Welcome back...

The new term has started, and it is already quite busy, with student advising and prepping a new constitutional law class. But it is fun.

Politically, it's pretty exciting these days, so it is worth taking political science classes. In the Supreme Court, cases dealing with the treatment of enemy combatants are pending: In the Padilla case, the Court still has to decide if it wants to grant cert. Padilla has been transferred to Florida, where he will stand trial in a civilian court; the Justice Department now wants the Supreme Court to drop Padilla's case against his military detention, as he is now released from that type of detention. Padilla's lawyers want the Supremes to hear the case nevertheless, to resolve the legal issues involved. In the Hamdan case, dealing with the constitutionality of military tribunals for Guantanamo detainees, the oral argument will take place during the next months. The newest New York Times Magazine has a lengthyish background article on Hamdan.

In the Senate, Judiciary Committee hearings on Supreme Court appointee Samuel Alito have started today and are worth following. Sunday's Meet the Press on NBC provided a good primer on the issues that will be discussed (or postured on): You can watch the show or read the transcript here. C-SPAN's America and the Courts program also has a number of interesting programs on the Alito nomination; particularly the November 27 program with Arlen Specter is interesting -- also for its inside look into the Senate. (The Senate hearings are also available at the C-SPAN site.)

And, of course, there is the NSA wiretapping story: more here and
here and in lots of articles in newspapers and blogs -- didn't have time yet to compile those. On Balkinization, University of Texas law professor Sandy Levinson connects the wiretapping debate with the Alito nomination.

On the bright side of things, Underneath Their Robes is back. David Lat, a federal prosecutor, had published this anonymous, mildly amusing, and gender-bending gossip column until his identity was revealed in a New Yorker article. After this unrobing (sorry, couldn't resist), the blog vanished, but now he has quit his government job and is again her old Article III Groupie self.