Professor Milena Sterio participated in International Law Weekend 2020, one of the most prestigious national-level conference in International Law, organized by the American Branch of the International Law Association (ABILA).  Professor Sterio moderated two sessions: on October 22, she moderated a session on “Women in International Law,” and on October 23, she moderated a session on “Teaching International Law.”  

Professor Sterio is a member of the ABILA Board of Directors and she co-chairs the ABILA Teaching International Law Committee.

Professor Heidi Gorovitz Robertson and Cleveland-Marshall 2L Isaac M. Bleich have published Toledo’s Doomed Lake Erie Bill of Rights and the Future of Environmental Protection, as a Featured Article in the October issue of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Journal.  You may access the CMBA Journal’s October edition here: https://indd.adobe.com/view/06937daf-ff6c-45c2-8caa-a2dd9ed6ffc1.  Robertson and Bleich’s article is on pages 18-19. 

It explains that the Lake Erie Bill of Rights, known as LEBOR, is an example of the growing trend of local jurisdictions adopting community bills of rights (CBRs) — assertions of rights in defense of nature and in nature itself.  Although these CBRs are generally believed to be unenforceable, their continued proliferation belies a frustration with the ability of existing environmental laws to protect the environment and citizens’ efforts to look elsewhere for effective tools. 

Robertson is the Steven W. Percy Distinguished Professor of Law at C|M|LAW, and Professor of Environmental Studies at the Levin College of Urban Affairs.

Chris Sagers, the James A. Thomas Professor of Law, commented in a variety of broadcast and print media about the long-awaited Justice Department antitrust case against Google, filed in federal court last Tuesday.

Sagers wrote a piece in Slate, arguing that the case is strong, even though it faces several challenges, not least being the American public’s persistent skepticism of antitrust enforcement. 

He also spoke about the case on “Air Talk,” a public affairs program on Los Angeles public radio station KPCC, and a segment for local TV news stations in the Sinclair broadcasting network. Next week he will appear on the radio program “The Morning Run” of BFM Radio in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He was quoted in a variety of print media, including in the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Yahoo Finance, and Agence-France Presse.

Professor Brian Glassman has published a series of five posts for Georgia Conservation Voters, discussing important issues related to the 2020 General Election.

The five posts are titled:

(1) “Representation: Advocating for Environmental Protection Through the Electoral Process,”

(2) “From Policy to Action: the Constitutional and Statutory Foundations for Your Voice Being Heard,”

(3) “What’s Now: the Census—Accurate, Complete, and Non-Partisan” and “Exercising Your Right to Vote—During a Pandemic,”

(4) “Free and Fair Elections: Who’s Responsible for Making that Goal a Reality?” and “How Can Voting be Made More Accessible and Secure?”, and

(5) “What’s Next: Redistricting and the Fight Against Gerrymandering.”

The posts are available here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.

On October 16, Professor Kevin O’Neill spoke to the annual meeting of the County Counselors Association of Kansas, an organization comprised of county and municipal law directors from across the State of Kansas. Professor O’Neill spoke on the the regulation of public protest, including police power to disperse or arrest demonstrators.

Professor Milena Sterio participated as a panelist in an event titled “Post-Conflict State Building” on October 9.  This event was hosted by Utrecht University Centre for Global Challenges (The Netherlands), and it also served as a book launch for a book entitled “Research Handbook on Post-Conflict State Building,” which Professor Sterio co-edited with Professor Paul Williams, American University Washington College of Law, and which was published by Edward Elgar earlier this year.  

Chris Sagers, the James A. Thomas Professor of Law, spoke with NPR’s morning business affairs program, Marketplace Morning Report, to discuss Tuesday’s long-awaited U.S. House Judiciary report on monopoly in the high technology sector. You can hear the story here.

The likely nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court may cast a shadow on the future of Affirmative Action. That, in short, is the claim made by a recent Law360 article published on October 6, 2020. 

The article cites several legal experts, including Professor Doron Kalir. Kalir opined that Judge Barret’s nomination may present a “dream scenario” for Justice Thomas, who for years has fought to abolish the legal institution of Affirmative Action in its entirety. 

The underlying case, which may come before the Supreme Court as early as next Term, is Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard. The case has been decided in favor of Harvard by the District Court, and is now before the First Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard Oral Argument in September. 

On October 2, Professor Sterio moderated a Panel on “Teaching International Law During Challenging Times.” The Panel was sponsored by the American Branch of the International Law Association and co-sponsored by the Teaching International Law Interest Group at the American Society of International Law. Professor Sterio serves on ABILA’s Board of Directors and co-chairs its Teaching International Law committee, and she organized this panel in this capacity. 

Professor Milena Sterio published a post on Opinio Juris, one of the most prominent academic blogs in international law, on the recent resurgence of conflict in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. The post is available here:
http://opiniojuris.org/2020/10/02/the-frozen-conflict-in-nagorno-karabakh/