tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25086189007172746912024-03-18T16:37:19.304-04:00The Savory TortRichard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.comBlogger712125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-49512793528830973382024-03-18T08:00:00.079-04:002024-03-18T16:36:46.938-04:00Mass. attorney board rushes to racialize, shun 'overseer,' ignores word's ancient, biblical usages<p>A <a href="https://www.massbbo.org/s/" target="_blank">proposal</a> published for public comment would change the name of the <a href="https://www.massbbo.org/s/" target="_blank">Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers</a> to the "Board of Bar Oversight" to avoid connotations of slavery in the term "overseer."</p><p>The new name means the "BBO" will keep its popular initialism. The BBO was formed in 1974, so the "overseer" usage originated independently of the negative connotation. It seems what's changed in the last half century is sensitivity to language, for better and for worse. </p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuCGXyyWuig52sc2MZEXKR4GJGzeugE_UUfxcR8sgNARun84Ddlgaleu7O1DtubBAv_xtR-n-PURrqMjbe6WB2L04NZCxAwcl40z9esig0JEewAYWzi7nXPK21-pyMqeT6LZ2IIAbs9HU0dV_w4CmtYxCEYgPqS9CPbKWXFReWUgLaZ26B3CrM2Hq21Xb-/s1075/NMAAHC-A2010_26_29_8_1_001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1075" data-original-width="700" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuCGXyyWuig52sc2MZEXKR4GJGzeugE_UUfxcR8sgNARun84Ddlgaleu7O1DtubBAv_xtR-n-PURrqMjbe6WB2L04NZCxAwcl40z9esig0JEewAYWzi7nXPK21-pyMqeT6LZ2IIAbs9HU0dV_w4CmtYxCEYgPqS9CPbKWXFReWUgLaZ26B3CrM2Hq21Xb-/w260-h400/NMAAHC-A2010_26_29_8_1_001.jpg" width="260" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Frederick Douglass<br />and grandson Joseph Douglass, 1894</span><br /><a href="https://nmaahc.si.edu/object/nmaahc_A2010.26.29.8.1" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Smithsonian NMAAHC</span></a><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>The BBO stated its reasoning:</p><blockquote><p>The word "overseer" has a pernicious history in our country, tied inextricably to chattel slavery. On southern plantations, an overseer was the slaveowner's delegate in day-to-day governance, trusted to enforce order and obedience. Overseers were the most visible representatives of white supremacy. As defined in the Online Etymology Dictionary, an overseer was "one who has charge, under the owner or manager, of the work done on a plantation." In autobiographies by slaves such as Frederick Douglas [<i>sic</i>] and Solomon Northup ("Twelve Years a Slave"), overseers were described as heartless, brutal and cruel. They were an inevitable and indispensable product of an economy built on human chattel. As noted by University of Louisville president Neeli Bendapudi, "The term overseer is a racialized term. It hearkens back to American slavery and reminds us of the brutality of the conditions and treatment of black people during this time." We agree with this statement.</p></blockquote><p>I don't. To "racialize" is "<span class="dt"><span class="dtText">to give a racial character to: to categorize, marginalize, or regard according to race." I agree that </span></span>Bendapudi <i>racialized </i>the term. The BBO did not, before now. But therein lies the power of a passive structure, "is ... racialized," allowing one to accuse without responsibility to prove.</p><p>The BBO moreover is almost irresponsibly selective in its sourcing. First, the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/" target="_blank">Online Etymology Dictionary</a> is a project of a Pennsylvania writer, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-harper-70607760/" target="_blank">Douglas Harper</a>. It's good and interesting to read; I'm not meaning to denigrate Harper's labor of love. But I'm not sure any one person's internet project should be anyone else's first stop for <i>denotation</i>, especially in a legal context. The BBO's sourcing is on par at best with high-school-term-paper standards.</p><p>Second, "one who has charge ... of the work done on a plantation" is <i>not</i> exactly what the Online Etymology Dictionary says. Rather, here's the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=overseer" target="_blank">entry</a> in full:</p><blockquote><p>late 14c., "supervisor, superintendent, one who looks over," agent noun from <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/oversee#etymonline_v_10089" target="_blank"><span>oversee</span></a>
(v.). Specifically, "one who superintends workmen;" especially with
reference to slavery, "one who has charge, under the owner or manager,
of the work done on a plantation."</p></blockquote><p>So it's not true, even in the source referenced, that "overseer" on its face <i>is defined as</i>, or <i>means</i>, a plantation supervisor. The meaning arises in the especial context of slavery.</p><p>Maybe I'm a little sensitive to the whole thing because I once served as an "overseer" in my church. The BBO doesn't mention that the word has any meaning outside of slavery, much less that it has ancient and <a href="http://lexiconcordance.com/greek/1985.html" target="_blank">Biblical</a> origins.</p><p><i>Episkopos</i> (ἐπίσκοπος) in Ancient Greek translates literally as <span class="grkTextTag" data-bible-id="1038028" id="yui-gen33"><span class="data-word" data-word="27" id="yui-gen31">onlooker, or overseer, and that's the word used in the <i>Iliad</i>, the <i>Odyssey</i>, and the Bible. </span></span><i>Epi </i>(ἐπί) is a preposition meaning <i>on</i> or <i>upon, </i>and <i>skopos</i> (<span class="Grek">σκοπός) means to watch or look intently. <i>Skopos </i>is used variously (and in the <i>Iliad</i>) to refer to a lookout, a guardian, or a spy or scout.</span></p><p>In Ancient Greece, an <i>episkopos</i> referred specifically to a kind of imperial agent sent by Athens to distant municipalities to make sure they paid their taxes (<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/293776" target="_blank">Balcer 1977</a>). (An interesting point of historical-comparative legal studies is that having a highly functional tax system is a common feature of successful ancient civilizations, from the Greeks to the Aztecs.) </p><p>In the <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+22.255&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0133" target="_blank"><i>Iliad</i></a> (22:255), A.T. Murray <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+22.255&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134" target="_blank">translation</a>, Homer refers to the gods as witness to an agreement, using <i>episkopoi </i>(ἐπίσκοποι),
the plural, to refer back to the gods. Murray beefed up the translation to say "witnesses and guardians of our covenant," thus articulating the added connotation of safeguarding. <br /></p><p>In the <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0012,002:8:121" target="_blank"><i>Odyssey</i></a>, also the Murray <a href="https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Greek/Odyssey8.php" target="_blank">translation</a>, below, Homer used <i>episkopos </i>more abstractly to indicate a role of authority: </p><p></p><blockquote>τὸν δ᾽ αὖτ᾽ Εὐρύαλος ἀπαμείβετο νείκεσέ τ᾽ ἄντην:<br />‘οὐ γάρ σ᾽ οὐδέ, ξεῖνε, δαήμονι φωτὶ ἐίσκω<br />160ἄθλων, οἷά τε πολλὰ μετ᾽ ἀνθρώποισι πέλονται,<br />ἀλλὰ τῷ, ὅς θ᾽ ἅμα νηὶ πολυκλήιδι θαμίζων,<br /><b>ἀρχὸς</b> ναυτάων οἵ τε πρηκτῆρες ἔασιν,<br />φόρτου τε μνήμων καὶ <b>ἐπίσκοπος </b>ᾖσιν ὁδαίων<br />κερδέων θ᾽ ἁρπαλέων: οὐδ᾽ ἀθλητῆρι ἔοικας. </blockquote><p></p><blockquote><p>Then again Euryalus made answer and taunted him to his face: "Nay verily, stranger, for I do not liken thee to a man that is skilled in contests, such as abound among men, but to one who, faring to and fro with his benched ship, is a <b>captain</b> of sailors who are merchantmen, <b>one who </b>is mindful of his freight, and has charge of a home-borne cargo, and the gains of his greed. Thou dost not look like an athlete."<br /></p></blockquote><p>In none of several English versions of this passage did I find <i>episkopos </i>translated directly.<i> </i>Poetically inclined translators such as Murray carried over the subject "captain" with either a pronoun or an implied subject. "Captain" here is "ἀρχὸς," or "chief." So it looks like Homer saw ἀρχὸς and ἐπίσκοπος as functionally equivalent in this context.<br /></p>The New Testament accordingly <a href="https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g1985/kjv/tr/0-1/" target="_blank">uses <i>episkopos</i></a> several times to refer to church leaders. Indeed, "bishop" in English derives from the Greek <i>episkopos—episcopus </i>in Latin and <i>obispo </i>in Spanish.<br /><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpRzGjzaLN6CXQFSbwnlm_IR5PFKrkXGOilIv1Veh89kRvi4G8t5DSQ7lEF4XSvoTWn9I2dfq_tkFBVIbE8lT5WsVwYvt1sr3IUBadhTKqw9qc3vCZPaei39bjOOWRusTLyjJ6IBxf1Z79zdfhXeaWWTIsJuImJtNlUxsSVghBu6l0pIf4PpQZPhxCbgJq/s1160/1Pt2_25SavingSheep.jpg.1420x.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="744" data-original-width="1160" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpRzGjzaLN6CXQFSbwnlm_IR5PFKrkXGOilIv1Veh89kRvi4G8t5DSQ7lEF4XSvoTWn9I2dfq_tkFBVIbE8lT5WsVwYvt1sr3IUBadhTKqw9qc3vCZPaei39bjOOWRusTLyjJ6IBxf1Z79zdfhXeaWWTIsJuImJtNlUxsSVghBu6l0pIf4PpQZPhxCbgJq/w400-h256/1Pt2_25SavingSheep.jpg.1420x.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Shepherd in 1 Peter 2:25</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">© Saint Mary's Press, <a href="https://www.smp.org/resourcecenter/resource/1535/" target="_blank">licensed for non-commercial use</a></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>The <a href="https://biblehub.com/interlinear/1_peter/2.htm" target="_blank">First Epistle of Peter</a> (2:25) (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%202&version=NIV" target="_blank">NIV</a>) uses <i>episkopos </i>abstractly, as a metaphor for Jesus: "For 'you were like sheep going astray,' but now you have returned to the Shepherd and <b>Overseer </b>of your souls" (<span class="grkTextTag" data-bible-id="1153025" id="yui-gen35"><span class="data-word" data-word="1" id="yui-gen29">"ἦτε</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="2" id="yui-gen32">γὰρ</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="3">ὡς</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="4">πρόβατα</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="5">πλανώμενα·</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="6">ἀλλ᾽</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="7" id="yui-gen33">ἐπεστράφητε</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="8" id="yui-gen34">νῦν</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="9">ἐπὶ</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="10">τὸν</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="11">ποιμένα</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="12">καὶ</span> <b><span class="data-word" data-word="13">ἐπίσκοπον</span> </b><span class="data-word" data-word="14">τῶν</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="15" id="yui-gen37">ψυχῶν</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="16" id="yui-gen36">ὑμῶν").</span></span> <p></p><p>Other usages are more concrete. In <a href="https://biblehub.com/interlinear/acts/20-28.htm" target="_blank">Acts 20:28</a> (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2020&version=NIV" target="_blank">NIV</a>), Paul admonishes disciples: "Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you <b>overseers</b>. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood" ("<span class="grkTextTag" data-bible-id="1038028" id="yui-gen33"><span class="data-word" data-word="1" id="yui-gen40">προσέχετε</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="2">οὖν</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="3">ἑαυτοῖς</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="4">καὶ</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="5">παντὶ</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="6">τῷ</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="7">ποιμνίῳ</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="8">ἐν</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="9" id="yui-gen39">ᾧ</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="10" id="yui-gen38">ὑμᾶς</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="11">τὸ</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="12">πνεῦμα</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="13">τὸ</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="14">ἅγιον</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="15">ἔθετο</span> <b><span class="data-word" data-word="16">ἐπισκόπους</span></b> <span class="data-word" data-word="17" id="yui-gen37">ποιμαίνειν</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="18" id="yui-gen36">τὴν</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="19" id="yui-gen35">ἐκκλησίαν</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="20">τοῦ</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="21">θεοῦ</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="22">ἣν</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="23">περιεποιήσατο</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="24">διὰ</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="25" id="yui-gen34">τοῦ</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="26" id="yui-gen32">ἰδίου</span> <span class="data-word" data-word="27" id="yui-gen31">αἵματος"). Similar usages appear in Philippians 1:1, </span></span><span class="grkTextTag" data-bible-id="1038028" id="yui-gen33"><span class="data-word" data-word="27" id="yui-gen31">1 Timothy 3:2, </span></span><span class="grkTextTag" data-bible-id="1038028" id="yui-gen33"><span class="data-word" data-word="27" id="yui-gen31">1 Titus 1:7, and </span></span><span class="grkTextTag" data-bible-id="1038028" id="yui-gen33"><span class="data-word" data-word="27" id="yui-gen31">Hebrews 13:17.</span></span></p><p>The BBO needs to be called out here for shoddy work (really, misspelling Frederick Douglass?) and results-oriented reasoning. The board is myopically intent on sacrificing a word on the pyre of cancel culture—a move indicative more of wanting to look righteous than of wanting to be righteous. I might rather, as a general rule, strive for education and enlightenment, at least as a first-order response. </p><p>Yet, as it happens, I agree with the BBO's conclusion and proposal. Despite the board's woke pandering, the risk is significant that "overseer" will import for some hearers a connotation that should be foreign to the board's role. For me, it's not about "racialization"; it's about relationship. </p><p>When I moved to New England and started to learn the ropes of the local legal culture, I bristled at the term "Bar <i>Overseers</i>." To be fair to Massachusetts, I have had the same feeling in other jurisdictions about boards of attorney and judicial "discipline." </p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjxTuC6PNxDz6sC6q9d_fdmFIYhUoH_quKoO2tNf13DVffDA_v403_dQsL3BsbV7cBasrPD6kezK7tf18rLf9v9lTYBqx4gJr_-lZyrPYfFWP8GSBz9lr-wSCSeDTKBOtLxwcQRHcECgsOpmnNrwIP90tUSaHFmwHv_qlogDduUtrBRBDwQAcpxGwi1FaU/s640/young-band-boy-and-overseer-yazoo-city-yarn-mills-location-yazoo-city-mississippi-97a012.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="441" data-original-width="640" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjxTuC6PNxDz6sC6q9d_fdmFIYhUoH_quKoO2tNf13DVffDA_v403_dQsL3BsbV7cBasrPD6kezK7tf18rLf9v9lTYBqx4gJr_-lZyrPYfFWP8GSBz9lr-wSCSeDTKBOtLxwcQRHcECgsOpmnNrwIP90tUSaHFmwHv_qlogDduUtrBRBDwQAcpxGwi1FaU/w400-h276/young-band-boy-and-overseer-yazoo-city-yarn-mills-location-yazoo-city-mississippi-97a012.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr align="right"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">"Overseer" and boy in Yazoo City, Miss., yarn mill, 1911.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://loc.getarchive.net/media/young-band-boy-and-overseer-yazoo-city-yarn-mills-location-yazoo-city-mississippi-97a012" target="_blank"><br />U.S. Library of Congress</a></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>I fear that these words connote a top-down style of austere supervision, a system of the powerful and the powerless, that does not comport with a <i>profession </i>of mutually supportive equals (dare I say, a <i>brethren</i>, which is and should be gender encompassing). "Overseer" is suggestive of a dramatic power imbalance; the word was used not only in connection with slavery and plantations, but in the context of child labor in the early 20th century.<br /><p></p><p>That doesn't mean that the time never comes when persistent or willful misconduct requires a firm response; the profession owes its highest duty to the public. But using terms such as "overseer" and "discipline" has the unintended consequence of encouraging officeholders to misunderstand their roles. Lawyering and judging are among jobs that endow persons with authority over others, whether through power, like policing, or through access to knowledge. Some people attracted to these jobs are prone to use, or abuse, their power for its own sake. Those same people might gravitate to a job such as "overseer" or arbiter of "discipline" for the wrong reasons.<br /></p><p>I was more amenable to the term "overseer" in my church, because the biblical usage is, or should be, utterly alien to abuse of power. Similarly, a church speaks of spiritual "discipline" with only the affirmative connotation of accountability to God. As a church overseer, I felt the weight of <i>guardianship</i> in the term. Being an <i>overseer </i>was a stern reminder of my responsibilities to others and sometimes, too often, of my own duties and failures of spiritual <i>discipline</i>. Anyone truly called to church leadership is humbled by the call, not lured by empowerment. </p><p>Even so, when my board of overseers overhauled the church constitution, we changed to "elder" leadership. At the same time, we changed the governance model. We studied and prayed over many church governance models. The Bible says remarkably little about specifics, so the art of church governance becomes part spiritual endeavor and part sociological experiment. We designed a variation on governance that we believed would work well for our congregation, better, at least, than what we had in an aging constitution. </p><p>"Elder" aligned better with <a href="https://www.9marks.org/books/church-elders/" target="_blank">our new model</a>, which emphasizes biblical knowledge, experience, and mentorship. There's nothing technically deficient in the term "overseer" for our new model, and we were not afraid of "racialization." It was just semantics. Different Christian writers have committed to different terms, so those terms now carry connotations of the writers' observations and recommendations. <br /></p><p></p><p>So connotation, like context, matters. And given the connotation of barbarism that even sometimes attaches to "overseer," <i>especially </i>in secular contexts, the BBO's modest proposal is sensible.</p><p>I simply would prefer that the proposal were backed by an evenhanded and honest analysis. Then we might be able to say, more modestly, that we are just pushing <i>pause</i> on "overseer": giving its deplorable connotation time to fade in our social consciousness, rather than committing a word of ancient import to the dustbin because of a modern-era abomination. </p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-67887571833341383722024-03-11T08:00:00.004-04:002024-03-11T08:00:00.130-04:00Book supports legal privilege for undercover reporting<p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/truth-and-transparency/BE8DF385CBE6C60653F2F4F0E3B1C704" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="271" data-original-width="180" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1R5zwyyEU7W7cWEqbc7BegX_tx6FofAbQCjXxIvXyM1WqM1V2B8DdOZURwsWs2J8encWyACfENLM3eNxt1KgsuL6DclvqH3A2o0ZLO2EwjYT87IF3QvkoMIvKvq9QxYJIdKm2YzomedDwjERTOF_-Harm0lkr84UEJ0qdXGSFgaMDorUp_PEdRd3SG_t0/w266-h400/chen%20cover.jpg" width="266" /></a></i></div><p></p><p><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/truth-and-transparency/BE8DF385CBE6C60653F2F4F0E3B1C704" target="_blank"><i>Truth and Transparency</i></a>, a recent book by Professors <a href="https://www.law.du.edu/about/people/alan-chen" target="_blank">Alan K. Chen</a> and <a href="https://www.law.du.edu/about/people/justin-marceau" target="_blank">Justin Marceau</a>, is a comprehensive and gratifying tour of the history and law of undercover reporting.</p><p>Chen and Marceau teach at the <a href="https://www.law.du.edu/" target="_blank">Sturm College of Law</a> at Denver University and have especial expertise in constitutional law, and respectively in public interest law and animal law. In their co-authorship, they examine the social phenomenon of undercover reporting that lies at the intersection of journalism, tort law, and the First Amendment—and often animal law, too.<br /></p><p>I know Chen best for his work in opposing ag gag laws: statutes designed to stop and punish journalists, activists, and whistleblowers from investigating and revealing wrongful conduct and animal cruelty in the agricultural industry, especially by way of undercover video recording. Chen has worked against ag gag in <span><span><span><span><span> Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, and Utah. I've been privileged to sign on to some of the amicus briefs he has coordinated.</span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span><span><span>Chen and Marceau leave no stone unturned. I was intrigued especially to read about the history of undercover reporting in the United States, the evolution of undercover reporting in its treatment in journalism ethics, and the thorough explication of undercover reporting in tort and First Amendment law. </span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span><span><span>Upton Sinclair's 1905 <i>The Jungle</i>, a novel based on real-life undercover reporting in the meatpacking industry, was my mind's go-to on the early history of the practice. Apropos of the present Women's History Month, however, it was female reporters such as <a href="https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/nellie-bly-0" target="_blank">Nellie Bly</a> who carved out a niche for undercover reporting in the popular imagination in the late 19th century and deserve the most credit for pioneering the genre.</span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span><span><span>Bly, born </span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span>Elizabeth Jane Cochran, famously had herself committed to a deplorable New York mental institution in 1887 for 10 days before a <i>New York World</i> lawyer secured her release, per prearrangement. Chen and Marceau recount the stories of Bly and other so-called "girl stunt reporters." They trace the history even further, as well, to antebellum abolitionists determined to expose the horrors of slavery.