I'm Back


It's odd that I feel bad when I don't post for a while. I try and post twice a week and to have at least one post on topic. When I travel, I find it harder to post and I have been on the road lately.

Last Monday, I moderated the Administrative Procedure Act panel for the CIT Judicial Conference. From where I sat, it seemed like an interesting panel. Boiled down to its core, the conclusion is that the APA has no real role in CIT cases brought under 28 USC 1581(a)-(h) because those cases are either de novo or have a standard of review set in a different statute. But, the APA is directly implicated in 1581(i) cases. How the APA applies will depend on the nature of the case and the questions of both law and fact. It is clear, however, that more than just the "arbitrary and capricious" shorthand is applicable.

From NY, I went to Miami for the ABA Section of International Law Fall Meeting. There was an excellent discussion there about "new" opportunities for judicial review at the Court of International Trade. Some of that discussion had to do with non-traditional actions that fall within the current jurisdiction of the court. The rest of the discussion had to do with possible expansions in the Court's jurisdiction.

The highlight of my week, though, was a frolic and detour. I got to indulge my fascination with crackpot theories and the paranormal by visiting the Coral Castle (don't skip the intro) in Homestead. Basically, it consists of a small compound built with very basic tools by a single 100 pound man. The place is made entirely of local coral and there are pieces that weigh as much as 30 tons. This, of course, raises the question of how he accomplished this feat including moving the stones. Some believe he had good instinctive engineering skills and built pulleys and levers to do it. Boring. The better theories involve his esoteric knowledge of magnetism. This knowledge allowed him to render the stones weightless the same way the Egyptians did to built the pyramids. Others say he used harmonics and actually sang the stones into weighing less than gravity would dictate. Another theory is that he strung wires around to induce magnetic fields to lift the stones. All of this, keep in mind, was figured out by a guy who turned a Ford differential housing into a BBQ cooker and

Honestly, I don't know how he did it.

I love this stuff. It is a great way of identifying people who did poorly in high school physics. I am also fascinated by people who think the earth is 10,000 years old and that Noah's Ark included sleeping dinosaurs. Yes, I know that sounds very condescending and judgmental.

This picture I took depicts a wall of the castle showing models of Mars, Saturn, and a crescent moon. The builder apparently believed Mars was inhabited. His decorating touches also include a table made in the shape of Florida, a throne room, and an open air bathtub. He did all this, we are lead to believe, because he was jilted in his native Lithuania.

I am sure that when the reptilian controllers of the world are exposed, they will tell us how Ed managed to build this place.

I'll be reading slip opinions this week and will catch up with a useful post soon.

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