Posted on 04/07/2017 6:17:53 AM PDT by Academiadotorg
If you are looking for a root cause of American lawlessness, you might look at America's law schools.
The American Association of Law Schools (AALS) held its annual conference in January in San Francisco to examine the theme "Why Law Matters." "I asked myself, would the American Medical Association have a conference on 'Why Medicine Matters,'" Judge Edith H. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit asked archly at the annual meeting of the Philadelphia Society in Dallas last weekend. The Philadelphia Society is a group of conservative intellectuals formed in the wake of the Goldwater defeat in 1964.
Prior to the AALS meeting, the president of that society—Kellye Y. Testy, dean of the University of Washington School of Law—outlined what she saw as the "reasons law matters:"
• "Race-based violence and racial inequity in our criminal justice system;
• "Growing access to justice gaps as economic inequality widens;
• "Honest businesses struggling to compete in countries that do not value law and justice;
• "Deepening ethnic and religious conflicts and resulting migration surges;
• "Devastating gun violence expanding in number and scope."
"From students to the general public to university presidents/provosts to leaders of major foundations, law is often seen too narrowly as being only a system of dispute resolution rather than in its broader role of creating the ecosystem for human flourishing," Dean Testy stated. "One might liken it to a swamp rather than a utopia," Judge Jones observed.
Judge Jones, a Reagan appointee, sees generality, universality, intelligibility, fair process and democratic processes as key to good law. Conversely, impunity, in which some well-connected officials are seemingly above the law, is one the greatest dangers the legal system, and those who rely on it, face. She pointed to the scandals involving Veterans Administration hospitals during the Obama years as a specific example.
The whole profession of law is to teach you how to protect your client from the other lawyers. That means that there are no facts only positions that must either be supported or attacked. It has always been that way with barristers as they are in the profession to make money not make things right.
law professors are refugees from the real world.
Yes, this may be a stretch, but that is the way my mind works, especially on a day like today when everyone in Washington seems to be overjoyed at how the President has ignored the Constitutional requirement to get the approval of Congress before attacking another sovereign power. YMMV.
If people believe this crap Testy is spouting we are screwed.
When cynicism infects a society it affects law too.
Law is much more a reflection of the mores of a society than the basis of perfect policing. Nobody even wants perfect policing. Even the Old Testament law stipulated that nobody be put to death except on the testimony of two or more witnesses, who then had to personally participate in the ensuing execution. There was a limited room to skate, where the voice of import was the preacher and not the state.
The Bush era UOFR needs to be considered here. The enemy was and is radical jihadism.
Lawyers, like the poor will always be with us. The degree of slime they produce is entirely based on the tolerance of the society in which they operate. Look at the number of lawyers per capita in any country and then look at their lifestyle. US v. Japan is a perfect example.
As to this BS about the president must ask Congress before attacking another sovereign power. Look at the powers Congress has given the office of the President. They have given blanket approval to the President in several acts including the War Powers Act. There is no constitutional prohibition against a congress abdicating their responsibility. For better or worse, they have sold their right to complain.
Justice matters.
Very little of it in the law though.
Lawyers had better watch out, lest we decide that we really do not need them for justice.
Yes, this would not be good, but it will be a result of the fact that we no longer respect them, or their trade.
US _law_ system is a politized system, controlling lawyers via schooling and BAR requirements and NSA spy info bribery. It regularly undermines and misdirects justice.
Agreed. Radical Islam, not the government of Syria.
“Devastating gun violence expanding in number and scope.”
Funny. Last time I checked, violence in the US was down over the last few years, including gun violence.
Judge Jones went to the law school in which I used to work. She came within a hair’s breath of getting nominated to the Supreme Court, but Bush suddenly picked John Roberts instead. She is very conservative considering the law school in which I worked is uber liberal.
I somehow doubt she would have voted the same way on Obamacare.
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