</span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span><span><span>Chen and Marceau explore a range of treatments of undercover reporting in journalism ethics, including the qualified permissiveness of the 1996 Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists, preserved in the more recent 2014 iteration. They observe as well the almost complete prohibition on the practice at National Public Radio, where journalists may engage in deception only when necessary to protect themselves in a conflict zone, and secret recordings may be used in only extraordinary circumstances.</span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span><span><span>A case that naturally arises throughout the book is the ABC News investigation of hygienic practices at Food Lion in the 1990s (<a href="https://www.rcfp.org/journals/news-media-and-law-spring-2012/landmark-food-lion-case/" target="_blank">at Reporters Committee</a>). This case was contemporary with my university study of journalism, so was front and center in my class on journalism ethics. Whether or when journalists might engage in deception to get the story is a favorite point of discussion in journalism ethics class. The problem stratifies the need for public trust in journalism across the micro layers of people who are the subjects of stories and the macro layers of readers and the public interest. </span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span><span><span>A court in <i>Food Lion</i> ultimately held that ABC journalists could be sued for trespass or breach of loyalty, but awarded only nominal damages. The factual problem for the plaintiffs that precluded a more substantial damages award was that notwithstanding the concealment of their motives, the journalists had been given jobs at Food Lion, and they did their jobs. So from a damages perspective, Food Lion got what it paid for. The appellate court, unlike the trial jury, was unwilling to consider the reputational harm flowing from truthful disclosures, if deceptively obtained, as any kind of compensable loss.</span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span><span><span>The outcome in <i>Food</i> <i>Lion</i> was consistent with the broad propositions of First Amendment law that there is no right to gather the news, which is why the Freedom of Information Act is a statutory rule, not a constitutional one; and that journalists are not exempt from generally applicable expectations of law, such as honoring contracts, obeying police orders—and not trespassing. As Chen and Marceau observe, the outcome exerted a chill in investigative reporting. </span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span><span><span>However, the <i>Food Lion </i>rule is hardly absolute, Chen and Marceau also aptly observe. The rule of no-right-to-gather-news has never been wholly true. The courts have given media latitude to test the limits, for example disallowing wiretap liability for receiving probably illegally intercepted communications. And technological advances have complicated the picture. A majority of U.S. circuit courts now, in a post-George Floyd world, have held that the First Amendment protects video-recording police in public places. The proposition seems right, but it doesn't square with the news-gathering rule.</span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span><span><span>The outcome in <i>Food Lion</i> further hints at a deeper problem in tort law that Chen and Marceau explore: the problem of damages in cases of only notional harm. In contemporary doctrine, a trespass with no infliction of physical harm or loss might entitle a plaintiff to an equitable remedy of injunction, but no more than nominal damages in tort law, thus <i>Food Lion</i>. Though with no damages in the offing, there is no deterrence to deceptive trespass, a logic that likely explains the eventual waning of <i>Food Lion</i>'s chilling effect. The problem bleeds into the contemporary debate over the nature of damages in personal privacy violations. </span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span><span><span>Journalism exceptionalism resonates as well in the problem of trespass and consent. <i>Food Lion </i>suggests that consent to enter property is vitiated by deception as to one's motive. Chen and Marceau explore opposing academic and judicial views on the question.</span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span><span><span>In a remarkable work of empirical research unto itself, Chen and Marceau's chapter 6 presents compelling data to show overwhelming public support for undercover reporting to expose wrongdoing. Public support seems to transcend political ideology and even whether the perpetrator of deception is a journalist or activist.</span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span><span><span>Chen and Marceau argue summatively and persuasively for a qualified legal privilege to protect journalistic deception in undercover reporting. Historical, ethical, and legal authorities all point in the same direction. Even the Fourth Circuit in <i>Food Lion </i>hedged its bets, observing that generally applicable employment law as applied in the case had only an "incidental effect" on news-gathering; in other words, news-gathering was outweighed as a consideration, not shut out.</span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span><span><span>Technological advances and citizen journalism will continue to generate conflict among conventional norms of property and fair dealing, evolving norms of privacy, and public interest in accountability in private and public sectors. <i>Truth and Transparency</i> is an essential manual to navigate in this brave new world.</span></span></span></span></span></p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-17220028141506728222024-03-10T20:00:00.001-04:002024-03-10T20:00:00.235-04:00U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken holds her own<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHWgD9DQYIAyyaP4bAxNAfqdJUF5YCkG4gQ8fo9A8Ywb6MTqBjnjBgUDIZYzv5HGnlT3FQX-Lx3VWLNF8r2AiRt3reh_USB9Awsv79rylAPN-PkTmOglEKSRwDVz-DxLS9wjBie__Kw9DP8GcHc5wahp9lIGp6hE71XxzcspiP-kGPp83Rpp2CGIbkK4vS/s400/Ann_Aiken.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHWgD9DQYIAyyaP4bAxNAfqdJUF5YCkG4gQ8fo9A8Ywb6MTqBjnjBgUDIZYzv5HGnlT3FQX-Lx3VWLNF8r2AiRt3reh_USB9Awsv79rylAPN-PkTmOglEKSRwDVz-DxLS9wjBie__Kw9DP8GcHc5wahp9lIGp6hE71XxzcspiP-kGPp83Rpp2CGIbkK4vS/s320/Ann_Aiken.png" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Public domain via <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ann_Aiken.png" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons</a></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Today, March 10, is the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/observances/women-judges-day" target="_blank">International Day of Women Judges</a>, and I want to nominate for recognition <a href="https://www.ord.uscourts.gov/93-honorable-judge-ann-aiken" target="_blank">U.S. Senior District Judge Ann Aiken</a>.</p><p>Judge Aiken is the trial judge in the best known American youth climate suit, <i>Juliana v. United States</i> (<a href="https://climatecasechart.com/case/juliana-v-united-states/" target="_blank">in Climate Change Litigation Database</a>). She's been a dog with a bone in <i>Juliana</i>, refusing to give short shrift to the complainants despite immense pressure by Obama, Trump, <i>and</i> Biden administrations, and despite increasingly anguished glares of disapproval over the rims of reading glasses at the Ninth Circuit.</p><p>Judge Aiken's 2016 district court <a href="https://climatecasechart.com/wp-content/uploads/case-documents/2016/20160114_docket-615-cv-1517_order-2.pdf" target="_blank">opinion in <i>Juliana</i></a>, however many times it's pummeled on appeal, is masterful (which is to take nothing away from the groundwork expertly laid by Magistrate Judge Thomas M. Coffin). Judge Aiken makes the case for climate change litigation upon the seemingly inarguable proposition that the constitutional right to "life, liberty, or property" rather implies a breathable atmosphere as prerequisite.</p><p>The wrinkle in Aiken's analysis is the implication of the courts in the policy business of the political branches. That's why Aiken drives everyone from her appellate overseers to American presidents to handwringing paroxysm. But that's what we should want: If judges are to "throw up their hands" and do nothing to avert the extinction of human life, as Ninth Circuit Judge Josephine Staton accused her colleagues on appeal in <i>Juliana</i> in 2020, we should want to be sure that the very best arguments have been tested.</p><p>Judge Aiken was appointed to the federal bench by President Bill Clinton in 1998. She previously practiced law in Oregon and served as a state judge. Her willingness to be bold when the situation demands came to national attention in 2007 when she ruled that parts of the USA PATRIOT Act violated the Fourth Amendment for authorizing warrantless surveillance. Also boldly, Aiken has five children.<br /></p><p>I've edited <i>Juliana </i>2016 for the forthcoming chapter 17, on government liability, of my <a href="https://www.lulu.com/shop/rj-peltz-steele/tortz-volume-2/paperback/product-7kkj6md.html?q=tortz&page=1&pageSize=4" target="_blank"><i>Tortz </i>volume 2</a>, out in revised edition later this year, 2024. That edit emphasizes the tort and civil rights aspects of the opinion. I have prepared a different edit, if any teacher desires, emphasizing points of constitutional law for my Comparative Law class in fall 2024 and a forthcoming curriculum on global law being organized under the auspices of European Legal Practice Integrated Studies, an Erasmus program.</p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-8806310166410120032024-03-09T12:00:00.002-05:002024-03-09T16:29:49.897-05:00Can't see sports, Oscars without channel-bundle subscription you don't want? Let regulators know<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS1Kqw46z7tdMkoMynjRAX6soajGj5x3S75ebS_Up1AwXfqwSZOt2xdBKi-iR_OO8dA4CbK9Vz73UPNOryBD3Ju6-0iy0iplOP83ycm7Wto6Nv32QYdJ3XR_HoTl1Ve-YjN1ZXkZ-OCFun5EItH4EFcnnE-vf8msx4wUJDkkSoJxiVdWeJR5uxtXyMl7rn/s1024/image0_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS1Kqw46z7tdMkoMynjRAX6soajGj5x3S75ebS_Up1AwXfqwSZOt2xdBKi-iR_OO8dA4CbK9Vz73UPNOryBD3Ju6-0iy0iplOP83ycm7Wto6Nv32QYdJ3XR_HoTl1Ve-YjN1ZXkZ-OCFun5EItH4EFcnnE-vf8msx4wUJDkkSoJxiVdWeJR5uxtXyMl7rn/w320-h320/image0_0.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://gencraft.com/generate" target="_blank">Gencraft</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table>I filed a comment today with the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/atr/complaint-center" target="_blank">Antitrust Division</a> of the U.S. Department of Justice regarding the Disney-Fox-Warner sport streaming deal, and more generally, the anticompetitive practice of streaming television sales with channel-bundling leverage and opt-out subscriptions.</p><hr /><p><span style="color: #38761d;">9 March 2024</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #38761d;">Dear sir or madam at the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice:</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #38761d;">I understand you are scrutinizing the Disney-Fox-Warner sport bundling agreement, and you no doubt are sensitive to the situation in televised sport since the recent congressional hearings on sport media rights.</span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d;">I draw your attention to two of this weekend's top offerings in sport and entertainment, because they are demonstrative of the problem now in the streaming industry—which is to say, for our times, in the television industry.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #38761d;">In sports, this weekend will see a meeting of the top two, closely matched soccer teams in the world contending for the Premier League championship, Manchester City and Liverpool. NBC owns U.S. TV rights to Premier League matches in the United States. NBC's practice is to break up matches horizontally, across its many media properties and contractual arrangements, compelling consumers to have to pay for multiple services to follow a single team in a single sport.</span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d;">The practice is worse still: high-interest matches such as Sunday's are available only with the purchase of subscription bundles to channel packages consumers do not want. Yes, the match is available from multiple electronic packages, but each is an expensive bundle: Fubo, Sling, DirecTV, and USA on cable television. <i>There is no one-off purchase option, nor even a one-channel purchase option. </i>The price of one month on one of these services far exceeds the market value of one match, or even four weekly matches.</span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d;">This leveraged bundling, compelling consumers to buy what they do not want to get what they do want, especially in a billing format of opt-out subscription renewal, is an anticompetitive practice. It is ironic that Fubo has sued in private antitrust enforcement to stop the Disney-Fox-Warner agreement. Fubo's position seems to be that it wishes to profit in the vertical market from bundling leverage, but does not want providers to profit from the same model in a horizontal arrangement.
In entertainment, the Oscars air on ABC Sunday night. Like NBC in sports, ABC is making this popular program available only through bundled channel services such as Fubo, Sling, YouTube Live, Hulu Live, DirecTV, and ABC on cable television. Again, <i>there is no one-off purchase option, nor even a one-channel purchase option. </i></span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d;">Again, consumers must buy access to content they do not want, again in a billing format of opt-out subscription renewal. Media watchers such as Vulture advise consumers to purchase a television antenna to see the Oscars on ABC broadcast. Is it not plain evidence of ABC's anticompetitive practice that in this day and age consumers would have to regress technologically to over-the-air broadcast to avoid paying for what they do not want? Never mind the fact that old-fashioned broadcasters have substantially dampened their signal power, so that over-the-air reception is not feasible for many Americans, even on the fringes of large markets.</span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d;">Disney-Fox-Warner argue that they must forge an agreement to meet consumer demand, so their agreement is in the public interest. They are not wrong. However, they are right only insofar as you already have permitted an anticompetitive market to exist. For a player in this market to succeed, it must grow bigger, must exploit horizontal and vertical integration.</span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d;">The fundamental problem is that the market already is dysfunctional. Market actors are trying to replicate the cable model in a streaming world. But the cable model came about as a function of technological limitations, not market forces.</span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d;">Is it not self evident that in a <i>free market</i>, consumers would be able to buy what they want and not buy what they do not want?</span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d;">I entreat you not to approve of the creation of another integrated market player. At the same time, I entreat you, start taking a hard look at the anticompetitive practices that already are tolerated in existing horizontal and vertical integrations, especially through the strategy of channel-bundling leverage and opt-out subscription sales.</span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d;">Sincerely,</span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d;">Rick J. Peltz-Steele</span></p><p><span style="color: #38761d;">(for information only:)<br />Attorney, Washington, D.C.<br />Chancellor Professor, UMass Law School </span></p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-47642375818278863412024-03-08T08:00:00.003-05:002024-03-08T09:52:48.088-05:00Pomeranian isn't a child, but must be shared by separating human parents, court rules in equity<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQJ_5H0ldS58gli4PaOxGnxvaif5RephmLj3hib-qPtlD4DKw0YuloWY0ZhBkJ9fLe070GGMg1pSqEPDbRG0IyjDyz1fYatKcV9zoyqFWlb7WV7DPjqvVcO_H13ci4UiIQB3hq9mHU9A1zsAyiIgMsRaH_ZbnUYKUVpkuTBeFZHL5dw0CcUa_8Cgt1f6eS/s6144/pexel%20pom.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4096" data-original-width="6144" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQJ_5H0ldS58gli4PaOxGnxvaif5RephmLj3hib-qPtlD4DKw0YuloWY0ZhBkJ9fLe070GGMg1pSqEPDbRG0IyjDyz1fYatKcV9zoyqFWlb7WV7DPjqvVcO_H13ci4UiIQB3hq9mHU9A1zsAyiIgMsRaH_ZbnUYKUVpkuTBeFZHL5dw0CcUa_8Cgt1f6eS/w400-h266/pexel%20pom.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-pomeranian-dog-on-a-leash-8030984/" target="_blank">Pexels</a>, <a href="https://www.pexels.com/license/" target="_blank">licensed</a>, by Tiểu Bảo Trương (not Teddy Bear)</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Who's a good boy?<p></p><p>A Pomeranian named Teddy Bear will split his time between his adoptive parents since their separation, the Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled yesterday in a 20-page opinion.</p><p>"Dog" is my favorite keyword atop a Mass. court decision, and it was the first one here. Teddy Bear's legal status as beloved personal property was at issue.</p><p>In the plaintiff and defendant's separation, they agreed to share custody of Teddy Bear on alternating weeks. Over time, the arrangement soured, and, according to the plaintiff, the defendant played the <a href="https://idiomation.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/possession-is-nine-tenths-of-the-law/" target="_blank">nine-tenths-of-the-law</a> card.</p><p>The plaintiff sued, and the motion judge of the Superior Court (<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannonfrison/" target="_blank">Shannon Frison</a>, since returned to practice) ordered that Teddy Bear's alternating schedule be restored. The defendant appealed, and a single justice of the Appeals Court (<span><a href="https://www.mass.gov/info-details/associate-justice-marguerite-t-grant" target="_blank">Marguerite T. Grant</a>, as long as we're naming names) </span>vacated the motion judge's order. (Attorney Justin R. McCarthy has <a href="https://jrmccarthy-law.com/2023/11/21/%F0%9F%91%A9%E2%9A%96%EF%B8%8F-trial-judge-cannot-order-joint-custody-of-a-pet-appeals-court-says/" target="_blank">some of the court docs</a> uploaded.)<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCdHQbBzjcffkIfqpVY1uxaeIkOxqKt5wrrN0k01RY1v0QoarqHvcM8Z58eZPIwMXqqSMmoRYi8tptFnL2UrpNW2CnIsSgY-FiDdoQnyM0NaDDfx_9KiOCMq7CcF5o21yXUAybtwxWZEtxZJAVIdhaV5SZqL-9Cd_PT9KmS0kZxnXfIb0J-zgtniVwhuWf/s3840/2024-03-07%2019.01.10.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCdHQbBzjcffkIfqpVY1uxaeIkOxqKt5wrrN0k01RY1v0QoarqHvcM8Z58eZPIwMXqqSMmoRYi8tptFnL2UrpNW2CnIsSgY-FiDdoQnyM0NaDDfx_9KiOCMq7CcF5o21yXUAybtwxWZEtxZJAVIdhaV5SZqL-9Cd_PT9KmS0kZxnXfIb0J-zgtniVwhuWf/w400-h225/2024-03-07%2019.01.10.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>The single justice opined that "the motion judge had improperly treated Teddy Bear as if he were the parties' child." The equitable remedy of specific performance ordered by the motion judge would be suitable for a case of child custody, the single justice reasoned, but is not appropriate to the disposition of personal property. Rather, the defendant, if held responsible, would owe damages for conversion.<p></p><p>The plaintiff then appealed, and the three-judge panel of the Appeals Court sided with the plaintiff. The single justice erred, and specific performance is a suitable remedy.</p><p>Alas, for poor Teddy Bear, the plaintiff prevailed not because a dog is more than mere chattel, a sentient creature capable of love for both his feuding parents. </p><p>Rather, the Appeals Court determined, it is simply so that a court possesses the equitable power to enforce a contract relating to personal property and "grant relief for delivery of a thing wrongfully withheld." The usual rule of injunction pertains to require that "the remedy at law for damages would be inadequate."</p><p>Teddy Bear got <i>some </i>cred on the inadequacy analysis. Quoting the <i>Restatements of Contracts</i>, the court wrote that personal property may have sentimental value that well exceeds its market value: "Contracts may be specifically enforceable because they involve a grandfather's clock, even though it will not run, a baby's worn-out shoe, or faithful old Dobbin the faithful horse whose exchange value in the market is less than nothing."</p><p>Moreover, the court observed, the motion judge did not fashion an equitable order from whole cloth. Rather, the plaintiff asked the court to enforce a contract that the private parties already had worked out and already had executed on in the past. Thus, it was not so that the motion judge had treated Teddy Bear as if he were a child.</p><p>The Appeals Court decision thus accords with the contemporary trend in tort law, a welcome departure from historical common law, to quantify the value of pets to account for their emotional value to their owners, more than their mere replacement or resale value, which might be nought. </p><p>The case is <i><a href="https://www.socialaw.com/services/slip-opinions/slip-opinion-details/brett-lyman-vs.-sasha-lanser" target="_blank">Lyman v. Lanser</a> </i>(Mass. App. Ct. Mar. 7, 2024). <a href="https://www.mass.gov/info-details/associate-justice-peter-w-sacks" target="_blank">Justice Peter W. Sacks</a> wrote the opinion of the unanimous panel, which also comprised Justices Brennan and D'Angelo.</p><p>Teddy Bear's a good boy; that's who.<br /></p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-57400824418598174652024-03-07T20:00:00.003-05:002024-03-08T09:50:15.665-05:00UK anti-SLAPP bill takes fire<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLAnLt-od8uWmUHnbX2hzcO1GXqz4DJbyLt-Pq4263Ez6Mnyky0YMzMtzpJO_z1IAaLwuU78I0s3CjWcv6pfMemEQ9A2tcqtT7qNbCVH1hZubWEqL3KqqPlktcx18hfR06QwzQs2mWWfwGUlUa9qkOI-nQ_M5RMUUajWmrek8I5svXKcOdHk8FGEEViI0e/s9243/Pages%20from%20230021.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="9243" data-original-width="7289" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLAnLt-od8uWmUHnbX2hzcO1GXqz4DJbyLt-Pq4263Ez6Mnyky0YMzMtzpJO_z1IAaLwuU78I0s3CjWcv6pfMemEQ9A2tcqtT7qNbCVH1hZubWEqL3KqqPlktcx18hfR06QwzQs2mWWfwGUlUa9qkOI-nQ_M5RMUUajWmrek8I5svXKcOdHk8FGEEViI0e/s320/Pages%20from%20230021.jpg" width="252" /></a></div>The United Kingdom has <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/58-04/0021/230021.pdf" target="_blank">an anti-SLAPP bill</a> on the table, and lawyer <a href="https://www.simkins.com/people/gideon-benaim" target="_blank">Gideon Benaim</a> has cataloged objections.<p></p><p>In broad strokes, the bill follows the usual pattern of anti-SLAPP, looking for free speech and public interests on the part of the defendant, which then burdens the plaintiff with proving probable success on the merits out of the gate.