Add to that thefact that thejudge has barred him from making the argument that the war is illegal, and there's not much left for this court martial to do but determine his punishment.
The irony is that the trial is being held in the courtroom of a federal district judge, Robert Potter, who declined to excuse himself fromthe case despite thefact that he led a citizens' anti-busing campaign before he joined the bench.
But picking Hastings would send another interesting message regarding ethics, given thefact that when he was a federal judge in the late 1980s, Hastings was impeached and removed from office (by a Democratic Congress) over a bribery charge.