Friday, October 30, 2015
The NRA Is Not Demographically Challenged
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Why Antiprohibitionists Are Ambivalent About Ohio's Marijuana Legalization Initiative
Harvard Law School Launches “Free the Law” Project with Ravel Law To Digitize US Case Law, Provide Free Access
Harvard Law School has announced that, with the support of Ravel Law, a legal research and analytics platform, it is digitizing its entire collection of U.S. case law, one of the largest collections of legal materials in the world, and that it will make the collection available online, for free, to anyone with an Internet connection.
The “Free the Law” initiative will provide open, wide-ranging access to American case law for the first time in United States history. “Driving this effort is a shared belief that the law should be free and open to all,” said Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow. “Using technology to create broad access to legal information will help create a more transparent and more just legal system.”
Credit: Lorin Granger
Harvard Law School’s collection comprises 40,000 books containing approximately forty million pages of court decisions, including original materials from cases that predate the U.S. Constitution. It is the most comprehensive and authoritative database of American law and cases available anywhere except for the Library of Congress, containing binding judicial decisions from the federal government and each of the fifty states, from the founding of each respective jurisdiction. The Harvard Law School Library—the largest academic law library in the world—has been collecting these decisions over the past two hundred years.
Digitizing these materials will make them broadly accessible to nonprofits, academics, practitioners, researchers, and law students—anyone with a smartphone or Internet connection. The material will be added to—and will be searchable through—Ravel’s platform, which uses data science, machine learning, and visualization to help people sift quickly through millions of court opinions.
Credit: Lorin Granger
In the Harvard Library Innovation Lab (a unit within the Harvard Law School Library), bound volumes are being scanned by high-speed imaging equipment capable of scanning 500,000 pages per week, and the text of each decision is then extracted into machine-readable files made available to Ravel Law and to Harvard – and ultimately the public at large.
Case law for California jurisdictions will be online in November. The full collection of nationwide case law is expected to be digitized and searchable for free by mid-2017, and will be available through www.ravellaw.com. Harvard and Ravel have agreed to release the entire database for bulk use by anyone within eight years.
“Libraries were founded as an engine for the democratization of knowledge, and the digitization of Harvard Law School’s collection of U.S. case law is a tremendous step forward in making legal information open and easily accessible to the public,” said Jonathan Zittrain, the George Bemis Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School, and Vice Dean for Library and Information Resources. “The materials in the library’s collection tell a story that goes back to the founding of America, and we’re proud to preserve and share that story,” said Zittrain, who also holds appointments as Professor of Computer Science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Professor at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Daniel Lewis, co-founder and chief executive officer of Ravel Law, said: “We share with Harvard Law School a common belief that increasing access to our country’s legal records through technology will help make our legal system more transparent and just. By collaborating together on this digitization effort, we hope to provide the public with unique and powerful ways to find and understand the law.”
Nik Reed, co-founder and chief of everything else of Ravel Law, added: “As a company founded by lawyers, we understand firsthand the importance of access to legal information. The immense volume and complexity of the law creates challenges for anyone appearing in court, and through this collaboration, we seek to empower lawyers with an extensive database of American case law along with Ravel’s innovative analytics to help develop winning legal strategies.”
Credit: Lorin Granger
Said Jim Sandman, president of the Legal Services Corporation, the largest funder of civil legal aid for low-income Americans: “This is a great development. Making legal materials and analytical tools available for free will be of great value to non-profit legal aid lawyers in providing essential legal services to low-income people.”
Ralph Baxter, an advisor to Ravel and also to the Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession said: “Technology is changing the legal landscape, and the law firm of the future will need to be more efficient, more agile, and more opportunistic in finding new ways to deliver legal services. The collaboration between Harvard Law School and Ravel Law offers a new and exciting resource that lawyers can deploy to improve how they practice law.”
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
How Would A President Ben Carson Overturn Roe v. Wade?
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus delivers Disabled American Veterans Distinguished Lecture at Harvard Law School
Ray Mabus is the 75th Secretary of the Navy and the fourth Harvard Law School alumnus to hold the post. Before his appointment, Mabus held a variety of leadership positions. He served as governor of Mississippi, ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and later as chairman and CEO of a manufacturing company.Credit: Lorin Granger
Delivering the 2015 Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Distinguished Lecture at Harvard Law School on Oct. 22, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus ’75 told attendees that “one of my proudest moments as Secretary” was the reinstatement of the Reserve Officers Training Program on the Harvard campus in 2011.
