For more information, please contact:
Gwen Osborne, director of public affairs, (312) 906-5251
ADVISORY TO PRODUCERS, COLUMNISTS, AND ASSIGNMENT, PLANNING, LEGAL, BUSINESS, CITY DESK AND FEATURES EDITORS
CHICAGO–June 22, 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.
Miranda Revisited: The U.S. Supreme Court this week has agreed to hear a case that will consider whether police must "expressly" advise suspects of their right to consult an attorney. The case involves a Florida man who was arrested for (and later found guilty of) possession of a firearm as a convicted felon. Arresting officers advised him of his right to an attorney prior to questioning but failed to inform him of his right to have an attorney present during questioning. A state appellate court overturned the conviction ruling that the Miranda warning given was inadequate under the Fifth Amendment; the state supreme court upheld the decision. Criminal defense attorney and professor Daniel T. Coyne and former prosecutor Douglas Wm. Godfrey are available for interviews.
On June 13, 1966, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Miranda v. Arizona that suspects in criminal cases must be informed of their right against self-incrimination and of their right to consult with an attorney prior to questioning by police. In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld 7-2 the requirement that criminal defendants must be apprised of their Miranda rights. Writing for the majority in Dickerson v. United States, Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote the warnings have "become embedded in routine police practice to the point where the warnings have become part of our national culture." Constitutional scholars are available to talk about the impact of the Miranda ruling and can discuss other challenges to Miranda brought before the courts in recent years.
"You have the right to remain silent..." if you are arrested in the United States. But what rights do Americans traveling abroad have? Professor Bartram S. Brown, co-director of Chicago-Kent's Program in International and Comparative Law, says, "Although foreign governments can't force you to testify, your silence could be taken as evidence you have something to hide." Professor Brown, an international human rights expert, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the board of directors of Amnesty International USA.
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.
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.
Intrusive government authority over philanthropic organizations cannot reasonably be justified on the basis of the "public-money" claim. That is the conclusion of "How Public Is Private Philanthropy?: Separating Reality from Myth," a new report co-authored by Chicago-Kent Professor Evelyn Brody and John Tyler of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Mo. The report, released last week by The Philanthrophy Roundtable, is a comprehensive legal analysis that refutes the claim that charitable funds are "public money" because they are exempt from federal taxes, receive state charters, and are subject to oversight by state attorneys general. Professor Brody, who teaches courses in tax and nonprofit law, is the immediate past chair of the Association of American Law Schools' Nonprofit and Philanthropy Law Section. She is the reporter of the American Law Institute's Project on Principles of the Law of Nonprofit Organizations. Professor Brody is available for interviews about the report, which can be found at http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org.
Donald Fehr, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, has announced he will leave his current post by March 31, 2010. Fehr, who first joined the player's union as general counsel in 1977, has served as executive director since 1986. His tenure was marked by a strike that ended the 1994 season and led to the cancellation of the World Series, increasing allegations of the use of performance-enhancing drugs by high-profile players, and more player-friendly collective bargaining and revenue-sharing agreements. Adjunct professor and sports attorney Eldon L. Ham is the author of Larceny & Old Leather: The Mischievous Legacy of Major League Baseball (Academy Chicago Publishers 2005). Professor Ham is available to discuss Donald Fehr's impact on professional baseball.
Nestlé U.S.A. has voluntarily recalled several varieties of Toll House cookie dough because of possible E. coli bacteria contamination. Nestlé began recalling frozen and refrigerated Toll House products "as a precautionary measure" after the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notified the company that more than 60 illnesses in 28 states were reported since March of this year by people who ate raw cookie dough. No deaths have been reported. The federal agencies are investigating whether there is a relationship between the illnesses and consumption of the dough. Meanwhile, a lawsuit was filed Monday on behalf of a California woman who says she was hospitalized for seven days in May after eating raw Nestlé Toll House refrigerated cookie dough. Adjunct Professor Eric F. Greenberg, who teaches food and drug law, is available for interviews. His number is (312) 977-4647.
In 2011, the first wave of the nation's 76 million baby boomers will reach retirement age. The recession has forced the baby boomers to reassess their retirement plans and a large percentage of baby boomers now say they must keep working during their so-called retirement years. Professor Howard C. Eglit, an expert on law and aging, is available for interviews about workplace issues that aging baby boomers face. Professor Eglit is the author of Elders on Trial: Age and Ageism in the American Legal System (University of Florida Press 2004).
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. Professor Samar is the editor of The New York Times Twentieth Century in Review: The Gay Rights Movement (Routledge 2001).
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