Media Mentions

...Notably, Spicer did not take Liasson’s invitation to claim a potentially legitimate reason not to declassify wiretap evidence: that Trump did not want to appear to interfere with an ongoing investigation. Of course, if Spicer had agreed, it would have brought up innumerable other issues. For instance, if there is an ongoing investigation involving Trump wiretaps, that would be so politically explosive the Justice Department would have little choice but to appoint a special prosecutor...Lawrence Tribe, a famed professor of constitutional law at Harvard Law School, Justice Department official during the Obama administration, and now vociferous Trump critic, goes further. “What Sean Spicer said about the separation of powers made no sense at all,” Tribe believes. “The separation of powers provides no justification for saying that Congress rather than the president should investigate” Trump’s assertions.

Within days of President Donald Trump’s first executive order halting travel to the United States from seven majority-Muslim countries, states and organizations filed a flurry of lawsuits to fight the ban. And though Trump issued a revised ban Monday, many of those states and organizations believe the policies are so similar that they don’t even need to file new lawsuits...If U.S. District Judge James Robart agrees, the travel ban will be be stopped before it can go into effect on March 16. One of the biggest questions Robart faces, Harvard Law School professor Gerald L. Neuman said, is whether to consider the ban on its own — or consider that a court already found a similar policy to be likely unconstitutional.

Hundreds of others have received new sentences since the Supreme Court struck down mandatory life-without-parole terms for juveniles. Now, the man whose name is on that decision gets his chance...In addition to recounting his youth and a long history of abuse, neglect and depression, attorneys from the Equal Justice Initiative — which took Miller’s case to the Supreme Court — are expected to bring evidence about the science of brain development, which underpinned the justices’ ruling. Scientists now believe the parts of the adolescent brain that control emotional, risk-taking behavior aren’t fully developed until after the teenage years. “The result of this developmental process means that adolescents will not think like or process like adults will until probably their mid-20s,” said Robert Kinscherff, a forensic scientist and attorney at the Project on Law and Applied Neuroscience — a joint venture of Harvard Law School and Massachusetts General Hospital.

As the Malaysian police seek further evidence to back their suspicions that the North Korean government was behind last month’s assassination of Kim Jong-nam in Kuala Lumpur, international investigators are gathering testimony to put top North Korean leaders on trial for a much broader range of heinous crimes. The UN special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea on Monday called on the world to bring members of the dictatorial regime to justice at the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity...And history can take sudden twists, points out Alex Whiting, a professor of international criminal law at Harvard Law School. At one time, he recalls, few expected anyone ever to face justice for crimes committed in Cambodia or the former Yugoslavia. International tribunals have since tried and sentenced perpetrators of crimes against humanity and war crimes during those conflicts.

Condemnation over President Trump's decision to fire U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara came fast and furious on Saturday, from both sides of the aisle. Bharara refused the administration's request to resign along with 45 other U.S. attorneys across the nation and was summarily fired, sending shockwaves across New York, where the prosecutor was known to crusade against corruption in state and local governments...Bahara "is a hero. His firing was no ordinary turnover," tweeted Harvard constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe. "It was a cowardly about-face by #conmantrump fearing Bharara's investigations."

Artificial intelligence is everywhere and it’s here to stay. Most aspects of our lives are now touched by artificial intelligence in one way or another, from deciding what books or flights to buy online to whether our job applications are successful, whether we receive a bank loan, and even what treatment we receive for cancer...For Jonathan Zittrain, a professor of internet law at Harvard Law School, there is a danger that the increasing complexity of computer systems might prevent them from getting the scrutiny they need. “I'm concerned about the reduction of human autonomy as our systems — aided by technology — become more complex and tightly coupled,” he says.

An op-ed by Jack Goldsmith. Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn’s possibly criminal failure to register last year as a foreign agent is but the latest of many White House ethics lapses in the first seven weeks of the Trump presidency. Responsibility for this problem—like so many others in the young Trump presidency—lies at the feet of White House Counsel Donald McGahn.

The Wall Street Journal reports: A lawsuit filed Thursday by a Washington wine bar targets President Donald Trump’s lease with the federal government to rent the Old Post Office downtown, with the aim of forcing him to divest himself from the Trump International Hotel operating in the historic building...The Cork Wine Bar plaintiffs could, of course, add a claim under the emoluments clause, claiming government representatives pay for hotel rooms, meals and banquet facilities that are prohibited. “An emoluments clause complaint against the president in his official capacity would be fully consistent with the unfair competition claim they have now filed against Donald J. Trump in his capacity as a private businessman,” constitutional litigator Larry Tribe tells me.

An op-ed by Mark Roe. The 2008-2009 financial crisis exposed a serious weakness in the global financial system’s architecture: an overnight market for mortgage-backed securities that could not handle the implosion of a housing bubble. Some nine years later, that weakness has not been addressed adequately. When the crisis erupted, companies and investors in the United States were lending their extra cash overnight to banks and other financial firms, which then had to repay the loans, plus interest, the following morning. Because bank deposit insurance covered only up to $100,000, those with millions to store often preferred the overnight market, using ultra-safe long-term US Treasury obligations as collateral.

It seems like a simple solution: Companies with excess food should just donate it to people in need. So why don’t they? Maybe they’re worried about liability. Perhaps they can’t afford to transport the food to where it will do the most good. Or, they’re unsure about the expiration-date labeling and would rather not chance giving away past-due goods. So what’s to be done? Plenty, according to a report released Thursday, March 9, by The Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic and the Natural Resources Defense Council...“If even a quarter of the recommendations in the report are embraced and implemented, millions of pounds of wholesome food will make it to those in need instead of clogging up our landfills,” said Emily Broad Leib, director of the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic and one of the report’s main authors.

