Law Students Walk Out Of Class In Protest Of Kavanaugh Confirmation
[guest post by Dana]
Students from a number of law schools have walked out of class to protest the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. The walkout began yesterday, and is scheduled to go through Friday. From the Strike Against Kavanaugh Organizing Committee’s open letter:
We are in the middle of a national emergency. Brett Kavanaugh has been confirmed to the Supreme Court. We cannot accept a system that empowers a man who repeatedly lied under oath and a judiciary review process that only performs a sham of an investigation into his misconduct. We do not recognize Kavanaugh as a legitimate member of the United States Supreme Court.
…
This week, law students will be striking across the country beginning at 2:15 PM EST on Wednesday 10/10/18 and lasting through Friday 10/12/18. We demand that anyone seeking to be elected to Congress in November commits to impeaching Kavanaugh to protect any semblance of rule of law and the people of our communities. While this strike primarily is being organized on law school campuses, we encourage students at every level to participate and invite non-student workers, lawyers, and other members of the public to organize their communities to walk out on Wednesday and strike with us.
While the students are obviously free to walk out of class and raise their voices in protest – God bless America – other students are pointing out the obvious:
Some students… questioned the strategy because Kavanaugh had already been confirmed.
According to students involved in planning the walkout, the goal of the protest is two-fold: to see Kavanaugh impeached, and to defend reproductive rights because Kavanaugh is going to kill women.
The strike aims to push politicians and political candidates to support Kavanaugh’s impeachment on the grounds of alleged perjury, and to defend reproductive rights as members of the U.S. Congress, said Nikta Daijavad, a second-year student at New York University’s School of Law and a leader of NYU Law Women, which endorsed the strike.
Whether impeachment happens in the new Congress or a future one, “we’re not going to stop thinking that Brett Kavanaugh should be impeached for perjury,” [Justine] Medina [co-chair of Brooklyn Law School’s National Lawyers Guild] said.
While Medina and her peers may have a goal of seeing Kavanaugh impeached for perjury, one questions the likelihood of that actually happening:
“Perjury is pretty narrow. A statement that is misleading, that is evasive, that doesn’t answer the question is not perjury. It’s only perjury when you deliberately, knowingly and directly lie. So a lot of the things that people are upset about in Kavanaugh’s testimony, I think are better characterized as evasive or combative or misleading.”
For more on the question of perjury, see Beldar’s comment here.
No doubt these young protesters are fueled by a smug sense of self-righteous anger at the seeming unfairness of it all, yet a few years down the line, they may be faced with an unfortunate consequence of their actions.
(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)
–Dana
I’m currently reading The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure and have to say that the walkout of these students dovetails nicely with the premise of the book.
Dana (023079) — 10/11/2018 @ 3:12 pmThree cheers to modern social media for making it very easy for law firms to figure out which aspiring young lawyers are dim-witted and ill-trained nutcases so their job applications can be easily sent to the trash when they arrive via email.
JVW (42615e) — 10/11/2018 @ 3:20 pmVirtue signaling.
Colonel Haiku (1fcc64) — 10/11/2018 @ 3:22 pmYou know Pat, I’ve never ribbed you for your choice of career cause I’ve always thought that was a lousy thing to do to someone. But this really *really* makes me think that all those hundreds of years ago, Shakespeare was right: if you want paradise on earth, “…first kill all the lawyers.”
Gryph (08c844) — 10/11/2018 @ 3:24 pmSo these kids pay for a class they then walk out on it.
Reaganomics.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/11/2018 @ 3:27 pmHe’s making a list and checking it twice, Google Claus is coming to your job interview.
So is Bing Claus, DuckDuckGo Claus and all the rest.
