1.
Democratic Party (United States)
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The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The Democrats dominant worldview was once socially conservative and fiscally classical liberalism, while, especially in the rural South, since Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal coalition in the 1930s, the Democratic Party has also promoted a social-liberal platform, supporting social justice. Today, the House Democratic caucus is composed mostly of progressives and centrists, the partys philosophy of modern liberalism advocates social and economic equality, along with the welfare state. It seeks to provide government intervention and regulation in the economy, the party has united with smaller left-wing regional parties throughout the country, such as the Farmer–Labor Party in Minnesota and the Nonpartisan League in North Dakota. Well into the 20th century, the party had conservative pro-business, the New Deal Coalition of 1932–1964 attracted strong support from voters of recent European extraction—many of whom were Catholics based in the cities. After Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal of the 1930s, the pro-business wing withered outside the South, after the racial turmoil of the 1960s, most southern whites and many northern Catholics moved into the Republican Party at the presidential level. The once-powerful labor union element became smaller and less supportive after the 1970s, white Evangelicals and Southerners became heavily Republican at the state and local level in the 1990s. However, African Americans became a major Democratic element after 1964, after 2000, Hispanic and Latino Americans, Asian Americans, the LGBT community, single women and professional women moved towards the party as well. The Northeast and the West Coast became Democratic strongholds by 1990 after the Republicans stopped appealing to socially liberal voters there, overall, the Democratic Party has retained a membership lead over its major rival the Republican Party. The most recent was the 44th president Barack Obama, who held the office from 2009 to 2017, in the 115th Congress, following the 2016 elections, Democrats are the opposition party, holding a minority of seats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The party also holds a minority of governorships, and state legislatures, though they do control the mayoralty of cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Washington, D. C. The Democratic Party traces its origins to the inspiration of the Democratic-Republican Party, founded by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and that party also inspired the Whigs and modern Republicans. Organizationally, the modern Democratic Party truly arose in the 1830s, since the nomination of William Jennings Bryan in 1896, the party has generally positioned itself to the left of the Republican Party on economic issues. They have been liberal on civil rights issues since 1948. On foreign policy both parties changed position several times and that party, the Democratic-Republican Party, came to power in the election of 1800. After the War of 1812 the Federalists virtually disappeared and the national political party left was the Democratic-Republicans. The Democratic-Republican party still had its own factions, however. As Norton explains the transformation in 1828, Jacksonians believed the peoples will had finally prevailed, through a lavishly financed coalition of state parties, political leaders, and newspaper editors, a popular movement had elected the president
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Alma mater
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Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. In modern usage, it is a school or university which an individual has attended, the phrase is variously translated as nourishing mother, nursing mother, or fostering mother, suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Before its modern usage, Alma mater was a title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. The source of its current use is the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world and it is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, which literally means a nursling or one who is nourished. The phrase can also denote a song or hymn associated with a school, although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. Alma Redemptoris Mater is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary, the earliest documented English use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when University of Cambridge printer John Legate began using an emblem for the universitys press. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is often cited in 1710, many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its ties to the founding of the United States. At Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website
3.
Yale University
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Yale University is an American private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 in Saybrook Colony to train Congregationalist ministers, it is the third-oldest institution of education in the United States. The Collegiate School moved to New Haven in 1716, and shortly after was renamed Yale College in recognition of a gift from British East India Company governor Elihu Yale. Originally restricted to theology and sacred languages, the curriculum began to incorporate humanities and sciences by the time of the American Revolution. In the 19th century the school introduced graduate and professional instruction, awarding the first Ph. D. in the United States in 1861 and organizing as a university in 1887. Yale is organized into fourteen constituent schools, the undergraduate college, the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. While the university is governed by the Yale Corporation, each schools faculty oversees its curriculum, the universitys assets include an endowment valued at $25.4 billion as of June 2016, the second largest of any U. S. educational institution. The Yale University Library, serving all constituent schools, holds more than 15 million volumes and is the third-largest academic library in the United States, Yale College undergraduates follow a liberal arts curriculum with departmental majors and are organized into a social system of residential colleges. Almost all faculty teach courses, more than 2,000 of which are offered annually. Students compete intercollegiately as the Yale Bulldogs in the NCAA Division I – Ivy League, Yale has graduated many notable alumni, including five U. S. Presidents,19 U. S. Supreme Court Justices,20 living billionaires, and many heads of state. In addition, Yale has graduated hundreds of members of Congress,57 Nobel laureates,5 Fields Medalists,247 Rhodes Scholars, and 119 Marshall Scholars have been affiliated with the University. Yale traces its beginnings to An Act for Liberty to Erect a Collegiate School, passed by the General Court of the Colony of Connecticut on October 9,1701, the Act was an effort to create an institution to train ministers and lay leadership for Connecticut. Soon thereafter, a group of ten Congregationalist ministers, Samuel Andrew, Thomas Buckingham, Israel Chauncy, Samuel Mather, the group, led by James Pierpont, is now known as The Founders. Originally known as the Collegiate School, the institution opened in the home of its first rector, Abraham Pierson, the school moved to Saybrook, and then Wethersfield. In 1716 the college moved to New Haven, Connecticut, the feud caused the Mathers to champion the success of the Collegiate School in the hope that it would maintain the Puritan religious orthodoxy in a way that Harvard had not. Cotton Mather suggested that the school change its name to Yale College, meanwhile, a Harvard graduate working in England convinced some 180 prominent intellectuals that they should donate books to Yale. The 1714 shipment of 500 books represented the best of modern English literature, science, philosophy and it had a profound effect on intellectuals at Yale. Undergraduate Jonathan Edwards discovered John Lockes works and developed his original theology known as the new divinity
4.
Stanford Law School
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Stanford Law School is a professional graduate school of Stanford University, located in the Silicon Valley near Palo Alto, California. Stanford Law has consistently been regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world, Stanford Law School employs more than 90 full-time and part-time faculty members and enrolls over 550 students who are working toward their Doctor of Jurisprudence degree. Stanford Law also confers four advanced degrees, a Master of Laws, a Master of Studies in Law, a Master of the Science of Law. Each fall, Stanford Law enrolls a J. D. class of approximately 180 students, Stanford also maintains eleven full-time legal clinics, including the nations first and most active Supreme Court litigation clinic, and offers 27 formal joint degree programs. Stanford first offered a curriculum in legal studies in 1893, when the university hired its first two law professors, former U. S. president Benjamin Harrison and Nathan Abbott, Abbott headed the new program and assembled a small faculty over the next few years. In 1900, the department moved from its location in Encina Hall to the northeast side of the Inner Quadrangle. These larger facilities included Stanford’s first law library, beginning to focus more on professional training, the school implemented its first three-year curriculum and became one of 27 charter members of the Association of American Law Schools. In 1901, the school awarded its first professional degree, the Bachelor of Laws, eight years later, Frederic Campbell Woodward became the first dean of the law school, and in 1923, the law school received accreditation from the American Bar Association. In 1924, Stanfords law program officially transitioned into a professional school when it began requiring a bachelors degree for admission. The 1940s and 1950s brought considerable change to the law school, after World War II caused the law schools enrollment to drop to fewer than 30 students, the school quickly expanded once the war ended in 1945. The decision that Stanford should remain a law school with a very limited enrollment emerged during this period. For the third time in its history, the law school relocated in the 1970s, in the 1960s and 1970s, the law school aimed to diversify its student body. Additionally, in 1966, the sought to academically diversify its student body by collaborating with the Stanford Business School to create its first joint-degree program. In 1968, Stanford appointed Thelton Henderson, future judge of the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Henderson expanded minority enrollment from a single student to approximately a fifth of the student body. Stanford Laws commitment to diversity continues today, and The Princeton Review currently ranks Stanford Law as one of the ten best law schools for minority students, earning national recognition in the 1980s and 1990s, the law school embarked on innovating its curriculum. Stanford offered new courses focusing on law and technology, environmental law, intellectual property law, in 1984, the law school launched its first clinical program, the East Palo Alto Community Law Project. By the 21st century, a new focus on interdisciplinary education emerged, in 2009, the law school transitioned from a semester system to a quarter system to align itself with Stanfords other graduate schools. Stanford Law School is known for its student-to-faculty ratio, one of the lowest in the country, the first-year class of approximately 180 students is divided into six smaller sections of 30 students each
5.
