Media Mentions

The Trump administration has decided that it needs no new legal authority from Congress to indefinitely keep American military forces deployed in Syria and Iraq, even in territory that has been cleared of Islamic State fighters, according to Pentagon and State Department officials. In a pair of letters, the officials illuminated the Trump administration’s planning for an open-ended mission of forces in Syria beyond the Islamic State fight...The executive branch’s claim that the 2001 and 2002 laws provide authority for the United States to indefinitely keep combat forces in Syria amounts to “a tenuous legal justification atop of another tenuous legal justification,” said Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard Law School professor and former Justice Department lawyer in the Bush administration.

An op-ed by Cass Sunstein. Amid all the current political clamor, the Justice Department recently did something that is both technical and important -- and that simultaneously promotes freedom and the rule of law. It deserves bipartisan approval for its announcement that it will no longer rely on “guidance documents” to try to bind the private sector. Under the Administrative Procedure Act, enacted in 1946, federal agencies are allowed to issue “interpretative rules” and “general policy statements,” some of which qualify as guidance documents. Many of these advise members of the public -- companies, hospitals, labor unions, charities, immigrants -- about what the government considers to be their legal responsibilities.

...The initial findings of new research presented at the Enigma conference in January indicate that contractor-employees of “gig” services like Uber, Lyft, TaskRabbit, Handy, Fiverr, and Foodora are generally less safe online than full-time employees of other companies. Why? Because the companies they contract with aren’t communicating or enforcing best security practices as intensely. Kendra Albert, a clinical fellow at Harvard Law School and one of the researchers behind the as-yet unpublished study, says traditional companies commonly install security or device management software on employees’ phones and laptops; gig services, on the other hand, rarely do this for their contractors. Gig worker app platform requirements such as uploads of identity or insurance documentation give the companies reason to trust their contractors, but the companies do little with their platforms to reciprocate that trust, Albert says. “The mistrust that these platforms put in their workers have security consequences,” Albert says.

If you're passionate about craft brews and green living, how about raising a glass of beer made from leftover bread? Toast Ale launched in the U.K. in 2015 in part to help bakeries recycle bread that otherwise would have been wasted — and to help raise public awareness about wasted food...But can a small company like Toast Ale really make a difference? Emily Broad Leib, director of the Food Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, certainly thinks so. “Grain products such as bread are some of the most commonly wasted food products in both the U.S. and the U.K.,” Broad Leib told NBC News MACH in an email.

Harvard’s investment decisions often grab headlines. Protesters have blockaded administrative buildings and staged sit-ins in downtown Boston to oppose the University’s investments in fossil fuels and private prisons. And University President Drew G. Faust has publicly opined on whether or not it is wise to divest from controversial assets. Meanwhile, two University committees routinely make a set of less visible—yet ethically challenging—decisions about how to act as a shareholder in its existing investments. At the meetings of these committees, Harvard takes public stances on issues ranging from climate change to the rights of indigenous people in its capacity as a shareholder...Howell E. Jackson, a professor at Harvard Law School and the chair of the ACSR, said the committee carefully researches and deliberates on every proposal it considers. “There is actually a huge amount of background reading,” Jackson said. Once the ACSR makes recommendations about each proxy vote, it sends them to the CCSR, which Jackson said has a tradition of “overwhelmingly following” the ACSR’s recommendations.

Civil rights activists are challenging the legality of four states’ winner-take-all method of allocating U.S. presidential electoral college votes, claiming the practice magnifies some votes at the expense of others and violates voters’ constitutional rights...“The promise of democracy is that all votes count equally,” Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard law professor, said about the suits. “Winner-take-all denies Americans that simple ideal. If you’re a Republican in California, or a Democrat in Texas, your vote for president gets counted only to be thrown away.” The idea for the challenges originated in a crowdfunding campaign organized by Lessig through the website EqualVotes.US.

An op-ed by Lawrence Lessig. Today, in four states across the country, lawsuits will be filed to challenge the way presidential electors are selected in America. The plaintiffs in these suits charge that the “winner-take-all” system—the system by which the candidate who wins the popular vote in a state gets all of the electoral college votes in that state—violates both the 14th Amendment’s principle of “one person, one vote,” and the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.

In an interview with Michael Smerconish, HLS Professor Laurence Tribe discusses why restrictions on guns are fully compatible with the Second Amendment.

Kent Whitaker lost his wife and son to a criminal act. Now he's about to lose his last remaining child. We call on Gov. Greg Abbott to end this chain of death and grant clemency to Thomas "Bart" Whitaker. In 2007, Bart was convicted of a murder-for-hire plot to kill his mother and brother. His execution is scheduled for Thursday. There is no questioning the sickness - the evil - that must course through a man's veins if he is driven to such a horrific act. But compounding violence upon violence will not bring a family back to life, nor will it further the cause of justice or bring peace to the victims...Leading legal minds of our state, such as former Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Tom Price and current Judge Elsa Alcala, have peered into the inner workings of our capital punishment system and recognized its fatal flaws. A study by Harvard Law School's Fair Punishment Project called it "too broken to fix."

An op-ed by Jack Goldsmith. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia indictment represents “a remarkable rebuke of the president’s claims” that the Russia investigation was a “phony Democrat excuse for losing the election,” the Lawfare team concluded. The indictment also educates the American public about the reality and scale of the Russian threat to the American political process more credibly than last year’s intelligence community report on the matter. Perhaps it will help the United States build resilience against future attacks.

Has indicted former Trump campaign adviser Rick Gates been playing “Queen for a Day”? According to media reports, Gates is finalizing a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller and has had a “queen for a day” interview. A “queen for a day” interview happens in a federal case when someone involved in a case offers to tell prosecutors what they know, with prosecutors promising not to use that interview directly against them...Typically, such interviews are held when prosecutors already have the person “dead to rights,” and they want to know what else the person can offer in terms of information that will merit them a plea deal, said Alex Whiting, a Harvard Law School professor whose career includes stints as a federal prosecutor in Boston and Washington as well as at the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

Students, faculty, and administrators at the Law School say they are pleased Harvard’s 29th president will be one of their own. University President-elect Lawrence S. Bacow, who will take office after President Drew G. Faust steps down in June, graduated from the Law School with a J.D. in 1976. He also holds two degrees from the Kennedy School...John F. Manning ’82, dean of the Law School, wrote in an emailed statement that he is “delighted” with Bacow’s appointment and “look[s] forward to working with him.”...Manning’s predecessor as dean, Martha L. Minow, wrote in an email that she thinks Bacow’s legal training has equipped him well to lead universities like Tufts, and now, Harvard. “Larry Bacow is not only a proven, effective leader in higher education who passionately cares about access, inclusion, and excellence; he is also genuinely perceptive and wise,” she wrote...“Larry Bacow wasn’t my student, but I wish he had been,” [Laurence] Tribe wrote in an email. “He’s a wonderful choice as Harvard’s next President and I look forward to getting to know him. Just listening to one of his long-form interviews is a source of inspiration and comfort. His background and vision seem ideal for this difficult time of turmoil and transition.”...Jyoti Jasrasaria ’12 [`18], a third-year law student who chaired the student committee that advised the presidential search, said the committee reached out to students across the University, including law students, to solicit input about the search. “Personally, I think, based on the outreach that I did to students along with the rest of the committee over the course of the past few months, that what we have seen and heard from Larry Bacow so far it seems like he is going to be a really good president,” Jasrasaria said...Historically, the Law School has shown a tendency to strike out on its own and occasionally depart from University-wide policy. Jacob R. Steiner [`18], a third-year Law student who served as a Law School representative on the student advisory committee, said he thinks Bacow’s experience at HLS will translate into a deeper understanding of the school’s specific needs and a stronger relationship between the Law School and the University.

Bringing the first indictment directly related to Russian election meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Special Counsel Robert Mueller charged 13 Russian individuals and three organizations with illegally plotting to sow political discord and sway the election for then-candidate Donald Trump. The 37-page indictment says the named individuals began conspiring in 2014 to interfere in the American political system, and used false identities to spread divisive political material on social media...Weighing in via email, Harvard law professor Alex Whiting said that the new indictments are important because, up until now, the details about Russian interference in the presidential election were limited to intelligence reports. “Now Mueller is providing specific information about how this was done,” said Whiting, who served as the prosecutions coordinator at the International Criminal Court at the Hague.

