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 15, 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.
Confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor have been scheduled to begin July 13. If confirmed, Judge Sotomayor, who currently serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, would replace retiring Justice David Souter. Judge Sotomayor, 54, was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1991 by President George H.W. Bush and was named to the federal appellate bench in 1997 by President Bill Clinton. Chicago-Kent has experts available for interviews.
- Constitutional scholar and Distinguished Professor Sheldon H. Nahmod can discuss the legacy of Justice Souter, who, he says, "in many ways has been the conscience of the court."
- Professor Carolyn Shapiro, whose scholarly interests include the federal courts, clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer.
- Dean Harold J. Krent, the author of Presidential Powers (New York University Press 2005), can discuss the appointment process, separation of powers, and constitutional and judicial philosophies.
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 2008-09 session, and key issues the justices will consider during the new term.
Royal Dutch Shell will pay $15.5 million to the families of writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and five other Nigerian civilians. While admitting no wrongdoing, the payment will settle a federal lawsuit filed under the Alien Torts Claims Act that accused Shell's Nigerian subsidiary of complicity with that country's military dictatorship, which resulted in the 1995 torture and deaths of Saro-Wiwa and the other environmental and human rights activists in the Ogoni region. The plot of Richard North Patterson's latest geopolitical thriller, Eclipse (Henry Holt & Company 2009), is based on the trial and execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Chicago-Kent Professor Bartram S. Brown is co-director of Chicago-Kent's Program in International and Comparative Law. Professor Brown is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the board of directors of Amnesty International USA. Professor Brown is available for interviews about the Saro-Wiwa case and the Alien Torts Claims Act.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, a milestone in the gay rights movement. On June 28, 1969, plainclothes police raided Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York's Greenwich Village. As police began to make arrests, resistance broke out among the patrons and a crowd of onlookers outside. Two days of demonstrations and civil unrest followed. Adjunct Professor Vincent J. Samar, who teaches courses on sexual orientation and the law, is available to discuss the impact of a variety of laws and court decisions on gays and lesbians in America.
"You Took Away My Flag: A Musical About Kosovo" by Chicago-Kent Professor Henry H. Perritt, Jr., opened last week 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 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.
June 19 and 20: "You Took Away My Flag: A Musical About Kosovo" by Chicago-Kent Professor Henry H. Perritt, Jr., is playing at the Strawdog Theatre, 3829 North Broadway, in Chicago. The play, which opened last week for a limited run, 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. Tickets are available on the musical's Web page: www.youtookawaymyflag.com.
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