Dover Intelligent-Design Case

[Steven Jamar]

Was it a willful bad faith violation, or ignorance and misled?  I  
don't think they were trying to flaunt the constitution so much as  
they were interpreting it with wishcraft -- crafting the law to fit  
their wishes.

I would not think punitive damages are appropriate for inanity in  
general.

Sanctions for lying, perhaps.

No.  Tactically and strategically I think the approach of keeping the  
individuals off the suit as named parties was appropriate.  And I  
don't see the evidence of bad faith -- as I understand it -- here to  
support punitive damages.

But then, I was a litigator and saw lots of this sort of stuff go by  
in ordinary civil suits -- not the norm, far from it -- but all too  
common, and so my threshold for bad faith might be too high.

Steve (gotta-stop-avoiding-grading) Jamar

On Dec 20, 2005, at 4:12 PM, Lupu wrote:

> In light of the judge's appraisal of the behavior of the Board
> members, do members of the list think that punitive damages might
> have been awarded against particular Board members had they
> been sued individually?  Would their ordinary immunity from
> damages have been lost as a result of what now looks like a wilful,
> bad faith violation of the Constitution?  Would an award of punitive
> damages against them have been an appropriate remedy?
> (Perhaps plaintiffs' counsel feared that such an award would
> generate some sympathy for the individual defendants, and
> backlash against the plaintiffs.  Obtaining money, of course, was not
> the point of the suit -- but such a remedy would certainly deter the
> next school board that headed in this direction.)
>
>
> Chip Lupu
>
> On 20 Dec 2005 at 15:56, Ed Brayton wrote:
>
>>
>> Marc Stern wrote:
>>     Were there any interveners? Might Discovery Institute intervene
>>     for purposes of appeal? .During the fight over equal access, the
>>     Supreme Court held in Bender v. Williamsport ASD,475 US 534  
>> that a
>>     single school board member did not have standing to appeal a
>>     decision to allow religious clubs .A fortiori former members
>>     should lack standing, unless ,perhaps they were sued in an
>>     individual capacity and held for damages.
>>
>> The Foundation for Thought and Ethics attempted to intervene but was
>> denied. Discovery Institute did not attempt to intervene. This suit,
>> as far as I know, was only against the school district as a whole,  
>> not
>> against the individual members of the school board. There are no
>> damages awarded and none asked for. So I can't imagine there is  
>> anyone
>> with standing that could intervene at this point. The school board  
>> has
>> said that they will not file an appeal of the case.
>>
>> Ed Brayton
>>
>
>
>
> Ira C. ("Chip") Lupu
> F. Elwood & Eleanor Davis Professor of Law
> The George Washington University Law School
> 2000 H St., NW
> Washington D.C 20052
>
> (202) 994-7053
>
> ICLUPU at main.nlc.gwu.edu
> ICLUPU at law.gwu.edu
>
>
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-- 
Prof. Steven D. Jamar                               vox:  202-806-8017
Howard University School of Law                     fax:  202-806-8567
2900 Van Ness Street NW                   mailto:stevenjamar at gmail.com
Washington, DC  20008   http://www.law.howard.edu/faculty/pages/jamar/

"A life directed chiefly toward the fulfillment of personal desires  
sooner or later always leads to bitter disappointment."

Albert Einstein


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