Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

“Sort of hilariously unconstitutional”? I’m not laughing.

Posted on July 29, 2020 by Michael Froomkin

Another step down the path to fascism with an American accent.

According to ProPublica (and many other news sources):

Federal authorities are using a new tactic in their battle against protesters in Portland, Oregon: arrest them on offenses as minor as “failing to obey” an order to get off a sidewalk on federal property — and then tell them they can’t protest anymore as a condition for release from jail.

Legal experts describe the move as a blatant violation of the constitutional right to free assembly, but at least 12 protesters arrested in recent weeks have been specifically barred from attending protests or demonstrations as they await trials on federal misdemeanor charges.

“Defendant may not attend any other protests, rallies, assemblies or public gathering in the state of Oregon,” states one “Order Setting Conditions of Release” for an accused protester, alongside other conditions such as appearing for court dates. The orders are signed by federal magistrate judges.

For other defendants, the restricted area is limited to Portland, where clashes between protesters and federal troops have grown increasingly violent in recent weeks. In at least two cases, there are no geographic restrictions; one release document instructs, “Do not participate in any protests, demonstrations, rallies, assemblies while this case is pending.”

…

ProPublica identified several instances in which the protest ban was added to the conditions of release document when it was drafted, before it was given to the judge. It remained unclear whether the limits on protesting were initiated by Justice Department officials or the magistrates hearing the cases.

…

The ACLU’s Somil Trivedi said, “Release conditions should be related to public safety or flight” — in other words, the risk that the defendant will abscond. “This is neither.” He described the handwritten addition of a protest ban to a release document as “sort of hilariously unconstitutional.”

I’m not laughing. The shocking part here is not that some unknown party in the government asked for this — although they ought to know better — but that a federal judge, even if it was ‘just’ a Magistrate, signed off on this.

UPDATE (6/30): Good news/bad news: The good news is that the unconstitutional no-protest condition has been dropped in all cases. Bad news: the source of the condition was two federal Magistrates themselves. Ouch.

Posted in Civil Liberties | Comments Off

Food for the … Soul?

Posted on July 27, 2020 by Michael Froomkin

I really doubt that anyone outside Miami-Dade will find this nearly as funny as I do, but I couldn’t resist posting Jamónton, the musical saga of Alejandro Jamónton – the founding father who brought the Cuban sandwich to America.

Posted in Completely Different | Comments Off

There’s More to Covid-19 than the Death Rate

Posted on July 26, 2020 by Michael Froomkin

The U.S. death rate for COVID-19 is, sadly, climbing again, and this number, along with the number infected, tends to be the headline. But there are a lot of other numbers to be concerned about.

Someone named Franklin Veaux has collected and estimated some. I haven’t checked them personally, but they seem plausible.

Veaux frames the issue as “How can a disease with 1% mortality shut down the United States?” and then he’s off to the races:

There are two problems with this question.

It neglects the law of large numbers; and

It assumes that one of two things happen: you die or you’re 100% fine.

The US has a population of 328,200,000. If one percent of the population dies, that’s 3,282,000 people dead.

Three million people dead would monkey wrench the economy no matter what. That more than doubles the number of annual deaths all at once.

The second bit is people keep talking about deaths. Deaths, deaths, deaths. Only one percent die! Just one percent! One is a small number! No big deal, right?

What about the people who survive?

For every one person who dies:

19 more require hospitalization.

18 of those will have permanent heart damage for the rest of their lives.

10 will have permanent lung damage.

3 will have strokes.

2 will have neurological damage that leads to chronic weakness and loss of coordination.

2 will have neurological damage that leads to loss of cognitive function.

So now all of a sudden, that “but it’s only 1% fatal!” becomes:

3,282,000 people dead.

62,358,000 hospitalized.

59,076,000 people with permanent heart damage.

32,820,000 people with permanent lung damage.

9,846,000 people with strokes.

6,564,000 people with muscle weakness.

6,564,000 people with loss of cognitive function.

That’s the thing that the folks who keep going on about “only 1% dead, what’s the big deal?” don’t get.

The choice is not “ruin the economy to save 1%.” If we reopen the economy, it will be destroyed anyway. The US economy cannot survive everyone getting COVID-19.

There’s more than money at stake — this is a lot of misery. Even if the economy could survive it, surely this is a scenario worth working to avoid?

UPDATE: (7/27/2020) As I should have pointed out initially, the numbers below the 65,358,000 hospitalized are a breakdown of that number, not in addition to it. As far as I know, we don’t have any data at all on what the long-term effects, if any, of COVID-19 are likely to be on persons who are not hospitalized for it.

Posted in COVID-19 | 3 Comments

Power, Privilege, and Transformation: Lessons from the Pandemic for Online Legal Education

Posted on July 22, 2020 by Michael Froomkin

I’ll be speaking at a virtual symposium on the future of legal education to be held on Wednesday, Aug 5. The program starts at noon, and I’m on Panel 2, which is somewhere in the middle because we start with a keynote, and there are four panels. Six hours in all!

My talk is entitled “The Virtual Law School 2.0” and builds off a talk I gave … 20 years ago. And the (horrible) slides for that one are still online somewhere, too.

Power, Privilege, and Transformation:
Lessons from the Pandemic for Online Legal Education

Wednesday, August 5, 2020
12:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. EDT

The University of Miami School of Law, in partnership with the AALS Journal of Legal Education, is delighted to host a virtual symposium to discuss the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed legal education in the U.S.

The symposium will seek to explore the ways in which the delivery of legal education online implicates power and identity and entails institutional and pedagogic transformation. Please join us for a keynote by Professor Cass R. Sunstein, followed by stellar panels featuring Deans Leonard M. Baynes, Darby Dickerson, Eduardo M. Peñalver, Vice Dean Andrew B. Dawson, Associate Dean Margaret Y. K. Woo, Professors I. Glenn Cohen, Charlton Copeland, Meera E. Deo, Michele DeStefano, Doron Dorfman, Yvonne M. Dutton, Sheila R. Foster, Mary Anne Franks, A. Michael Froomkin, Osamudia James, Nina A. Kohn, Mary A. Lynch, Rhonda V. Magee, Jeremy R. Paul, Michele R. Pistone, and Mr. William E. Adams, Ms. Judith A. Gundersen, Mr. David C. Reeves, Ms. Kathleen M. Sullivan, Ms. Kellye Y. Testy, Mr. Richard M. Trachok II.

Academics, practitioners, students and alumni, and members of the public are welcome to attend. There is no charge for participating but advance registration is required.

6.0 CLE Credits Pending Florida Bar Approval

Symposium Partner: