Justice Sotomayor: "Be honest above all. Have integrity in everything you do, in every argument you take, in every opinion you give.”
If you could find out, would you? Henry Greely explores implications of neuroprediction in Ann F. Baum Elder Law Lecture
Illinois Law Phi Alpha Delta Trial Team wins first place at national competition
Award-winning columnist and political commentator George Will delivered the 2nd New Lincoln Lecture Series According to a new paper by Illinois Law professors Robin Kar and Jason Mazzone, President Obama has the constitutional power to appoint—and not just nominate—a replacement for Justice Scalia.
There are 104 prior cases in which an elected president has faced a vacancy on the Supreme Court and began the appointment process prior to the election of a successor. In all 104 cases, the sitting president was able to both nominate and, with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint a replacement justice.
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A rebuff of Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland could send the wrong message about the court and partisan politics, said Vikram Amar, dean of the University of Illinois College of Law and the Iwan Foundation Professor of Law.
"If a Democrat wins the presidency in November, I suspect Garland might be confirmed by a lame-duck Senate before next January, mostly because anyone that a President Hillary Clinton or a President Bernie Sanders might nominate would be even less acceptable to Republicans than Garland."
More at Illinois News Bureau
In his new Justia blog post, Dean Vikram David Amar examines California’s Proposition 49—which seeks the voters’ approval for the California legislature to ratify an amendment to the federal Constitution to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. FEC—in order to shine light on what might be required to overturn the decision on a federal level. Amar argues that Proposition 49 highlights just how difficult it would be to craft a workable constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.
Read the full post on justia.com
Yue Dai ('16) has won first prize in the 2016 Donald C. Alexander Writing Competition, a national tax writing competition organized by the Federal Bar Association. Her paper, When A Corporation is the Wrongdoer, Who Should Pay the Bill?, was prepared in connection with Professor Kaplan’s Federal Tax Policy Seminar in the fall of 2015.
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Each year, the College of Law honors alumni with awards presented at the Annual Alumni Luncheon. The Distinguished Alumni Award honors professional achievements and community leadership. At the 2016 Annual Alumni Luncheon on April 28th, the College will recognize four distinguished alumni: Lew Greenblatt (’69), John Thies (’88), Julie Bauer (’85), and Tony Augustine, Jr. (’73).
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On Tuesday, March 8th, four students competed in the Frederick Green Moot Court Honorary Round. Arguments were heard by The Honorable Sonia Sotomayor (Supreme Court of the United States), The Honorable Ann Williams (United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit), and The Honorable Jill Pryor (United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit).
Please join the College of Law in congratulating Elizabeth Carter for being named Best Oralist.
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Henry Greely, professor of law and genetics at Stanford University, delivered the Ann F. Baum Elder Law Lecture on March 7, 2016. He spoke on the ethical, societal, and legal implications that come with genetic testing and the increasing ability for us to learn more about our future health.
Greely said: "Modern medicine increasingly is able to predict things about your future, and those things can be as disconcerting, if not more so, than that of life and death."
Watch the video
Recently, the University of Illinois College of Law sent three Phi Alpha Delta trial teams to the Phi Alpha Delta Mock Trial Competition in Washington, D.C. Teams from across the nation competed, using their skills in trial advocacy and the rules of evidence to argue a complex case. Each team was responsible for formulating their own examinations, statements, and motions in order to demonstrate their skills before a panel of judges.
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Pamela B. Strobel (’77) will deliver the University of Illinois College of Law Convocation address. Strobel is the retired executive vice president and chief administrative officer of Exelon and retired president of Exelon’s Business Services Company. She also served as chairman and CEO, Exelon Energy Delivery, the holding company for the corporation’s energy delivery businesses, PECO Energy in Philadelphia and ComEd in Chicago. She received both her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Illinois, where she was a Bronze Tablet recipient and a member of the law review.
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President Obama’s cybersecurity proposal will seem rudimentary to some but ultimately is a step in the right direction, says Jay P. Kesan, the H. Ross and Helen Workman Research Scholar at the University of Illinois College of Law and an expert in the intersection of technology and law. About law enforcement's push back on Apple and Google creating end-to-end encription, he says:
"Law enforcement agents want a backdoor to ensure that the company can always decrypt customer information just in case. But it’s simply not technologically reasonable to ask a company to build their product with a security flaw that only the good guys – and not the bad guys – will be able to use. That’s not how doors and locks work."
