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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.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 19, 2019 65 Comments
You know the story of the Covington Catholic High School kids who were maligned by the media when Native American activist Nathan Phillips, accompanied by a phalanx of videographers, approached them to create a confrontation. Nicholas Sandmann did nothing other than stand there as Phillips invaded his personal space and banged a drum inches from Sandmann's face. The fact that Sandmann was wearing a MAGA hat infuriated liberal media and social media. That Sandmann smiled during the encounter was called a "white privileged" smirk, and led to taunts from some famous people that he should be punched in the face.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 19, 2019 33 Comments
We have covered this sick picture before. The mothers of Palestinian terrorists who praise their children's killing of Jews, often wishing they had killed more:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 17, 2019 60 Comments
The hysteria over Donald Trump's National Emergency Proclamation with regard to the Mexican border is peak stupid even by the standards of the times, in which almost everything Trump does is portrayed with cataclysmic predictions. This time around, it's not just the usual Democrat and media suspects, but also some Republican Senators who worry that Trump is setting a precedent for a future Democrat president to use the National Emergencies Act to spend money for climate change or other perceived liberal emergencies.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 17, 2019 29 Comments
The Jussie Smollett claim of a racial and homophobic attack in late January in Chicago by two white men wearing MAGA hats is falling apart. The story was suspicious from the start. While not impossible, it was improbable that two white guys were running around Chicago in the middle of the night during a sub-zero Polar Vortex wearing MAGA hats while carrying bleach and a noose and just happened to find a high-profile gay black actor to attack.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 16, 2019 69 Comments
The Jussie Smollett story of a racial attack was too politically convenient to be true. And as with investments, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. We have covered several dozen hoaxes, including The Great Oberlin College Racism Hoax of 2013. The Jussie Smollett story had all the indications of a hoax, of seeming too politically convenient and useful to be true.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 16, 2019 46 Comments
On Friday night Donald Trump tweeted a really funny satirical video created by Twitter user @CarpeDonktum. The video (see below) used the REM song "Everybody Hurts" mixed with Trump's State of the Union speech audio to mock Democrats and Mitt Romney, with video clips of them in the audience at SOTU. The Trump tweet quickly gained almost 50,000 retweets and over 2,000,000 views.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 14, 2019 92 Comments
The "compromise" omnibus spending bill negotiated in Congress is a POS. As usual, Republicans in Congress got their asses handed to them in negotiations. It not only doesn't give Trump even the 55 miles of border fencing reported, it has numerous poison pill provisions in it undermining existing immigration lawsw. Read these threads for details.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 12, 2019 59 Comments
I'm so old, I remember when the Democrats' Green New Deal was going to build so much high speed rail there would be no need for airplane travel.
Totally overhaul transportation by massively expanding electric vehicle manufacturing, build charging stations everywhere, build out highspeed rail at a scale where air travel stops becoming necessary, create affordable public transit available to all, with goal to replace every combustion-engine vehicle. [emphasis added]

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 11, 2019 65 Comments
I've long predicted that the point would come when Democrats, frustrated and forlorn at the mediocre qualities of their primary candidates, would search for a salvation candidate. Think about who have declared so far: Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Amy from Minnesota, Kirsten Gillibrand -- all second tier politicians who will pick up the anti-Trump vote just by being Democrats, but not much more. Tulsi Gabbard is a new face nationally, but has too much Assad baggage. Julian Castro is the guy who had less responsibility as Mayor of San Antonio than Sarah Palin had as the Mayor of Wasilla.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 10, 2019 67 Comments
The Democrat Green New Deal, which has been endorsed by at least four leading Democrat presidential candidates (Harris, Warren, Booker, Gillibrand) is a grab-bag of longstanding left-wing policy dreams to nationalize the economy and healthcare, and redistribute wealth, with fighting 'climate change' just the latest pretext. Among the many, many crazy proposals was “economic security for all who are unable or unwilling to work.”

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 08, 2019 35 Comments
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a character familiar to anyone who has spent substantial time on campuses in the past two decades She's a walking, talking social justice warrior soundbite machine, someone whose knowledge is a mile wide and an inch deep. Social media, where she excels, is perfect for shallow but woke wisdom.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 07, 2019 53 Comments
The Supreme Court has granted a stay of the new Louisiana anti-abortion law, in a 5-4 vote with Chief Justice Roberts siding with the four liberal Justices. The law in question requires a doctor performing abortion to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, which critics alleged would result in only a single abortion doctor in the entire state. This is only a stay pending appeal, not an ultimate disposition of the case.
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