Monday, January 31, 2005

Classes

Three hours of class later . . .
Legal Profession: a visiting professor is teaching this class, and she's made it her mission to convince us that it's not the "dog of the curriculum" that some people think. I had heard that her section of the class was pretty work-intensive from those who took it from her in the fall, but after reading our casebook I am glad not to be in the other section, which is taught by one of the authors. The book is even more slanted than our class discussion today, which seemed to begin with the notion that we all have moral obligations to help each other and went downhill from there. The economically rational perspective was articulated but most members of the class went on the attack. I may have to start speaking in class again. This is also, I believe, my first class with the estimable Mr. Blachman.

Church and State: a very full class taught by a charismatic and energetic visitor. We went over Sherbert and Smith and the professor got over half a dozen people deeply engaged with the material, presented some interesting background information about the development of American religious diversity, and managed to call out the entire Supreme Court - all with a sore throat! This guy's a rock star. Too bad I hear he's heading back to Yale in the fall.

BTW, random kudos to Athena's Mom for having a tag line referencing the Carbolic Smoke Ball case. That's a Contracts classic.
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