More at Illinois News Bureau
On Tuesday evening, the College of Law hosted political commentator and essayist George Will for the 2nd lecture in the New Lincoln Lectures series. He drew quite a crowd for the event at Foellinger Auditorium, including 2nd year law student Gregory Dickinson. Dickinson (’17) submitted the winning essay for The Lincoln Legacy Essay Competition, which was hosted in conjunction with Mr. Will’s lecture as part of the New Lincoln Lectures series. In addition to a $5,000 prize, Dickinson was also granted a personal meeting with Mr. Will.
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Dean Vikram Amar's new Justia blog post delves into the risks the Republican senators are taking by refusing to process any nominees.
"At a time when the Court is already suffering from the (mis)impression that its operations are no different from the partisan politics that has crippled the elected branches of the federal government, we would ... do well to remember that this is not an ordinary game—by calling appointments a “game,” I do not intend to diminish the principals and principles involved, but rather to highlight the range of legally permissible but potentially costly moves and countermoves that give the appointments process a coherent structure—and that the ones who stand to lose the most are not the players, but We the People."
Full article at Justia
On March 3, 2016, the North Carolina Law Review will host a colloquy centered on a recent article by Professor Jason Mazzone and Carl Emery Woock ('15).
The article, published in the December issue of the North Carolina Law Review, and entitled Federalism as Docket Control, uses the twentieth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Lopez (1995) to revisit the Rehnquist Court’s federalism revolution.
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Dean Vikram Amar is quoted in the New York Times detailing how a fifth liberal vote on the Supreme Court could be profoundly consequential. “Adding another justice who has instincts and outlooks similar to those of Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor could call into question a number of contentious 5 to 4 precedents.”
He goes on to name six, starting with Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which amplified the role of money in politics, and District of Columbia v. Heller, which recognized a Second Amendment right to keep guns.
Full article on NYT
The University of Illinois announced Thursday that College of Law alumnus Josh Whitman (’08) has been named the director of athletics. Although Whitman is already well known in the athletics administration arena for his accomplishments at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and most recently, Washington University, he is also a respected member of the Illinois Law alumni base.
During his time at the College, Whitman was already beginning his career in athletics administration at Illinois, serving as both assistant to the director of athletics and coordinator of special projects. He was also the notes editor on Illinois Law Review, served as a teaching assistant in legal writing, and played on the softball team.
“I went to law school never intending to have a long term career practicing. I wanted to position myself for this kind of opportunity,” Whitman said.
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Monday, March 28, 2016
The Sangamo Club, 227 East Adams Street, Springfield
12:00 PM–1:30 PM
Please join us at the 2016 Springfield Alumni Luncheon, with remarks by Dean Vikram Amar.
$30 fee includes 3-course meal and beverages
(discount given for alumni from Classes 2011-2015)
REGISTER today!
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Max L. Rowe Auditorium, Law Building
12:00 PM–1:00 PM
The Illinois Program on Law, Behavior & Social Science presents The Psychology of Tort Law, a panel discussion with authors Jennifer Robbennolt (Illinois) and Valerie Hans (Cornell) and moderated by Professor Robert Lawless.
Panelists include:
The event is free and open to the public. Box lunches will be provided.
Saturday, April 02, 2016
Carnivale - Chicago, Illinois
6:00 PM–11:00 PM
Students and alumni are invited to the 16th Annual Latina/Latino Law Student Association Alumni Banquet, honoring:
Registraton required
Thursday, April 28, 2016
The University Club (76 East Monroe St., Chicago, IL)
11:30 AM–1:00 PM
All alumni are invited to the 2016 College of Law Annual Alumni Luncheon for networking, lunch, and the presentation of the Distinguished Alumni Awards and the Alumni Loyalty Award.
Register.
More info.
Saturday, May 14, 2016
Krannert Center for the Performing Arts and College of Law Building
1:30 PM–3:00 PM
The 2016 College of Law Convocation will be held in the Great Hall at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts on May 14, 2016. The College of Law will host a reception following the ceremony.
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College of Law
504 East Pennsylvania Avenue
Champaign, Illinois 61820
Phone (217) 333-0931
Fax (217) 244-1478