Faculty News
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Prof. Hickman Quoted in Star Tribune About South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc.
April 16, 2018Professor Kristin Hickman was quoted in a Star Tribune article about the pending Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. The case concerns the ability of states to collect sales tax revenue from online vendors who sell and ship products to state residents but lack a physical presence in the state. South Dakota and other states have asked the Supreme Court to overturn precedent restricting state sales tax collections under such circumstances. Commenting on the Supreme Court’s willingness to do so, Professor Hickman suggested that “[i]t is not unusual for people to ask courts to overturn prior decisions” but “[i]t’s rare for courts to do it. Up to now the assumption was that Congress would need to step in.”
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Prof. Rozenshtein Quoted in Financial Times About President Trump Potentially Firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein
April 11, 2018Professor Alan Rozenshtein was quoted in a Financial Times article (subscription required) about reports that President Trump is considering firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein because of Rosenstein’s support of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference into the 2016 election. Professor Rozenshtein explained why it might make sense for Trump to fire Rosenstein but not Mueller: “There is a certain logic for Trump to fire Rosenstein but not fire Mueller on the theory that acting gradually to hamstring the investigation is going to be politically much less problematic than acting really abruptly.” In addition, firing Rosenstein could allow Trump to replace Rosenstein with “a less independent, more pliant” official who would oversee the special-counsel investigation.
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Prof. Clarke Interviewed by Vox on Free Speech Rights of Schoolteacher Who Allegedly Ran a White Nationalist Podcast
April 5, 2018Professor Jessica Clarke was quoted extensively in an article in Vox about the scope of free-speech protections for a public school teacher accused of espousing racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-Muslim rhetoric in her classroom. Clarke explained that the Supreme Court has found that both students and teachers do not forfeit their First Amendment rights just because they’re on school property. However, she continued, “[t]eachers don’t have a First Amendment right to determine the content of their lessons. Schools can tell them what to teach. Schools can and should tell them not to teach racist stuff.”
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Prof. Clarke Publishes Article in Harvard Business Review on What to Say if You’re Called for a Reference After Firing Someone for Sexual Harassment
April 5, 2018Professor Jessica Clarke authored an article for the Harvard Business Review examining the legal and moral questions surrounding whether or not a former employer has a duty to disclose allegations of sexual misconduct to a reference checker. “Perfect fairness [from prospective employers] is impossible in a world of imperfect information,” wrote Clarke. “Like the rest of us, employers must do their best to evaluate the evidence they can gather … and make a decision that best balances fairness to the accused against the imperative that the workplace be safe and inclusive.”
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Prof. McGeveran Talks to Public Radio’s Marketplace About Facebook Privacy
March 30, 2018The public radio program Marketplace interviewed Professor William McGeveran, a privacy law expert who has written about Facebook’s practices, to discuss the platform’s new privacy settings in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica controversy.
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WCCO’s “Good Question” Feature Asks Prof. McGeveran About #DeleteFacebook
March 30, 2018Professor William McGeveran, a privacy expert who has written about Facebook, helped answer the “Good Question” on WCCO-TV’s newscast: “Does Deleting Facebook Protect Your Privacy?” (His answer was: only a little.)
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Prof. Kritzer Quoted Regarding Upcoming Wisconsin Supreme Court Election
March 29, 2018Professor Herbert Kritzer was quoted in the Wisconsin State Journal regarding Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Michael Screnock’s work while in legal practice on behalf of a defendant in an environmental case. Kritzer observed that work in private practice does not disqualify a judge from hearing cases on related issues if the parties do not include the judge’s prior clients. He went on to note that if judges’ prior work on cases involving issues involving the environment disqualified them from hearing cases involving similar issues, then logically judges who previously worked as criminal lawyers would be disqualified from hearing criminal cases.
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Prof. Chomsky Speaks to WCCO-TV and the Washington Post on Non-Disclosure Agreements
March 29, 2018Professor Carol Chomsky spoke on WCCO-TV about the nature and validity of non-disclosure agreements and was quoted by the Washington Post on the validity of the non-disclosure agreement signed by Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen.
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Prof. Kitrosser Quoted in FiveThirtyEight on Executive Privilege
March 26, 2018Professor Kitrosser was quoted in an article in FiveThirtyEight about executive privilege. She explained that executive privilege claims are sometimes viewed suspiciously by the public, partly because of their continued association with President Nixon. Specifically, she stated: “To the extent that executive privilege is still associated with Nixon, it can look suspicious to invoke it.”
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Prof. Rozenshtein Interviewed on Public Radio About New Internet Regulations
March 23, 2018Professor Alan Rozenshtein was interviewed on Phoenix public-radio station KJZZ about the recently passed “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017,” which would make online platforms liable if they’re used to facilitate sex trafficking. Professor Rozenshtein emphasized that the law could serve as a precedent for future attempts to limit internet liability immunity so that other victims of internet-enabled crime could sue online platforms.