of the CFTC to regulate OTC derivatives."

While her story is one of steadfast courage in carrying out her job responsibilities, it is also a cautionary tale about what can happen when important economic and financial activities are left almost completely unregulated. It is also of some concern that some of the key opponents to Born's warnings, like Larry Summers and Robert Rubin, are now part of the Obama economic team. Hopefully, they have learned some lessons from this "Cassandra".

DePaul Litigation Lab Recognized For Innovation

preLaw magazine, a National Jurist publication, in their Winter 2009 issue, listed the DePaul Law School Litigation Lab in their cover article, "Most Innovative Law Schools", which included ten law schools nominated by law school deans.The innovations could be in many different areas such as student services, clinics, coursework, technology. The DePaul  law school's litigation lab course was selected for recognition among these innovative programs.

An article in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin described the course begun in  2008 by attorney Michael R. Panter , by saying  "...Panter will inaugurate a course at DePaul University College of Law that perhaps is a first for any American law school, according to one trial consultant. Panter’s Litigation Lab will invite trial lawyers to present their pending cases to DePaul law students — one case for every two-hour class — to help the lawyer work out whatever problem the lawyer chooses."

Students will be able to actively work with lawyers to prepare cases for trial. Students get to review the lawyer’s materials, summarize depositions or other data, and search for other useful resources and also develop their  project management skills. Participating attorneys can get the student's responses to various elements of the preparation of the case.

A full description of the coursework , can be found on the Academic Programs - Litigation Lab page of the DePaul law school.

New "Google Public Data" Service To Use Innovative "Gapminder Software"

A posting on the April 29 Google Blog announces an initiative by Google to use new software to make public statistics from the US government much more accessible and useful for users than the standard tables and cross tabulations usually available from government agencies.  The tool, is called Google Public Data. The software converts the statistics into visual time series that  make representation & analysis much easier and intuitive.

The posting says that this is just the beginning of more sophisticated presentations to follow. The software that Google is using for this project was developed by the Gapminder Foundation founded in Stockholm, Sweden by Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund and Hans Rosling in 2005.

They called their creation, Trendalyzer software. The website states that ,"This software unveils the beauty of statistical time series by converting boring numbers into enjoyable, animated and interactive graphics." While Google's first efforts are to apply it to US government statistics, the Gapminder foundation has been applying it to international & UN statistics to help dispel many myths about economic & social development in the world.

To really see the power of these visual applications, one should view a couple of the videos of the presentations that Hans Rosling has made using this powerful presentation software. Several of these can be found at the Gap Minder videos page at  http://www.gapminder.org/videos/

Seeing what is possible by employing the Trendalyzer software holds great promise for Google's own project to make information from federal, state and local governments accessible to citizens.