Voting rights in the United States
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The issue of voting rights in the United States, specifically the enfranchisement and disenfranchisement of different groups, has been contested throughout United States history. Eligibility to vote in the United States is established both through the constitution and by state law. Since the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, the Supreme Court ruled in 1964 that both houses of all state legislatures had to be based on election districts that were relatively equal in population size, under the one man, one vote principle. In 1972, the Court ruled that state legislatures had to every ten years based on census results, at that point, many had not redistricted for decades. In the early 20th century, numerous cities established small commission forms of government in the belief that government could result from the suppression of ward politics. Commissioners were elected by the majority of voters, excluding candidates who could not afford large campaigns or who appealed to a minority, the United States Constitution did not originally define who was eligible to vote, allowing each state to determine who was eligible. In the early history of the U. S. most states allowed only white male property owners to vote. Freed slaves could vote in four states, men without property and women were largely prohibited from voting. Women could vote in New Jersey until 1807 and in local jurisdictions in other northern states. Non-white Americans could also vote in these jurisdictions, provided they could meet the property requirement, by 1856, white men were allowed to vote in all states regardless of property ownership, although requirements for paying tax remained in five states. On the other hand states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey stripped the free black males of the right to vote in the same period. Four of the fifteen post-Civil War constitutional amendments were ratified to extend voting rights to different groups of citizens, because of such state and local discriminatory practices, over time, the federal role in elections has increased, through amendments to the Constitution and enacted legislation. The right to vote is not explicitly stated in the U. S, Constitution except in the above referenced amendments, and only in reference to the fact that the franchise cannot be denied or abridged based solely on the aforementioned qualifications. In other words, the right to vote is perhaps better understood, in laymans terms, States may deny the right to vote for other reasons. For example, many states require eligible citizens to register to vote a set number of prior to the election in order to vote. More controversial restrictions include those laws that prohibit convicted felons from voting, another example, seen in Bush v. Gore, are disputes as to what rules should apply in counting or recounting ballots. A state may choose to fill an office by means other than an election, for example, upon death or resignation of a legislator, the state may allow the affiliated political party to choose a replacement to hold office until the next scheduled election. Such an appointment is often affirmed by the governor, the Constitution, in Article VI, clause 3, states that no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States
6.
United States Department of Justice Civil Division
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The United States Department of Justice Civil Division represents the United States, its departments and agencies, members of Congress, cabinet officers, and other federal employees. Each year, Division attorneys handle thousands of cases that collectively involve billions of dollars in claims, the Division confronts significant policy issues, which often rise to constitutional dimensions, in defending and enforcing various Federal programs and actions. The Civil Division is currently led by Principal Deputy Assistant General Benjamin C, mizer, filling the vacancy created by Assistant Attorney General Stuart F. Delery
7.
Yale Law School
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Yale Law School is the law school of Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. The schools small size and prestige make its admissions process the most selective of any law school in the United States, Yale has the lowest acceptance rate among all law schools. Roughly 8 in 10 admits ultimately matriculate, which marks the best yield rate among the top U. S. law schools, established in 1824, Yale Law offers the J. D. LL. M. M. S. L. and Ph. D. degrees in law, Yale Law has been ranked the number one law school in the country by U. S. News and World Report every year since the magazine began publishing law school rankings, through 2017. Yale Law School is widely considered to be the preeminent law school in the nation and is one of the most prestigious law schools in the world, Yale Law has produced a significant number of luminaries in law and politics, including United States presidents Gerald Ford and Bill Clinton. Former president William Howard Taft was a professor of law at Yale Law School from 1913 until he resigned to become chief justice of the United States in 1921. Each class in Yale Laws three-year J. D. program enrolls approximately 200 students, Yales flagship law review is the Yale Law Journal. Another feature of Yale Laws culture since the 1930s, among both faculty and student graduates, has been an emphasis on the importance of spending at least a few years in government service, a similar emphasis has long been placed on service as a judicial law clerk upon graduation. Its 7.6,1 student-to-faculty ratio is the third lowest among U. S. law schools, Yale Law does not have a traditional grading system, a consequence of student unrest in the late 1960s. Instead, it grades first-semester first-year students on a simple Credit/No Credit system, for their remaining two-and-a-half years, students are graded on an Honors/Pass/Low Pass/Fail system. Similarly, the school does not rank its students and it is also notable for having only a single semester of required classes, instead of the full year most U. S. schools require. Students publish nine law journals that, unlike those at most other schools, although the Journal identifies a target maximum number of members to accept each year, it is not a firm number. Other leading student-edited publications include the Yale Law and Policy Review, the Yale Journal on Regulation, the Yale Journal of Law and Technology, and the Yale Journal of International Law. In November 2013, it was announced that a $25 million donation would bring student dormitory living back onto campus, with renovations to begin in 2018. Yale Law has been ranked the number one law school in the country by U. S. News and it is currently ranked as the second best law school in U. S and fourth in the world by the 2016 QS Rankings. Additionally, a 2010 survey of scholarly impact, measured by per capita citations to faculty scholarship, the School began in the New Haven law office of Seth P. Staples in the 1800s, who began training lawyers, by 1810 he was operating a law school. He took on a student, Samuel J. Hitchcock as a law partner
8.
Law clerk
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Judicial clerks often play significant roles in the formation of case law through their influence upon judges decisions. Judicial clerks should not be confused with legal clerks, court clerks, or courtroom deputies who only provide secretarial, Judicial clerks are generally recent law school graduates who performed at or near the top of their class. In some countries, judicial clerks are known as Judicial Associates or Judicial Assistants, in many nations, clerk duties are performed by permanent staff attorneys or junior apprentice-like judges, such as those that sit on Frances Conseil dÉtat. In English courts, they are known as Judicial Assistants, the European Court of Justice uses permanent staff attorneys and the Stagiaires. Australia, Canada, Sweden, and Brazil have notable clerk systems, most Canadian courts accept applications for judicial clerkships from graduating law students or experienced lawyers who have already been called to the Bar in Canada or abroad. Most provincial superior and appellate courts hire at least one clerk for each judge, typically students in their last two years of law school are eligible to apply for these positions, but increasingly, experienced practicing lawyers are also considered for these positions. The term typically lasts a year and generally fulfills the requirement for provincial law societies. The most prestigious clerkship available is with the countrys highest court, each Justice of the Supreme Court hires three clerks for a one-year period. The Federal Court of Appeal, which is based in Ottawa but hears cases across the country, selects 12 law clerks each year, the Federal Court also hires only one clerk per judge, or about 30 per year in total. The Court of Appeal for Ontario selects 17 law clerks, who serve one or two of the 24 Justices. The Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan hires 3 clerks, each of whom are assigned to 2 to 3 judges, successful candidates for all clerkships are usually selected based on a distinguished academic record, academic recommendations, strong research and writing skills and interviews with judges. For both the Supreme Court of Canada and the Quebec Court of Appeal, being able to work in both English and French is strongly preferred, the Tax Court of Canada hires 12 clerks annually. Many law clerks have gone on to become leaders of the profession, mr. Justice Jean Cote of the Alberta Court of Appeal was one of the very first Supreme Court law clerks, serving as a clerk in the programs inaugural year. In England and Wales, law clerks are called Judicial Assistants and it is possible to be a Judicial Assistant at the Court of Appeal and at the UK Supreme Court. Only Supreme Court Judicial Assistants are appointed for a full-time, one fixed term appointment. Since 2006 they have taken part in a long exchange in Washington DC at the U. S. Supreme Court due to a friendship between Justice Antonin Scalia and Lord Rodger of Earlsferry. Sally Kenneys article on clerks, or Référendaires, on the European Court of Justice provides one detailed point of comparison, there are some major differences between ECJ clerks and their American counterparts, largely because of the way the ECJ is structured. One key difference is that ECJ clerks, while hired by individual judges and this gives ECJ clerks considerable expertise and power
9.
Supreme Court of the United States
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The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest federal court of the United States. In the legal system of the United States, the Supreme Court is the interpreter of federal constitutional law. The Court normally consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight justices who are nominated by the President. Once appointed, justices have life tenure unless they resign, retire, in modern discourse, the justices are often categorized as having conservative, moderate, or liberal philosophies of law and of judicial interpretation. Each justice has one vote, and while many cases are decided unanimously, the Court meets in the United States Supreme Court Building in Washington, D. C. The Supreme Court is sometimes referred to as SCOTUS, in analogy to other acronyms such as POTUS. The ratification of the United States Constitution established the Supreme Court in 1789 and its powers are detailed in Article Three of the Constitution. The Supreme Court is the court specifically established by the Constitution. The Court first convened on February 2,1790, by which five of its six initial positions had been filled. According to historian Fergus Bordewich, in its first session, he Supreme Court convened for the first time at the Royal Exchange Building on Broad Street and they had no cases to consider. After a week of inactivity, they adjourned until September, the sixth member was not confirmed until May 12,1790. Because the full Court had only six members, every decision that it made by a majority was made by two-thirds. However, Congress has always allowed less than the Courts full membership to make decisions, under Chief Justices Jay, Rutledge, and Ellsworth, the Court heard few cases, its first decision was West v. Barnes, a case involving a procedural issue. The Courts power and prestige grew substantially during the Marshall Court, the Marshall Court also ended the practice of each justice issuing his opinion seriatim, a remnant of British tradition, and instead issuing a single majority opinion. Also during Marshalls tenure, although beyond the Courts control, the impeachment, the Taney Court made several important rulings, such as Sheldon v. Nevertheless, it is primarily remembered for its ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford, which helped precipitate the Civil War. In the Reconstruction era, the Chase, Waite, and Fuller Courts interpreted the new Civil War amendments to the Constitution, during World War II, the Court continued to favor government power, upholding the internment of Japanese citizens and the mandatory pledge of allegiance. Nevertheless, Gobitis was soon repudiated, and the Steel Seizure Case restricted the pro-government trend, the Warren Court dramatically expanded the force of Constitutional civil liberties. It held that segregation in public schools violates equal protection and that traditional legislative district boundaries violated the right to vote
10.
