Chisholm v. Georgia

One reason I love con law is because we get to learn a lot of wacky history that goes along with the United States. Let me tell you, politics have always been strange and crazy, that's not a recent development.

Consider the reaction of Georgia after the Supreme Court decided Chisholm v. Georgia. In Chisholm, it was decided that the State of Georgia did not have sovereign immunity to lawsuits and could be sued with or without its consent. This comes from Article III section 2 of the Constitution which states that the judicial power of the US extends to suits "between a State and Citizens of Another State" and "Between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or subjects".

So, in other words, the Supreme Court told Georgia, in a 4 to 1 decision, that Georgia was full of shit and should fork over the cash owed to Mr. Chisholm.

Georgia responded by adopting a statute declaring that anyone attempting to enforce the decision in Chisholm v. Georgia "is hereby declared to be guilty of a felony, and shall suffer death, without the benefit of clergy by being hanged".

A month later, we got the 11th amendment, which made it so the states do in fact have sovereign immunity when it comes to diversity lawsuits. Haha, take that Chisholm! There's a lot of disagreement on what the 11th amendment means exactly, but anyone that reads it as it is written, seems to think it means exactly what it says...no diversity cases against states.

The other ones seem to think it really limits lawsuits against the states themselves for all sorts of stuff. Atleast in federal court. When my textbook was written (very recently) that was the majority view of the court. I'm too tired to find out if the loss of Reinquist and O'Connor will affect the interpretation of the 11th amendment. But I have a funny feeling that Scalito and Roberto will probably have some sort of affect. Mostly, I think losing O'Connor is the big one here. I don't really know though, because I haven't checked to see who voted how in Chisholm. Lazy? Maybe...or Maybe I'm trying to get you interested enough to go wikipedia and look it up yourself you lazy freeloading bastard.

aLs

Shootin myself in the foot

In my legal writing class, I don't always do the assignments we are given. They are ungraded and take up a lot of time. I do most of them, but like I said, I skip some here and there.

Anyays, the other day the professor said "Who used electronic resources on last night's project?"

Every hand in the class went up, except mine. I prefer to use the books. When I trackback and do this assignment, I will use the books.

He asks who used the books, my hand goes up, it's the only one of course.

For thirty minutes or so he goes over with everyone how the internet search went. People talk about strategies they used and what keywords they searched with. I totally glaze over and read the news.

I haven't read the assignment, I don't even know what it's about. I hear someone say they used the keyword "backruptcy".

Suddenly he says "aLs, can you tell us how you went about using the books to do the exercise?"

I'm totally caught by suprise, but I just start spewing BS. I say "well, I used the keyword bankruptcy. That kinda got me started."

"What other words did you use?"

"Well, I can't remember, I did this assignment last week, a bit ahead of time."

"Well, how did you search?"

"Ummmnnn, I...I used the index. That led me where I needed to go."

"Really? How hard was it?"

"It was hard at first....but it uhh....got easier as time went...I think."

He grilled me for another few minutes. After class I asked a few of my friends if it was obvious I was making it all up. They told it was pretty obvious.

A few days ago I found out that he must have known I was lying. How? There is no index for that particular set of books I claimed to use. He knew from the beginning that I was full of it.

Heh, funny.

aLs

Alone in the Crowd

Sometimes I really feel like I don't fit in. Nobody here is anything like me.

I'm not saying I haven't made friends, but what I am saying is that we are from such different worlds.

I'm standing around in the bar with my friends, and I know that my life hasn't been anything like anyones life there.

On Sesame Street, they used to do a song called "one of these things doesn't belong". I'd be that fourth thing that just doesn't go there.

I think I need to meet some people outside of school. My social circle is so small and enclosed. I'm thinking that I will join a softball team this summer. Maybe then I'll meet a few new friends.

