Political Quotes

“I think my friend from South Dakota makes an excellent observation. This admission of her failure to study the history surrounding the second amendment is also in stark contrast to her emphasis on the importance of students studying international law at Harvard Law School. When Solicitor General Kagan became dean of the Harvard Law School, she spearheaded a sweeping overhaul of the academic curriculum to require law students to take an international and comparative law course during their first year. When asked, ``What specific subjects or legal trends would you like [Harvard] to reflect?'' she responded: First and foremost, international law. . . . we should be making clear to our students the great importance of knowledge about other legal systems throughout the world. For 21st century law schools, the future lies in international and comparative law, and this is what law schools today ought to be focusing on. She also said: Our goal, then, has been to . . . better equip graduates to be proactive and creative problem solvers . . . to work with a global perspective, whether the particular problem involves a local contract dispute, or an international treaty. Thanks to Dean Kagan, international law is a required course at Harvard Law School for first-year law students. However, constitutional law--U.S. constitutional law--is not only not a first-year requirement--in fact, somebody graduating from Harvard Law School can graduate without ever taking U.S. constitutional law.”