Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Monday Will Be a Challenge For Everyone

Posted on October 28, 2005 by Michael Froomkin

This should try the kids’ patience: UM will be up and running on Monday…but the local schools will not be. [UPDATE (10/29): the publc schools may be closed, but we’ve been informed that the kids’ schools will be open. Could be an interesting driving day.]

STORM ALERT – HURRICANE WILMA

ADVISORY 7

6:10 p.m., Friday, October 28

UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI TO OPEN ON NORMAL SCHEDULES ON MONDAY

All classes, clinical activities, and events on all campuses will resume normal schedules on Monday, October 31.

All members of the faculty and staff are expected to report to work as scheduled on Monday. If you are unable to be at your work site as scheduled, please contact your supervisor as soon as possible and explain your situation.

The University understands that Miami-Dade public schools will be closed Monday and Tuesday. Therefore, employees are encouraged to arrange for school-age children to be supervised by family or friends. A second and acceptable choice is to bring your child to work, if that would be a practical solution.

Due to University closures for hurricanes this semester, a revised academic calendar has been developed for fall 2005.

I suppose if we still don’t have power, watching a DVD in my office will seem fun….

Posted in U.Miami | 1 Comment

I Signed the Law Professors’ Hamdan Statement

Posted on October 28, 2005 by Michael Froomkin

I am one of the 450 law professors who signed a statement calling on the Supreme Court to grant review of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (No. 05-184), a case challenging the President’s creation of military commissions to try “unlawful combatants”:

We, the undersigned law professors at many law schools, urge that lawyers, jurists, and the public take every opportunity to reassert the rule of law, to reiterate America’s constitutional commitments, and to insist on humane treatment that gives each person a fair opportunity to be heard before impartial tribunals, not ones controlled by the executive.

Thanks are due to to Bruce Ackerman (Yale), David Cole (Georgetown), Rosa Ehrenreich Brooks (Virginia), Deena Hurwitz (Virginia), and Judith Resnik (Yale) for organizing the letter.

Although I completely agree with the text of the statement, I do feel ever so slightly odd about this project because letters like this shouldn’t actually influence what the Supreme Court does. And, I suspect, they don’t actually influence it either. So the project is arguably in poor taste, and probably futile. But I do believe that the issue is of enormous importance … and what else can we do?

Posted in Civil Liberties | 4 Comments

Good News (Sorta)

Posted on October 28, 2005 by Michael Froomkin

No, no, not the indictment (full text). It’s never good news that our government is run by liars and crooks.

FP&L have advanced their estimate of when I get my power back from Nov. 22 to Nov. 15.

I feel like I should feel more grateful.

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on Good News (Sorta)

Is This the Most Important Paragraph in Today’s NYT?

Posted on October 27, 2005 by Michael Froomkin

It was buried deep in the print edition, but I wonder if this isn’t the most informative paragraph in today’s paper,

Striking Guantánamo Detainees Gain in Ruling. Judge Kessler’s order is the latest development in a vast change in the legal situation at Guantánamo. For the first two years of the camp’s existence, the military had total control of procedures there and what it told the public about them. But after a Supreme Court ruling in 2004 allowing lawyers to represent detainees and visit them, the military has had to contend with judicial rulings on procedures and with the ability of defense lawyers to provide an alternative narrative as to events there.

Posted in Guantanamo | Comments Off on Is This the Most Important Paragraph in Today’s NYT?

UK presidency of the EU Logo, Modified

Posted on October 27, 2005 by Michael Froomkin

The UK Presidency of the EU had a snappy internet logo with flying birds that they were proud of. Someone has improved it:

eu-bird.gif

(Thanks to Joaquín Roy, Jean Monnet Professor & Director, European Union Center at UM)

Posted in Law: International Law | Comments Off on UK presidency of the EU Logo, Modified

Miers Defenestrated

Posted on October 27, 2005 by Michael Froomkin

As predicted here more than a week ago, the White House withdrew the Miers nomination. So now we can speculate as to who’s next, and whether it will be such an awful nomination that it will be filibustered. The first question is whether, having named a woman the first time, the White House can get away with replacing her with a man — suggesting that in its eyes no women are up to the job. As far as I know, however, all of the leading women candidates are rather extreme, and thus filibuster bait.

Perhaps it depends on the number and nature of whatever indictments we get tomorrow, and what it does to the White House’s political power?

Posted in Law: The Supremes | Comments Off on Miers Defenestrated