Speaking of, I wasn't invited to join the softball team some of my friends are putting together for intramural. I haven't been asked to play any of the sports. I would have said no to any of them except for softball. I wasn't even told about it. I'm not lame enough to force my way onto the team, but it does kind of hurt my feelings a little bit. There is talk about a team being formed for this summer...but I may end up a free agent. Oh well.

I'm steadily falling behind in my classes. I'm working hard to keep up, but the material is coming at us so fast. Law school has a knack for making me feel stupid.

We lost another person. I don't know how many people have dropped out now, but I think it's atleast 3, maybe more. It's too bad, but my hat goes off to them. It must have taken courage for these people to realize this wasn't going to be their cup of tea and move on.

If I was hovering in the lower third, I don't know what I'd do. I'd be tempted to throw in the towel.

Two more years of this crap. I don't know if I can take it.

aLs

Keeping Pace

I've spent a lot of this weekend studying for con law. I'm catching up fast in there.

When I say catching up, that doesn't mean I'm not up to date on the reading. It means that I'm catching up my understanding. Soon I will be caught up with my reading in the primer and note card manufacturing. Wanna know what I've learned so far? The constitution is wacky and vague. Avoid it at all costs.

This semester is moving at ten times the speed of last semester. I am working ten times harder than I did last semester and I'm still not able to keep pace. That of course leaves me only one option: suck it up and work harder.

I almost went to church this Sunday, but I changed my mind at the last second. Mostly I changed my mind because I was tired, but also because I'm not ready to add something like that to my plate. I want to really be able to devote some time to it when I finally get back into it. You see, I've realized that if you go to a new church, you have to be able to get into their activities. If you don't, you can go all you want, but nobody will really take notice of you.

My brother went swimming in the Chena river the other day. Dry suits are awesome.

Diner Friday

Tomorrow morning I'm going to a diner nearby with some of my law school buddies. We're making it a new tradition. You can get a giant breakfast for like 3 dollars...so it's pretty unbeatable. If you go there often enough, you will even get a mug with your name on it on the wall.

My neighbors wanted war yesterday, so they got it. They constantly bang around up stairs. It sounds like they're playing basketball or something. Anyways, I eventually got tired of it and turned on my music to drown them out. After a little while they started banging on the ceiling so I'd turn down my music. I figured this meant they wanted a truce and I turned down the music. Then the freaking banging started up again...so my music went back on. Then they started trying to get me to turn it off again...so I did. Then they started with the banging again!!!

So I did what any reasonable level headed person would do. I set Itunes to play a techno version of YMCA at a very high volume with max base on repeat. Then I got in my car and went over to my friend's house for several hours. Needless to say, my neighbors have been totally silent today.

Me = 1 Them = 0

My legal writing paper got turned in just fine. To tell the truth, it felt like a piece of crap. I feel like I haven't retained much of what I learned last semester. We need more practice.

Now we're learning how to study the legislative history of a statute to determine what the legislature or Congress was trying to accomplish when it passed a bill. Sometimes this is like trying to predict lotto numbers or understand someone from the deep south...impossible. The reason you would want to learn this, is so that you can learn to how to figure out what a law was meant to do and what a court will probably do with it if it is vague. The court will look to what the bill was trying to accomplish and patch the holes in ways that will promote that goal.

Or not. It depends.

Anyways, I'm tired and I've got reading for tomorrow.

Ciao,
aLs

Oh man, do I like Scalia? Ick.

I hate to say it, but I often find myself pleased when I read a case with Scalia or Reinquist running the show. Even when they are the dissenters I find myself siding with them on a regular basis. I think they acted hypocritically whenever they dealt with right to life issues or abortion, but other then that, they often have made sensible decisions that didn't require reading statutory language in such a way as to be intellectually dishonest.

A prime example of intellectual dishonesty in my opinion, is found in J.E.B. v Alabama. I think it was Alabama, don't quote me on that if I got it wrong. Anyways, the equal protection clause in the constitution basically says that state actors cannot discriminate against others.

