Blog
Writing, notes, and occasional rambles.
news
Carl and I are engaged!
Oct 2008cert
SCOTUS granted cert on my issue. No word on when arguments will be. Darn. I knew the risk, but I wanted to be cool and have something published before they looked at the issue, because then I would have been the only article out there on it. Yeah.
Oct 2008end of October, beginning of November
Here’s my schedule for the last few days of October and the first few days of November. October 30: Carl leaves (for a year) most likely; pick up a speaker at 10:30pm October 31: Law Review symposium all day; Bluebook relay (I will coach my team to victory); comparative law paper due November 1: nothing yet November 2: step-nephew’s baptism in the morning with reception at noon; Ali’s bridal shower at 3pm; church at 5pm November 3: Law Review paper due November 4: disability law paper due I’m worried about those six days. It’ll be fine though. Ha, fun.
Oct 2008trains
the candidates as trains
Oct 2008spread it like herpes, only for positive
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhDRVKDcXQo
Sep 2008poor Carl
I’ve been sick for, oh, a week. Bad cold or sinus infection or something gross that makes my head swim. It’s been unpleasant. I haven’t had to go anywhere though. I think I made Carl sick. It just hit him a couple days ago, and this week, he’s in Louisiana training people. He just called and was barely able to talk. He’s suffering pretty badly. Poor thing. My head is swimming. But on another note, Mucinex D (with the pseudoephedrine) is FANTASTIC. Within 30 minutes, I was able to breathe freely.
Sep 2008dishonesty
Sometimes reading cases just makes me feel dirty when I see the academic dishonesty that goes on. Courts will take things out of context (much like law students, ha), manipulate language, and pick and choose “binding cases.” The best example of this is United States v. Mendoza-Gonzalez, 520 F.3d 912 (8th Cir. 2008). The court basically says that, because a district court in another circuit (a lower court that is not bound by this court’s precedent) decided one thing, and this court cited that case for a sort of related proposition in another case, the district court case became very persuasive, if not binding, law. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Sep 2008paper... taking... forever
I’m sleepy and grumpy and sick. And this paper is not doing so well. It’s about as sick as I am, possibly even worse.
Sep 2008a spider
I’m pretty convinced now that a spider is trying to take over my house. For some odd reason, a very large and ugly spider took up residence on the overhang in front of my front door. After going through the spiderweb three or four times, Carl “saved” me and took down the spider (and the spiderweb) with a stick and threw it on my roof. It’s been three days, and now the spider has built a very large web right outside my sliding glass door. It’s trying to trap me, you see. It’s very determined. And very strategic. Maybe I’ll leave it there for a day or two and then throw the spider in the bushes or something and hope it doesn’t come back. Yuck.
Sep 2008searching for a job
We’ve entered the job-search phase, which is an immensely terrifying thing. I alternate between a sense of optimism and hopelessness. Legal areas that interest me include intellectual property, criminal law, immigration law (refugee/asylum), public international law, and litigation generally. A clerkship would also be lovely. If anyone actually reads this, and anyone has any sort of job opening, let me know. I’m writing three papers this semester (yay!). My topics are: enforcing immigration law using criminal law, specifically aggravated identity theft, where the mens rea requirement is disputed and conveniently massaged to include more immigrants in its scope; whether children with disabilities can sue under sec. 1983 when their rights are violated under the IDEA; and international copyrights (using international treaties and individual national laws) protecting composers and performers of folk songs and contemporarily composed music. Fun, no?