In March of that year, Mabus and Harvard University president Drew Faust signed an agreement ending ROTC’s 40-year absence from the Harvard campus.
“When I was in the Navy more than 40 years ago, it was a very different country,” Mabus said. “I was stationed in Newport and it was hard to walk through Logan Airport without having somebody upbraid me for being in the military. But today, Americans have learned to separate the warrior from the war. You can have disagreements about the conflicts we may be in, but not over the people who are fighting them, who are willing to raise their hand.”
His speech provided a broad assessment of the 900,000-person, $170-billion Naval Department under his command as “the best force we’ve ever had.” He also said that the Navy is operating more ships, striving for less dependence on fossil fuels, and focusing on improving the lives of sailors and Marines and their families.
A former governor of Mississippi (1988-1992), Mabus was appointed Navy Secretary by President Obama in 2009 and he immediately set out to build the fleet. “In the five years before I became Secretary, the Navy put 27 ships under contract,” he said. “In my first five years, we’ve put 70 ships under contract.”
He also said that under his command, the Naval Department has set its sights on ambitious reductions in use of fossil fuels. By 2020, he said, the Navy and Marine Corps aspire to meet more than half of their energy needs with non-fossil fuels.
“We’re doing it for one reason,” he said. “There are some great side effects—better stewards of the environment, lower carbon emissions—but those aren’t the main reasons we’re doing it. We’re doing it to be better at what we do. It’s important that we do things to manage this force so that we have it at this high level of effectiveness for a long, long time.”
We’re moving toward a more inclusive, more diverse force. A more diverse force is a stronger force. The more different kinds of viewpoints that you have, the better your force.
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus ’75
Mabus also said the Navy has been focusing on improving the service it provides to its personnel. The “21st Century Sailor and Marine” program, launched in 2012, provides what he called “a one-stop shop” to help service members transition to civilian life. “If you need help, if you need financial counseling, if you need legal services, if you need help on the GI bill, that’s the place to go,” he said.
Mabus said the Navy is seeking to increase its recruitment of women and to do away with separate male and female uniforms.
He also said the Department is taking a hard line on sexual abuse within its ranks.
“It’s a crime,” he said. “It’s betrayal of one shipmate by another. We’ve got to fix it, and fix it completely or the fabric that holds our military together will fray. I think we’re doing a lot of good things; we’re seeing numbers reports go up and we’re seeing incidents go down, but we’re not there yet. It’s one of the most serious things that we face in the military today.”
“We’re moving toward a more inclusive, more diverse force. A more diverse force is a stronger force. The more different kinds of viewpoints that you have, the better your force.”
L-R: Dana Montalto, attorney and Liman Fellow in Harvard Law School’s Veterans Legal Clinic; Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus ’75; and Dan Nagin, Harvard Law School Clinical Professor, Vice Dean for Experiential and Clinical Education, and Faculty Director, Veterans Legal Clinic. The event was co-sponsored by Harvard Law School Veterans Legal Clinic, which provides legal advocacy for veterans, and the HLS Armed Forces Association. The Disabled American Veterans Distinguished Lecture at Harvard Law School is supported by a grant from the Disabled American Veterans’ Charitable Service Trust. Credit: Lorin Granger
Mabus is the 75th Secretary of the Navy and—as he pointed—the fourth HLS alumnus to hold the post. The connection between Harvard and the military is also manifested in other ways, Mabus said: Other than West Point and Annapolis, Harvard has produced more Medal of Honor recipients than any other educational institution.
In introductory remarks, Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow hailed the Disabled American Veterans’ Charitable Service Trust, which provides a grant to support the lecture series, and the Harvard Law School Veterans Legal Clinic, which provides legal advocacy for veterans. The event was co-sponsored by the Veterans Legal Clinic and the HLS Armed Forces Association.
“The goal is to inspire not only discussion, however,” she said. “We are interested in action to meet the challenges veterans face and hold up what is a sacred trust that we enter into when we ask men and women to take up arms on behalf of this nation.”
Remember The Ammo Shortage? It Has Quietly Fueled A Manufacturing Revival
Monday, October 26, 2015
Torture through a viewfinder: Photo exhibit at HLS shines light on Syrian government
Credit: Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer As the humanitarian crisis in Syria deepens, a panel at Harvard Law School explores the role of photography in documenting and raising international awareness about torture, mass killings, and other atrocities committed by the Assad regime. An exhibit of 30 images taken by a former Syrian military police photographer, code named “Caesar” and tasked with photographing corpses of victims who died inside facilities run by the Assad regime, are on display at Harvard Law School through Nov. 4.