Fred Z (05d938) — 10/11/2018 @ 3:37 pmno way all these trashy walkout losers actually put their names on a letter
happyfeet (28a91b) — 10/11/2018 @ 3:48 pmin other news:
https://twitter.com/Olivia_Beavers/status/1050500984114487296
what does the law matter, we put up the fake cover story, we don’t have to explain it,
also they canceled a performance of ‘to kill a mockingbird’ for hell mouth level of irony,
narciso (d1f714) — 10/11/2018 @ 3:55 pmorwell is indeed a how to manual for them, not a cautionary tale:
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/education/2018/10/11/shorewood-high-cancels-mockingbird-over-n-word-protest/1605307002/
narciso (d1f714) — 10/11/2018 @ 3:57 pmThis is pretty cool:
Beldar’s advice to Leonard Leo (an act of carrying coals to Newcastle, probably):
Pick your favorite state supreme court justice from the current list (dated Nov. 17, 2017), and elevate him or her to the D.C. Circuit, so that judge will have some federal court appellate experience to point to someday when a SCOTUS nominee. That sublist comprises:
Don Willett is still on this list, but he’s been confirmed to the Fifth Circuit; and that might also be true of some of the other names I’ve just listed (I haven’t cross-checked that). But I’d advise Trump against making a D.C. Circuit appointment that opens a new federal vacancy with this appointment, because this is all about filling federal appointments while the GOP has at least a thin majority in the Senate. And that likewise would cut against appointing the only federal district court judge on this list, Hon. Federico Moreno from SDFL.
Beldar (fa637a) — 10/11/2018 @ 4:16 pmOr this report from last year might prompt Trump to renew one of Dubya’s failed D.C. Circuit appointments, the magnificently mistreated Miguel Estrada:
I’d be okay with that, and it would sure put a thumb in Schumer’s eye, which Trump would enjoy even if it meant backing another Bushie.
Beldar (fa637a) — 10/11/2018 @ 4:20 pmShakespeare loved lawyers, Gryph, as you can tell from, among other plays, “The Merchant of Venice.”
The line you’re quoting from Henry VI is one that Shakespeare put into the mouth of Dick the Butcher — an unsympathetic follower of the villain Jack Cade, who thought that if he overthrew law and order, he could become king. The line was actually intended as a compliment to attorneys.
This will strike you as a suspiciously lawyerlike analysis, but then that can’t be a surprise, coming from me. 😀
Beldar (fa637a) — 10/11/2018 @ 4:26 pmMore of the same lawyerlike analysis of Shakespeare, because who could ever get enough of that?
Beldar (fa637a) — 10/11/2018 @ 4:28 pmRelated to the post, Beldar, what do you, as one who has gone through law school and as one who teaches classes, think about these students walking out? Does it impact their futures as lawyers?
On a side note, I’ve been thinking about the more than 2,400 law profs who signed a letter opposing the confirmation of Kavanaugh because, according to them, he lacks the necessary judicial temperament to be a Supreme Court Justice. What concerns me is, if that many of them oppose him for that stated reason and they are teaching how many thousands of students, what might this signal about these future lawyers, and the public who may need a lawyer in the future? What kind of lawyers will be they become having been fed that political viewpoint? I say “political” because ultimately, I think that’s what this is about. It seems that the widespread influence on future lawyers who are young, impressionable and clearly move lockstep in packs would not be a net positive for future clients. Or at least some of them. That doesn’t take into account those that end up not in private practice but working at the state or federal levels too.
Dana (023079) — 10/11/2018 @ 4:40 pm@ Dana (#14): Law schools are comprehensively, reflexively, ruthlessly, near-monolithically progressive already anyway, and they’ve been churning out left-leaning graduates since the 1960s. If someone’s career goal is to be hired by the Institute for Justice, this kind of stuff would be the kiss of death, of course. And as your link to Marc Randazza’s very funny tweet confirms, there are some private employers who’d find this off-putting.
But that would be a tiny minority of potential legal employers. Law students who join the Federalist Society would almost certainly be more likely to see their career prospects suffer than these kids, some of whom will likely turn this into a seminar scheme for course credit with the collaboration of sympathetic law profs.
I take the law profs’ letter less seriously than I would a similar letter from, say, the Society of Professional Journalists — these days, a self-ridiculing name if I’ve ever seen one.
Beldar (fa637a) — 10/11/2018 @ 4:52 pm“We are in the middle of a national emergency.”
Oh, you sweet, pampered, clueless snowflakes.
B.A. DuBois (80f588) — 10/11/2018 @ 5:02 pmThanks again for the explanation, Beldar. That’s why I love the comments here.
I would also love to see Estrada get nominated again!
Susanita (8bc977) — 10/11/2018 @ 5:33 pmDid the poor little dears ask for exams to be postponed or play-doh and coloring books to deal with the trauma, as college students did post-election 2026?
harkin (adce92) — 10/11/2018 @ 5:36 pmhttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/DoSG81wXUAIF79P.jpg
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 10/11/2018 @ 5:45 pmhttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/DoWy9SRU4AAQrPL.jpg
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 10/11/2018 @ 5:46 pmMichael Avenatti
@MichaelAvenatti
Lyin’ Ted Cruz is attacking me because I am supporting Beto. Help us send the liar back home to Canada (sorry Canada) – chip in for Beto now.
