The company they keep

An interesting tidbit from the OC Weekly on the litigation between the Diocese of Los Angeles and the breakaway parishes led by St. James, Newport Beach. It seems the lawyer representing St. James is John C. Eastman, dean of the Chapman University School of Law, who recently teemed with the "visiting professor and Bush White House 'torture memo' author John Yoo in April to debate two other Chapman law profs in Memorial Hall about presidential power in wartime. One thing Eastman rejected that day was a government investigation of Yoo and others because he did not believe the U.S. ever tortured anyone.

The case raises questions about St. James' constitutionally protected, First Amendment rights to religious freedoms, according to Eastman, who told the [Daily] Pilot, "By taking their church away that makes it hard for them to practice their religion."

Dean Eastman has to be smarter than this quote suggests.

Posted by Jim Naughton on May 8, 2009 7:53 AM | |
Comments (5)

Please forgive my skepticism, Jim--but just how much time have you spent with academics? ;-)

Paige Baker

Posted by paigeb [TypeKey Profile Page] | May 8, 2009 10:26 AM

Paige, don't make me tell Jane Redmont you said this.

Posted by Jim Naughton [TypeKey Profile Page] | May 8, 2009 10:32 AM

Jim, I am fairly certain that Jane R will back Paige on her inference! As will IT.

Posted by David Allen |dah • veed| [TypeKey Profile Page] | May 8, 2009 10:56 AM

For what it's worth, John Eastman and John Yoo signed onto a friend-of-the-court brief opposing marriage equality for same-sex couples in the California Supreme Court, along with a number of Chapman University Trustees.

But despite Chapman's conservative reputation, a number of professors and student organizations signed a brief favoring marriage equality, which is what apparently prompted Eastman and Yoo to join the fray. And once they did so, Chapman University's president signed on to the professors' and students' brief favoring marriage equality.

Posted by Christopher Hayes [TypeKey Profile Page] | May 8, 2009 1:12 PM

As Jane and I have commiserated more than once over coffee or wine about the lamentable state of academia, I have the feeling she won't hold it against me. ;-)

Paige Baker

Posted by paigeb [TypeKey Profile Page] | May 8, 2009 1:50 PM

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