The shocking images from Syria of masked men triumphantly torturing and butchering prisoners in orange jumpsuits first aroused the world to the Islamic State terrorists’ ferocious campaign to remake the Middle East into a caliphate.
But while these savage displays have helped crystallize global opposition to the rapidly growing threat of ISIS, far less visual documentation exists of the ongoing brutalities perpetrated by the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Now, a cache of 55,000 photos smuggled out of Syria last year provides a glimpse into the apparent systematic torture and death of 11,000 civilians between 2011 and 2013 inside two military police facilities in Damascus, one of which is less than a mile from the presidential palace. It’s estimated that 300,000 other prisoners remain in Assad-controlled jails.
Thirty of the images are on exhibit in Lewis 202 at Harvard Law School through Nov. 4. It’s only the third time the photos have been displayed in the United States, following showings at the United Nations headquarters and in Congress.
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum brought the photos to the United States in an effort to galvanize and mobilize American and international support for action to stop the ongoing atrocities.
“What we wanted to do is to be able to show that the people who are being held in Syria today, the people who are being tortured, who are having their lives utterly destroyed,” are not only young male rebels, as the Assad regime claims, but children, the elderly, and women and men not fighting in the civil war, said Naomi Kikoler, deputy director of the museum’s center for the prevention of genocide, during a panel discussion at HLS Wednesday afternoon.
“The desire of the museum in trying to bring these photos today to the attention of the international community is to try and remind people that there are still things that we can and should do to provide protection,” she said. “Our hope is to be able to shed light on the atrocities that are being perpetrated and do something that was not done for Jews and others during the Second World War.”
The grisly photos, many taken by a former Syrian military police photographer using the nom de guerre “Caesar,” depict emaciated corpses spread on dirt floors, some with open wounds or burns or severed limbs. A body is identified only by a piece of tape on the forehead or chest with a number and the name of the site where the detainee had been held, and a pathologist’s record number handwritten on a piece of paper placed in the frame.
The startling scope and meticulousness of the photographic recordkeeping highlight the “culture of impunity” and brazen nature of the Assad family’s rule, one that has operated for decades in Syria, said attorney Tyler Jess Thompson, policy director of United for a Free Syria, a U.S.-based advocacy group.
Despite the difficulty of charging anyone for these deaths or for others, a number of legal efforts are underway to build evidence “so that it will be there when the day for accountability arrives,” said Stephen J. Rapp ’71, the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues in the State Department’s Office of Global Justice until earlier this year.
Rapp, who led the international prosecutions of former Liberian President Charles Taylor and various parties behind the Rwandan genocide, said the number and unusually detailed nature of the Caesar photos represents “probably the most impressive and strongest evidence I’ve seen in a war-crimes prosecution, better even than the Nazis.”
Because the photos clearly document the precise number of victims and the locations where they died, they provide attorneys with the ability to show a pattern of conduct that eventually will help prosecute the heads of these facilities on a “command responsibility” basis. They offer “everything you need except a court to take them to,” Rapp said.
Because the United States waited to intervene substantively in Syria, the options and tools available are far narrower, and the costs, political and economic, are far greater, said Kikoler.
“It’s not that we lack the institutions that can deal with the crisis in Syria; it’s not that we need new judicial instruments or mechanisms for political negotiation,” she said. “What we lack is a political resolve to act.”
In 2011, after suddenly being ordered to photograph the bodies of civilians at the Mezzeh and Tishreen military hospitals who had been declared dead of “natural causes” yet bore the signs of torture and starvation, Caesar surreptitiously collected his own photos and those of his co-workers. Since the photos were stored on state computers as part of a massive documentation process, Caesar said he copied the images to flash drives that were later moved out of the country through a network of collaborators.
An apolitical, modestly educated working man, Caesar did not intend to inject himself into a global political and human rights crisis or to seek transitional justice, said Mouaz Moustafa, executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force and a member of the Caesar support team.
“He just thought that it would be good for families to have closure,” and to let those who were still bribing officials and sending money to jailers thinking it would spare a detained family member from torture “know not to live on this false hope.”
After escaping Syria in late 2013, Caesar appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, met with the FBI and U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power, and tried unsuccessfully to get a meeting with President Obama to show the photos.
“He actually thought this would outrage people into some sort of action,” Moustafa said of Caesar.
Now in hiding somewhere in Europe, Caesar has been dismayed to find that photos he risked his life to bring to the world’s attention have not prompted the kind of action from the U.S. government that he had hoped.
