Following an Important Civil Litigation Clinic Win at the Sixth Circuit, Professor Kalir Interviews with Law.360

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Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Civil Litigation Clinic secured an important victory with the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday, reversing a lower court decision and reviving a Cuban immigrant’s claim to vacate his sentence.
In Rodriguez-Penton v. United States, the Sixth Circuit (in a split decision) joined other circuits in holding that immigrants may prevail on ineffective assistance of counsel claims. The court further acknowledged, following Supreme Court precedent, that the criminal justice system today is a system of pleas, not of trials. Accordingly, in order to prevail, an immigrant no longer needs to insist that “but for” the ineffective advice of his counsel he would have gone to trial; rather, it is enough to show that he was prejudiced by insisting that he would have obtained a better plea deal but-for the ineffective advice. Accordingly, the Sixth Circuit reversed a lower court decision denying Mr. Rodriguez-Penton’s motion to vacate. 
The decision is an important milestone for “crimigration,” (criminal-immigrtaton) a new legal field created following the Supreme Court’s seminal Padilla v. Kentucky (2010), where the Court held that non-citizen clients have a constitutional right to be advised by their attorneys about the adverse immigration risks resulting from admission in their criminal proceedings.
Over the years, many Civil-Litigation Clinic students have contributed to the proceedings, and were critical in securing this important results. Ms. Ashley Fuchs, Ms. Shannon Lear, Ms. Danielle Limon, Mr. Brandon Morgan, and Mr. John Reulbach have assisted in the preparation of several briefs – and supplemental briefs – for the court. 
 
Mr. Derek Smith and Mr. Jeffrey Geisinger assisted in the preparation of Oral Argument. Mr. Smith also travelled to Cincinnati to prepare for, and then attended, the oral argument. 
 
Professors Witmer-Rich, Mead, and Ray (all former federal court-of-appeals clerks), as well as Professor Kowalski, assisted in preparation for oral argument. 
 
Professor Doron Kalir supervised the clinical work, served as the Attorney of Record, and argued the case before the Sixth Circuit. Following the decision, Professor Kalir interviewed to Law.360.
A copy of the opinion can be found here. A copy of the Law.360 interview can be found here.

Professor Karin Mika Presents at Western Regional Legal Writing Conference, etc.

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Professor Karin Mika presented at the Western Regional Legal Writing Conference, held at UC Irvine Law School, on September 29-29.  The topic of her presentation was “Understanding One’s Privilige and its Role int eh Future of Legal Education.”  In her presentation, Professor Mika discussed how we need to be make sure in our classroom that some voices have been historically silenced and are often silenced in a classroom setting.  As teachers we need to make sure that we are taking the opportunity to validate those voices.

Professor Mika also had an essay accepted for an upcoming edition of the Journal of the Legal Writing Institute: Reflections on the 2018 Biennial Conference (the past, present, and future of Legal Writing).

Finally, Professor Mika was a brief grader for the 2018 Scribes Best Brief Competition.

Professor Forte Presents at Columbia Law School and at Cato Institute Symposium

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On September 18, 2018, Professor David Forte made a presentation, “To Speak or Not to Speak: Compelled Speech and Righteous Causes,” at Columbia Law School.

On September 17, 2018, Professor David Forte made a presentation at the Cato Institute’s annual Constitution Day symposium on the topic, “The First Amendment and the Culture Wars.”

Dean Fisher Welcomes Ohio Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; Professor Forte, Committee Vice-Chair, Participates in Hearings

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On September 14, 2018, Dean Lee Fisher welcomed the Ohio Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights to the university at the beginning of the Committee’s hearings on School Funding in Ohio.  David Forte, Vice-Chair of the Committee, participated in the hearings.

Sagers Publishes in Harvard Online Forum on Antitrust and the Kavanaugh Nomination

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Chris Sagers, the James A. Thomas Professor of Law, published a long essay on the online forum of the Harvard Law & Policy Review, canvassing the opinions of Judge Brett Kavanaugh in antitrust and related areas. He argues that those opinions display an aggressive freedom in interpreting precedent, and suggests that they do not speak well of his more general approach to judging.

Professor Sterio Speaks at Cox Center Conference at Case Law School; Participates in “Talking Foreign Policy” Radio Show on WCPN/90.3

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Talking Foreign Policy Photo

“Talking Foreign Policy” taping at WCPN/90.3 (from right to left, counter-clock wise: Dean Michael Scharf, Professor Milena Sterio, Todd Buchwald, former State Department Ambassador, Office of Global Criminal Justice, Professor Paul Williams, American University, Jim Johnson, former prosecutor, Special Court for Sierra Leone)

On September 14, Professor and Associate Dean Milena Sterio spoke as a panelist at the Frederick K. Cox International Law Center, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Law conference on “International Law and Policy in the Age of Trump.”  Professor Sterio was a panelist on a panel entitled “A Roundtable on Use of Force and Rogue States.”

In addition, Professor Sterio participated as a panelist in the taping of a new episode of the “Talking Foreign Policy” radio show; the episode is entitled “Responding to Rogue States” and it will be broadcast on WCPN/90.3 on September 17th, from 9:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.  “Talking Foreign Policy” is a quarterly radio show on WCPN/90.3, hosted by Dean Michael Scharf of CWRU School of Law, and Professor Sterio has been a regular participant.

Professor Forte’s Article Published in CATO Constitutional Law Review

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Professor David Forte’s article, To Speak or Not to Speak, That is Your Liberty: Janus v. AFSCME, has been published in the CATO Constitutional Law Review.  A copy of the article is available here:

07_To Speak or Not to Speak

Professors Lazarus and Forte Speak to Inn of Court

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On September 12, Professors Stephen Lazarus and David Forte spoke to the William K. Thomas Inn of Court on the topic, “Supreme Court Term: A Retrospective and a Preview.”

Professor Forte Participates in “Sound of Ideas,” Delivers Constitution Day Lecture

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On September 6, Professors David Forte and Jonathan Entin of Case Western School of Law, spoke on the Confirmation Hearings of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, at The Sound of Ideas, WCPN/90.3 radio.

This year’s Constitution Day speaker at Cleveland-Marshall was Professor David Forte, who addressed the topic: “Noble Sinners: The Legacy of the Founders.”

Professor Kalir Presents on Judge Kavanaugh’s Nomination at CMBA

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Doron Kalir

Clinical Professor Doron Kalir

On Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018 Clinical Professor of Law Doron Kalir participated as a panelist in the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association (CMBA)’s “Hot Talks” series. The discussion, entitled “Supreme Court Nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh,” also featured professor Jonathan Adler of Case Western Law School, and Hon. William Vodrey, a magistrate of Cleveland Municipal Court since 2001.

In his presentation, Kalir made among others the argument that the current nomination resembles, in more ways than one, the Bork nomination of 1987 (for example, both nominees had stellar academic credentials (with Yale Law School behind them); both served, with distinction, one Republican president only to be nominated by another; both served on the D.C. Circuit at the time of their nomination; and both held distinct views on presidential powers, gun control, and abortion rights (to name a few), which were far to the right of many). Alas, Kalir explained that recent changes in the nomination proceeding – requiring only 51 senate votes to confirm – as well as the general shift in public opinion would likely lead to a different result this time than the failed Bork attempt of yore. Finally, since the seat now vacated by Justice Kennedy is the very same seat for which Bork was originally nominated in 1987, Kalir concluded that the Republicans have won the long game over these issues.