For more information, please contact:
Gwen Osborne, director of public affairs, (312) 906-5251
ADVISORY TO PRODUCERS, COLUMNISTS, AND ASSIGNMENT, LEGAL, PLANNING, INTERNATIONAL, BUSINESS, ARTS, CITY DESK, FEATURES AND DAYBOOK EDITORS
CHICAGO–June 8, 2009–Chicago-Kent College of Law and Stuart School of Business have experts available to discuss current issues. To reach experts on IIT's Downtown Campus, call Gwen Osborne, director of public affairs, (312) 906-5251. Press releases and earlier advisories are available on our Web site: www.kentlaw.edu/news/advisory.
The U.S. Supreme Court today refused to hear former army captain James Pietrangelo's challenge to his dismissal under the Pentagon's prohibition on gays and lesbians serving in the military. The justices refusal to hear Pietrangelo's case comes at a time when Air Force Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach is fighting discharge for violating the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Fehrenbach has completed 18 years of service and is a decorated flight weapons system operator. He has flown more than 2,180 hours, including 488 combat hours in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo, as well as patrol over Washington, D.C., immediately following the terrorists' attacks on September 11, 2001. Professor Michael I. Spak, an expert on military law, is available for interviews about the policy. Professor Spak served on active duty with the U.S. Army in the Judge Advocate General's Corps from 1963 to 1969 and has remained in the U.S. Army Reserve. As Colonel Spak, he is currently liaison officer of the Judge Advocate General's School in Charlottesville, Virginia. Professor Spak is the author of the law review articles The U.S. Military Should Give Up Its Excuses and Change Its Policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue" to a Policy of Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sexual Orientation and Don't Ask (and) Don't Tell Don't Work: Now What? Also available is adjunct professor Vincent J. Samar, who teaches courses on sexual orientation and the law.
The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled 5-4 that a West Virginia Supreme Court justice violated the due process rights of the plaintiff in a case the justice participated in involving a major contributor to his campaign. Justice Brent Benjamin refused to recuse himself from participating in the appeal of a $50 million jury verdict even though the CEO of the lead defendant in the case provided "more than 60 percent of the total amount spent" in the justice's 2004 campaign for a seat on the court. Aspects of the case, Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal, mirror the plot in John Grisham's novel The Appeal (Doubleday 2008), in which a corporate head seeks to "buy" a seat on the court that will hear his appeal of a multimillion dollar jury verdict. Chicago-Kent experts are available for interviews about the case.
"You Took Away My Flag: A Musical About Kosovo" by Chicago-Kent Professor Henry H. Perritt, Jr., is scheduled to open June 12 at Chicago's Strawdog Theatre. (See below.) For years, Professor Perritt has focused his efforts on political, social and economic issues in the Balkans. In 1998, he established Operation Kosovo, an initiative designed to help build a model democracy, rule of law and a market economy in the country. In April of 2004, Professor Perritt convened a symposium of international scholars and policymakers at Chicago-Kent to discuss final status negotiations mandated by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244, which authorized U.N. intervention in Kosovo. Last year, Professor Perritt was instrumental in the establishment of a special graduate law study program co-sponsored by Chicago-Kent and American University in Kosovo. He is the author of Kosovo Liberation Army: The Inside Story of an Insurgency (University of Illinois Press 2008) and The Road to Independence for Kosovo: A Chronicle of the Ahtisaari Plan (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming). Professor Perritt has also released two musical CDs: "Wind Will Fill the Sails" (2007) and "They Have to Be Watching You" (2008).
Downtown Campus Events
June 12: "You Took Away My Flag: A Musical About Kosovo" by Chicago-Kent Professor Henry H. Perritt, Jr., will premiere at the Strawdog Theatre, 3829 North Broadway, in Chicago. The play is a story of the interethnic relationship between an Albanian woman and a Serbian man, set to music against a backdrop of Kosovo's struggle for independence. Performances also are scheduled for June 13, 19 and 20. Tickets are available on the musical's Web page: www.youtookawaymyflag.com.
June 15: "Preventing Genocide: A Blueprint for U.S. Policymakers" is the topic of a program presented in cooperation with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Chicago-Kent College of Law, the United States Institute of Peace, and the United Nations Association of USA, Greater Chicago Chapter. Presenters include Chicago-Kent Professor Bartram S. Brown, co-director of the program in International and Comparative Law; David J. Scheffer, former U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues and currently Mayer Brown/Robert A. Helman Professor of Law and director of Northwestern University School of Law's Center for International Human Rights; John Heffernan, director of the Genocide Prevention Initiative, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; and Lawrence Woocher, senior program officer at the Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention, United States Institute of Peace. The program, which will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the 10th floor event room, is free and open to the public; however, reservations are required. For more information or to R.S.V.P., please contact Marek Posard at mposard@kentlaw.edu or (312) 906-5134.
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