__ _
Josh Billinson
harkin (adce92) — 10/11/2018 @ 5:57 pm@jbillinson
Avenatti tweets “chip in for Beto now” with an ActBlue link. But unless his followers click on that link in the text, they might not realize that only half of their donation is actually going to Beto. The other half goes to Avenatti’s PAC.
She used the time machine again?
Narciso (d1f714) — 10/11/2018 @ 5:57 pmI have to agree with these kids. I won’t vote for any Democratic candidate who refuses to announce his support for impeachment. Kavanaugh, Trump (Pence too if the Dems take the House). Also, they must support slavery reparations, open borders and free Medicare for all.
Kevin M (d6cbf1) — 10/11/2018 @ 6:58 pmOf course, I won’t vote for them if they do, either…
Kevin M (d6cbf1) — 10/11/2018 @ 6:59 pmOT… but a little culture never hurt anyone… https://youtu.be/RwgOgF2GW6s
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 10/11/2018 @ 7:07 pm@20
Fake news again, Haiku.
Davethulhu (434408) — 10/11/2018 @ 7:16 pmhttps://www.snopes.com/fact-check/christine-blasey-ford-cellphone-1982/
Davethulhu (434408) — 10/11/2018 @ 7:17 pmMuch like Blasey-Ford’s uncorroborated fake claims of assault by 17 year old Kavanaugh, Cthulhu.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 10/11/2018 @ 8:07 pmOh my goodness Snopes is charging folks with plagiarism for lifting the photo and pricing of that original cell phone. That’s gotta sting. Lots of sleepless nights over that one I’ll bet.
So from the article:
“Ford could conceivably have used the landline in the house where the party took place, found a nearby payphone, hailed a cab, hitchhiked, or been picked up by a friend who happened to be driving by in order to get home. Regardless, Ford never claimed that she used a cellphone in 1982 to tell a friend what had happened or arrange for a ride after she was allegedly sexually assaulted by Brett Kavanaugh.”
OK. So she never said she had a cell phone, but if she jumped through any or all the hoops above… why no memory of it. “Hmmmm. I remember everything in perfect brilliance (no matter what the other people I thought were there say) I remember it all so clearly but not how I got home… mom and dad didn’t to go under oath and say I’d called and that they’d come and got me, also no one saw me use a phone in the house and I don’t remember using one, or hitchhiking… maybe I hitchhiked home but forgot that whole experience or maybe just randomly Buffy from the prep school might have just happened by and picked me up, not like that bitch Cristella that just fucking drove past like she didn’t see me and who I don’t remember anyway”
steveg (a9dcab) — 10/11/2018 @ 8:11 pm“So she never said she had a cell phone”
I’m glad we agree.
As far as all the rest is concerned, it’s ultimately a question of whether you believe her or not, which has no bearing on the image Haiku posted.
If you (the general “you”, not you specifically) believe you have a compelling argument, why be dishonest about it?
Davethulhu (434408) — 10/11/2018 @ 8:48 pm21. Don King would recognize Avenatti’s business model.
M Scott Eiland (b16b32) — 10/11/2018 @ 8:51 pmhttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/DoVqQMaXgAATYs0.jpg
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 10/11/2018 @ 9:31 pmLawyer school should be a 2 minute drill.
mg (9e54f8) — 10/11/2018 @ 10:50 pmThere actually was a prototype cellular network in Washington in 1979, followed by a development license there and in two other U.S. cities in 1981, but they weren’t marketing to the general public yet at any price. The D.C. license was granted to a company called Millicom Inc., which in turn joint ventured the following year with a UK military radio manufacturing company called Racal Electronics plc to create Racal-Millicom plc, with Racal as majority partner at 65%. Well known already to the British government, with technology being contributed by Millicom from the Washington testing, Racal-Millicom got the second of two exclusive cellular licenses for the UK (the other going to British Telecom). Racal ended up buying out Millicom’s 35% and renaming the company Vodafone plc; it’s now the world’s 4th largest cellular carrier.