“This kind of courage needs to be vindicated,” said Rapp.
The panel was moderated by Professor Susan Farbstein, co-director of the International Human Rights Clinic at HLS, and sponsored by the Human Rights Program, the Office of Public Interest Advising, and HLS Advocates for Human Rights.
This article first appeared in the Harvard Gazette on October 23, 2015.
Does Government Need A Good Reason For Restricting Your Freedom?
Saturday, October 24, 2015
The Right Is Failing To Define Its Fights As Freedom Issues
Friday, October 23, 2015
U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy visits HLS
Credit: Martha Stewart
Without mincing words, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy disparaged the American criminal justice system on Thursday for the three prison scourges of long sentences, solitary confinement, and overcrowding.
“It’s an ongoing injustice of great proportions,” said Kennedy during a conversation with Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow at Wasserstein Hall, in a room packed mostly with students.
Kennedy criticized long prison sentences for the high costs associated with them. (In California, where Kennedy comes from, the cost per prisoner is $35,000 per year, he said.) He also said long sentences have appalling effects on people’s lives.
Solitary confinement, he said, “drives men mad.” He called mandatory minimum sentences “terrible” and in need of reform. Sentences in the United States, he said, are eight times longer than sentences in some European countries for equivalent crimes. With more than 1.5 million prisoners in federal, state, and local jails, the United States has the world’s largest prison population.
The worst of the matter, he said, is that nobody pays attention to this wrong, not even lawyers. “It’s everybody job to look into it,” he said.
Kennedy, LL.B. ’61, whose views on the court reflect a preoccupation with liberty and dignity, has often been described as the high court’s swing vote on major issues. But during his talk with Minow, he said he hated to be depicted that way.
“Cases swing. I don’t,” he quipped, as the room erupted in laughter.
Credit: Martha Stewart
A moderate conservative, Kennedy has sided with the court’s four liberal justices on social issues. The other four justices tend to be more conservative.
Appointed an associate justice on the court by President Ronald Reagan in 1988, Kennedy has written the majority opinion on many of its close decisions, such as in the historic ruling that made same-sex marriage legal across the United States.
He also cast the deciding votes in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which upheld the right to abortion even with new restrictions; Boumediene v. Bush, which extended the writ of habeas corpus to Guantanamo Bay detainees; and Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down the state’s sodomy laws.
When a student asked Kennedy what case he would like to be remembered for, he said he didn’t know the answer yet.
“I hope time will be a gracious judge,” he said.
Displaying a self-deprecating sense of humor, Kennedy said he recalls the cases he studied at HLS better than the cases he has heard as a justice.
Explaining how he makes his decisions and writes his opinions, Kennedy said he always asks himself the question: How he can be a good judge every day? The law, he has said, has a moral foundation, and it’s important to ask not only what the law is, but what the law should be.
“The law is discipline, ethic, philosophy, and commitment,” he said.
In addition to his court duties, Kennedy teaches law abroad, and that experience has been crucial to his views about the importance of the rule of law and the U.S Constitution.
Credit: Martha StewartAmong the faculty in attendance were Richard Lazarus (left), Howard and Katherine Aibel Professor of Law, and Lani Gunier, Bennett Boskey Professor of Law (seated).
Credit: Martha Stewart
“As you move eastward outside the United States, the law becomes more remote and authoritarian,” he said. “In the United States, the law is a promise. If you commit to an ethical course of conduct and be a good citizen, you’ll be free.”
In Poland, he was struck by students’ interest in and knowledge of American law. In China, he was bewildered when many students there said they wanted to go to law school.
“Many students said they had been influenced by movies,” he said. “I thought they had seen ‘Twelve Angry Men,’ but it was ‘Legally Blonde,’ which I had never heard of. I saw it afterwards. It’s a pretty good movie.”
When asked about his favorite professors at HLS, Kennedy mentioned Clark Byce, Ben Kaplan, and Donald Turner. Of the justices he looks up to, he said he admires Earl Warren and Hugo Black.
On to getting along with his colleagues on the bench, Kennedy said it’s easy.
“As a lawyer, you’re trained to disagree.”
This article was originally published in the Harvard Gazette on October 22, 2015.
Thursday, October 22, 2015
MacArthur Foundation awards $425,000 to SHARIAsource project led by Intisar Rabb
Professor Intisar A. Rabb
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has awarded $425,000 over two years for the development of SHARIAsource—an online Islamic law resource founded and directed by Harvard Law School Professor Intisar Rabb, who is also a Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard.
