The Faculty Lounge

Gotta Dance, Part One

There were too many of these for a single post. Part Two will be up in August; Part Three will be up in October.

Illinois Law Seeks Tenure/Tenure-Track Faculty

This just in:

THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS COLLEGE OF LAW invites applications for positions on the tenured/tenure-track faculty to begin in August 2023. The College has particular interests in hiring in the areas of constitutional and tax law but welcomes applications from scholars in all subject areas of the law.

The University of Illinois offers a distinguished and collegial law school community in the setting of a premier research university, affording opportunities for cutting-edge legal scholarship and innovative interdisciplinary work. Champaign-Urbana is a vibrant college town with an exceptional quality of life. 

These positions are full-time, nine-month, tenured or tenure-track positions. The University of Illinois offers an outstanding and comprehensive benefit package. Salary is commensurate with experience. Applicants must have a J.D. or Ph.D. or their equivalent, a strong academic record, and a record of scholarly distinction or great scholarly promise. 

For full consideration, please use the AALS FAR website https://www.aals.org/services/recruitment/far/ (preferred) or create a candidate profile at https://jobs.illinois.edu  and upload the following required documents: Curriculum Vitae, sample publications, and contact information of four references (name, telephone number and email address) by September 10, 2022. For assistance with the application process, contact Tish Lehigh at lehigh@illinois.edu.

The University of Illinois is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action employer that recruits and hires qualified candidates without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability or veteran status. For more information, visit http://go.illinois.edu/EEO.

Okezie Chukwumerije Named Interim Dean of Texas Southern Law

Texas Southern University announced last week that it has replaced Dean Joan Bullock with a new interim dean, Okezie Chukwumerije.  Bullock has been dean since 2019.  Chukwumerije, an associate dean who joined the faculty in 2003,  holds an LLB from the University of Benin, LLM from the University of British Columbia, and a D. Jur. from Osgoode Hall. The best news link is behind a paywall from the Houston Chronicle, but this apparent bot conversion of that article is a more engaging read anyway.

Washburn Law Journal Call for Papers

Call for Papers: December 2022 Issue of the Washburn Law Journal 

Washburn University School of Law, Topeka, Kansas

The Washburn Law Journal is soliciting articles for Issue I, Volume 62 of the Journal. The lead Essay for the issue is written by Professor Daniel Bodansky and discusses the UN climate change regime, the Paris Agreement, and COP 26. Each year, Washburn University School of Law invites a distinguished scholar to present the Foulston Siefkin Lecture. This year, Professor Bodansky—a Regents’ Professor of Law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University—presented “The UN Climate Change Regime Thirty Years On—A Retrospective and Assessment.” (His presentation can be found at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DSCV5w2q9E).

Articles chosen for publication will be published in December 2022. Articles must discuss climate change, environmental law, or natural resource law to be accepted for publication. Authors may email articles to journalarticles@washburn.edu with the subject line “WLJ Call for Papers.” Authors must include a full draft of their article, a cover letter, and a curriculum vitae with their submissions. Articles must be a minimum of 10,000 words and no more than 30,000 words. Submissions will be accepted until August 1, 2022. The Journal will extend offers for publication to selected authors no later than August 22, 2022. A limited number of articles will be chosen for publication.

If you have any questions, please reach out to the Editor-in-Chief, Marisa No, at marisa.no@washburn.edu, or the Senior Articles Editor, Elisabeth Wilder, at elisabeth.wilder@washburn.edu.

Montana Law Names Elaine Gagliardi Interim Dean

The University of Montana law school dean search yielded three finalists, but did not produce a dean.  At least one candidate apparently declined an offer.  After being led by a three person team for the last few months, the university announced that beginning July 1, Professor Elaine Gagliardi will serve as interim dean. Gagliardi holds a JD from Montana and an LLM in Tax from NYU.

