Attorney Jon Schoenhorn's Arguments in the Doninger Case at the Second Circuit
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 03/06/2008 - 10:48Over time, the Avery Doninger case has evolved from a draconian overreaction by narcissistically injured petty school bureaucrats to a discussion of the school district making poor use of taxpayers’ money by missing important teachable moments and wasting money on a lawsuit they should have avoided. On Tuesday, the important underlying issues of Free Speech, especially as it relates to the Internet took center stage as the case was heard before the Second Circuit of Appeals.
As a quick summary, last April, Avery Doninger, who was then Class Secretary of the Junior Class wrote a post on LiveJournal one evening at home where she used a derogatory phrase to describe members of the school administration based on their handling of a concern she and others were organizing at her school. The school administration responded by saying she could not run for re-election as Class Secretary and by refusing to honor the results of the election where she won as a write-in candidate. Avery and her mother have sued the school for violating her freedom of speech.
On Our Watch: Stopping Genocide in Sudan
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 03/05/2008 - 18:56Humanitarian and author John Prendergast will deliver a lecture, "On Our Watch: Stopping Genocide in Sudan," at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 6, 2008, in Alumni Hall at Quinnipiac University. The free event is open to the public. Prendergast is co-chairman of Enough, an organization creating policy recommendations and engaging activists to stop genocide and crimes against humanity. Predergast was involved in various peace processes throughout Africa while working at the White House and State Department during the Clinton administration. Prendergast also has worked for the United Nations and members of Congress. He has authored eight books about Africa, the latest is a New York Times best seller, "Not On Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond," co-authored with actor Don Cheadle and published by Hyperion in 2007. Prendergast travels regularly to Africa's war zones on fact-finding missions, peacemaking initiatives and awareness-raising trips involving network news programs, celebrities and politicians. For more information, call Quinnipiac's public relations office at (203) 582-8652.
Connecticut Delegates
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 03/05/2008 - 18:29Various people have expressed confusion between the different types of delegates, so I thought I’d take a few moments here to make sure that everyone is clear about the different types of delegates. This is based primarily on the Connecticut Delegate Selection Plan for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, as well as on additional sources such as some CNN and blog reports and the Superdelegates.org
Connecticut has sixty delegates at the convention. Thirty-one are pledged district level delegates (Section III A). According to CNN and other sources there are twelve unpledged delegates, commonly referred to as Superdelegates. According to the selection plan, one unpledged delegate will be selected on March 26th, based on candidates for superdelegate filing a statement of candidacy by March 19th. The superdelegates are the congressman, the DNC members, and a few others. You can see a list at Superdelegate Transparency Project or the Superdelegates.org page. It is worth noting that Superdelegates.org lists 12 superdelegates, but the Superdelegate Transparency Project lists 11. I believe that Mona Mohib may be incorrectly identified as a superdelegate on Superdelegates.org, but I haven’t verified this.
The two sites generally agree that of the superdelegates, 7 have endorsed Obama, 1 has endorsed Clinton, and the rest are undeclared at this point.
There are also six pledged party leaders and Elected Officials (PLEO) delegates (Section III C). Matt has taken a look at possible candidates for these positions. People interested in being PLEOs need to file by March 20th. They will also be selected on March 26th. It is worth noting that the PLEOs will be selected after the district delegates and the add on unpledged delegate.
Then, there are the eleven at-large delegates (section III D). You must file by March 17th if you wish to be an at-large delegate and these delegates will also be elected on March 26th.
Those wishing to see Ned Lamont attend the convention as a delegate of one sort or another should encourage him to decide which type of delegate he wishes to attend as and to file with the State Democratic Party. Then, they should attend the post-primary caucuses to be held on March 19th to work to elect district level delegates that will support Ned as a delegate.
Whether or not you are interested in working to get Ned to be a delegate, it is probably a good thing to attend the post-primary caucuses. If things get hairy and there is a brokered convention, it would be good to have the best possible delegates at the convention.
The Other Cases
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 03/05/2008 - 11:49Yesterday, I went to the U.S. Second Circuit to observe the oral arguments in the Doninger case. However, before we got to those arguments, there were several other cases being addressed. It is useful to look at these cases a little to get some background for the Doninger case. In my reflections about the courtroom, I observed that there were two busts at the entrance to the courtroom. One was of Learned Hand, and the other was of Henry Friendly. Judge Hand is noted for his cases involving freedom of speech. However, that is not all that the court hears. Judge Friendly is noted for his expertise in Securities Law and that was part of the mix.
