In the current issue of Foreign Policy magazine, you'll find their list of the world's top 100 public intellectuals. The list appears here (and you can vote for your top five). Bios of the honorees -- and we must confess, some of these names didn't ring a bell -- appear here.

The public intellectuals explicitly identified on the list as lawyers, judges, or legal scholars are (in alphabetical order):

-- Aitzaz Ahsan, president of Pakistan’s Supreme Court Bar Association, and a leader in the Pakistan People’s Party;

-- Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian human rights lawyer and Nobel laureate;

-- Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig; and

-- Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit, who wrote the book on public intellectuals.

And here are two other honorees with legal links:

-- University of Chicago law professor and philosopher Martha Nussbaum; and

-- journalist, Harvard Law School graduate, and Kennedy School of Government professor Samantha Power.

What do Professors Nussbaum and Power share in common? Cass Sunstein, as you may recall.

Professor Nussbaum is a former flame of Professor Sunstein, while Professor Power is his current main squeeze. Rumor has it that his move to Harvard Law School from his longtime academic home, the University of Chicago Law School, was prompted by a desire to be closer to the center of power -- Samantha Power, that is.

In their paper Six Degrees of Cass Sunstein: Collaboration Networks in Legal Scholarship, Professors Paul Edelman and Tracey George declared Cass Sunstein to be the "Kevin Bacon" of the law. But it looks like his influence extends beyond the narrow world of legal academia, into the World of Ideas, writ large.

In sum, two percent of the world's top 100 public intellectuals are former or current lovers of Cass Sunstein. This should provide consolation for Cass, who didn't make the list himself.

Professor Sunstein, you are the man.

The Top 100 Public Intellectuals [Foreign Policy]
The Top 100 Public Intellectuals: Bios [Foreign Policy]
Six Degrees of Cass Sunstein: Collaboration Networks in Legal Scholarship [SSRN / Green Bag]

Earlier: The Real Reason Cass Sunstein's Going to Harvard? He's Got the Power

The National Law Journal and the Wall Street Journal Law Blog reported this week on the University of Chicago Law School cutting off internet access in the classroom. For more background on this story, check out our posts from March 25 and March 26. Ahem. Three weeks ago.

We did a poll way back in March. Over 63% of the ATL voters favor internet access in the classroom. These folks won't be happy about this tidbit from the National Law Journal:

[Chicago Law School Dean Saul Levmore] has received inquiries from about 10 other law schools interested in possibly following suit on the move, he said.

The Conglomerate Blog makes a good point:

[I] do believe that shutting down the wireless signal is a short-term fix, at best. I have become convinced that the problems accompanying laptops in the classroom are behavioral, not technological.

So, University of Chicago students, how's it going? Have you found other means of distraction-- doodling, passing notes, daydreaming? Hope you didn't miss our tattoo in exchange for legal services post this morning.

University of Chicago Law School blocking access to Net in classrooms [National Law Journal]
Internet Access in the Classroom? Not at Chicago Law [WSJ Law Blog]
Internet in the Classroom [Conglomerate Blog]

Earlier: Update: Hey Teacher, Leave Those Kids (and Their Internet) Alone!
Hey Teacher, Leave Those Kids (and Their Internet) Alone!

Relax, folks. We are aware that the 2009 law school rankings of U.S. News & World Report have leaked, in advance of their official Friday publication date. They're all over the blogosphere and the message boards (links collected below).

We've been sitting on this item for a little while -- coordinating with our other posts this morning, taking into account our traffic patterns, etc. There is a method to our madness.

Ideally we'd hold this item even longer (which would allow us to do a more detailed write-up). But it's clear that you're all dying to talk about the rankings RIGHT NOW. And we don't want to get any more emails and comments of the "why aren't you writing about U.S. News" variety.

So here you go. Rankings and discussion, after the jump (i.e., click on the "Continue reading" link below).

A tipster sends us troubling news from the University of Chicago Law School:

University of Chicago Students got an e-mail from Dean Levmore today announcing that the Law School will be turning off internet access in classrooms beginning next quarter.