Harry Blackmun
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Harry Andrew Blackmun was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1970 until 1994. Appointed by Republican President Richard Nixon, Blackmun ultimately became one of the most liberal justices on the Court and he is best known as the author of the Courts opinion in Roe v. Wade. Harry Blackmun was born in Nashville, Illinois, the son of Theo Huegely and he grew up in Daytons Bluff, a working-class neighborhood in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He attended the grade school as future Chief Justice Warren E. Burger. He attended Harvard College on scholarship, earning an A. B. summa cum laude in mathematics, while at Harvard, Blackmun joined Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity and sang with the Harvard Glee Club. He attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 1932 and he served in a variety of positions including private counsel, law clerk, and adjunct faculty at the University of Minnesota Law School and William Mitchell College of Law. Blackmuns practice as an attorney at the law now known as Dorsey & Whitney focused in its early years on taxation, trusts and estates. He married Dorothy Clark in 1941 and had three daughters with her, Nancy, Sally, and Susan, between 1950 and 1959, Blackmun served as resident counsel for the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He would later describe his time at Mayo as his happiest time, in the late 1950s, Blackmuns close friend Warren E. Burger, then an appellate judge on the D. C. Circuit, repeatedly encouraged Blackmun to seek a judgeship, Sanborn, Jr. of the Eighth Circuit, whom Blackmun had clerked for after graduating from Harvard, told Blackmun of his plans to assume senior status. He said that he would suggest Blackmuns name to the Eisenhower administration if Blackmun wished to succeed him, after much urging by Sanborn and Burger, Blackmun agreed to accept the nomination, duly offered by Eisenhower and members of the Justice Department. Over the next decade, Blackmun would author 217 opinions for the Eighth Circuit, Blackmun was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Richard M. Nixon on April 14,1970, and was confirmed by the Senate on May 12,1970, by a 94–0 vote. He received his commission on May 14,1970, Blackmun was Nixons third choice to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Abe Fortas on May 14,1969. His confirmation followed contentious battles over two previous, failed nominations forwarded by Nixon in 1969–1970, those of Clement Haynsworth and G. Harrold Carswell, Nixons original choice, Lewis F. Powell, Jr. turned him down but later joined the Court in 1972. Blackmun, a lifelong Republican, was expected to adhere to an interpretation of the Constitution. The Courts Chief Justice at the time, Warren Burger, a friend of Blackmuns. The two were referred to as the Minnesota Twins because of their common history in Minnesota. Indeed, Blackmun voted with Burger in 87.5 percent of the divided cases during his first five terms, and with William J. Brennan
11.
Harold Hongju Koh
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Harold Hongju Koh is an American lawyer and legal scholar. He served as the Legal Adviser of the Department of State and he was nominated to this position by President Barack Obama on March 23,2009, and confirmed by the Senate on June 25,2009. He departed as the State Departments legal adviser in January 2013, Koh was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His parents grew up in Korea under Japanese rule in an area later became part of North Korea. He has described his family thus, They grew up under Japanese colonial rule, when their country was divided after World War II, my mother and her family were trapped in North Korea. In desperation, they hiked for days to the border to be picked up and were back to Seoul. But even there, they lived under dictatorship, for less than a year in the 1960s, Korea enjoyed democracy. My father joined the diplomatic corps, but one day, tanks rolled and a coup detat toppled the government, leaving us to grow up in America. After the coup, Kohs father, legal scholar and diplomat Kwang Lim Koh, was granted asylum in the United States and he moved to New Haven, Connecticut, with his family and took a teaching position at Yale. His wife, Hesung Chun Koh, had a Ph. D. in sociology, Harold was struck by polio at age six, he went through two operations, leg braces, and endless rehabilitation and as a result still walks with a limp. Another sibling, Jean Koh Peters, also teaches at Yale Law School, Kohs wife, Mary-Christy Fisher, is an attorney employed by the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center, they have two children. He graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1980, Koh clerked for Associate Justice Harry Blackmun on the U. S. Supreme Court from October 1981 through September 1982. In 1982 and 1983, he worked as an associate at Covington & Burling, from 1983-85, Koh worked as an attorney-adviser to the Office of Legal Counsel in the United States Department of Justice during the Reagan Administration. He joined the Yale Law School faculty in 1985, since 1993 he has been the Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law, he became the law schools 15th dean in 2004. From 1985-91, Koh largely devoted himself to writing and teaching, a notable paper Koh wrote was a November 1990 legal brief challenging the first president Bushs contention that he could fight the Gulf War on his own authority. Koh argued that the Constitution requires the president to consult with Congress, in 1992–93, he led a group of Yale students and human rights lawyers in litigation against the United States government to free Haitian refugees interned at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. As chronicled in Brandt Goldsteins book, Storming the Court, Koh and the plaintiffs prevailed in the case, Haitian Centers Council v. Sale, and the Haitians were released in the spring of 1993. At the same time, Koh and his team of law students argued a related case Sale v. Haitian Centers Council before the U. S. Supreme Court and he has also written over 175 law review articles and legal editorials
12.
NAACP
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Du Bois, Mary White Ovington and Moorfield Storey. Its mission in the 21st century is to ensure the political, educational, social and their national initiatives included political lobbying, publicity efforts, and litigation strategies developed by their legal team. The group enlarged its mission in the late 20th century by considering issues such as police misconduct, the status of foreign refugees. Its name, retained in accordance with tradition, uses the common term colored people. The NAACP bestows annual awards to people of color in two categories, Image Awards are for achievement in the arts and entertainment, and Spingarn Medals are for outstanding achievement of any kind and its headquarters is in Baltimore, Maryland. The NAACP is headquartered in Baltimore, with regional offices in New York, Michigan, Georgia, Maryland, Texas, Colorado. Each regional office is responsible for coordinating the efforts of state conferences in that region, local, youth, and college chapters organize activities for individual members. In the U. S. the NAACP is administered by a 64-member board, julian Bond, Civil Rights Movement activist and former Georgia State Senator, was chairman until replaced in February 2010 by health-care administrator Roslyn Brock. For decades in the first half of the 20th century, the organization was led by its executive secretary. James Weldon Johnson and Walter F. White, who served in that role successively from 1920 to 1958, were more widely known as NAACP leaders than were presidents during those years. Departments within the NAACP govern areas of action, local chapters are supported by the Branch and Field Services department and the Youth and College department. The Legal department focuses on cases of broad application to minorities, such as systematic discrimination in employment, government. The Washington, D. C. bureau is responsible for lobbying the U. S. government, the goal of the Health Division is to advance health care for minorities through public policy initiatives and education. As of 2007, the NAACP had approximately 425,000 paying and non-paying members, the NAACPs non-current records are housed at the Library of Congress, which has served as the organizations official repository since 1964. The records held there comprise approximately five million items spanning the NAACPs history from the time of its founding until 2003, in 1905, a group of thirty-two prominent African-American leaders met to discuss the challenges facing people of color and possible strategies and solutions. They were particularly concerned by the Southern states disenfranchisement of blacks starting with Mississippis passage of a new constitution in 1890, through 1908, southern legislatures dominated by white Democrats ratified new constitutions and laws creating barriers to voter registration and more complex election rules. In practice, this caused the exclusion of most blacks and many whites from the political system in southern states. Black voter registration and turnout dropped markedly in the South as a result of such legislation, men who had been voting for thirty years in the South were told they did not qualify to register
13.
