May

31

Local Food Systems and the Reawakening of Republicanism

Posted by: | May 31, 2011 | Leave a Comment

This post is a summary of a full-length piece that the author is currently working on with Marquette Law School Professor Chad Oldfather.  The ideas expressed in this post represent a work in progress, and portions of the argument are likely to undergo substantial revisions before the final piece is completed.  Notwithstanding the collaboration with [...]

May

31

Random Thoughts on Approaching Reunion

Posted by: | May 31, 2011 | 1 Comment

Later this week, we will drive down to Milwaukee for my thirty-fifth law school reunion. I look forward to the event for a number of reasons. Those three years of incredibly hard work could not have been survived without the friendships that truly were forged in the foreign territory of Civil Procedure, Property, Torts, and [...]

May

31

Another View on the Merits of Judge Sumi’s Decision

Posted by: | May 31, 2011 | Leave a Comment

It should come as no surprise that Professor Fallone and I disagree on Judge Sumi’s decision in Ozanne v. Fitzgerald. I particularly take issue with his suggestion that criticism of the decision is the product of “sloppy lawyering.” In my view, that characterization is unfair and inaccurate. Nor is the legal – as opposed to [...]

May

29

Walter Kowalski: A Forgotten Man in the Legal History of Sport

Posted by: | May 29, 2011 | 6 Comments

On May 22, Walter Joseph Kowalski of Red Hook, New York passed away at age 88.  Few in the world of sports or sports law noted his death.  Those who did note his death felt compelled to explain that the he was Walter Kowalski, the minor league baseball player who once sued Organized Baseball and [...]

May

27

When in School, Be a Student

Posted by: | May 27, 2011 | 5 Comments

There is a lot of discussion within the legal community about how law schools can (or should) prepare students for the business of practicing law.  It is common to hear complaints about how young graduates do not understand how to run a practice, and that the law school faculty and administrators should better prepare them [...]

May

27

Do Criminals Count?

Posted by: | May 27, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Do criminals count?  Are they really “one of us”?  That is the big question that hangs over all of the Supreme Court’s Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause cases, including the Court’s decision earlier this week in Brown v. Plata, which affirmed a lower-court order requiring California to reduce its prison population.  Do we regard criminals as [...]

May

27

Judge Sumi Does Her Job

Posted by: | May 27, 2011 | 4 Comments

Judge Maryann Sumi issued the long anticipated opinion in Ozanne v. Fitzgerald yesterday, holding: 1) that the circuit courts have jurisdiction to hear cases alleging that a particular piece of legislation was not constitutionally enacted; 2) that the court’s jurisdiction includes challenges alleging noncompliance with Wisconsin’s Open Meetings Law; and that 3) the failure of the March 9, [...]

May

26

Whose Right Is It, Anyway?

Posted by: | May 26, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Although the Supreme Court has yet to release an opinion in American Electric Power v. Connecticut (previously discussed here), many commentators approaching the case from divergent points of view believe that the Court will likely reject the common law public nuisance cause of action, which is based on the power companies’ creation and release of [...]

May

24

Tony Evers: Trying to Throw High Heat at Voucher Schools

Posted by: | May 24, 2011 | 3 Comments

Tony Evers, the state superintendent of public instruction, has been making waves by going on the offensive against proposals to expand the use of private school vouchers in Wisconsin. In addition to what has been said in news stories such as this one in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, I’d offer three thoughts that struck me [...]

May

24

The Sins of the Children Visited – This Time – on Their Parents

Posted by: | May 24, 2011 | Leave a Comment

What to do about children who fail in school, or who simply fail to attend school at all? Efforts in recent years have focused on the schools themselves and on the teachers, and there have been initiatives to test children for performance in key areas and punish schools or teachers in underperforming schools. A recent [...]

May

24

Wagner Releases “Fabulous in Flats”

Posted by: | May 24, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Our former Alum Blogger of the Month Mary Wagner ’99 has a new book of essays out.  (I especially appreciated her post here on Howard Eisenberg.)  This is from her publication announcement: Fabulous in Flats, the  third collection of essays by internationally published, award-winning Wisconsin writer and photographer Mary T. Wagner, is now LIVE!!  The book is [...]

May

20

A New and Important Wave of MPS Principals

Posted by: | May 20, 2011 | 1 Comment

Milwaukee Schools Superintendent Gregory Thornton has released the first wave of his selections for new principals for Milwaukee Public Schools. As I described in a Journal Sentinel column a few weeks ago, Thornton is facing an unusual number of principal vacancies, in large part because of retirements triggered by the changes Republican Gov. Scott Walker [...]

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