Faculty Commentary

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, law schools face an existential crisis. After shuttering their buildings and moving their classes online, they must ask whether they can and should assign grades for the spring 2020 semester. Many have already decided to go pass/fail. And many more are sure to follow. But I don’t believe [...]

READ MORE

In the wake of the conviction and sentencing of Roger Stone, for obstructing the congressional inquiry into Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham suggested that President Donald Trump “has all the legal authority in the world to review this case, in terms of commuting the sentence or pardoning Mr. [...]

READ MORE

The US Supreme Court has struggled for decades with how colleges and universities may use racial and ethnic preferences in admissions. At present, the law is this: (1) an institution of higher education may consider the race and ethnicity of applicants as a factor in admissions decisions for purposes of “diversity,” provided that it is [...]

READ MORE
© WikiMedia (OSeveno)

As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and the most militarily powerful nation in the world, the US has largely been able to evade international justice, even when engaging in conduct for which other nations have been held accountable. To date, the vast majority of international criminal courts and tribunals have instead prosecuted [...]

READ MORE
©WikiMedia (2006 Bonnie Jacobs)

The power of impeachment is a central feature of our democracy. The founders of our country and the framers of our Constitution gave the matter careful consideration. They would not have created the office of the Presidency nor would they have given the President sweeping powers without this necessary check and balance on the exercise [...]

READ MORE

The global movie industry generated over $43 billion in revenue in 2018, of which the United States’ contribution alone topped more than $11 billion. Yet, these seemingly impressive headline figures can obscure the fact that year-on-year growth has been a sluggish 2 per cent over the last several years, with market researchers forecasting further stagnation. [...]

READ MORE

Abstract: Although US President Donald Trump may eventually be content with achieving only modest operational successes against Iran, there is reason to believe he would still prefer some notion of a military “victory.” Any such notion would likely be starkly injurious to overall US security interests. Derivatively, as shall now be argued, any such erroneous [...]

READ MORE
©WikiMedia (BotMultichillT)

Writing in the New York Times, U.S. Senator Tom Cotton argued that President Donald Trump’s decision to kill Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani was legally justified in three ways: under Article II of the Constitution, the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force aimed at those responsible for the September 11 attacks, and the 2002 Authorization [...]

READ MORE
© Wikimedia (sayyed shahab-o- din vajedi)

On 03 January, the US launched a drone strike against the Iranian defence chief Qasem Soleimani. The strike occurred while Soleimani was in Iraq and it killed both the general and a number of other personnel in the area, including Iraqis. The event raises questions that touch on various aspects of international law. For example, there is the [...]

READ MORE