SHARIAsource is built on a model of broad collaboration, calling on the resources of the Harvard Law School Library, other educational institutions, and expert scholars of Islamic law around the world to build a clearinghouse that collects the research and highlights the expertise and scholarship of each. The initiative is housed at Harvard Law School’s Islamic Legal Studies Program and operates in partnership with Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, bringing together the substantive and technical expertise of both communities with an “expert crowd-sourced model” with contributions from experts in Islamic law as well as scholars of comparative constitutional law, legal history, and other related fields.
The SHARIAsource team of legal experts, scholars, and developers is led by Editor-in-Chief Intisar Rabb. She shared the major news of the MacArthur award at a project convening conference last month, at which some thirty scholarly, policy, and media experts met to chart the future of SHARIAsource. This grant is in addition to $400,000 from the Henry R. Luce Foundation, announced late last spring.
“Professor Rabb’s vision and commitment are the driving force behind this important effort to share primary sources of Islamic law and expert commentary from around the world,” said Martha Minow, dean of Harvard Law School. “SHARIAsource is a flagship project for ILSP, and this superb grant will ensure its effective development.”
“Never has it been more important to present the public with accurate, well-documented historical evidence about Islamic law. With misconceptions abounding, Professor Rabb’s impressive project has much to teach us all,” said Lizabeth Cohen, dean of the Radcliffe Institute. “I congratulate her on this endorsement of her pathbreaking work and am proud to have her as a Radcliffe Professor at Harvard, in residence as a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute this academic year.”
“The Berkman Center is committed to rigorous scholarship, developing innovative tools, and facilitating public discourse in its many forms,” said Urs Gasser, Berkman’s executive director. “SHARIAsource, with its entrepreneurial spirit, is a great example of this, and the MacArthur Foundation’s generous support will help sustain this important endeavor.”
The MacArthur Foundation Grant will allow SHARIAsource to further facilitate advanced scholarship and policy analysis relating to Islamic law, and to grow its online repository of primary source material. SHARIAsource is in an intensive growth and development phase with a public launch expected in 2016.
Intisar Rabb said: “We were delighted to receive this funding from MacArthur because it ensures that the vision I and many of us have for SHARIAsource can take shape in ways that will inform important academic, policy, and public conversations about Islamic law. We are so excited to move forward together with the network of scholars, students, coders, and other contributors to this effort.”
For more information, see the summer profile of SHARIAsource in the Harvard Magazine:http://harvardmagazine.com/2015/05/debating-sharia-law-digitally (July–August 2015).
Upcoming Federal Sentencing Reform Offers Little Benefit For White Collar Defendants
Taking Property With Civil Forfeiture Just Got Harder For Michigan Police And Prosecutors
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Playboy Is Giving Up Its Porn -- Here's Why Men Should Say Hooray
Monday, October 19, 2015
What The White House's Report On Federal Regulations Missed
Saturday, October 17, 2015
White House Issues 2015 Report to Congress on the Benefits and Costs of Federal Regulations
Friday, October 16, 2015
SCOTUS Should Hear Robert McDonnell's Case--And He Should Win
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Hillary Plays Gun Card Against Bernie, But The Protection Of Lawful Commerce In Arms Act Is Sound
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
The 2015 Chayes International Public Service Fellows
This summer, a select group of 19 Harvard Law School students traveled to 15 countries under the auspices of the Chayes International Public Service Fellowship, dedicated to the memory of HLS Professor Abram Chayes ’49. The following are snapshots of several of their experiences.
Judge Rules That New York City Seizing Thousands Of Cars Without Warrants Is Unconstitutional
Monday, October 12, 2015
Liberal Presumptions May Circumscribe What Questions Are Asked In The First Democratic Debate
Friday, October 9, 2015
Seven Percent of Americans Think It's OK For Police To Take Your Stuff, No Charges Needed
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Why Not Mandate That Rich Universities Spend More Of Their Endowments?
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
A Leader on National Security
Adam Schiff has carved a niche as the top Intelligence Committee Democrat
Credit: Associated Press U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff says his work on national security is “deeply interesting but very isolating.”
The most likely place to find Congressman Adam Schiff ’85 these days is in a suite of windowless offices three floors below the Capitol.
Schiff can’t discuss much of what he reviews in this underground “bunker” when he speaks with constituents back in his Southern California district—or even with most of his own staff. Such is the routine since he became the top Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in January.
“It’s deeply interesting, but also very isolating and very time-consuming,” Schiff said. “But given the broad array of threats to the country these days—from ISIS and Al Qaeda to a newly aggressive and expansionist Russia to an ascendant China to Iran negotiations—there’s no shortage of a need for good intelligence.”
