The Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Solo Incubator was featured in an article published by Crain’s Cleveland Business News entitled “Cleveland-Marshall Incubator if making convincing case.”  The article describes the solo incubator as one of the first such programs in the country and features two of its five current residents, Matthew Williams and Jeremy Adell (both 2013 graduates of C-M Law).  In addition, the article highlights the work of C-M Law Dean Craig Boise in creating the incubator, and of Chris Sagers, James A. Thomas Distinguished Professor of Law, who has been serving as the solo incubator program director.  According to the subtitle of this article, “[l]awyers who are getting their start can benefit from program.”

Professor Heidi Gorovitz Robertson

C|M|LAW’s Steven W. Percy Distinguished Professor of Law, Heidi Gorovitz Robertson has published a short piece in Crain’s Cleveland Business’ Energy Report regarding the Ohio Supreme Court’s recent decision concerning Munroe Falls, Ohio’s efforts to control shale oil and gas development within its jurisdiction. In Ohio Supreme Court leaves room for traditional zoning as it rejects Munroe Falls’ ordinances, she writes that although the court struck down Munroe Falls’ ordinances, the majority did so because they ran afoul of the state oil and gas law.  The state law gives sole and exclusive authority over the location, spacing, and permitting of oil and gas drilling operations to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.  Justice O’Donnell, in a separate concurrence, however, indicated that if Munroe Falls’ ordinances had been traditional zoning controls, rather than ordinances intertwined with a local permit requirement, he would have upheld them.  Robertson suggests that we will see local jurisdictions using more traditional zoning principles to protect their communities.  If so, Justice O’Donnell may join the three justices from the Munroe Falls dissent to form a new majority.

On March 6, Professor David Forte presented a paper entitled, “Religion and the Republic,” at the conference, Religion in the Public Square, held at Case Western Reserve Law School.

On Tuesday, March 10, Professor David Forte delivered a lecture entitled, “How Justice Cardozo Almost Saved the Commerce Clause and Our Freedoms,” at the McKinney Law School in Indianapolis, Indiana.

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.