I know this because I had the privilege of representing both companies in securities fraud litigation in Houston which arose out of the $200M+ buyout. It was a fun and challenging representation which included a very nice trip to London and ultimately a six-weeks-long jury trial in Nov-Dec 1992, during which we took off all of Thanksgiving week because a sympathetic judge decided to cut me some scheduling slack, to attend the birth of my third child.
I have many, many war stories from that case — stories that involved, in various weird ways and capacities, Maggie Thatcher and her government’s collapse; John Travolta and his dubious heterosexuality; Vogue editor Anna Wintour; a West End production of “Miss Saigon”; and a pair of video depositions that, to my surprise, were interrupted in late afternoon for high tea (that included red wine, which I managed to keep my deponent-clients from imbibing on camera, but only just).
But those are stories for another day. Suffice it to say for now that: The little bit of cellular in the D.C. area in the 1982ish time period did not include young Christine Blasey having one.
Beldar (fa637a) — 10/11/2018 @ 11:52 pm(And Dr. Ford never claimed otherwise, as has been noted above.)
Beldar (fa637a) — 10/12/2018 @ 12:00 am12. I dunno if Shakespeare himself did or didn’t love lawyers, but it’s probably pretty safe to say that they weren’t held in high regard by the people who watched his plays at the Globe.
Gryph (08c844) — 10/12/2018 @ 2:41 amFound this, which I think is a better explanation of Dick the Butcher’s line than I could ever articulate. Those who defend Shakespeare as loving of lawyers mostly seem to be lawyers themselves, which comes as a small surprise…
http://www.spectacle.org/797/finkel.html
Gryph (08c844) — 10/12/2018 @ 2:54 amJim Jordan and his political circus is another republican lawyer sh!t show. Impeach Rosenstein and put Simpson behind bars. Or retire fcs.
mg (f0a1d2) — 10/12/2018 @ 4:43 amThis b. s from these gutless republicans show they have zero power to jail criminals. What a waste of my money. Thanks
mg (f0a1d2) — 10/12/2018 @ 4:45 amIn other news:
https://www.sacbee.com/latest-news/article219869925.html
Narciso (d1f714) — 10/12/2018 @ 6:13 amHow many are being encouraged by their law professors to engage in this behavior?
NJRob (7af2a9) — 10/12/2018 @ 9:00 amBet Jack Cade wished he had a lawyer when the Mayor of London hanged him.
nk (dbc370) — 10/12/2018 @ 9:08 amIt turns out that law professors are good at expressing their opinions, but not so good at accepting criticism. Several University of Illinois law professors signed the letter against Justice Kavanaugh, and the local paper had letters from citizens criticizing that action. In response, we’ve heard from the former dean’s wife, and then the former dean, having a hissy fit in their letter to the editor, because people had the nerve to write the paper about “all law professors”.
Rochf (877dba) — 10/12/2018 @ 9:16 amThey’re not a monolithic group according to them.
I suggest we make the walkout permanent
Neo (d1c681) — 10/12/2018 @ 9:18 am43, well that’s true, though many of the good guys are not as fortunate to have landed at places like University of Tennessee.
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 10/12/2018 @ 9:40 am@ Gryph: Oh, there’s no doubt that Shakespeare was making a lawyer joke. I collect and tell them with gusto.
The fact remains that Jack the Butcher is a loathsome character, engaged in lawlessness. His idea of heaven doesn’t include lawyers, but that’s because he’s too dim-witted to realize that he might ever need one.
That’s true of most serious critics of the profession, to this good day. I hope you never need one, Gryph, but when and if you do, I hope you find a good one, who enjoys a good lawyer joke, but who’s been able to rise above the brutality and lawlessness of Jack the Butcher.
Don’t be like Jack.
Beldar (fa637a) — 10/12/2018 @ 10:46 amSpeaking of courts, Slate is being PUNISHED with a legendarily harsh ratio simply for telling the truth as they see it:
“Slate
Verified account
@Slate
Follow Follow @Slate
More
The Supreme Court is a historically regressive and presently expendable institution: https://slate.trib.al/MFrq5TK ”
This unacceptably frail, historically underperforming and uncooperative, and frankly overused human flesh is too regressive toward its original state meet my needs and is therefore expendable, and I shall walk out of its nearest orifice or make my own exit at my earliest convenience is also a common complaint among demons and aliens, or so I’m told by a Mr. Jones who no longer Tweets online.