<br /></p><p>Benaim published his objections on the INFORRM blog, <a href="https://inforrm.org/2024/03/06/strategic-litigation-against-public-participation-bill-2024-part-1-the-provisions-gideon-benaim/" target="_blank">part 1</a> and <a href="https://inforrm.org/2024/03/07/strategic-litigation-against-public-participation-bill-2024-part-1-the-problems-gideon-benaim/" target="_blank">part 2</a>. Some of his objections track <a href="http://www.thesavorytort.com/2021/04/media-want-anti-slapp-security-while.html" target="_blank">those that I articulated</a> in 2021 as to American anti-SLAPP statutes. I lamented the unfairness of expecting a plaintiff to meet an extraordinary proof standard such as actual malice as to falsity without the benefit of discovery. The equivalent UK approach expects a plaintiff to overcome a bare public interest defense without the opportunity to probe the publisher's process or motives.</p><p>Benaim also points out, as I have, that anti-SLAPP is as likely to be invoked by the powerful against the weak as vice versa; Goliath media giant against aggrieved individual; or, as happened, President Trump against sexual assault complainant Stormy Daniels.</p><p>Benaim is a rarity, a plaintiff's lawyer in media torts. Not that everyday aggrieved individuals will be able to score a place on his client list, which <a href="https://www.simkins.com/people/gideon-benaim" target="_blank">includes</a> JK Rowling, Naomi Campbell, Roman Polanski, and Gordon Ramsay.</p><p>At least in the United States, at least, the already daunting odds of prevailing in a media tort case against a publisher with expert defense counsel on retainer causes most would-be plaintiffs not to sue at all, no matter how just their causes. They can't find counsel and certainly can't navigate complex media torts pro se. And that's before anti-SLAPP comes into play, threatening a losing plaintiff with having to pay the attorney fees of the media giant's high-dollar representation.</p><p>As I've written before, anti-SLAPP works well when it works well. Statutes just aren't drafted to ensure that that's always the case. It looks like the UK is struggling with the same problem.<br /></p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-55375455443253054982024-03-06T08:00:00.005-05:002024-03-06T10:22:31.301-05:00Smart but unconstitutional? Trump appointee inverts Scalia maxim in striking corporate transparency law<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwUBRznfCORgN3h79BFdNzxWEle9MoKu0tGR-akecqwIXLhyphenhyphen2xQO9E0HRIvucu9QdSwJk-Drka0aUUDmyuP3msoYfXXAo_TnLr-Y29Pzgpv2mzjvV0qmnZOYEjdQJUkkTFhyGzsScnFn8cyEdEDKcKHdJa89vWM-cnNUaahD5Ee9TR3Jb6aSSXa5BMxNLz/s799/16215916932_fdc91c3f95_c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="799" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwUBRznfCORgN3h79BFdNzxWEle9MoKu0tGR-akecqwIXLhyphenhyphen2xQO9E0HRIvucu9QdSwJk-Drka0aUUDmyuP3msoYfXXAo_TnLr-Y29Pzgpv2mzjvV0qmnZOYEjdQJUkkTFhyGzsScnFn8cyEdEDKcKHdJa89vWM-cnNUaahD5Ee9TR3Jb6aSSXa5BMxNLz/w400-h266/16215916932_fdc91c3f95_c.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Corporate Transparency," Seattle</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">by <a href="https://daniel.fo/" target="_blank">Daniel Foster</a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/danielfoster/16215916932" target="_blank">via Flickr</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/" target="_blank">CC BY-NC 2.0</a></span> <br /></td></tr></tbody></table>A federal district court in Alabama <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/alabama/alndce/5:2022cv01448/183445/51/" target="_blank">ruled</a> the Corporate Transparency Act, a key anti-corruption statute, unconstitutional upon the inverse of a maxim of the late Justice Antonin Scalia.<br /></p><p>There's much commentary on the reading-people's internet about the significance of the March 1, 2024, decision, which is certain to be reviewed by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The dry question of business regulation might not make the cut on the TikTok news cycle, meanwhile, but the issue is immensely important.</p><p>Effective in January 2024, the <a href="https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/shared/Corporate_Transparency_Act.pdf" target="_blank">Corporate Transparency Act</a>, part of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020, which in turn is part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 ("NDAA"), requires most businesses to report their "beneficial owners" with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the U.S. Treasury Department. The information is not then public, but can be shared with law enforcement, including tax authorities.</p><p>The change in law has been in the works for some 20 years, conceived initially in the years after 9-11 to combat the financing of terrorism. The ABA Business Law Section has a deeper dive <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/business_law/resources/business-law-today/2021-may/the-corporate-transparency-act/?login" target="_blank">for subscribers</a>.</p><p>Critically, the transparency around beneficial corporate ownership brings the United States into compliance with transnational norms. We had become something of a money-laundering haven in the world because of the secrecy we allow around ownership of corporations, namely (pun intended) anonymous shell corporations.</p><p>People who are keen to exert dark-money influence in politics, to hide assets, or to launder money, of course, tend to have a lot of it. So the law did not come about quickly or easily. But Congress was determined enough in the end to enact the law by a super-majority, overriding President Trump's veto of the NDAA.</p><p>Constitutional objections to the law are abundant, based in the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments, besides the limits of congressional power under Article I, as amended. It was only the latter theory on which Judge Liles Burke <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/alabama/alndce/5:2022cv01448/183445/51/" target="_blank">ruled</a>. He concluded that the Corporate Transparency Act strays beyond the necessary-and-proper latitude afforded Congress for any of its constitutional powers, including the Commerce Clause and the Sixteenth Amendment taxing power. It's a problem in vertical federalism; if there is to be transparency in corporate beneficial ownership, then, it must come from the states. Burke is a Trump appointee.</p><p>I'm skeptical of the winning argument. Congress's powers in business regulation are substantial, and corruption and tax evasion are almost invariably interstate endeavors. Thus, the significance of the decision: for if it is right, a great deal more of our federal regulatory and taxing machinery will be suspect.</p><p>To be fair, small businesses objected to the added burdens of FinCEN compliance amid their already hefty costs in tax compliance, and I am empathetic. We might ought do something about that. But I suspect the legislative obstacles have more to do with keeping commercial-tax preparers in business and keeping the law arcane to shield loopholes, than with flat aversion to transparency.<br /></p><p>The other constitutional objections are not frivolous, even if they don't hold up in the end; the rights-based theories have more romantic appeal to the classical liberal. The Fifth Amendment claim is based on due process, not so strong by itself; the Fourth Amendment claim is creative: search or seizure without reasonable suspicion. The First Amendment claim gave me pause: Compelled transparency compromises anonymous speech.<br /></p><p>It happens that just last month, I (pro se) created a nonprofit entity to operate an academic research project. To free my New York nonprofit of minimum tax obligations—even though it has and anticipates no money—I applied for a 501(c)(3) determination from the IRS—which costs, by the way, a $275 tip to Uncle Sam.</p><p>The IRS informed me that upon approval, I will have to report my nonprofit's beneficial owners to FinCEN. It's irritating; mostly, I'm put off just wondering whether there will be yet another fee. But it did occur to me that my nonprofit will be engaged in academic expression, and it might have things to say that will upset people in power. So there is a hint of Orwellianism in having to register my <i>state </i>entity with the <i>federal </i>FinCEN and identify my "beneficial owners"—remember, not even with any money in the mix.</p><p>At the same time, this is the uneasy balance we always have struck with the nonprofit tax registrations of First Amendment-sensitive enterprises, such as churches and issue advocates. In essence, this is the <i>Citizens United </i>problem, which I've always thought is more layered than it gets credit for. We have not found a principled way to differentiate Nike-as-speaker from the ACLU-as-speaker without some office of government problematically intervening to make the call.</p><p>Anyway, what attracted me to this ruling from Alabama is none of the above; rather, it was page one of Judge Burke's opinion. Have a read:</p><blockquote><p>The late Justice Antonin Scalia once remarked that federal judges should have a rubber stamp that says S<span style="font-size: x-small;">TUPID</span> B<span style="font-size: x-small;">UT</span> C<span style="font-size: x-small;">ONSTITUTIONAL</span>. <i>See </i>Jennifer Senior, <i>In Conversation: Antonin Scalia</i>, New York Magazine, Oct. 4, 2013. The Constitution, in other words, does not allow judges to strike down a law merely because it is burdensome, foolish, or offensive. Yet the inverse is also true—the wisdom of a policy is no guarantee of its constitutionality. Indeed, even in the pursuit of sensible and praiseworthy ends, Congress sometimes enacts smart laws that violate the Constitution. This case, which concerns the constitutionality of the Corporate Transparency Act, illustrates that principle.</p></blockquote><p>If that doesn't suck you into a 53-page opinion on financial regulation, nothing will.</p><p>For the time being, as of March 4, 2024, FinCEN <a href="https://www.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/notice-regarding-national-small-business-united-v-yellen-no-522-cv-01448-nd-ala" target="_blank">has suspended</a> reporting obligations for plaintiffs in the action only, including members of the National Small Business Association.<br /></p><p>The case is <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/alabama/alndce/5:2022cv01448/183445/51/" target="_blank"><i>National Small Business United v. Yellen</i></a> (N.D. Ala. Mar. 1, 2024). The plaintiff is a 501(c)(6) <a href="https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/530233266" target="_blank">nonprofit</a>, I'm guessing a <a href="https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/other-non-profits/business-leagues" target="_blank">business league</a>, though it sounds like a not-too-exciting football league.</p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-6810094781649265202024-03-02T08:00:00.003-05:002024-03-02T08:00:00.246-05:00Observers comment on Assange extradition hearings<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0y8gQXXSrgwPIQgrCAP-uloMsDiZiXjsUnfbBHR5Pwrbjt3rYIHdqSkQoyn8iNEdAyYR9RIJTNmHMEuuez8vlQRU3XHJ3khAsv1GfahCQsScQuaqTM-sqc-kpJzPpers7OCS1gvqNm58HORAfo40OnDXMcYiPSR8atrL2lpzkwT1-oJLcLCnt3Tu7Jd9s/s1280/vlcsnap-2024-02-27-09h55m57s621.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0y8gQXXSrgwPIQgrCAP-uloMsDiZiXjsUnfbBHR5Pwrbjt3rYIHdqSkQoyn8iNEdAyYR9RIJTNmHMEuuez8vlQRU3XHJ3khAsv1GfahCQsScQuaqTM-sqc-kpJzPpers7OCS1gvqNm58HORAfo40OnDXMcYiPSR8atrL2lpzkwT1-oJLcLCnt3Tu7Jd9s/w640-h360/vlcsnap-2024-02-27-09h55m57s621.png" width="640" /></a></div><p><br />My thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/AssangeBoston" target="_blank">Assange Defense Boston</a> for organizing the Massachusetts State House rally on February 20 (above). Assange Defense Boston posted on X a couple of clips of me (below). Read more about <a href="http://www.thesavorytort.com/2024/02/me-and-julian-assange.html" target="_blank">"Me and Julian Assange"</a> and see <a href="http://www.thesavorytort.com/2024/02/assange-defense-boston-rallies-at-state.html" target="_blank">my images from the event</a>. </p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IUDolH93lM&t=9s" target="_blank">Here (and embedded below) is a webinar</a> from the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights about the February 20 and 21 hearings in the UK High Court of Justice. And <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4TFz_FGE78&t=0s" target="_blank">here (and embedded below) are discussions</a> of journalists, diplomats, and others who were in the room for parts of the hearings.
</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">"..it's not partisanship...this is about government accountability. You can not form coherent policy positions...unless you have the info on which to base them. That's what Julian Assange is about. That's what resisting his extradition is about"<br />Prof. Rick Peltz-Steele <a href="https://twitter.com/UMassLaw?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UMassLaw</a> <a href="https://t.co/9ONm9RDxVz">pic.twitter.com/9ONm9RDxVz</a></p>— Assange Defense Boston (@AssangeBoston) <a href="https://twitter.com/AssangeBoston/status/1760832257198068006?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script> <br /><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">"[Assange]developed this amazing idea abt freedom of information absolutism...When he founded WikiLeaks..to make the best use of this new democratizing instrument on the internet" Prof. Richard Peltz-Steele <a href="https://twitter.com/UMassLaw?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UMassLaw</a>, co-signee letter to <a href="https://twitter.com/TheJusticeDept?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheJusticeDept</a><a href="https://t.co/RJLoxdBue7">https://t.co/RJLoxdBue7</a><br />2/ <a href="https://t.co/umiT9FAvQz">pic.twitter.com/umiT9FAvQz</a></p>— Assange Defense Boston (@AssangeBoston) <a href="https://twitter.com/AssangeBoston/status/1760819783199555999?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br /><br /><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2IUDolH93lM?si=XdFConK4cTV4HcmF" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><br /><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X4TFz_FGE78?si=QlZKkF2-oHkjaLHR" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-65468831576685160642024-03-01T08:00:00.005-05:002024-03-01T08:00:00.135-05:00State high court simplifies anti-SLAPP, draws picture<p>Notwithstanding the merits of anti-<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/slapp_suit" target="_blank">SLAPP</a> statutes—I've <a href="http://www.thesavorytort.com/search/label/anti-SLAPP" target="_blank">opined plenty</a>, including a <a href="http://www.thesavorytort.com/2021/04/media-want-anti-slapp-security-while.html" target="_blank">catalog of problems</a>—the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (SJC) in recent years made a mess of the state anti-SLAPP law by creating an arcane procedure that befuddled and frustrated the lower courts.</p><p>Yesterday the SJC admitted the arcanity and clarified the procedure. I'll note that one thing I like about the Mass. law is that it has a focused trigger in petitioning activity; that's not changing. It'll take me some time to work through the 50 pages of the opinion. But to my delight, there's a picture! The SJC kindly created a flow chart:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs_ZYjNU5mIHO4JcjsbdOWsNFtTjuMGZ_ovs-ew3_7NA2BnE3mwB3j3Vnlqd6T8zyRuR4lzeUnb9E-N1ALxdK6XLS66pjKtNEIUtvAJy00fcdhRFHxIN_2m2pmHm5ceYrBWfb7XgMK9JAzdnQRLkrL5ofjxj3Qprb7ssC5dnL05xT5Bw2zBRa8afgLaHPL/s10940/antiSLAPP-%20Mass-%20reform%20proc%20how-to-p%20SJC%202402.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="10940" data-original-width="7437" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs_ZYjNU5mIHO4JcjsbdOWsNFtTjuMGZ_ovs-ew3_7NA2BnE3mwB3j3Vnlqd6T8zyRuR4lzeUnb9E-N1ALxdK6XLS66pjKtNEIUtvAJy00fcdhRFHxIN_2m2pmHm5ceYrBWfb7XgMK9JAzdnQRLkrL5ofjxj3Qprb7ssC5dnL05xT5Bw2zBRa8afgLaHPL/w436-h640/antiSLAPP-%20Mass-%20reform%20proc%20how-to-p%20SJC%202402.jpg" width="436" /></a></div>The case is <i>Bristol Asphalt Co. v. Rochester Bituminous Products, Inc. </i>(Mass. Feb. 29, 2024). The court then helpfully applied the new framework in another case the same day, <i>Columbia Plaza Associates v. Northeastern University</i> (Mass. Feb. 29, 2023). (<a href="https://www.mass.gov/info-details/new-opinions" target="_blank">Temporary posting of new opinions.</a>)<p></p><p>The court's unofficial top technocrat, Chief Justice Scott L. Kafker authored both opinions. The court affirmed in both cases, denying the anti-SLAPP motion to strike in <i>Bristol Asphalt</i> and granting it in <i>Columbia Plaza</i>, so the lower courts waded their way to correct conclusions despite the mire.<br /></p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-11367377016088843962024-02-29T11:00:00.004-05:002024-03-01T13:35:42.388-05:00ABA adopts academic freedom standard, but 'Crossroads' convo shows, not everybody gets it<p>Is the American Bar Association (ABA) "Doing Enough to Promote Viewpoint Diversity?," panelists were asked at the ABA <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/departments_offices/meetings_travel_dept/midyear-meeting/" target="_blank">Midyear Meeting</a> in Louisville, Ky., on February 3.<br /></p><p><i>No</i>, I say emphatically. So I was pleased that my take was represented on the panel by Kentucky <a href="https://www.taftlaw.com/people/philip-d-williamson/">attorney Philip D. Williamson</a> and South Texas College of Law Professor <a href="https://joshblackman.com/" target="_blank">Josh Blackman</a>.</p><p>Having made a quantitative assessment of 10 years of ABA amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court, Williamson listed positions to which the ABA has committed itself. The ABA has taken positions, such as on <i>Roe </i>and <i>Dobbs</i>, that are not related to the practice of law or legal professionalism, and about which there is rational disagreement among lawyers. </p><p>ABA briefs also take "diametrically opposed" positions, Williamson said: favoring stare decisis in <i>Dobbs</i>, but disfavoring it on juror unanimity; favoring state power in a
Republican administration, favoring federal power in a Democrat administration; regarding tribal classifications as political rather than racial, and then, under the Trump travel ban, arguing nationality classifications as racial rather than political. One might ask, Williamson posited, "Why does the ABA care about this at all?" <br /></p><p>The only common thread in ABA positions, Williamson said, is consistency with liberal politics. Would right-of-center lawyers feel welcome in the ABA?, Williamson asked. "No." There might be one amicus in the pile that aligned with a red-state attorney general, Williamson said, but it's "hard to find."</p><p>Williamson also criticized ABA policy on racial classifications as hypocritical. Until recently, the ABA had numerical quotas based on race in composing panels for continuing legal education (CLE) programs. The ABA <a href="https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-news/aba-revises-its-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-cle-policy/" target="_blank">backed down</a> when the Florida Bar resisted awarding CLE credits upon a policy it viewed as unconstitutionally racially discriminatory.</p><p>Williamson observed that for ABA diversity purposes, "Asian" regards a Bangladeshi person and a Chinese person as "interchangeable." "Maybe we could fine tune how we think about race," Williamson said, "rather than how fast you sunburn in Miami." You won't read that in <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2024/02/heart-soul-of-aba/" target="_blank">the ABA coverage of the event</a>.<br /></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_1etLKjJhB_uzcbfrcKch8FBV-F6bnkmVeGCRbzQAeeTTTCW9tpAv4ggsNARqjTbDsCRez6ULerO3wZmGrh1KbJVYO0lKpvT8KLmZoQMhSKMkjOkaBmyWVwTjuBZixMRCLX7Y4Jlrn8gCIUYVWWphZz7ZoFinA110-Rxo5nuhfqUtOBr3qhBPmjexMOT6/s1133/2.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1133" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_1etLKjJhB_uzcbfrcKch8FBV-F6bnkmVeGCRbzQAeeTTTCW9tpAv4ggsNARqjTbDsCRez6ULerO3wZmGrh1KbJVYO0lKpvT8KLmZoQMhSKMkjOkaBmyWVwTjuBZixMRCLX7Y4Jlrn8gCIUYVWWphZz7ZoFinA110-Rxo5nuhfqUtOBr3qhBPmjexMOT6/w400-h176/2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Williamson, Thomas, Blackman, and Rosenblum</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">RJ Peltz-Steele <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en" target="_blank">CC BY-NC-SA 4.0</a></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Chicago attorney <a href="https://qpwblaw.com/attorney/jtjuanthomaslaw-com/" target="_blank">Juan R. Thomas</a> said he welcomes viewpoint diversity, subject to one condition: He paraphrased James Baldwin: "We can disagree and still love each other unless
your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity
