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December 2008 - Posts
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Sometimes change comes quietly and by degrees rather than suddenly and with fanfare. One such change (and an unfortunate one) is the increasing rarity of hearings on dispositive motions in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Many, possibly most, of the judges on the court rarely have counsel in for hearings on motions for summary judgment or other dispositive motions. This is not a desirable development.
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Give us your poor, but only on the holidays. This Thanksgiving, volunteers had to be turned away in some areas when there weren't enough poor diners. On that day, but that day only, there were no shortages of contributions. Yet all too often, the needs of America's some 37 million poor people are invisible. And social activism too often addresses symptoms rather than sources of the problem. As lawyers, we are especially troubled by our inability to make legal assistance a more central part of the solution.
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U.S. News & World Report's annual law school ranking. The ranking generates heat, not light. U.S. News uses a questionable approach, lets loose with this year's version and then reports on its own pseudo-news as if it's something to which we should pay attention. For the most part, it's not. If you are a beleaguered law school dean, know that this customer pays no attention to the ranking — nor should your applicants.
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On Oct. 21, Heather Gillman received the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award for her brave defense of the rights of homosexual students at her high school in Ponce de Leon, Fla. She had sued the school board and principal to end what the court later described as a "relentless crusade" to suppress speech declaring tolerance for gays and lesbians. Gillman exemplifies a trend among the young to stand up for gay classmates. Yet when students take on adult bigots, the ensuing confrontations can end up in court.
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Winter v. NRDC, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a ruling that had enjoined the Navy from using sonar during certain training exercises. The court held that the Navy's need to conduct the exercises outweighed the potential environmental threat, specifically to marine mammals. But the case touches on a deeper issue — the scope and extent of the president's power in times of emergency. For how long may a president act unilaterally, ignoring existing laws and procedures, without authorization from Congress?
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