After 15 years in Congress, Schiff has emerged as a leading Democratic voice on national security—not an entirely unexpected outcome for someone who began his career as an assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting an FBI agent for espionage.
Schiff wasn’t always certain he wanted to be a lawyer. Born in Massachusetts, he grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Alamo, California, where his father owned a lumberyard. He considered himself pre-med at Stanford while majoring in political science and wound up taking both the MCAT and LSAT before enrolling at Harvard Law School.
“All my pre-med friends thought I made the right decision, and all my poli sci friends thought I made the wrong decision, and then I went into politics and everyone thought I screwed up,” Schiff joked.
He worked as an assistant U.S. attorney for six years in California, where he prosecuted an FBI agent in a sex-for-secrets case. When a fellow prosecutor ran for the state Legislature, Schiff said, he started thinking about doing the same.
In his fourth try for public office, Schiff won a seat in the state Senate in 1996. The Los Angeles Times named him one of the “stars of the freshman class” for his ability to negotiate and build consensus. (Another Times story labeled him a “tenacious technocrat.”)
In 2000, he defeated Republican James Rogan, in what was then the most expensive ever House race, to represent a Southern California district that included Burbank and Pasadena.
He landed seats on the International Relations and Judiciary Committees. His priorities included intellectual property rights—an issue of particular interest to the Hollywood studios within his district—and juvenile justice. His experience as an AUSA explains why he was tapped to serve as a prosecutor during the 2010 impeachment trial of a federal judge. “It’s a very hot bench,” said Schiff of the panel of 12 senators who heard the case.
His investigative background also explains why then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi had asked him in 2008 to serve on the Intelligence Committee, which was probing the destruction of CIA interrogation tapes.
He has pushed for the revision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and for a new authorization for the use of military force aimed at ISIS, questioning whether the one approved by Congress in 2001 after the 9/11 terror attacks is applicable to the newer threat.
Schiff’s role as a leading voice on national security for congressional Democrats was previously filled by Jane Harman ’69, another Southern Californian who served as top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said Michael Genovese, a political science professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
“He’s not flashy, he’s not bombastic, he might not be the most charismatic person,” said Genovese, “but he’s demonstrated very prudent judgment, and he’s a very solid source for what Democrats are thinking about national security issues.”
Beyond national security, Schiff has taken up the cause of getting Turkey to recognize the Armenian genocide, learning enough Armenian to deliver a speech in the language on the House floor, a gesture appreciated in his district, which is home to a large Armenian population.
Schiff was briefly mentioned earlier this year as a potential Senate candidate after Barbara Boxer announced plans to retire, news that came the same day he was named top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee. He said he gave a run “serious thought” but was “reluctant to leave” the new post. Still, he’s not entirely ruling out a run for higher office in the future.
“There will be other opportunities down the road,” Schiff said.
Reigniting U.S. Competitiveness Through Corporate Tax Reform
Sunday, October 4, 2015
New Obama Executive Order Establishes Government As Helicopter Parent
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Versatile and Nimble
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. ’79, a masterful manager
Sept. 29 of this year marked the 10th anniversary of the day Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. ’79 took his seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. At the time of his appointment, he was the youngest justice on the Court. Nonetheless, right from the start, his leadership has shown mastery and deft management—not only of the Supreme Court but also of the federal judiciary.
This initial decade of his service prompts many commentators to venture assessments about the Court’s direction. Rough tallies of the outcomes and tilt of high-profile decisions provide the focus. Here, the work of Chief Justice Roberts defies simplistic summary. During the past decade, the Court—with the Chief in the majority—has restricted campaign contribution limitations and voting rights enforcement. Writing for the Court, he rejected the use of race to assign students to public schools. Yet, led by the Chief Justice, the Court also has upheld, twice, President Obama’s health care reform. His opinion for the Court bars judicial candidates from directly soliciting donations. He joined the majority in ensuring physical accommodations for pregnant workers. He wrote for the majority that police officers do not necessarily violate a person’s constitutional rights when they stop a car based on a mistaken understanding of the law, but he also joined the Court’s majority in denying police the authority to detain and search drivers during traffic stops. His opinion for the Court protected freedom of speech by protesters on a public sidewalk near a funeral, and he has joined many other decisions strengthening protections for freedom of expression.
