For more information, please contact:
Gwen Osborne, director of public affairs, (312) 906-5251
ADVISORY TO PRODUCERS, COLUMNISTS, AND ASSIGNMENT, PLANNING, INTERNATIONAL, TECHNOLOGY, LEGAL, BUSINESS, CITY DESK AND FEATURES EDITORS
CHICAGO--July 13, 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 begun. 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.
"Perhaps we should all accept that the best definition of a 'judicial activist' is a judge who decides a case in a way you don't like," said Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wisc.) In remarks made on the first day of Senate confirmation hearings, Sen. Feingold cautioned those watching the process to be "wary" of the phrase "judicial activism," a term recently used by those who oppose Judge Sotomayor's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. What is judicial activism? Dean Harold J. Krent is available for interviews about judicial activism. Dean Krent, the author of Presidential Powers (New York University Press 2005), can also discuss the appointment process, separation of powers, and constitutional and judicial philosophies.
July 20 marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. "The benefits of America's space program to our daily lives came not from specific devices generated by the space program, but from applications of the knowledge and technologies that have resulted in advances in transportation, communications and medicine," says IIT Stuart School of Business Distinguished Professor Eliezer Geisler, a leading scholar in the evaluation of science and technology and of technology transfer. Professor Geisler is the author of The Metrics of Science and Technology and Creating Value with Science and Technology (Quorum Books 2000). He can explain the role that scientists play in evaluating technology programs and discuss his 2004 NASA-supported evaluation of the agency's technology transfer program.
The trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor has begun at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. Taylor, who led the country from 1997 to 2003, was indicted on 11 counts of war crimes, including crimes against humanity in connection with atrocities committed as a result of his support of rebel groups during a bloody civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone. The prosecution, which rested its case in February, presented nearly 100 witnesses. Taylor, the first African leader to be tried for war crimes, is expected to take the stand in his own defense this week. Human rights expert Bartram S. Brown is co-director of Chicago-Kent's Program in International and Comparative Law. Professor Brown served on human rights delegations for the United Nations and Amnesty International. He participated in the 1998 Rome Diplomatic Conference on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court (ICC) as legal adviser to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Professor Brown is available to discuss the Taylor trial, the formation of the ICC and an upcoming showing of the documentary film "The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court" at Chicago-Kent. (See below.)
The Chicago Cubs may file bankruptcy "to clear the team of liabilities and make its sale easier," according to a published report in the Chicago Tribune. The Tribune Company, which owns both the newspaper and the Major League Baseball franchise, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2008. However, the Chicago Cubs team was not included in that action. It is believed that a Chicago Cubs bankruptcy would be a short-term, "prepackaged" filing from which the team could reemerge within a matter of weeks. While the Cubs would be the first baseball franchise in nearly 40 years to file for bankruptcy protection, it would not be the first professional sports team this year to take such action. In May 2009, the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team filed bankruptcy. Sports attorney and adjunct professor Eldon L. Ham says, "A Cubs bankruptcy would be stunning and rather disruptive for Major League Baseball. It would allow the team to dump some of its contracts." Professor Ham is the author of Larceny & Old Leather: The Mischievous Legacy of Major League Baseball (Academy Chicago Publishers 2005) and The 100 Greatest Sports Blunders of All Times (Masters Press 1999).
Downtown Campus Events
July 17: "The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court," the acclaimed documentary screened at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, will be shown in honor of International Justice Day and in commemoration of the adoption of the Rome Statute, the treaty that established and now governs the International Criminal Court (ICC). Directed by Pamela Yates, "The Reckoning" follows Argentinian lawyer and ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo for a three-year period as he and his associates build cases against alleged international criminals in Uganda, Columbia, Sudan and the Congo. After the film, there will be a panel discussion and question-and-answer period moderated by Chicago attorney Daniel W. Thomann. Participants include Chicago-Kent Professor Bartram S. Brown and Daniel Rothenberg, managing director of international projects at DePaul University's International Human Rights Law Institute. The program, which begins at 5:30 p.m., is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required. To register or for more information, please contact Violeta Jimenez at vjimenez@kentlaw.edu.
July 22: "Moving the Midwest Forward: The Benefits of Building a Low-Carbon Economy" is the topic of an afternoon program at Chicago-Kent. Entrepreneurs, policymakers, environmentalists and scholars will examine "The Impact of the Economy on Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plans," "New Paradigms for the Midwestern Economy" and "New Infrastructure and the Investment Landscape." Peter Fox-Penner, principal and chairman emeritus of The Brattle Group, will deliver the keynote address. A networking reception will follow the program, which is free and open to the public. Reservations are requested. The program is co-sponsored by the Chicago law firm of Foley & Lardner LLP, IIT's Jules F. Knapp Entrepreneurship Center and WISER (IIT's Wanger Institute for Sustainable Energy Research). For more information or to R.S.V.P., please contact Insa Blanke at iblanke@kentlaw.edu or (312) 906-5003.
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