I know I have been negligent keeping up this blog for the past week and a half. I'm not writing a full entry, I'm just writing an entry to acknowledge that I've been shirking my blogging.
I am currently in the midst of the editorial board competition for my journal. It requires me to do textual and citation edits at a rate of over one mistake per sentence on average. I would say the average is closer to two and a half edits per sentence. This lovely exercise must be completed within 48 hours. My time ends at 8 tomorrow night. So much for enjoying the lovely weather which Friday promises to bring.
I am spending some quality time with the Bluebook and with the Chicago Manual of Style. We are bffls.
It's really just as well that I am doing this competition now. I've had a sore throat for the past few days, and while I am fighting it off it is better for me to stay at home than go out and rage (against the machine).
This seems to be turning into a more full entry than I anticipated. Hrm. Maybe that is because I am not ready to go to sleep.
Today's Criminal Procedure class was frustrating, to put it politely. One particular incident stood out to me. We were discussing plain view doctrine. In order for the police to invoke the plain view doctrine to seize evidence, the police must have a lawful right of access to the location and the illegality of the object must be immediately apparent. So we were doing hypotheticals in class: what if there is a sawed off shotgun? Then that is clearly under plain view doctrine. What if it is a video tape? Probably not, need a search warrant to view the video.
What about a cell phone in sleep mode?
A student raises his hand and answers, "Yeah, I think a cell phone would fall under plain view doctrine." The professor clarifies that the phone is in sleep mode so the screen is black and one of the requirements for invoking plain view is that the object's illegality be immediately apparent. The student responds, "Yeah, I mean drug dealers use cell phones so if the police think its a drug dealer it is immediately apparent that the cell phone could be evidence." This continued for about two full minutes; the professor kept guiding him towards the obvious answer that a cell phone does not immediately appear illegal, and the student kept spouting nonsense and proudly displaying his ignorance.
I nearly spewed smoke from my ears, buried my face in my hands, and did deep breathing exercises as expletives flowed through my mind. "Immediately apparent" is not a legal term of art. Just pause for a moment and think about the plain English meaning of those words Just think. For a minute. And you will see that you could not possibly be more incorrect.
(Even thinking about it now I have to take deep breaths.)
My professor is too nice. She should have cut him off and told him to think before he speaks in class. Instead, she just continued to try to guide him to the correct answer. But he was having none of it.
In Tax on Monday, my professor called on a student who raised his hand. He looked at his seating chart to try to correctly identify the student and asked, "Are you Christian?" "I'm Alex," the student responded, and then proceeded to ask his question. A few minutes later another student from that part of the room raised his hand and was called on. Again, my professor tried to identify the student and asked, "Are you Christian?" "No, I'm Steve." At which point my professor felt the hilarious need to clarify that he was not inquiring as to students' religious preference, but rather whether their name was Christian. The next day he called on another student: "Julie. Are you Christian? Jewish? I'm just kidding!" Maybe you don't think Federal Income Tax is the happy, fun class, but I think my professor is hilarious.
Some good news: fantasy baseball is starting again. Make fun all you want, but that is one of the best parts of the year.
Well, somehow this became a real post. So there it is. I'm back from my week and a half hiatus.
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