Is Law a Blue Profession?

In the current National Law Journal, Matthew Huisman reports that lawyers and law firms have donated significantly more money to Democrat President Barack Obama than they have to his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney. According to the records of the Federal Elections Commission, members of the legal profession have contributed $15.4m to Obama during the 2011-12 Presidential cycle while contributing only $6.8 million to Romney. Other Republican presidential aspirants received $2.1m.

The pattern in 2012 is essentially the same as in 2007 and 2008. In that election cycle lawyers contributed $46.5m to Barack Obama and $16.5m to Hilary Clinton, but gave only $10.4m to John McCain.

An earlier study of campaign contributions by law professors at the “Top 20” law schools between 1991 and 2002 conducted by Prof. John McGinnis of Northwestern University showed an equal imbalance. Of professors who donated to presidential candidates, 81% donated exclusively or primarily to Democratic candidates while only 15% donated exclusively or primarily to Republicans. The other 4% divided their donations between the two parties. At 18 of the 20 law schools surveyed Democratic donors predominated. At two (Northwestern and Virginia), the faculty was equally divided between Republicans and Democratic donors.

A similar survey conducted in 2008 of the faculty donations patterns at 17 law schools found that 93% of money donated by law professors to presidential candidates went to Democratic candidates. At Harvard, Chicago, Michigan, Stanford, Texas, UC-Berkeley and Pennsylvania no law professors donated to Republican candidates. Only at Northwestern did law professor donations to Republican candidates exceed those to Democrats. Vanderbilt, with 43.1%, had the second highest percentage of money donated to Republican candidates. Virginia, which showed up as one of the more Republican law schools in the McGinnis survey ranked 4th of 17 schools in percentage of donations going to Republican candidates, but its percentage was only 22.2%.

According to the Huffington Post’s Fundrace Database, only two Marquette Law professors contributed to presidential candidates in the last election cycle, and they split 50/50 between the parties.

 

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Why Does Wisconsin Arrest Twice as Many People for Marijuana Possession as Minnesota?

In 2010, Wisconsin law enforcement agencies reported 16,111 arrests for simple possession of marijuana, including both adult and juvenile offenders. The same year, Minnesota agencies reported only 7,453. With this one glaring exception, Wisconsin is not otherwise noticeably more aggressive about making drug arrests. Wisconsin also made more possession arrests for other drugs than did Minnesota, but the gap was much less pronounced (4,807 to 3,737), while Minnesota actually outstripped Wisconsin by a considerable margin when it came to arrests for drug trafficking (6,382 to 4,832). So, it is not as if our neighbors to the west have declared a general truce in the War on Drugs, while we have doggedly fought on. Rather, there seems something specific about marijuana possession that is differentiating the two states.

It seems unlikely that differences in marijuana use could account for such a large difference in the arrest rates. Indeed, based on the National Survey of Drug Use and Health, it appears that marijuana use in Minnesota is, if anything, slightly higher than in Wisconsin. So, the differences in arrest rates probably result to a significant degree from differences in police behavior. What drives those differences is not immediately apparent from any data that I have seen.

As I have observed in earlier posts, differences in criminal-justice outputs between the two states cry out for justification because the two states are so similar in population size and crime rate. 

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Congratulations to AWL Scholarship Winners Carstens and Fahley

On Tuesday, September 11, 2012, the Milwaukee Association for Women Lawyers (AWL) Foundation honored two Marquette University Law School students with scholarships.

Codi Carstens, 2L, received the AWL Foundation scholarship.  The AWL Foundation Scholarship is awarded to a woman who has exhibited service to others, diversity, compelling financial need, academic achievement, unique life experiences (such as overcoming obstacles to attend or continue law school), and advancement of women in the profession.  Carstens is a first-generation college graduate and a first-generation law student.  She is supporting herself through law school, yet she has found the time for public service, already completing 180 hours of volunteer time doing pro bono work in the community, primarily through the Wisconsin chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel.  Carstens is also a member of the student chapter of AWL.

Alaina Fahley, 3L, received the AWL Foundation’s Virginia A. Pomeroy scholarship.  This scholarship honors the late Virginia A. Pomeroy, a former Deputy State Public Defender and a past president of AWL.  In addition to meeting the same criteria as for the AWL Foundation scholarship, the winner of this scholarship must also exhibit what the AWL Foundation calls “a special emphasis, through experience, employment, class work or clinical programs” in one of several particular areas:  appellate practice, civil rights law, public interest law, public policy, public service, or service to the vulnerable or disadvantaged.  Fahley has a sister with autism.  Her experience with her sister has emphasized for her the importance of working with vulnerable populations and her plan to practice public interest law upon graduation. Fahley is a member of the student chapter of AWL and a member of the Pro Bono Society, and she volunteers at the Marquette Volunteer Legal Clinic. She is currently the President of the Public Interest Law Society.  

Congratulations to both women for outstanding service and for their representation of Marquette University Law School.

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