As a Professor, Obama Held Pragmatic Views on Court (barf alert)

New York Times ^ | May 2, 2009 | Jodi Kantor

[reaganaut1]

Many American presidents have been lawyers, but almost none have come to office with Barack Obama’s knowledge of the Supreme Court. Before he was 30, he was editing articles by eminent legal scholars on the court’s decisions. Later, as a law professor, he led students through landmark cases from Plessy v. Ferguson to Bush v. Gore. (He sometimes shared his own copies, marked with emphatic underlines and notes in bold, all-caps script.)

Now Mr. Obama is preparing to select his first Supreme Court nominee to replace retiring Justice David H. Souter. In interviews, former colleagues and students say they have a fairly strong sense of the kind of justice he will favor: not a larger-than-life liberal to counter the conservative pyrotechnics of Justice Antonin Scalia, but a careful pragmatist with a limited view of the role of courts.

“His nominee will not create the proverbial shock and awe,” said Charles J. Ogletree, a Harvard professor who has known the president since his days as a student.

Mr. Obama believes the court must never get too far ahead of or behind public sentiment, they say. He may have a mandate for change, and Senate confirmation odds in his favor. But he has almost always disappointed those who expected someone in his position — he was Harvard’s first black law review president and one of the few minority members of the University of Chicago’s law faculty — to side consistently with liberals.

Former students and colleagues describe Mr. Obama as a minimalist (skeptical of court-led efforts at social change) and a structuralist (interested in how the law metes out power in society). And more than anything else, he is a pragmatist who urged those around him to be more keenly attuned to the real-life impact of decisions.

[ishmac]

Yes, I've heard the audio, but thanks for the link.

A question for you: do you know where to get audio of Zero's speech in the Illinois legislature about the Born Alive Infants Act? I'd like to get the audio of Zero speculating about what to do if "there is movement" in the child who wasn't quite killed by the abortionist.

[MSSC6644]

Thanks for the info. Interesting that he referred to himself as “Professor” on course title pages.

[ataDude]

Zero was not a professor. He was an instructor... lecturer.

[True Republican Patriot]

Obama was NOT a Professor, there is NO SUCH THING as an “UNDOCUMENTED PROFESSOR!” He was an Instructor/Lecturer!

Actually, I see Your Point! On that note, ZERO is an “UNDOCUMENTED TOTUS!” Truly a Puppet who got the position with Absolutely NONE of the required Documentation!
This makes Dan Rather’s Ripoff look like Child’s Play!

[BigBobber]

Thanks for posting this. I notice the racism syllabus only has 8 hours of “lecture”. One hour of that is devoted to “getting organized”. What kind of lame course is this?

Obama seems to be an underachiever in everything he tries.

[Lord Basil]

I think this is at least part of the audio.

[Voter62vb]

From Obama’s test instructions 2003:p> 1. This is an open book exam. You may use any materials or notes used in our class. You may not refer to cases, articles, material drawn for the internet, or any material that were not used in class.

In other words: “You must get to mandated point A, I will give you all the support to get there. Don’t color outside the lines.”

It is the way the left makes people feel smart by “allowing” people and groups to be creative and think their way to the “only conclusion “.

People get lost seeing the trees, not seeing the forest and really forgetting why the hell we’re in the forest anyway. Power is controlling the whole argument from the faulty facts and lies forward - just make sure the kids get to the gift shop on the field trip.

The secret is that when you're given a rope, the only answer they will be happy with is when you hang yourself....hmmmm

[Wuli]

“Later, as a law professor, he led students through landmark cases from Plessy v. Ferguson to Bush v. Gore. (He sometimes shared his own copies, marked with emphatic underlines and notes in bold, all-caps script.)”

NONE of which have ever seen the public light of day, and are not likely to either.

[ishmac]

Yes, thanks. I've got the URL bookmarked. I recall during the campaign, however, that other parts of the speech were available. I thought I had bookmarked a link with the snippet about the "movement," but can't find it on my computer. I'm not even sure it's still available on the web.

[KDD]

The University of Chicago Law School
http://www.law.uchicago.edu/media/index.html

Statement Regarding Barack Obama

The Law School has received many media requests about Barack Obama, especially about his status as “Senior Lecturer.”

From 1992 until his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004, Barack Obama served as a professor in the Law School. He was a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996. He was a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004, during which time he taught three courses per year. Senior Lecturers are considered to be members of the Law School faculty and are regarded as professors, although not full-time or tenure-track. The title of Senior Lecturer is distinct from the title of Lecturer, which signifies adjunct status. Like Obama, each of the Law School’s Senior Lecturers has high-demand careers in politics or public service, which prevent full-time teaching. Several times during his 12 years as a professor in the Law School, Obama was invited to join the faculty in a full-time tenure-track position, but he declined.

As a “senior lecturer,” Obama was in good company: The six other faculty members with the title include the associate dean of the law school and Judge Richard Posner, who is widely considered to be one of the nation’s top legal theorists.

[Kenny Bunk]

The former Mr. Soetoro’s “career” as a “law professor,” has been grossly exaggerated. He was an adjunct instructor.

The NYT is merely bolstering the official hagiography of Obama I, Saviour of Our Nation and Its Way of Life as He Sees It.

[thecodont]

The former Mr. Soetoro’s “career” as a “law professor,” has been grossly exaggerated. He was an adjunct instructor.

Accredited universities with tenured faculty jealously guard those professional titles. A prominent university law school I know of insists on calling the adjunct instructors "adjuncts," and only the "tenure-track" and tenured instructors can claim the coveted title of "Professor."

[True Republican Patriot]

Thank you, however anything from the PR department of The Univ. of Chicago will go into this round file until evidence proves otherwise. No other person had been given that position prior to being a full time tenured professor before and were given that position in retirement. Sounds like Zero was granted a nice paying part time job just like his wife with the Hospital Gig!