Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Eight Years!

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

I started this blog on Sept 15, 2003.

And it’s still going despite everything.

If you are a regular reader and haven’t done so already, please take a minute and tell me a little about yourself.

And thanks for stopping by.

Posted in Discourse.net | 2 Comments

If We Can’t Trust Our Elections…

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

A society that can’t run a fair election is not a democracy. We really should make it a priority to be a democracy.

This platitude is inspired by two sets of postings:

I should probably add in regard to the Eye on Miami series that while I think they have done extraordinary work documenting a huge problem, I think there is a fairly strong legal argument that any solution to the terrible local absentee ballot fraud issue will require something different from what they advocate. After Bush v. Gore, would not a solution — tighter rules on how ballots are cast and authenticated — have to be state-wide, not local, for equal protection reasons? And that runs into the problem of the same people who created the mess we’re in: the Republican legislature, some of whom are beneficiaries of the frauds if not actually paymasters and instigators of it.

Posted in Civil Liberties, Law: Constitutional Law, Miami | 5 Comments

Well That Didn’t Take Long

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

Team Obama moves from tough talk to partial surrender (then tries to take some of it back).

September 13, 2011 10:35 AM: ‘It’s not an a la carte menu’ — Team Obama says it wants the whole jobs bill passed.

9/13/11 12:41 PM ET Updated: 9/13/11 01:50 PM ET Obama Would Sign Parts Of Jobs Bill, Push For Rest:

The Obama White House is revising its initial unwillingness to negotiate on the president’s job creation plan, saying now that if individual components of the bill came to the president’s desk — as opposed to the bill in its entirety — he would sign them into law.

The new approach opens up the administration to charges that it no longer views the American Jobs Act as a take-it-or-leave-it bill. But in a briefing with reporters Tuesday, senior administration officials insisted President Obama wasn’t backing off his position that he wants the entire bill passed through Congress.

That’s not a ridiculous fallback position, but it is a ridiculous way to undercut your own message in the first few days of the campaign for the bill.

Posted in Politics: US | 2 Comments

Contracting Out Costs the Government Lots Extra

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

POGO Study: Contractors Costing Government Twice as Much as In-House Workforce. This looks like an important study. The results are sadly not incredible: if you look not at the wages employees receive in the contracted-out businesses, but rather the prices their employers charge the government for their services, contracting-out looks (sometimes very) expensive compared to using government workers.

The U.S. government’s increasing reliance on contractors to do work traditionally done by federal employees is fueled by the belief that private industry can deliver services at a lower cost than in-house staff.

But a first-of-its-kind study released today by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) busts that myth by showing that using contractors to perform services actually increases costs to taxpayers.

POGO’s new report is the first to compare the rate that contractors bill the federal government to the salaries and benefits of comparable federal employees. The study found that while federal government salaries are higher than private sector salaries, contractor billing rates average 83 percent more than what it would cost to do the work in-house.

The study comes with some caveats, but at first glance it looks like a serious attempt to measure things that — oddly — are not routinely measured by the government that pays for all this stuff.

Posted in Econ & Money, Law: Administrative Law | Comments Off on Contracting Out Costs the Government Lots Extra

We’re Hiring (Official Announcement)

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

Dramatic growth in the size of the faculty is taking place at the University of Miami School of Law. As part of this ambitious agenda, we invite applications at both the entry and lateral levels. At the lateral level, in addition to individual applications, we especially invite applications from groups of faculty with complementary interests.

We are interested in all persons of high academic achievement and promise, including those who hold Ph.D. or M.D. degrees, and wish to enhance the diversity of our faculty by including among our candidates persons of all races, cultural backgrounds, genders, orientations, creeds, ages, as well as members of other groups that traditionally have been underrepresented in the legal profession. We will consider applications in any subject area and invite applications from individuals with a strong commitment to academic or institutional innovation and growth.

Candidates should send resumes, references, representative works, and research agenda to:

Professor Scott Sundby
Chair, Entry-Level Appointments Committee
University of Miami School of Law
P.O. Box 248087
Coral Gables, FL 33124-8087
ssundby@law.miami.edu

Professor Caroline Bradley
Chair, Lateral Appointments Committee
University of Miami School of Law
P.O. Box 248087
Coral Gables, FL 33124-8087
cbradley@law.miami.edu

The University of Miami is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply.

[Note: my annual commercial for UM will appear Real Soon Now™]

Posted in Law School, U.Miami | 1 Comment

I’m Afraid the Answer is ‘Yes’

Posted on September 10, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

Gilbert Cranberg has a question:

The Bush administration called the war Operation Iraqi Freedom. A more apt designation would be Operation Enduring Mystery. It’s a mystery not only why the U.S. fought the war but why Congress and the American people have been so incurious about it.

The toll in Iraq included 4,500 U.S. military fatalities, 30,000 American troops wounded (many grievously) and more than 100,000 civilian casualties. Those losses alone should have produced a resounding call: WHY?

The explanation offered at the time, Saddam’s alleged stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, never materialized, but no one has ever been held accountable for the fiction. Nor has there been an apology for misleading the country into war. Throughout it all the U.S. press stood idly by.

Have we become so accustomed to being bamboozled that we can no longer summon righteous indignation even when human lives are lost in a misbegotten military adventure?

Like I said, I think I know the answer to that one.

Posted in 9/11 & Aftermath, Iraq | Comments Off on I’m Afraid the Answer is ‘Yes’