Archive for December, 2009

Facebook can be a place where you see some things you may not want to see about the ones you care about, but according to some unofficial research from a law firm in the United Kingdom, it may actually be leading some couples to divorce. Facebook allows couples to see potentially flirty messages from other people on their spouses’ walls and pages, according to the UK’s Telegraph. The paper reported that some relationships were even being ended actually via the social networking site. One divorce-specialized British law firm reported that one in every five divorce cases they review sites Facebook as a factor in the divorce. While there is no concrete evidence to support the fact that Facebook might be increasing the divorce rate, based on the reach and capabilities of the site, it isn’t surprising that it might be the reason some relationships are ending. Read more..
Thanks to Dennis Nolan (South Carolina) for bringing to my attention this decision from California discussing whether the Garcetti First Amendment free speech case applies in the higher education context.  Garcetti held that public employees speaking pursuant to their job duties have no First Amendment free speech protection. F.I.R.E. (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) has this article on Sheldon v. Dhillon, No. C-08-03438 RMW (N.D. Cal. Nov. 25, 2009): [I]t is heartening to report that a federal court in California has rejected a community college district’s attempt to apply Garcetti to strip a professor of First Amendment protection for her classroom speech. In Sheldon v. Dhillon, No. C-08-03438 RMW (N.D. Cal. Nov. 25, 2009), the federal district court ruled, contrary to the college district’s argument, that the professor, June Sheldon, did not lose her First Amendment rights merely because her speech took place during classroom instruction. Sheldon lost her adjunct science teaching position at San Jose City College as well as the opportunity to teach courses the next semester following remarks she made to her class about the “nature versus ... Read more..
The New York Times published an article detailing the results of a new study regarding the career paths of former United States Supreme Court clerks.  The study finds that “former clerks have started to take jobs that reflect the ideologies of the justices for whom they worked.”  The data collected show a shift in the career paths of clerks hired from 1990 and on:  Until about 1990, the study shows, there was no particular correlation between a justice’s ideological leanings and what his or her clerks did with their lives.  Clerks from conservative chambers are now less likely to teach. If they do, they are more likely to join the faculties of conservative and religious law schools. Republican administrations are now much more likely to hire clerks from conservative chambers, and Democratic administrations from liberal ones. Even law firm hiring splits along ideological lines. It is no secret that the justices have shown a greater propensity to hire clerks that share their ideological beliefs (as the article and previous studies explain).  Yet this newest study, which focuses on life post-clerkship, has alarmed those ... Read more..
The 2000s have been a decade full of divorce news – with plenty of scandal and drama to go around. Total Divorce has chosen 10 celebrity couples who have ended their marriages – the ones we feel are the most memorable of the decade. Did we miss one? Tell us which celebrity divorce of the ’00s was the most memorable for you. Leave a comment below! Bruce Willis & Demi Moore, Oct. 2000: This Hollywood couple was married for 13 years before their divorce was final in 2000. According to Britain’s Daily Mail, the couple remains one of the happiest divorces in Hollywood. The couple split in 1998, but the divorce wasn’t official until 2000. They have three daughters, and the two remain good friends and parents. Nicole Kidman & Tom Cruise, Aug. 2001: After more than 10 years of marriage, Cruise filed for divorce in Jan. 2001, having just renewed marriage vows a month earlier, according to ABC News. Kidman was later quoted saying she believes Cruise found a deeper love with Katie Holmes as she had found with Keith Urban. Harrison Ford, ... Read more..
Despite the increasingly audible calls for changes in policy, we should not lose sight of the extent and nature of imprisonment in the United States.  As of 1975, only .01% of the population was imprisoned, but the percentage has grown every year since then and now stands at almost .05%.  We as a nation have the dubious distinction of reporting the highest per capita imprisonment figure in the world.  What’s more, American prisons are no longer geared to rehabilitating inmates.  Instead of educating and training inmates, prisons for the most part simply warehouse them. These developments do not derive from increases in crime or from the widespread commission of more serious crimes.  Instead, the increase in the number of inmates and the use of warehouse-style incarceration are attributable to such policies as quicker revocation of probation and parole, mandatory sentences for certain crimes, three strikes legislation, and truth-in- sentencing laws.  Often, these policies come into play for drug-related offenses and are part of the larger “war on drugs.” Noam Chomsky contends, “In the United States the drug war is basically a technique ... Read more..