University of Virginia
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The University of Virginia, frequently referred to simply as Virginia, is a public research university and the flagship for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Declaration of Independence author Thomas Jefferson, UVA is known for its foundations, student-run honor code. UNESCO designated UVA as Americas first and only collegiate World Heritage Site in 1987, the university was established in 1819, and its original governing Board of Visitors included Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe. Monroe was the sitting President of the United States at the time of its foundation, former Presidents Jefferson and Madison were UVAs first two rectors and the Academical Village and Jefferson conceived and designed the original courses of study. The universitys research endeavors are highly recognized, in 2015, Science honored UVA faculty for discovering two of its top 10 annual scientific breakthroughs, from the fields of Medicine and Psychology. UVA is one of 62 institutions in the Association of American Universities and it is the only AAU member university in Virginia. UVA is classified as a Research University with Very High Research by the Carnegie Foundation, the university was the first non-founding member, and the first university of the American South, to attain AAU membership in 1904. UVAs academic strength is broad, with 121 majors across the eight undergraduate, students compete in 26 collegiate sports and UVA leads the Atlantic Coast Conference in mens NCAA team national championships with 17. UVA is second in womens NCAA titles with 7, UVA was awarded the Capital One Cup in 2015 after fielding the top overall mens athletics programs in the nation. Students come to attend the university in Charlottesville from all 50 states and 147 countries, the historic 1, 682-acre campus is internationally protected by UNESCO and considered one of the most beautiful collegiate grounds in the country. UVA additionally maintains 2,913 acres southeast of the city, the university also manages the College at Wise in Southwest Virginia, and until 1972 operated George Mason University and the University of Mary Washington in Northern Virginia. In 1817, three Presidents and Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court John Marshall joined 24 other dignitaries at a meeting held in the Mountain Top Tavern at Rockfish Gap, after some deliberation, they selected nearby Charlottesville as the site of the new University of Virginia. Farmland just outside Charlottesville was purchased from James Monroe by the Board of Visitors as Central College, the school laid its first buildings cornerstone late in that same year, and the Commonwealth of Virginia chartered the new university on January 25,1819. John Hartwell Cocke collaborated with James Madison, Monroe, and Joseph Carrington Cabell to fulfill Jeffersons dream to establish the university, Cocke and Jefferson were appointed to the building committee to supervise the construction. The universitys first classes met on March 7,1825, another innovation of the new university was that higher education would be separated from religious doctrine. Jefferson opined to philosopher Thomas Cooper that a professorship of theology should have no place in our institution, Jefferson was intimately involved in the university to the end, hosting Sunday dinners at his Monticello home for faculty and students until his death. Thus, he eschewed mention of his accomplishments, such as the Louisiana Purchase. This was a source of frustration for Jefferson, who assembled the students during the schools first year, on October 3,1825, to such behavior
14.
University of Virginia School of Law
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The University of Virginia School of Law was founded in Charlottesville in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as one of the original subjects taught at his academical village, the University of Virginia. Virginia Law is the fourth-oldest active law school in the United States, the law school offers the J. D. LL. M. and S. J. D. degrees in law and hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers. Virginia Law is perennially regarded as one of the 10 most prestigious law schools in the United States. U. S. News & World Report currently ranks Virginia Law as tied for eighth in the nation with Michigan, in 2018, in the 2010 Super Lawyers Law School Rankings, Virginia Law ranks fourth in the nation. In the 2015 Above the Law rankings, Virginia Law ranked sixth in the nation, a 2013 Above the Law report also notes that Virginia is second in the number of graduates leading the nations top 100 firms. A study published in the Journal of Legal Education ranked Virginia Law fourth in the number of partners in the National Law Journals top 100 firms, Virginia Law also places high in clerkships, recently ranking behind only Harvard Law School and Yale Law School. The 2016 QS World University Rankings for law school, places Virginia Law in the range of 51–100 worldwide, Virginia Law recently completed an eight-year capital campaign, raising $173.9 million to enhance the student experience. The Judge Advocate Generals Legal Center and School operated by the United States Army is located next to UVA, Virginia Law is among the most selective law schools in the nation. For the class entering in the fall of 2016,297 out of 4,811 J. D. applicants matriculated, the 25th and 75th LSAT percentiles for the 2016 entering class were 164 and 170, respectively, with a median of 169. The 25th and 75th undergraduate GPA percentiles were 3.48 and 3.94, respectively, the Class of 2019 come from 39 states, the District of Columbia, and 138 undergraduate institutions. The age range was 20 to 37, 55% of the class was male, 45% female, and 24% identified themselves as people of color. 59% of the class had work experience after college, the total cost of attendance for first-year law students at Virginia Law for the 2016-2017 academic year is $78,002 for Virginia residents and $81,002 for nonresidents. The Law School maintains a roster of student organizations, including chapters of the Federalist Society, the American Constitution Society. The Virginia Law Weekly, the Law Schools student-run weekly newspaper, has published since 1948. The paper has been cited in court cases including the U. S. Supreme Court case Patterson v. New York. In addition to its news content, the VLW also contains student-submitted content which often includes humorous, the Law Weekly has won the American Bar Associations previous three Best Newspaper Awards, in 2006,2007, and 2008. Each spring over a hundred students write, direct and perform in The Libel Show and its performers roast Law School professors, student stereotypes and life in Charlottesville throughout each of its three nightly showings. Professors write and sing their response to the jokes at the penultimate performance
15.
Public interest law
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Public interest law loosely, refers to legal practices undertaken to help poor or marginalized people, or to effect change in social policies in the public interest, on not for profit terms. In general terms it means a legal action initiated in the court of law for the protection of Public Interest and it is not a body of law or a legal field, matters lawyers work on. Rather, it denotes the clientele they represent, instead of serving powerful economic interests, it stands for the advocacy of otherwise under-represented or vulnerable individuals, especially those living in poverty. It has grown to encompass a range of activities, typically the field of non-lawyers like civil rights, civil liberties, womens rights, consumer rights, environmental protection. Nevertheless, a common ethic for public-interest lawyers in a number of countries remains “fighting for the little guy”. At the end of the communist period in the early 1990s, over time, in the mid-1990s, U. S. experiences became more relevant. With this background in mind, it made sense for the promoters of public interest law in Central. Using the instrumentality of the European Court of Human Rights effectively required a strategic approach, not all human rights cases were likely to receive a favorable ruling, a negative ruling could produce more damage to the human rights cause than no ruling at all. The core lesson from the U. S. experience for local activists was how courts could be used effectively as a tool for civil society engagement in governance. Public interest lawOI is a term in China, where the basic institutions supporting the rule of law are still extremely nascent. China does not have a system in which lawyers are expected to play a key role in “making law. For example, public interest lawyers in China have filed lawsuits in court successfully challenging workplace sexual harassment, currently, China’s Civil Procedure Law is undergoing revision. One of the amendments would create a form of associational standing. In Hong Kong public interest law is an emerging field, the chief vehicle for pursuing public interest claims is judicial review. This is the process by which decisions of the government are challenged in the courts, there has been a surge in judicial review cases since 2000. Environmental issues and minority rights are among the most litigated areas, one of the pioneers in public interest law in Hong Kong was Pamela Baker. In the late 1980s she litigated a series of landmark courtroom cases challenging the government’s treatment of Vietnamese refugees, in 1995 the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor was established with the aim of promoting better human rights protection in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, the Legal Aid Department provides funding to services for those who pass the means
16.
Legal clinic
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A legal clinic is a law school program providing hands-on-legal experience to law school students and services to various clients. Clinics are usually directed by clinical professors, legal clinics typically do pro bono work in a particular area, providing free legal services to clients. Students typically provide assistance with research, drafting legal arguments, in many cases, one of the clinics professors will show up for oral argument before the Court. However, many jurisdictions have student practice rules that allow students to appear
17.
PBS NewsHour
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As the nations first hour-long nightly news broadcast, the program is known for its in-depth coverage of issues and current events. Throughout their tenure, Ifill and Woodruff were the first and only all-female anchor team of a nightly news program on broadcast television. The PBS NewsHour originates from WETAs studios in Arlington County, Virginia with additional facilities in San Francisco and it is a collaboration between WNET, WETA-TV, and fellow PBS member television stations KQED in San Francisco, KETC in St. Louis and WTTW in Chicago. The NewsHour Weekend is produced at the Tisch WNET studios on Lincoln Center, in 1973, Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer teamed up to cover the United States Senate Watergate hearings for PBS. The two earned an Emmy Award for their unprecedented gavel-to-gavel coverage, less than 1½ months later on December 1,1975, the program was renamed The MacNeil/Lehrer Report and began to air on PBS stations nationwide. Most editions employed a two-anchor, two-city format, with MacNeil based in New York City, Liberty Media bought a 67% controlling equity stake in MacNeil/Lehrer Productions in 1994, but MacNeil and Lehrer retained editorial control. Robert MacNeil retired from the program on October 20,1995, accordingly, the program was renamed The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer three days later on October 23. The NewsHour won a Peabody Award in 2003 for the feature report Jobless Recovery, on May 17,2006, the program underwent its first major change in presentation in years, adopting a new graphics package and a reorchestrated version of the shows theme music. The program also introduced a new set and upconverted its existing graphics package to HD, on May 11,2009, PBS announced that the program would be revamped on December 7 of that year under a revised title as the PBS NewsHour. The overhaul was described by Jim Lehrer as the first phase in his move toward retirement. Lehrer formally ended his tenure as an anchor of the program in June 2011. He continued to anchor on Fridays afterward, when he usually leads the political analysis segment with Mark Shields. On August 6,2013, Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff were named as co-anchors, the two shared anchor duties on the Monday through Thursday editions, with Woodruff solo anchoring on Fridays due to Ifills duties as host of the political discussion program Washington Week. Plans for an edition of PBS NewsHour had been considered as early as March 2013. MacNeil/Lehrer Productions announced in a letter to the shows staffers on October 8,2013, the transfer was approved by the WETA board of trustees on June 17,2014, and took effect on July 1. At that time, production of the program was taken over by NewsHour Productions, LLC, WETA also acquired MacNeil/Lehrer Productions archives, documentaries, and projects, though not the companys name. PBS NewsHour Weekend was not affected by the transfer and continues to be produced by WNET. The program is notable for being shown on public television, as such, there are no interruptions during the program to run advertisements
18.
