The Faculty Lounge

Sneak Attack

This is Steven Epstein's eighth and penultimate guest post on Extreme Punishment:  The Chilling True Story of Acclaimed Law Professor Dan Markel’s Murder.

The following is an excerpt from Chapter 9, Pearl Harbor:  Monday, September 10, 2012:

A dozen or so criminal law professors were seated at a sizable conference room table at NYU Law School in Greenwich Village.  Most in attendance that afternoon lived in New York, though a few, like Dan, had flown in for the occasion.  When Dan and a colleague at Brooklyn Law started the NYC Criminal Law Theory Colloquium in January 2011—a Prawfsfest!-like workshop intended solely for criminal theorists—the email list of invitees numbered barely 20. 

That list, which Dan curated singlehandedly, had grown to more than 200, and included law professors from as far away as Israel, England, Canada, and California.  Those able to attend assembled in New York at least every other month, working collectively to transform each other’s unfinished drafts into polished articles on criminal law theory.  Their workshopping sessions—Dan’s “cocaine”—would last for hours, focusing intensely on just two papers each afternoon.  His own piece was slated for discussion the following day.

As the professors were going around the room offering insights and critiques on one of his colleague’s drafts, Dan noticed his iPhone vibrating.  Glancing down, he saw Wendi’s name appear on the screen.  During the three days he’d been in New York, she hadn’t answered his calls or responded to his voicemails or texts.  Something was definitely amiss, but Dan had no idea why she was so upset.  He excused himself and stepped out into the hallway to take the call.

“Hello,” he said tentatively.

“I’m leaving and taking the boys with me,” Wendi said, her voice firm and resolute. 

“What?” Dan exclaimed.

“I’m filing for divorce,” his wife of six-and-a-half years declared, her words landing like a boxer’s thunderous blow to the head.

Rhetoric and the Creation of Hysteria

In case some of you write on or think about the use of rhetoric in political and legal settings, here is a link for a recent article relating to the use of rhetoric and its impact on immigration debates in the hemisphere. Below is the abstract:

"The tenor of debates leading to the need for the so-called "wall" at our southern border, the frustrations relating to them, and the resulting political opportunism are not limited to the United States. Throughout the Western Hemisphere and Europe, political leaders are using similar rhetoric of the immigrant “other” in order to rally the base, deflect criticism, and distract public opinion. This article examines this political phenomenon in the twenty-first century by comparatively evaluating the cases of the United States, the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Brazil, and Chile—five democratic nations in the Western Hemisphere in which immigration became a major issue and immigrants are routinely scapegoated by those in power. In doing so, this article answers the following questions. First, why has immigration become a major campaign and policy issue in these countries since the turn of the century? Second, how and why have these nation-states responded to the perceived ills of immigration by enacting laws and policies designed to curb it and deal with existing immigrants? Third, how have populist politicians exploited xenophobia for political gain and—in doing so—have fueled ultra-nationalism across the hemisphere? And fourth, what has been the role of the United States (as the region’s hegemon) in promoting and/or
abetting these anti-immigration policies?"

 

Hiring Announcement: Stanford Law School (Teaching Fellow: LLM Program in International Economic Law, Business & Policy)

From an email message that I recently received:

Teaching Fellow, and Lecturer in Law, International Economic Law, Business and Policy (IELBP) - STANFORD LAW SCHOOL

STANFORD LAW SCHOOL seeks to hire a teaching fellow for the LLM Program in International Economic Law, Business & Policy. The appointment is for a two-year position with the possibility of a third year by mutual agreement, beginning In August 2023.

The fellow will assume significant academic, advising and administrative responsibilities.  The principal functions of the teaching fellow are to prepare and lead a colloquium on international business issues for the 15-20 students who enroll in the program annually, to advise students on their curricular choices, and to assist in the admissions and orientation process for the incoming class. 

The fellow will also organize and facilitate informal workshops, outside speakers, and academic and social events, be responsible for day-to-day administrative management of the LLM program, advise and counsel LLM candidates on academic and personal issues, respond to inquiries from prospective LLM applicants, and interact with our faculty in support of the LLM program goals and needs.

