During the 2004 presidential election, University of Wisconsin Law School Professor Ann Althouse inquired about Senator John Kerry’s intelligence based on the fact that he attended Boston College Law School.

I’ve been wondering why Kerry went to Boston College Law School. Since he was rich, it can’t have been the lure of a free ride. You would think, with his anti-war activism, he would have been a very attractive candidate for admission to Harvard (or another top-ranked law school) if only his LSAT and GPA were at all within range. No offense to Boston College, of course. I think it’s similar to attending my school, the University of Wisconsin Law School. And the point is, he had an extremely admirable personal story and record of activism, as well as the ability to pay his way, so he could have gotten into Boston College with numbers well below those of the average students.

Now, Thomas Lipscomb at the Huffington Post takes his shot at BC Law four years late in an attempt to offer meaningful commentary on the current presidential election.

Why had a Boston snob like John Kerry gone to a subway law school like Boston College? A source who had been on the Harvard Law School admissions board revealed that with Kerry’s bad military record he was turned down for admission though clearly qualified because they didn’t want to admit someone who they thought would be unable to pass the bar.

Specifically, Lipscomb infers that there were concerns that Kerry would be unable to pass the character and fitness requirement of the bar. 

[A] former Secretary of the Navy told me that Kerry had asked him to expunge the disciplinary action the Navy had taken against him for what the Navy regarded as treasonous activities supporting the enemy in a time of war so he could be admitted to a law school and get on with his career. The Secretary refused. So it appears that Kerry went to Father Drinan, the former dean of the Boston College Law School. Kerry had decided not to run against Drinan for an open Congressional seat Drinan then occupied. Kerry asked him for help. The disciplinary action disappeared from Kerry’s official records with the general Jimmy Carter amnesty for Vietnam veterans with bad service records, the first bill Carter initiated after his inauguration.

By Jesse Stellato, May 21, 2008 

The BLT: The Blog of LegalTimes, reported today that Attorney General Mukasey will speak about ethics at Friday’s commencement. Referencing an unamed offical at the Justice Department, author Pedro Ruz Gutierrez wrote that Mukasey “will discuss the ethical responsibilities of being a lawyer, especially in the complex area of national security.”

By Jesse Stellato, May 18, 2008

Eagleionline has obtained a draft of Professor Daniel Kanstroom’s upcoming article: “On ‘Waterboarding’: Legal Interpretation and the Continuing Struggle for Human Rights.” The abstract appears below.

Click to read more ...

Washingtonian magazine has printed a series of articles speculating on who might fill the top appointed positions in the next administration. BC Law is well-represented on the list with two possible picks for Senator John McCain (R-AZ).

If former Law & Order DA Fred Thompson doesn’t head the real-life Justice Department, Debra Wong Yang [BCLS ‘85] might become attorney general. A former state judge now at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, she was the first Asian-American woman to serve as a US Attorney and led the largest US Attorney’s office outside of Washington as head of the Central District of California, which includes LA.

Also mentioned as a potential pick is former New Hampshire Senator Warren Rudman (BCLS ‘60), who has been one of McCain’s economic advisors during the campaign and could reportedly end up as Secretary of Treasury or as a member of the National Economic Council.

As the Indiana and North Carolina primaries approach, Eagleionline is curious what our readers think about one of the hottest issues on the campaign trail: a halt to the 18-cent per gallon gasoline tax. 

Click to read more ...

John McCain today joined the growing chorus of people calling for the U.S. to boycott the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, the New York Times reports.  The Republican presidential candidate added his voice to that of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, who called for a similar measure last week.  The candidates called for the boycott in response to China’s alleged human rights violations in Tibet.

According to the Times, McCain stated:

“I would say right now, this depends on Chinese behavior. Unless there is some progress with the Dalai Lama, including conversations with him, including stopping this brutal crackdown that we’re seeing in Tibet, then I would make the decision not to go. But I would say to the Chinese, ‘Look, clean up your act here. This is not acceptable.”

Colin Powell, the former U.S. Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, however, has opposed this isolationist stance.  In explaining his opposition to the boycott, Powell asked, “What is accomplished by boycotting the opening ceremony? I don’t think that makes the situation any better. It probably makes the situation a little more difficult for the Chinese because they will pull back even more.”

Noticeably, Democratic candidate Barack Obama has failed to take a stance on the issue.

Eagleionline Question of the Day:  Do you think the U.S. and President Bush should boycott the opening ceremonies?

