WikiLeaks

In my daily press review, I ran across this column by Patrick Lagacé, who points our attention to a website called WikiLeaks. The website is both troubling and important.

Should religion matter in the Supreme Court?

Now that Justice Stevens has made official his upcoming retirement, it is now open season to discuss his possible successors and the identity politics that goes along with it. Whereas gender/racial diversity was the major issue surrounding the retirement of Justice Souter last year, it seems that religious diversity has finally popped into the picture this time around. With Justice Stevens' retirement, a largely-Protestant nation no longer has a representative in its highest court. Recalling the anti-Semitic and anti-Catholic episodes in recent American history, this would be historic indeed.

As Henry Abraham of Virginia Law puts it, the only thing that should matter is "competence, quality, education, ability, morals and so forth." But many scholars of both law and religion, including Mark Noll of Notre Dame, admitted that it could be viewed suspiciously. Not that Catholic justices take their cue from Rome. Catholic justices for instance have voted on both sides of the abortion debate. Justice Scalia himself stated that he does not follow the death penalty teachings of the Catholic church. But somehow it just doesn't look right.

We can look at this issue in different ways. First, according to Rick Garnett, it is largely a religious-secular divide. Notwithstanding the Huntington-esque Protestant conceptions of the American self, religious Americans for instance, can find identification with anybody who takes his/her faith seriously, whatever religion that is. Second, you can also look at it through the lens of gender or racial diversity. Sure, there should be no religious tests for appointment to any office. But if we take seriously the claims of proponents of gender and racial diversity or even affirmative action in general (or any let's-get-out of the Northeast/Ivy League box argument) that somehow you need somebody who can understand a particular view in a sympathetic way, then maybe religious diversity also does matter in terms of court composition. Moreover, can we really not find a good-enough Protestant? It is not as if we are sacrificing merit on the altar of diversity. Or third, imagine the Supreme Court with 6 Catholics and 3 Jews. What kinds of fear does that entail? Despite claims of multiculturalism, political correctness and post-everything, are most Americans just covert bigots?

So I think this goes back to my point awhile ago about representatives being representative. Can one empathize without being personally a part of that group? In Linda Greenhouse's profile of Justice Souter, published after the announcement of his retirement, Souter was described as having crossed the Atlantic only twice - first for his Oxford graduate studies and second to attend an Oxford reunion. Yet, in Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, Souter, writing for the majority, displayed a kind of concern in upholding the jurisdiction of federal courts to handle claims made under the Alien Tort Claims Act, allowing people (and gasp - aliens at that) to claim for human rights abuses in US courts.

In an ideal world, Prof. Abraham is right. Merit is the only thing that should matter. But we remain to be products of our particular experiences and history. In an age of heightened culture wars, perhaps identity/religious politics is just simply unavoidable. Even as Americans claim the Constitution to be their sacred text, its priesthood - the Supreme Court - is still composed by men and women drawn from its collective self - the nation. Pick a Protestant now. And then maybe the Supreme Court should do well to add another to its list of tasks in shaping American history, that is, make religion (or identity in general) an irrelevant factor in the future.

Justice Stevens Retires

It was expected for a while, but the announcement just came out. Thank you Justice Stevens for all your years of service (plus some really good decisions, of course).

The Return of Tiger Woods

Honestly, I could care less. Seriously, I was not enthralled by the media hype when all of his marital infidelities came to light. Indeed, I found them rather telling of American cultural mores. If anything, the media blitz, the countless talk shows, the magazine covers, are all indications of the sad and sorry state of our public discourse. But lest I sound too elitist, I would like to point out Sandy Levinson's excellent commentary on Tiger Woods's return to professional golf. Sandy raises many interesting points, but what I found particularly nice was him taking Billy Payne, the chairman of Augusta National Golf Club, to task for criticizing Woods for disappointing "all of us, and more importantly, our kids and our grandkids," presumably for his breaks with monogamy. Sandy correctly points out the hypocrisy of Mr. Payne, by comparing what Woods did to all the women he's been with, to what the many members of the Augusta National Golf Club, many of whom are corporate executives, CEO's, and investment bankers, have been doing to this country. Just so no one misses the "subtle" point, both were fucking us, though one could make the very plausible argument that the members of the esteemed golf club have done a far better job at it, with more dire consequences for the people in this country. Anyway, read Sandy.

As for my two cents, I always thought there was something delicious about the whole affair (pun not intended). It's always sobering to learn that one's heroes (though Woods was never my hero) are just as fallible as the ones who admire them.

India Partners with Columbia Law School

The Government of India has partnered with Columbia Law School to create an endowed professorship--the B.R. Ambedkar Professorship in Indian Constitutional Law--and the Jagdish Bhagwati Fellowship for students. 

The first Ambedkar Professorship has been awarded to Yale Law Professor Akhil Amar, who fill this post as a visitor.

Socrates' Controversial Goal

Perhaps this football match between Greek and German philosophers is old news, but it is news to me!

New Issue of the Revista Argentina de Teoría Jurídica

Those interested in readings on free speech and discussion with speacialists on the recent and forthcoming reforms to media laws in Latin America, you may find the enew number of the Revista Argentina de Teoría Jurídica worth reading. It includes two translations papers by Robert Post, Dean of Yale Law School.

The issue is available for free here:

http://www.utdt.edu//ver_contenido.php?id_contenido=2455&id_item_menu=4082

Just to give a bit of background about the journal - of which I am currently an acting coordinator -, the Torcuato Di Tella University Revista Argentina de Teoría Jurídica is a law journal dedicated to an interdisciplinary approach to legal studies. While the journal’s principal focus is legal theory, it also includes theoretical analysis of case-law, juridical commentary, notes, and surveys of literature. Revista is a very special publication in that Latin American law schools do not usually have publications of this kind.

Since its founding in 1999, the journal has sought to contribute to and amplify traditional legal doctrine by exploring the connections between law, economics, moral and political philosophy, history, and political science. In 2009, with the publication of Volume 10, the journal celebrates 10 consecutive years of publication during which it has made its mark on legal scholarship. The journal’s impact on the contemporary debate surrounding legal and social problems in Argentina has been recognized by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Argentina (CSJN), which mentions the journal in its “Mazzeo” ruling (Fallos 330:3248), in which two articles were cited.

The journal appears in both digital and paper formats. The digital format journal is issued biannually in June and November. It is available free of charge at the Escuela de Derecho website. The paper edition, published annually in conjunction with Abeledo-Perrot, is tailored to a wider audience from various disciplinary backgrounds. It contains a selection of articles and notes that the editors consider pertinent to the general-interest reader.

The journal is edited by Law School students, who may also contribute their original work. The direction and academic coordination of the journal is undertaken by faculty of the Law School. You can find more data about the journal here: www.utdt.edu/revistajuridica

Tuition Refund at HLS?

The Harvard Law Record recently reported--coincidentally, of course, on April 1--that HLS will issue a tuition refund to students who find themselves without employment upon graduation.