Jul

16

Who Is This Guy?

Posted by: | July 16, 2010 | 2 Comments

The picture to the left, which was earlier used to illustrate a post describing the original Marquette Law School curriculum, is a photograph of Pamphilus Joseph O’Brien, Law ’15.  His is one of the first photographs that we have of an early Marquette law student, other than the photos in the official class pictures. O’Brien [...]

Jul

15

R.I.P. George Steinbrenner

Posted by: | July 15, 2010 | 2 Comments

The always flamboyant and usually controversial George Steinbrenner, long-time lead owner of the New York Yankees, passed away at age eighty earlier this week. Steinbrenner had a major impact on the economic landscape of American sports, but the precise nature of his influence was not always appreciated. First of all, few remember that he was a [...]

Jul

15

How Toxic is Thomas?

Posted by: | July 15, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Pat McIlheran has an interesting find in today’s Journal Sentinel, commenting on Judge Randa’s underreported decision in Gibson v. American Cyanamid. Judge Randa held that application of the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s Thomas decision (which applied something called risk contribution theory to hold lead paint pigment manufacturers collectively responsible for all harm from that product) would [...]

Jul

14

Barrett on Redistricting: What Isn’t There

Posted by: | July 14, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Tom Barrett’s proposal for “nonpartisan” redistricting may reduce the degree of “incumbent protection” that takes place in the redrawing of legislative districts, but I think it is more interesting for what it does not do. There is a movement in the country to have redistricting by commission according to what are generally though to be neutral [...]

Jul

13

Seventh Circuit Revisits the Second Amendment

Posted by: | July 13, 2010 | 3 Comments

Here’s another one to file under “no, we don’t want a revolution.”  A few days ago, I posted on a new Seventh Circuit opinion that seemed to adopt a minimalist reading of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Carr v. United States.  Over a vigorous dissent, the Seventh Circuit reaffirmed the validity of pre-Carr decisions regarding the [...]

Jul

11

Baby, You Can Drive My Carr . . . Or Maybe Not

Posted by: | July 11, 2010 | Leave a Comment

The ink is barely dry on the Supreme Court’s decision in Carr v. United States, and already we have a contentious case in the Seventh Circuit questioning its meaning.  In Carr, the Court had to interpret a notoriously clumsy bit of legislation from 2006, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (part of the so-called Adam Walsh [...]

Jul

10

Best of the Blogs

Posted by: | July 10, 2010 | Leave a Comment

What do we have this week? Over at the wonderful Mirror of Justice, you can follow a debate involving Michael Perry, Mike Scaperlanda, Robbie George, Robert Hockett and Rick Garnett  and others (I’ve linked to some but not all of the posts in the thread) on Pope Benedict XVI’s concern about the “dictatorship of relativism.”  Professor Hockett’s argument that [...]

Jul

10

More Contention on the Wisconsin Supreme Court

Posted by: | July 10, 2010 | 1 Comment

Last Thursday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court finally issued opinions on recusal rules that it adopted earlier in the term and which essentially say that a duty to recuse cannot be be based solely on the receipt of a lawful campaign contribution or a lawful independent expenditure made on a judge’s behalf. The Court also amended a preexisting rule to [...]

Jul

10

What Causes People to Be Successful in Their Careers? Part II: Effective Listening

Posted by: | July 10, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Let us review Part I. We asked the question: What causes people to be successful in their careers? I provided my own answer to that question. I believe that those who understand and develop their “soft side skills,” not just “technical skills,” will be the most successful. Clear evidence exists that career success stems as [...]

Jul

10

Kagan Hearing Recap

Posted by: | July 10, 2010 | Leave a Comment

The hearings on the nomination of Elena Kagan to be Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court ended with a whimper rather than a bang.  In an op ed piece in last weekend’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, I reviewed the arguments put forth by her critics and found them wanting.  You can read my piece [...]

Jul

8

Gableman Complaint is Dismissed

Posted by: | July 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment

The Judicial Commission announced today that it is discontinuing prosecution of its complaint against Justice Michael Gableman. Quite apart from the merits of the complaint, this seems like the right thing to do given the deadlock on the Court and the particular positions taken by the Abrahamson and Prosser groups. As I explained here and [...]

Jul

8

Emily Dickinson and the Move to Eckstein Hall

Posted by: | July 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment

As we at the Law School carefully pack our law books for the move to Eckstein Hall, I am reminded of this poem by Emily Dickinson: In a Library A precious, mouldering pleasure ‘t is To meet an antique book, In just the dress his century wore; A privilege, I think,

« previous entries — keep looking »