by TChris

The immediate impact of Hurricane Katrina, compounded by the government's inadequate preparation and response, is devastating. The long term effects are incalculable. This excerpt from an email sent by a law professor in Baton Rouge discusses the impact on Louisiana's judicial system -- one small aspect of the enormous consequences that the Gulf Coast will endure:

5,000 - 6,000 lawyers (1/3 of the lawyers in Louisiana) have lost their offices, their libraries, their computers with all information thereon, their client files - possibly their clients, as one attorney who e-mailed me noted. As I mentioned before, they are scattered from Florida to Arizona and have nothing to return to. Their children's schools are gone and, optimistically, the school systems in 8 parishes/counties won't be re-opened until after December. They must re-locate their lives.

Our state supreme court is under some water - with all appellate files and evidence folders/boxes along with it. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals building is under some water - with the same effect. Right now there may only be 3-4 feet of standing water but, if you think about it, most files are kept in the basements or lower floors of courthouses. What effect will that have on the lives of citizens and lawyers throughout this state and this area of the country? And on the law?

Law Prof Eric Muller of Is That Legal has set up blogs for Tulane and Loyola law students.

Law schools around the country are offering to admit the Tulane and Loyola students, without tuition. Williamette in Oregon has place for 20 students. UConn as well. Check the blogs.

Many faculty and other community members are offering their homes to the displaced students. What welcome gestures. Albany, NY attorney Terry Kinlon, known to many TL readers for his great posts on how the Administration is failing our veterans, e-mails he and his wife, Law Prof Laurie Shanks, are taking in a law-student and medical student from Tulane and providing their extra car to them:

...there will be a lot of law student-refugees from New Orleans who will need places to live while they're camped out in other law schools and members of the criminal defense bar, everywhere, would probably be delighted to help out with food and lodging and maybe some dry socks for our younger brothers and sisters.

On a sadder note:

The Los Angeles Times reports:

A 2-year-old girl slept in a pool of urine. Crack vials littered a restroom. Blood stained the walls next to vending machines smashed by teenagers.

"We pee on the floor. We are like animals," said Taffany Smith, 25, as she cradled her 3-week-old son, Terry. In her right hand she carried a half-full bottle of formula provided by rescuers. Baby supplies are running low; one mother said she was given two diapers and told to scrape them off when they got dirty and use them again.

At least two people, including a child, have been raped. At least three people have died, including one man who jumped 50 feet to his death, saying he had nothing left to live for.

posted by Last Night in Little Rock, on the road for 4 days, MM447, NY Thruway

I don't know about you, but the New Orleans disaster has rocked me to the center of my being, almost to the degree of 9/11. Why? It is a different type of loss, brought on by an "enemy," but the property damage and loss of life will be greater and it was brought on by budget cuts to fund tax cuts for the rich. Instead of dying in an instant or an hour, thousands will die a slow death. The pathetic response we are seeing from the federal government, both Executive and Legislative branches, should make us want to revolt that the government has failed us because we have squandered people, lives, resources, and money in Iraq.

Remember the Preamble to the Constitution that we had to learn in the Fifth Grade?

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

The Bush Administration apparently never read it.

FEMA is now just another bureaucratic level within the Department of Homeland Security. It has become a dinosaur stuck in the tar pits, and it is dying before our eyes.

Condi Rice should expect some heat over this:

Just moments ago at the Ferragamo on 5th Avenue, Condoleeza Rice was seen spending several thousands of dollars on some nice, new shoes (we’ve confirmed this, so her new heels will surely get coverage from the WaPo’s Robin Givhan). A fellow shopper, unable to fathom the absurdity of Rice’s timing, went up to the Secretary and reportedly shouted, “How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!” Never one to have her fashion choices questioned, Rice had security PHYSICALLY REMOVE the woman.

She's also working on her backhand with Monica Sales at the U.S. Open. And, as Drudge reports, last night she attended a Broadway play.

Watching the news, I see hundreds of people outside the convention center and the Superdome in New Orleans - they have been pushed out of both places. There are tiny infants and elderly people and all kinds of other people--sick, tired, hot, dehydrated, hungry--without water and food and toilets for days now, according to eyewitness reporters on the scene. Some will die. Attorney General Gonzales is on tv now saying that security and law and order is a top priority.