The ideal candidate will be an aspiring academic with a strong interest in one or more of the core subject areas spanned by the program (including international trade, international investment law, international dispute resolution and arbitration, international business transactions and international antitrust). It is expected that the responsibilities of the teaching fellow will occupy approximately half of his or her time, with the remaining time available to pursue the fellow’s own research agenda. The fellow will have full access to the research resources of Stanford University and access to faculty workshops.

Candidates for this position are expected to have strong academic records and references. Professional experience in the area is also valuable. This position is ideally intended for an individual who expects to pursue an academic career in the field, although a firm commitment to academia is not mandatory.

Application Deadline: Sunday, March 1, 2023

 

Is Justice Thomas's Jurisprudence Turning the Constitution into a Homicide Pact?

This piece has gotten a lot of attention, so I am moving it to the top today.

My new essay at The Hill explains how the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision has crippled federal, state, and local governments from enacting reasonable gun control statutes.

Here is the gist:

THE HILL

Is the Supreme Court turning the Constitution into a homicide pact?

BY STEVEN LUBET, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 11/30/22 8:00 AM ET

It looks as though there will be no end to the fallout from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s majority opinion in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, holding that gun control regulations are “presumptively” unconstitutional unless they are sufficiently “analogous” to a 19th century law. The Court’s requirement of a close historical comparator has turned out to be almost impossible to satisfy, causing lower courts to invalidate or question otherwise reasonable laws prohibiting the obliteration of guns’ serial numbers and firearm possession by convicted felons or domestic abusers.

The Court’s embrace of an exclusively historical method of constitutional review represented an ideological triumph for Justice Thomas, who had been pushing for it in a series of dissenting opinions for years.

Thomas has ultimately succeeded at a long game, but his victory comes at a severe cost. The absence of an historical counterpart does not mean that a particular firearm limitation would have been considered unconstitutional by the framers, but only that they found it unnecessary, if they thought of it at all.

One judge has already ruled that domestic abusers cannot be prohibited from gun possession because there were no such laws in an age when domestic battery was regarded as an unprosecutable family matter. And high-capacity magazines were unknown, and would have been thought impossible, in the era of muzzle-loading muskets.

In 1949, Justice Robert Jackson famously cautioned, “there is danger that, if the Court does not temper its doctrinaire logic with a little practical wisdom, it will convert the constitutional Bill of Rights into a suicide pact.” Justice Thomas has at last assembled a majority that now appears bent on turning the Second Amendment into a homicide pact.

You can read the entire essay, with much more about Justice Thomas’s historical jurisprudence, at The Hill.

Western New England Law Seeks Dean

This just in:

Western New England University (WNE or the University) seeks nominations and applications for the dean of Western New England School of Law (WNE Law or the Law School). The dean will join an exceptionally collegial community focused on student success and community impact. As the only law school in Western Massachusetts, WNE Law is a school of access and opportunity, offering an array of programs to meet the needs of a diverse student body of full-time, part-time, day, and evening students. The Law School maintains a proud transformational legacy of preparing graduates to enter the legal profession practice- ready and to become advocates and civic leaders within their communities. Building upon the Law School’s traditions of inclusivity, practical training, and community lawyering, the dean will have the opportunity to influence the future of a school where faculty, staff, and students are extraordinarily supportive of one another and committed to making a positive impact on the legal community of Western New England and beyond.

WNE Law serves as an “opportunity law school” in its region. It has a demonstrated history of offering a pathway to the legal profession for students who are traditionally underrepresented in the field, such as first-generation students and working professionals. WNE Law currently enrolls approximately 337 students in its JD, MS, and LLM programs and offers several areas of concentration. Its more than 8,500 living graduates are actively pursuing meaningful careers in all sectors of the law, primarily within Western New England, one of the most welcoming, progressive, and inclusive regions in the country.

 

Hey, Good Lookin'

Hank Williams originally wrote "Hey, Good Lookin'" for his friend Little Jimmy Dickens in 1951, promising to give him a hit. It took Williams only 20 minutes to write the song, during a plane trip with Dickens and the Grand Ole Opry comedian Cousin Minnie Pearl, no doubt because he borrowed the lyrics from a Cole Porter song of the same name (see clip at the bottom of this post). Hank soon decided that the song was too good for Jimmy, and recorded it himself just a week later. It has since become one of the great classics of country music, covered many times by many artists. That probably included Little Jimmy Dickens, though I cannot find a clip of him singing it (but there is a clip of his signature song at the bottom of the post).

