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Author: William A. Jacobson

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William A. Jacobson

William A. Jacobson is a Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Securities Law Clinic at Cornell Law School.

He is a 1981 graduate of Hamilton College and a 1984 graduate of Harvard Law School. At Harvard he was Senior Editor of the Harvard International Law Journal and Director of Litigation for the Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project.

Prior to joining the Cornell law faculty in 2007, Professor Jacobson had a highly successful civil litigation and arbitration practice in Providence, Rhode Island, concentrating in investment, employment, and business disputes in the securities industry, including many high profile cases reported in leading newspapers and magazines.

Professor Jacobson has argued cases in numerous federal and state courts, including the Courts of Appeal for the First, Fifth and Sixth Circuits, and the Rhode Island Supreme Court.

Professor Jacobson has a national reputation as a leading practitioner in securities arbitration. He was Treasurer, and is a former member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association, a professional organization of attorneys dedicated to protecting public investors. He frequently is quoted in national media on issues related to investment fraud and investor protection, and in the past has served as one of a small number of private practice attorneys who trained new arbitrators for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Professor Jacobson is co-author of the Securities Arbitration Desk Reference (Thomson-Reuters), updated annually.

Professor Jacobson is frequently quoted in the media on political and legal topics, has authored many Op-Eds in major publications, and appears on television and radio to discuss politics and the law.

A more complete listing of Professor Jacobson's professional background is available at the Cornell Law School website. The views expressed here are his own and not those of any employer or organization,

The best way to reach Prof. Jacobson is by e-mail here.

In my now classic post on December 3, 2011, Vicious smirkle, I explained the conundrum wrapped in a paradox sitting on top of a puzzle, the algorithms which feed ads to Legal Insurrection and most other blogs: Michele Walk has noticed that Alan Grayson is gracing...

Well, apparently today was just a photo op at the White House. Obama is still in a no negotiation mode. Instead, he's deliberately trying to talk down the markets. https://twitter.com/McCormackJohn/status/385539376572547073 https://twitter.com/AndrewNBCNews/status/385539468859813888 https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller/status/385539877557006336 John Boehner after White House Mtg 10-2-2013

In addition to the real shutdowns at the WWII Memorial and elsewhere, we can expect to see all sorts of non-shutdowns blamed on the federal government partial shutdown. I noticed this along a path in the Collegetown section of Ithaca, a path along the Gorge next...

The reports are coming in of incredibly petty shut downs beyond the WWII Memorial and Lincoln Memorial. Newt Gingrich posted this image (h/t Twitchy) of a bus turnaround shut down at Mount Vernon: https://twitter.com/newtgingrich/statuses/385433008473260032 They shut down the bus turnaround even though Mount Vernon is OPEN: https://twitter.com/newtgingrich/statuses/385214703808413696 (video added 10-3-2013 h/t Crawdad Hole) UPDATE added by Mandy, 10/2/2013 at 3:30 EST. Here's another example that was shared earlier today: Claude Moore Colonial Farm is a living history farm in Virginia that provides visitors the opportunity to experience life as it was in 1771.  That experience comes complete with costumed interpreters and authentic recreations of tools, buildings, and everything else just as it was in that point in time.  The Farm is also economically self-sustaining, having been cut from the National Park Service’s budget in 1980. But that hasn’t stopped the agency from shutting down Claude Moore Colonial Farm, despite the fact that the Farm is fully staffed on its own and prepared to open today. In an email sent to supporters, the Farm’s Managing Director Anna Eberly wrote:
For the first time in 40 years, the National Park Service (NPS) has finally succeeded in closing the Farm down to the public. In previous budget dramas, the Farm has always been exempted since the NPS provides no staff or resources to operate the Farm. We weren't even informed of this until mid-day Monday in spite of their managers having our email addresses and cell numbers.

Obama has barricaded the World War II Memorial for not good reason. The excuse that the government needed people on duty who knew CPR was laughable -- the Memorial is open-air and open to the public 24 hours a day, even though previously staffed only part of the day. There is a protest planned at the WWII Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial today. We will update (new updates at top): https://twitter.com/verumserum/status/385443871062106112 https://twitter.com/WashTimes/status/385437061609951232 https://twitter.com/DanRiehl/status/385433764694097920 https://twitter.com/AndrewHClark/status/385433065436114944

The full text is here. Scott Johnson at Power Line has some of the key excerpts exposing the history of Iran's new "moderate" President Hassan Rouhani. Rouhani is anything but moderate, he was a key player in numerous terrorist attacks and the building of Iran's nuclear program. Excerpts (and additional videos) after the video. But I'll start with the ending lines:
In our time, the biblical prophecies have been realized: As the prophet Amos said: They shall rebuild ruined cities and inhabit them, They shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, They shall till gardens and eat their fruit. And I will plant them upon their soil, never to be uprooted again. Ladies and Gentlemen, The people of Israel have come home, never to be uprooted again.
I feel deeply honored and privileged to stand here before you today representing the citizens of the State of Israel. We are an ancient people. We date back nearly 4,000 years to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We have journeyed through time, we’ve overcome the greatest of adversities, And we reestablished our sovereign state in our ancestral homeland, the Land of Israel.... Well, Rouhani headed Iran’s Supreme National Security Council from 1989 through 2003. During that time, Iran’s henchmen gunned down opposition leaders in a Berlin restaurant. They murdered 85 people at the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires. They killed 19 American soldiers by blowing up the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. Are we to believe that Rouhani, the National Security Advisor of Iran at the time, knew nothing about these attacks? Of course he did.

Under the Rules of Suspension they were operating under (not sure why, but it's what it was), a 2/3 vote was needed in the House to pass legislation funding various agencies. [If someone has a procedural explanation, please post in comments.] Democrats in the House voted against funding the Veterans Administration, the District of Columbia and National Parks, including the Holocaust Memorial Museum and Smithsonian. House vote Veterans Parks DC https://twitter.com/LegInsurrection/status/385191884928208896 https://twitter.com/ChadPergram/status/385189205791358977 https://twitter.com/GOPLeader/status/385188805122486272 https://twitter.com/ChadPergram/status/385191786143944704

The latest development. https://twitter.com/ChadPergram/status/385042956857511936 https://twitter.com/rickklein/status/385043012147216384 https://twitter.com/rickklein/status/385043509516197890 I think negotiating with empty chairs will be a good thing. Reid and Obama are riding high, convinced the media will convey their messaging. There's reason for them to think that: ...

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18 There will be no Continuing Resolution tonight. There will be a partial shutdown of non-essential services. All because Democrats refused to have Congress treated like ordinary citizens as to Obamacare exchange subsidies,...

Current status a/o 10:15 p.m. Eastern -- House passed two amendments, Senate then rejected. Looks like no more House votes tonight. House will simply request a conference with the Senate tomorrow. So Harry Reid gets his "shutdown." https://twitter.com/robertcostaNRO/status/384865087409754112 https://twitter.com/ChadPergram/status/384863087586603008 https://twitter.com/robertcostaNRO/status/384864630440337408 You can watch House floor here and here (will embed when House comes back in session). UPDATE -- Senate quickly rejected House Amendments, thereby voting to preserve Congressional special privileges and unequal treatment of individuals.  Looks like the likely House response will be limited specific "clean" funding similar to what was done with military pay.  Make Democrats in Senate vote against funding Veterans Department, etc. Senate Final Vote Rejecting House Amendments 9-30-2013