Getting food, water and medical care to these people should be the top priority. Law and order should not be the top priority. Even getting them out of New Orleans is not as crucial as getting them food, water, medicine before they are moved.

HSA Chief Michael Chertoff was just on tv, again promising that massive food, water and supplies are on their way. But it's clear that the people outside the superdome haven't received them. There are buses waiting outside of New Orleans that are not moving in.

Counting on FEMA is problematic. Since Bush moved it into Homeland Security, critics say that disaster relief has gotten the short shrift compared to counter-terrorism related activities.

Update: Crooks and Liars has the video:

********
President Bush appeared on Good Morning America today. He said,

"I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees."

Really? Didn't anyone on his staff tell him about the New Orleans Times-Picayune series Washing Away, which reported:

Though protected by levees designed to withstand the most common storms, New Orleans is surrounded by water and is well below sea level at many points. A flood from a powerful hurricane can get trapped for weeks inside the levee system. Emergency officials concede that many of the structures in the area, including newer high-rise buildings, would not survive the winds of a major storm.

...and in 2004, the emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana raised concerns that the president's budget shifted money away from finishing the levees to pay for the war in Iraq.

I did happen to catch President Bush's hum-drum live speech yesterday. Leading editorials in today's papers are far more critical. The New York Times writes in Waiting for a Leader:

George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end.

The Los Angeles Times:

An article in today's Salt Lake City Weekly lays out the details of the permit flap in the Utah County rave bust of a few weeks ago. The sheriff's argument looks to be pretty thin: He anticipated (as if he had a crystal ball) the rave would exceed 12 hours which would have required an additional permit and other measures.

The promotor, on the other hand, knew his event was for less than 12 hours and planned accordingly:

[Brandon] Fullmer, who scheduled the event for a 9.5-hour period, from 9 p.m. to 6:30 a.m., secured a permit through the Utah County Health Department (UCHD). He took out a $1 million insurance policy, hired security guards, rented portable toilets, obtained a solid-waste permit and met a number of other requirements before booking out-of-state and local DJs.

Since the bust occurred only a few hours into the rave, how is the Sheriff going to establish that it would exceed 12 hours?

“I don’t think there’s any question that the sheriff misapplied the ordinance and acted improperly,” [attorney Brian] Barnard said, adding that the raid was discriminatory and an act of censorship. “If individuals break the law, punish them. But don’t assume that everyone who goes to a rap, hip-hop, or electronic music concert is a criminal.”

Barnard will be representing the promoter and the land owner in a federal civil rights lawsuit against the County.

The Washington Post has an excellent editorial today opposing the Anti-Gang bill that has passed the House. A much different and less punitive version is pending in the Senate. The editorial notes that while the Administration is pushing for the House bill, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales doesn't like it:

While Mr. Gonzales's day job requires him to concentrate on clamping down on gangs through law enforcement, he acknowledges that investigations and prosecutions are only a partial answer. A comprehensive strategy, he believes, must include education, prevention and rehabilitation. "I don't want Hispanic kids to not go to school and not get an education," he said. "Sure, we may be able to prosecute them and put them in jail, but that represents a lost future as employees, as future leaders in our community. We can't afford it."

In a nutshell, here's what's wrong with the House bill:

In response to the Supreme Court's decision last term in Kelo approving state seizure of property for economic development, the Texas legislature passed a law restricting such seizures. Texas Governor Rick Perry signed the bill into law Wednesday.

Under the Constitution, governments cannot take private property for public use without ''just compensation.'' Local governments have traditionally used their eminent domain authority to build roads, reservoirs and other public projects. But over decades, the high court has expanded the definition of public use, allowing cities to employ eminent domain to eliminate blight.

In June, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that New London, Conn., could take homes for a private development project. But the ruling also allowed states to ban the practice.

My thoughts (personal, not legal) on the Kelo decision are here. Last Night in Little Rock's are here.

Tag: Kelo

The Administration announced insignificant changes Wednesday to the rules for military tribunals at Guantanamo. The two changes being touted:

...the presiding officer, a military lawyer, will now decide questions of law. The other members, who will no longer play a role in most such decisions, will decide questions of fact including guilt or innocence; the presiding officer will no longer have a vote in these matters.

Among other changes is one altering the wording of a rule that during the proceedings, defendants "may be present to the extent consistent with the need to protect classified information." The new wording says defendants "shall be present to the extent consistent ... ."

The changes that were needed but not made include: