Media Mentions

Justice Elena Kagan committed a breach of protocol midway through the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dec. 5 argument in a case involving a cake for a gay wedding. Seeing that a lawyer’s time was expiring but wanting to ask another question, Kagan said she was confident Chief Justice John Roberts would give the attorney a bit more time. Kagan then looked sheepishly toward Roberts. "Is that OK?" she asked. Roberts gave her a look of mock exasperation, and the courtroom burst into laughter. The fleeting moment showed the rapport between the two and offered a glimpse into the dynamics of a court that often splits 5-4 along ideological lines...What the four share is a willingness to muffle some disagreements for what they see as a greater good. Each wants to avoid the perception that the court is "just another political institution," like Congress or the White House, said Richard Lazarus, a Harvard Law School professor who focuses on the Supreme Court.

Health care policy analysts and medical societies are applauding the budget agreement signed last week by President Donald Trump, citing financial support in several critical areas...Robert Greenwald, JD, clinical professor of law and faculty director of the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation at Harvard Law School, told Healio Family Medicine, “Now that an agreement has been reached, certain vital health programs are safe for the time being. The Children’s Health Insurance Program, which covers over 9 million children, is funded until 2027 and Community Health Centers, which serve the health needs of our nation’s most vulnerable, are funded for the next two years. Going forward, we must continue to prioritize programs that promote and secure the health of U.S individuals and families.”

In a jarring reversal of fortunes, a pending National Labor Relations Board case that was supposed to be a weapon for unionizing hundreds of thousands of low-wage fast-food workers under Obama may now morph into an anti-labor bludgeon for big business under Trump...According to Sharon Block, a former NLRB member under Obama and now director of Harvard’s Labor and Worklife Program, a full and fair trial would, if nothing else, expose the sham of Trump’s “populist” image, and help dispel any myths surrounding the White House’s sympathies with working-class voters. “If the facts are as strong as they seem to be but the board still fails to find joint employer status, it will be clear to the public what really happened—the Trump administration putting a finger on the scales for corporate America and not working Americans.”

Harvard University’s next president will be Lawrence S. Bacow, a former president of Tufts University and a top academic officer at M.I.T., who was chosen for his diplomatic and leadership skills at a time when higher education is under fire, the university announced on Sunday...Annette Gordon-Reed, a Harvard professor of legal history who is known for her scholarship on Thomas Jefferson and his relationship with Sally Hemings, his slave, said Mr. Bacow was a good choice. “Larry has impressive credentials, numerous ties to Harvard, and from what I know of him, he has great values, including a commitment to diversity,” she said.

An op-ed by Alex Whiting. In the last several days, President Donald Trump’s lawyers have floated what appears to be a trial balloon, suggesting that despite Trump’s bold proclamation that he welcomed the opportunity to testify to special counsel Robert Mueller’s team under oath, he might ultimately do a U-turn and refuse to be interviewed at all, under any conditions. If he takes this step, then Mueller could subpoena him to the grand jury, at which point Trump could avoid testifying only by pleading the Fifth Amendment, thereby asserting his right not to incriminate himself.

Gavin Newsom was a fresh-faced mayor a week into his job when he walked into the House of Representatives chamber for the State of the Union address in January 2004. While he watched from the balcony, President George W. Bush declared his support for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex unions — inspiring a political gamble that would change lives and transform Newsom’s career...Newsom quickly decided to throw himself into the maelstrom of America’s culture wars, violating state law by granting the first official marriage licenses to same-sex couples 14 years ago Monday...That meant Bush got to appoint two Supreme Court justices, Harvard Law School Professor Michael Klarman pointed out. On the other hand, “the fact that you actually had weddings in San Francisco was incredibly inspiring for a lot of people and activists,” he said, and sparked conversations that changed peoples’ minds on the issue. “Newsom was putting himself on the wrong side of the law, but it was the right side of history.”

The Trump Organization could soon finalize an agreement to partner on a large construction project in the Dominican Republic, according to a report from Fast Company. The news comes despite the fact that President Donald Trump pledged not to pursue foreign deals while he is in office in order to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. Experts say that Trump is creating the perception that his administration is corrupt by failing to divest from his private businesses...Still, Larry Tribe, a professor at Harvard Law, said the project adds to a long list of Trump's conflicts of interest. “More opportunities for Trump to violate the Foreign Emoluments Clause and, for good measure, to break his promises to the world—along with his Oath of Office. Par for the course with this president," Tribe told Newsweek.

Lawrence S. Bacow, one of the most experienced and respected leaders in American higher education, will become the 29th president of Harvard University on July 1...The student advisory committee reached out to students across the University throughout the fall semester to seek input on overarching challenges and opportunities facing Harvard, as well as the qualities they would value in its next president. “From the beginning, I found the search committee to be sincerely invested in student perspectives and feedback, and we met with members of the committee multiple times over the past few months to share observations and recommendations,” said Jyoti Jasrasaria, A.B. ’12 [`18], a third-year Harvard Law School student who chaired the student advisory committee.

On Feb. 26, the Supreme Court hears arguments in the most important labor case of the 21st century to date, Janus v. AFSCME. At issue are rules in 22 states requiring public employees to pay “agency fees” to cover the collective-bargaining costs of unions that represent them, even if the employees are not members of the union. If the court voids those laws, public-sector unions and the (usually Democratic) politicians they support could suffer a big financial hit...There is a middle way — one that could preserve precedent while addressing employees’ legitimate concerns about involuntarily funding political causes. Law professors Charles Fried of Harvard University (a former solicitor general of the United States) and Robert C. Post, also of Harvard, have sketched this elegant solution in a friend-of-the-court brief, drafted for them by another former solicitor general, Seth P. Waxman. They propose that current law be reformed to make the agency fee a genuinely meaningful opt-out.

An op-ed by Norman Eisen, Caroline Fredrickson, and Laurence Tribe. As public scrutiny exposes deep flaws in the memo from the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes, about alleged F.B.I. surveillance abuses, the committee’s Republicans are increasingly downplaying its significance. Mr. Nunes’s colleagues are right to seek some distance from this caper — not to mention other similar memos he has hinted at releasing. That’s because by writing and releasing the memo, the chairman may just have landed himself, and his staff members, in the middle of Robert Mueller’s obstruction of justice investigation.

An op-ed by Ryan Manucha `19. As British Columbia and Alberta trade broadsides over B.C. Premier John Horgan’s proposed regulations on shipments of oil-sands bitumen—prompting Rachel Notley to boycott B.C. wines—it’s enough to remind Canadians of trade disputes that can emerge between other countries, with their distinct interests and ratcheted rhetoric. Indeed, this ongoing interprovincial spat doesn’t look much different from the disputes that regularly break out between nations—it’s the fact that it’s an internal fight that makes this seem particularly strange.

Two decades ago, China's gross exports were on par with the Netherlands, and only North Korea relied on the world's most populous country as its primary source of imports. Now, China exports far more than any country on earth, and is the top supplier of countries in every corner of the world...Every single year before China was allowed into the World Trade Organization in 2001, Congress had the option to reassess the U.S.'s trade relationship with China and raise tariffs. Membership in the WTO entitled China to the stable tariff rate enjoyed by other members and reduced uncertainty for companies wanting to offshore production to China, Mark Wu, a professor of international trade law at Harvard, tells Axios.

...When he went to work in Roxbury, what he saw from the bench disturbed him. Poor people seeking the protection of the court came into his courtroom accompanied by minor children who had nowhere else to go. “The only place for them was to sit in the courtroom, where they were exposed to all kinds of descriptions of violence and drugs,’’ he said. “It was awful. I said we can do better than this.’’...Julian Houston was determined to change that, embracing a social justice movement that animated his life. It still does...And it will be a centerpiece of an exhibit to be unveiled at the Brooke courthouse on Thursday that has been a longtime passion for Houston. It’s called “Long Road to Justice: The African-American Experience in the Massachusetts Courts."...“This wouldn’t have happened without him,’’ said Randall Kennedy, a Harvard Law School professor who will emcee Thursday’s event. “He’s a very courtly, a very gracious man, and he’s also very persistent. He had this idea and he kept nudging and nudging and pushing and pushing.’’

An op-ed by Sharon Block and Benjamin Sachs. For the past three years, the federal government has painstakingly built a case against the world’s second-largest private employer, McDonald’s, charging the company with illegally harassing and terminating employees who have gone on strike with the “Fight for $15″ campaign. There have been over 150 days of trial and hundreds of exhibits entered into the record. And though McDonald’s has aggressively fought to slow down the trial, attorneys at the National Labor Relations Board have continued to press the case. Until, that is, the Trump administration’s political appointees showed up for work.

Last Tuesday, Amazon, JP Morgan, and Berkshire Hathaway announced that they were coming together to do…something related to healthcare for their 1.2 million employees and could possibly expand to the public...Despite the fact that we have next to zero information about what AmazonCare would actually be, the news still sent healthcare stocks falling and led to optimistic predictions and double-takes from doubters...If Amazon had that authorization, it would be able to use people’s health information to nudge them toward specific products, says I. Glenn Cohen, a Harvard Law School professor who specializes in health law policy and editor of the forthcoming book Big Data, Health Law, and Bioethics.

Have you heard that the Trump administration has told states to go ahead and request approval to add work requirements to Medicaid coverage? And that Indiana and Kentucky have already received approval from the feds to do so? Meanwhile, Utah, Arizona, Kansas, Arkansas, Wisconsin, North Carolina, New Hampshire, and Maine are awaiting their approvals, while Alabama, Idaho, and South Dakota are considering putting in waivers for approval...Nonetheless, notes Phil Waters at Harvard Law's Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, "Even if people living with HIV are formally exempt from the requirement, the complexity involved with tracking and administering an exemption almost guarantees mistakes will be made and folks will end up punished."

As Harvard Law School celebrates its 200th year Professors and student activists gathered at Harvard Law School Wednesday night to debate the school's reported disconnect with public interest. The event, titled “Harvard Law and the Public Interest,” revolved largely around a report titled "Our Bicentennial Crisis" by Law student Pete D. Davis ’12 [`18]. Panelists Randall L. Kennedy, Carol S. Steiker ’82, Duncan Kennedy ’64, and Todd D. Rakoff ’67—all Law School professors—agreed that public interest law is essential for fighting inequality and that the Law School has the power to promote that interest.

State courts could be a new battleground for groups challenging voter maps after the U.S. Supreme Court opted against intervening in a partisan gerrymandering fight in Pennsylvania. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. refused Feb. 5 to set aside a Pennsylvania Supreme Court order striking down the state’s Republican-drawn congressional voting districts. GOP lawmakers had argued the state court usurped the General Assembly’s redistricting power in its Jan. 22 order...Alito’s move here also suggests the high court is hesitant to depart from its recent precedent and “thereby trigger something akin to another Bush v. Gore explosion in which the U.S. Supreme Court appears to be intruding on state sovereignty,” constitutional law professor Laurence Tribe, of Harvard Law School, told Bloomberg Law.

After repeated reports of “vandalism, theft, and destruction of property,” Winthrop House administrators sent multiple emails to House residents condemning the perpetrators and warning of potential consequences...Ronald S. Sullivan Jr. and Stephanie Robinson, Winthrop’s faculty deans, sent a more extensive email to Winthrop residents Monday afternoon, citing other instances of “vandalism” to Standish Hall in addition to those in the third floor bathrooms. According to the email, unidentified perpetrators threw toilet paper out of the hall’s windows to litter the courtyard below and also stole a wetsuit from one of the restrooms.

An op-ed by Susan Crawford. A hundred years ago, it was hard to imagine that domestic electricity could be good for anything beyond powering a few light bulbs in the front hall. That is, until refrigerators, washer-dryers, air-conditioners, and other high-capacity uses for electrical connections became popular and widely available. Today, fiberoptic connections present a similar conundrum. A giant middle class of consumers and producers will eventually be supported by the new businesses and new ways of thriving that very high-capacity networking will make possible.

Experts say a new labor accord granting German metals and electrical workers the right to a 28-hour week reflects a generational shift in how people balance their professional and outside lives...But but but ... don't look for such concessions to reach the U.S. any time soon, suggests Sharon Block, who runs the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School. "It shows a growing divide between what is going on here and the rest of the industrialized world," she told Axios.