The first case seemed a bit arcane and, at least to me, uninteresting. I’m sure that it was interesting to people with a vested interest. As best as I could make out, it is continued legal wrangling about Computer Associations and a Special Litigation Committee that they set up to investigate Charles Wang, founder of Computer Associates, of fraudulent accounting. Key issues seemed to be whether or not cases were filed in a timely fashion by the right people or legal entities.
This was followed by questioning about several motions. A representative of the National Labor Review Board appeared by the judges to discuss the wording of some document. There was a long complicated discussion about some company in Brazil and trademark issues. A lot of people were very interested in this case and left after the arguments. There was another trademark case. Both of these seemed to be about who would be permitted, or not to permitted to take which legal actions, when and where. Like the Computer Associates case, this is probably really important to some people, but I didn’t see anything important coming out of the cases.
Then, there were two cases where sentence reductions were argued. One case centered around ‘robotic incantations’. The key issue seemed to be whether or not the judge in assigning the sentence properly considered all the factors, or simply rubberstamped the sentence. In another case, a repeat offender was given 96 months for possessing 50 grams of crack cocaine, even though he had worked with the government and worn a wire. In this case, one judge expressed concern about the prosecutors being draconian and pursing ‘vindictive prosecution’. I wondered if this would be a foreshadowing of the Doninger case, where people have asserted that the school administration was draconian and vindictive.
The other interesting case was of an asylum seeker. The person had fled from China after being a supporter of the Falong Gong. The representative of the immigration service argued that since we did not know why the police ripped the shirt off of the asylum seeker or why they came to his house, we cannot assume it is because of persecution. As I listened to him, I thought of our responses to genocide. Would he have said the same thing about not knowing why Hitler’s S.S. agents coming to the door of a person who has spoken sympathetically of Jewish people. I was disgusted by the performance of the representative of the immigration service.
This case was perhaps the closest to having meaning for me. One of the things that Avery has been focusing during the time when she has been deprived of being Class Secretary is genocide issues. She has testified before the Education Committee in Hartford about teaching genocide awareness. We do need to think more about how we deal with genocide, with political persecution, as well as the simplest forms that it takes in our schools, bullying.
All of this sets the background for the oral arguments in the Doninger case.
Reflections in the Ceremonial Courtroom in the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 03/05/2008 - 10:15Yesterday I had the privilege of spending several hours in the Ceremonial Courtroom in the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse in New York City. It is an impressive room where many important cases are heard, yet the cases often over shadow the room and room deserves its own place in the spotlight.
The courthouse, like most courthouses, do not allow you to bring camera inside, so it is difficult to find pictures of the courtroom, so I will try to conjure an image with my words.
As you enter the courtroom, you are greeted by busts of Learned Hand and Henry Friendly. Judge Hand served as an active judge in the Second Circuit from 1924 until 1951, including three years as chief judge. He wrote important decisions about Freedom of Speech. Judge Friendly served as an active judge in the Second Circuit from 1959 until 1974, also including a three-year stint as chief judge.
The courtroom is cavernous. The ceiling is twenty to thirty feet high. Dark wood, leather and ornate marble add to the ambiance, as does rich fabrics used for the curtains and the carpets.
It has the feeling of a temple to justice and lawyers and observers spoke in hushed voices before the judges arrived. I looked around the room to see if there were any electrical outlets where I could plug in my laptop and found none. I didn’t even check to see if there was WiFi.
As I sat in the courtroom for the first time and felt a sense of awe, I wondered if lawyers who have argued in the court many times have that same sense of awe, and at least one affirmed that afterwards, also speaking of the nearly religious feeling the courtroom imparts.
So, I sit on the long wooden benches that resemble pews and wait for the judges to enter. While the powdered white wigs of yesteryear are gone, the sense of dignity and privilege remains. The court considers many important issues, yet one of the important issues, perhaps left to journalists, bloggers and educators is how to make the courts accessible which maintaining their dignity and decorum. I hope this blog post will have done its little part.