United States presidential election, 2000
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The United States presidential election of 2000 was the 54th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 7,2000, Bush was seen as the early favorite for the Republican nomination and, despite a contentious primary battle with Senator John McCain and other candidates, secured the nomination by Super Tuesday. Bush chose former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney as his running mate, both major party candidates focused primarily on domestic issues, such as the budget, tax relief, and reforms for federal social insurance programs, although foreign policy was not ignored. Clinton and Gore often did not campaign together, a deliberate decision resulting from the Lewinsky sex scandal two years prior. This was the closest presidential election in the history, with a. 009% margin,537 votes. The narrow margin there triggered a mandatory machine recount the next day, after which Gore requested recounts in four counties, including populous South Florida, litigation ensued in numerous counties in both state and federal courts, ultimately reaching the Florida Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court. Nationwide, this was the presidential election in which the winner received fewer votes than his opponent. After the election, recounts conducted by news media organizations continued a primary focus on ballots that machines read as not showing a vote. Based on the review of these ballots, their results indicated that Bush would have won if certain recounting methods had been used, but that Gore might have won under other standards and scenarios. The Green Party gained widespread attention during the 2000 presidential election when the ticket composed of Ralph Nader. Nader was vilified by some Democrats, who accused him of spoiling the election for Al Gore, Naders impact on the 2000 election has remained controversial. Until 2016, this was the last time a Republican candidate won a vote in the region of New England. As of 2017, this was the last election where a Republican candidate won New Hampshire, traditionally, the primary elections are indirect elections where voters cast ballots for a slate of party delegates pledged to a particular candidate. The partys delegates then officially nominate a candidate to run on the partys behalf, President Bill Clinton, a Democrat and former Governor of Arkansas, was ineligible to seek reelection to a third term due to restrictions of the Twenty-second Amendment. In accordance with Section I of the Twentieth Amendment, his term expired at 12,00 noon EST on January 20,2001, Democratic candidates Al Gore, Vice President of the United States Bill Bradley, former U. S. Senator from New Jersey Al Gore from Tennessee was a consistent front-runner for the nomination, of these, only Wellstone formed an exploratory committee. Running an insurgency campaign, Bradley positioned himself as the alternative to Gore, the closest Bradley came to a victory was his 50–46 loss to Gore in the New Hampshire primary. On March 14, Al Gore clinched the Democratic nomination, none of Bradleys delegates were allowed to vote for him, so Gore won the nomination unanimously at the Democratic National Convention
19.
Richard Pildes
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Richard H. Pildes is a law professor at the New York University School of Law and a leading expert on election law. He is one of the leading scholars of public law. He clerked for Judge Abner J. Mikva of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and for Justice Thurgood Marshall of the U. S. Supreme Court, after which he practiced law in Boston. He began his career at the University of Michigan Law School, where he was assistant and then full professor of law from 1988 until 1999. He has been a professor at the University of Chicago Law School, Harvard Law School. In the area of democracy, Pildes, along with the co-authors of his widely used casebook and his work in these areas has been frequently cited in United States Supreme Court opinions. Pildes gives frequent public lectures and appearances, and was part of the ABC News team that was nominated for an Emmy Award for its coverage of the 2000 Presidential election litigation. During the 2000 Presidential election controversy, he had an exclusive contract with NBC and appeared frequently on NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, MSNBC. He is also a public intellectual and public-law litigator. He has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, The American Prospect and he was assisted with one of his casebooks by then-University of Chicago Law School lecturer Barack Obama. The Law of Democracy, Legal Structure of the Political Process with Pamela S. Karlan, when Elections Go Bad, The Law of Democracy and the Presidential Election of 2000 with Pamela S. Karlan, Samuel Issacharoff. The Future of the Voting Rights Act with David Epstein, Rodolfo de la Garza, the Supreme Court,2003 Term- Foreword, The Constitutionalization of Democratic Politics. Democrats and Technocrats, with Cass Sunstein, competitive, Deliberative, and Rights-Oriented Democracy,3 Election Law Journal 685
20.
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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Dædalus, the Academys quarterly journal, is widely regarded as one of the worlds leading intellectual journals. The Academy is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Academy was established by the Massachusetts legislature on May 4th,1780. Its purpose, as described in its charter, is to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people. The sixty-two incorporating fellows represented varying interests and high standing in the political, professional, the first class of new members, chosen by the Academy in 1781, included Benjamin Franklin and George Washington as well as several foreign honorary members. The initial volume of Academy Memoirs appeared in 1785, and the Proceedings followed in 1846, in the 1950s the Academy launched its journal Daedalus, reflecting its commitment to a broader intellectual and socially-oriented program. The Academy has sponsored a number of awards throughout its history and its first award, established in 1796 by Benjamin Thompson, honored distinguished work on heat and light and provided support for research activities. Additional prizes recognized important contributions in the sciences, social sciences, since the second half of the twentieth century, policy research has become a central focus of the Academy. In the late 1950s, arms control emerged as a concern of the Academy. The Academy also served as the catalyst in establishing the National Humanities Center in North Carolina, in 2002, the Academy established a visiting scholars program in association with Harvard University. More than 60 academic institutions from across the country have become Affiliates of the Academy to support this program, robert Oppenheimer, Willa Cather, T. S. Eliot, Edward R. Murrow, Jonas Salk, Eudora Welty, and Duke Ellington. Astronomer Maria Mitchell was the first woman to be elected to the Academy, the current membership encompasses over 4,900 Fellows and 600 Foreign Honorary Members on the roster, including more than 250 Nobel laureates and more than 60 Pulitzer Prize winners. The current membership is divided into five classes and twenty-four sections, Class I – Mathematical and Physical Sciences Section 1. Applied Mathematics and Statistics Section 2, astronomy and Earth Science Section 5. Engineering Sciences and Technologies Section 6, computer Sciences Class II – Biological Sciences Section 1. Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology Section 2, cellular and Developmental Biology, Microbiology and Immunology Section 3. Neurosciences, Cognitive Sciences, and Behavioral Biology Section 4, evolutionary and Population Biology and Ecology Section 5. Medical Sciences, Clinical Medicine, and Public Health Class III – Social Sciences Section 1, Social and Developmental Psychology and Education Section 2. Political Science, International Relations, and Public Policy Section 4, archaeology, Anthropology, Sociology, Geography and Demography Class IV – Arts and Humanities Section 1
21.
American Law Institute
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The American Law Institute was established in 1923 to promote the clarification and simplification of United States common law and its adaptation to changing social needs. Members of ALI include law professors, attorneys, judges and other professionals in the legal industry, ALI writes documents known as treatises, which are summaries of state common law Many courts and legislatures look to ALIs treatises as authoritative reference material concerning many legal issues. The ALI drafts, approves, and publishes Restatements of the Law, Principles of the Law, model codes, the ALI is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At any time, ALI is engaged in up to 20 projects examining the law, some current projects have been watched closely by the media, particularly the revision of the Model Penal Code Sexual Assault provisions. The Committee recommended that a society be formed to improve the law. The organization was incorporated on February 23,1923, at a meeting called by the Committee in the auditorium of Memorial Continental Hall in Washington, D. C. The total membership of more than 4,200 includes ex members and life members who. New members must be proposed by a member, who writes a letter of recommendation. The Institute is governed by its Council, a board of directors that oversees the management of ALIs business. Having no fewer than 42 and no more than 65 members, the Council consists of lawyers, judges, and academics, lance Liebman Richard Revesz Restatements are essentially codifications of case law, common law judge-made doctrines that develop gradually over time because of the principle of stare decisis. They are meant to reflect the consensus of the American legal community as to what the law is, all told, the Restatement of the Law is one of the most respected and well-used sources of secondary authority, covering nearly every area of common law. Although Restatements aspire toward the precision of language, they are also intended to reflect the flexibility and capacity for development. That is why they are phrased in the terms of a judge announcing the law to be applied in a given case rather than in the mandatory terms of a statute. Beginning with the Principles of Corporate Governance, the American Law Institute has more recently undertaken intensive studies of areas of law thought to need reform and this type of analysis typically results in a publication that recommends changes in the law. Work in the Principles of the Law series continues with projects covering Corporate Compliance, Data Privacy, Election Law, another important area of the Institutes work is model statutory codification. ALI code projects have included model acts dealing with air flight, criminal procedure, evidence, federal law, land development, pre-arraignment procedure. Some of these projects were jointly with the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. The chief joint ALI-NCCUSL project is the Uniform Commercial Code, which the Institute has been developing and revising with the National Conference since the 1940s
22.
