For more information, please contact:
Gwen Osborne, director of public affairs, (312) 906-5251
ADVISORY TO PRODUCERS, COLUMNISTS AND ASSIGNMENT, LEGAL, PLANNING, BUSINESS, AND DAYBOOK EDITORS
CHICAGO--June 27, 2005--Chicago-Kent College of Law, the Stuart Graduate School
of Business and the Center for Financial Markets have experts available to discuss current issues.
To reach any of our experts, call Gwen Osborne, director
of public affairs, at (312) 906-5251. Copies of press releases and earlier advisories are available
on our Web site: http://www.kentlaw.edu/news/advisory.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2004-05 term has ended. Speculation continues regarding the
possible retirement of 80-year-old Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who has been undergoing treatment
for thyroid cancer. Rehnquist was appointed to the Court in 1972 by Richard M. Nixon and named chief
justice by Ronald Reagan in 1986. There are also rumors that Justice Sandra Day O’Connor will
also retire. O’Connor, the first woman named to the Court, was appointed by Ronald Reagan
in 1981. Constitutional scholar and distinguished professor Sheldon
H. Nahmod is available for interviews about the Rehnquist Court. Professor Nahmod is also
available to talk about highlights of the Supreme Court's 2004-05 session and key issues the justices
will consider during the new term.
Distributors of file-sharing software who intend for their users to illegally download copyrighted
material can be sued by the copyright holders. As a result of the Supreme Court’s unanimous
decision, the case will be returned to the lower court for trial. The case was originally brought
by major film studios, record companies and music publishers against the distributors of Morpheus
and Grokster computer software for allowing its users to illegally download copyrighted material.
A federal district court judge ruled in favor of the distributors, saying they “are not significantly
different from companies that sell home video recorders or copy machines, both of which can be and
are used to infringe copyrights.” The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously agreed with
the lower court ruling. Professor Mickie Voges Piatt,
executive director of Chicago-Kent’s program in Intellectual Property Law, is available for
interviews about the decision. She can also discuss how to protect copyrights without chilling the
rise of the new technologies.
The justices ruled on two cases involving displays of the Ten Commandments on public property.
In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court today said the exhibits in two Kentucky courthouses
are unconstitutional because they promoted religion. The cases involve displays in a school, a county
courthouse and a state capitol building. It is the first time in nearly 25 years the justices have
considered whether such displays violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which
mandates the separation of church and state. Constitutional scholar Professor Sheldon
H. Nahmod is available to discuss the decision and issues related to the separation of church
and state.
Police cannot be sued for the way in which they enforce restraining orders. A Colorado woman
who had a restraining order against her estranged husband sued the Castle Rock police department
for not doing enough to prevent him from abducting and killing their three children. In a 7-2 ruling,
the Supreme Court said the woman had no constitutional right to police enforcement of a court order
against her husband. Professor Sheldon H. Nahmod is
available to discuss the decision.
Solomon Amendment Challenge. When the Supreme Court reconvenes for its 2005-06 term, it
will hear a challenge to the Solomon Amendment brought by a coalition of 31 law schools, including
Chicago-Kent. Enacted in 1996, the Solomon Amendment is a federal law created to guarantee the military
equal access to campuses and students. Colleges and universities that bar military recruiters from
their campuses in violation of the law face penalties including the loss of federal funds. However,
the coalition says hosting the recruiters on campus violates the schools’ anti-discrimination
policy because the military excludes openly gay members. The coalition also says the Solomon Amendment
imposes on their rights to free speech. Dean Harold J. Krent
is available for interviews about the case.
Earlier in the term, the Justices handed down decisions in the following cases:
Jury bias. In two 6-3 rulings, the Court overturned the convictions of two black inmates
in California and Texas who challenged their murder convictions on the grounds that prosecutors
unfairly stacked their juries with whites. In his concurring opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer quoted
from Justice John Paul Stevens’ Foreword in the symposium issue of the Chicago-Kent
Law Review. Professor Nancy S. Marder, who
teaches a course on juries, judges and trials, has written extensively about the American jury system.
Professor Marder is the author of a new book called Jury Process.
Her recent law review articles include Juries, Justice and Multiculturalism and Juries
and Technology: Equipping Jurors for the Twenty-First Century. Professor Marder is available
for interviews about the jury system.
Drug-sniffing dogs at routine traffic stops. In a 6-2 decision handed down in January, the
Court ruled in Illinois v. Caballes that drug-sniffing dogs can be used to check vehicles
during a routine traffic stop even if police officers have no reason to suspect the driver may be
carrying drugs. In 1998, an Illinois state police trooper stopped Roy Caballes along Interstate
80 for driving 6 miles over the speed limit. Caballes produced his license, registration and proof
of insurance, but troopers brought in a dog after Caballes “seemed nervous.” Caballes
was arrested, charged and later convicted of marijuana trafficking. He appealed the conviction,
arguing that the search and seizure violated his Fourth Amendment rights. The Appellate Court upheld
the lower court decision, but the Illinois Supreme Court overturned the conviction by a 4-3 decision
stating that the police violated Caballes’ rights when they “broadened the scope of
the traffic stop into a drug investigation” without any facts that justified the use of the
dog. Dean Harold J. Krent and students from Chicago-Kent’s
2005 Honors Scholars class assisted Caballes’ attorney in preparing briefs and arguments for
the U.S. Supreme Court case. Dean Krent is available for interviews about the case.
Age Discrimination. The Court ruled in March that workers over age 40 need not prove intentional
discrimination in order to win cases brought under the federal Age Discrimination in Employment
Act. Professor Howard C. Eglit is the author of a three-volume
treatise entitled Age Discrimination; a law review article, The
Age Discrimination in Employment Act at Thirty: Where It's Been, Where It Is Today, Where It's Going
and a new book, Elders on Trial: Age and Ageism in the American Legal System.
A nationally known expert in elder law issues, Professor Eglit has served on the board of the Illinois
chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and on the advisory committee for the Buehler
Center on Aging, McGaw Medical Center, Northwestern University. Professor Eglit is available for
interviews about the case or other issues related to law and aging.
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