8:56 a.m.—This morning the William & Mary Law Library is hosting David Baugh, a civil rights attorney and the Capital Defender in Richmond, Va. He has lectured the last two years, and is always a dynamic speaker. He'll be discussing "The Bill of Rights and the Roberts Court." Should be an excellent hour. There are about 50 people in attendance at the law school this morning, many of them first-year law students, public policy graduate students and many from the Williamsburg community. A fine turnout for a Friday morning.
9:01 a.m.—Jim Heller, head librarian, has introduced David Baugh, the son of a Tuskegee Airman. "I don't like the Supreme Court," Baugh says.
9:02 a.m.—Baugh says the justices should not care about the outcome of a case. "They're there to protect the rules, and the rules are in our Constitution. The Supreme Court does not understand that."
9:05 a.m.—Baugh is often introduced as a civil rights scholar. "I'm not, I'm a trial lawyer. I'm a thug. I go to court and I beat people up." Baugh is plugging Judge A. Leon Higginbotham's open letter to Clarence Thomas, which I haven't read. Here's the cite: An open letter to Justice Clarence Thomas from a federal judicial colleague, 140 U. Penn. L. Rev. 1005-1028 (1992).
9:08 a.m.—Most law schools don't teach the Constitution. We're going to talk about why we have it. "Thomas Jefferson was one of those guys who really was a genius. He knew that the key to life was happiness. Yeah, they screwed slaves, but he knew what he was talking about." Another plug: download The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948.
9:10 a.m.—"Government always will be in opposition to freedom." Two opposing forces: one is freedom. No issue is taboo. "What do you think about the Man-Boy Society?" (He's talking about NAMBLA here.) "We ought to talk about it."
Baugh is talking about his former client, a grand dragon of the KKK. "If any one of you believe there's a superior race, talk to a Klansman. He was dumb as a rock."
9:12 a.m.—On one side is freedom, and on the other side is order. "Those forces are in opposition because the greater the freedom, the less order. We have to have order, but we have to have freedom. The opponents of freedom will always be the government, the majority, and you when you're scared." So we have to maintain a system of laws that recognizes freedom while keeping order in place. It will always be a sliding scale.
9:15 a.m.—We're the only government in the world that swears allegiance to a philosophy, to a document. That's brilliant. Others swear an allegiance to a king or queen. He's talking now about freedom of religion, "which is a brilliant idea." The only way to allow everyone to practice the kind of religion they want is to have no laws establishing religion. "That's kung fu crap. That's like, 'The only way for everyone to have religion is to leave religion alone, Grasshopper." (Big laughs from the crowd.)
9:18 a.m.—Talking about harm to others and the First Amendment. Up until 10 years ago, consensual sex between married adults was illegal in this state. How does gay people getting married harm others? "It's going to destroy the American family. Don't look now but heterosexuality and monogamy destroyed the American family."
9:25 a.m.—On defending clients: every time someone walks, the rules get stronger. Most people view the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as an impediment to convicting guilty people. Only the ACLU and criminal defense attorneys protect the rules.
9:26 a.m.—"For every freedom, there is a corresponding responsibility. If I want freedom of speech, I have to tolerate the rights of other dumb son-of-a-bitches to talk, too."
9:28 a.m.—On to the KKK case. (I should mention here that Mr. Baugh is black. He represented a KKK Grand Dragon who burned a cross.) How to tell a Klansman from anyone else: it's not a cross burning, it's a "cross illumination."
9:29 a.m.—"When it comes to constitutional issues, there are only two sides. There's the government on one side, and everybody else on the other side." The reason Baugh took the case is because he and the Klansman were on the same side.
9:32 a.m.—"Human beings are basically good." Baugh says he's never defended someone he thought was bad. Even bigots aren't bad people, he says. They're good people who pay their bills and love their kids but who have a distorted sense of values.
9:34 a.m.—Baugh on his mother, who he says, "should have been a Nazi," for her stances on pornography. She didn't want him defending someone accused of having pornography, and he told her he believed it was important to protect that person's freedom of speech. "I've been called a bastard before but never by the person who really knows."
9:35 a.m.—A few links to articles about David Baugh and his former client, Barry Elton Black, the Klansman: http://www.abanet.org/irr/hr/fall00/oneil.html and http://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/20/us/klan-case-transcends-black-vs-white.html.
9:38 a.m.—On human rights: should we support countries who oppress their women? Should we support countries that discriminate against minorities? How about the burqa issue? Baugh did the bombing case at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi. He represented an al-Qaida member who blew up 200 people. He started researching and realized he didn't know anything about Islam. A friend recommended him a book called, "Teach Yourself Islam." He highly recommends it, even though it's the equivalent of "Islam for Dummies." The book is about 250 pages (224, to be exact).
9:40 a.m.—On suicide bombing: Suicide is a sin in Islam, but giving your life for the cause of war is not. That's how Islamic extremists draw the distinction. It's easier to extend rights to other people if you understand those people and their religion.
9:42 a.m.—On rights in America: We rank about 33rd in infant mortality. "I think it's obscene that we have bombers that cost $2 billion and we have dying children." Health care is a right.
9:45 a.m.—"You have a duty, not just to get educated, but to understand other cultures, other people. Every time you get a chance to study another culture, take it."
On Tim Kaine (the current governor of Virginia): He came from Harvard and moved to Richmond. The most segregated place in America is a church on Sunday morning. Well Tim Kaine went to a black church and joined the choir.
9:46 a.m.—"For those of you who are law students, if you know why you're doing it, it's the greatest job in the world." That's the end of the lecture. On to questions.
9:47 a.m.—"Should we have voluntary slavery? Other than prostitution and marriage."
9:58 a.m.—A little experiment. Baugh stands in the middle of the room and says, "I think Dick Cheney is an evil bastard who should die and rot in hell." There. He says in most countries, a person couldn't do that without the threat of being imprisoned. But not a single person in this room, he says, believes that saying that deserves a criminal penalty. "And that's what gives me hope, hope for our Constitution and for our country."
Maybe the best line of the day. Baugh's final point is about having courage. "It's not enough to be smart, and you all are smart. You have to have kahones, too. Oh wait, excuse me. You have to have ovarian fortitude."
On that note, Baugh heads to the public policy class to discuss upcoming Supreme Court cases.
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