California State Controller
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The State Controller of California is the Chief Financial Officer of the State of California in the United States. The post has broader responsibilities and authority than the California State Treasurer, responsibilities include investigative authority for every dollar spent by the state, and being an ex-officio member of the states Board of Equalization. The State Controller is elected to a term but is limited to two terms. The current state controller is Betty Yee, as the state’s chief fiscal officer, acts as the state’s accountant and bookkeeper of all public funds. Administers the state system and unclaimed property laws. Serves on 76 boards and commissions, including the Board of Equalization, Franchise Tax Board, CalPERS, conducts audits and reviews of state operations. The office performs a multitude of financial audits, compliance audits and it is considered one of the premiere audit agencies of the State of California. Noted former Deputy State Controllers include Barrett McInerney, James Burton, and Laurette Healey
23.
Steve Westly
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Steven Paul Steve Westly is an American venture capitalist and politician. He was the State Controller and Chief Financial Officer of California from 2003 to 2007 and was one of the top candidates in the Democratic primary for Governor of California in the 2006 election. He was defeated in the Democratic primary by California State Treasurer Phil Angelides, during the 2008 Presidential Election, Westly served as California Campaign Co-chair for Obama for America and also as a member of Obama for Americas National Finance Committee. Westly was briefly considered for a position in the Obama administration. Currently, Westly is a Managing Partner at The Westly Group, Westly has been rumored to run for Governor of California in 2018. Westly was born in Arcadia, California, raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Westly received an A. B. in history from Stanford University in 1978, where he served as student body co-president. He received an M. B. A. in Public Management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1983 and he married Anita Yu, an immigrant from Hong Kong, in 1997. They have a daughter, Christina, born in 2000, and his brother, Dean Westly, practices law in the Silicon Valley region of Northern California where he advises high tech companies. A member of the Democratic Party, Westly worked for Congressman Leo Ryan in 1978 as his first job out of college, after working in the Carter Administration, he joined the California Public Utilities Commission as Assistant to the President. In 1983, Westly became the New Business Manager at Sprint Telecommunications, in 1986, he became an investment banker at Valentine and Company in San Francisco. In 1988, Westly became President of Codd & Date, a relational database consulting & services firm. In 1994, he became the Director of Netcom, one of the early internet service providers and in 1995. In 1997, Westly joined eBay as one of its early executives and he began as Vice President and subsequently gained the title of Senior Vice President for Marketing, Business Development, and International. He retired from eBay in 2000 when he and his wife, Anita Yu, established the Steve, in March 2007, Westly joined the board of Tesla Motors, a pioneering northern California manufacturer of electric sports cars. As a board director Westly referred Chahal to Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown to ensure that he received legal counsel, Mr. Brown served briefly as Mr. Chahal’s counsel and then resigned. From The Daily Beast, Westly is a former California State Controller who had made a run for governor in 2006. He was pals with Willie Brown, a mayor of San Francisco. Westly, the Journal reported, emailed Chahal that Brown “believes he can help you. ”Westly told Chahal that Brown was friendly with San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon and “may be able to him off. ’” At Westly’s suggestion
24.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
25.
Lobbying in the United States
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It is a highly controversial phenomenon, often seen in a negative light by journalists and the American public. Since lobbying rules require extensive disclosure, there is an amount of information in the public sphere about which entities lobby, how, at whom. The current pattern suggests much lobbying is done primarily by corporations, Lobbying takes place at every level of government, including federal, state, county, municipal, and even local governments. In Washington, D. C. lobbying usually targets members of Congress, analyst James A. Thurber estimated that the actual number of working lobbyists was close to 100,000 and that the industry brings in $9 billion annually. Lobbying has been the subject of inquiry in various fields, including law, public policy. Political scientist Thomas R. Dye once said that politics is about battling over scarce resources, who gets them, where. Modern-day lobbyists in one sense are like the courtiers of the Ancien Régime, if voting is a general way for a public to control a government, lobbying is a more specific, targeted effort, focused on a narrower set of issues. The term lobby has etymological roots in the structure of the British Parliament. The term lobbying in everyday parlance can describe a variety of activities. In this sense, anybody who tries to influence any political position can be thought of as lobbying, a person who writes a letter to a congressperson, or even questions a candidate at a political meeting, could be construed as being a lobbyist. This is the sense of the term lobbying. One account suggested that much of the activity of nonprofits was not lobbying per se, a lobbyist, according to the legal sense of the word, is a professional, often a lawyer. One definition of a lobbyist is someone employed to persuade legislators to pass legislation that will help the lobbyists employer, many lobbyists work in lobbying firms or law firms, some of which retain clients outside lobbying. Others work for groups, trade associations, companies, and state. Lobbyists can be one type of government official, such as a governor of a state, a large fraction of overall lobbying is focused on only a few sets of issues, according to one report. Many executive branch agencies have the power to write specific rules and are a target of lobbying. S. aid to Egypt. Since the Supreme Court has the power of review and can render a congressional law unconstitutional. For example, in the Roe v. Wade decision, it ruled on the legality of abortion, a variety of forces use lobbying tactics to pressure the court to overturn this decision
26.
Conflict of interest
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The presence of a conflict of interest is independent of the occurrence of impropriety. Therefore, a conflict of interest can be discovered and voluntarily defused before any corruption occurs. Primary interest refers to the goals of the profession or activity, such as the protection of clients, the health of patients, the integrity of research. These secondary interests are not treated as wrong in and of themselves, applicable statutes or canons of ethics may provide standards for recusal in a given proceeding or matter. Providing that the judge or presiding officer must be free from disabling conflicts of interest makes the fairness of the less likely to be questioned. In the legal profession, the duty of loyalty owed to a client prohibits an attorney from representing any other party with interests adverse to those of a current client. The few exceptions to this rule require informed consent from all affected clients. In some circumstances, a conflict of interest can never be waived by a client, in perhaps the most common example encountered by the general public, the same firm should not represent both parties in a divorce or child custody matter. Found conflict can lead to denial or disgorgement of legal fees, or in some cases, depending upon the law or rules related to a particular organization, the existence of a conflict of interest may not, in and of itself, be evidence of wrongdoing. In fact, for professionals, it is virtually impossible to avoid having conflicts of interest from time to time. A conflict of interest can, however, become a matter, for example. A director or executive of a corporation will be subject to legal liability if a conflict of interest breaches his/her duty of loyalty, there often is confusion over these two situations. Someone accused of a conflict of interest may deny that a conflict exists because he/she did not act improperly, in fact, a conflict of interest can exist even if there are no improper acts as a result of it. Such competing interests can make it difficult to fulfill his or her duties impartially, a conflict of interest exists even if no unethical or improper act results. A conflict of interest can create an appearance of impropriety that can undermine confidence in the internal auditor, the audit activity. A conflict of interest could impair an individuals ability to perform his or her duties and responsibilities objectively, an organizational conflict of interest may exist in the same way as described above, for instance where a corporation provides two types of service to the government and these services conflict. Corporations may develop simple or complex systems to mitigate the risk or perceived risk of a conflict of interest, the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on medical research has been a major cause for concern. In 2009 a study found that a number of academic institutions do not have clear guidelines for relationships between Institutional Review Boards and industry, the official is on both sides of the deal
27.
Presidency of Barack Obama
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The presidency of Barack Obama began at noon EST on January 20,2009, when Barack Obama was inaugurated as President of the United States, and ended on January 20,2017. Obama, a Democrat, took office as the 44th United States president following a victory over Republican John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. Four years later, in the 2012 election, he defeated Mitt Romney to win re-election and he was the first African American president, the first multiracial president, the first non-white president, and the first president to have been born in Hawaii. Obama was succeeded by Republican Donald Trump, who won the 2016 presidential election, Obama also appointed Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, the latter of whom became the first Hispanic American on the Supreme Court. Democrats controlled both houses of Congress until Republicans won a majority in the House of Representatives in the 2010 elections, following the elections, Obama and Congressional Republicans engaged in a protracted stand-off over government spending levels and the debt ceiling. In his second term, Obama took steps to combat climate change, signing an international climate agreement. Obama also presided over the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and other legislation passed in his first term, the number of American soldiers in Afghanistan fell dramatically during Obamas second term, though U. S. soldiers remained in Afghanistan throughout Obamas presidency. The presidential transition period began following Obamas election to the presidency in November 2008, John Podesta, Valerie Jarrett, and Pete Rouse co-chaired the Obama-Biden Transition Project. During the transition period, Obama announced nominations for his Cabinet, in November 2008, Congressman Rahm Emanuel accepted Obamas offer to serve as White House Chief of Staff. Obama was inaugurated on January 20,2009, succeeding George W. Bush, Obama officially assumed the presidency at 12,00 pm, EST, and completed the oath of office at 12,05 pm, EST. He delivered his inaugural address immediately following his oath, following his inauguration, Obama and the Senate worked to confirm his nominees to the United States Cabinet. Obama nominated several former Clinton administration officials to the Cabinet and to other positions, on April 28,2009, the Senate confirmed former Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services, completing Obamas initial Cabinet. In March 2016, Obama nominated Chief Judge Merrick Garland of the D. C. Circuit to fill Scalias seat, garlands nomination remained before the Senate for longer than any other Supreme Court nomination in history, and the nomination expired with the end of the 114th Congress. President Donald Trump is widely expected to appoint a successor to Scalia, Obamas presidency saw the continuation of battles between both parties over the confirmation of judicial nominees. Democrats continually accused Republicans of stalling nominees throughout Obamas tenure, after several nomination battles, Senate Democrats in 2013 reformed the use of the filibuster so that it could no longer be used on executive or judicial nominations. Obamas judicial nominees were significantly more diverse than those of previous administrations, with more appointments going to women, some of the first actions of Obamas presidency focused on reversing measures taken by the Bush administration following the September 11 attacks. Another order, Executive Order 13491, banned torture and other coercive techniques, on January 29, Obama signed a bill for the first time in his presidency, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 revised the statute of limitations for filing pay discrimination lawsuits. On February 3, he signed the Childrens Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, on March 9,2009, Obama lifted restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research
28.