We express our deepest sympathies for Chicago students who will have to check ATL for updates between classes. Perhaps we can arrange for some kind of carrier pigeon system for urgent news.

We're wondering how many of you currently have internet access in the classroom. Is cutting off access to the web a trend at law schools? A number of law professors have complained about laptops undermining learning.

We're obviously biased in favor of maximum internet access for all; perhaps you feel differently. So let us know your views via commentary, and take our poll on whether internet should be allowed:

Earlier: Laptops vs. Learning -- Once More, With Feeling

We greatly enjoyed our recent visit to the University of Chicago Law School. The U. Chicago students were very welcoming and made us feel right at home, even inviting us to their law school musical -- which, by the way, was delightful.

(We added many of them as friends on Facebook before we were mysteriously banned from the site, without notice or explanation. So if you no longer see us on FB, it's not because we "de-friended" you, but because our account was disabled.)

A few Chicago students, however, had a bone to pick with us. They objected to this ATL post, which cast the recently announced departure of Professor Cass Sunstein -- prominent scholar, beloved teacher, and possible Supreme Court nominee under President Obama -- as a hiring coup by Harvard Law School, a triumph by HLS over Chicago. They emphasized that Professor Sunstein's leaving the Windy City for Cambridge was prompted by personal rather than professional reasons.

Professor Sunstein said as much his farewell email (emphasis added; in fact, all emphases added throughout this post, unless otherwise indicated):

I'm writing to say that I've just accepted an appointment at Harvard Law School. It is an understatement to say that I don't take this step easily or lightly. As most of you know, I've been reflecting on this question for several years. I finally decided, for personal reasons, that I need a change.

Since he's a prominent Obama supporter -- as well an adviser to the campaign, but more on that later, since it ties into our tale -- it's not surprising that Professor Sunstein is All About Change.

The law school's popular leader, Dean Saul Levmore, also stressed the personal component to Professor Sunstein's move. As he told the University of Chicago's student newspaper, the Maroon:

“I’m sort of embarrassed that [the story] said that the University of Chicago couldn’t be reached for comment,” Levmore said. “It looks like we didn’t want to talk, but the truth is that this decision [to leave Chicago for Harvard] was based on personal reasons and I respect that privacy. The media will find out about them soon enough.”

With a comment like this, Dean Levmore was basically begging us to go digging. So dig we did.

Let's see, Cass Sunstein's "personal reasons" for leaving U. Chicago... hold on a sec. Isn't Professor Sunstein part of legal academia's most fabulous power couple, together with that renowned philosopher queen, Professor Martha Nussbaum? And didn't Professor Nussbaum just turn down a Harvard offer?

That was then; this is now. What we learned in our investigation is consistent with this ATL comment, as well as this (subsequently removed) Wikipedia edit.

It appears that Professor Sunstein may be part of a new "power couple" -- in the most literal sense. Rumor has it that he's romantically involved with Professor Samantha Power -- a beautiful, brainy professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, who is roughly 15 years his junior. She is a Pulitzer Prize winner who has also been profiled in Men's Vogue (see glamorous photo, at the top of this post). What's not to like?

Update: More about Samantha Power here (from a college classmate who tried to hit on her, without success, and just ended arguing politics with her).

Now, please don't give us full credit (or blame) for bringing to light the Sunstein-Power relationship. When we attended the Chicago Law School musical last weekend, Samantha Power got a shout-out near the end of the show, when the Cass Sunstein character announced his departure for Harvard. So the rumor of her romance with Professor Sunstein is already widely known throughout the U. Chicago community (and beyond); it's no state secret. It is already known to hundreds, if not thousands, of people.

We reached out to all three members of this Mensalicious love triangle, which seems to come straight out of a Saul Bellow novel. Find out what we learned -- two of them had no comment, but one of them did -- after the jump.

If we knew anything about sports, we'd say this is the legal academic equivalent of Major Player X leaving Super-Elite Team Y for Super-Elite Team Z. But we don't. So we'll just say it's one of the biggest law school hiring coups since Harvard Law School snatched half of Feldsuk from NYU.