Maynard on "Killing the Motivation of the Minority Law Professor"

Goldburn P. Maynard Jr. (Indiana University, Kelley School of Business) has published Killing the Motivation of the Minority Law Professor, 107 Minn. L. Rev. 245 (2022). Here is the abstract:

This Essay hypothesizes that a significant number of minority junior scholars with radical or non-normative ideas forego those projects or mute them to fit their work within the dominant paradigm of legal scholarship. Even those who move forward and publish their radical or non-normative proposals spend significant time attempting to overcome internal and external resistance, negotiating with mentors, and finding ways to make the radical seem palatable. This disproportionately harms the productivity of minority law professors, not only through inefficiency, but also through the long-term destruction of intrinsic motivation that is vital and overlaps with successful, fulfilling, and productive careers. To counteract some of these stifling effects, this Essay proposes several ways in which universities and the legal academy can support radical and non-normative scholarship.

The full article is available here.

Alabama Law Seeks Dean

Mark Brandon is stepping down as dean of the University of Alabama School of Law.  Alabama's search announcement just came in:

The University of Alabama (UA) seeks a strategic and collaborative leader with a distinguished scholarly profile to serve as the next Dean of the School of Law. The Dean will develop a vision for the school and provide leadership in matters related to planning, curriculum, research and scholarship, and the law school’s budget. The Dean will also engage with faculty, students, alumni, the legal community, and state and federal governmental officials to advance the goals of the School of Law and University. The successful candidate must possess a J.D. and/or a Ph.D. in a field related to law and qualify for appointment at the rank of tenured full professor in the School of Law. The candidate must also possess a significant and progressive record of leadership in a professional setting, including but not limited to higher education, government, public interest, or business. They will also demonstrate a commitment and ability to advance the University’s philosophy and practice relative to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Preference will be given to candidates who possess leadership experience in the legal academy and a sustained record of excellence in research and scholarship, service, and teaching commensurate with a comprehensive research university. Additionally, the ideal candidate will demonstrate a readiness to advance the School of Law through fundraising and building external partnerships.

Located in the heart of Tuscaloosa, The University of Alabama is one of the nation’s premier universities, offering bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in nearly 200 fields of study. With more than 1,200 acres of tree-lined campus and state-of-the art facilities, UA has been ranked among the most beautiful and most inspiring college campuses in the nation. In Fall 2022, the University set new enrollment records, including record enrollment of National Merit Scholars and racially and ethnically diverse students. As the state’s flagship university, UA is also designated among the Carnegie classification’s top doctoral research universities. With a growing number of industry and state/federal agency partnerships, UA’s research enterprise continues to surge. In fiscal year 2021, 38% of the 2,025 members of UA’s faculty engaged in externally funded research, the eighth straight year of increased externally sponsored awards. In the same period, faculty received a record 553 lifetime honorific awards from national and international award-granting associations or agencies. In all, sponsored awards brought $171 million to the University in fiscal year 2021, and research and development expenditures, a measure of output on previously funded awards, jumped 36% to $129.5 million. More details about the University, the physical campus, and the surrounding community are available in the latest Opportunity Profile.

A Powerful Narcotic

This is Steve Epstein's seventh guest post on Extreme Punishment:  The Chilling True Story of Acclaimed Law Professor Dan Markel’s Murder.

The following is an excerpt from Chapter 8, Ivory Tower:

Apart from Ben and Lincoln, there was nothing Dan found more enthralling than thinking through his ideas and expressing them in writing, a craft he honed like a finely tuned instrument.  Yet the process of transforming those ideas into polished articles was tedious, hard work.  Dan would save his drafts like versions of a computer program, his first always version 1.0, his tenth 2.0, and so on.  By his own admission in a PrawfsBlawg post, his first fifty or so drafts were “typically drenched with shame and marinated in self-disgust.”  It wasn’t uncommon for his articles to reach version 10.0 or higher—meaning one hundred or more drafts—before he considered them worthy of serious scholarly attention.

