Professor  and Associate Dean Milena Sterio’s op-ed article, “Polish Soldiers Acquitted of War Crimes for Nangar Khel Incident,” was published by JURIST, in its Academic Commentary Section.  JURIST is a web-based legal news and legal research service based at the University of Pittsburgh Law School; its Academic Commentary Section includes op-ed articles contributed by law professor and special contributors.  Professor Sterio was asked by JURIST editors to provide the above-mentioned op-ed article, in light of her expertise in the area of international criminal law.

In her op-ed article, Professor Sterio discusses the recent decision by a Polish military court in Warsaw to acquit a group of Polish soldiers of charges of war crimes (the soldiers were nonetheless convicted of lesser crimes).  The soldiers had been accused of deliberately killing civilians at the Nangar Khel village in Afghanistan back in 2007; the Polish soldiers were fighting in Afghanistan as part of a larger United States-led coalition against the Taliban and Al Qaeda forces.  The soldiers’ prosecution in Poland was particularly significant because it represented the first modern-day prosecution for war crimes charges.

As a part of the faculty exchange program between Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and DePaul University College of Law, Browne Lewis, Leon and Gloria Plevin Professor of Law, made a presentation entitled, You Belong to Me: Unscrambling the Property Interests in Frozen Eggs. Professor Lewis discussed situations where the availability of assisted reproductive technology has enabled parents to treat babies like basketballs. She also analyzed the options courts have when deciding how to classify a woman’s property interests in her frozen eggs. Professor Lewis concluded her presentation with a discussion of some of the causes of action available to a woman if her eggs are considered to be her personal property.

Professor Lewis’ latest article discussing property law and human oocyte cryopreservation has been accepted for publication by the Tennessee Law Review.

Professor Debby Geier’s textbook, “U.S. Federal Income Tax of Individuals 2015,” which is a Creative Commons licensed ebook, was selected by Unglue.it for promotion on April 15.  Unglue.it is a website dedicated to the development of sustainable funding and distribution for Creative Commons and other freely licensed books.  Unglue.it selects one Creative Commons textbook every week for promotion on its own website, and Professor Geier’s textbook was selected this week.

Professor and Associate Dean Milena Sterio attended the American Society of International Law Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., from April 8-11.  Professor Sterio was elected, at the Meeting, Chair of the ASIL-Midwest Interest Group.  In this capacity, Professor Sterio will manage the work of this Interest Group, including the organization of the annual works-in-progress workshop sponsored by the group.  Professor Sterio was also re-elected member of the Steering Committee of the Women in International Law Interest Group.

Professor and Associate Dean Milena Sterio was invited to contribute a second blog post on the so-called Wallstrom Affair to the Oxford Human Rights Hub, an academic blog  based at the University of Oxford Faculty of Law.  The post, entitled “Je Suis Margot Wallstrom,” is available here.  Professor Sterio had published a first post on the same topic on Intlawgrrls, which is available here.

In both of these posts, Professor Sterio discusses Swedish Foreign Minister’s (Margot Wallstrom) decision to publicly criticize the Saudi Arabian regime for its human and women’s rights violations, and the diplomatic backlash that this has provoked.

Margot Wallstrom, Swedish Foreign Minister

Professor and Associate Dean Milena Sterio has published a blog post on Intlawgrrls, discussing the Wallstrom Affair.  Margot Wallstrom is the Swedish Foreign Minister who openly criticized Saudi Arabia for its human (and women’s) rights abuses – particularly, for the Saudi regime’s decision to punish blogger and human rights activist, Raif Badawi, to a ten-year prison sentence and 1,000 lashes, and for the regime’s overall denial of the protection of women’s rights (as many know already, women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to travel or drive without a male guardian, and Saudi girls can be forced into child marriages).  The backlash against Wallstrom has been swift, by both Saudi Arabia and other, mostly Muslim and/or Arab states, as well as by others in the Swedish business community and government.  Professor Sterio’s post discusses the western media’s lack of coverage of the Wallstrom Affair and concludes that human (and women’s) rights appear to always lose out to other geo-political and business interests.

Professor Sterio’s post is available here.

Professor David Forte’s essay, “When Thomas Jefferson Read the Qur’an,” has been published by the Online Library of Law & Liberty, a production of The Liberty Fund.  It can be read here.  In this essay, Professor Forte reviews Professor Denise Spellberg’s book, “Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an: Islam and the Founders.”  Professor Spellberg is an Associate Professor of history and Middle eastern studies at the University of Texas at Austin.

Professor Heidi Gorovitz Robertson, C|M|’s Steven W. Percy Distinguished Professor of Law, was interviewed on America’s Work Force, a daily radio show focusing on issues affecting American workers. It is hosted by Ed “Flash” Ferenc. The conversation concerned the Natural Gas Act and the process for natural gas pipeline eminent domain. In particular, the focus was on opportunities for public involvement. The show was aired on March 18, 2015 on WERE 1490 and is available here.