Chief Justice Roberts does not always agree with the prevailing rulings. He joined dissenters when the Court extended constitutional protection for marriage to couples of the same sex. He similarly joined the dissent when it offered broad deference to agency interpretations of their own jurisdiction and when it rejected a challenge to a state’s refusal to issue license plates decorated with the Confederate flag.
As he indicated during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chief Justice Roberts’ decisions are not likely to etch a consistent political agenda. His decisions apply and interpret the Constitution and statutes with great learning, precision, and discipline. His opinions and his votes provide considerable evidence that he tries to act impartially and with restraint, as he told the Senate he would. He testified at his confirmation hearings: “I think it is a very serious threat to the independence and integrity of the courts to politicize them. I think that is not a good development, to regard the courts as simply an extension of the political process. That’s not what they are.” These views help to explain why this Chief Justice has often defied expectations—and generated criticisms from both conservative and liberal Court-watchers. Chief Justice Roberts also told the Senate during the confirmation hearings that the Court and the nation are served better by unanimity than by closely divided decisions.
Chief Justice Roberts reveals a sense of proportion and modesty about the Court and his role, traits that do not always accompany impressive and talented people in positions of great power.
As chief justice, he can nudge the Court in this direction. He can contribute to the tone and even to results by framing discussion during the private justices’ conference and by assigning the drafting of opinions when he is in the majority (and assigning the drafting of dissents when he falls on that side). For example, he can assign the drafting of an opinion to a justice—including to himself—who is likely to write a narrow or modest opinion rather than a broad and sweeping one. Chief Justice Roberts has used these opportunities to promote greater consensus. Neal Katyal, former acting U.S. solicitor general, commented in a recent story in USA Today: “The signs thus far point to something that we have seen emerging over the past few years—that the chief justice is truly fashioning the court into his own image. … There is less ideology and more unanimity.”
An outstanding appellate lawyer before joining the bench, Chief Justice Roberts prevailed in 25 of the 39 cases he had argued before the Supreme Court while in practice, and he represented plaintiffs and defendants, corporations and indigent individuals. In high school, he served as halfback, linebacker and captain of the football team. On the Court, he leads with versatility and nimbleness, mindful of the different roles and ongoing relations of justices, advocates, and parties. Chief Justice Roberts has cautioned against rhetorical excesses and “tar[ring] the political branches with the brush of bigotry.”
One aspect of his role seldom seen by the public involves overseeing the entire federal judiciary. He chairs the Judicial Conference. There, the chief judges of each court of appeals, district court judges from each regional judicial circuit, and the chief judge of the United States Court of International Trade develop national judicial administrative policies, recommend legislation and rules of procedure and evidence, devise case management and electronic access to court documents, and oversee surveys of judicial business.
In his 10 annual reports to Congress thus far, Chief Justice Roberts has outlined improvements in judicial administration and efficiency including cost-containment measures both before and following the economic downturn. These reports also have shown his deep immersion in history. They also manifest his steady attention to preconditions for judicial integrity and independence “to fulfill the Framers’ vision of a judicial branch with the strength and independence ‘to say what the law is,’ without fear or favor. Marbury v. Madison (1803).”
Credit: Steve Pyke/Contour/Getty Images
His historical references can be poetic. He reflects on efforts by the Smithsonian Institution (he chairs the board of the world’s largest museum complex) to preserve the American flag known as the Star-Spangled Banner: “This tattered flag nevertheless inspires deep reverence. Why? Because it speaks eloquently to the sacrifices of every American who has contributed to the preservation of the United States.” His comments can also be vivid, as in his description of the experience of moviegoers during the Great Depression:
“In 1935—in the midst of the Great Depression—many Americans sought respite from the Nation’s economic troubles at their local movie theaters, which debuted now-classic films, such as Mutiny on the Bounty, Top Hat, and Night at the Opera. Moviegoers of that era enjoyed a prelude of short features as they settled into their seats. As the lights dimmed, the screen beamed previews of coming attractions, Merrie Melody cartoons, and the Movietone newsreels of current events. The 1935 news shorts also provided many Americans with their first look at the Supreme Court’s new building, which opened that year.”
His reports give hints of a droll sense of humor: “New Year’s Day in America means football, parades, and, of course, the Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary.” In this comment, as when he traced public awareness of the majestic Supreme Court building to the short movie features watched by moviegoers escaping from the Depression, Chief Justice Roberts reveals a sense of proportion and modesty about the Court and his role, traits that do not always accompany impressive and talented people in positions of great power.
