More detainees?

The Adminstration's lawyers have drafted a new legal opinion that, contrary to previous statements, not all fighters captured in Iraq will be afforded the protection of the Geneva Convention. Thoughts?

Justice Ginsburg's Remarks

Missed Justice Ginsburg's remarks at last Thursday's Brown v. Board of Ed event? They can be found here.

ACS journal club, 11/16

The inaugural meeting of the monthly journal club will be on Tuesday, November 16, at 3:00 PM, at the Hungarian Pastry Shop (Amsterdam between 110th and 111th).

We'll be discussing "The anti-emergency constitution", by Laurence Tribe and Patrick Gudridge, 113 Yale L.J. 1801 (2004). We'll try to understand the arguments for and against emergency powers for the American government and talk about what the scope and limits of such powers should be. Assuming the Bush administration has gone too far, could laws have prevented it?

You don't need to have studied the article thoroughly. But please at least skim it, so that you will have some thoughts on the topic. We'll talk informally for an hour or two, depending on how it goes.

Coffee etc. will be provided by ACS. I hope to see you there!

Article availability: The article itself is available online at the Yale Law Journal's home page or at http://www.quodlibet.org/tribe_gudridge.pdf.
Also you may want to look at "The emergency constitution, by Bruce Ackerman, 113 Yale L.J. 1029 (2004), at http://www.quodlibet.org/ackerman.pdf.

Questions? Email Keith at kb2188@columbia.edu.

Justiciability of Political Gerrymandering after Vieth

SCOTUSBlog has a post up on the court's vacation of a federal court's upholding Tom DeLay's redistricting plan in Jackson v. Perry. Election Law Blog has more here. Jonathan Adler of The National Review, who favors the Texas redistricting plan, says that this is much ado about nothing, but I'm not so sure. By granting review and summarily reversing, it seems to me that the Court is implying that 1) There are real standards a redistricting plan must clear in a challenge under a theory of political gerrymandering, and 2) that the case in controversy here has a legitimate shot at not reaching those standards.

Hopefully, someone with a better understanding of either election law or the Supreme Court's practice of vacating for reconsideration may shed better light on what is going on than I can. Please comment.

Noteworthy News

Adam Cohen of the New York Times on a Bush Supreme Court.

Upcoming Events

Demystifying the Clerkship Process
Tuesday, Oct. 19th at 12:30 in JG 501
Professor Dubler, chair of the faculty clerkship committee will be speaking to 1Ls and 2Ls interested in clerking.

The Civil Rights Revolution
Tuesday, Oct. 26th from 5-7:30 in Drapkin Lounge
William Taylor will be joining us to promote his life memoirs the “Passion of My Life: My Fifty-year Journey Through The Civil Rights Revolution.

About us

This blog will be a space where ACS members at CLS can exchange ideas and find out about upcoming events. It will also contain a point/counterpoint feature in which we will virtually debate with the CLS chapter of the Federalist Society. All ACS members at Columbia are welcome to post. Please contact Liz at eaa2101@columbia.edu for more information.

Welcome to the blog for the Columbia Law School Chapter of the American Constitution Society!