Professor Lolita Buckner Inniss provided commentary to Al Jazeera America on February 2, regarding the Bill Cosby sexual assault case.  Professor Inniss had previously written a blog post about the gender and racial implications of the Bill Cosby case.  Her commentary is available here (about 3 minutes and 30 seconds into the segment).

Professor Buckner Inniss had previously been interviewed regarding the Bill Cosby case, as part of a radio segment entitled “Lawyer Faces National Scrutiny While Defending Bill Cosby,” on January 8, by National Public Radio.  That story, and Professor Inniss’ commentary, is available here.

Professor David Forte‘s article on “Limited Government” has been published in the four volume work, American Governance.  The full citation for this article is available here:

Forte, David F. “Limited Government.” American Governance. Ed. Stephen Schechter, et al. Vol. 3. Farmington Hills, MI: Macmillan Reference USA, 2016. 206-208. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 2 Feb. 2016.

In addition, Professor David Forte is participating as amicus curiae for the brief of federalism scholars submitted to the Supreme Court in the case of Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt.

The American Planning Association (APA) has published two practitioner-oriented articles by Professor Alan Weinstein that offer guidance to local governments on how to comply with two recent Supreme Court rulings.

“The Legal Standard for Decisions,” appeared in the December 2015 issue of Planning, the APA’s monthly journal for members. The article discusses what local governments must do to ensure that their decisions on permit applications for wireless communication facilities (e.g., towers and antennae) comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling in T-Mobile South, LLC v. City of Roswell, Georgia, 135 S.Ct. 808 (2015).

“Practice: Temporary Signs” was published in the February 2016 edition of Zoning Practice, APA’s monthly practice journal. published by APA.  Co-authored with Wendy Moeller, a Cincinnati-based planning consultant, the article provides detailed guidance to planners and local government officials on how to revise their regulations of temporary signs to comply with the new rules for sign regulations announced by the Supreme Court in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, Arizona, 135 S.Ct. 2218 (2015).

Professor Karin Mika presented at the Legal Writing One Day Workshop in December 2015 at Concordia Law School in Boise, Idaho.  Her topic was “Meeting the Changing Needs of Our Students.”  Professor Mika discussed the reasons why students seem ill-prepared for law school and how the changes in our world have caused students to have a much different primary education than professors over a certain age.  Professor Mika also talked about how most students are more accomplished as opposed to less accomplished than students from 20 years ago, but other factors make them ill-equipped for understanding the nature of legal teaching as it is still done.  Naturally, Professor Mika advocated accepting students as they are as opposed to trying to turn back time.

Additionally, Professor Mika will serve as Chair of the AALS Teaching Methods Section for 2016.  Professor Mika reports that the section officers have already chosen a topic for next year, which will essentially be an expansion of Professor Mika’s presentation in Idaho.

On January 12, along with Professor Catherine Fisk of the University of California, Irvine, Professor David Forte participated in a podcast on We the People, at the National Constitution Center.  The topic was the case Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, which had just been argued before the United States Supreme Court.  The podcast can be accessed here.

In addition, Professor Forte reports that sales of The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, 2d edition, which Professor Forte co-edited with Edwin Meese III and Matthew Spalding, are approaching 10,000 copies.  The on-line version of the Guide has had 8.5 million page views in 2015 (vs. 4.3 million page views in 2014), as well as 5.6 million unique visitors in 2015 (vs. 3.1 million unique visitors in 2014).

Professor Sandra Kerber

Professor Sandra Kerber recently participated in Judge4Yourself interviews of judicial candidates running in the March 15, 2016 Ohio Primary Election. The candidates’ ratings are due to be released soon and are based on  their answers to the comprehensive questionnaire that is used to vet their respective judicial qualifications.

On December 9, 2015, Professor Heidi Gorovitz Robertson, Steven W. Percy Distinguished Professor of Law, was a panelist at the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association.  The panel, Home Rule and Preemption in Ohio, was a joint program of the CMBA’s Environmental Law and Local Government Law sections.  The panel was organized by CM Law alumnus, Carter Strang (Tucker Ellis), and in addition to Professor Robertson included the past Chair of the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission and the General Counsel for the City of Broadview Heights.

Professor Heidi Gorovitz Robertson

Heidi Gorovitz Robertson, Steven W. Percy Distinguished Professor of Law, was a panelist on the 2016 AALS Annual Meeting Arc of the Career series panel, The AALS In Spite of Itself: How to Use the AALS for Professional Development Even If It Sometimes Makes You Mad, with former CM Law Professor David V. Snyder (American) and others.  In addition, Professor Robertson was appointed to the Executive Committee of the AALS section on Natural Resources and Energy Law, and elected that section’s Treasurer.

Professor Geier’s E-Textbook

Professor Deborah Geier‘s updated free e-textbook for use in the first Federal Income Tax course is now available at www.cali.org/books/us-federal-income-taxation-individuals-2016. Pdf and Word formats can be downloaded immediately, and e-reader versions for iPads and Kindles can be downloaded by January 15. “U.S. Federal Income Taxation of Individuals 2016” is fully updated to incorporate changes in law through December 2015, including the so-called extenders legislation enacted in mid-December and the 2016 rate tables, standard deduction, and personal exemption deduction. A Teacher’s Manual is available for professors who use the textbook in their tax course.