Professor Milena Sterio co-authored an article titled “Prosecuting Gender Persecution at the ICC — Definitions, Policies, and Practice” with Professor Yvonne Dutton (Indiana University McKinney School of Law).  Professor Sterio and Professor Dutton’s article will be published by the Fordham Journal of International Law.

On March 15, the Business Insider published a piece discussing a recent move by the DeSantis Administration in Florida to revoke an alcohol license from a Hyatt Hotel in Miami. The threatened revocation was in response to the hotel hosting last December — and for the eighth year in a row — a show titled “The Drag Quin Christmas Show.” Never before has this show seem to offend Florida law, but this year it has, according to a Complaint filed by Florida administrators. Professor Kalir, who was cited in the piece, opined that the very filing of the Complaint — regardless of its legal consequences — may serve the Administration in two ways: First, it may cause a “chilling effect” on both future performers and future venue-managers when it comes to the hosting (or performing in) future drag shows; and, second, even if defeated in Court, the very filing of the complaint may score political points with the Administration’s base. Thus, the move can be seen as a “win-win” for the Administration regardless of its legal consequences. Still, Professor Kalir argued, it violates the very foundations of the bedrock principle of Freedom of Speech, as well as principles of non-intervening Government and personal responsibility.  

Professor Heidi Gorovitz Robertson served as an Associate Editor for the March/April 2023 (Vol. 37, No 2) edition of the ABA’s Probate and Property Magazine.  Robertson, recently reappointed, has served as an Associate Articles Editor since 2021.  She was appointed to this position by the Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section of the ABA. 

Robertson is the Steven W. Percy Distinguished Professor at CSU|Law and Professor of Environmental Studies at the Levin College of Public Affairs and Education.

On March 8, Professor Doron Kalir presented before the Laura and Alvin Siegal Lifelong Learning Program at Case Western Reserve University. The title of the presentation was “Is Israel Losing its Democracy?” In it, Kalir reviewed Israel’s legal history, including its unique structure of Separation of Powers and lack of a binding Constitution. He then explained how the current Government, led by P.M. Netanyahu, aims to completely demolish the current structure — effectively bringing about a unitary, authoritarian regime that will eliminate, for all intent and purposes, Israel as a Democratic State. The presentation took ninety minutes and was very well received. 

On March 3, the Plain Dealer published Doron Kalir’s op-ed, titled, “Effort to muzzle judiciary poses imminent threat to Israel’s democracy.” The current Israeli Government, led by P.M. Netanyahu, is seeking to upend the current system of separation of powers and eliminate the independence of Israel’s judiciary. In response, a civil protest like never before has engulfed Israeli, with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets for months. The Op-Ed explains the scope of some of the most radical proposals — called by their proponents, in true Orwellian fashion, “judicial reform” — and then explains why they are so dangerous to Israel’s current, and very delicate, structure of government.  

Professor Karin Mika presented at the Rocky Mountain Legal Writing Conference at UNLV on February 25.  Her presentation was titled, “Teaching Tips for a Post COVID Quarantine Generation of Students.”  The presentation discussed the troubling trend of anxiety and disconnection in today’s law students and various ways that curriculum (and teaching) needed to modified in order to effectively teach current students.

Professor Karin Mika recently served in various capacities judging writing competitions. She was a brief grader for the Capital Law School Child Welfare Law Moot Court Competition, an essay grader for the Maltz Museum’s “Stop the Hate” Essay Writing competition, and a reviewer for the Scribes Best Student Law Review Article Competition.

Professor Heidi Gorovitz Robertson presented “The Common Core of European Private Law: Meeting the Challenge of the Commons — the United States Report” at a lunch talk to faculty, staff, and students at the University of Maine School of Law (via Zoom) on February 15, 2023. The presentation described Professor Robertson’s experience as the United States Reporter (with Monica Epperson, St. Louis University) on the Access to Commons Working Group for the Common Core of European Private Law project — a 20+ year research project funded, in part, by the European Union. She discussed both the research process, which was unusual because it involved participation in the creation of a series of specific fact-based questions to be answered by national reporters, as well as the differences in global perspectives on commons.

Professor Milena Sterio presented at the United Nations in New York City, at a day-long conference on the topic of “Gross Human Rights Violations due to the Aggression Against Ukraine.” Professor Sterio delivered remarks on the topic of “The Rights of Prisoners of War under International Humanitarian Law.”  Other presenters at the conference included The First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska (by video); Dmytro Kuleba, Foreign Minister of Ukraine; Karim Khan, Chief Prosecutor, International Criminal Court; Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US Ambassador to the United Nations; and Melanie Joly, Foreign Minister of Canada. 

Teddy Norris is a federal prisoner. In 2016 he filed, and won, a motion to vacate his sentence under Section 2255. Last year, representing himself, he wanted to file again. Believing that his subsequent motion was “second or successive,” he filed it first with the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking permission to do so.

The Court appointed the Appellate Practice Clinic to answer the question of whether this subsequent motion was, indeed, “second or successive.” The Clinic argued it was not. 

Three students — Oluwatoni Kolawole, Jeffrey Andrews, and Mickey Isakoff — wrote an exceptional brief. The students exhaustively researched every case ever decided in this area, and they developed a novel theory regarding the Court’s jurisdiction on the issue. The students argued that this subsequent motion was not “second or successive,” and therefore that Norris could — and should — refile it in District Court without a need to ask leave from the Court of Appeals. 

The Government, in its response, agreed with every word. 

Thus, without a real “case or controversy,” the Sixth Circuit agreed with the Clinic in full. The Court held that the motion was not “second or successive,” and thus did not require authorization. The Court then transferred the case to the District Court. 

Professor Doron Kalir supervised the work and served as Counsel of Record.