For a variety of reasons, I was once considering attending law school at the University of Richmond. After I decided to come closer to home, I heard the news that Richmond was hiring notorious wingnut and personal injury lawsuit plaintiff Robert Bork. My sense of relief was massive. I was so glad that I wouldn’t be attending an institution that would hire this loony. Since then, Herr Bork has left Richmond to teach at a right wing Catholic law school. Yes, Ave Maria, for those looking for a “natural law” legal education, but who just can’t bring themselves to stoop to attend Regent.
I mention my post-Bork thoughts about Richmond because I just discovered that my actual alma mater has evidently hired a dude to teach election law that clearly should not be allowed within 500 yards of a legal classroom (except maybe as a case study). Anyone remember John Tanner? Probably not. In any other era, it might be a score for a law school to hire a former Justice Department employee to teach some classes. But not in the Bush Era, where the head of the Voting Rights division of the DoJ’s civil rights wing is this doofus, who is famous for being utterly and absolutely schooled and humiliated by Artur Davis on the floor of Congress.
No matter what your political beliefs, this is one of the all time greatest public servings and it led to Tanner being booted er, resigned, out of the federal hierarchy, left to peddle his meager wares at law schools and speaking engagements around the country. Shameful that the University of Alabama took him up on it and gave him a law.ua.edu email address.
We’re not on the level with Pat Robertson’s law school by any stretch, but a few more hiring decisions like this one and we’ll be heading down that road.
Update: I have been doing a little legwork to hammer down the nature of Tanner’s ties to Tuscaloosa. The link in the post that goes to Mississippi Valley State University says, “Tanner currently is on intergovernmental loan to the Alabama Law Institute in Tuscaloosa, and will be teaching and lecturing at a number of colleges and universities, including the University of Alabama, Alabama State University, and the Cumberland School of Law.” However, it is far from clear that he actually has any classes at Bama. He may be hanging with the Alabama Law Institute (which ought to know better than to give him a dime), but he may not be actually teaching any classes at the law school. I do know for a fact that he has a law.ua.edu email address though. If anyone has any details about Tanner in Tuscaloosa, please post to the comments.
