Here and There

Okay, the other “upstanding” white guy I saw on C-Span the other day discussing the proper congressional response to Bush’s NSA wiretapping program was Professor Jonathan Hurley of George Washington University. A little on Hurley’s background follows.

Part 2. Jonathan Hurley

Hurley received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago. I can’t find what his major was for this undergraduate degree, but he got his law degree from nearby Northwestern University. I don’t have the years for either degree.

After a short time at Tulane Law School, Turley came to George Washington University in 1990. In 1998, he became the youngest chaired professor in the school’s history.

He is the founder and executive director of the Project for Older Prisoners (POPS), a program for law students designed to combat prison overcrowding and assist aging and disadvantaged prisoners.

According to his bio on the GWU website, Hurley was ranked one of the top ten lawyers handling military cases.

He has served as a consultant on homeland security and constitutional issues, and is a frequent witness before the House and Senate on constitutional and statutory issues as well as tort reform legislation.

Also according to his GWU bio, he ranked 38th in iconoclast Judge Richard Posner’s top 100 most cited “public intellectuals” and was found to be the second most cited law professor in the country, though it’s not clear who this finding was by.

Turley is a member of the USA Today board of contributors, and has written for that paper, The Washington Post, the LA Times, and the Dallas Morning News, among others.

So the amazement of seeing these guys on television laying their cases for how the administration should be scolded for its blatant disregard for Congress, the FISA court, and the Constitution is wearing off a little. But a little perspective has shown me that something needs to happen, something more than simply voting the president’s party members out of Congress this fall (though what a treat that would be!). Just today, Sen. John McCain called for a congressional investigation. It’s good to see the gears of government finally starting to turn in the right direction, no pun intended.

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