Faculty News
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Professor Kitrosser Talks to WCCO Radio About the Government Shutdown
January 21, 2019Professor Kitrosser was featured on “News and Views With Roshini Rajkumar” on WCCO Radio on Sunday, January 20th. She spoke with Ms. Rajkumar about the government shutdown and its relationship to the constitutional separation of powers. She also responded to calls and text messages from listeners.
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Professor Meili Interviewed by MinnPost about the Effects of Government Shutdown on Immigration Court
January 17, 2019Professor Stephen Meili was interviewed for an article that appeared in the January 17 edition of MinnPost concerning the adverse effect that the federal government shutdown is having on U.S. Immigration Courts. Prof. Meili explained that the shutdown has cancelled tens of thousands of court hearings, thus exacerbating the long backlog of cases that has already plagued the immigration court system. He also noted that these cancelled hearings have left many noncitizens and their families in limbo, and that the resulting delays of two years or more makes it more challenging for lawyers to prepare their cases.
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Professor Klass Quoted in Energywire on Controversial Pipeline Cases at the U.S. Supreme Court
January 16, 2019Professor Klass is quoted in an Energywire article discussing three cert petitions in the Supreme Court raising separate legal issues surrounding controversial natural gas pipeline projects in the northeast U.S.
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Prof. JaneAnne Murray Interviewed by AP on Jayme Closs Case
January 15, 2019Professor JaneAnne Murray was interviewed by the AP regarding prosecutorial and defense strategies in the prosecution of the individual accused of abducting Jayme Closs and murdering her parents. Commenting on the level of detail in the initial charging complaint, Murray commented that the complaint may have been “designed to send a signal to the defense that the evidence against their client is overwhelming.” The prosecutors will want a swift resolution, she added, and even in a case of strong evidence, a defendant’s willingness to enter into an early disposition can be a factor in plea bargaining discussions.
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Professor Kitrosser Quoted in The Atlantic magazine on presidential powers
January 14, 2019Professor Kitrosser was quoted in an article in The Atlantic magazine entitled “The Most Remarkable Thing About Trump’s Proposed National Emergency.” She explains that the conditions for presidential abuses of power, such as norms of unilateral presidential action and very broad congressional delegations, have been present for a long time, and that we are now seeing them exploited even more so than in the past. The article’s last lines state, for example: “’The seeds of this problem are multifold, and they’ve been in the ground for quite a while,’” Kitrosser says. “’With the Trump presidency, we’re primed for them to really come to fruition.’”
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Texas Court Cites Professor Cotter's Scholarship
January 13, 2019In an opinion in HTC Corp. v. Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, Judge Rodney Gilstrap twice cited Professor Thomas Cotter’s book chapter (coauthored with Norman Siebrasse) titled Judicially Determined FRAND Royalties, from the edited volume The Cambridge Handbook of Technical Standardization Law (Jorge L. Contreras ed., Cambridge University Press 2018), as persuasive authority on the subject of determining royalties for the use of standard essential patents.
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Prof. Murray Interviewed by Bloomberg on the Impact of the Shutdown on Federal Criminal Cases
January 12, 2019Prof. JaneAnne Murray was interviewed extensively by Bloomberg on the impact of the shutdown on the progress of criminal cases in federal courts. Likening the situation to “watching a frog boil,” Murray pointed out that “there’s only so much people will take until they’re done.” She foresaw “almost invisible slowdowns” among court personnel expected to work for free, “whether it’s through the absence of critical people who aren’t deemed essential, whether it’s through people taking sick leave because they are so frustrated, or people who are just actively slowing down because they are upset and despairing at their financial situation.” She added, “if you live paycheck-to-paycheck and you’re a federal defender making $70,000 a year, or a social worker or investigator at a federal defenders office making $40,000 a year, it’s really an imposition on these lawyers and employees.” The question becomes: “does that impact your commitment to your work?” The net effect would be that “clients are going to sit in detention centers longer.” In addition to procedural delays in pending criminal cases, Murray also highlighted a more ominous impact: people eligible for compassionate release would not have their applications considered expeditiously, thus denying them precious time on the outside. “Compassionate release, when it happens, has been in the last six months” of a person’s life, Murray said. “And often it’s happening weeks before the person dies.”
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Prof. Feld’s Research Cited by Several State Courts
January 3, 2019Centennial Professor of Law Emeritus Barry Feld’s research on juvenile interrogation, adolescents’ diminished criminal responsibility, and school searches has been cited recently by a number of state courts. See, e.g., State v. Castillo, 329 Conn. 311 (CT SupCt 2018) (juvenile interrogation); State v. Propps, 897 N.W.2d 91 (IA SupCt 2017) (juveniles’ diminished criminal responsibility); In re Luis P., 161 A.D.3d 59 (Sup.Ct, App.Div., N.Y. 2018) (juvenile interrogation); State v. Crooks, 911 N.W.2d 153 (IA SupCt 2018) (juveniles’ diminished criminal responsibility); Esper v. Commonwealth, 2018 WL 898215 (KY SupCt 2018) (juvenile interrogation); State v. Lindsey, 881 N.W.2d 411 (IA Sup Ct. 2016) (school search and seizure).
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Prof. Hickman Featured in Documentary on Chevron Deference
December 20, 2018Prof. Kristin Hickman was one of five administrative law experts featured in a short documentary, entitled Chevron: Accidental Landmark, about the Chevron doctrine of judicial deference to agency legal interpretations, which developed from the Supreme Court’s decision in Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984).
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Prof. Hickman Named Runner-Up for Tax Notes 2018 Tax Person of the Year
December 18, 2018Professor Kristin Hickman was named by the prominent tax industry publication Tax Notes as among its runners-up for 2018 Person of the Year. The recognition is in connection with Prof. Hickman’s work as Special Adviser to the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), where she has been assisting the agency in its efforts to implement a Memorandum of Agreement providing for OIRA review of tax regulations and rulings. Other runners-up for the year include Assistant Secretary of the Treasury David Kautter, IRS Commissioner Charles Ruttig, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller. This is the second time that Prof. Hickman’s work in the area of tax administration has been recognized in this manner by Tax Notes.