Comments on: Lopez-Torres, Justice Scalia, and the Situation of Elections

By: Howard Graubard

Howard Graubard — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 13:50:58 +0000

Just to be clear, the person in question was me, and I was in the top 5% of my law school class. However, I was a not a member of the Law Review.

More to the point, a relationship between a Judge and her law clerk is an extremely intitmate one, and the Judge was best advised to hire someone she was comfortable with. I did not ask anyone to pressure her, and was mortified to learn, over a decade later, what had transpired.

By: On Being a Mindful Voter « The Situationist

On Being a Mindful Voter « The Situationist — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:41:20 +0000

[...] election, see “Implicit Associations in the 2008 Presidential Election,” “Lopez-Torres, Justice Scalia, and the Situation of Elections,” “Heart Brain or Wallet?” “Your Brain on Politics,” “Al Gore – The Situationist” [...]

By: Implicit Associations in the 2008 Presidential Election « The Situationist

Implicit Associations in the 2008 Presidential Election « The Situationist — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 21:30:20 +0000

[...] or, specifically, the 2008 presidential election, see “On Being a Mindful Voter,” “Lopez-Torres, Justice Scalia, and the Situation of Elections,” “Heart Brain or Wallet?” “Your Brain on Politics,” “Al Gore – The Situationist” and [...]

By: TO

TO — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 06:47:51 +0000

“Of course, status quo bias, the endowment effect, &c. make it similarly unlikely that the legislature will radically break from its past practice.” Based upon your view, the State never would have adopted primaries in 1911. Nor would the State of New York have changed back to conventions after using primaries for conventions. The fact is, political party leaders’ views matter in political parties and there is nothing wrong with that. The Brennan Center’s view is that Lopez Torres should have been able to take her case to the voters, but ignore the fact that she ran in the general election in 2003 and lost. Of course, you have an excuse for that too. But that excuse ignores the fact that candidates from another political party holding NYC’s (an alleged one-party town) position of mayor for the past 15 years.

P.S. the unqualified lawyer that Lopez Torres refused to hire was in the top 10% of his law school class at Brooklyn Law School and a member of that school’s law review. He had already served as a law clerk to a New York State Supreme Court Justice. Lopez Torres hired an allegedly more qualified person to be her law clerk. This person is a friend of hers from a legal services organization. There is also a name for hiring a friend for a job….

By: On Being a Mindful Voter « The Situationist

On Being a Mindful Voter « The Situationist — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 04:02:50 +0000

[...] Lopez-Torres, Justice Scalia, and the Situation of Elections [...]

By: Grue

Grue — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:49:52 +0000

Why should endorsements from party leaders be irrelevant? I can think of two reasons people should pay attention. 1) Voters may respect the party leaders and defer to their better informed opinion. 2) Voters value the effectiveness of candidates, and endorsements signal that the candidate can work well with others who have power in the system.