Professor Milena Sterio participated as an expert, on behalf of the Public International Law and Policy Group, in the review of Ukrainian draft laws on Reintegration (of Crimes and other occupied territories) and on Transitional Justice.

Professor Heidi Gorovitz Robertson and NY-based attorney Corinne Snow spoke to the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law’s Federalist Society regarding the current and emerging state of environmental law in the new administration. 

Ms. Snow, counsel in the environment and natural resources group at Vinson & Elkins LLP, previously served as Counsel and Chief of Staff in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.  Robertson and Snow presented their thoughts and predictions regarding potential changes in the regulatory state including discussion of specific areas of law and regulation that are likely to be revisited or revised.

Robertson is the Steven W. Percy Distinguished Professor of Law at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and Professor of Environmental Studies at the Levin College of Urban Affairs.

Professor Milena Sterio delivered a guest lecture at the Washington University School of Law on March 16, in Professor Leila Sadat’s class on International Human Rights.  Professor Sterio’s guest lecture was on the topic of Syria and the possible accountability models for prosecuting Syrian perpetrators of atrocities.

Professor Jonathan Witmer-Rich was quoted in a Cleveland.com story on plans by the Cleveland Division of Police to begin using drones sometime later this year. He noted some of the Fourth Amendment risks created by digital surveillance tools such as drones: “There are additional privacy risks by the fact you’re using a digital surveillance to do that and that may violate the Fourth Amendment even though a police officer doing the same thing might not.”

In addition, Professor Witmer-Rich urged the police to seek public input on developing new policies governing the use of drones before beginning to use them.

Professor Milena Sterio co-moderated the Women in International Law Interest Group meeting at the American Society of International Law Annual Meeting on March 25th.  Professor Sterio just completed her three-year term as Co-Chair of the Women in International Law Interest Group.  At the meeting, Professor Sterio and her co-chair, Professor Nienke Grossman, delivered the Prominent Woman in International Law Award to Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, formerly a federal judge in the U.S. and a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia.

In addition, Professor Sterio was elected as a member of the American Society of International Law Executive Council.  The Executive Council consists of a group of most prominent international law scholars in the United States. 

Finally, Professor Sterio was elected co-chair of the Transitional Justice and Rule of Law Interest Group at the American Society of International Law.

Professor Deborah Geier appeared on the “Sound of Ideas” program on WCPN (local NPR affiliate) on Wednesday, March 24. She discussed several of the tax changes that affect the current tax filing season for 2020, as well as a few of the significant tax changes affecting low- and middle-income families in the American Rescue Plan Act for 2021. The program is available here: https://www.ideastream.org/programs/sound-of-ideas/federal-deadline-extension-and-unemployment-tax-break-among-issues-for-tax-filers-for-2020-returns.

Pew Charitable Trust’s Stateline interviewed Professor Brian Ray for a story on digital contact tracing apps in the U.S. Ray, who has worked extensively on the privacy concerns these apps raise since the start of the pandemic, explained how the convergence of broad, widespread concern over surveillance combined with resistance to government measures like mask mandates and business closures to create widespread resistance to even the highly privacy-protective system co-created by Google and Apple.

Chris Sagers, the James A. Thomas Professor of Law, appeared this week on NPR’s Morning Edition. He discussed the antitrust significance of the recent decision by both Apple and Google to cut the fees they charge for App Store purchases, fees that are the focus of ongoing antitrust scrutiny. 

Professor Reginald Oh has published an op-ed on DemCast titled, “Thoughts on the Dehumanization of Asian Americans.” Professor Oh addresses the “senseless murders of six Asian women and the spate of anti-Asian violence amid the pandemic,” and argues the America’s history of dehumanizing Asian Americans is a key to understanding the problem.

He identifies a path forward through a process of “rehumanization”–“treating a dehumanized group as people once again.” This includes “learning about the victims and searching for their core humanity,” as well as “listening to their stories.” Rehumanization also includes “using the language of humanity in talking about Asians.” Professor Oh explains, “[t]he language of humanity and empathy needs to drown out the language of dehumanization.”

On March 10, as part of the Maltz Museum’s “Notorious RBG – The Life and Time of Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” Clinical Professor of Law Doron Kalir gave a presentation on “Jewish Justice: The Role of Judaism in Justice Bader-Ginsburg’s Judicial Philosophy.” In that lecture, Professor Kalir argued that, contrary to conventional wisdom, Justice Bader-Ginsburg’s judicial edifice was infused with Jewish wisdom, knowledge, and lessons. He explained that RBG’s Jewish identity has shone time and again through many of her writings. 

On March 3, professor Kalir was invited to speak in Bradley University in Chicago, where he discussed LGBTQ rights in the Supreme Court with pre-law college students.