What Is Our Listserv About? [H.R. 4292, The Born-Alive Infant s Protection Act]

[Scarberry, Mark]

Three cheers for our moderator's willingness to allow selected non-law
professors to join the list. Brad Clanton is a great addition, and I hope he
will continue to participate in the discussion.

Other list members have raised issues about whether Dick Cheney can receive
the Texas electoral votes constitutionally. We talked a lot about the
impeachment. We talked at length about Elian Gonzalez, including the
political issues related to the 4th amendment concerns some of us had. We
neither can nor should completely separate political issues from our
discussion of conlaw. Brad Clanton's post was fine. I'm glad he and Marty
Lederman and our other non-law professor members are willing contributors to
the list.

Mark S. Scarberry
Pepperdine University School of Law
mark.scarberry at pepperdine.edu


-----Original Message-----
From: Mark C. Alexander [mailto:alexanma at SHU.EDU]
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2000 12:42 PM
To: CONLAWPROF at listserv.ucla.edu
Subject: Re: What Is Our Listserv About? [H.R. 4292, The Born-Alive
Infants Protection Act]


I am very concerned with the way this thread has proceeded.  It started
with an inquiry from a staff member of the House of Representatives
(Clanton), apparently seeking to respond to (or rebut) a political
organization's (NARAL) interpretation of legislation.  From this bad start,
it has degenerated in a couple of places.  First  was the moralizing
concern that was addressed, and which I shall leave alone in this post.
Second, Clanton told us that a listserv member does not understand the law,
effectively by quoting a doctor's testimony.  (I shall refrain from
dissecting that particular post).

My big concern is that our listserv is looking a whole lot like a tool for
political purposes of the majority in the House of Representatives.  We are
now talking a whole lot about politics, often to the exclusion of our
foundation of being (primarily) Con Law professors.  This is not about my
differences with the Republican party; I object to Congressional staff
members using this listserv for partisan purposes, regardless of party
affiliation.   I have had extensive experience working on Capitol Hill, in
Presidential politics, and as an elected official: I will not shy away from
political discourse.   But I think we as a group need to explore what the
purposes are of the listserv.  If it does include this kind of thread and
the comments we have seen, so be it.  But given earlier related
discussions, I am not sure that we are where we are supposed to be.

Mark C. Alexander
Associate Professor
Seton Hall University School of Law
One Newark Center
Newark, NJ 07102
973-642-8523
973-642-8194 (fax)
alexanma at shu.edu