David Forte’s lecture, “What Has Happened to the Separation of Powers?” delivered on the occasion of the publication of the second edition of The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, has been published on-line and in hard copy.  The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, Second Edition: What Has Changed Over the Past Decade, and What Lies Ahead? is available here.

Clinical Professor Doron Kalir

On March 11, Akron Law School hosted a panel discussion entitled “Effects on International Law: Middle East and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.” The panel featured Dean Matthew Williams of Akron Law School, Mr. Raeed Tayeh, an International-law attorney and Palestinian activist, and Professor Kalir, who was born and raised in Israel. In his presentation, Kalir noted that aside from the traditional UN Resolutions related to the conflict, a civil-law tool was recently added to the legal arsenal related to the conflict: a record-high, $216M jury verdict awarded in the S.D.N.Y against the Palestinian Authority for its support of Hammas’ terrorist attacks against Israel between 2002-2004. Kalir also cautioned against the recent rise in Antisemitic incidents in campuses around America, and called for their immediate eradication.

Chris Sagers, the James A. Thomas Distinguished Professor of Law, was invited to co-author a reply article about the landmark district court decision in O’Bannon v. NCAA. The article appears in the Washington & Lee Law Review’s Online edition, and is available for free here.

In the O’Bannon case, the federal district court for the Northern District of California found the NCAA’s ban on compensation to student-athletes for use of their names and likeness to be an antitrust violation.  Many observers expect the eventual consequences to be more significant, and that student-athletes will eventually start to share in some of the revenue they generate.   Sagers, along with his co-author Michael Carrier of the Rutgers-Camden Law school and 24 other professors of antitrust and sports law, had earlier written an amicus brief in the O’Bannon case supporting the plaintiffs in the NCAA’s appeal before the Ninth Circuit.

Professor Browne Lewis

Congratulations to Professor Browne Lewis, who is the recipient of a Fulbright Grant (core) for the spring of 2016, for the United Kingdom.  Professor Lewis will spend the spring semester 2016 at King’s College in London, where she will conduct research about physician-assisted suicide.  The United Kingdom is one of the most competitive host countries for the purposes of Fulbright grants; thus, Professor Lewis’ selection is particularly impressive.

Professor Jonathan Witmer-Rich’s article, “The Fatal Flaws in the ‘Sneak and Peek’ Statute and How to Fix It,” 65 Case W. Res. L. Rev. 121 (2014), has just been published in the Case Western Reserve Law Review.  The article identifies problems with the existing statute authorizing delayed notice search warrants, including problems that arguably render the statute unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment.  The article then proposes a set of statutory amendments that would fix the problems and render the statute constitutional.

Associate Dean Mark Sundahl was quoted in a February 24 article on Space.com regarding the recent action by the FAA in response to a request by Bigelow Aerospace to establish a habitat on the Moon.  Bigelow requested that the FAA ensure that other U.S. companies would not interfere with Bigelow’s operations once the habitat is established.  Sundahl commented on the legality of the FAA’s action under international space law and whether the FAA has the power to take actions regarding lunar operations under the current scope of the agency’s jurisdiction.  The article can be found  here.

On February 20th, Associate Dean Mark Sundahl moderated a panel on space law at Florida International University’s Aviation & Space Law Symposium in Miami.  The panel participants, which included NASA’s chief lawyer for the International Space Station, discussed a number of issues related to developments in the U.S. and abroad in the regulation of the private human spaceflight industry.  The symposium was filmed and can be viewed in its entirety through this link.

Heidi Gorovitz Robertson,C|M|LAW’s Steven W. Percy Distinguished Professor of Law, presented Shale Oil and Gas Regulation in the U.S. – Variations in Governance and Local Control, at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, in Lucknow, India, on February 14, 2015​ .  The lecture was part of a month-long Fulbright Specialist grant visit, during which she also taught a course on International Environmental Law for upper level law students.

Professor Joseph Mead filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio on behalf of a pro bono client, Keith Allison, who was removed from his school teacher position for commentary on dairy agriculture.  The client had posted a note, on his own time, on Facebook urging readers to choose plant-based milk.  The school district refused to renew Allison’s teaching contract for the next school year because a dairy farmer objected to the post.  The complaint includes an email sent by the superintendent to the school board explaining the district’s policy that “we need our teachers to really consider the whole community when doing these sorts of things [i.e., making public statements], especially when our biggest tax payers are dairy farmers.”  The complaint argues that this policy and Allison’s contract non-renewal violates Allison’s constitutional right to free speech, and seeks back pay, a court order declaring the policy unconstitutional, and other relief against the school board, the board members, and the superintendent.

After Professor Mead had sent a letter to the school board on Allison’s behalf in December 2014, the District hired Allison in another teaching role, but it refused to change its policy or provide Allison with full back pay.  The complaint has been covered in several local media outlets.  Professor Mead, who holds a joint appointment with the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, previously litigated constitutional cases for the United States Department of Justice, and is handling this case in cooperation with the ACLU of Ohio.

The complaint can be accessed here.

On March 5, Professor Joseph Mead presented at Capital Law School as part of the faculty exchange program between Cleveland-Marshall and Capital Law School.  Professor Mead’s talk was entitled “Law and the Volunteer,” and it surveyed the ambiguous state of the law of volunteer liability and immunity, vicarious organizational liability for the misdeeds of the volunteer, and coverage of unpaid workers under federal and state “employee” protection laws such as anti-discrimination laws.  Professor Mead argued in this talk  that these doctrines are actually connected by a common doctrinal core, and that the law needs to give further attention to the legal status and value of volunteers.