United States Senate
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The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress which, along with the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, composes the legislature of the United States. The composition and powers of the Senate are established by Article One of the United States Constitution. S. From 1789 until 1913, Senators were appointed by the legislatures of the states represented, following the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913. The Senate chamber is located in the wing of the Capitol, in Washington. It further has the responsibility of conducting trials of those impeached by the House, in the early 20th century, the practice of majority and minority parties electing their floor leaders began, although they are not constitutional officers. This idea of having one chamber represent people equally, while the other gives equal representation to states regardless of population, was known as the Connecticut Compromise, there was also a desire to have two Houses that could act as an internal check on each other. One was intended to be a Peoples House directly elected by the people, the other was intended to represent the states to such extent as they retained their sovereignty except for the powers expressly delegated to the national government. The Senate was thus not designed to serve the people of the United States equally, the Constitution provides that the approval of both chambers is necessary for the passage of legislation. First convened in 1789, the Senate of the United States was formed on the example of the ancient Roman Senate, the name is derived from the senatus, Latin for council of elders. James Madison made the comment about the Senate, In England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people. An agrarian law would take place. If these observations be just, our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country against innovation, landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests, and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority, the senate, therefore, ought to be this body, and to answer these purposes, the people ought to have permanency and stability. The Constitution stipulates that no constitutional amendment may be created to deprive a state of its equal suffrage in the Senate without that states consent, the District of Columbia and all other territories are not entitled to representation in either House of the Congress. The District of Columbia elects two senators, but they are officials of the D. C. city government. The United States has had 50 states since 1959, thus the Senate has had 100 senators since 1959. In 1787, Virginia had roughly ten times the population of Rhode Island, whereas today California has roughly 70 times the population of Wyoming and this means some citizens are effectively two orders of magnitude better represented in the Senate than those in other states. Seats in the House of Representatives are approximately proportionate to the population of each state, before the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, Senators were elected by the individual state legislatures
29.
United States v. Windsor
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Later in 2008, New York recognized their marriage following a court decision. Spyer died in 2009, leaving her estate to Windsor. Windsor sought to claim the estate tax exemption for surviving spouses. She was barred from doing so by Section 3 of DOMA, the Internal Revenue Service found that the exemption did not apply to same-sex marriages, denied Windsors claim, and compelled her to pay $363,053 in estate taxes. On November 9,2010, Windsor filed a lawsuit against the government in the U. S. On February 23,2011, U. S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Department of Justice would not defend the constitutionality of Section 3 in Windsor. On April 18,2011, Paul Clement, representing the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in a 2–1 decision, affirmed the district courts judgment on October 18,2012. BLAG petitioned the U. S. Supreme Court to review the decision, on March 27,2013, the court heard oral arguments. On June 26,2013, the U. S. Supreme Court issued a 5–4 decision declaring Section 3 of DOMA to be unconstitutional as a deprivation of the liberty of the person protected by the Fifth Amendment. On the same day, the court issued a separate 5–4 decision in Hollingsworth v. Perry—a case related to Californias constitutional amendment initiative barring same-sex marriage. Edith Edie Windsor was born in Philadelphia on June 20,1929, during her childhood, her father lost both his candy-and-ice-cream store and his house during the Great Depression, and she at times experienced anti-Semitism. After graduating from Temple University, she married Saul Windsor and they divorced less than one year afterward, and she confided in him that she longed to be with women. Edie Windsor soon moved to New York City to pursue a degree in mathematics at New York University. She would eventually become one of the first female senior systems programmers at IBM, thea Clara Spyer was born in Amsterdam on October 8,1931, to a wealthy Jewish family that escaped the Holocaust by fleeing to the United States before the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands. Spyer enrolled at Sarah Lawrence College, but was expelled after a campus guard saw her and another woman kissing. She received a degree from the New School for Social Research. In addition to her psychology practice in Manhattan, Spyer was an accomplished violinist. She met Windsor in 1963 at a West Village restaurant, Spyer proposed to her in 1967 but presented her with a diamond brooch instead of an engagement ring, fearing that Windsor would be stigmatized at work if her colleagues knew about her relationship
30.
David Souter
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David Hackett Souter is a retired Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He served from October 1990 until his retirement in June 2009 and he was the only Justice during his time on the Court with extensive prior court experience outside of a federal appeals court. Following Souters retirement announcement in May 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor as his successor, Souter was born in Melrose, Massachusetts, on September 17,1939, the only child of Joseph Alexander Souter and Helen Adams Souter. At age 11, he moved with his family to their farm in Weare, in 1961, he graduated with an A. B. magna cum laude as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He was selected as a Rhodes Scholar and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Magdalen College, Oxford and he then entered Harvard Law School, graduating in 1966. As Assistant Attorney General he prosecuted criminal cases in the courts, in 1971, Warren Rudman, then the Attorney General of New Hampshire, selected Souter to be the Deputy Attorney General. Souter succeeded Rudman as New Hampshire Attorney General in 1976, in 1978, with the support of his friend Rudman, Souter was named an Associate Justice of the Superior Court of New Hampshire. As a judge on the Superior Court he heard cases in two counties and was noted for his tough sentencing, with four years of trial court experience, Souter was appointed to the New Hampshire Supreme Court as an Associate Justice in 1983. Shortly after George H. W. Bush was sworn in as President, Souter had had seven years of judicial experience at the appellate level, four years at the trial court level, and ten years with the Attorney Generals office. He was confirmed by unanimous consent of the Senate on April 27,1990, President George H. W. Bush originally considered appointing Clarence Thomas to Brennans seat, but decided that Thomas did not have enough experience as a judge. Souter was seen as a justice whose professional record in the state courts provoked little real controversy. Bush nominated Souter on July 25,1990, saying that he did not know Souters stances on abortion, affirmative action, Senate confirmation hearings were held beginning on September 13,1990. The National Organization for Women opposed Souters nomination and held a rally outside of the Senate during his confirmation hearings, the president of NOW, Molly Yard, testified that Souter would end freedom for women in this country. Souter was also opposed by the NAACP, which urged its 500,000 members to write letters to their senators asking them to no on the nomination. And so we had better use every power of our minds and our hearts, despite the opposition, Souter won an easy confirmation compared to those of later appointees. The Senate Judiciary Committee reported out the nomination by a vote of 14–3, the Senate confirmed the nomination by a vote of 90–9, the nine senators voting against Souter included Ted Kennedy and John Kerry from Souters neighboring state of Massachusetts. These senators, along with seven others, painted Souter as a right-winger in the mold of Robert Bork and they based their claim on Souters friendships with many conservative politicians in New Hampshire. Souter opposed having cameras in the Supreme Court during oral arguments because he said questions would be out of context by the media
31.
Politico
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Politico is an American political-journalism company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and internationally. It distributes content through television, the Internet, The Politico newspaper, radio and its coverage in Washington, D. C. includes the U. S. Congress, lobbying, media and the presidency. John F. Harris and Jim VandeHei left The Washington Post to become The Politicos editor-in-chief and executive editor, respectively, frederick J. Ryan Jr. served as its first president and chief executive officer. Robert L. Allbritton is founder and publisher, in 2015, Politico launched a Brussels-based European edition called Politico Europe. The newspaper has a circulation of approximately 40,000, distributed for free in Washington, D. C. the newspaper prints up to five issues a week while Congress is in session and sometimes publishes one issue a week when Congress is in recess. It carries advertising, including ads from trade associations and a large help-wanted section listing Washington political jobs. Politico is a partner with several outlets that co-report and distribute its video, print. Partners include CBS News, Allbritton Communicationss ABC station WJLA and cable channel NewsChannel 8, radio station WTOP-FM, journalists covering political campaigns for Politico carry a video camera to each assignment, and journalists are encouraged to promote their work elsewhere. Though Politico seeks to break the traditional journalism mold, it expects to make much of its money initially from Washington, D. C. –focused newspaper advertising. Among the journalists who have worked for Politico are Mike Allen, John Bresnahan, Carrie Budoff Brown, Alex Burns, Dylan Byers, Josh Gerstein, Andrew Glass, roger Simon became The Politicos Chief Political Columnist in December 2006. In 2010, The Politico added two opinion columnists, Michael Kinsley and Joe Scarborough, in a 2007 opinion piece, progressive watchdog group Media Matters for America accused The Politico of having a Republican tilt. In a letter from editor in chief John F, to that end, he asked his colleagues for an honest assessment of the claims set forth in the letter from Media Matters. Ben Smith answered, Media Matters has a point, … that Bushs public endorsement made us seem too close to the White House. That was clearly a favor from the president to us, and felt to me one of those clubby Beltway moments that make the insiders feel important. The other primary editors disagreed with the accusation for a variety of reasons. A2009 profile of the organization in Vanity Fair said The Politico had a staff of 75. Its newspaper circulation is around 32,000, and as of summer 2009 and this is fewer than the 11 million it had during the high point of the campaign, but most political news outlets have lower traffic outside election years. As of July 2009, it was expected to have revenue of around $15 million, primarily from the printed product
32.