and right to exist." (The quote is widely attributed to Baldwin, but I cannot find an original source.)<p></p><p>We can debate which Super Bowl team is the better, Thomas said, but not whether they play football.<br /></p><p>I admire Thomas quite a bit, and the Baldwin quote is a self-evident truth. But it's also a red herring.</p><p>Blackman asked in response—also omitted from the ABA coverage—"if I can't oppose qualified immunity because it's not grounded in the Fourteenth Amendment, that makes me a racist?"</p><p>Thomas, who is a minister besides lawyer, also voiced a "dirty secret," that "not all people of color are progressives." He should have directed the observation to the ABA, not to his co-panelist adversaries. Their very point was that the ABA should be wary of taking politically charged positions over which reasonable, informed people disagree.<br /></p><p></p><p>To Thomas's point, a lawyer commenting from the audience said something that resonated with me: that he personally opposes lawmakers making abortion decisions for women, but he believes that <i>Roe </i>was wrongly decided as a matter of federalism. That's the unpopular conclusion that I, too, came to, many years ago. I refrain from voicing it in the liberal circles of academia.</p><p>My position on affirmative action is similar. I champion socioeconomic equality and fully acknowledge systemic racism, but I so abhor government classification based on race that I cannot countenance official discrimination as a purported redress of discrimination. I rather would redress systemic inequalities through socioeconomic amelioration.</p><p>I said as much once out loud, and the <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1488561" target="_blank"><i>r</i>-word</a> charges <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/11/17/what-you-cant-win-court" target="_blank">upended my life and career</a>. An ABA accreditation site team at the time was fully informed of the matter and brushed it under the rug. One rocks the boat at one's hazard at an ABA-compliant school. </p><p>Which brings me to an interesting point and an occasion for the ABA discussion: At the time of the caucus meeting, the ABA had just signed off on new legal education <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/legal_education_and_admissions_to_the_bar/council_reports_and_resolutions/aug23/23-aug-src-memo-standards-revisions-notice-comment.pdf" target="_blank">Standard 208</a>, which requires ABA-accredited law schools, such as the one where I work, to "adopt, publish, and adhere to written policies that protect academic freedom."</p><p>That only took 70 years since the Second Red Scare.</p><p>I'm keen to see whether the ABA really will follow through. ABA accreditation of law schools is nothing but a pricey protection racket. Entry costs are steep to join the club, but once you're in, you can do no wrong—almost: woe to the <a href="https://nationaljurist.com/national-jurist-magazine/thomas-jefferson-and-la-verne-out-aba/" target="_blank">unfortunate straggler</a> left to hang in the wind to prove the legitimacy of the system. The ABA is terrified of <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/08/31/aba-taken-task-feds-and-critics-law-school-student-outcomes" target="_blank">losing its monopoly power</a> over legal education, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/05/us/politics/biden-american-bar-association-judges.html" target="_blank">it did over judicial confirmation</a>.</p><p>The kicker-quote in the ABA's own coverage of the caucus program does not induce confidence: "'I would be proud to be the last member standing of an association that fights against oppression,' [attorney and author <a href="https://www.rikleeninstitute.com/about-lauren" target="_blank">Lauren Stiller Rikleen</a>] stated."</p><p>Right, because that's what this is about. Standing for equality and rule of law makes me pro oppression.</p><p>The ABA Midyear panel on "Are the ABA and the Legal Profession Doing Enough to Promote Viewpoint Diversity?" comprised Williamson, Blackman, Thomas, and Oregon <a href="https://www.doj.state.or.us/oregon-department-of-justice/office-of-the-attorney-general/ellen-f-rosenblum-attorney-general/" target="_blank">Attorney General Ellen F. Rosenblum</a>. Senior U.S. Sixth Circuit Judge Danny J. Boggs moderated.<br /></p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-28445270583083459412024-02-28T08:00:00.001-05:002024-02-28T08:00:00.146-05:00Consultant panning contractor was not 'improper' interference with lucrative reno deal, court holds<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUCGHWEgNSxePygOp3zqXjzG9HzS10-rE5jVuv403l5mjLuEjdC_mvUJL1xdS01E8iFQc6T9Jlk5UsFpsjHm7jjDTUXNNCmXqw0JUM3pscv46fcU25nMRAEfMmdRkQynGKbtZs5wAXmPqGnqxEVBQWtY8wZBoauV7eM0e9bHdqjfKmmIH6m1gDKvDtJ2iq/s3500/reno.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2328" data-original-width="3500" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUCGHWEgNSxePygOp3zqXjzG9HzS10-rE5jVuv403l5mjLuEjdC_mvUJL1xdS01E8iFQc6T9Jlk5UsFpsjHm7jjDTUXNNCmXqw0JUM3pscv46fcU25nMRAEfMmdRkQynGKbtZs5wAXmPqGnqxEVBQWtY8wZBoauV7eM0e9bHdqjfKmmIH6m1gDKvDtJ2iq/w400-h266/reno.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.rawpixel.com/image/9659018/image-person-public-domain-interior" target="_blank">Rawpixel</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/" target="_blank">CC0 1.0</a></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>An architect whom homeowners hired to review their bills in multimillion-dollar renovation did not tortiously interfere with the reno contract when he advised them to terminate and hire another contractor, the Massachusetts Appeals Court held yesterday.</p><p>The devil in the details here is the element "improper" in the tort of interference. The same element, or the same concept, lives at the heart of many a business tort, and it's a difficult line to find. Indeed, the Appeals Court wrote that "improper" "has proved difficult to capture in a universal standard." </p><p>Interference with contract in Massachusetts law requires a contract or prospective business relation, knowing inducement to break the contract, interference by "improper motive or means," and harm to the plaintiff as a proximate result. Here, the <a href="https://www.ajmarchitects.com/biography" target="_blank">architect</a> told the homeowners they were being overbilled and urged them to terminate the renovation contract and hire a contractor the architect recommended. They did, and the <a href="https://thinkcuttingedge.com/" target="_blank">terminated contractor</a> sued the architect for interference with contract.</p><p>The fact pattern is common for generating interference claims, as the very job of the defendant is, in a sense, interference, that is, to run interference between consulting client and its contractor. Only "improper" was in dispute, and the plaintiff-contractor could not show evidence that measured up.</p><p>The plaintiff disputed the veracity and quality of the defendant's consultation and advice. But worst case, the court reasoned, the plaintiff might persuade a jury to find negligence or gross negligence. That can't be the basis of an interference claim, because then the interference tort would make actionable every negligent infliction of economic loss. </p><p>The negligence tort usually requires a physical infliction of loss or harm. Business torts are exceptional in this regard, but they are predicated on a strong duty relationship, such as contract or fiduciary obligation. The plaintiff-architect and defendant-contractor here were not in privity of contract.</p><p>The court looked to an earlier case in which the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court had allowed interference predicated on deceit or intentional misrepresentation. That can suffice to support interference. But there was no evidence here of deceit. So the court pondered what improper means short of that standard.<br /></p><p>The court leaned heavily on the <i>Second Restatement of Torts</i>, which suggested, besides deceit, threats, defamation, or other conduct "innately wrongful, [and] predatory in character." Inversely, the <i>Second Restatement </i>advises that no interference liability can arise from "truthful information" or "honest advice within the scope of a request for advice."</p><p>The latter standard fit, the court opined. And the <i>Restatement </i>comments elaborated, "[N]o more than good faith is required," regardless of competence. "The rule as to honest advice applies to protect the public and private interests in freedom of communication and friendly intercourse," affording latitude especially to "the lawyer, the doctor, the clergyman, the banker, the investment, marriage or other counselor, and the efficiency expert."</p><p>The court affirmed the superior court award of summary judgment to the defendant.<br /></p><p>There's unfortunately one point of confusion reiterated in the court's opinion. The court correctly pointed to a line of Massachusetts cases approving of "actual malice" as supporting interference claims in the context of employment, when a disgruntled terminated worker claims interference against a supervisor or corporate officer for interfering with the worker's employment contract. In this context, the courts defined "actual malice" as "spiteful, malignant purpose unrelated to a legitimate corporate interest."</p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8_ztG7b9ABT7B5ltv6XrHe4Y9glPBPqmglyJrPp5DDy8r5W_O72T3WhrO13BneHHdpgZmuZA21ZLM9WzSPTrU0ohhzO38wMyGSgVaYmuhBR8qCKoX067NQYvix0zWzUcm_CukkRCLVmW9pjy4IrSKzbwDLlkBrE1u9TI3DCRfSe6ZxuB3Ir1gzO3Jmp0E/s512/angry%20devil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="509" data-original-width="512" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8_ztG7b9ABT7B5ltv6XrHe4Y9glPBPqmglyJrPp5DDy8r5W_O72T3WhrO13BneHHdpgZmuZA21ZLM9WzSPTrU0ohhzO38wMyGSgVaYmuhBR8qCKoX067NQYvix0zWzUcm_CukkRCLVmW9pjy4IrSKzbwDLlkBrE1u9TI3DCRfSe6ZxuB3Ir1gzO3Jmp0E/w200-h199/angry%20devil.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Common law malice</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>That's not what "actual malice" means, at least in the civil context. "Actual malice" generally is a stand-in for reckless indifference and is distinguishable from "common law malice," which represents spite, ill will, or hatred. It's been observed many times that "actual malice" is unfortunately named, and it would be better had there been a different term from the start. Common law malice can be evidence of actual malice, but certainly is not required. The difference <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/communications_law/publications/communications_lawyer/2023-summer/how-best-explain-actual-malice-juries-starters-dont-use-those-words/?login" target="_blank">can be confusing to jurors</a>.</p><p>The Massachusetts precedents on interference in the employment context seem to have misused the term "actual malice" to refer to common law malice. OK, I guess, as long as we all know that malevolence is the one that can evidences tortious interference. </p><p>I have some doubts, by the way, about the correctness of the Massachusetts cases that apply the interference tort in fact patterns involving a fellow worker as defendant. A basic rule of interference is that one cannot be said to have interfered tortiously with a contract to which one is a party. If the defendant was clearly acting within the scope of employment, that is, as an agent of the employer, then I don't see that a tortious interference claim can arise, and there's no need to analyze impropriety. But then, I guess, the threshold requirement overlaps with the "unrelated to a corporate legitimate interest" piece of the impropriety test.</p><p>The case is <i>Cutting Edge Homes, Inc. v. Mayer</i>, No. 23-P-388 (Mass. App. Ct. Feb. 27, 2024) (<a href="https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2024/02/27/f23P0388.pdf" target="_blank">temp. slip op. posted</a>). <a href="https://www.mass.gov/info-details/associate-justice-john-c-englander" target="_blank">Justice John C. Englander</a> wrote the opinion of a unanimous panel that also comprised Justices Ditkoff and Walsh.<br /></p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-72326970148894141012024-02-27T08:00:00.010-05:002024-02-28T09:32:57.296-05:00Conference on Workplace Mobbing to convene in July, aims to establish mobbing as discrete field of study<p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color:#f55b33";><b>PLEASE JOIN US IN NIAGARA IN JULY,<br />AND SPREAD THE WORD TO YOUR NETWORKS!</b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;">A <b><a href="https://www.niagara.edu/workplace-mobbing-conference/" target="_blank">Conference on Workplace Mobbing</a> </b>will convene July 22-24, 2024, at <b>Niagara University </b>in <b>Niagara, New York, </b>and <a href="https://www.niagara.edu/workplace-mobbing-conference/" target="_blank">registration is now open</a> for participation and presentation proposals, in-person and hybrid.</p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.niagara.edu/workplace-mobbing-conference/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="184" data-original-width="460" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBGoiKEqBbt9VfOQtTiBU1RPlMJkEAMUMKtyXkjepSQcREVNXws4kZPbJfi4nuyPpetWBTY2h0ndBLpsxBsAaAyu0Lz4htrbMIypt6HuMTy0LNznQdYmGC_U-vPZaJMSbx93APJ7QLINVKg97uVJsm1rjV2I4hHsHYlDsRoyTSLNKMqq7fgPFHVBl4OMjz/w400-h160/Screenshot%202024-02-26%20224256.png" width="400" /></a></div>The conference is sponsored by <a href="https://www.niagara.edu/" target="_blank">Niagara University</a> and co-sponsored by the <a href="https://societyofsocio-economists.com/" target="_blank">Society of Socio-Economists</a>. Additional sponsorships are invited; please contact conference registrar Qingli Meng, in criminology at Niagara University, <a href="https://www.niagara.edu/workplace-mobbing-conference/" target="_blank">via the conference website</a>.<p></p><p>Mobbing is a form of group abuse of an individual and has been documented in studies in sociology and related fields for almost half a century. Mobbing is associated particularly with workplaces, where persons act in concert to effect a victim's alienation and exclusion from the community.</p><p>Workplace mobbing is especially prevalent in academic institutions. A sociologist and expert on mobbing, <a href="https://www.kwesthues.com/index.html" target="_blank">Professor Kenneth Westhues</a> has studied the phenomenon and why the academic work environment is especially fertile soil for mobbing behavior. Westhues maintains the website, <i><a href="https://www.kwesthues.com/mobbing.htm" target="_blank">Workplace Mobbing in Academe</a>.</i></p><p>While forms of interpersonal abuse such as harassment and bullying have found traction in law and become recognized in popular culture as wrongful, mobbing has not yet come fully into its own. Mobbing behaviors are complex, involving multiple perpetrators with variable states of culpability, so mobbing is not always as readily recognizable as a more abrupt infliction, such as bullying. Like harassment and bullying victims, especially before the wrongfulness of those acts were widely acknowledged, mobbing victims tend to self-blame and self-exclusion, so might not bring mobbing behaviors to light.</p><p>A purpose of the planned conference, therefore, is to disentangle mobbing from adjacent behaviors, such as bullying, harassment, and ostracism. By recognizing mobbing as a discrete phenomenon and focusing study on mobbing as a cross-cutting scholarly sub-field, fields such as psychology, economics, organizational management, employment law, and criminal law can recognize and respond to the problem of mobbing more effectively, bringing relief to victims and preventing victimization to begin with.</p><p>A welcome and invitation at the <a href="https://www.niagara.edu/workplace-mobbing-conference/" target="_blank">Conference on Workplace Mobbing</a> website explains the conference mission better than I have here, as resources available through <a href="https://www.kwesthues.com/mobbing.htm" target="_blank">Westhues's website</a> well explain mobbing and its <a href="https://www.kwesthues.com/checklist.htm" target="_blank">defining characteristics</a>.<br /></p><p>I am chairing the Scientific Committee of the <a href="https://www.niagara.edu/workplace-mobbing-conference/" target="_blank">Conference on Workplace Mobbing</a>. The interdisciplinary committee also comprises Dr. Meng; Dr. Westhues; Robert Ashford, in law at Syracuse University; Walter S. DeKeseredy, in criminology at West Virginia University; Joseph Donnermeyer, in criminology at Ohio State University; and Tim Ireland, provost at Niagara University.</p><p>The conference is grateful for technical and logistical support from Niagara University's Yonghong Tong, PhD; Michael Jeswald, MBA; Valerie Devine, assistant director of support and web development; Michael Ebbole, audio visual systems coordinator, William Stott, audio visual systems specialist; and Chang Huh, PhD.<br /></p><p>The Conference on Workplace Mobbing is a project of Conference on Workplace Mobbing Ltd., a New York nonprofit organization.</p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-67644672680880405422024-02-26T08:00:00.002-05:002024-02-26T08:52:27.030-05:00Parks group challenges soccer stadium under state constitutional right to environmental conservation<p>A Boston lawsuit pits parks against soccer, tying in knots fans of both such as me.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.emeraldnecklace.org/" target="_blank">Emerald Necklace Conservancy</a> on February 20 <a href="https://www.emeraldnecklace.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Complaint-Emerald-Necklace-Conservancy-and-Community-on-White-Stadium.pdf" target="_blank">sued</a> the <a href="https://www.boston.gov/" target="_blank">City of Boston</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/boston-unity-soccer-partners/" target="_blank">Boston Unity Soccer Partners</a> to stop the redevelopment of <a href="https://www.franklinparkcoalition.org/whitestadium/" target="_blank">White Stadium</a> to host a women's professional soccer team.</p><p>What's compelling about the case as a matter of urban redevelopment arises from the fact that a stadium is already there. The conservancy is not trying to get rid of it. Though there is tentative objection to the footprint of the redevelopment project in Franklin Park, the complaint focuses on the repurposing of the stadium for the benefit of private investors, to the exclusion of public use.</p><p>Everyone agrees that White Stadium is in sore need of refurbishment. The 1945 construction has a <a href="https://www.franklinparkcoalition.org/whitestadium/" target="_blank">storied history</a> going back to Black Panther rallies in the 1960s. Its present state of deterioration for age is evident. Naturally, local government is keen to link arms with private investment. Boston Unity makes a <a href="https://nwslboston.com/pages/boston-is-making-history-again" target="_blank">heckuva pitch</a> (<a href="http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pit1.htm" target="_blank">pun intended</a>) in a town <a href="https://bettinggods.com/sports-betting/5-most-popular-sports-in-massachusetts/" target="_blank">willing and able</a> to support an <a href="https://nwslboston.com/" target="_blank">entrant</a> in the <a href="https://www.nwslsoccer.com/news/professional-womens-soccer-returns-to-boston-as-national-womens-soccer-league-awards-expansion-franchise-to-boston-unity-soccer-partners" target="_blank">expanding</a> <a href="https://www.nwslsoccer.com/" target="_blank">National Women's Soccer League</a>.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjnCz8fmF2cAEBdB0dtx-4iothvxeE5UchWUnd86Hv9wHUqQPZ_u1PIC8I6UIbFVcJplQYTXm8lgtw6XmMZmejd9jBCrdrLLaATI291lmuhPnnlu2zBFH56K0o2kqcEJuO_V2wAp9ZmM24Boqb_ZM_szbl4NJjt3NTayVfULCAwjI11R_2BxWsU0lRWc5M/s1627/site%20plan.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1627" data-original-width="1337" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjnCz8fmF2cAEBdB0dtx-4iothvxeE5UchWUnd86Hv9wHUqQPZ_u1PIC8I6UIbFVcJplQYTXm8lgtw6XmMZmejd9jBCrdrLLaATI291lmuhPnnlu2zBFH56K0o2kqcEJuO_V2wAp9ZmM24Boqb_ZM_szbl4NJjt3NTayVfULCAwjI11R_2BxWsU0lRWc5M/w329-h400/site%20plan.png" width="329" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Site plan in <a href="https://www.emeraldnecklace.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Complaint-Emerald-Necklace-Conservancy-and-Community-on-White-Stadium.pdf" target="_blank">complaint</a> exhibit.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>However, the project, which Boston Unity <a href="https://nwslboston.com/pages/boston-is-making-history-again" target="_blank">characterizes</a> as "a first-of-its-kind public/private partnership," will exclude the public from the redeveloped area on game days. That includes the expulsion of local high school times for their 10 to 12 games per year, <a href="https://www.dotnews.com/2024/emerald-necklace-conservancy-15-citizens-file-suit-halt-white-stadium" target="_blank">according to the <i>Dorchester Reporter</i></a>. At the same time, city officials say other stadium uses, such as a track, might see more public use. </p><p>The conservancy and residents say that the project has been moving too fast for them to study and comment, and that the headlong rush violates article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution.</p><p>That's another eyebrow-raising point in the story. <a href="https://malegislature.gov/Laws/Constitution#amendmentArticleXCVII" target="_blank">Article 97</a> of the Massachusetts Constitution is worth a read:</p><p></p><blockquote><p>The people shall have the right to clean air and water, freedom from excessive and unnecessary noise, and the natural, scenic, historic, and esthetic qualities of their environment; and the protection of the people in their right to the conservation, development and utilization of the agricultural, mineral, forest, water, air and other natural resources is hereby declared to be a public purpose.</p><p>The general court shall have the power to enact legislation necessary or expedient to protect such rights.</p><p>In the furtherance of the foregoing powers, the general court shall have the power to provide for the taking, upon payment of just compensation therefor, or for the acquisition by purchase or otherwise, of lands and easements or such other interests therein as may be deemed necessary to accomplish these purposes.</p><p>Lands and easements taken or acquired for such purposes shall not be used for other purposes or otherwise disposed of except by laws enacted by a two thirds vote, taken by yeas and nays, of each branch of the general court.</p></blockquote><p></p><p>Voters approved Article 97 in 1972. That's the same year as the federal Clean Water Act, and about halfway in between the Clean Air Act and <a href="https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.cleanup&id=0201290" target="_blank">Love Canal</a>.</p><p>The "right to a clean environment" is a hallmark of contemporary human rights discussion, sometimes <a href="https://www.coe.int/en/web/compass/the-evolution-of-human-rights" target="_blank">grouped in</a> with "third generation" human rights. In this sense, notionally, Massachusetts was ahead of its time.</p><p>But like statutory expressions of environmentalism, Article 97 was not understood to ground an affirmative right, rather a negative right to prevent government from repurposing conserved land without legislative approval. The Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) entertained the constraint of Article 97 in cases in 2005 and 2013, but didn't find that the local governments in those cases had dedicated land to public purposes. The SJC did constrain local government in a 2017 case. </p><p>The 2013 and 2017 cases might prove instructive in the White Stadium matter if the case progresses. In <i><a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/massachusetts/supreme-court/2013/sjc-11134.html" target="_blank">Mahajan v. Department of Environmental Protection</a> </i>(Mass. 2013), the court distinguished land taken for "conservation, development and utilization of the agricultural, mineral, forest, water, air and other natural resources," which triggers Article 97, from land taken urban renewal, that is, "for the purpose of eliminating decadent, substandard or blighted open conditions." In that case, the Boston Redevelopment Authority was able to commit a part of Long Wharf in Boston Harbor to a private redevelopment project without legislative approval under Article 97.</p><p></p><p>In <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/massachusetts/supreme-court/2017/sjc-12243.html" target="_blank"><i>Smith v. Westfield</i></a> (Mass. 2016), the court decided
that the City of Westfield had dedicated a parcel of land, 5.3 acres comprising a
playground and two little-league baseball fields, to serve as a park, so
was constrained by Article 97 before the city could build a school
