I spent much of the past week in ill health, so have very little to report. However, yesterday, my second day back at work, marked a jump-start to what had been a relatively uneventful (and seriously un-fun) week.

Yesterday, I attended a very full docket of oral arguments in front of the Arizona Supreme Court. It was very interesting to witness. The Court heard three death penalty cases and one case regarding Arizona child custody laws that may conflict with the federal Indian Child Welfare Act. For those unfamiliar, as I certainly was until I started in this field, an appellate court--like the Supreme Court or Courts of Appeals--does not usually re-hear a case and re-weigh all the evidence already heard and weighed by a judge or a jury. No, they are generally limited to hear particular legal issues that one party or another thinks a lower court decided wrongly.

So, at oral arguments, the parties present their view about why some judge decided the law wrongly or rightly. And the judges hearing the oral arguments--in this case, the five justices of the Supreme Court--frequently interrupt the attorneys to ask clarifying questions. But, what the judges are doing is more than that. They're not just trying to understand the case...presumably they and their clerks have already gone over the case and its issues. They're trying to understand what the parties are really asking for and how they--with their potential final say--should decide the matter. And they don't wear soft gloves, either.

Yesterday I watched one attorney have a really bad go of his oral argument, and he unwittingly allowed the justices to ask him very pointed questions that led him to essentially contradict himself and start making his opponent's argument.

The rest of my day was exciting, too. I was assigned an election case--special cases that are appealed straight from trial to the Supreme Court due to the importance of elections and time concerns over making sure that everybody suppose to be on ballots are on ballots when they go to print. Interesting issue...appeals over election decisions before elections have happened. Political? Personal? Just business? Certainly matters I did not foresee when I thought about my time at the Supreme Court. In fact, I just got back from sitting in on a conference call with a justice, a supervising attorney and the parties' lawyers, where we discussed the timetable and preliminary issues of the case.

And, to finish the day, we NUSL students got our evaluations. That is, we got our grades from finals. In short, I am pretty pleased with them (although one professor wrote a very cryptic evaluation that leaves me unsure whether I did well or not-that-well) and look forward to next semester.

What a day.

Posted by Ira at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...and I'm only twenty-seven years old.

And, oh, to look back on the days in reverence when we all grudgingly paid $2.50 at the pump! And you could shred up dollar bills and boil them down to gold. Alas days of yore.

Now on an unpaid co-op, I commute to and from work everyday. Over thirty miles each way. I make no bones about being on an unpaid internship, I chose this path for myself. As such, I also recently chose to kick driving to and from work everyday and hop on the bus. Before moving out here I was told from one or two Phoenixians that they don't have a particularly grand public transportation system. Perhaps they didn't, but a municipality gets pretty inventive when gas prices rocket past the cost to buy a gallon of milk (in most areas) and its residents stop driving and show up in droves at bus stops. Like yours truly.

The buses here seem to be all run on natural gas, I hear tell they are planning to commission more buses for many routes, and the powers that be are testing out a light rail system that could be operational in 2009.

It feels good to ride the bus: the trip takes just as long, I am saving hugely on my energy costs, reducing my carbon footprint, and I get to people watch and read.

Yesterday I was finishing the paper, The Arizona Republic, on the ride home. As per usual, many of the stories were about what sore shape this country is in. Gas prices, unemployment, airlines, Iraq, Iran, flooding, food prices, etc, etc. The sensationalism of TV news does indeed carry over somewhat into the more tangible and scripted, printed paper. Or perhaps it's vice-versa; I am no journalistic historian, but printed news doesn't get to use live footage, audio and a ten minute loop in its presentation.

Anyway, as I reflected on all this heralding of doom and gloom, I thought about the persistent questions that were not asked in some of these stories. For example, a recent article about tax incentives highlighted a current bill in Arizona's state House of Representatives that would give tax breaks of varying sort to companies that would bring jobs to different parts of the state. The lawmakers in support of the bill highlighted how Arizona, like many states, has had crippling budget deficits in past years, and are looking towards a record deficit this year. Thus, they argue, the state needs this tax incentive package so companies will come here, set up shop, and put money into the economy. They note that the first jobs will sprout up in construction, a good start to providing good jobs to the hardworking.

