14 February 2004

Professor Jack Balkin has posted some very interesting material in the last day or so. In no particular order,

  • If anything, his comments concerning Halliburton contracts in Occupied Iraq understate the problem, particularly in a historical context. Despite the fact that the Marshall Plan represented something that had never been done before, it was much more orderly and much more fair. It was not perfect; but it was better than no-bid. For an excellent contemporanous look at James Canan's The Superwarriors (out of print, but try ABEBookSearch).
  • His reaction to the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment was much the same as mine: flunk the SOBs who drafted it. Leaving aside its inconsistency with half a dozen or so other Constitutional provisions and doctrines—some of which might really upset "government-minimalist social conservatives" if they even thought about them—it is so badly drafted, and internally inconsistent, that a court would be justified in throwing it out as impossible to implement, even under the doctrine that courts should try to find an interpretation that will allow enforcement.
  • I can't improve on his concise statement of the future detention problem at GITMO. I can be louder, and I can possibly provide more detail; but I'm not very good at soundbites. This is as substantively good as a soundbite gets—and a marvelous contrast to the preceding item.