I note with some amusement that my former employer, the University of Denver, has hired Michael Brown, one of the few miscreants pathetic enough to have failed out of the Bush administration. Brown will teach a class on the Patriot Act at DU’s law school. That said, given that John Yoo is still a member in good standing of the University of California’s faculty, there’s only so much chuckling to be done here.

On a more serious note, Fred Cheever, the associate dean quoted in the linked story above, is actually a great guy and very progressive politically. (He may also be John Cheever’s son. That was the rumor, at least, though I never had the guts to ask him.) I can’t imagine how much all of this pains him. Which suggests that one lesson here is about the Faustian bargains made along the administrative track. They’ll offer you a nice office and a salary bump, sure, but next thing you know, you’re defending the decision to hire Dick Cheney to teach a class on the rule of law.

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