In that case, it was decided that a lawyer for a private citizen somehow qualifies as a state actor. Now, in a criminal case, wouldn't you want to be able to discriminate against potential jurors? I mean, let's say you are the defendant and you have been charged with...oh I don't know, performing an illegal abortion. That's an issue that we might see differently based on gender. We might not. But we might. I think the criminal defendant should be allowed to use his peremptory challenges to remove male or female jurors as he/she sees fit. I mean, he/she is the one going to jail, shouldn't they be allowed to feel that their jury was a fair and impartial one? O'Connor probably had the best opinion. She said that the state shouldn't be allowed to discriminate, but private citizens should. We'll all miss you O'Connor. I wonder what Scalito's take will be?

Anyways, I'd like to send a shout out to all the single people on V day. It's so nice of Hallmark to have a holiday like this, so we can all feel like losers. Alright, my loser self is going to go get some dinner.

Ciao,
aLs

New Link

I am adding a new link. I found this blog randomly the other day and it's pretty scary.

This guy is going to kill himself in 90 days. Here's the link, and it's over on the side as well.

http://deadin90.blogspot.com

No, I'm busy

Listen, if you ever try to change something around at the last second, don't get all pissy if the other person just calls the whole thing off. I got an email from my date tonight telling me that "she has to babysit from 6-7:30, could we do it at 8?" No. We can't do it at 8. I had plans with you before you had plans to babysit. Besides, who the hell eats dinner at 8? I've got stuff to do and I made my schedule work for this. I mean, if this girl was cute as sin or really awesome, then this would be more acceptable, but she isn't. I was on the fence about her, up until a few hours ago when I got the email.

Do I sound like a prick? Well, if you were as busy as I am, you would realize how much of an inconvienience it is when somebody tries to screw with your schedule. If you are as busy as me, and you still think I'm a prick, well, I think you are a doormat. So we're even I guess.

I'm done with her, I don't have time for this shit.

aLs

On The Fence

I think for now I will keep the blog going. Lots of my friends have told me via email and phone that they like reading it. Also, I like bitching to an audience.

New Developments:

1. Social Life: I'm going on a date tomorrow. I kind of click with the girl, so we'll see. I'm not sure if I really have any time to date anyone, but I'll give it a shot. If the date doesn't go well, I'll probably go my separate way.

2. School: I have a memo due in my legal writing class on Thursday. I have a working outline due tomorrow. I'll have to do that inbetween classes. I have a paper coming up in my con law class, but we haven't been given the assignment yet. I'm already doing my best to work ahead to accommodate the load that will be created by that paper.

3. This Summer's Plans: I'm on the fence about what I should do this summer. I have 3 options. I can stay here and take summer courses, I can go to Country X with my law school and then go to Country Y with another law school, or just do Country X and then come back and do a summer session here. I'm kind of leaning towards not traveling abroad. It creates a ton of logistical problems. Where would I keep my car? What would I do about getting a new apartment? These are vexing issues that trouble me. Also, if I stay here this summer I can take a for fun class at the local community college. I've narrowed it down to accounting and culinary arts. I can already cook, but I can also balance a checkbook. Both of those would be useful and interesting...but I'll bet the girls in the culinary arts class are cuter!

Holy Crap, Cheney shot someone!

Where Did I go?

I'm thinking about throwing in the towel on the blog experiment.

I think my thoughts should be private again, because sadly, most of them sound like whining.

I don't have anything good to say anymore. There are only so many ways of saying "I'm lonely. I'm stressed. The other law students seem so different. Wow this is a lot like highschool."

I have disabled access to my archives (I'm paranoid that somebody will try to copy them). The pictures from my drive down here are still accessible for now, but those will probably be gone soon as well.I can bring the blog back with the click of a button, but I need a break.

I got 2000 hits this week. I know that's smalltime, but yay for me anyways.

aLs

Adventures With LA (See: Prick)

Not all law students are pricks. I would, in effect, be calling myself a prick if I said that. Furthermore, I'd be calling a good number of my friends pricks.