In addition to posting his “shitty first drafts” on PrawfsBlawg, Dan would send more mature versions to numerous faculty friends—Prawfs and non-Prawfs alike—seeking their input and suggestions.  His emails would always end with an affectionate, over-the-top closing, “Love and kisses” and “xoxo” the most common.  If he didn’t hear back after a week or so, he’d send an email reminder, bluntly explaining that he expected a response.  And if a reply still wasn’t forthcoming, he’d email again—and again and again—badgering his colleagues until they finally offered their written feedback, if only to get him off their backs. 

Though some found Dan’s relentless hounding annoying and overbearing, his friends were well aware of his eagerness to return the favor with their drafts.  Dan relished the opportunity to improve his colleagues’ written work, a task he took on more often, and with greater thoroughness, than just about any member of the academy.

His incessant back-and-forth with other professors over their respective writing led to an epiphany, that a live forum was needed for emerging scholars—particularly those looking to lateral their way to more elite schools—at which they could critique one another’s drafts and work collectively to improve them.  Which is how Prawfsfest! was born.  The in-person PrawfsBlawg spinoff, spearheaded exclusively by Dan, was a twice-per-year, two-day workshop that took place at host law schools, restricted to about a dozen Prawfs at each, with specialties running the gamut from constitutional law to tax law.  The group would discuss each participant’s draft article for about an hour, the professors working their way around the table until each had provided input.  Though the cast of characters—and legal topics—would change from one “P-fest” to the next, Dan was the one constant.

Penn State President Recommends Reunification of Its Two Law Schools

The world goes round.  Neeli Bendapudi, Penn State's president,  is recommending that the university reverse the previous decision to separate its two law school campuses in to two separately ABA accredited schools and instead merge them back into one.  The plan is for the new school to become Penn State Dickinson Law - based primarily in Carlisle.  It will be lead by Penn State Dickinson Law's current dean, Danielle Conway - and based on the recommendation, Penn State University Park is canceling its dean search.  Deets here.  

CFP: The Future of the Global IP System

This just in:

The Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia  is hosting a workshop in Vancouver from June 28-30, 2023.  The workshop theme is "The Future of the Global IP System" and invites proposals from scholars throughout the world. There will also be a remote option for anyone whose proposal is accepted but who cannot travel to Vancouver for the workshop.  More details can be found here.

 

Stetson Dean Search Announcement

Stetson University College of Law, Florida’s oldest law school, seeks an engaged and energetic leader to serve as its dean, commencing in the summer of 2023. Reporting to the executive vice president and provost, the dean is the chief academic and administrative leader of the College of Law and serves as an inspirational and cohesive leader for the tight-knit Stetson Law community. The dean will be an exceptional relationship-builder who leads with a collaborative attitude, exercising sound judgment and constructive discretion in decision-making for the long-term future of this distinctive law school.

Located in the scenic Tampa Bay area, Stetson Law is nationally and internationally recognized for its programs in advocacy, elder law, legal writing, Caribbean law, veterans law, and higher education, as well as its growing concentrations in business law, biodiversity, international law, and social justice advocacy. Stetson Law is also distinctive in its focus on student success and supporting professional careers that have impact whether in private practice, business, government, or the civic sector.

With a comprehensive understanding of the issues facing legal education and the leadership skills to guide a close community in achieving continued success, the dean will collaborate with Stetson’s many loyal constituents to:

• Amplify the law school’s strengths and support its students, faculty, and staff.
• Seek to understand the needs of the Stetson Law community through transparent, inclusive, and compassionate conversations.
• Set budgetary priorities to reach Stetson Law’s financial goals, including enhancing its core J.D. tuition revenue with sustainable earned income from new programs, grants that support its public service activities, and investments from individual and corporate donors.
• Form long-term partnerships with Stetson Law’s dedicated alumni and other prospective donors to increase annual giving and stewardship for the College of Law.
• Establish priorities to increase student, faculty, and staff engagement and retention, focusing on the well-being and professional development of Stetson Law community members.

