Quick things

OK, this really has to be quick, because it's late at night, and I need to go home soon. Otherwise, I'll fall asleep here in the computer lab at school.

What's going on with me lately: I'll be working in Sacramento this summer as an unpaid intern with the California State Public Defender's Office. Most, if not all, of what they do is deal with death penalty conviction cases. Most likely, I'll be a part time intern with them, helping various staff attorneys with their cases by doing various tasks, some of which may be rather unsophisticated. E.g. inputting info into a computer. But I'll also hopefully do some legal research and writing. Don't know yet whether I'll be meeting any of the clients.

I'm also applying for part time summer research assistantships, to help professors do their research. I just found out today that one position I applied for has already been filled (by someone other than me). I'll be applying for another one sometime this week.

Housing: My roommate and I would like to again be roommates next year, possibly with 1-2 new people, but we need to find a place. Davis housing is pretty crazy, in that we're already a bit late in looking for places for this coming September!! The vacancy rate during the school year is something less than 1%, I've heard. One more thing I'll need to do.

Finals: are next month. We only have about 3 1/2 weeks of class left, until about the end of April. Then about a week long study period, then final exams over 2 weeks. So the atmosphere is getting more stress-filled. Our finals will be worth anywhere from 50% to 90% of our overall grades for the entire year (both 1st and 2nd semesters), so you can see why.

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(this is how I indicate a break in a flow of thought in my notes, which I take on my notebook computer)

Stuff from today: I was at a panel discussion today, given by 2 professors here, as well as the dean of McGeorge (a law school in Sacramento, which is the only other ABA recognized law school in the area).

The discussion ranged a bit, but mostly was on America's treatment of the detainees in Guantanamo Bay, as well as others. "Detainees" = "unlawful combatants" So some of it explained why they're unlawful combatants, instead of prisoners of war. Much of it was about how federal courts, and the system as a whole (including international courts) isn't well prepared to deal with situations that are arising. (One question: does the Constitution extend only to the physical borders of US land, or does it extend to wherever the flag is flown?

One panelist highly recommended reading a New Yorker article about John Walker Lindh, the "American Taliban", so I found it on the web, and you can read it here.

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This past weekend, I had the chance to attend the Asian Law Caucus dinner in San Francisco. It was held in a large ballroom at the Hyatt Hotel. Various "important" people there. Lots of lawyers, some political people. I heard that the SF mayor, Willie Brown, stopped by, though I didn't see him. There was a federal judge there. A local reporter was one of the presiders, and there was a videocamera set up.

I was reminded of a quote I read on someone's homepage, that went something like: "I will not let the glory of this place overshadow the greatness of my God." Or something like that.

The best part of the dinner for me, though, was the chance to shake hands with Fred Korematsu. If you don't know who he is, find out. There's an article about him here.

OK, time to go home.