No public or private university in Oregon can claim membership to academia’s most exclusive club, those giants of scientific research that spin off entire industries and propel their local economies. No school here regularly cracks the top 50 institutions for federal research dollars. But seeds now in place in Eugene, Newport and Portland hold the potential for a collective breakthrough. New scientific research centers -- backed by hundreds of millions in public and private dollars -- are moving forward or nearing completion, a chain reaction that could transform the state...That’s not an unreasonable concern, said Michael Teitelbaum, a senior research associate at the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School who has authored a book on boom-and-bust cycles in scientific research. Schools are “sometimes too enthusiastic about the value of expanding basic research facilities,” he said. But Oregon is well positioned because it has one of the nation’s wealthiest people – Knight is worth an estimated $26.6 billion -- bankrolling two major projects.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of 13 Russian individuals and three organizations for allegedly interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election sets the stage for the prosecution of Americans who may have helped the Russian effort, some legal experts said...If an American helped direct the Russian acts, that could lead to charges as well, said Harvard Law School Professor Alex Whiting. “If there were meetings between the Trump campaign and the Russians, and the Trump campaign officials encouraged the Russians or guided them to particular types of work, or provided them assistance so that they could focus their interference, that would be collusion,” said Whiting, a former federal prosecutor.

One of the most ubiquitous features of the internet is the ability to link to content elsewhere. Everything is connected via billions of links and embeds to blogs, articles, and social media. But a federal judge’s ruling threatens that ecosystem. Katherine Forrest, a Southern District of New York judge, ruled Thursday that embedding a tweet containing an image in a webpage could be considered copyright infringement. The decision can be appealed, but if it stands and is adopted by other courts, it could change the way online publishing functions... "The ruling is disappointing and may result in an increase in similar litigation, but all hope is not lost. The news organizations still have a number of potential defenses, including fair use," says Kendra Albert, a technology lawyer and fellow at the Harvard Law School Cyberlaw Clinic.

A speech by Lawrence Lessig. None of us want to be here. I don’t mean literally. This is New Orleans, and I’m sharing a stage with Jennifer Lawrence, and my hero, Buddy Roemer, so don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty happy to be here. But none of us want to have to be here. None of us want to be living in a democracy where our first fight has got to be about that democracy. Because all of us believe that there are real things, important things, substantive things that this democracy must do. But can’t do now.

What happens when you become president of the world’s most prestigious university? Suddenly everyone has advice for you. Lawrence S. Bacow, the former president of Tufts University, was named Harvard University’s next leader last week, and already the lobbying has begun. Here’s a taste of what students, alumni, professors, and others say they want him to focus on, when he takes over from president Drew Faust after her retirement in June...Jeannie Suk Gersen: “I hope President Bacow will focus on strengthening traditions of free speech, academic freedom, and respect for intellectual diversity that make possible the uncomfortable exploration of ideas that push us to discovery.”

...Where does the outrage come from, and why does it seem to emerge so suddenly? Media reporting is often a trigger, but for every hard-hitting investigation that unleashes a sustained storm, a dozen squalls blow over swiftly. One clue comes from a large research study of jury-style deliberations, conducted by psychologists Daniel Kahneman and David Schkade, along with Cass Sunstein, who has recently been exploring the dynamics of outrage. (Mr Sunstein was a senior official in the Obama administration, co-author with Richard Thaler of Nudge and is a legal scholar at Harvard Law School.) This study looked at debates over punitive damage awards against corporations. When individual jurors felt a corporate crime was outrageous, the group displayed a “severity shift”.

An op-ed by Noah Feldman. The state of North Carolina is paying $300,000 to a magistrate who quit rather than marry gay couples as ordered by the courts. Something is seriously wrong here. The magistrate was entitled to resign as a matter of conscience. But the religious accommodation that federal law requires of ordinary employers shouldn’t apply to state officials who say that their religion means they can’t obey their oath to the U.S. Constitution.

An op-ed by Cass Sunstein. The use of the Second Amendment to block consideration of sensible gun control measures is a national disgrace. And conservatives themselves have explained why this is true. For decades, conservatives have objected to the use of constitutional provisions as a political weapon, insisting that controversies should be resolved in democratic arenas instead. They have made this argument to oppose judicial recognition of the right to choose abortion; protection of same-sex marriage; creation of a rigid “wall” between church and state; and creation of new rights in the criminal justice system. Going even further, they have argued against the left’s efforts to use the Constitution to block reasonable political debates — about religion, about privacy, about equality — that the justices have never settled.