That aside, there are a lot of pricks.

One in particular gets under my skin on a regular basis. Let's call him Loudmouth Asshole (LA for short). LA has embarrassed me countless times. He likes to point out something you're doing wrong or roll his eyes at the right moment, in front of as many people as possible. The exchange that took place tonight went something like this:

Oh wait, I have to describe what was going on. We were at a large dinner with lots of other people. There were many tables in the room, approximately 20-30. Each table had about 8 people seated. The dinner was served. Every other freaking table in the room began chowing down. LA's gf was away from the table, but I hadn't noticed that. I have to admit, I had tunnel vision for this food. It was pretty late in the evening. Anyways, the following exchange took place:

Me (not quite sure why we haven't started eating): "Ummmnnn, the other tables have started eating, I guess that means we just start."

LA: "ALS!!! WAIT UNTIL EVERYONE IS SEATED AT THE TABLE! GOD!"

Me: "Jeeze okay."

A half hour later, our desserts were sitting in front of us. They had been there for the entire meal. I couldn't help myself, I asked LA if there were any special rules regarding cake and if not, if it was okay with him for me to eat it. What a fuckhead.

Later on in the night, I was telling a few people at the table about an idea for a club that I have. LA was nice enough to roll his eyes while I described it. He's interested in the SBA....I'm tempted to run for whatever his position is, just to piss him off. Then, if I won, I would totally flake out on it constantly.

Sound childish? Well it is, but try being embarrassed in front of 10-15 people and see how good a mood you're in.

aLs

This ever happen to you?

After working out, I stood there trying to decide if I should put on my polar fleece to stay warm on my way home. I like being warm, but I hate making my polar fleece sweaty. Washing it is a bitch.

I decided to put on my polar fleece as a girl was exiting the gym. She was wearing her gym, except her clothes look a lot like lingerie...or atleast they have the same effect. Anyways, I left the gym about three seconds behind her. That puts me about 7 to 10 feet behind her.

As we're walking out of the gym, I start thinking about how if I was her, I'd be nervous to have a guy that weighs three times as much trailing me into the parking lot. Then I realized we were the only two people going out into the parking lot. I hoped and preyed she would go a different direction than me, because I'm aware now that she must be getting nervous.

She didn't go a different way. I trailed her farther into the parking lot. It's dark out, but the parking lot was lit up. Now she has picked up her pace a little bit, but it doesn't matter because she takes smaller steps. Now she is keeping perfect step with me. I know she thinks I just matched her speed. Crap.

Well, you guessed it, her freaking car is parked right next to mine. Now she is sure she's about to get attacked. About ten feet from her car she jogs to the door, unlocks it and jumps in. I just about die of embarrassment. Now I don't know what to do. I need to get to my car, but this girl is going to pass out or pull a gun on me or something if I get any closer. I bit the bullet and walked to my car in a roundabout way. I don't know how she felt when she saw me pop my trunk and throw my stuff in it, but I almost wanted an apology.

The more I think about this, the more I think he was being stupid. If she was smarter, she would have waited a minute and let me go in front of her. That way, if I had had an actual malicious intent, she would have seen me coming for her. I'm not blaming the potential victim, I'm just saying that a small girl needs to be a little more aware of her surroundings. I'm hungry.

Ugh. Weird night.

aLs

meh

I've been working hard on getting ahead in my work. However, this goal is completely unattainable. I cannot seem to get ahead at all. At best, I am barely keeping above water. This semester seems to moving several times faster than the last one.

I went out to the bar tonight for a few drinks with my friend Matterhorn. It was his 24th birthday today. Two other friends showed up to wish him well and Matterhorn's fiance's friend Sarah showed up as well. Very cute, but sadly, I believe she is kinda taken.

