I had visions of John Belushi.

             We were trying to find a professor who had taught a certain freshman delegate, thinking that relationship would be very effective for lobbying. 

             We knew where the legislator had gone to school but not who had taught him. 

             I thought of Belushi rummaging through the trash to find last year’s exam. 

            “However you can legally find out who the delegate’s professor was, do it,” I advised the group around the table. 

            I know who taught me constitutional law.  It was Telford Taylor, Chief Counsel for 12 cases during the Nuremberg trials of the Nazis. 

            One of the legal principles established by that tribunal: coercion – acting pursuant to an order of the government or of a superior, does not relieve you of responsibility for your actions.

            That’s one of the arguments we’ll be making regarding the legal responsibility of the French railroad company for transporting Jews and others to the concentration camps under direction of the Germans. 

            “In my testimony, I want to quote Telford Taylor on this point,” I told one of the lawyers we’re working with. 

February 21