Law Professors

Law profs abound on Biden’s new commission to study changing the Supreme Court

Law professors make up the bulk of the members on President Joe Biden’s newly created Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, tasked with studying proposals to reform the high court.

Apr 9, 2021 3:15 PM CDT

Law prof proposes a middle-ground theory of judging to guide centrist judges

Conservative judges are guided by the original meaning of the Constitution, while liberal judges view the Constitution as a living document. But what about centrist judges?

Apr 5, 2021 10:05 AM CDT

Yale prof claims she was wrongly fired after tweeting about Trump, Dershowitz, shared psychosis

A law and psychiatry professor is alleging that she was fired by the Yale School of Medicine because of her critical comments about former President Donald Trump’s mental health and the likelihood that Alan Dershowitz had taken on “Trump’s symptoms by contagion.”

Mar 24, 2021 11:45 AM CDT

Law dean reveals retirement was due to ‘slaveholder’ comment; remark followed tenure controversy

A law dean has revealed that her Jan. 19 retirement announcement was precipitated by her reference to herself as a “slaveholder” during a faculty meeting.

Mar 23, 2021 3:30 PM CDT

Required USC course on race is expected to help law students with various viewpoints

Stephen M. Rich was asked in January to teach the first required course on race, racism and the law at University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law, and he happily accepted the task. He recognizes, though, that the student makeup of the course may be different than it would be for an elective course on the same topic.

Mar 18, 2021 9:11 AM CDT

Afternoon Briefs: ACLU wants lawyer’s libel lawsuit tossed; Dershowitz gives limited advice in MyPillow CEO suit

ACLU seeks dismissal of lawyer’s libel suit The Georgia Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether a lawyer’s libel lawsuit against the American Civil Liberties Union may go to trial. Lawyer B. Reid Zeh said the ACLU defamed him by claiming that he charged clients for representation that he should…

Mar 17, 2021 4:03 PM CDT

Justice Breyer should retire immediately, law prof writes; Senate could flip with 1 senator’s death or departure

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer should retire, and he should do it now, according to Paul F. Campos, a professor at the University of Colorado Law School.

Mar 16, 2021 2:57 PM CDT

Professor’s post-class comments criticizing Black law students captured on Zoom

Updated: Georgetown Law Center has terminated the position of an adjunct professor who was video recorded saying, “a lot of my lower ones are Blacks” with regard to students who took a negotiations seminar she taught.

Mar 12, 2021 12:30 PM CST

Tech competency needs to be taught in law school, associate dean says

“One can’t really understand if they remain in the law school ivory tower what is going on in the legal profession and in the legal technology space,” said April Dawson, an associate dean at North Carolina Central University School of Law.

Mar 11, 2021 4:56 PM CST

Afternoon Briefs: Judges tosses transgender woman’s pageant bias suit; SCOTUS allows indoor church services

Judge tosses suit against pageant company by transgender woman U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman of Oregon has tossed a lawsuit by a transgender woman who accused a beauty pageant of discriminating against her by banning her from the competition. Anita Noelle Green had sought to compete in the Miss United…

Mar 1, 2021 4:50 PM CST

Judges tell of case delays, high caseloads as House committee considers expanding judgeships

Three federal judges told a House subcommittee Wednesday about case delays and high workloads as lawmakers considered whether to expand the number of federal judgeships.

Feb 25, 2021 12:08 PM CST

Afternoon Briefs: Lawyers charged in Molotov cocktail attack get plea offers; Harvard Law profs launch equality journal

Lawyers charged in Molotov cocktail attack mull plea offers Two lawyers charged in a Molotov cocktail attack on an unoccupied police car are reviewing plea offers, according to a court filing. The incident happened during a Brooklyn protest in New York City over the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old…

Feb 24, 2021 3:26 PM CST

Prove it up: Scholars criticize law prof’s speech about secret folders and say it was unsupported

Shortly before the Jan. 6 riot started at the U.S. Capitol, John Eastman spoke at a rally for then-President Donald Trump, enthusiastically sharing his theory that there was cheating in the November and January elections. According to him, there were “secret folders” placed inside voting machines filled with ballots to be matched with registered voters who did not cast their ballots.

Feb 2, 2021 9:30 AM CST

NYU law prof Deborah Archer is ACLU’s new board president; fight for racial justice expected to be a priority

A professor at the New York University School of Law with expertise in civil rights has been elected as the national board president of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Feb 1, 2021 12:17 PM CST

Son of Holocaust survivors exposes the harms of bystander complicity

Amos Guiora’s book Armies of Enablers: Survivor Stories of Complicity and Betrayal in Sexual Assaults set him on his most recent path. The book explores institutional complicity in relation to the victimization of young people by college sports coaches, trainers, doctors and Catholic priests. As a result of this work, Guiora has become not just an academic but also an advocate for sexual assault victims.

Feb 1, 2021 1:40 AM CST