It's looking more and more likely that I will be spending the summer abroad. The only thing that could keep me from doing that at this point would be some compelling reason to stay here in city x. Like...I dunno...a girlfriend or some other major reason to stay. I mean, if I have the opportunity to go see Europe, why not go see Europe? I really doubt a girlfriend is going to fall into my lap anytime soon, so I don't think that should enter into the equation. Ugh.

My brother is having some sort of problem with his heart. I don't think it's a big deal, but cross your fingers for him anyways.

I gotta sleep now.

aLs

Your sport is weak

What I hate about football:

1. There is a penalty for everything. You can't go five minutes without a good play being thrown out. Pussies. I wish the XFL had destroyed the NFL.

2. The commercials all suck. If the commercials suck that bad at the superbowl, what does that say about the rest of the year? Oh boy! Another Dodge commercial!

Dnaut had a good suggestion. There should only be a few penalties in the entire game. They should be:

1. 10 yard penalty for insufficient brutality

2. 5 yard penalty for showing mercy

3. Game forfeiture for crying

4. 30 Lashes for dropping the ball more than twice (I'm looking at you, Stevens)

5. 15 yard penalty for too many ugly Steelers on the field


What a retarded game.
Shit like this never happens in Hockey.

aLs

Raising Hell

Tomorrow is going to be a blast. Me and some other law students are going to hit up a banquet at our school. After we stuff ourselves silly, we're going to head over to an apartment and do shots of vodka until we're good and liquored up. Then we're headed to a local hockey game where we will continue to drink from the flasks were bringing.

After the hockey game, we are going to tear around this town until the sun comes up again.

I got my fat ass into the gym today. I'm happy that I'm back to working out again. Hopefully I can keep it up this time.

aLs

Summer Plans and Silly Women

There's a girl I know. Not a law student. Very very cute. Smart, great personality. Anyways, she moved to this town single. There's a handfull of good single guys where she works and in her Masters classes at the U. So she decides it's time to date someone. Who does she choose? She chose a schmuck. He's two decades older than her. He left his wife while she was pregnant and he now has a son that he never sees. The kid is only like 6 months old. He isn't even officially divorced. The paperwork hasn't finished going through. I mean, this girl has the pick of the litter! What is she doing????

What would lead such a great girl to date someone like that? Jerk guys wouldn't be jerks if girls like her didn't insist on dating them. Have fun with that train wreck.

Before you think I'm having this thought because I like her, you're wrong. I would date her if I had the chance, but that isn't where this is coming from. I'm just tired of hearing women complain about men when it's obvious that the real problem is that they are seeking out the pricks. I'll say it again, asshole guys wouldn't be the way they are if beautiful, smart, talented women like the above mentioned girl didn't insist on dating them. I hope the whole thing crashes and burns. Maybe then she'll choose a bit more wisely next time.

I hung out with Lizaster tonight. I never see her anymore. I told her that I don't like being the backup friend. The ball is is officially in her court. If she wants to hang out with me, that's awesome...but I've made my effort. So if we're going to be more than acquaintences, that's up to her. We had a good time though. We caught up on gossip and shot the shit. Good times.

I've got an idea for what to do this summer. My school offers a study abroad program in country x. Country X is beautiful, has butloads of history, and would be a total blast. I think I am going to take them up on the offer and tag along. Then, when I get back, I think I will contact Lawschool B and go into their study abroad program. They go to Country Y, which is also insanely awesome and has lots of stuff to see. A summer packed with exploration and adventure. I can't think of anything cooler!

Some of you are saying, "wait aLs....why not do an internship?" The answer to that question is simple. I can work next year. Also, I am going to be a lawyer for a minimum of 30 years. Do I really need to get a head start on that? When else will I be offered a chance at living in different parts of the world for a month at a time? At this point in my life, I have the freedom to just pack my bags and go. I think it would be a shame to not take advantage of that. Besides, the internships are going to consist of making coffee and filing papers. I don't need the shit work. I'd rather enjoy myself. I've only got 2 years left as a student, I should make the most of it.

Alright, I'm going to go read property, then I'm going to bed.

aLs