CFP: SALT-LatCrit-ClassCrit Conference

This just in:

2022 SALT Teaching Conference, in partnership with the LatCrit-SALT-ClassCrits Junior Faculty Development Workshop 

Rest & Resistance:
Preserving Our Democracy while Protecting Our Peace

Friday and Saturday, October 14 -15, 2022 
Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Chicago, Illinois 

Society has experienced so much in the last two years—a global health pandemic, ongoing attacks against Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian American and Pacific Islander, and other marginalized communities, and deterioration of our democracy and constitutional rights. To overcome these challenges, we must reinforce the pillars of Rest & Resistance as bedrock to the fight for justice. The 2022 SALT Teaching Conference will provide an opportunity for academics and activists to explore these pillars as a framework for self-care and social justice, with the strategies, support, and resources necessary for faculty, students, and lawyers to rest and resist within a culture of systemic injustice.

John Anderson Named interim Dean of Mississippi College Law

The Mississippi College School of Law has announced that John Anderson will be its interim dean.  Anderson replaces Dean Patricia Bennett who is stepping down on July 1.  Anderson, who holds a JD from the University of Virginia, has been on the MC Law faculty since 2010.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) on Gun Safety

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) does not intend to vote for any new gun safety measures sponsored by congressional Democrats, according to a statement that he recently distributed:

Tonight, Democrats will pass a wide variety of gun control measures in the House of Representatives. All restricting 2^nd Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.  All arguably unconstitutional.

I’m voting NO along with most of my Republican colleagues.

None of these measures get to the root of the matter. None of these so-called “common sense” proposals deal with what’s causing violence in this country. Instead, these are feel-good efforts of questionable value, and I’m simply not going to vote to chip away at our Constitutional rights.

Norman is the guy who once pulled out his loaded handgun at a constituent meeting in a café, claiming that he wanted to reassure the attendees that he could keep them safe from random attacks. That was the subject of a piece I wrote for CNN.com at the time.

Gun-toting congressman is right. He’s no Gabby Giffords

CNN.com

By Steven Lubet

Published 4:51 PM EDT, Sun April 8, 2018

Editor’s Note: Steven Lubet is the Williams Memorial Professor at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.

CNN — 

Here’s a satirical look at an event that made news this weekend.

First-term US Rep. Ralph Norman, R-South Carolina, is a tough, vigilant and well-prepared guardian of public security, which he recently demonstrated by pulling out his loaded handgun at a “coffee with constituents” meeting at the Rock Hill Diner in his home district.

He slapped the .38-caliber Smith & Wesson on the table to let the folks in the restaurant know that they were safe from terrorists, active shooters, clumsy busboys and anyone trying to skip out on the lunch tab, assuring them that he would be able to protect them because of his gun.

“Given the scenario that if someone had walked into that diner and began to fire a weapon, I told them I would be able to defend myself and them as well,” he said.

“I’m not going to be a Gabby Giffords,” explained the heroic and manly Red Stater, comparing himself to the timorous female Democrat from a purple district in Arizona, who had unwisely allowed herself to be shot in the head without returning fire.

And can there be any doubt that Norman would have been able to respond boldly to the shooting, which occurred at a “Congress on the Corner” event outside a Tucson grocery store? Surely he would have been able to draw his pistol, release the safety, assume a SWAT stance, take dead aim and plug the mentally-disturbed shooter, even after taking a bullet himself.

After all, Norman has a South Carolina concealed weapons permit, which means, at the very least, that he obtained it after a rigorous training program – covering storage practices, liability rules and concealment techniques, upon payment of a $50 fee – that fully readied him to exchange fire with an assassin packing a 9mm pistol with a 33-round magazine, who was shooting indiscriminately into a crowd. The 19 people hit and six killed that day in 2011 have only themselves to blame for not being as well-armed and well-trained as Norman, who may have once fired as many as 50 rounds at stationary targets to obtain his South Carolina permit.

“I don’t mind dying, but whoever shoots me better shoot well, or I’m shooting back,” Norman told a local newspaper, drawing on his courageous background in the real estate business he inherited from his father. Next to military or law enforcement experience, which Norman must have absent-mindedly neglected to include in his official biography, a career in property development is easily the best possible preparation for combat in crisis conditions. If you are locked and loaded, and don’t mind dying, then the York County Home Builders Association is the right place for you.

It would be absolutely thrilling to see Norman calmly stand his ground amid flying bullets, while taking unerring aim at a rampaging gunman. No duck and cover for him, and no chance that he would end up hitting a cowering bystander. There could be just one question: Would he shoot to kill? Or would he be satisfied by only winging his unfortunate foe? It’s an election year, so I’m betting that Norman will come out staunchly in favor of using lethal force at the slightest hint of trouble.