These tax incentives are common throughout the country. In fact, Northeastern's own Professor Enrich has been working on his own, and with Ralph Nader and his people, for a few years in contesting the constitutionality of states to do this. He has already taken the matter to the US Supreme Court once, which got shot down on other legal grounds.

As I read the article, I wondered where were the questions the reporter didn't ask (or perhaps, simply, didn't publish the answers). How exactly are these tax incentives going to boost the state economy? Is there some data or economic models they can show us behind that claim? Won't the state budget take a hit from the taxes it is not taking in from the deals? Are they relying too heavily on the taxes they'll take out of workers' paychecks, and a hope that employed workers who may have to commute to work every day and pay astronomical healthcare costs will have enough money left over to recycle it back into the state economy?

Articles like that, of vital and necessary questions unanswered or unreported, joined in my mind with others that seem to profess how the entire country is going to hell in a handbasket and the end is nigh. They made me think of conversations I've had with some who hear the same news and take on self-defeatist attitudes. They made me think about how there is a lot of work to be done in this country, while questioning whether that work could ever be done. Go back and read the paper from any decade past and see how they seem to be struggling with the same questions on similar (or the same issues). They made me think about how we could lower the unemployment rate in this country down to marginal rates, increase voter participation to over 75% of the electorate, and cure cancer--and something else would come up.

These thoughts are not self-defeatist on my part, they're energizing. Because, after all--if there is work to do, then there is work to do. And it made me glad that I chose a profession that gives one unique abilities (and, occasionally, access) to be an instrument of social change.

Posted by Ira at 2:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

First, I must note the divine irony of the current situtation. When I chose to come to Phoenix for my summer internship, many wished me the best and lamented that I was heading to the wrong locale for summer time. After all, in the Winter one wants to be warm. In the Summer, cool. Right? And there I was, gleefully choosing to head to the desert where 110+ degree weather is not uncommon at the apex of the season.

And here I am now in just such a climate. Where are those who regretted my choice? Most of them are on the East Coast, undergoing record-breaking heat indices and soaring temperatures. In short, living through a heat wave. With humidity in the upper 80-90%. Humidity in Phoenix hovers around 10%.

Not that I'm gloating. :) We're all subject to global warming, after all. As a brief digression, my flitting talk of weather here overlooks the serious crises going on due to weather around the world. In our own country, for example, California recently declared a statewide period of drought. They haven't done that since 1991. And, those in the upper Midwest and West are experiencing frightening tornadoes, thunderstorms, and floods that just keep on rising.

Regarding the particular situation here, however, I do have some advantages to bearing all this heat. And no, it's not purely the air conditioning piped in at the Supreme Court. I actually try to go outside during the day and experience the weather--assuming the smog blowing in from California makes the air breathable. No, my relative advantage was growing up in the South. If you can deal with Southern and coastal humidity in August, so far it seems you can deal with temperature extremes.

Well, we'll see. I'll keep you apprised if my mind changes any when the thermometer busts above 120. So far, I really enjoy the heat. And do my best to stay hydrated.

In other not-quite-exciting news, the work at the Arizona Supreme Court continues. I must admit that at times I am a little bored sitting behind a desk researching cases and writing memoranda all day long. I'm used to being in the field and being in the courtroom--or, at the least, being on my feet. That being said, I am enjoying the change and attempting to appreciate it for all it's worth. I am certainly learning a lot and meeting great people. Oral Arguments at the Court are scheduled in a couple of weeks and on the docket are three death penalty cases (which, in Arizona, get appealed directly from the trial court to the Supreme Court) that will likely bring up issues pursuant to the US Supreme Court's decision in Baze v. Rees. Also, we'll get to hear a child custody dispute involving an American Indian child. The case raises serious questions over the conflict between state and federal child welfare laws.

On a final note: What, you may be asking, have I seen of the wonderous Phoenix? Where are your pictures of my time out west?

I've seen the freeway, readers. And my camera is broken.

More to come...

Posted by Ira at 1:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)