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[IP] more on Peter Swire on why Alito's co-authored report isn't very informative [priv]



Begin forwarded message:

From: Marc Rotenberg <rotenberg@xxxxxxxx>
Date: November 3, 2005 4:45:21 PM EST
To: Peter Swire <peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: David Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [IP] Peter Swire on why Alito's co-authored report isn't very informative [priv] 

Peter -

Your commentary is a little disappointing.

- It's an amazing paper - forward-looking,
  emphatic, and unambiguous. I've read a
  lot of papers from that era; it's one of the
  best.

- Alito chaired the committee, guided the
  research, and wrote the foreward - it's
  difficult to imagine he didn't agree with
  the bulk of the recommendations

- The focus was clearly on legislative reform.
  That may not tell us much about his views
  on the Constitutional right of privacy but
  it suggests a very interesting line of
  questioning on how a Justice might view
  statutes that seek to safeguard privacy

Roberts, by comparison, went out of his
way to argue against federal privacy
statutes and even mocked the 1974
reforms in one argument against FERPA.

Regards.

Marc.

On Nov 3, 2005, at 4:13 PM, Peter Swire wrote:


Hi Marc:

    Hope you are well.  Congrats for finding the student paper that
Alito helped author.

    This might have gotten to you from Declan's or Farber's list, but
below are my 2 cents from having been in the same major at college at Alito 
about what we likely can or cannot learn from the document.

    Best,

    Peter

P.S.  What are you saying about Microsoft's announcement?

Prof. Peter P. Swire
C. William O'Neill Professor of Law
Moritz College of Law of the
   Ohio State University
Visiting Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
(240) 994-4142, www.peterswire.net

-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber [mailto:dave@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2005 2:54 PM
To: peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [IP] Peter Swire on why Alito's co-authored report isn't very
informative [priv]



Begin forwarded message:

From: Declan McCullagh <declan@xxxxxxxx>
Date: November 3, 2005 11:14:21 AM EST
To: politech@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Politech] Peter Swire on why Alito's co-authored report
isn't very informative [priv]

Previous Politech message:
http://www.politechbot.com/2005/11/02/copy-of-judge/

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: [Politech] Copy of Judge Alito's co-authored report on
privacy now available [priv]
Date: Thu, 03 Nov 2005 11:00:36 -0500
From: Peter Swire <peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: 'Declan McCullagh' <declan@xxxxxxxx>

Hi Declan:

    A few comments on the privacy report from Judge Alito's college
days.
First, I was in the same major at Princeton as Judge Alito, several 
years behind him.  These "policy conference" reports were
emphatically group
efforts, usually with negotiation, joint drafting, and the other
hallmarks
of a group project.  The final report provides little evidence of any
one
participant's views.

    Second, the hot-button part of the story is this recommendation:
"The Conference voted to recommend that the current sodomy laws be
changed.
The Conference believes that no private sexual act between consenting
adults
should be forbidden."  Note the language "the Conference voted."
That is
the only indication of voting in the report, suggesting that a minority 
objected.  Also, note that this seems like a proposed legislative
change --
vote to change the laws. So there is no indication of a position on the 
constitutional right of privacy.

    Overall, the report is an impressive student effort to analyze the
issues. Many of its recommendations have become law through the Privacy 
Act, the Church Commission recommendations, the anti-polygraph law,
and so
on.

    The report suggests that Judge Alito studied these issues
intensively.  It does not tell us what he believed then, or believes
now.

    Peter
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