there.</p><p>In <i>Smith</i>, the court opined that Article 97 would attach only "there is a clear and unequivocal intent to dedicate the land permanently as a public park and where the public accepts such use by actually using the land as a public park." The court also acknowledged that the analysis fact intensive.</p><p>On the face of it, <i>Smith </i>looks like the better fit with <i>Emerald Necklace.</i> The land is clearly dedicated to park use and has been used as a park. The baseball fields and playground in <i>Smith</i> show that a recreational use can include a structure, such as the stadium.</p><p>At the same time, there's a viable counterargument in the <i>re-</i> of the White Stadium <i>re</i>development. The city will argue, I expect, that it's not changing the <i>purpose </i>of the land, i.e., its dedication to recreation. A stadium is and will remain. The city is just improving the land to do recreation better.</p><p>The problem then boils down to that "first-of-its-kind public/private partnership": whether the private end of the partnership means that the land is being "otherwise disposed of" within the meaning of Article 97.</p><p>I've <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3533507" target="_blank">written about transparency</a> and accountability in foreign development specifically amid the challenges of privatization and quasi-privatization. So it's fascinating, if it shouldn't be surprising, to see this problem arise in my own backyard. I wonder as well whether there ever might be a future for Article 97's purported "right to clean air and water" that amounts to more than a procedural hurdle in property development.</p><p>See more about Boston's remarkable 1,100-acre Emerald Necklace park system, designed by <span><span>architect Frederick Law Olmsted, with Will Lange</span></span> <a href="https://www.pbs.org/video/windows-wild-discover-emerald-necklace/" target="_blank">on PBS in 2014</a>.</p><p>The case is <i>Emerald Necklace Conservancy, Inc. v. City of Boston</i>, No. 2484CV00477 (filed as 24-0477) (Mass. Super. Ct. filed Feb. 20, 2024). Emerald Necklace asked for a temporary injunction. Hat tip @ <a href="https://maddylyskawa.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Madeline Lyskawa</a>, Law360 (<a href="https://www.law360.com/publicpolicy/articles/1805082?nl_pk=7b512e78-e11a-48b3-a1ac-8b20c59d21c0&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=publicpolicy&utm_content=2024-02-22&read_main=1&nlsidx=0&nlaidx=22" target="_blank">subscription</a>).<br /></p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-60490250725939387442024-02-25T08:00:00.021-05:002024-02-25T08:00:00.133-05:00Frum invokes Judge Learned Hand on self-doubt to build case for 'uncanceling' Woodrow Wilson<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4NiIUGgGfJ1ExIb5g-h8SvNCWfyoowJrxPb-SJFTnZ1N_wQEdYfe92kW-fxM8AcPC94QfN0uUCAK7dU_mfS98myPlUeR5p-blAYkWxHaNhy7EF_KjfzcSut5Wk5FvoW0b5IvvCOpJqTYXoiyzDmGo0JMjW4f7FPIyf1fGk8712w7QmUFaWmTDp0uCNTIu/s640/wilson%201912.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="640" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4NiIUGgGfJ1ExIb5g-h8SvNCWfyoowJrxPb-SJFTnZ1N_wQEdYfe92kW-fxM8AcPC94QfN0uUCAK7dU_mfS98myPlUeR5p-blAYkWxHaNhy7EF_KjfzcSut5Wk5FvoW0b5IvvCOpJqTYXoiyzDmGo0JMjW4f7FPIyf1fGk8712w7QmUFaWmTDp0uCNTIu/w400-h293/wilson%201912.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr align="center"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Woodrow Wilson, 1912</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/ggbain.12542/" target="_blank">Library of Congress</a></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>In the March <i>Atlantic </i>David Frum <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/03/woodrow-wilson-racism-civil-rights/677174/" target="_blank">pleaded</a> for the "uncanceling" of Woodrow Wilson and gave a shout out to the great Judge Learned Hand.<p></p><p>Frum exhibited his usual eloquence in pleading for understanding that people are complicated and we ought not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Wilsonianism <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/06/07/kissinger-review-gewen-realism-liberal-internationalism/" target="_blank">has guided</a> American foreign policy for <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/wilson-center-commemorates-100th-anniversary-president-woodrow-wilsons-passing" target="_blank">a century</a> and has done a lot of good in the world, Frum argued persuasively. One cannot pretend away that legacy in an eagerness to embrace the admittedly <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/158356/woodrow-wilson-racism-princeton-university" target="_blank">ample evidence</a> of Wilson's racism and bigotry.</p><p>We ought be wary as well, Frum observed, that right and left both are eager to "cancel" Wilson. The left for his racism, of course. The anti-regulatory right, meanwhile, sees Wilson as a forefather of both globalism and the administrative state. Besides his vision for what would become the United Nations, Wilson signed the Federal Trade Commission Act into law in 1914. With the <i>Chevron </i>doctrine <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/01/supreme-court-likely-to-discard-chevron/" target="_blank">presently withering</a> in the Supreme Court, lefties, be careful what you're canceling.</p><p>An aside on the subject of left and right: <i>The Economist</i> published a fabulous opinion piece last week that's a balm for classical liberals such as myself who have been rendered ideologically homeless by the ironic Republican embrace of "the state [as] savior." (Every American libertarian, by which I mean most Americans, should read it, so it's unfortunate that it's <a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/02/15/the-growing-peril-of-national-conservatism" target="_blank">paywalled</a>.)</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Spirit_of_Liberty.html?id=IY01wQEACAAJ" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1125" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ito5wou7QI8aC-PqeCpLjBgRAk6fOcFJc_ktnCmc98KxDBJDiTKlGlRuGmwjNRNj1KCdErq0OQ5Y__941Urit9rdsjcK6cEowslnJFU7FCsB6uPlR6gXtz5O4wz3wo7tQJUgTIMz8IFmTrxlIx8_K4OWbQWtdcPOfdt3IUfqe4pUvidqTyruEADDioJr/s320/spirit%20of%20liberty.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>In the course of his reasoned plea, Frum further observed:<p></p><blockquote><p>We live now in a more polarized time [than Wilson's], one of ideological extremes on
both left and right. Learned Hand, a celebrated federal judge of
Wilson’s era, praised "the spirit which is not too sure that it is
right." Our contemporaries have exorcised that spirit. We are very sure
that we are right. We have little tolerance for anyone who seems in any
degree wrong.</p></blockquote><p>Hear, hear. The line comes from Hand's famous <a href="https://fee.org/articles/the-spirit-of-liberty/" target="_blank">"Spirit of Liberty" speech</a> in 1944. Read more <a href="https://judicature.duke.edu/articles/learned-hands-spirit-of-liberty-a-lesson-for-our-times/" target="_blank">at <i>Judicature</i></a>.<br /></p><p>Torts students know Learned Hand for his also famous formula to describe rational choice as a weighing of burdens against the risk of loss. Hand was prolific, and his subtle influences can be traced through many fields of American law in the 20th century. Indeed, see <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1961/12/learned-hand/658025/" target="_blank"><i>The Atlantic</i> in 1961</a>.</p><p>Just yesterday, as it happens, I was talking after class with a 1L Torts student about the imperative that legal education empower a student to challenge one's own assumptions. I know <a href="https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/sclr/vol62/iss1/5/" target="_blank">what you're thinking</a>, but it was she who made the point. "We should question ourselves," she said. "We should never stop questioning."</p><p>Wise woman.</p><p>Speaking of wise women, hat tip @ <a href="https://law.rwu.edu/directory/misty-n-peltz-steele" target="_blank">my wife</a> for spying <i>The Economist </i>item.</p><p>Incidentally, the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/03/parkland-shooter-scot-peterson-coward-broward/677170/" target="_blank">cover story</a> of the March <i>Atlantic</i> concerns police response to mass shooting events, focusing on, but definitely not limited to, the Deputy Scot Peterson matter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. In June 2023, Peterson was acquitted on all charges after a trial in which authorities alleged felony child neglect and criminal negligence. In January 2024, a Florida court denied a defense motion to dismiss civil suits by 17 families against Peterson, clearing the matter for trial.<br /></p><p>Frum's article is <i>Uncancel Woodrow Wilson</i>, The Atlantic, Mar. 2024 (online Feb. 2, 2024) (<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/03/woodrow-wilson-racism-civil-rights/677174/" target="_blank">subscription</a>). </p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-42319729834234410332024-02-24T08:00:00.012-05:002024-02-24T11:44:23.596-05:00South American visitor wonders at lawyer billboards; artist imagines canine advocates instead<p>A young man I know from Paraguay recently visited the Philadelphia area for a week, his first time in the United States. </p><p>I texted to check on him when he returned home to Asunción. He had a great visit, was home safe and exhausted, he texted back, and had seen so much, it would take a while to process it all.</p><p>But one question, he wrote.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ5HyG1GNNFKhj00izwVAZPLnLIQg4THyqTtjrUvPkYiOjA6PA8yqrCSmEAsQRBpu6V5HCEm6-dtRivgxWi6KgS1TKmODgYSRNMAs-27LNalka0dg8axRFXBqVzzTucuKB7Zm832opbt0wmNqOxP3zWqFPG-zp8th4gDsYuBaxFHJZVNukyxxeLrmTl9dx/s485/textscreen.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="118" data-original-width="485" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ5HyG1GNNFKhj00izwVAZPLnLIQg4THyqTtjrUvPkYiOjA6PA8yqrCSmEAsQRBpu6V5HCEm6-dtRivgxWi6KgS1TKmODgYSRNMAs-27LNalka0dg8axRFXBqVzzTucuKB7Zm832opbt0wmNqOxP3zWqFPG-zp8th4gDsYuBaxFHJZVNukyxxeLrmTl9dx/w640-h156/textscreen.png" width="640" alt="Three text messages reading 'There's something I noticed; Which is signs of lawyers all over Philly and on the highway (I-95); Why is that?'" /></a></div> <p></p><p>Hmm.</p><p>I guess Americans get in a lot of accidents, I said. </p><p>No, actually, I just texted, "🤑." I think that covered it.<br /></p><p>Lawyer advertising is the theme of some delightful imaginings in a canine vein by Kensington Campbell: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/kensingtoncampbell/?hl=en" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Instagram</a> embed below. See more there or <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@kensingtoncampbell" rel="noopener" target="_blank">on TikTok</a>. Hat tip @ <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/molly-sullivan-090725b/" target="_blank">Molly Sullivan</a> and <a href="https://ualr.edu/law/faculty/emeritus-faculty/frances-s-fendler/" target="_blank">Frances Fendler</a>.<br /></p><p></p><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/C3XuNJruaxk/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 3px; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5) 0px 0px 1px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15) 0px 1px 10px 0px; margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0px; width: calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding: 16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C3XuNJruaxk/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; width: 100%;" target="_blank"> <div style="align-items: center; display: flex; flex-direction: row;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; 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line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0px 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C3XuNJruaxk/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Golden Retriever | Kensington (@kensingtoncampbell)</a></p></div></blockquote> <script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><p></p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-81783191500641204282024-02-23T08:00:00.004-05:002024-03-04T21:41:44.382-05:00'Gripping' Ugandan documentary makes Oscar cut<p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Uganda has its first ever Oscar-nominated film, a documentary about political persecution and daring resistance to the Museveni regime.</div><p></p><p><i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21376900/" target="_blank">Bobi Wine: The People's President</a> </i>tells the story of musician <a href="https://twitter.com/HEBobiwine?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" target="_blank">Bobi Wine</a>'s transition from pop culture to political activist running for the presidency of Uganda against <a href="http://www.thesavorytort.com/2022/07/museveni-still-holds-reins-in-uganda.html" target="_blank">entrenched incumbent</a> Yoweri Museveni. En route, Wine is arrested many times, brutally beaten, and effectively exiled from his homeland.</p><p>Here is the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Leqt5JhRa5A" target="_blank">trailer</a>.</p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Leqt5JhRa5A?si=sqoWmYEikiC24Y2g" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><br /></p><p>For <i>On the Media</i>, Brooke Gladstone has a <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/bobi-wine-fighting-democracy-uganda-on-the-media" target="_blank">compelling interview</a> with Wine himself and director Moses Bwayo.</p><p><iframe frameborder="0" height="130" scrolling="no" src="https://www.wnyc.org/widgets/ondemand_player/wnycstudios/#file=/audio/json/1419455/&share=1" width="100%"></iframe></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm8bLe1GuhAKHgYOWrFOBlh7_aECSrRQBlulJWuuVj3AjO6qWQJWHKhzaGfnz_fGTqflMgCXCjFZjJZv1Uh7a33k7IsU8e-odCgo1DcjUp8gas9m37tVxnHqKer7z2JahC0qj4dV4-P0WMFLYb9E1e0KUXsd0y1YoXB_XmO32wdw_n13VH38IdY2N4WeNs/s792/bobi-wine_ee1982ee.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="792" data-original-width="540" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm8bLe1GuhAKHgYOWrFOBlh7_aECSrRQBlulJWuuVj3AjO6qWQJWHKhzaGfnz_fGTqflMgCXCjFZjJZv1Uh7a33k7IsU8e-odCgo1DcjUp8gas9m37tVxnHqKer7z2JahC0qj4dV4-P0WMFLYb9E1e0KUXsd0y1YoXB_XmO32wdw_n13VH38IdY2N4WeNs/w273-h400/bobi-wine_ee1982ee.jpeg" width="273" /></a></div>In following Bobi Wine for the film, the film crew was itself in peril. If behind the scenes was as breathtaking as Bwayo described, I can't imagine how unnerving the end product must be. Wine briefly spoke on <i>OTM </i>of his torture by Ugandan authorities, and it's not easy to hear, before he himself stopped and said he could not talk it about it more.<p></p><p>It happens that my all-time favorite documentary to date is <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2088714/" target="_blank"><i>Call Me Kuchu</i></a> (2012), which deals with the detestable persecution of the LGBTQ community in Uganda. <i>Call Me Kuchu</i> is hard to watch, but I come away from it every time thinking it should be required viewing for humanity: a lesson in immorality, the horror that results when the great commandment of <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/matthew/22-39.html" target="_blank">Matthew 22:39</a> is disregarded. </p><p>I note that it's not clear Wine himself, for all his persecution, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/13/uganda-bobi-wine-denied-uk-visa-homophobia" target="_blank">quite gets the takeaway</a> on the LGBTQ question. But he <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/13/uganda-bobi-wine-denied-uk-visa-homophobia" target="_blank">might have come around</a>, and he's probably right that the Museveni regime leverages past transgressions against him.</p><p>Anyway, I am keen to see <i>Bobi Wine</i>, which is streaming in the United States on <a href="https://www.hulu.com/series/539dbd76-a38a-4c24-b95c-3606e41d4a47" target="_blank">Hulu</a> and <a href="https://www.disneyplus.com/movies/bobi-wine-the-peoples-president/4kanVZeQLfkG" target="_blank">Disney+</a>, where the film is touted as "gripping." Fortunately, the film can be seen in Africa and even has been screened in Uganda. Wine told <i>OTM</i> that <a href="https://films.nationalgeographic.com/bobi-wine-the-people-s-president" target="_blank">National Geographic</a> has made the film available for streaming throughout the continent.<br /></p><p>Shockingly, Wine told <i>OTM</i> that he is intent on returning to Uganda. Much as I would like to see change for Uganda—<a href="http://www.thesavorytort.com/2022/07/museveni-still-holds-reins-in-uganda.html" target="_blank">I've traveled there</a>, and it's a magnificent country—I hope Wine takes to heart the lesson of Alexei Navalny and well considers his timing.</p><p><i>UPDATE, Mar. 4:</i> I've since seen the film. Two thumbs up, and prayer for Uganda.<br /></p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-19592400210870306502024-02-22T08:00:00.006-05:002024-02-22T08:58:51.538-05:00Student media combat criminalization of speech<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://studentpressfreedom.org/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="2480" data-original-width="2480" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_9_K-HtYNigsJx-716Rxb4S3HqgduPT-i2iYY6H4RhbBdbbYeFMCZ984mYFXzLc9adw0d7NBJV6F1HuKdgDKvqj-kqKe3NfkCRQOTl1BlkSF26KY4w_u79GgdFLN5w32FJNxpCZbTO-QcwNi25hfvXKC-5jnBMbt1sM1ECJLJM1KKiUk5liJ9eeE3zIjS/w200-h200/SPFD24.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>The criminalization of journalism is the worry at the heart of the Julian Assange case, as a UK court mulls the possibility of his extradition to the United States to face Espionage Act charges, essentially for publishing truthful information that he lawfully obtained (<a href="http://www.thesavorytort.com/2024/02/me-and-julian-assange.html" target="_blank">more</a>).<p></p><p>Today is <a href="https://studentpressfreedom.org/" target="_blank">Student Press Freedom Day</a>, a day to recognize the important First Amendment rights and vital Fourth Estate function of journalists in schools, colleges, and universities. </p><p>Speech on college campuses, if more in a protest vein than a journalistic vein, has seen lately a wave of efforts at criminalization. Charges might not be on the scale of the federal Espionage Act. But the deployment of criminal law in the suppression of speech is bad news at any level.</p><p>Student journalism came face to face with the criminalization of protest speech recently at Northwestern University.</p><p><i>The Intercept </i><a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/02/05/northwestern-criminal-charges-palestine-newspaper-israel/" target="_blank">reported</a> on February 5 that students at Northwestern University had embodied their pro-Palestinian protest in a parody of <i>The Daily Northwestern </i>newspaper. The parody was regarded by other students and members of the community as offensive and antisemitic.</p><p>The newspaper publisher—a nonprofit comprising alumni, faculty, staff, and students, and distinct by design from the student editorial board—complained to police. And when the perpetrators were identified, prosecutors charged them with "theft of advertising."</p><p>"The little-known statute appears to only exist in <a aria-describedby="targetBlankDescription" href="https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/documents/072000050K16-17.htm#:~:text=(a)%20A%20person%20commits%20theft,redistribute%20it%20to%20the%20public." rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Illinois</a> and <a aria-describedby="targetBlankDescription" href="https://law.justia.com/codes/california/2011/pen/part-1/528-539/538c" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">California</a>, where it was originally <a aria-describedby="targetBlankDescription" href="https://www.rcfp.org/bill-restricting-kkks-use-free-newspapers-signed-law/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">passed</a>
to prevent the Ku Klux Klan from distributing recruitment materials in
newspapers, <i>The Intercept</i> <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/02/05/northwestern-criminal-charges-palestine-newspaper-israel/" target="_blank">reported</a>. "The statute makes it illegal to insert an 'unauthorized
advertisement in a newspaper or periodical.' The students, both of whom
are Black, now face up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine."</p><p><i>The Daily Northwestern</i> published an editorial demanding that charges be dropped. The publishing entity and prosecutors capitulated, Seth Stern <a href="https://freedom.press/news/northwesterns-student-newspaper-helps-kill-anti-speech-prosecution/" target="_blank">recounted</a> for the Freedom of the Press Foundation.</p><p>Stern lauded the student editors, and I agree. They didn't like their nameplate being appropriated by an offensive partisan protest. But that wasn't the point. Stern <a href="https://freedom.press/news/northwesterns-student-newspaper-helps-kill-anti-speech-prosecution/" target="_blank">explained</a>:</p><p data-block-key="8d992"></p><blockquote><p data-block-key="8d992">After all, newspapers are often the victims of the same kind of overreach the students are facing. Police in Marion, Kansas, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/13/business/media/kansas-marion-newspaper-police-raid.html">raided</a>
the Marion County Record last August, purportedly to investigate
whether reporters somehow committed identity theft by confirming a news
tip on a government website. In October, authorities <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2023/11/01/atmore-alabama-journalists-arrested-grand-jury/">charged</a>
a reporter and publisher in Alabama with violating a grand jury secrecy
law—plainly inapplicable to journalists—by reporting on a criminal
investigation of a local school board. Six months before that, an
Arizona state senator got a restraining <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2023/04/21/arizona-senator-wendy-rogers-restraining-order-against-reporter-assailed/70140923007/">order</a> against a reporter for knocking on her door.</p><p data-block-key="8d992">There’s more. A citizen journalist in Texas is <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/priscilla-villarreal-journalist-la-gordiloca-fifth-circuit/">hoping</a>
to go to the Supreme Court with her lawsuit over an arrest for
violating an archaic law against soliciting “nonpublic information.” The
