Law professors and political scientists

[Doug Laycock]

        I don't think so.  Many law schools are unwilling to appoint to
their faculty Ph.Ds without J.Ds, for fear that they cannot contribute
sufficiently to the core curriculum on the teaching side.  That is the only
context in which seems to me the degree is used as a strong proxy, and then
only as a threshold requirement.  I think Sandy may infer too much from it.

     As to statements about the law, I think most law professors are smart
enough to assess credibility based on content, which is immediately
apparent,  rather than degrees, which may not even be known.

At 11:59 AM 3/6/98 -0500, you wrote:
>This may be off-list, but in his post of 3-5, Sandy Levinson said that
>"(most) law professors are unwilling to accept as fully legitimate the legal
>pronouncements even of political scientists if they lack the J.D."  Just so
>I'll know what I'm up against when I converse with you all, here or
>elsewhere, about the meaning of the religion clauses--is Sandy correct?
>
>
>Ellis M. West
>Political Science Department
>University of Richmond
>Richmond, VA 23229
>Tel: 804-289-8536 Fax: 804-287-6833
>


Douglas Laycock
University of Texas Law School
727 E. Dean Keeton St.
Austin, TX  78705
        512-471-3275 (voice)
        512-471-6988 (fax)
        dlaycock at mail.law.utexas.edu