HLS strikes again -- but this time around, the victim of their poaching is U. Chicago (where we'll be making an appearance later this week, by the way). From the Harvard Law School website:

Renowned legal scholar and political theorist Cass R. Sunstein '78 has accepted an offer to join the Harvard Law School faculty, Dean Elena Kagan '86 announced today. Sunstein, currently a tenured professor at the University of Chicago Law School, will begin teaching at HLS in the fall. He will also become director of the new Program on Risk Regulation.

"Cass Sunstein is the preeminent legal scholar of our time -- the most wide-ranging, the most prolific, the most cited, and the most influential," said Kagan. "His work in any one of the fields he pursues -- administrative law and policy, constitutional law and theory, behavioral economics and law, environmental law, to name a non-exhaustive few -- would put him in the very front ranks of legal scholars; the combination is singular and breathtaking...."

Some tipsters' takes:

"I imagine a lot of Chicago alums will be annoyed at the least."

"Yet another high-profile move to HLS. Dean Kagan has done an amazing job these past few years getting big names out to Cambridge. (I’m just annoyed because I decided to take Admin Law this semester.)"

"[W]e just learned that although Martha Nussbaum turned down Harvard and Brown last week, Cass Sunstein ACCEPTED his Harvard Law offer! I'm torn - HUGE get in Sunstein, proving Elena Kagan is unstoppable, but is this trouble for the power couple?"

In December, we attended Professor Sunstein's 2007 Distinguished Lecture at AEI in Washington, DC (where we're currently based). We were mighty impressed by the good professor, who wasn't just brilliant and articulate, but also funny and self-effacing. Congrats to HLS and Dean Kagan on this latest addition to the Cambridge constellation of legal geniuses!

Update: Additional analysis of the Sunstein move from Professor Brian Leiter appears here. It seems that all is well in Sunstein-Nussbaum land. Per Professor Leiter:

[A]s Cass told me, he will be keeping his Chicago apartment and an office at the University of Chicago Law School, and he will also continue teaching part-time at Chicago as the Harry Kalven Visiting Professor of Law (probably in the winter quarters).

Further Update / Correction: Uh, scratch that. As you may have surmised from some of the comments, Professors Nussbaum and Sunstein are no longer an item. Professor Sunstein has a new honey, Professor Samantha Power, of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He's moving to Harvard in part because of this new romance. More details here.

Sunstein, Harvard, Chicago [Leiter's Law School Reports]
Nussbaum Declines Harvard, Brown Offers, and Will Remain at Chicago [Leiter's Law School Reports]
Sunstein to join Harvard Law School faculty [Harvard Law School]
Cass Sunstein bio [University of Chicago Law School]
2007 Distinguished Lecture: Extremism [American Enterprise Institute]

Greetings from the great -- but frigid -- city of Chicago. We're hanging out with friends and doing some sightseeing, but the main reason for our visit is this event, taking place on Thursday (and open to the public):

Judges As Public Figures
Thursday, February 21, 2008, 4:15 PM
University of Chicago Law School, Room II

Judge Richard Posner
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

David Lat
Above the Law
Underneath Their Robes

Professor Lior Strahilevitz
University of Chicago Law School

While in Chi-town, we will also be meeting readers at an ATL "Happy Hour," similar to the event we held in Miami last year. It will take place on Wednesday, February 20, sometime after work (time and place to be determined).

Update: The Chicago "Happy Hour" will take place on Wednesday, February 20, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., at Miller's Pub (134 S. Wabash). Hope to see you there!

Schedule of Events [University of Chicago Law School Federalist Society]

From a politically-minded tipster:

Can we get a thread to find out how Barack Obama was as a law professor at Chicago? It would be perfect for the election season. Not to mention that I really want to know what he was like in the classroom.

Not that many people on Above the Law could probably help with this one, but I'd love to hear any reports of Hillary Clinton at Arkansas too. She did teach a few classes back in the 70s...

Thanks! My whole family of lawyers love your blog!

If you have any anecdotes about Professor Obama to share -- we've heard a few, but they were given to us off the record, so we can't use them -- please dish in the comments, or email us.