By Alok Pinto

When I chose to run for President, I sat down to determine what my candidacy would be about. I decided that the most important thing, to me, was that LSA be the best possible advocate for the student body. I often feel that there is no effective way to give voice to student concerns unless the student already knows people on the board, due to a disconnect between the LSA board itself and the rest of the student body.

Click to read more ...

The following was published on March 18 on the New York Times blog, Baghdad Bureau. Tim, a 2L, previously spoke about his experiences on NPR.  The article reveals a personal side of the Iraq conflict that spotlights a very important aspect of the war that is often neglected. Be sure to follow the link at the bottom of the article to drop a comment of support on the Times page!

On Sept. 11, 2001, Tim McLaughlin, from Laconia, N.H., was a Marine Corps first lieutenant working in Room 5E678 of the Pentagon. He had broken his leg in training and was temporarily serving in an administrative capacity. He helped fire and rescue teams from within the Pentagon that day. A year and a half later, he commanded the first American tank that rolled into Baghdad’s Firdos (Paradise) Square shortly after 4 p.m. on April 9, 2003, signaling the end of Saddam Hussein’s rule. It was his Bravo Company, Third Battalion, Fourth Marines, First Marine Division, using a Hercules tank-recovery vehicle and a heavy chain, that helped Iraqis pull down Mr. Hussein’s hollow metal statue before the world’s television cameras. It was Lieutenant McLaughlin’s Stars and Stripes flag given to him by a friend in the aftermath of the Pentagon attack that a marine briefly draped over the statue’s head that day, an image that symbolized and outraged in equal measure. He left the Marine Corps as a captain on Sept. 1, 2006. Now 30, he is a second-year law student at Boston College.

Click to read more ...

It has been 1825 days—precisely five years—since the United States government began its War in Iraq with its famous ‘shock & awe’ bombing campaign of Baghdad in March 2003. Half a decade. As I reflect upon the five-year anniversary of my government’s unprovoked invasion of a sovereign nation, I am deeply saddened by the destruction and misery that has been wrought upon the civilians of Iraq and the coalition soldiers because of the invasion. (1) I emphasize that this is an unprovoked invasion based upon, to borrow MP George Galloway’s phrase, a “pack of lies.” (2) The claims—all of which have now been officially confirmed as untrue—can be summarized as follows: an important story that greatly contributed to the rush to war came from the famous New York Times article regarding Saddam’s alleged interest in yellowcake uranium in Niger. TIME and numerous other publications have confirmed that allegation was baseless; and even though Washington also knew it was false, the allegation was stated in Bush’s State of the Union address in 2003. (3) This was just a few weeks prior to the start of combat operations. Then, using the Iraq Study Group’s report and his own analysis, US chief weapons researcher Charles Duelfer in 2004 confirmed that not only did Saddam Hussein not have weapons of mass destruction, he had no facilities with which to create them. (4) And perhaps most telling of all, the US military itself—in a Pentagon-funded study—concluded just this week, after combing through over 600,000 documents, that there was no direct link or ‘smoking gun’ linking Saddam Hussein to al-Qaida. (5) In short, the main justifications for this war have been undeniably proven as false.

Click to read more ...

Posted below is the list of candidates for LSA positions. One person will be chosen from each category except for the 2L and 3L reps where three people will be chosen. V.P., Secretary, and 3L rep Slots are uncontested, while the treasurer position appears to be the most competitive. Look for more coverage over the next week.

Click to read more ...

Updated on Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at 03:12PM by Eagleionline

NEWTON, MA — Twenty-two members of the Boston College Law School faculty broke with the Dean of Boston College Law School, John Garvey, today over the recent invitation of Attorney General Michael Mukasey to speak at the school’s 2008 Commencement Ceremony.

Click to read more ...

I would hope there is no serious question about my dedication to freedom of speech and my opposition to all efforts to enforce political correctness. Attorney General Mukasey was not invited to give the Commencement speech at the law school because he takes an interesting and controversial position on the subject of the legality of waterboarding.

Click to read more ...

It has been reported that Attorney General Michael Mukasey has a portrait of the great Justice Robert H. Jackson hanging in his office. The ironies abound.

Click to read more ...

John Garvey, Dean of Boston College Law School, released a memo this evening regarding the selection of the United States Attorney General as the 2008 Commencement Speaker. This memo appeared on the law school’s website. It represents the Garvey administration’s first public statement on the Mukasey situation since January 24, when the selection was originally announced.

Most of you have probably seen the photo of Barack Obama that staffers on the Clinton campaign have allegedly been circulating.  If not, here’s a copy of it.

Click to read more ...