Professor Milena Sterio was quoted in an NPR story titled, “Russia has achieved at least 1 of its war goals: return Ukraine’s water to Crimea.” The story discusses how one of Russia’s first acts of war in its invasion of Ukraine was to blow up a dam that had been blocking water from flowing into Russian-occupied Crimea.

Professor Sterio discussed the international law aspects of Russia’s legal claims over this water supply. She noted that one of the complexities to this dispute is the fact that most of the world still views Crimea as belonging to Ukraine. “So if you consider the territory [Crimea] to be a part of Ukraine but occupied by Russia, then the law of occupation, the so-called Fourth Geneva Convention, clearly says that it’s the occupier that has the responsibility to ensure the welfare of the people living in that occupied territory,” Professor Sterio explained. She also discussed other aspects of this water dispute, noting that international law is not entirely clear on the subject of water rights.

The story is available here.

On June 8, Professor Milena Sterio testified before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, at a hearing titled “The Path Forward On U.S.-Syria Policy: Strategy And Accountability.”

The hearings focused on U.S.-Syria relations, and Professor Sterio’s testimony focused on mechanisms for accountability for atrocities committed by the Syrian government and non-state actors in the ongoing Syrian conflict. She explained that the “atrocities in Syria are among the worst in history,” and include “mass executions, widespread rapes, systematic torture, intentionally targeting hospitals, and repeated use of chemical weapons against civilians.” She described to the Committee various accountability measures that could be pursued, including “prosecutions in the courts of Syria and prosecutions in the national courts of various countries under the principle of universal jurisdiction, to the establishment of a hybrid tribunal for Syria, and prosecutions in the International Criminal Court at The Hague.”

The hearing also featured gripping testimony from a Syrian gravedigger, who appeared at the hearing anonymously in a full body and face covering due to the risk to his life. He testified that he was “witness to mass graves in Syria from 2011 to 2018 where men and women, children and elderly, were tortured, executed, gassed, and bombed by the Assad regime, Iran, and Russia and then callously thrown into trenches, their fate unknown to loved ones.” He described the horrors that he personally witnessed: “Every week, twice a week, three trailer trucks arrived, packed with 300 to 600 bodies of victims of torture, bombardment, and slaughter.”

The hearings were live-streamed, and a recording can be viewed here.

Professor Laura Hoffman has published an article, titled “Reconnecting the Patient: Why Telehealth Policy Solutions Must Consider the Deepening Digital Divide,” in the Indiana Health Law Review, Volume 19, No. 2.  The article explains the digital divide and its impact in access to telehealth for various populations including 1) race/minority populations, 2) aging adults, 3) individuals with disabilities, 4) non-English speakers, 5) individuals living in rural areas, 6) socioeconomic class, and 7) children.  Further, the article argues policy solutions involving telehealth must adequately address the various issues involved in the digital divide in order to prevent the furthering of existing healthcare disparities as well as ensure the success of telehealth for these populations.  The article is available here:  https://mckinneylaw.iu.edu/ihlr/pdf/vol19p351.pdf 

Dr. Hoffman is Visiting Professor of Law and Acting Director of the Center for Health Law and Policy.

Professor Milena Sterio has been invited to testify at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. The hearing, titled “The Path Forward On U.S.-Syria Policy: Strategy And Accountability,” will be held at 10 a.m. on June 8, 2022. The hearing can be viewed live at this link.

Other speakers at the hearing include Dana Stroul, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, and Barbara Leaf, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. In addition, the hearing will feature testimony of a Syrian gravedigger who witnessed mass graves in Syria.

Professor Milena Sterio has been advising the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on building international support and advocacy for the need for accountability for Russian leaders, as well as on different accountability options and venues where such Russian leaders could be prosecuted.  

Professor Milena Sterio presented at the Global Initiative for Justice, Truth & Reconciliation’s workshop on “Victim-Centered Approaches to Transitional Justice” on May 25.  Professor Sterio’s remarks focused on the topic of “Victim participation in investigations, prosecution, and trial of international crimes: domestic courts and international tribunals.”

Chris Sagers, the James A. Thomas Professor of Law, was quoted in a Wall Street Journal article covering chipmaker Broadcom’s pending acquisition of enterprise software firm VMWare. As Sagers explained, the deal would not be the type usually challenged in antitrust law because it is “vertical,” meaning that the merging parties are not currently direct competitors. However, he also explained that the deal is very large and involves very concentrated markets that pose real risks of anticompetitive exclusion. He also pointed out that the Federal Trade Commission challenged a not dissimilar deal last year, and so predicted that challenge to this one seems possible.

In another interview in Business Insider, Professor Kalir opined on the “new-normal” that might develop following a likely decision by the Supreme Court overruling Roe v. Wade. The article is available here.

Professor Doron Kalir has published an op-ed on Cleveland.com, titled, “Why Alito’s Roe v. Wade draft is the court’s most Trumpian opinion ever.” The opinion identifies five themes that, in Professor Kalir’s view, make the opinion “the most Trumpian opinion to ever leave the high court.”

Professor Doron Kalir was featured in a Fox News article titled, “Will the Supreme Court release a Roe v. Wade decision this week?” Professor Kalir explained that it was extremely unlikely that the Dobbs opinion would be released today, noting that there are almost certainly dissenting opinions currently being drafted. He also noted that some justices in the majority may push for changes in the tone or language of the majority opinion.