ADVISORY TO PRODUCERS, COLUMNISTS AND ASSIGNMENT, LEGAL, PLANNING, FINANCIAL, POLITICAL, BUSINESS, CITY DESK, FEATURES AND DAYBOOK EDITORS
CHICAGO–July 2, 2007–Chicago-Kent College of Law and Stuart School of Business have experts available to discuss current issues. To reach any of our experts, call Gwen Osborne, director of public affairs, at (312) 906-5251. Press releases and earlier advisories are available on our Web site: www.kentlaw.edu/news/advisory.
PLEASE NOTE: The Office of Public Affairs will be closed Wednesday, July 4, for Independence Day.
President Bush has commuted the sentence of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. Libby was convicted of obstructing justice and lying to a grand jury related to the investigation of “leaks” of information about CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison and given a $250,000 fine. The president’s action came just hours after a federal court of appeals panel unanimously upheld a lower court ruling that Libby should not be allowed to delay going to prison until all his appeals were exhausted. Chicago-Kent Dean Harold J. Krent, an expert on executive privilege and the author of Presidential Powers, says “In commuting Scooter Libby's sentence, President Bush followed the lead of his father and others in reducing the punishment for misconduct under his watch. But, what is striking about President Bush's decision is that he refused to offer a full pardon to Libby, leaving the underlying conviction and its taint intact. President Bush's stance reflects his party's continuing need to stanch erosion of popular support.” Dean Krent is available for interviews.
The battle between the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and InterContinental Exchange Inc. (ICE) for the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) may end next Monday. CBOT members and shareholders will vote July 9 on the proposed merger between CME and CBOT that was approved prior to ICE’s unsolicited bid for CBOT. A majority of the exchange’s 3,000 members and shareholders must approve the merger. Professor Michael Gorham of the Stuart School of Business’ Center for Financial Markets is available for interviews. Professor Gorham worked for CME for 18 years and has served on the board of the Chicago Board of Options Exchange’s Futures Exchange. He also served as the first director of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Market Oversight, a division of 100 economists, lawyers, futures trading specialists and others dedicated to the oversight of the nation’s 12 futures exchanges. Professor Gorham is available to discuss the impact of the proposed merger on the derivatives market.
U.S. Supreme Court wrap-up. Constitutional scholar and Distinguished Professor Sheldon H. Nahmod is available for interviews about the Roberts Court, highlights of the Supreme Court's 2006-07 session, and key issues the justices will consider during the new term.
In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court last week said public school districts may not use race as a criterion to assign students. “The Court’s reasoning in this decision departs radically from prior decisions in their insistence on race-neutral policies,” says Chicago-Kent Dean and constitutional scholar Harold J. Krent. “The decisions leave intact school districts’ ability to use magnet schools, language immersion and other programming to attain or maintain racial diversity, and I expect some districts will place renewed focus on such programs.” Sheldon H. Nahmod, distinguished professor and an expert on civil rights law, says, “The Supreme Court has come dangerously close to turning the clock back on the promise of the Fourteenth Amendment and Brown v. Board of Education. An activist Supreme Court has now changed the ways in which public school educators may deal with de facto segregation and racial diversity.” Dean Krent and Professor Nahmod are available for interviews about the decision.
Federal trials. Jury deliberations continue in the trial of media mogul Conrad Black and three former Hollinger executives who are accused of defrauding shareholders out of more than $60 million. They face nine counts of wire and mail fraud, two counts of tax fraud, one count of racketeering and one count of obstruction of justice. The prosecution is presenting its case in “Operation Family Secrets,” the trial of Joseph “Joey the Clown” Lombardo, James Marcello, Frank Calabrese Sr. and two others. The men are accused of racketeering, conspiracy, murder and obstruction of justice. Professor Nancy S. Marder, who teaches a course on juries, judges and trials and writes extensively on the American jury system, is available for interviews. Professors Douglas W. Godfrey and Richard S. Kling are also available for interviews. Professor Godfrey is a former prosecutor in the Kings County (New York) District Attorney's Office, where he served in the sex crimes and homicide bureaus. Professor Kling is a criminal defense attorney who teaches evidence and forensic sciences.
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