FReeper jmstein7 made Law Review! Needs input!

9-19-03 | jmstein7

[jmstein7]

Dear FReeper friends,

I'm writing to let you know that I just found out that I (retroactively) made Law Review at my school (#10 of 308 in my class).

I want to thank all the FReeper law experts who gave me advice and help last year when I was a 1L. I plan to pay you all back by taking our fight to Law Review.

Anyway, I am looking for a topic for my "note", and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions. I was thinking about writing something about election law (Bush v. Gore, Lautenberg, 9th Circuit recall decision, etc.) and the recent intrusion of the judiciary into the political branches of government.

Any help/hints/advice?

Thank you all!

[Scenic Sounds]

being cited would be great, but I mainly just want to piss of the libs in my class who live to bring me down.

Oh, one last thing - try not to let any particular ideology get in your way of learning the law. LOL.

Good luck. ;-)

[firebrand]

Congratulations!

How about the question of the constitutionality of campaign-finance reform?

[Khurkris]

Might I suggest something along the lines of accepting payments over the internet for your services. VISA, MasterCard, American Express and now VERISIGN, PAYPAL, CyberCash, NetCheque and NetCash now accepted.

[jmstein7]

I'm plugging that into Westlaw right now (do you like Westlaw or L-N better?)

Unfortunately, we have Con Law our 2nd year (now), and we only JUST covered Baker v. Carr, so my PQ foundation is weak.

Any other indispensible sources or cites to check out?

[jmstein7]

"Oh, one last thing - try not to let any particular ideology get in your way of learning the law. LOL.

Good luck. ;-) "

Thnx! I will try to keep the persistent left-wing ideology out of my way of my learning! :)

[jwalsh07]

Good job, the more of you the better.

What Robert Bork calls "judicial tyranny" is a subject near and not so dear to my heart.

Perhaps an article on how federal justices encourage the culture wars by taking making decisions from the bench that rightfully belong to the citizens of states and their elected representatives would twist a lot of underwear in knots.

[firebrand]

Local NY freeper scores big

[Scenic Sounds]

Thnx! I will try to keep the persistent left-wing ideology out of my way of my learning! :)

LOL. I love your enthusiasm. Just don't be surprised if over time you find your ideology changing faster than the law. ;-)

[DeFault User]

In the cases you cite above (Bush v. Gore, Lautenberg, 9th Circuit recall decision) plus the University of Michigan decision, it seems that the courts used rather fuzzy principles to reverse lower courts or they ignored specific constitutional provisions and other statutes that better addressed the situation.

The Lautenberg case turned NJ election law with specific deadlines on its head because of (as I recall) a "compelling interest" to have a candidate for the Democrats. Likewise, the University of Michigan case ignored blatantly plain language in the 14th Amendment because Michigan had a "compelling interest" in promoting diversity.

SCOTUS reversed the Florida Supremes based on "due process" despite specific Federal statutes that stated you can't change election law after the election--which is what the Florida Supreme Court attempted.

Why the reliance on "compelling interests" or broad (easily misinterpreted principles) instead of specific language in the Constitution or in Federal statutes?

If you apply a "compelling interest" or broad principle when a specific one is more appropriate, you open the gates for miscarriages of justice in the future.

[jmstein7]

Funny... I just ordered his most recent book on Amazon. I just picked up his book, The CJ's book (WR), and Scalia's book.

I feel that my left-wing con law prof. is giving a narrow, liberal spin to the material.

He has a HORRIBLE article in the Legal Times (Feb. 3, 2003, Vol. XXVI, No.5) that he assigned called "Lest We Forget: Hamdi and The Case of the Five Knights". It is absolute garbage.

[jmstein7]

I'll be seeing you guys real soon ;)

[jmstein7]

My favorite SNAFU in the Florida Supreme Court decision is how they misuse the four canons of statutory construction that they reference. If you read the friend of the court brief that the Florida Legislature filed, you will notice that the seven SCOFLA justices have absolutely no idea what the rules and procedures of the Florida House and Senate are. If it wasn't so serious, it would be funny!

[Old Professer]

Basically, most people live in comfortable ignorance of the Law (Capital 'L' law, that is), for most people, the first brush they may have is a minor infraction of a traffic law, or perhaps a zoning violation as they go about their daily duty to their families by making the 'homestead' a more fit place to live; maybe an errant child will smack the local bully in the snout at the wrong time - little stuff like that.

What you propose is to intervene in the arena of the big dogs; a bloody and dusty ring where the tails, feet and fur go flying when the hounds of Main Street are loosed.

Study the code; the code is the armor, your job is to find the chinks. Read your state constitution, memorize it, use it to leash the hounds or bet on the winner.

Politics is the original organized crime.

[jmstein7]

Funny... I keep a copy of the NYS Constitution on my desk. My copy is 219 pages long!

[TheAngryClam]

Lexis Nexis is awesome.

Personally I hate westlaw, and am baffled that people not only use, but prefer, it.

That could be because the formatting of the printed versions is so much better from Lexis, and Lexis is much less of a pain to set up to be constantly logged in on.

[manna]

No ideas, just congratulations!

[Vesuvian]

That's great! Congratulations! Hope you like blue booking!

But remember your obligation is to finish up and graduate and get out there and practice rather than risk that by antagonizing your professors, especially if you attend a left leaning law school. Luckily mine was pretty much middle of the road : )

(But I would suggest writing on the NJ decision that said a deadline was only a suggestion. If I ever get a speeding ticket there I'll have to try that defense!)

[jmstein7]

lol!

[Eva]

I am no legal scholar, but how 'bout discussing Ruth Bader Ginsburg's claim that she had to consult international law before ruling on US law?

[TheAngryClam]

You want to talk bad?

My torts professor was also Hillary Clinton's torts professor. He had some good stories about her.