‘Groundbreaking constitutional times’: Wehle on pardon power

Professor Kimberly Wehle contributed an op-ed to The Hill that lays out the challenges President Donald Trump would likely face if he pardoned Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman indicted last week by special counsel Robert Mueller as part of Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidental election.

In “Legally, Trump can’t pardon Manafort to save himself” (Nov. 3, 2017), Wehle writes that Trump would not necessarily prevail.

“A constitutional challenge to a Manafort pardon would require creative lawyering, to be sure,” Wehle wrote. “But we live in groundbreaking constitutional times. As a matter of historical precedent — which matters to the Supreme Court in novel situations like this one — Trump is not on unassailable ground.”

And, she added, a presidential pardon would not insulate Manafort from indictment by the New York State attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, whose office is also looking into Manafort’s financial transactions.

Concluded Wehle: “Trump can try his hand at more pardons, but the power is no magic wand. … The likely reality is that the grand jury will continue to do its work, Mr. Trump, and the chips must fall where they will.”

Wehle, a former assistant U.S. attorney and associate independent counsel in the Whitewater investigation, is the author of the forthcoming book The Outsourced Constitution: How Public Power in Private Hands Erodes Democracy.

Learn more about Professor Wehle.

Today! Journal of Intl Law symposium on family law & adoption

The University of Baltimore Journal of International Law invites you to a symposium, “Families Without Borders: A Panel Discussion on International Family Law and Adoption.”

Monday, Nov. 13, 2017
6-9 p.m.
12th floor
John and Frances Angelos Law Center
1401 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21201

RSVP here.

See schedule of events here.

Tiefer covers bombshell revelations in the ‘Paradise Papers’

Professor Charles Tiefer wrote about the just-released “Paradise Papers” in a Sunday column for Forbes that, as of noon on Monday, had received more than 75,000 hits.

The huge trove of documents — 13.4 million records covering decades of deals — lays out the offshore financial machinations of some of the world’s richest people and ties Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross Jr. to Kremlin-linked firms.

Read “’Paradise Papers’ Disclosures of Trump Administration-Russia Ties Warrant Congressional Hearings” (Nov. 5, 2017).

According to news reports, the papers were leaked from Appleby, one of the world’s largest offshore law firms, and were obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists with partners including The Guardian, the BBC and The New York Times.

Of the Commerce secretary, Tiefer wrote: “Ross has been devious – at best – with the Senate, which confirmed him to his Cabinet post. His ethics agreement filed in January 2017 was supposed to be a clean breast of his financial holdings, and, one would think, particularly his Russian connections. It is now clear that it fell well short of that.”

Learn more about Professor Tiefer.

Read the report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

Today: Law Forum symposium to focus on ‘Memory and Proof’

RSVP today for the University of Baltimore Law Forum‘s fall symposium, “Memory and Proof: Victims of Child Sex Abuse and the Maryland Courts.”

Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017
3-6 p.m.
Moot Courtroom (0 level)
John and Frances Angelos Law Center
1401 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21201

Registration begins at 2 p.m. A reception will follow the event.

RSVP here.

A 3L and her ‘UBeast’ represent law school at Barcstoberfest

‘UB Bee’ (and Law Review editor) Kelly Goebel and Maverick, her ‘UBeast’

3L Kelly Goebel and her boyfriend, Hunter Campbell, showed off UB pride – and their adorable puppy — at the 13^th annual Barcstoberfest fundraiser on Oct. 28.

Held in Patterson Park, the event raised money for BARCS – Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter – and included a “Best Baltimore Theme” costume contest.

Kelly and Hunter dressed as “UB Bees,” while Maverick, their 7-month-old pup, went as the “UBeast.”

Kelly, the editor-in-chief of the University of Baltimore Law Review, thinks Maverick is a border collie-labrador mix — which would make him a “borador.”

Whatever his lineage, he’s scarily cute!

Kelly and Hunter didn’t win the costume contest (boo!!), but Kelly says that they had a blast and that Maverick remains the law school’s unofficial mascot.

If you want to see more pictures of Maverick, you’re in luck – he has his own Instagram account: @maverickthebaby_groot. Or catch Maverick himself in the Law Admissions Office (where he makes the occasional appearance to visit his mom, who works there).

Maverick the Mascot helps in the Law Admissions Office.

 

Emily Rogers to be honored for work at Senior Legal Services

Emily Rogers, J.D. ’12

Emily Rogers, J.D. ’12, associate director of the University of Baltimore’s Law Career Development Office, or LCDO, will be honored Nov. 8, 2017, by the Bar Association of Baltimore City and the Baltimore Bar Foundation for her work with Senior Legal Services.

Rogers is one of two local lawyers to be named volunteer of the year for Senior Legal Services, a joint program of the two bar groups. J. Allan Cohen, a 1961 graduate of the UB School of Law, is the other honoree.

Rogers and Cohen will be recognized at a fund-raising event, “Cabaret & Cabernet: An Evening of Unlawful Entertainment,” which will feature performers whose day jobs involve practicing law.

Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2017
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Westminster Hall
519 W. Fayette St., Baltimore, MD 21201

Pre-show reception with cast: 6 p.m.
Showtime: 7 p.m.

Nov. 2 will be Rogers’s last day at the law school. She has accepted an attorney position with the Social Security Administration.

Rogers has an extensive background in immigration law and public policy. She helped manage immigration casework as a legislative intern in the district office of U.S. Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas and then worked as a law clerk for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Office of Chief Counsel, as well as for the U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review.  In the LCDO, Rogers helped manage the EXPLOR program and coordinated public-interest programming and events.

Congratulations, Emily — we’ll miss you!

On NPR, Wehle discusses NFL players’ free-speech rights

Professor Kimberly Wehle

Professor Kimberly Wehle spoke on NPR’s Morning Edition program today (Oct. 25, 2017) as part of a segment titled “Your Questions About Activism In Sports, Answered.”

Wehle responded to a listener who asked if NFL players could be compelled to stand for the national anthem before a game.

Her response: The NFL, like other private employers, can legally ban employees from exercising free-speech rights while they are at work, as long as a government entity isn’t involved in the ban.

“When it comes to the First Amendment, which is the part of the Constitution that I think most people think about when you’re talking about free speech, we do cede rights when it comes to employment,” Wehle said. “So the First Amendment actually only binds government behavior” – or the behavior of government officials.

NFL teams, like other companies, can require workers to sign a contract that in effect waives their free-speech rights – and there things become murky:

“[T]he first question would be, In the collective-bargaining agreement that binds these players’ terms of employment with these football teams, does it essentially waive the other federal labor law protections? … [M]y understanding is that it’s pretty vague and that it’s not clear one way or the other.”

Wehle, a former federal prosecutor, is the author of The Outsourced Constitution: How Public Power in Private Hands Erodes Democracy, which is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press.

Learn more about Professor Wehle.

Stead Lecture: Genocide & Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act

The Center for International and Comparative Law‘s annual Stead Lecture will be presented Wednesday evening by Vivian Curran, distinguished professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh.

Professor Curran’s talk is titled “Genocide and the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.”

Wednesday, Oct. 25
6:15 p.m.
Angelos Law Center, Room 408

A reception will follow the lecture.

Learn about the Center for International and Comparative Law.

Two events & two films honor Baltimorean Thurgood Marshall

This month marks the 50th anniversary of Thurgood Marshall’s swearing-in as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Marshall, who was born and raised in Baltimore, served on the Court from October 1967 to October 1991. He was the Court’s 96th, and first African-American, justice.

Don’t miss two events this week at UB that honor Justice Marshall and feature two films about him.

First, on Wednesday, join UB law students, faculty and staff for a showing of the new movie Marshall and a discussion with attorney Michael Koskoff, who wrote the screenplay with his son Joseph Koskoff.

Wednesday, Oct. 25
6-9 p.m.
Wright Theater, 5^th floor
UB Student Center
(21 W. Mt. Royal Ave., Baltimore 21201)

REGISTER HERE. (Password: 50^th) The event is free, but all attendees will need a ticket. Register today while tickets are still available! The Student Bar Association will provide free popcorn.

On Friday, the Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. Center for Education, Justice and Ethics at the University of Maryland, with the law schools at the University of Baltimore and the University of Maryland, will hold a 50^th anniversary celebration of the elevation of Thurgood Marshall as a justice to the United States Supreme Court.

Friday, Oct. 27
UB Learning Commons
(1415 Maryland Ave., Baltimore 21201)

REGISTER HERE.

The program, which begins at 1 p.m. with an introduction by Judge Alexander Williams Jr., will include a 1:30 p.m. showing of the PBS documentary Mr. Civil Rights: Thurgood Marshall & the NAACP. The film tells the story of Marshall’s journey through the Jim Crow South as he sets the stage for the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision to desegregate America’s public schools.

After the screening, filmmaker Mick Caouette will take part in a discussion moderated by UB School of Law Dean Ronald Weich.

Subsequent panels will discuss Marshall’s influence on Maryland and his work on the Supreme Court.

For more information, contact Professor José Anderson at janderson@ubalt.edu.

Hatcher to speak about poverty and housing in Baltimore City

Professor Daniel Hatcher

Professor Daniel Hatcher will take part in an Oct. 24 Baltimore Sun Newsmaker Forum devoted to a discussion of problems in Baltimore City housing.

Hatcher is the author, most recently, of The Poverty Industry: The Exploitation of America’s Most Vulnerable Citizens (NYU Press, 2016).

The panel discussion will be moderated by reporter Doug Donovan, the co-author, with Jean Marbella, of “Dismissed: Tenants Lose, Landlords Win in Baltimore’s Rent Court.”

Learn more and register for the Tuesday, Oct. 24 Newsmaker Forum, which will run from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Loyola University of Maryland
McGuire Hall (Student Center)
4501 N. Charles St.
Baltimore, MD 21210

On Nov. 2, Hatcher will be the keynote speaker at the Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition’s annual awards dinner. Learn more here.

Learn more about Professor Hatcher.