Students, staff, faculty, and alumni share a tremendous pride in Stetson Law, and they encourage and assist each other in pursuing their diverse interests and ambitions. The dean should be eager to harness this positive passion for the law school, join the engaged community, and commit to serving Stetson’s long-term goals. That Stetson Law pride, passion, and promise are evidenced in this brief video welcoming your candidacy as Dean of Stetson Law.

Stetson University has retained Isaacson, Miller to assist with this search. All inquiries, nominations, and applications may be submitted confidentially at www.imsearch.com/8787. For full consideration, applicant materials should be submitted by January 13, 2023. 

Stetson University is an Equal Opportunity Employer that affirms cultural diversity and inclusion as a core value of academic excellence at Stetson University. We are committed to achieving equal access in education, employment, and participation through the recruitment and retention of outstanding faculty, staff, and students from diverse backgrounds, and to meaningful academic and intellectual transformation in curriculum, research and service. We are dedicated to actions and policies that foster a community in which individuals with various identities, cultures, backgrounds, and viewpoints work together to create opportunities for engagement through rewarding and fulfilling careers and personal experiences in a culturally and racially diverse society and a globalized world. We strongly encourage members of historically under-represented and economically-disadvantaged groups and women to apply for employment. Stetson University is an EEO, ADA, ADEA, and GINA employer. The Law School's Non-Discrimination Policy is here.

Taboo Trades Podcast: International Surrogacy with Stephen Wilkinson

My guest for this episode is Lancaster University professor Stephen Wilkinson and I’m joined by two UVA Law 3L co-hosts, Makenna Cherry and Meghana Puchalapalli. Wilkinson is a Professor of Bioethics, Associate Dean for Research for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and Chair of the University Research Ethics Committee.

Much of his work is about reproductive ethics and the regulation of reproductive technologies, especially the ethics of selective reproduction. A book on this topic (Choosing Tomorrow’s Children, Oxford University Press) was published in 2010. Since then, particular interests have included ethical issues raised by uterus transplantation, non-invasive pre-natal testing, mitochondrial replacement, new sources of eggs and sperm, genome editing, surrogacy, and public funding for infertility treatment.

Another abiding interest is the commercial exploitation of the human body, which was the subject of his first book, Bodies for Sale (Routledge, 2003), which we discuss in this episode, together with his 2016 article, Exploitation in international paid surrogacy arrangements, which appeared in the Journal of Applied Philosophy.

 

 

Professor Stephen Wilkinson Bio, Lancaster University: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/ppr/people/stephen-wilkinson

 

Exploitation in international paid surrogacy arrangements
Wilkinson, S. 05/2016 In: Journal of Applied Philosophy. 33, 2, p. 125-145

 

Bodies for sale: ethics and exploitation in the human body trade
Wilkinson, S. 2003 New York : Routledge. 248 p. ISBN: 9780415266253 .

University of Iowa College of Law Visiting Professors (Multiple Areas)

The College of Law is seeking qualified applicants for one-semester visits to be held at the University of Iowa College of Law during the Fall 2023 or Spring 2024 semester. 

Qualified applicants should be current law school professors at other institutions who have a J.D. and who have a record of strong teaching in law school classes. Visiting professors will teach two courses that enrich the College's curriculum.  For the 2023-2024 year, we are especially (although not exclusively) interested in professors with teaching expertise in the areas of Criminal Procedure-Investigations, Constitutional Law I and II, Family Law, and Disability Rights. Applicants should be able to teach in person in Iowa City for the duration of the Fall 2023 or Spring 2024 semester. Duties include developing and delivering course material (including class syllabi with learning outcomes) for semester-long courses, holding weekly office hours, preparing formative and final assessments, grading in accordance with College of Law grading guidelines, and complying with all College and University policies and procedures.

In addition, we desire candidates with a demonstrated ability to maintain effective and respectful working relationships with the campus community to uphold a standard of cultural competency and respect for differences consistent with the College of Law's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. (For more on the College's DEI commitments, see Diversity, Equity & Inclusion | College of Law - The University of Iowa (uiowa.edu) https://law.uiowa.edu/diversity-equity-inclusion

The University of Iowa is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.  All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment free from discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, pregnancy (including childbirth and related conditions), disability, genetic information, status as a U.S. veteran, service in the U.S. miliary, sexual orientation, gender identity, or associational preferences.