City of Los Angeles last week <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-02-01/city-of-los-angeles-lawsuit-lapd-undercover-officer-photos">sued</a> a journalist for publishing information that the city itself gave him. And the mayor of Calumet City, Illinois, had citations <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/2023/11/06/calumet-city-drops-citations-against-daily-southtown-reporter-who-called-workers-seeking-comment/">issued</a> to a journalist in October for asking public employees too many questions. The list, unfortunately, goes <a href="https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/members-of-the-press-charged-with-committing-acts-of-journalism-in-2023/">on and on</a>.</p></blockquote><p data-block-key="8d992"></p><p data-block-key="8bn2i">There are cases in which I will go to bat for criminal law enforcement against protest activity. Protestors don't have a right to trespass on private property after being asked to leave peaceably, which <a href="https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2023/12/20/brown-trespassing-charges-student-protesters-israel-palestine/" target="_blank">seems to have happened</a> at Brown University. And they don't have a right to cause damage or to put other people in harm's way.</p><p data-block-key="8bn2i">First Amendment doctrine is not perfect, but it has plenty of experience drawing this line. What's worrisome about the latest incidents of speech criminalization is that we seem to have to be re-litigating some easy questions.</p><p data-block-key="8bn2i">When I was an intern at the Student Press Law Center many moons ago, there were five statutes in the United States protecting student media freedom. Today there are 17. Read more about the steady but sure advance of student media freedom <a href="https://splc.org/" target="_blank">at the SPLC</a> and how you can recognize student media freedom <a href="https://studentpressfreedom.org/50ways/" target="_blank">at Student Press Freedom Day</a>.<br /></p><p></p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-57289524101182363832024-02-21T08:00:00.012-05:002024-02-21T10:26:34.266-05:00To combat corruption, India Supreme Court strikes down dark money system, cites U.S. precedents<p>Late last week, the Supreme Court of India struck a blow for transparency and accountability when it <a href="https://main.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2017/27935/27935_2017_1_1501_50573_Judgement_15-Feb-2024.pdf" target="_blank">ruled unconstitutional</a> a system of anonymous political donation.</p><p>In a 2017 law, India had adopted a system of "electoral bonds." These are not investment bonds. Rather, to make a political donation, a donor was required to buy a political bond from the State Bank of India, and the bank then gave the money to the indicated political candidate.</p><p>The bond system was adopted ostensibly to further transparency and accountability. By requiring all political donations to be processed by the state bank, regulators could ensure compliance with donor restrictions. The system was supposed, then, to balance donor anonymity—a legitimate extension of free speech rights—with anti-corruption regulation.</p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnDn7JWDBKV5AAjMgqroan9N0yodPqEmVWeZpeaDPZMX7U6EJ6L8lmkQmI7eJAwPHBIhNlg31zlz4_1KEaaUCYBwcQq6hHREdnb2gmYHbXiIhNur7VyYKnsO2wz99YWr1xWO2TQvMqWi8aVpMcAtraOQcHC5b6ySXDZ3lxYSZYvxcHF_UPfuJkhBCWhilO/s799/52650425242_3abb733af5_c.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="799" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnDn7JWDBKV5AAjMgqroan9N0yodPqEmVWeZpeaDPZMX7U6EJ6L8lmkQmI7eJAwPHBIhNlg31zlz4_1KEaaUCYBwcQq6hHREdnb2gmYHbXiIhNur7VyYKnsO2wz99YWr1xWO2TQvMqWi8aVpMcAtraOQcHC5b6ySXDZ3lxYSZYvxcHF_UPfuJkhBCWhilO/w400-h266/52650425242_3abb733af5_c.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">P.M. Narendra Modi speaks to Pres. Biden at the G20, 2022.</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">White House photo via <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/52650425242/" target="_blank">Flickr</a></span><br /></div></td></tr></tbody></table>But as Darian Woods <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/02/16/1197961990/indicators-cocoa-prices-lyft-india-elections" target="_blank">reported</a> for <i>The Indicator</i>, the party in power of Prime Minister Narendra Modi received 90% of donations. It seems less likely that imbalance represented overwhelming enthusiasm for the Modi administration and much more likely that corporate donors sought favor with the administration and feared retaliation otherwise, despite their seeming anonymity. For while they were anonymous to the public, their identities were known to the state bank. And the state bank is under the control of the administration.</p><p></p><p>The India Supreme Court ruled that the electoral bond system is incompatible with the fundamental "right to know" (RTK), that is, with Indian norms of freedom of information (FOI). I <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3276843" target="_blank">wrote</a> in 2017 about India's Right to Information Act (RTIA), a statutory instrument akin to the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). FOI, or access to information (ATI), for India, though, is in sync with contemporary norms elsewhere in the world, notably Europe, where RTK or FOI is recognized as a human right. Courts such as the India Supreme Court, like the Court of Justice of the EU, therefore have the constitutional enforcement power of judicial review. <br /></p><p>The India Supreme Court, as it often does on important constitutional questions, surveyed other common law nations. And despite our weak and non-textual recognition of FOI as a constitutional right, the United States earned several mentions. Saliently, the court cited the old stalwart, <i>Buckley v Valeo </i>(U.S. 1976), for "concern of quid pro quo arrangements and [the] dangers to a fair and effective government. Improper influence erodes and harms the confidence in the system of representative government." Disclosure, the India court reasoned,</p><p></p><blockquote><p>helps and aides the voter in evaluating those contesting elections. It allows the voter to identify interests which candidates are most likely to be responsive to, thereby facilitating prediction of future performance in office. Secondly, it checks actual corruption and helps avoid the appearance of corruption by exposing large contributions and expenditures to the light of publicity. Relying upon <i>Grosjean v. American Press Co. </i>(U.S. 1936), [disclosure] holds that informed public opinion is the most potent of all restraints upon misgovernment. Thirdly, record keeping, reporting and disclosure are essential means of gathering data necessary to detect violations of contribution limitations.</p></blockquote><p>For a more recent vintage, the India court cited <i>Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC </i>(U.S. 2000): </p><blockquote><p>[T]he Supreme Court of the United States observes that large contributions given to secure a political quid pro quo undermines the system of representative democracy. It stems public awareness of the opportunities for abuse inherent in a regime of large contributions. This effects the integrity of the electoral process not only in the form of corruption or quid pro quo arrangements, but also extending to the broader threat of the beneficiary being too compliant with the wishes of large contributors.</p></blockquote><p>So the India court fairly observed that the U.S. Supreme Court has been willing to unmask donors, even if the Supreme Court has lately been less than enthusiastic about regulations it once, in a <i>Buckley</i> world, approved. Indeed, even as the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the disparate treatment of corporations in <i>Citizens United</i> <i>v. FEC </i>(U.S. 2010), it approved of disclosure requirements. </p><p>The India court found support for disclosure in defense against corruption in other national regimes, too, for example, in Canada and Australia. Alas, there, comparisons with the United States deteriorate in practice. The India Supreme Court did not mention the dark (money) side to America's affair with transparency. <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/reform-money-politics/influence-big-money/dark-money" target="_blank">Read more at the Brennan Center for Justice.</a></p><p>The case is <a href="https://main.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2017/27935/27935_2017_1_1501_50573_Judgement_15-Feb-2024.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Association for Democratic Reforms v. India</i></a> (India Feb. 15, 2024).<br /></p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-66186895682806031832024-02-20T18:05:00.003-05:002024-02-21T09:56:19.639-05:00Assange Defense Boston rallies at State House<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfAnTMCVcXatmpJ2eHjJrfOYAEMrin5IXt_FW6mvoj-3MR8O56Wc22_76LiLEiRFuW4MkjEccakCVYvE7HnrG-lZn6F5zmKTuapjm-Zbtj8xPGjbgPNFeblAdCGgjYf4gCeYuCW0BnvssxmhVVQPEi8hU5k17DdFvNYGGoUAb-lXvzoHo45E3C4bHrDiyS/s1024/image-5-940x1024.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="940" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfAnTMCVcXatmpJ2eHjJrfOYAEMrin5IXt_FW6mvoj-3MR8O56Wc22_76LiLEiRFuW4MkjEccakCVYvE7HnrG-lZn6F5zmKTuapjm-Zbtj8xPGjbgPNFeblAdCGgjYf4gCeYuCW0BnvssxmhVVQPEi8hU5k17DdFvNYGGoUAb-lXvzoHo45E3C4bHrDiyS/s320/image-5-940x1024.png" width="294" /></a></div>The <a href="https://twitter.com/AssangeBoston">Boston Committee</a> of <a href="https://assangedefense.org/" target="_blank">Assange Defense</a> rallied today at the Massachusetts State House.<br /><p></p><p></p><p>At the rally today, I spoke about my experience with freedom-of-information law and read parts of a letter from U.S. law professors to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. The letter asks the U.S. Department of Justice to drop Espionage Act charges against Assange and abandon the request for his extradition from the UK. </p><p><a href="https://freedom.press/news/law-professors-to-doj-drop-assange-prosecution/" target="_blank">Freedom of the Press Foundation</a> has more on the letter. My comments were based on, and the text of the letter can be found in, my February 16, 2024, post, "<a href="http://www.thesavorytort.com/2024/02/me-and-julian-assange.html" target="_blank">Me and Julian Assange</a>."<br /></p><p>The High Court in London heard arguments today that Assange should have a right to appeal to the courts over his extradition, which the British government has approved. Read more about today's proceeding <a href="https://apnews.com/article/wikileaks-assange-extradition-appeal-hearing-48e6786241f35064833e40060a90279a">from Jill Lawless at AP News</a>. The case continues in the High Court tomorrow. Protestors crowded on the street outside the London courthouse today.</p><p>Photos and videos by RJ Peltz-Steele <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en" target="_blank">CC BY-NC-SA 4.0</a>.</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ddKMqPmwhCRRNuJ2kgp4LoLszIvc3SN3Fq5fE54jmrX9u5_-taiHeQ3PgpLAeES0cUilE89tpW6vOW1nfnTA-xTUEZDNLaOmras0l38_Fkj_lKu5L0dPv5sXShmyaLYJtoNlggtBTNal-IsEoZZKpnpR0OtXt09NQGHTfoCa3hwtnVMExYJx5vlBdLQB/s2359/12%20-%20SH.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1327" data-original-width="2359" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ddKMqPmwhCRRNuJ2kgp4LoLszIvc3SN3Fq5fE54jmrX9u5_-taiHeQ3PgpLAeES0cUilE89tpW6vOW1nfnTA-xTUEZDNLaOmras0l38_Fkj_lKu5L0dPv5sXShmyaLYJtoNlggtBTNal-IsEoZZKpnpR0OtXt09NQGHTfoCa3hwtnVMExYJx5vlBdLQB/w640-h360/12%20-%20SH.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">The sun shines at the Massachusetts State House.</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiMBYnMWcud35L77-G6nFyW7hjYrdEomXdVVX3_uCJHKCsVYsmAjJ9tTA9MstDZS9h1MVJsgdgW3cwoZtjhDNXj2YS9GCyJY3dq9ba2mW92mGF2s9p2XlKHQTaEmPhU1iCp0-nr-WgQheROU8mrSZ0Ps9dTB7uwFgvsggtx7pGkF1urlzWMsZoHxlWkN0w/s2656/11%20-%20banner.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1454" data-original-width="2656" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiMBYnMWcud35L77-G6nFyW7hjYrdEomXdVVX3_uCJHKCsVYsmAjJ9tTA9MstDZS9h1MVJsgdgW3cwoZtjhDNXj2YS9GCyJY3dq9ba2mW92mGF2s9p2XlKHQTaEmPhU1iCp0-nr-WgQheROU8mrSZ0Ps9dTB7uwFgvsggtx7pGkF1urlzWMsZoHxlWkN0w/w640-h350/11%20-%20banner.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">The group sets up.</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ5DFrKO6Nnih8VamKNtjjr6XmL-akvedbVCxpzPiadYQjm3wXgyq5Kon31ekuW9Tm_K97DdoiPupAQnOZNNvpIt4rzjFu3DHJlupindXkrVoBjjNygqEDkl7RQfShPOEX6Dr0-ZTWVD-eoTj7xgrtdw5QvGiNVYj0XkmhKp4Yh4qutNqxqw3aLV3V5cnS/s3654/10%20-%20wideshot.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2055" data-original-width="3654" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ5DFrKO6Nnih8VamKNtjjr6XmL-akvedbVCxpzPiadYQjm3wXgyq5Kon31ekuW9Tm_K97DdoiPupAQnOZNNvpIt4rzjFu3DHJlupindXkrVoBjjNygqEDkl7RQfShPOEX6Dr0-ZTWVD-eoTj7xgrtdw5QvGiNVYj0XkmhKp4Yh4qutNqxqw3aLV3V5cnS/w640-h360/10%20-%20wideshot.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">The crowd grows.</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIwQbVJuQN5OSFj8ssl1AlwnnpY00agYzBEfzSq947SZKPlz9X7cC7qBLo31qypJOKE18h6WiD_GC5DPJcxtDeg9DBnKDCa_YEg09lwx9hFkiJaiv3nwIUkGke_P2Y_2nR4CoVJcUb6UvovgRSe6M3vAl7M6tVvOLMlJmBBfoJDDtuV8ex1Bx7BTn423wa/s3420/01%20-%20Susan.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1924" data-original-width="3420" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIwQbVJuQN5OSFj8ssl1AlwnnpY00agYzBEfzSq947SZKPlz9X7cC7qBLo31qypJOKE18h6WiD_GC5DPJcxtDeg9DBnKDCa_YEg09lwx9hFkiJaiv3nwIUkGke_P2Y_2nR4CoVJcUb6UvovgRSe6M3vAl7M6tVvOLMlJmBBfoJDDtuV8ex1Bx7BTn423wa/w640-h360/01%20-%20Susan.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Committee organizer Susan McLucas introduces the cause.</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW8a_zwbAJCflacEl26SiQuUS6uWu6yWCLFfzNKNocn6e4o7lUz-DAA4hOe_w6T3oFvnoHGhMCwFiWLpl7ZlfTkBSb98VctalRMKkAeziULuo2AxDnQnrEriHVywBY4uI9SueX9256M95ADhl78XcgpdAEONk9o3yxl43pCuSwq3pBD-OC9_MtpYbuB1SE/s3840/02%20-%20Victor%20Wallace.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW8a_zwbAJCflacEl26SiQuUS6uWu6yWCLFfzNKNocn6e4o7lUz-DAA4hOe_w6T3oFvnoHGhMCwFiWLpl7ZlfTkBSb98VctalRMKkAeziULuo2AxDnQnrEriHVywBY4uI9SueX9256M95ADhl78XcgpdAEONk9o3yxl43pCuSwq3pBD-OC9_MtpYbuB1SE/w640-h360/02%20-%20Victor%20Wallace.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Victor Wallace speaks.</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqgV1_GaMo9JuXmD2NYbUZkP89l7lQT512EMuguGXIvlYOIZ25unwLS68CvgG7oIHv5R4JRB3ZtzjgDn2jQ1iekY7Kn-n3cM1NKKuBd2pIaySAzWhfTeFy2nKCVDYxpnTw1X-A1YL7j7sdkeldkqkMSwhynxqzguhjHZK_njNjX4iMhZIsLl0eVJYMmsvI/s2744/03%20-%20McGovern%20letter.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1544" data-original-width="2744" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqgV1_GaMo9JuXmD2NYbUZkP89l7lQT512EMuguGXIvlYOIZ25unwLS68CvgG7oIHv5R4JRB3ZtzjgDn2jQ1iekY7Kn-n3cM1NKKuBd2pIaySAzWhfTeFy2nKCVDYxpnTw1X-A1YL7j7sdkeldkqkMSwhynxqzguhjHZK_njNjX4iMhZIsLl0eVJYMmsvI/w640-h360/03%20-%20McGovern%20letter.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">A letter in support is read from U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.).</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='642' height='535' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzyHKpvJAbqApV5xV54YsHwhKJkcrU1pbG-Eq0gZSoW8-e_I_oKNHHEbSxOkDb67qey6eWn_reJ7Dq5yZFfog' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><div><p></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWFW1irIOatVxE4RjfvHvWeAAR3lbQMO3ZUCaystiNQqEqnLskJjyOZosGcEtcE4WE-QamFhXl8vagrdICBUaWMiZsFeCdtSVSGmzVpKKdwXIf4DkBWq7fzF3bW1jS7BxwZ6LcAanlLAIN_n_TTks6z9mZI8lIAuuZurgHNTJbwYjQQH2bFSPuu8SfY4XJ/s2852/05%20-%20's'%202.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1604" data-original-width="2852" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWFW1irIOatVxE4RjfvHvWeAAR3lbQMO3ZUCaystiNQqEqnLskJjyOZosGcEtcE4WE-QamFhXl8vagrdICBUaWMiZsFeCdtSVSGmzVpKKdwXIf4DkBWq7fzF3bW1jS7BxwZ6LcAanlLAIN_n_TTks6z9mZI8lIAuuZurgHNTJbwYjQQH2bFSPuu8SfY4XJ/w640-h360/05%20-%20's'%202.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">A speaker decries government secrecy. The s***-word might have been used.</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9HSmPHGkbPoCKzwshx2-JAGhxGS34G4znf2tqnMIJd1wWd2QYdfIBWkSxVh2L4H69a5ZNueUsiD0kEYKyg4ilN_rVJExKZbETe4DDH8BvOwBDO3MQInY4jgR76GzXhkGOiUyqgwg1N87KbiBDtXt7uUyL9_w-OuWUKHEf7i_yV0AZ6pzw-eSvg6iF7B6q/s1779/06%20-%20prison%20risks.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1001" data-original-width="1779" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9HSmPHGkbPoCKzwshx2-JAGhxGS34G4znf2tqnMIJd1wWd2QYdfIBWkSxVh2L4H69a5ZNueUsiD0kEYKyg4ilN_rVJExKZbETe4DDH8BvOwBDO3MQInY4jgR76GzXhkGOiUyqgwg1N87KbiBDtXt7uUyL9_w-OuWUKHEf7i_yV0AZ6pzw-eSvg6iF7B6q/w640-h360/06%20-%20prison%20risks.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">A woman speaks to the intolerable cruelty of U.S. federal prisons.</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1mly2fS45Exmu3uesCoPCj6UP6EB_Ih3u5SX39Y_3FN9Z8nEa-Cdfa03nnUkoDnCz6M5Q2_oF5xZ0SWRcbMsWRmzuVpBAyIaUNc1V4WRhXju-kP2gnzt_Ps8w4Esxl0gZ2UzszmSKvG2OFJF6iVV6pihsSHM4ZEJig_9WtpTr5vaGCvJzbyUOyizIVS9-/s3520/07%20-%20Paula.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1980" data-original-width="3520" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1mly2fS45Exmu3uesCoPCj6UP6EB_Ih3u5SX39Y_3FN9Z8nEa-Cdfa03nnUkoDnCz6M5Q2_oF5xZ0SWRcbMsWRmzuVpBAyIaUNc1V4WRhXju-kP2gnzt_Ps8w4Esxl0gZ2UzszmSKvG2OFJF6iVV6pihsSHM4ZEJig_9WtpTr5vaGCvJzbyUOyizIVS9-/w640-h360/07%20-%20Paula.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Committee organizer Paula Iasella says that Assange is hardly alone in aggressive national security accountability, citing John Young's <a href="https://cryptome.org/" target="_blank">Cryptome</a>.<br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='663' height='551' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzWqMiRItxdbxPxL57qYtEjvqIXa0fSEn1I5vGGTC_8IbSp3r2LGQtjxUk5A0Z9E_jJLHmmEwVr1IHOQa8gIQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5QcQBQphNSAp6hv715FvCvO8h9_YtovPqqCjePBFTLGoReHcy1WNbnfxKajvPE3MivuRfov8KRQ94MJH203zrXKVkAQtzZelV_jG65CzcdVErazj6IqsCuQfea2fvwgc78XcDosYyqE_qMgNySH4rrLWUlX_lg-GoakLL3grTi-C_giquts2vBYYQ-Thw/s1371/09%20-%20poll%20prisoner.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="771" data-original-width="1371" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5QcQBQphNSAp6hv715FvCvO8h9_YtovPqqCjePBFTLGoReHcy1WNbnfxKajvPE3MivuRfov8KRQ94MJH203zrXKVkAQtzZelV_jG65CzcdVErazj6IqsCuQfea2fvwgc78XcDosYyqE_qMgNySH4rrLWUlX_lg-GoakLL3grTi-C_giquts2vBYYQ-Thw/w640-h360/09%20-%20poll%20prisoner.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpDBLC_deM03tZrEoIq2_ZRr6YT6xTfN8zbfNbXOUi3_z6dSMljUpm81EVW5-kkdsjLHb2WXzX72hBd3BiWbxigtuWlW2L1U8WPkk9D0AgZTQtBT-kThWU42HQbENrgOpDeWqSWSbKIwBFKZJlR9sL46G_gXokMijduJaOZGBiOLdckSxE7gb4rrOdoF7z/s1842/08%20-%20banner%20JA.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1036" data-original-width="1842" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpDBLC_deM03tZrEoIq2_ZRr6YT6xTfN8zbfNbXOUi3_z6dSMljUpm81EVW5-kkdsjLHb2WXzX72hBd3BiWbxigtuWlW2L1U8WPkk9D0AgZTQtBT-kThWU42HQbENrgOpDeWqSWSbKIwBFKZJlR9sL46G_gXokMijduJaOZGBiOLdckSxE7gb4rrOdoF7z/w640-h360/08%20-%20banner%20JA.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-27588061035962970872024-02-20T08:00:00.002-05:002024-02-20T08:00:00.137-05:00Hart, legislative counsel, talks public service career<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkgSK1dKayiU_P4__tEoL85zkQJ59IZIjYg9qaYvW6kiUVOi7MZKJi7kkJAH_sBi97CEXiHDrG2bpVcbe-ROEoscAZe-ohx6QKfLRpv-7gWlox6hXsEU72jEWvto-8gT-bDBSIMhWS6yTk8nCmfpEdNId74Cam-_O8rvXeZg5-eKHfM0KpFlCHGZHU3OZO/s2245/KevinHartFlyer.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2245" data-original-width="1587" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkgSK1dKayiU_P4__tEoL85zkQJ59IZIjYg9qaYvW6kiUVOi7MZKJi7kkJAH_sBi97CEXiHDrG2bpVcbe-ROEoscAZe-ohx6QKfLRpv-7gWlox6hXsEU72jEWvto-8gT-bDBSIMhWS6yTk8nCmfpEdNId74Cam-_O8rvXeZg5-eKHfM0KpFlCHGZHU3OZO/s320/KevinHartFlyer.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>Attorney <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-hart-bb996334/" target="_blank">Kevin Hart</a> speaks to students today, Feb. 20, at UMass Law School about his career path in public service in Massachusetts state government, and earlier, in the Town of Bridgewater.<br /><p></p><p>Hart is now chief counsel for the <a href="https://malegislature.gov/Committees/Detail/J27/Members" target="_blank">Joint Committee on Transportation</a> in the Massachusetts legislature. He graduated from UMass Law in 2015. He came to UMass Law with a BA from Stonehill College and an MPA from the Sawyer Business School at Suffolk University.</p><p>Hart was the second teaching assistant I hired at UMass Law in Torts I and Torts II. (<a href="https://www.umassd.edu/directory/kbutler2/" target="_blank">The first</a> is doing well too.) He wrote a characteristically excellent research paper on the modern inutility of the historical negligent-delivery-of-telecommunication cause of action.<br /></p><p>I'm not saying that my teaching <i>causes </i>meteoric career success. I'm just observing correlation.<br /></p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-36658765665720554952024-02-19T08:00:00.005-05:002024-02-19T14:32:45.228-05:00Kyiv law school strives for normalcy<p>The dean of a Kyiv, Ukraine, law school spoke to American Bar Association (ABA) lawyers Thursday via Zoom about teaching law in a war zone.</p><p>I once had a class halted by a (false) fire alarm. That was a hassle.</p><p>I've never had a class disrupted by an alarm warning of an incoming hypersonic missile.</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicnAATgV8TVSmarB_LSei5uz3hVQyiB3fjckRKQkEzwUy7-QgEI0o0iXju3-nCQhGLUyDi2sIYftbgJhuoT0FHCBhalwDFIcSwYoAlnHKUSLhBEj0EMbKUL5M2_lU4E7yg1nvL9QPIyMSiE3iZBrLI_xbJn4ZFoOorLG1e71AtBKovDh7N2FQZ4kx4vtWi/s817/VV.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="725" data-original-width="817" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicnAATgV8TVSmarB_LSei5uz3hVQyiB3fjckRKQkEzwUy7-QgEI0o0iXju3-nCQhGLUyDi2sIYftbgJhuoT0FHCBhalwDFIcSwYoAlnHKUSLhBEj0EMbKUL5M2_lU4E7yg1nvL9QPIyMSiE3iZBrLI_xbJn4ZFoOorLG1e71AtBKovDh7N2FQZ4kx4vtWi/w320-h284/VV.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://law.ukma.edu.ua/en/specialists/venger-volodymyr-mykolajovych/" target="_blank">Dean Volodymyr Venher</a></span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Zoom, Feb. 15, 2024</span> </td></tr></tbody></table><a href="https://law.ukma.edu.ua/en/specialists/venger-volodymyr-mykolajovych/" target="_blank">Volodymyr Venher</a> has. He's dean of the <a href="https://law.ukma.edu.ua/en/" target="_blank">law school</a> at the <span class="mw-page-title-main">National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (KMA). Alarms happen once or twice a week, he told the ABA Seasoned Lawyers Interest Network. Russian attacks target civilian infrastructure. <br /></span><p></p>"Sometimes it's really scary," <span class="mw-page-title-main">Venher</span> said.<p>Kyiv has a protective barrier that includes U.S. Patriot missiles, <span class="mw-page-title-main">Venher</span> said. But some Russian missiles get through. Two weeks ago, he said, a missile struck 300 meters from his apartment. He lives on the 11th floor, and the building shook, loosening bricks and concrete.</p><p><span class="mw-page-title-main">A KMA professor in biology <a href="https://unn.ua/en/news/professor-lyudmyla-shevtsova-of-the-national-university-of-kyiv-mohyla-academy-killed-in-the-shelling-of-kyiv" target="_blank">was killed</a> at her home in January.</span></p><p><span class="mw-page-title-main">Kyiv