Amid concerns that Russia helped sway the 2016 presidential election, several states are considering legislation that would bar companies with significant foreign ties from contributing money in state campaigns. A long-standing federal statute bars noncitizens and foreign companies from donating directly to candidates or political parties at the federal, state and local levels. Another law prohibits businesses from directly donating to federal-level candidates or political parties. But the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case cleared the way for corporations and unions to pay for political ads made independently of candidates’ campaigns...“The board of a public company generally conceives of themselves as working for the shareholders,” said John C. Coates, a professor at Harvard Law School who testified in favor of the bill in Connecticut.

Harvard Law School soon will allow students to apply for admission using their scores from the GRE standardized test, a break from tradition that's meant to draw a wider range of candidates to the school. For decades, Harvard and other law schools have required students to take the Law School Admissions Test, known as the LSAT, to be considered. Other graduate programs often rely on the Graduate Record Examination, commonly called the GRE..."Harvard Law School is continually working to eliminate barriers as we search for the most talented candidates for law and leadership," Martha Minow, the school's dean, said in a statement. "For many students, preparing for and taking both the GRE and the LSAT is unaffordable."

An interview with Cass Sunstein. A well-functioning democracy depends on people interacting with a wide range of people and ideas. As the internet and social media grow ever more sophisticated and targeted, they threaten democracy by creating “echo chambers” and “information cocoons.” So says a Harvard professor of behavioral economics, who offers practical and legal solutions.

An op-ed by Cass Sunstein. A Republican president takes office, vowing to eliminate job-killing regulations issued by his Democratic predecessor. In his first weeks, the automobile industry publicly asks him to eliminate specific regulations that are, in its view, crushingly burdensome. He agrees. Sound familiar? It should. But we’re speaking of 1981, not 2017, and of Ronald Reagan’s decision to repeal one of the central achievements of the Jimmy Carter administration: a rule designed to reduce highway deaths and injuries by requiring “passive restraints,” such as airbags, in motor vehicles.

An op-ed by Noah Feldman. Are there do-overs in the White House? That’s the question that will determine the fate of President Donald Trump’s new and improved executive order on immigration from six majority-Muslim countries. The state of Hawaii has filed suit challenging the order on essentially the same grounds that the federal courts used to block the first iteration. Whether the second order is similarly blocked depends on whether the court looks solely to the content of the new order or to the entire context of its birth.

One of the nation’s most noted lawyers, Harvard law professor Laurence H. Tribe, has joined Rep. William Lacy Clay’s lawsuit seeking to re-install a controversial painting on a public wall in the Capitol complex. The first hearing on that lawsuit is scheduled for next Wednesday, March 15, Clay said Wednesday. Clay, D-St. Louis, announced Wednesday that Tribe would defend on 1st Amendment grounds the right of former St. Louis student David Pulphus to have his painting hang with other congressional painting contest winners.

David Nason, a General Electric (GE.N) executive and former Treasury Department official, has told the White House he is no longer interested in serving as the Federal Reserve's bank supervision chief. Nason, who heads GE's Energy Financial Services division, had been seen as a leading candidate for the vice chair for supervision position, a critical role in efforts by the administration of President Donald Trump to revamp financial rules...Harvard Law School professor Hal Scott, whose work has focused on financial firms, regulation and capital markets, is still in the mix for the job, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. Scott is director of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, a research group made up of financial industry representatives and academics that has been critical of financial regulations.

Harvard Law School announced on Wednesday that starting in the fall it will accept the GRE as an alternative to the LSAT from applicants seeking to enroll in the school. Harvard becomes only the second American Bar Association-accredited law school to accept the Graduate Record Exam. The University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law announced last February that it would accept either the Law School Admission Test or the GRE in an attempt to expand its applicant pool. The school admitted 12 current students who submitted GRE scores...Jessica Soban, associate dean for admissions and strategic initiatives at Harvard Law, said in an interview Wednesday that accepting the GRE should help the school draw more students with science and technology backgrounds, which are sorely needed in the legal profession, and applicants who already have graduate degrees. Those students most likely will have already taken the GRE.

Harvard Law School will allow applicants to take the Graduate Record Examination test as part of a pilot program that could potentially challenge the Law School Admissions Test’s longstanding, national dominance over law-school admissions. The law school announced Wednesday that applicants seeking to join its entering class of fall 2018 could take either the GRE or the LSAT. Administration officials said they would decide later whether to make the LSAT permanently optional. Harvard said the move is intended to expand and diversify its applicant pool, making it a more attractive option for international students and those also pursuing graduate degrees outside of law.

Harvard Law School, moving to open its doors to a larger, more diverse pool of applicants, said on Wednesday that it would accept the graduate record examination, known as the GRE, for the admission of students entering its fall 2018 class...The change “will encourage more students in the United States and internationally from a greater degree of disciplines to apply,” said Jessica Soban, assistant dean and chief admissions officer. Applicants who want to can still submit LSAT scores. The GRE test is offered many times each year and in numerous locations around the world, Ms. Soban said in an interview. In addition, she said, “many prospective law school applicants take the GRE as they consider graduate school options.”

For 70 years, the LSAT has been a rite of passage to legal education, a test designed to gauge students’ ability to learn the law. But its dominance could change. Beginning this fall, Harvard Law School will allow applicants to submit their scores from either the Graduate Record Examination or the Law School Admission Test...Harvard, by contrast, saw a 5 percent increase in applicant volume both last year and this year, said Jessica Soban, associate dean for admissions and strategic initiatives. “Regardless of the number of applicants we have, this initiative is about making sure the most qualified candidates continue to consider us,” she said.