Barack Obama Supreme Court candidates
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President Barack Obama made two successful appointments to the Supreme Court of the United States. The first was Judge Sonia Sotomayor to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice David H. Souter, Sotomayor was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 6,2009, by a vote of 68–31. The second appointment was that of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to replace the retired John Paul Stevens, Kagan was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 5,2010, by a vote of 63–37. During his final year in office, Obama had an opportunity to fill a third Supreme Court vacancy, following the February 13,2016, death of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. On March 16,2016, he nominated Merrick Garland, the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to the Court. However, Republican leaders in the Senate announced that they planned to withhold voting on any potential nominee until a new president was elected, Senate Democrats responded that there was sufficient time to vote on a nominee before the election. Consequently, no action was taken on the nomination, which expired in January 2017, during the 109th Congress, then-Senator Obama voted against both of President George W. Bushs nominees to the Supreme Court. In a speech announcing his opposition to John Roberts, Obama stated, in those 5 percent of hard cases, the constitutional text will not be directly on point. In those difficult cases, the ingredient is supplied by what is in the judges heart. Hes an intelligent man and an accomplished jurist, and theres no indication hes not a man of great character. In a speech on July 17,2007, before the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, he elaborated even more, and one way is a cramped and narrow way in which the Constitution and the courts essentially become the rubber stamps of the powerful in society. And then theres another vision of the court says that the courts are the refuge of the powerless. Because oftentimes they can lose in the back and forth. They may be locked out and prevented from participating in the democratic process. And we need somebody whos got the heart – the empathy – to recognize what its like to be a teenage mom. The empathy to understand what its like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old –, in November 2007, Obama was asked about the kind of justices he would appoint to the Supreme Court. He responded, I taught constitutional law for 10 years, when you look at what makes a great Supreme Court justice, its not just the particular issue and how they rule, but its their conception of the Court. Ometimes were only looking at academics or people whove been in the and he held up Earl Warren, a former governor of California who later became Chief Justice, as an example
33.
The New York Times
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The New York Times is an American daily newspaper, founded and continuously published in New York City since September 18,1851, by The New York Times Company. The New York Times has won 119 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper, the papers print version in 2013 had the second-largest circulation, behind The Wall Street Journal, and the largest circulation among the metropolitan newspapers in the US. The New York Times is ranked 18th in the world by circulation, following industry trends, its weekday circulation had fallen in 2009 to fewer than one million. Nicknamed The Gray Lady, The New York Times has long been regarded within the industry as a newspaper of record. The New York Times international version, formerly the International Herald Tribune, is now called the New York Times International Edition, the papers motto, All the News Thats Fit to Print, appears in the upper left-hand corner of the front page. On Sunday, The New York Times is supplemented by the Sunday Review, The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Magazine and T, some other early investors of the company were Edwin B. Morgan and Edward B. We do not believe that everything in Society is either right or exactly wrong, —what is good we desire to preserve and improve, —what is evil, to exterminate. In 1852, the started a western division, The Times of California that arrived whenever a mail boat got to California. However, when local California newspapers came into prominence, the effort failed, the newspaper shortened its name to The New-York Times in 1857. It dropped the hyphen in the city name in the 1890s, One of the earliest public controversies it was involved with was the Mortara Affair, the subject of twenty editorials it published alone. At Newspaper Row, across from City Hall, Henry Raymond, owner and editor of The New York Times, averted the rioters with Gatling guns, in 1869, Raymond died, and George Jones took over as publisher. Tweed offered The New York Times five million dollars to not publish the story, in the 1880s, The New York Times transitioned gradually from editorially supporting Republican Party candidates to becoming more politically independent and analytical. In 1884, the paper supported Democrat Grover Cleveland in his first presidential campaign, while this move cost The New York Times readership among its more progressive and Republican readers, the paper eventually regained most of its lost ground within a few years. However, the newspaper was financially crippled by the Panic of 1893, the paper slowly acquired a reputation for even-handedness and accurate modern reporting, especially by the 1890s under the guidance of Ochs. Under Ochs guidance, continuing and expanding upon the Henry Raymond tradition, The New York Times achieved international scope, circulation, in 1910, the first air delivery of The New York Times to Philadelphia began. The New York Times first trans-Atlantic delivery by air to London occurred in 1919 by dirigible, airplane Edition was sent by plane to Chicago so it could be in the hands of Republican convention delegates by evening. In the 1940s, the extended its breadth and reach. The crossword began appearing regularly in 1942, and the section in 1946
34.
C-SPAN
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C-SPAN, an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a public service. C-SPAN televises many proceedings of the United States federal government, as well as public affairs programming. Its coverage of political and policy events is unedited, thereby providing viewers with unfiltered information about politics, non-political coverage includes historical programming, programs dedicated to non-fiction books, and interview programs with noteworthy individuals associated with public policy. The network operates independently, and neither the cable industry nor Congress has control of the content of its programming, Congress and other public affairs event and policy discussions. Lamb shared his idea with several executives, who helped him launch the network. Among them were Bob Rosencrans who provided $25,000 of initial funding in 1979 and John D. Evans who provided the wiring and access to the headend needed for the distribution of the C-SPAN signal. C-SPAN was launched on March 19,1979, in time for the first televised session made available by the House of Representatives, upon its debut, only 3.5 million homes were wired for C-SPAN, and the network had just three employees. The second C-SPAN channel, C-SPAN2, followed on June 2,1986 when the U. S. Senate permitted itself to be televised, C-SPAN Radio began operations on October 9,1997, covering similar events as the television networks and often simulcasting their programming. The station broadcasts on WCSP in Washington, D. C. is also available on XM Satellite Radio channel 120 and is streamed live at c-span. org and it was formerly available on Sirius Satellite Radio from 2002 to 2006. Lamb semi-retired in March 2012, coinciding with the channels 33rd anniversary, on January 12,2017, the online feed for C-SPAN1 was interrupted and replaced by a feed from the Russian television network RT for approximately 10 minutes. C-SPAN announced that they were troubleshooting the incident and were operating under the assumption that it was an internal routing issue, C-SPAN celebrated its 10th anniversary in 1989 with a three-hour retrospective, featuring Lamb recalling the development of the network. Five years later, the series American Presidents, Life Portraits, in 2004, C-SPAN celebrated its 25th anniversary, by which time the flagship network was viewed in 86 million homes, C-SPAN2 was in 70 million homes and C-SPAN3 was in eight million homes. Also included in the 25th anniversary was an essay contest for viewers to write in about how C-SPAN has influenced their life regarding community service. For example, one essay contest winner wrote about how C-SPANs non-fiction book programming serves as a resource in his mission to record non-fiction audio books for people who are blind. The network also had an essay contest, the winner of which was invited to host an hour of the broadcast from C-SPANs Capitol Hill studios. C-SPAN continues to expand its coverage of government proceedings, with a history of requests to government officials for greater access, in December 2009, Lamb wrote to leaders in the House and Senate, requesting that negotiations for health care reform be televised by C-SPAN. Committee meetings on health care were broadcast subsequently by C-SPAN and may be viewed on the C-SPAN website, in November 2010, Lamb wrote to incoming House Speaker John Boehner requesting changes to restrictions on cameras in the House. In particular, C-SPAN asked to add some of its own robotically operated cameras to the existing government-controlled cameras in the House chamber, in February 2011, Boehner denied the request
35.
Virtual International Authority File
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The Virtual International Authority File is an international authority file. It is a joint project of national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center. The project was initiated by the US Library of Congress, the German National Library, the National Library of France joined the project on October 5,2007. The project transitions to a service of the OCLC on April 4,2012, the aim is to link the national authority files to a single virtual authority file. In this file, identical records from the different data sets are linked together, a VIAF record receives a standard data number, contains the primary see and see also records from the original records, and refers to the original authority records. The data are available online and are available for research and data exchange. Reciprocal updating uses the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting protocol, the file numbers are also being added to Wikipedia biographical articles and are incorporated into Wikidata. VIAFs clustering algorithm is run every month, as more data are added from participating libraries, clusters of authority records may coalesce or split, leading to some fluctuation in the VIAF identifier of certain authority records