has it a little worse than Lviv, which sees fewer missile attacks, Dean
Venher said. But Kyiv is "paradise," Venher said, compared with
Kharkiv, </span>where Russia has targeted <a href="https://www.the-scientist.com/professors-at-bombed-kharkiv-university-struggle-to-continue-their-work-70093" target="_blank">universities</a>. </p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmFLkrtYviKD-CwwEtv_fsa_HPVvxFNQ4_At1Scnxp0sod9_L1gQv7zX8UfN5r9BeSxXGtTjqhJoUubdiaG6BJ5X7tVlKD4ruhL-SRZlIY9JCStdt7n-5a42FykUZWJr49OVCVegBOfz10Ba97qfvgokf2A5MvZdKwl5rzL7ib81aFT2z87WRlw9eFJoak/s800/Kyiv_after_Russian_missile_attack,_2023-06-24_(50).jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmFLkrtYviKD-CwwEtv_fsa_HPVvxFNQ4_At1Scnxp0sod9_L1gQv7zX8UfN5r9BeSxXGtTjqhJoUubdiaG6BJ5X7tVlKD4ruhL-SRZlIY9JCStdt7n-5a42FykUZWJr49OVCVegBOfz10Ba97qfvgokf2A5MvZdKwl5rzL7ib81aFT2z87WRlw9eFJoak/w400-h266/Kyiv_after_Russian_missile_attack,_2023-06-24_(50).jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">This missile attack on a residential complex in 2023 killed five.<br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://dsns.gov.ua/" target="_blank">State Emergency Service of Ukraine</a> <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kyiv_after_Russian_missile_attack,_2023-06-24_%2850%29.jpg" target="_blank">via Wikimedia Commons</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en" target="_blank">CC BY 4.0</a></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span class="mw-page-title-main"></span>Faculty and students at KMA Law carry on. <span class="mw-page-title-main">Venher</span> said that to endure the constant threat of war, it helps to maintain some semblance of normalcy. His law school ceased operation for only one month, he said, in March 2022. Classes resumed online in April and in hybrid form for the start of a new academic year in September 2022.</p><p>Naturally the school was worried about what enrollment would look like. But students wanted normalcy, too. Of an admitted class of 120 in fall 2022, 110 turned up in person to start the year, Venher said. There are occasional setbacks in loss of electricity and internet outages. The internet problem was solved when the school bought two Starlink subscriptions, Venher said.<br /></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7vxQlgSRen7i6twrqBagQGghfcALfUJeBEQ8B-fDZFrxR_hCbQHWVNlhOeio_ur5adbRoPgDBO6kQrEviJg7swNmiALHIqGJtEMwTy1VaLuKjJzcYwH48ZHkum21dTXHxMVkY8qtZ-y_cOmwwz-cJDUwwOVBM5xl4RxBrb_UxHylQcgfpBQIWY3Ifa0ld/s800/kma.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7vxQlgSRen7i6twrqBagQGghfcALfUJeBEQ8B-fDZFrxR_hCbQHWVNlhOeio_ur5adbRoPgDBO6kQrEviJg7swNmiALHIqGJtEMwTy1VaLuKjJzcYwH48ZHkum21dTXHxMVkY8qtZ-y_cOmwwz-cJDUwwOVBM5xl4RxBrb_UxHylQcgfpBQIWY3Ifa0ld/w320-h240/kma.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">KMA, 2009</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Роман Днепр <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Academy_in_Kiev.JPG" target="_blank">via Wikimedia Commons</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en" target="_blank">CC BY-SA 3.0</a></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Law faculty try to continue both their teaching and research, Venher said. Many focus their work on what it will take to rebuild Ukraine after the war. Some focus on humanitarian needs. Some, including Venher, focus on the law of war and problems of accountability.<p></p><p>There is a mental toll. After missile strikes, one can see people's unhappiness, Venher said. Many people are afflicted with depression and survivor guilt.</p><p>"The human brain can adapt to anything," Venher said. "We hope for a better future."</p><p><span class="mw-page-title-main">KMA Law is keen to connect with partners abroad. Connecting electronically </span><span class="mw-page-title-main">with the outside world helps to keep spirits up and maintains a status quo ante, a connectedness that would have been ordinary before the war. </span><span class="mw-page-title-main">Venher said that the school welcomes even opportunities for law students to practice speaking English with their counterparts elsewhere. The school is keen too for faculty to find opportunities to present research and expertise.</span></p><p><span class="mw-page-title-main"><a href="https://law.ukma.edu.ua/en/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="65" data-original-width="232" height="65" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyoOY9bW_YFf_nXMgKWeT8m3DL1D7N5ywZWG4JM-2YoNyjP1T27xPBeEr8_Q_MwIX9Nrx0fDe7vK4reCP9zulKuCH2EFuXk6dH7yRxFX8IfEPuFuWgI_wJU3O43w6SLBpzIxtKC5TEgvZdjzbiBpQlUAChX18IL2wMyNGCIoBwdCd-x00ip1KzfOf0jphn/s1600/logo.png" width="232" /></a>The school also welcomes resources. A French benefactor recently donated a collection of law books, and the school could use more legal resources in English and French. Under the circumstances, the school cannot afford pricey legal database subscriptions, Venher explained. So students and researchers are more dependent than usual on hardcopy resources.</span></p><p><span class="mw-page-title-main">The school website provides <a href="https://law.ukma.edu.ua/en/support-the-faculty/" target="_blank">guidance on financial contributions</a>.</span></p><p><span class="mw-page-title-main"><i>This story was updated on Feb. 19 at 9:30 a.m. when I confirmed the death of KMA Prof. </i></span><i>Lyudmyla Shevtsova.</i><span class="mw-page-title-main"><br /></span></p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-8998358787654261912024-02-18T17:00:00.010-05:002024-02-18T17:00:00.161-05:00Entrepreneur Jones develops one-stop tour site<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJiG3w3UFbZET1vXOqmzrp6tQCSfpiI0-e6kkuWryW05T1OJHrCYcuyhs96XaGjePdKpnq48VqggonzsHKbGflhtm-7CQInX1E6dDanl6dnbOoO7G-cefOl57mtg1hZOZIQugN8mQGTwq3dxeyzyFncN4NF9ifq8xU7R5aWW3s-z4lW_4VpJisPZuh2H3X/s2048/IMG-20230728-WA0037.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; display:none;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJiG3w3UFbZET1vXOqmzrp6tQCSfpiI0-e6kkuWryW05T1OJHrCYcuyhs96XaGjePdKpnq48VqggonzsHKbGflhtm-7CQInX1E6dDanl6dnbOoO7G-cefOl57mtg1hZOZIQugN8mQGTwq3dxeyzyFncN4NF9ifq8xU7R5aWW3s-z4lW_4VpJisPZuh2H3X/w300-h400/IMG-20230728-WA0037.jpg" width="300" /></a><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flamingtravel.com/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="125" data-original-width="480" height="52" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipxXArSWqCPm4YXAKoM5sSf3IQ1Fb9xXXYAyTzEPYAIO_gREmS2RnM6N_q4TXuL6HKdc6ujeEmDtWBW5cG9rQCvXCltZNCDosiuzQh5103yWzcmRExqadqDJsxg2gq1Efa8V9CjnV9PxMPjeeEJlgd1rZctjrDA1a13v7yXD_TUZdB47Ra8cXy8K38ZCWS/w200-h52/logo.png" width="200" /></a></div>A new website, <a href="https://www.flamingtravel.com/" target="_blank"><b>Flaming Travel</b></a> aims to fill a market gap in tour and adventure searching, giving world travelers a one-stop shop to search multiple providers.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flamingtravel.com/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1680" data-original-width="3247" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk9vMFaMgJWe6AOlAdkJqNM3THEXWYH5kESf8JWqCPYJgHBVaYSlWHmY-5uCbFo_RX8ZmmE_NlZY-i_HgI-w3BHbkRfFVa0OgEMS90uuQPjNDqKkCRh9IbFBX2iFgJ4PcdrAr5DGjFWa5SI9f-LdpRVtGdkWM37OVId2-qk-MY1KAhwnNTW6uKCWMxHrgD/w400-h208/FT%20screenshot.png" width="400" /></a></div>Flaming Travel is the brainchild of my friend and aptly self-described serial entrepreneur Ben Jones. The multi-talented and polyglot Jones is head of <a href="https://www.outstride.co/" target="_blank">OutStride</a>, where he is a founder coach for other and would-be entrepreneurs. Read about <a href="https://blog.outstride.co/from-founder-to-coach-my-story-f8b86f93f72d" target="_blank">Ben's story</a> at <i>Medium</i>, read <a href="https://benpeterjones.medium.com/" target="_blank">his writing</a> at <i>Medium</i>, and follow his adventures <a href="https://www.instagram.com/BenPeterJones/" target="_blank">on Instragram</a>. <br /><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJiG3w3UFbZET1vXOqmzrp6tQCSfpiI0-e6kkuWryW05T1OJHrCYcuyhs96XaGjePdKpnq48VqggonzsHKbGflhtm-7CQInX1E6dDanl6dnbOoO7G-cefOl57mtg1hZOZIQugN8mQGTwq3dxeyzyFncN4NF9ifq8xU7R5aWW3s-z4lW_4VpJisPZuh2H3X/s2048/IMG-20230728-WA0037.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJiG3w3UFbZET1vXOqmzrp6tQCSfpiI0-e6kkuWryW05T1OJHrCYcuyhs96XaGjePdKpnq48VqggonzsHKbGflhtm-7CQInX1E6dDanl6dnbOoO7G-cefOl57mtg1hZOZIQugN8mQGTwq3dxeyzyFncN4NF9ifq8xU7R5aWW3s-z4lW_4VpJisPZuh2H3X/w300-h400/IMG-20230728-WA0037.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Ben and I hike the Tian Shan, Kyrgyzstan, 2023.</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">© Justin Cohen</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>At present, Flaming Travel lists tours by UK-based <a href="https://lupinetravel.co.uk/" target="_blank">Lupine Travel</a> and expat-China-founded <a href="https://www.youngpioneertours.com/" target="_blank">Young Pioneer Tours</a>. Further development will see the addition of more providers. The idea is to make it faster and easier especially for frequent travelers to identify opportunities to visit new destinations.<br /></p><p>Besides a search interface, Flaming Travel allows users to sort data by date, duration, company, country, and the number of countries on an itinerary. So at minimum, Flaming Travel will save users time over visiting multiple websites.</p><p>Most travel company websites (notably <a href="https://lupinetravel.co.uk/all-tours/" target="_blank">excepting Lupine</a>: shout out to <a href="https://lupinetravel.co.uk/team/" target="_blank">Megan & co.</a>) list tours by destination or region and have no comprehensive list by date. But frequent travelers might be more concerned about fitting opportunities into available windows of time off work, than concerned about destination. Ability to sort market data chronologically will be a boon to getaway planners.</p><p>This post is not an ad, by the way. I'm eager to share Ben's innovation and stimulate interest in world travel.<br /></p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-52901984243638155262024-02-17T08:00:00.004-05:002024-03-09T18:00:05.304-05:00Foul-ball injuries persist at baseball games<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVgWd8dT8t_0k3aMD82bNpCYQ3asvrqaakBdoZTnYQum5qg5a3R2uSjI55_Dj3QnCzdR67gQ-Dr8Rb-b8SUCE7qnwUnf_mjFst0Zz-90qz0jnAp0ou6u-ZzXddOzFEa9-7IzdIkSeI5BO8iblM4vnJO3KdjtgAQuQs02DIf6-jJIOmyMFTROHmub5CYJ5b/s1024/baseball-game-net-sports-c03541-1024.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVgWd8dT8t_0k3aMD82bNpCYQ3asvrqaakBdoZTnYQum5qg5a3R2uSjI55_Dj3QnCzdR67gQ-Dr8Rb-b8SUCE7qnwUnf_mjFst0Zz-90qz0jnAp0ou6u-ZzXddOzFEa9-7IzdIkSeI5BO8iblM4vnJO3KdjtgAQuQs02DIf6-jJIOmyMFTROHmub5CYJ5b/w400-h266/baseball-game-net-sports-c03541-1024.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://pixabay.com/" target="_blank">Pixabay</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/" target="_blank">CC0 1.0</a> via <a href="https://garystockbridge617.getarchive.net/amp/media/baseball-game-net-sports-c03541" target="_blank">Get Archive</a></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The <a href="https://www.tortmuseum.org/" target="_blank">American Museum of Tort Law</a> (AMTL) hosted a Zoom panel Thursday on the problem of foul balls injuring baseball fans.</p><p><i>(UPDATE: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvMCrVLh9cg" target="_blank">Video posted, Feb. 27</a>.)</i> <br /></p><p></p><p>American tort law students usually are acquainted with the so-called "baseball rule." The "rule" represents the legal supposition that fans who attend baseball games understand and accept the risk that a foul ball might fly into the stands and cause injury. More accurately stated in contemporary terms in American tort law, the "rule" is that a professional baseball enterprise does not have a duty to avert injuries that are part of the game of baseball.</p><p>You can tell from my quote marks that I don't like the characterization of "the baseball rule" as a rule, because it's not. The "rule" is oft stated as such in popular culture and too often in law. But it does not represent a consistent "rule" of decision in tort cases. Plaintiff lawyers have circumnavigated it many times, justifiably so. And if the "rule" were a rule, it would be a bad one. Horrific injuries happen too often, such as shattered eye sockets and blinding. Two children were critically injured in the minor leagues in the past season.<br /></p><p>You can see the problems even on the face of the "rule." Not everyone who goes to a baseball game knows that there is a danger of being hit by a foul ball, especially the risk of substantial bodily harm in a line drive with a 100-mph exit velocity. Baseball clubs put up some nets specifically to protect fans from these injuries in some places, such as behind home plate, but the nets fall far short of full coverage. Fans sitting in unprotected seats might not see the difference. Certainly fans might not know the scope of potential injury. Finally, the assumption-of-risk doctrine that animates the "baseball rule" was crafted to preclude lawsuits by sport participants. The doctrine has been extended tentatively and sometimes dubiously to fans.</p><p>As in many tort cases, the functioning of the tort system in foul-ball cases is being disrupted by arbitration clauses in baseball ticket terms and conditions, and by non-disclosure agreements in settlements. Secrecy impedes tort's norm-setting and deterrence functions. If fans don't understand the danger and frequency of foul ball injuries, they're unlikely to find out from reported cases.<br /></p><p>Hosted by Melissa Bird for the AMTL, the panel comprised Ken Reed, Jordan Skopp, and Greg Wilkowski. Reed is Sports Policy Director for <a href="https://www.leagueoffans.org/" target="_blank">League of Fans</a>, a Ralph Nader project that covers <a href="https://www.leagueoffans.org/?s=foul+ball" target="_blank">the foul-ball problem</a>. Skopp, a New York realtor, is the activist-founder of the grassroots <a href="https://www.foulballsafetynow.com/" target="_blank">Foul Ball Safety Now!</a>, which hosts a trove of information. Wilkowski is a <a href="https://wilkowskilaw.com/about/" target="_blank">Chicago lawyer</a> presently representing plaintiffs in a class action against the Peoria Chiefs (<i>e.g.</i>, <a href="https://www.pjstar.com/story/sports/minors/chiefs/2023/08/18/peoria-chiefs-baseball-team-faces-lawsuit-by-woman-struck-by-baseball-seeks-protective-netting/70501440007/" target="_blank"><i>Journal Star</i></a>).<br /></p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-82095013581510502152024-02-16T08:00:00.009-05:002024-02-21T22:19:50.502-05:00Me and Julian Assange<p><b><span style="font-size: large;">WikiLeaks founder battles extradition in UK courts<i><br /></i></span></b></p><p><i></i></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha4BjLnnxIH2azYN70T9LB3UwhjMrPajJb-QG5oLqTCMGY-1WLzOF2iEHJ9RUch6ul2EU81MeNl84eDOupaFiqe-eSF3h9m4ULUd5mpEFXv_irTACmq8JjlyA4GViCJIw0Vsh55r8YYB0_zGWo5DiORjnA_IsBU7Ih9r1fDrmESaOY2tE2rcW5UQPHe9iD/s799/JA.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="799" data-original-width="533" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha4BjLnnxIH2azYN70T9LB3UwhjMrPajJb-QG5oLqTCMGY-1WLzOF2iEHJ9RUch6ul2EU81MeNl84eDOupaFiqe-eSF3h9m4ULUd5mpEFXv_irTACmq8JjlyA4GViCJIw0Vsh55r8YYB0_zGWo5DiORjnA_IsBU7Ih9r1fDrmESaOY2tE2rcW5UQPHe9iD/w266-h400/JA.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Julian Assange, 2014<br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cancillería del Ecuador <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgcomsoc/14953880621/" target="_blank">via Flickr</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/" target="_blank">CC BY-SA 2.0</a></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><i>I'm as close to a freedom-of-information absolutist as you'll find.</i><p></p><p>I've said that about myself. I stole the notion and adapted the line from a personal hero, the renowned <a href="https://law.umn.edu/profiles/jane-kirtley" target="_blank">Professor Jane Kirtley</a>, whom I was privileged to meet first in her legendary tenure at the helm of the <a href="https://www.rcfp.org/" target="_blank">Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press</a> (RCFP). Professor Kirtley utters the line as a <i>First Amendment absolutist</i>, and she's right: I've met no one so thoroughly committed to a free press, and able to persuade you she's right to boot.</p><p><b>Access to information</b>, or frustration over the lack thereof, when I was a <a href="https://ringtumphi.net/" target="_blank">university journalist</a> was a major force that drove me to law school. I was a strident 23-year-old law student, a legal intern at the <a href="https://splc.org/" target="_blank">Student Press Law Center</a> (SPLC) and a willing convert to the cause, when I first met Kirtley in person. </p><p>It was the 1990s. Bill had cheated on Hillary, and Milli Vanilli's Grammy was revoked. I was well convinced that the world would be a better place if there were no secrets at all: if governments kept open books, and everyone walked around with their hearts on their sleeves. </p><p>At the joint offices of the RCFP and SPLC, I had access to a closet that held all of the publications on freedom of information. I devoured them. I was ready to build my Utopia.<br /></p><p><i>I'm as close to a freedom-of-information absolutist as you'll find.</i> </p><p>I still say the line. But I admit, sometimes now I say it with less conviction. </p><p><a href="https://www.pbs.org/video/february-14-2024-pbs-newshour-full-episode-1707886801/" target="_blank">Yesterday on NewsHour</a>, a cognition expert said that we experience an increase in compassion and empathy as we age. That's it, I thought. That's why the utterly fictional characters on <i>This Is Us</i> made me cry like it was my own family. That's why I'm no longer so confident in my absolutisms. It's biology, and I can't help it. I'm getting old and soft.<br /></p><p>In 2006, I was still strong. I knew right from wrong. I was an absolutist terror. That was the year that WikiLeaks was founded. That was the year that Julian Assange came into my life.</p><p><b>Julian Assange </b>and I are the same age, born just months apart and a world away, in 1971. By the time I learned of him, we were 25, and his biography made me feel like I'd been sitting on my hands watching the world go by. He had hacked NASA when he was a teen in Melbourne. He was charged with computer crimes by age 20. </p><p>But he wasn't a ne'er-do-well; he obeyed a nascent code of ethics for a new, technological age. He is <a href="https://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/wikirebels-the-documentary/" target="_blank">credited</a> with originating "hacktivism." He showed what government, especially the U.S. military, was up to behind virtual closed doors. He was out to make the world better by pulling back the curtain. Unapologetic, radical transparency.<br /></p><p>When Assange co-founded <a href="https://wikileaks.org/" target="_blank">WikiLeaks</a> in 2006, freedom-of-information absolutism was the ethos. Anyone in the world with access to secrets could pour them anonymously into Wikileaks's servers in Iceland: a deliberate jurisdictional choice for information laundering. The drop-box technology was sleek. The morality was <i>a-</i>, not <i>im-</i>. Wikileaks would publish it all. The democratic potential of the internet would be realized. All the citizens of the globe would judge. Brilliant.</p><p>There were remarkable successes. Notable was the <a href="https://collateralmurder.wikileaks.org/" target="_blank">"collateral murder"</a> revelation, that U.S. soldiers had killed 18 civilians in a Baghdad helicopter attack in 2007. WikiLeaks also revealed the toll of friendly fire deaths, many of which had been covered up. Conclude what one would about the military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, the people whose lives were on the line, as well as families and voters back home, deserved to see the good, the bad, and the ugly of war. </p><p>And it wasn't just about war. WikiLeaks had big banks in the crosshairs (<a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1947129" target="_blank">2011</a>, <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2428781" target="_blank">2013</a>). In 2016, a trove of records (<i>e.g.</i>, <i><a href="https://torontosun.com/2016/10/18/wikileaks-dump-sexual-harassment-coverup-sanders-a-dufus" target="_blank">Toronto Sun</a></i>) revealed that Hillary Clinton campaign head John Podesta had called Bernie Sanders a "doofus" over his criticism of the Paris climate accord. Good to know.<br /></p><p>But after the Iraq War apex, things had started to unravel. WikiLeaks knew a lot; maybe too much. Its revelations tested the <i>as close to ... as</i> part of my mantra. Absolutism's gloss started to tarnish. </p><p>Is there really social good in forecasting troop movements, when soldiers would be slaughtered as a result? Even Julian Assange saw it: Unmasked middle eastern informants cooperating with western forces, and the informants' families, faced brutal retaliation by militias and dictators. It was hard to work the math on absolute transparency to make the benefits always outweigh the costs. </p><p>So in 2010, WikiLeaks forged an alliance with <i>The Guardian</i>, and later other news outlets. With absolutism baked into the technology, WikiLeaks had no way to sift information to ensure, quite literally, that people would not be killed as a direct result of publication. </p><p>Journalists do know how to do that; that ethical balance, to minimize harm, is the very essence of journalistic professionalism. So WikiLeaks would turn some of its information over to journalists, who would screen for the rare but real need for confidentiality.</p><p>The collaboration was rocky, short-lived, and at best only partly successful. The missions of absolute transparency and journalistic judgment were not so easily reconciled. The story has been told many times, for example in <i>Vanity Fair</i>'s 2011 <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2011/02/the-guardian-201102" target="_blank">"The Man Who Spilled the Secrets,"</a> and still is dissected <a href="https://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/projects/caseconsortium/casestudies/70/casestudy/www/layout/case_id_70.html" target="_blank">in journalism schools</a>. </p><p><b>Fortunes changed</b> for Julian Assange. Negative words such as "anarchist" and "seditionist" took the place of positive words such as "crusader" and "activist." Allegations of rape, which Assange denies vehemently, surfaced in Sweden, which sought Assange's extradition from the UK. Conspiracy theorists, who are not always wrong, alleged that the Sweden allegations were a ruse to bring about Assange's extradition to the United States, which had indicted him, from a jurisdiction that would accede more readily than England would. </p><p>In London, Assange sought refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy, where he lived for nearly seven years. Things got weirder. Why wouldn't they?, with Assange trapped in a physical building and a legal limbo. In rare public appearances, Assange looked rough: less his former satiny-minimalist fashion, slick mane, and lustrous confidence; more fist-shaking-old-man-in-a-robe, scraggly-beard, "get off my lawn" vibe. </p><p>Eventually the Ecuadoreans <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6917341/Assange-inside-fetid-lair-squalid-horror-drove-embassy-staff-finally-kick-out.html" target="_blank">grew weary</a> of the house guest who wouldn't leave. They called the cops, literally. In 2019, Assange was arrested. He has been in London's high-security Belmarsh Prison since. The United States has asked the UK to extradite Assange to face espionage charges, and the UK has seemed pleased to offload a lightning rod.