Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Administration’s Anti-Torture Zeal Knows No Bound (Lower Bound, That is)

Posted on December 13, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

The Carpetbagger Report: Replacing the torture-tolerance policy with…nothing in particular.

And the Senate is going to confirm Gonzales? Whithout a fight?

Posted in Iraq Atrocities | Comments Off on Administration’s Anti-Torture Zeal Knows No Bound (Lower Bound, That is)

Cold Front Flushes Out UM Croc

Posted on December 13, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

We're having our annual taste of 'winter' — tempertures got down below 60 last night. This seems to bother natives, not least UM's crocodile, who surfaced for some sun … leading to his undoing: Elusive UM croc seeks sun, gets caught.

Amusingly, UM students had nicknamed the croc “Donna” — after Donna Shalala, presumably.

Continue reading →

Posted in U.Miami | Comments Off on Cold Front Flushes Out UM Croc

Briton Says Torture Continues at Guantánamo

Posted on December 11, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Guantánamo torture and humiliation still going on, says shackled Briton:

Fresh allegations about a regime of torture and humiliation inflicted on detainees by their American captors at Guantánamo Bay have been made by a Briton still held there, according to Foreign Office documents seen by the Guardian.

The claims by Martin Mubanga, from London, are the latest to surface from the prison where the US holds 550 Muslim men it claims are terrorists in conditions that have sparked worldwide condemnation.

Mr Mubanga, 31, alleges that only months ago he was kept shackled for so long that he wet himself, and then was forced to clean up his own urine. He claims to have been threatened, that an interrogator stood on his hair, and that he was subjected to extremes of temperature rising to 36C (97F). He was kept chained to the floor by his feet for an hour during a welfare visit from a British government official.

Where the hell is the outrage? The Senate hearings? The — excuse the term — Democrats?

Continue reading →

Posted in Guantanamo, UK | 6 Comments

Kerik Has A Nanny Problem

Posted on December 10, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

Kerik Withdraws Name for Homeland Security Chief.

Does that mean we can expect the original to replace the copy? He did, after all, say,

We only see the oppressive side of authority. Maybe it comes out of our history and our background. What we don't see is that freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do and how you do.

Sounds like just the guy to run the Ministry of Internal Security in this administration.

Posted in National Security | 4 Comments

On Law School Exams, Open Book and Closed Book

Posted on December 9, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

[Edited & updated — first version didn't make enough distinctions between open-book and take-home exams] In the comments to an earlier item, a UM law student asks, reasonably enough,

If L.S. isn't just about the rules (which I agree it shouldn't be), then why are there closed book exams at our school? When is a lawyer ever in a situation where they must have a law memorized for that one moment in time (except for oral arguments; but even then they have a legal pad in front of them with cases)? We are taught how to read a case and do research in LRW. More advanced research was taught to me in editing and bluebooking PPL law review assignments. My torts teacher kept things very theoretical in class and on the exam…basically if you had common sense and a very basic knowledge of torts you did well, so long as your writing ability was above the class curve. I am enjoying L.S. for the most part; but I'm not lying to myself and saying success here equals success in the real world. School and jobs (maybe being a law professor is out of this realm) teach incommensurable subjects.

I thought the issue deserved its own item: As one of the few faculty members at UM who insists (over mild Decanal objections to the take-home aspect) on giving open book take home exams for some of my classes (but not all), this is a question near and dear to my heart. After all, I've argued that “life is a take home exam” — and I even believe it.

Nevertheless there are some good reasons for closed book in-class exams, and I give those too in some courses. These reasons are strongest in the first year, but to varying degrees they also apply in upper level courses.

Continue reading →

Posted in Law School | 23 Comments

Name the Country that Abuses Psychiatry to Silence Dissidents

Posted on December 9, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

One of the many horrifying things about the old Soviet Union was the use of psychiatry to silence dissidents. Anyone who dared suggest that the country wasn't a workers' paradise clearly had lost their grip on reality, right?

Fortunately, nothing like that could ever happen here, say to someone who claims that US troops torture captives.

Um.

Posted in Iraq Atrocities, National Security | Comments Off on Name the Country that Abuses Psychiatry to Silence Dissidents