Friday Notes

AlArabOnLine reports that a bust of Aristotle, has been found near the Acropolis in Athens. The report says that it is believed to be the best likeness of him that we now have. How would we know that? Thanks to Alfredo Perez at Political Theory Daily Review for the tip.

Elizabeth Grant at AHA Today recommends WikiMapia, a marriage of"the images and functions of google maps with the collective editing power of wikipedia." It's a work in progress. It claims to show the world's 100 largest cities, but no Chinese city is yet marked on the map. Neither Lagos, Nigeria, nor Mexico City are yet there.

On the Liberal Arts: Alasdair MacIntyre,"The End of Education," Commonweal, 20 October, addresses the problem of fragmentation in American higher education; and Mark Bauerlein,"Saluting the Canon," Weekly Standard, 18 September, argues that the liberal arts are alive and well at military academies. Thanks to Casey Blake at Open University and LTC Bob Bateman at Blog Them Out of the Stone Age for the tips.

Finally, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas spoke in Atlanta last night. His remarks about aggressive interrogation of attorneys by appellate judges and the usefulness of amicus briefs were particularly interesting.

"‘... as a young state attorney general arguing before the Supreme Court of Missouri'," he recalled justices who"‘actually allowed me to make my argument. They listened to what I had to say. ... Nor did I ever feel I had not been heard or did not have my day in court.'"

"But Thomas said that kind of old-fashioned court etiquette has virtually disappeared. ‘It seems fashionable now for judges to be more aggressive in oral arguments,' he said. ‘I find it unnecessary and distracting. ... I truly think oral arguments would be more useful if the justices would listen rather than debating the lawyers. ... I think the judges need to listen if the arguments are to be effective.'"

Justice Thomas's words about historians and amicus briefs come just after about 60 of us filed a brief in the Louisville and Seattle school desegregation cases. Amicus briefs, he said:

"range from useless to extremely useful; from credible to 'You've got to be kidding me,'" Thomas said. The most helpful, he said, are those filed by"honest brokers ... who don't take either side" or groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union whose legal credibility, Thomas said, is well established."You know, I'm not one who gloms on to the ACLU's arguments," he said. But, he added,"They are pretty principled about the positions they take, and they're well-informed and pretty helpful."

In contrast, Thomas pointed to a group of historians who filed amicus briefs in the Guantanamo detainee cases Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, 542 U. S. 507, and Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, No. 05-184, whom, he suggested had a clear political agenda."I'm not going to waste my time with that," he said.

Thanks to David Garrow for the tip.