Best of the Blogs

The first item that caught my eye this week was a little blog our student Priya Barnes is writing as she visits Germany, attending the Summer Session in Giessen, Germany, that Professor Fallone blogged about on Monday.  So far, she’s only offered one entry, about her travels, but I intend to watch for more….

Mark Tushnet (who gave a terrific presentation at Marquette last week, co-sponsored by the student American Constitution Society organization and the local lawyer’s chapter of ACS) raises some interesting questions about Republican-sponsored legislation that would require congressional review of proposed “major regulations.” The idea is that agency rules would be transformed into agency proposals, to be okayed by Congress.  For “non-major” proposals, Congressional silence would equal assent, while majority votes of both chambers would be required for adoption of new “major regulations.”  

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Teaching International Criminal Law in Germany

Today marks the start of the second week of the Summer Session in International and Comparative Law in Giessen Germany.  Pictured at the top of this post is the “castle,” the building where my class in International Criminal Law meets.  Inside this charming old exterior are some of the modern and fully equipped classrooms of Justus Liebig University, although the Justus Liebig Law School itself is physically located elsewhere.

My International Criminal Law class has 34 students.  There are 15 students from Marquette University Law School, 4 students from the University of Wisconsin Law School, and 4 students from other U.S. law schools.  The remaining 11 students come from law schools around the world, including Germany, Ethiopia, Turkey, Luxembourg, South Africa, Norway, Greece and Brazil.

Giessen is a college town.  It is dominated by University buildings spread throughout the town, much like Madison, Wisconsin.  There are numerous outdoor beer gardens and cafes, and the local population seems to spend much of their time sitting outside and drinking either coffee or beer.  It seems appropriate that the word “Giessen” translates into english as “pouring.”

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Memories of Sensenbrenner Hall (Part 5)

As the faculty prepares for a move to the spacious and spectacular Eckstein Hall, my thoughts go back to my first day as a faculty member on October 15, 1946.  I was one of three new faculty members, all in their late 20’s, that joined a seasoned faculty that had kept the School intact during World War II.

I shared an office with one of my new colleagues and thus began my teaching career.  As we became adjusted to faculty life, we looked for an increase in the social opportunities among faculty members.  We decided to begin meeting for coffee at an agreeable hour on a daily basis.  We had difficulty in finding a location, facilities or equipment.  We located a room in the southeast corner of the basement.

The room was filled with donated law books that were not needed or essential for the library.  Some where on shelves, but many were piled on the floor.  We cleaned out a corner of the room, scrounged a table, some chairs, a coffee pot and a hot plate.  The faculty coffee (no tea) hour was in business.

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