If you're hoping to have a class with Professor Obama in the future, you may be out of luck. As Lawrence Hurley of the Daily Journal reports, "the man who could be the next president of the United States is still listed as a member of the faculty" on the University of Chicago website -- but as his faculty profile notes, he "is currently a candidate for the office of President of the United States."

That U. Chicago profile, by the way, lists the candidate's personal AOL email address. Add him to your AIM buddy list! But don't be surprised if he's not online much these days -- he's kind of busy right now.

Obama Keeps His Teaching Options Open [Washington Briefs]
Office Hours with Professor Obama? [WSJ Law Blog]
Barack Obama: Senior Lecturer in Law [University of Chicago Law School]
"I Got a Crush...On Obama" By Obama Girl [YouTube]

Almost half of the justices are done hiring their law clerks for October Term 2008. The latest justice to finish up: Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.

In addition to Chris Walker (Stanford 2006 / Kozinski), whose hiring has been previously noted in these pages, congratulations to the three newest AMK clerks:

1. Ashley Keller (University of Chicago 2007 / Posner)
2. Travis Lenkner (Kansas 2005 / Kavanaugh)
3. Steven Shepard (Yale 2007 / Kozinski)

It's unusual to have two clerks from the same feeder judge in the same justice's chambers. But if there's any combination that's likely to produce such a development, it's Kozinski --> Kennedy (just as Luttig would sometimes send two clerks to Justice Scalia in the same Term; also note Judge Garland filling three out of Justice Stevens's four slots in OT 2008).

Ashley Keller appears to be the first Chicago clerk in OT 2008. Also note the (unsurprising) emergence of the well-connected Judge Brett Kavanaugh (D.C. Cir.), relatively new to the federal bench, as a feeder judge extraordinaire.

The current tally of OT 2008 SCOTUS clerks, with the three new Kennedy clerks added, appears after the jump.

We hope there aren't too many of you in the office on this federal holiday, but for those ATL readers who are toiling away, here's a Labor Day edition of LEWW to ease the pain.

This Last week's superlative couples:

1.) Elizabeth Holland and David Franklin
2.) Lara Ballard and Gigi Sohn
3.) Allison Caldwell and Matthew Frisbee

More about these fabulous pairs, after the jump.

"Nobody's finished, we ain't even begun" is a good description of our progress on this column over the past few days. We apologize for serving up your weekly dose of LEWW a bit later than usual.

Some good weddings we aren't writing about this week: another seedling from William Howard Taft's family tree, hot lesbians, and an Ashley's Ice Cream heiress.

Here are this week's featured couples:

1. Kathleen Rubenstein and Hays Golden

2. Serena Hoy and James Reilly

3. Catherine Bennett and Sophien Bennaceur

More about these couples, after the jump.

Also, some of you have inquired about submitting nominations for Couple of the Week from outside the pages of The New York Times. We're confused. Surely you're not suggesting that we grant the LEWW imprimatur to the undignified matings of commoners?

(In all seriousness: Although NYT wedding section is the only one LEWW reads religiously, we'd love to hear about notable nuptials our readers spot elsewhere. Just send us an e-mail early in the week.)

Give a girl a Supreme Court beat and a best-selling book, and she gets her sassy on!

The fantabulous Jan Crawford Greenburg has taken on Geoff Stone, the former dean of the University of Chicago's law school, in a tart blog post. Stone (along with Rosie O'Donnell) had declared himself troubled by the fact that the five Supremes in the majority in last week's partial-birth abortion decision also happened to be the Court's five Catholics.

Greenburg responds:

That’s not how they taught First Amendment law when I was at the University of Chicago. Nor did they tell us to jump to baseless conclusions without any evidence—such as suggesting religion drove those justices. Or that different religious views influenced the protestant and Jewish justices to vote against the law.

Why not speculate that the five justices in the majority happen to like baseball--and therefore are more inclined to appreciate rules? That’s no less relevant or “telling,” as Stone put it, than their religious views.

A current student of Stone's alleges that Stone referred to Justice Brennan in class as "the only thinking Catholic I ever knew." Can anyone confirm that?