“Mental health, and more importantly, a lack of morality, is the driving force behind this epidemic,” Norman told CNN. And having served in the South Carolina legislature for ten years, he can proudly point to his state’s standing as 44th in the Union in per capita mental health spending – while rapidly closing in on 43rd, at less than three bucks per year behind Louisiana.

Following the latest school shooting, Giffords called on Congress to “stand up to the gun lobby and take action to make our communities safer.” Norman knows better. “I’m tired of the NRA being blamed,” he said. And he is right. What we really need for the schools would be some guns on the cafeteria tables.

So, yes, Ralph Norman got things exactly right. He is no Gabby Giffords.

I've Just Seen a Face

I could not find a live video of the Beatles performing this song. I really like the 12-string guitar, but that is not why I am posting it today.

Mike Cahill Stepping Down as Brooklyn Law Dean

Michael Cahill has announced that he will step down as dean of Brooklyn Law School at the end of the 2022-23 school year.  Cahill became dean in 2019.  He will rejoin the faculty.

Musings on the January 6th hearings...

As I write the following, I brace myself for the inevitable attacks from both Trump supporters and some lefties determined to attack anything that even remotely supports anything republican.

Despite this eventuality, I must admit after reviewing the testimony and evidence from the January 6th hearings, I cannot help but conclude a man that had so much to gain, rejected self-interest and was nothing short of heroic. Vice President Mike Pence stood up for principle, for the Constitution, and for the people. As his counsel informed him so eloquently at the end of that fateful day, he fought the good fight and finished the race. Think about it---he was asked to give himself the opportunity to continue to be Vice-president, a position he held for four years; one that was likely a gateway for an eventual presidential run. He could have taken a path to serve his future fairly well. Instead, literally underneath the Capitol that was overrun by rioters, many hunting for him, he decided to stay at the site, determined to undertake his constitutional roll and preside over the certification of the results of the presidential election. As a result, he ensured a peaceful transition of power, despite the attack on the Capitol. 

As during the Nixon era where Republican leaders advised the president to resign, in order to preserve our democracy, heroes need to be above politics and stand for what is right. Pence followed Vice-President Al Gore's heroic and noble efforts after the 2000 presidential election. Though I spent hundreds, if not thousands, of hours volunteering for Vice President Gore's election efforts, at the time I would have preferred he not be so  honorable, I now realize what Gore did the day he certified the election was the correct decision.

 

While Vice President Pence is too conservative for my taste and some will assuredly assert he was merely being calculating, I invite you to take a look at the pictures of him at the secret location on the afternoon of January 6th, and I bet most will literally feel both the danger and tension of that moment. It is for that reason, I will always respect Vice President Pence for what he did on January 6, 2021--he faced a clear and present danger to his life and that of his family. Further, while at the secret location, Pence was asked to leave the Capitol by secret service. Had he done so, who knows what would have happened thereafter. At the very least, the country would have faced a constitutional crisis likely only resolved weeks, if not months later, by the U.S. Supreme Court.  Instead, Vice President Pence refused to leave the secret location (evidently somewhere underneath the Capitol), determined to do the people's work and did in fact complete the people's work and certified the presidential election in favor of President Biden. I am nothing short of proud to learn of these heroic acts. 

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UC Hastings Seeks Business and Con Law Entry and Lateral Faculty

This just in:

The University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco seeks to hire two entry-level or lateral tenure-track faculty members. One of the lines is for a constitutional law scholar who can teach Constitutional Law. The other line is for a business law scholar who can teach upper division business classes such as Business Associations.

Candidates should send a cv, statement of research and teaching interests, and representative publications in .pdf format to Professor Ben Depoorter Appointments Committee Chair (appointments2022@uchastings.edu), with the subject heading “Faculty Position.”

We seek innovative and productive scholars and devoted teachers who will be role models for our students. We are particularly interested in candidates who will contribute to our vibrant and diverse community of interdisciplinary scholars. Applicants should have a serious interest in UC Hastings and living in the San Francisco Bay Area.