<br /></p><p>Is the U.S. extradition request about prosecution or persecution? As media struggle to make sense of Julian Assange—<a href="https://rockefeller.dartmouth.edu/news/2022/02/julian-assange-visionary-or-villain" target="_blank">"Visionary or Villain?"</a>—all indications are that if he lands in the United States, sending him to the stockade, if not the gallows, will be a bipartisan cause. The shift in American political attitude these intervening years toward a troubling receptivity to authoritarianism has flipped the script on WikiLeaks in the public imagination.</p><p><b>Some 35 law professors</b>, including me, on Wednesday signed <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24427303-letter-from-law-professors-re-assange-prosecution" target="_blank">a letter</a> to Attorney General Merrick Garland asking that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) end its efforts to have Julian Assange extradited and that DOJ drop Espionage Act charges against him. I'll paste the text of the letter below.</p><p>The <a href="https://freedom.press/" target="_blank">Freedom of the Press Foundation</a>, which has coordinated efforts on the Assange matter, issued <a href="https://freedom.press/news/law-professors-to-doj-drop-assange-prosecution/" target="_blank">a press release</a> about the letter. Below is the foundation's three-minute video take.<br /></p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/roayw8VUy7w?si=Jn76ZrjPrl1z6B07" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho5G8eIBRYQq6qbNpJVJQ4287c8fhyI5cSKZE7GDzqA0PKTHAxTo0XE3VYku6sLgtA6zQu-N_XXD6Pz6iL6MLL5pw3LakCMWqyI9jfrScyirMKkJozU3jp5QJHAv-RyoaSUaV-9_hK31VHql_LAOXqTok_3jB0yUG43RAUkH3ZHnPBiRPZaGIugkEcuO4k/s11832/rally%20for%20Assange%20Boston%20240220.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="11832" data-original-width="9246" height="522" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho5G8eIBRYQq6qbNpJVJQ4287c8fhyI5cSKZE7GDzqA0PKTHAxTo0XE3VYku6sLgtA6zQu-N_XXD6Pz6iL6MLL5pw3LakCMWqyI9jfrScyirMKkJozU3jp5QJHAv-RyoaSUaV-9_hK31VHql_LAOXqTok_3jB0yUG43RAUkH3ZHnPBiRPZaGIugkEcuO4k/w408-h522/rally%20for%20Assange%20Boston%20240220.jpg" width="408" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table>Yesterday, the Freedom of the Press Foundation hosted a forum, "Jailing Journalists: The Assange Case and the Threat to Press Freedom" [<i>update:</i> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktr6d1T1AOI" target="_blank">posted Feb. 20</a>]. The forum was geared to reach people who might not understand what's at stake and might not like Julian Assange. One does not have to like Assange nor applaud the publication of state secrets to worry about the implications of an extradition and Espionage Act prosecution for the First Amendment and the American Fourth Estate. <p></p><p>Echoing just that worry, U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) led off the forum. He has led lawmakers, he said, in asking the Garland DOJ to drop the charges and abandon the extradition. McGovern represents the Massachusetts Second Congressional District, which is a good chunk of the center of the commonwealth, west of Boston.<br /></p><p>The Freedom of the Press Foundation forum revealed just how dangerous the situation has become for journalists in America, and how endangered might be some fundamental precepts of First Amendment law. One journalist commented in the forum that he has been sued by government for a prior restraint on the dissemination of lawfully obtained public records. This is basic <a href="https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/new-york-times-co-v-united-states/" target="_blank"><i>Pentagon Papers</i></a> stuff. But would the present Supreme Court uphold the sacrosanct no-prior-restraint doctrine?, forum participants asked. <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7_eZsGr-QAK3lXeMsruNCXxL7TAtJiouk58Y99DhGJpB6vmKSAj8NJflRfLCfJRxKWBu92fM5OHec1VOU3L-wxJRlj1K_60D3mAh75hX5yf8svSd3tICmVJ-1y2Rc0aqYsn5tOLKwN-8gQTIroPrWcwJ861qokZzXByQUBddkAkq4yue2t65aH-vqSQjd/s792/Day-X-Flyer-2j_20_24-2_2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="792" data-original-width="612" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7_eZsGr-QAK3lXeMsruNCXxL7TAtJiouk58Y99DhGJpB6vmKSAj8NJflRfLCfJRxKWBu92fM5OHec1VOU3L-wxJRlj1K_60D3mAh75hX5yf8svSd3tICmVJ-1y2Rc0aqYsn5tOLKwN-8gQTIroPrWcwJ861qokZzXByQUBddkAkq4yue2t65aH-vqSQjd/s320/Day-X-Flyer-2j_20_24-2_2.jpg" width="247" /></a></div>When I met Jane Kirtley 30 years ago, that would have been a silly question.<p></p><p>Assange will have been in prison in London for five years this April. Beginning Tuesday next week, on February 20 and 21, the High Court of Justice in London will hear his case on a potentially dispositive procedural question. Previously, the British government approved extradition to the United States, and a lower court judge decided that that determination could not be appealed. So the subject of the hearing next week is to determine whether Assange may appeal the administrative disposition to the courts.</p><p>Boston Area <a href="https://assangedefense.org/" target="_blank">Assange Defense</a>
plans a rally in support of Assange on February 20 (flyer above) at the Massachusetts State House. The
group has been an active local organization advocating against
prosecution of Assange. I <a href="http://www.thesavorytort.com/2023/02/assange-defense-group-plans.html" target="_blank">publicized</a> the organization's rally and forum last year. A <a href="https://assangedefense.org/events/" target="_blank">demonstration is planned</a> similarly at the UK Consulate in New York City on February 20 (flyer at left). <br /></p><hr /><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>LAW PROFS' LETTER TO U.S. AG RE ASSANGE, ESPIONAGE ACT</b> <br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">February 14, 2024</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">The Honorable Merrick B. Garland Attorney General</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Dear Attorney General Merrick Garland,</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">The undersigned law professors strongly urge the Department of Justice to end its efforts to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States and to drop the charges against him under the Espionage Act.[FN1]</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Our personal views on Assange and WikiLeaks vary, and we are not writing to defend them in the court of public opinion. But when it comes to courts of law, we are united in our concern about the constitutional implications of prosecuting Assange. As explained below, we believe the Espionage Act charges against him pose an existential threat to the First Amendment.</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">"[A] free press cannot be made to rely solely upon the sufferance of government to supply it with information."[FN2] Accordingly, the Supreme Court has correctly and repeatedly held that journalists are entitled to publish true and newsworthy information even if their sources obtained or released the information unlawfully.[FN3] Journalists have relied on sources who broke the law to report some of the most important stories in American history.[FN4] An application of the Espionage Act that would prohibit them from doing so would not only deprive the public of important news reporting but would run far afoul of the First Amendment.[FN5]</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">That is why last November, editors and publishers of <i>The New York Times</i>, <i>The Guardian</i>, and other international news outlets wrote in an open letter about the Assange case that "[o]btaining and disclosing sensitive information when necessary in the public interest is a core part of the daily work of journalists. If that work is criminalised,our public discourse and our democracies are made significantly weaker."[FN6] Additionally, top editors at <i>The Washington Post</i>, <i>Wall Street Journal</i>, <i>USA Today</i>, and more have unequivocally condemned the charges against Assange as a direct threat to their own journalists’ rights.[FN7]</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">The Obama/Biden DOJ recognized as much in declining to prosecute Assange, reportedly due to “the New York Times problem,” i.e., the lack of a legal basis to prosecute Assange that could not also be used to prosecute the nation’s most recognizable newspaper.[FN8] That was, unfortunately, less of a worry for the Trump DOJ, but should deeply concern your office. </span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">The current indictment against Mr. Assange contains 17 counts of alleged Espionage Act violations, all based on obtaining, receiving, possessing and publishing national defense information.[FN9] The indictment accuses Assange of "recruit[ing] sources" and "soliciting" confidential documents merely by maintaining a website indicating that it accepts such materials.</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Award-winning journalists everywhere also regularly "recruit" and speak with sources, use encrypted or anonymous communications channels, receive and accept confidential information, ask questions to sources about it, and publish it. That is not a crime—it’s investigative journalism. As long as they don’t participate in their source’s illegality, their conduct is entitled to the full protection of the First Amendment.[FN10]</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">The fallout from prosecuting Assange could extend beyond the Espionage Act and beyond national security journalism. It could enable prosecution of routine newsgathering under any number of ambiguous laws and untested legal theories.We’ve already seen prosecutors test the outer limits of some such theories in cases against journalists.[FN11]</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">The Justice Department under your watch has spoken about the importance of newsgathering and ensuring the First Amendment rights of reporters are protected, even when stories involve classified information. You have also strengthened the Justice Department's internal guidelines in cases involving reporters.[FN12] We applaud these efforts. But a prosecution of Assange under the Espionage Act would undermine all these policies and open the door to future Attorneys General bringing similar felony charges against journalists. </span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">We respectfully urge you to uphold the First Amendment and drop all Espionage Act charges against Julian Assange.</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Sincerely,</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Jody David Armour, Roy P. Crocker Professor of Law, USC Gould School of Law</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Michael Avery, Professor Emeritus, Suffolk Law School</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Emily Berman, Royce R. Till Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Mark S. Brodin, Professor, Boston College Law School</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Leonard L. Cavise, Professor Emeritus, DePaul College of Law</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Alan K. Chen, Thompson G. Marsh Law Alumni Professor, University of Denver Sturm College of Law</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Carol L. Chomsky, Professor, University of Minnesota Law School</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Marjorie Cohn, Professor of Law Emerita, Thomas Jefferson School of Law</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Evelyn Douek, Assistant Professor of Law, Stanford Law School</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Eric B. Easton, Professor of Law Emeritus, University of Baltimore School of Law</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Richard Falk, Albert G. Milbank Professor of International Law and Practice Emeritus, Princeton University</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Martha A. Field, Langdell Professor, Harvard Law School</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Sally Frank, Professor of Law, Drake University School of Law</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Eric M. Freedman, Siggi B. Wilzig Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Rights, Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">James Goodale, Adjunct Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Robert W. Gordon, Professor of Law, Emeritus, Stanford Law School</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Mark A. Graber, Regents Professor, University of Maryland Carey School of Law</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Jonathan Hafetz, Professor of Law, Seton Hall Law School</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Heidi Kitrosser, William W. Gurley Professor of Law, Northwestern – Pritzker School of Law</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Genevieve Lakier, Professor of Law and Herbert & Marjorie Fried Teaching Scholar, The University of Chicago Law School</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Arthur S. Leonard, Robert F. Wagner Professor of Labor and Employment Law, Emeritus, New York Law School</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Gregg Leslie, Professor of Practice; Executive Director, First Amendment Clinic, ASU Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Gregory P. Magarian, Thomas and Karole Green Professor of Law, Washington University School of Law</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Carlin Meyer, Prof. Emerita, New York Law School</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Anthony O’Rourke, Joseph W. Belluck & Laura L. Aswad Professor, University at Buffalo School of Law</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Richard J. Peltz-Steele, Chancellor Professor, UMass Law School</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Jonathan Peters, Chair of the Department of Journalism and Affiliate Professor of Law, University of Georgia</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Aziz Rana, Incoming J. Donald Monan, S.J., University Professor of Law and Government,<br />Boston College</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Leslie Rose, Professor of Law Emerita, Golden Gate University School of Law</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Brad R. Roth, Professor of Political Science and Law, Wayne State University</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Laura Rovner, Professor of Law & Director, Civil Rights Clinic, University of Denver<br />Sturm College of Law</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Natsu Taylor Saito, Regents’ Professor Emerita, Georgia State University College of Law</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">G. Alex Sinha, Associate Professor of Law, Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Mateo Taussig-Rubbo, Professor; Director of J.S.D. Program, University at Buffalo School of Law</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Hannibal Travis, Professor of Law, Florida International University College of Law</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Sonja R. West, Brumby Distinguished Professor in First Amendment Law, University of Georgia School of Law</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Bryan H. Wildenthal, Professor of Law Emeritus, Thomas Jefferson School of Law</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">Ellen Yaroshefsky, Howard Lichtenstein Professor of Legal Ethics, Maurice A. Deane School of<br />Law at Hofstra University</span></p><p><i style="color: #cc0000;">Signatories to this letter have signed in their individual capacities. Institutions are named for identification purposes only.</i></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">1. 18 U.S.C. §§ 792-798. </span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">2. Smith v. Daily Mail Publ'g Co.,443 U.S. 97, 104 (1979). </span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">3. <i>See, e.g., </i>Bartnicki v. Vopper, 532 U.S. 514 (2001); Florida Star v. B.J.F., 491 U.S. 524, 536 (1989); Landmark Commc'ns, Inc. v. Virginia, 435 U.S. 829, 830 n.1, 832 (1978); Okla. Publ'g Co. v. Okla. Cnty. Dist. Ct., 430 U.S. 308 (1977).</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">4. <i>See, e.g., </i>N.Y. Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 913 (1971) (per curiam).</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">5. Jean v. Mass. State Police, 492 F.3d 24, 31 (1st Cir. 2007) (<i>Bartnicki </i>barred liability for knowingly receiving illegal recording under criminal wiretapping statute).</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">6. Charlie Savage, <i>Major News Outlets Urge U.S. to Drop Its Charges Against Assange</i>, N.Y. Times, Nov. 28, 2022.</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">7. Camille Fassett, <i>Press Freedom Organizations and News Outlets Strongly Condemn New Charges<br />Against Julian Assange</i>, Freedom of the Press Foundation, May 24, 2019.</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">8. Hadas Gold, <i>The DOJ's "New York Times" problem with Assange</i>, Politico, Nov. 26, 2013.</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">9. 18 U.S.C. § 793; WikiLeaks Founder Charged in Superseding Indictment, Office of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of Justice, June 24, 2020.</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">10. <i>Bartnicki</i>, <i>supra</i>; Democratic Nat'l Comm. v. Russian Fed'n, 392 F. Supp. 3d 410, 436 (S.D.N.Y. 2019) ("Journalists are allowed to request documents that have been stolen and to publish those documents.").</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">11. Steven Lee Myers & Benjamin Mullin, <i>Raid of Small Kansas Newspaper Raises Free Press Concerns</i>, N.Y. Times, Aug. 13, 2023.</span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;">12. Charlie Savage, <i>Garland Formally Bars Justice Dept. from Seizing Reporters' Records</i>, N.Y. Times, Oct. 26, 2022. </span></p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508618900717274691.post-30275454527448881262024-02-15T22:00:00.002-05:002024-02-15T22:12:17.646-05:00Sherman speaks on lawyering, Spotlight investigation<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn_VCAxLummUCpM6g9UT4tvEEepYncsAkwlEYF-Ts1jNNbBg83d6OcAF-TLJBZEsMvVYwfnPupEl2MdPCgY_C9IY52kU7ANHYITkRo2NnFHq679VJ0lWnYW_mJk99NfRnml5nx2uvmCDu8EC7ePgM1caQPPDhYsl8uIOKD7GcUgP3nz0q6heIWD7_hNWS9/s1806/2024-02-15%2012.22.11.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1094" data-original-width="1806" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn_VCAxLummUCpM6g9UT4tvEEepYncsAkwlEYF-Ts1jNNbBg83d6OcAF-TLJBZEsMvVYwfnPupEl2MdPCgY_C9IY52kU7ANHYITkRo2NnFHq679VJ0lWnYW_mJk99NfRnml5nx2uvmCDu8EC7ePgM1caQPPDhYsl8uIOKD7GcUgP3nz0q6heIWD7_hNWS9/w400-h243/2024-02-15%2012.22.11.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ambassador <a href="https://www.gtlaw.com/en/professionals/s/sherman-robert-a" target="_blank">Robert Sherman</a></span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">RJ Peltz-Steele <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en" target="_blank">CC BY-NC-SA 4.0</a></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Attorney <a href="https://www.gtlaw.com/en/professionals/s/sherman-robert-a" target="_blank">Robert A. Sherman</a>, U.S. ambassador to Portugal from 2014 to 2017, spoke to students, staff, and faculty at the University of Massachusetts Law School today about his experience as a lawyer and diplomat.<p></p><p>Sherman's work experience spans criminal and civil practice, as well as politics and diplomacy. In a tort vein, from 2002 to 2004, Sherman was lead counsel for plaintiffs in sex abuse claims against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. Those were among the cases investigated by the <i>Boston Globe</i> <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/investigations/spotlight/" target="_blank">"Spotlight" team</a>, whose work was dramatized in the 2015 feature film, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1895587/" target="_blank"><i>Spotlight</i></a>.</p><p>Early in the wave of sex-abuse litigation against the church, Sherman said, plaintiff attorneys faced daunting hurdles, such as statutes of limitations and charitable immunity for the church in state law. Another problem was simply identifying victims. Many victims self-blamed, and a powerful stigma attached to the first persons who came forward. </p><p>As is problematically common in American tort litigation, secrecy in negotiated dispute resolution and non-disclosure agreements in settlements prevented the public from knowing who the perpetrators were and from understanding the scope of the wrongs. The same conditions impeded the Spotlight investigation.<br /></p><p>Sherman said that he's spoken publicly only recently about his connection to <i>Globe</i> editor Walter V. Robinson and the Spotlight team. Because of his work on the cases, Sherman said, he knew more than the public, and more than the Spotlight team, about the magnitude of the problem. And he knew who the perpetrators were. Yet bound by attorney-client confidentiality, Sherman said, he could not speak freely. He wrestled with his ethical responsibilities, he said.</p><p>Occasionally, Sherman met Robinson on a park bench—like in a spy thriller. Robinson wanted names. Sherman couldn't give them. But Robinson might say, for example, "Our sources tell us to look into Father Shanley." Sherman would respond, "I've heard of Father Shanley." That was all Robinson needed to hear to know that his lead was good.</p><p>Sherman and his law firm resolved 385 of 525 victim claims against the church in arbitration, he said.<br /></p><p>Law school and working as an attorney well prepared Sherman to be an ambassador, he said, because the job of ambassador boils down to resolving conflicts, if between nations rather than between people.<br /></p>Richard Peltz-Steelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11983911257598862193noreply@blogger.com0