On April 12, Professor Deborah A. Geier appeared in the second of three segments on “The Sound of Ideas,” a program on the Cleveland NPR affiliate WCPN, to discuss the prospects for tax reform. To access the program, click here.
Category Archives: Faculty in the Media
Professor Sagers Writes in Washington Post on Airlines and Oligopoly
Chris Sagers, the James A. Thomas Distinguished Professor of Law, wrote in Saturday’s Washington Post to discuss the recent controversy over forcible removal of a United Airlines passenger, and the relation it might have to concentration and competition in the airline industry. You can read his piece here.
Professor Inniss Publishes Blog Post on Rules, Resistance and Retribution
Professor Lolita Buckner Inniss has published a blog post entitled S/he Had it Coming: Rules, Resistance and Retribution. Her blog post is available here.
Professor Ray Selected to Participate in Yale Cyber Leaders Forum; Professor Ray and Cybersecurity Center Featured in Channel 5 News Story
Professor Ray was selected to participate in the first annual Yale Cyber Leaders Forum organized by the Yale Law School, March 30 – April 1. The Forum included leaders from government, industry and academia who came together to discuss how best to understand and counter the most pressing cyber security challenges of our day. The Forum will publish a white paper summarizing the group’s discussions in the next several months.
In addition, Professor Ray and the Cleveland-Marshall Cybersecurity and Privacy Protection Center (of which Professor Ray serves as co-director) were featured in a recent news story on Channel 5 News about high demand for new cybersecurity professionals. The news story is available here.
Professor Robertson Delivers Lecture at Juniata College
Heidi Gorovitz Robertson, C|M|LAW’s Steven W. Percy Professor of Law, traveled to Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on April 4 and 5. to deliver the 2017 Will Judy Lecture. In addition, to the public lecture, Professor Robertson met with undergraduate students in the environmental studies program, with the College’s pre-law advisor and pre-law students, and with an upper-level class in environmental economics.
Professor Sterio Publishes Post on the Legality of the United States’ Use of Force Against Syria
Professor and Associate Dean Milena Sterio has published a post on Intlawgrrls entitled “Syria: The (Il)legality of the United States’ Use of Force Against Assad.” This post, available here, discusses the legality of recent American air strikes against Syria under both international law and domestic law. Professor Sterio concludes in this post that the United States’ unilateral use of force against Syria most likely lacks a solid legal basis under international and domestic law.
Professor Sterio Elected Co-Chair of International Criminal Law Interest Group at the American Society of International Law
Professor and Associate Dean Milena Sterio was elected Co-Chair of the International Criminal Law Interest Group at the American Society of International Law. She will serve a two-year term as Co-Chair. Professor Sterio just completed a two-year term as Co-Chair of the American Society of International Law-Midwest Interest Group, and she is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Women in International Law Interest Group at the American Society of International Law.
Professor Mika Grades Briefs for Moot Court Competition; Presents at Annual Rocky Mountain Regional Legal Writing Conference
Professor Karin Mika was a brief grader for the Capital University Child Welfare and Adoption Law Moot Court Competition. In addition, Professor Mika presented at the 17th Annual Rocky Mountain Regional Legal Writing Conference, held at Arizona State, Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law on March 10-11. The title of her presentation was “The Evolving Classroom: How Technology Has Changed Our Students and Ourselves.”
Professor Plecnik Awarded Grant from the Slovenian Research Agency
Professor John Plecnik
Professor John Plecnik was awarded a bilateral grant from the Public Research Agency of the Republic of Slovenia in partnership with Professor Jernej Letnar Černič, Professor Matej Avbelj and Assistant Lecturer Dejan Valentinčič of the Graduate School of Government and European Studies in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The grant will support an international faculty and research exchange between Cleveland State University and the Graduate School of Government and European Studies to discuss the “Constitutional and Legal Aspects of Real Estate Taxes—what Slovenia Can Learn From the U.S.”
Professor Plecnik’s research focuses on the intersection of taxation and public policy. His work on the fundamental fairness and constitutional limits of taxation was recently highlighted by the Office of Research at Cleveland State University with a “Featured Researcher” video. Professor Černič’s research focuses on political systems as well as constitutional law, international law, human rights law and administrative law. Professor Avbelj’s research focuses on democracy and the rule of law with an emphasis on European Union law. Assistant Lecturer Valentinčič’s research focuses on comparative constitutional law, international law and human rights law.
To fulfill their grant project, Professor Plecnik and his Slovenian colleagues will visit each other’s schools this fall for approximately a week. They will give a series of presentations and guest lectures on their latest research to faculty and students.
Professor Witmer-Rich Accepts Offer of Publication by American Criminal Law Review
Professor Witmer-Rich has accepted an offer from the American Criminal Law Review to publish an article entitled, “The Heat of Passion and Blameworthy Reasons to be Angry.” The American Criminal Law Review, published by the Georgetown University Law School, is the country’s leading criminal law journal.
The article resolves a long-standing conceptual puzzle in voluntary manslaughter cases, when a defendant kills in the “heat of passion” after being provoked. For decades courts in provocation cases have struggled to determine which features of a particular defendant are properly relevant when assessing the adequacy of provocation.
The article solves this puzzle by identifying a hidden normative component of the heat of passion doctrine: provocation is not adequate if the reason the defendant became extremely angry is due to some blameworthy belief or attribute of the defendant. A belief is blameworthy if it contradicts the fundamental values of the political community.
The blameworthiness principle also explains when the heat of passion defense should be denied to some defendants—such as possessive men who kill independent women, or defendants who claim “gay panic” or “trans panic”—while allowed for other defendants in arguably similar circumstances.
A defendant who pleads provocation asks the community to mitigate a wrongful act of killing from murder to manslaughter, and to do so because another person provoked him into a rage that made it much more difficult to control his violent response. But if the defendant’s reason for becoming angry is blameworthy, he has no rightful claim to mitigation—he is culpably responsible for entering the state of extreme anger that might otherwise reduce his culpability.
CSU Law Faculty 