Although clearly not a favorite topic, the low salaries for federal judges figure prominently in his reports to Congress. He notes the large number of judges leaving the bench for private practice due to financial need. This trend risks undermining the experience, diversity and independence of the judiciary. He observes how the cost of modest salary increases for judges would be “miniscule” in comparison with what is at stake. His year-end reports honor the thoughtfulness and decency of those serving the judiciary. He points to retired senior judges, who, without extra compensation, carry caseloads—much needed, especially in overburdened districts. (After these reports, judicial salaries did rise.)
In 10 years at the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Roberts has drawn upon the lessons from his distinguished private practice and his public service as a special assistant to the attorney general, as associate counsel to the president, as principal deputy solicitor general, and as a judge on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. There have been 44 presidents but only 17 chief justices of the United States. Chief Justice John Roberts has made his alma mater very proud.
Martha Minow is the Morgan and Helen Chu Dean and Professor at Harvard Law School.
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Fentanyl-Laced Heroin And Other Deadly Consequences Of Prohibition
Berkman Center launches new internet data dashboard (video)
A tool that helps identify trends in internet activity through data visualization has been launched by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.
Internet Monitor dashboard, a freely accessible tool, aims to improve information for policymakers, researchers, advocates, and user communities working to shape the future of the Internet by helping them understand trends in Internet health and activity through data analysis and visualization. The Dashboard debuted at World Economic Forum meeting in Geneva on September 28.
“Over three billion people around the globe use the Internet—for communication, for education, for livelihood,” said Urs Gasser, executive director of the Berkman Center. “As the Internet becomes a vital part of more and more people’s lives and as we shape its future, we need both data and analysis to help understand how it’s working. The Internet Monitor dashboard brings this data and analysis together in an easily shareable way.”
Credit: Berkman CenterSample Internet Monitor dashboard on Paraguay
The dashboard lets users customize a collection of data visualization widgets—some offering real-time data—about Internet access and infrastructure, online content controls, and digital activity. Users can create multiple collections that enable easy comparisons across countries and data sources, and are quick to configure, edit, and share. In addition to creating their own collections, visitors to the dashboard will be able to view a selection of featured collections based on topics such as online media and network traffic around the world.
“I love what the Internet Monitor makes possible: a nuanced, informative view of what is really happening on the Internet all around the world,” said John Palfrey, a director of the Berkman Center. “I couldn’t be more excited by what we can learn by virtue of having this tool at the disposal of researchers, policymakers, journalists, and the public at large.”
The Internet Monitor dashboard launched on September 28 at the World Economic Forum’s Future of the Internet Initiative (FII) core community meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. As a Knowledge Partner of the FII, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society is leading and participating in a set of activities that aim to foster an open, interoperable, and affordable Internet, serving the global public interest.
Credit: Berkman CenterInternet Monitor’s public data platform and Access Index, which launched in July 2014, offer free public access to an initial set of primary and secondary data and related analysis.
“Internet Monitor is a key part of our effort to expand the evidence base for public and private decision making about the future of the Internet,” said Mark Spelman, Future of the Internet Initiative, World Economic Forum. “We are glad to be partnering with the Berkman Center on such an important venture.”
Internet Monitor’s public data platform and Access Index, which launched in July 2014, offer free public access to an initial set of primary and secondary data and related analysis. The project’s research series focuses on key events and new developments in Internet controls and online activity. The new dashboard offers an interactive view of of the state of the Internet across a variety of dimensions. By making data more available and approachable, the dashboard aims to inspire both greater use of the data that exists and greater efforts to collect and share that data that does not yet exist.
“Internet architecture relies on an extraordinary collective hallucination: there is no central authority or switching station,” said Jonathan Zittrain, faculty chair of the Berkman Center. “That has made measurement of even basic facts about the size and scope of the Internet, and the flow of bits within it, difficult. We need those measurements to inform any number of debates about the state and future of the Internet. This project aims to get them.” Zittrain added that a key feature of the dashboard is that its data comes from many sources, making important work from a variety of people and institutions around the world more accessible to people who can use it.
Internet Monitor continues to seek and integrate new sources of data in order to provide policymakers, digital activists, researchers, journalists, and user communities with an authoritative, independent, and multi-faceted set of quantitative data on the state of the global Internet. Current data partners include organizations such as Akamai, which is contributing data on country-level Internet connection speeds, network attacks, and web traffic; Kaspersky, which is contributing data on spam, cyberattacks, and infections; Media Cloud, which is contributing data on online media worldwide; and Herdict, which is contributing data on crowdsourced reports of website unavailability. The project will continue to add new data partners and sources on a rolling basis.