Pencil-necked Pundit (692e9c) — 10/12/2018 @ 10:46 amThat piece you linked, Gryph, very badly misinterprets the Hamlet grave scene, even the lines about the lawyer skull, as being about lawyers. It’s about the inability of humankind to resist death, actually, even if he is a lawyer, who can otherwise try to make things in this earthly life more stable and more ordered through such things as statutes, indentures, and deeds of conveyance — which is a good, but very different, point than being “lawyer-uncomplimentary,” as that author describes it. I note that author has (or had) an MIT email; one must only hope that his day-job doesn’t include fine discriminations of the written word, because his essay shows him in need of, well, a lawyer’s help, or someone’s, even in a play whose most famous line is, “To be or not to be.”
Beldar (fa637a) — 10/12/2018 @ 10:53 amMrs. Ford stated that she told no one else of the attack – that means she didn’t tell Mom or Dad on the drive home, or anyone why she called for a ride, or hitchhiked with.
Her intentional vagueness – to not be caught in a lie – created another lie later.
Cellphone or no cellphone.
When Ford and her laywers realize they have to move the time of the attack to 1982 because Kavanaugh is off to Yale in the summer of 1983 and it’s too late, this is the hole they’ve dug in their story. Christine is 15, can’t drive, it’s a 5-10 mile hike to get home from any of the possible assault locations, and… no one else can know. If she called for or received any kind of help, she would have had to tell some story of her attack. If she got any help from the people at the party, they would have to remember it. It’s an incredibly memorable thing and yet no one remembers it.
Ingot9455 (82c9ce) — 10/12/2018 @ 11:05 amThis is all from the likes of the National Lawyers Guild. They know what’s happening with the Trump/Federalist plan to appoint a different sort of judge. It’s all part of their plan to destabilize or to just punish people who participate in “the system.” And they are using emotional children to do it.
They want to break Kavanaugh’s will and, more importantly, serve as an example to others who might dare to serve.
And I don’t think it will hurt their careers one iota. They will be hired by the Guild or the ACLU or the National Resource Defense Council, the myriad of law firms that specialize in advocacy. And they get at least part of their fee paid by the taxpayers. They are “Deep Law” if you will.
Patricia (3363ec) — 10/12/2018 @ 12:16 pmChelsea Handler
@chelseahandler
If you’re wondering why Republicans took a sick day today, it’s probably because it’s #NationalComingOutDay. Looking at you
@LindseyGrahamSC
__ _
Ira
harkin (adce92) — 10/12/2018 @ 3:53 pm@ira
are you there, homophobia? it’s me, chelsea.
To participate in the walk out is a tacit admission you don’t know anything about the law.
And meanwhile Kavanaugh participated in handing out food to the homeless. Something he has been doing routinely for years. Oh, and hiring 100% female clerks. That is because he hates women and the poor, obviously.
George Orwell's Ghost (ba96d1) — 10/12/2018 @ 5:14 pm48. As someone who does not normally hold lawyers (particularly of the ambulance chasing variety, but I digress) in high regard, I know we could spend entirely too much time on this thread arguing about this particular matter. And I’ll leave it at that.
Gryph (5efbad) — 10/12/2018 @ 6:18 pmBeldar, Zeilin wasn’t it? From what little I know it was an attack transport. Which meant she was important. And it was important that her crew showed up. Did your dad ever discuss or mention “missing movement?” Probably not. If you broke curfew but showed up before the boat left port, I was an understanding man. Fine. Everyone makes mistakes. But if you’re not on the boat when it gets underway no more mercy from me. I don’t care how much you missed your girlfriend, how passed-out drunk you were, how amazing the prostitute Aou never met in your farm town in Ohio was, none of it matters any more. As a petty officer who worked for me put it, seventy five percent of your success in the Navy was showing up on time with a hair cut. And he was a hundred percent right.
So now you know where I stand. If you go strike against me, against the country, I will haul you before me in chains and send you to the brig. Obviously I don’t hold the same authority over law school students. But you, as an alumnus, might have some.
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 10/14/2018 @ 8:55 amI need to know names. These law school students must never be employed. And their professors and administrators must be hounded to their graves.
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 10/14/2018 @ 9:44 amThe Wall Street Journal ran an editorial Thursday sayinbg there is an effort in the ABA to change its evaluation of Breet Kavanaugh after he has already been confoirmed
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 10/14/2018 @ 1:10 pmThe ABA letter was actually sent on October 5. So maybe they dropped it.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 10/14/2018 @ 1:23 pm