Archive | September, 2007

Amos Guiora’s op-ed on the failings of airport security prompted significant response, here and elsewhere. Among other things, readers debated whether his example of TSA subjecting a three-year-old to the explosive-detecting “blower” was a good example of poor prioritization and a failure to focus on resources on actual threats. In response to these comments, Amos […]

LawProf John O. McGinnis, a Deputy Assistant Attorney General at DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel from 1987-1991 (where he worked on national security issues), has penned a short essay criticizing the Bush Administration’s approach to the legal issues raised in the War on Terror: Losing the Law War: The Bush Adminstration’s Strategic Errors. John also […]

I just finished reading Lynne Olson’s terrific book Troublesome Young Men. The book tells the tale of the group of Tories who courageously stood up to Neville Chamberlain and his appeasement policy, and eventually drove him from power. Many of these maverick Tories bore a huge personal price for following their consciences. Chamberlain and other […]

In a report on the efforts of Democratic presidential candidates to attract the “best and brightest” policy advisors for their campaigns, Newsweek columnist Michael Hirsh reports that former national security advisor and document pilferer Sandy Berger is one of the three foreign policy experts most relied upon by Senator Hillary Clinton in her White House […]

Linda Greenhouse has an article in today’s New York Times that brings up proposals for an 18-year limit on Supreme Court tenure. She reports some of my data on Court tenure and mentions Steven Calabresi’s and my article on the subject (which can be downloaded from this SSRN page). Greenhouse also quotes Sandy Levinson, who […]

In response to my earlier post on justifications for violating international law, some commenters point to the danger that “necessity” arguments can be used to justify virtually any illegal conduct. For example, one argues that: Necessity is a poor defense for war crimes. Barring the truly gratuitous (like the Soviet rapes [of German civilians during […]

Last week’s panel on “Enforcing the Clean Water Act” in which I participated largely focused on H.R. 2421, “The Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007,” a bill introduced by Representative Oberstar “to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to clarify the jurisdiction of the United States over waters of the United States.” This legislation […]

I’m delighted to report that Prof. Amy Zegart from the UCLA School of Public Affairs will be guest-blogging from Tuesday to Friday. Amy is one of the nation’s leading experts on intelligence reform; she worked on the National Security Council staff in 1993, during the Clinton Administration, and also was a foreign policy advisor to […]

From CollegeScholarships.org: We’re giving away $10,000 this year to a college student who blogs. The Blogging Scholarship is awarded annually. Scholarship Requirements: * Your blog must contain unique and interesting information about you and/or things you are passionate about. No spam bloggers please!!! * U.S. citizen [UPDATE: expanded to include permanent residents who attend U.S. […]

Reader James Hobson passes along a thought from the Sun Valley Idaho Blog: If [Senator Craig] had been a better student of the U.S. Constitution, his arrest may never happened at all, and if the U.S. Constitution is followed, as of course it should be, the senator’s arrest and guilty plea will have to be […]

John McGinnis, a Northwestern University law professor (and my coauthor on several papers), raises this question in the process of recounting a deliberate violation of the Geneva Convention by the US military during World War II: I begin with some interesting information that I recently learned on a trip to the Chicago Museum of Science […]

The New York Times reports on this, though it’s characteristically coy about the group’s name; the group appears to be this one — there are others with similar names, and at least one with the same name, but this is the one that has the about 750 members that the Times reports. Facebook has apparently […]

Robert Novak says there is more (or is that less) to the Congressional Ethics legislation than meets the eye: The final version of the widely celebrated ethics bill, approved by overwhelming margins in both the House and Senate a month ago, finally and quietly made its way last week from Capitol Hill to the White […]

Six years after 9-11, have we learned how to prevent terrorism? Perhaps, as there has not been a successful attack in the U.S. since then. On the other hand, it is hard to defend our current approach to airport security. After watching the TSA subject a three-year-old to the explosives-sniffing “blower” at an airport, my […]

Speaking of the Dave Brubeck Quartet, they are one of the many acts to record the classic song “These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)” (lyrics by Holt Marvell, music by Harry Link and Jack Strachey). Here, for instance, is Brubeck performing the song in 1959. “These Foolish Things” was a hit for artists ranging […]