YLS and waterboarding

YLS isn't too happy with its alum right now.

Mukasey nomination sparks debate at alma mater Yale

(Interestingly, the article says Koh did not respond to requests for comment. When Mukasey was first nominated, he spoke praisingly of him to his class and mentioned specifically Mukasey was a YLS alum. The name has not come up since.)

An email was sent to all students this morning strongly urging a demonstration of waterboarding, to establish our position against Mukasey's nomination, his apparent support of torture, and disregard for the rule of law (given that Congress has already passed statutes banning torture, Mukasey's assurances that the executive would be bound by a law outlawing waterboarding rather miss the point). And professors have suggested Chuck Schumer is a fool for continuing to support the nomination, and they continue to disagree with each other.

One wonders whether Schumer's daughter, Jess (who, by the way, is pretty much the opposite of stand-offish), is going to be taking classes offered by Balkin here (he isn't teaching any first semester classes).

As for me, I wish we would stop alienating our famous alum. Mukasey isn't really supporting torture, he's just playing a balancing act between supporting the administration and pacifying the senate committee. And Justice Thomas won't even let us put up his portrait in the law school, though he been has asked several times. Justice Alito can't be too fond of certain YLS profs, either.

I haven't felt alienated here because of conservative viewpoints, but it's little surprise that Yale is accruing an anti-conservative (rather than just a liberal) reputation.