General meeting Monday, event Thursday!

Hi ACS members and friends!

See below for important announcements about events and programs this week. You can always click on the “calendar” link at the left margin of this site to check the date and location of our events—look for the dates that are highlighted on the month view of the calendar.

Two major events this week: general membership meeting on October 3 (note: TOMORROW, Monday) at lunch and Vanita Gupta talk and reception on October 6 at 6:00 pm.

As always, please write with your comments and suggestions for events and programs. We look forward to hearing from you.

See you soon,
Mary Kelly and the ACS Board
mp2331 or acs@law.columbia.edu


General Meeting TOMORROW, October 3—bring a friend!

JG 106 at 12:20. LUNCH PROVIDED! We’ll talk about Thursday’s Gupta event, a membership party later in October, new plans for our blog, and a road trip to Harvard in November. Do you know someone who would love ACS, but just doesn’t know about us yet? Please bring a friend to the general meeting, and we’ll see you there!


Texas Justice: from human rights to civil rights, Thursday, October 6

JG 106 at 6:00 pm, reception to follow in Drapkin. When Vanita Gupta was just 26 years old and fresh out of NYU Law, the NAACP LDF sent her to Texas to investigate a notorious drug “sting” that had gotten 45 Tulia residents convicted—without any evidence at all. The story of how Vanita helped them win their freedom will inspire you. We’ll show part of the 60 Minutes documentary made about Tulia. Vanita will also speak about LDF’s current work with the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Co-sponsored with BLSA and the Columbia College Scholars program. Got a friend who would love ACS, but doesn’t know about us yet? Bring your friend!

Please RSVP for the Gupta event at http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/events/ (scroll down the page).


Moot Court Information

Interested in participating in the ACS National Moot Court Competition in Constitutional Law? Couldn’t make it to the informational meeting last week? Adam Nagorski, team coach, will fill you in on all the details, from the topic (felony disfranchisement) to the competition timeline and everything in between. Email Adam at aan51.


Practitioner mentors: sign up!

If you are interested in being set up with a Columbia Alum who has expressed a willingness to mentor a 1L, then please contact me at NSN2102@COLUMBIA.EDU. I have a number of practitioners in the city who are standing by. Feel free to e-mail me with questions about the program. Note that these mentors are not necessarily affiliated with the ACS (although we hope to implement such a program in the very near future).

Thank you,
nick napolitan


2L and 3L mentor program: sign up!

If you missed out on getting a 2L or 3L mentor, or if you are a 2L or 3L who would like to volunteer to mentor a 1L, please contact Whitney at war2102.


Apply to write for ACSBlog! (Deadline has been extended)

Student Editors & Writers Wanted for the ACSBlog

Since its inception in August 2004, ACSBlog - the official blog of the American Constitution Society - has received over 300,000 visits, been nominated for several awards and been linked to by leading blogs including the Volokh Conspiracy, AndrewSullivan.com, BoingBoing.net, DailyKos and Slashdot. ACSBlog is edited by law students. It includes daily legal news summaries and posts on various legal subjects by law students, academics, practitioners and others. Posts by student writers have been republished on various blogs, websites and journals.

As it enters its second year, ACSBlog is seeking to hire law student volunteers as Editors-at-Large to publish analytical columns and short news stories. New columnists will be selected based on a writing contest to be judged by the blog's current editorial team. Any current law student may enter; 1Ls are especially encouraged to apply. Students interested in submitting an entry will be required to write a short column, between 250-750 words in length, on a legal issue of national significance or interest. Additionally, entries should adhere to the following guidelines:

• ACS is a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) educational organization. We do not lobby, litigate or take positions on specific legal or public policy initiatives, cases, legislation or nominations. Accordingly, entries should provide rigorous analysis rather than editorializing or presenting statements of opinion. In general, both sides of an issue should be fairly presented, although authors enjoy discretion as to which arguments are worthy of greatest emphasis. Opinions, including controversial and strongly stated opinions, voiced by reputable sources, may and should be quoted with full attribution provided.
• Entries should be professional in tone and avoid ad hominem attacks. We emphasize brevity, good writing and accessibility for a readership that includes lawyers, law students and general readers interested in law and public policy issues. Appropriate uses of humor are encouraged but must be genuinely funny.
• Quotations, third-party opinions, cases and statements of controversial legal or political theories should be cited. While Bluebooking is acceptable for materials unavailable online, the preferred method of citation is a hyperlink to the original source.

Submissions will be judged based on relevance, clarity and entertainment value. Please avoid editorializing and statements of personal opinion. For writing examples, previously published columns are available at www.acsblog.org.

Entries should be submitted to Jeffrey Jamison, Managing Editor, at jeff@acslaw.org by September 30th, 2005. In addition, please include your name, phone number, law school, expected date of graduation and resume. The top entries will be published on ACSBlog, and those entrants will be invited to join the blog staff as Editors-at-Large. By entering a submission, the entrant grants the American Constitution Society first North American publication rights to his or her submission in the event ACSBlog chooses to publish it.

American Constitution Society
email: info@acslaw.org
phone: 2023936181
web: http://www.acslaw.org