Law

President Bush's call for National Guard troops on the border is "a political move that flies in the face of reality," according to Robert Barsky, editor of AmeriQuests and an expert on refugee, border and migration issues. Delivering a nationally televised speech on immigration shows President Bush wants to act, not react, on the debate about cracking down on illegal immigrants, according to presidential expert John Geer. Read More

Vanderbilt's Peabody College of education and human development was ranked 5th in the nation for the second consecutive year by U.S. News & World Report in its annual ranking of the leading graduate and professional schools. Peabody's Special Education program was ranked first in the nation for the fourth straight year, and, overall, the school saw seven of its programs ranked in the top 10. Read More

Following recently signed legislation banning almost all abortions in South Dakota, several other states are considering similar legislation, setting up a possible challenge to Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court. Vanderbilt experts are available to discuss constitutional and political issues surrounding this debate. Read More

Vanderbilt legal and political experts Suzanna Sherry and Stefanie Lindquist are available to discuss the qualities that make a good justice, how the Senate should seek to evaluate those qualities in Samuel Alito's confirmation hearing, and the politics surrounding Supreme Court appointments. Read More

Vanderbilt Law School honored local attorney Cecil D. Branstetter this week by naming its first endowed curricular program "The Cecil D. Branstetter Litigation & Dispute Resolution Program." Read More

Vanderbilt experts are available to provide insight on 2005's top stories, including the ongoing trial of Saddam Hussein, Hurricane Katrina, President George W. Bush's appointments to the Supreme Court, the bankruptcy of two major airlines and more. Read More

A Vanderbilt international law expert says the threat by attorneys for Saddam Hussein to end all contact with the Iraqi court that will try the former Iraqi president is nothing but "legal maneuvering." Read More

Vanderbilt University Law School has received $2.9 million from the settlement of a class action lawsuit to which it was not a party. The award will fund the school's new civil litigation and dispute resolution program, designed to produce graduates with the experience and necessary competencies to make them more productive from their first day at work. Read More

The C.I.A. leak case has brought renewed scrutiny of the Bush administration's decision to go to war in Iraq, and there are historical parallels to the Reagan administration's foreign policy during the Iran-Contra scandal, according to Vanderbilt University Professor of History Thomas Alan Schwartz. Read More

What difference does it make if a prosecutor describes a defendant as a "murderer" or as "someone who commits murder?" In some cases, those few words could mean the difference between life and death. Read More

Mike Newton, acting associate clinical professor of law at Vanderbilt University, is an expert on the Iraqi Special Tribunal and international criminal law. He helped establish the Iraqi Special Tribunal and led the training in international criminal law for its judges, including two sessions in Baghdad. He was interviewed on Oct. 11 by the BBC about the upcoming trial of Saddam Hussein for the U.K.'s longest running legal weekly program, "Law in Action." Read More

Vanderbilt's Newton was involved in the creation of the Iraqi Special Tribunal and trained its judges. Mike Newton, acting associate clinical professor of law at Vanderbilt University, is an expert on the Iraqi Special Tribunal and international criminal law. Read More

What would it have been like to have been in the Rhea County, Tenn., courtroom during the summer of 1925 to witness William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow argue Tennessee vs. John Thomas Scopes? Theatergoers will have the opportunity to experience it for themselves when Great Performances at Vanderbilt presents The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial on Oct. 19 and 20. Read More

What would it have been like to have been in the Rhea County, Tenn., courtroom during the summer of 1925 to witness William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow argue Tennessee vs. John Thomas Scopes? Theatergoers will have the opportunity to experience it for themselves when Great Performances at Vanderbilt presents The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial on Oct. 19 and 20. Read More

Attorney and best-selling author Scott Turow will give a talk, "Ultimate Punishment: A Lawyer's Reflections on Dealing with the Death Penalty," Thursday, Oct. 6, at 7 p.m. at Vanderbilt University. Read More

Impact of changes to the Supreme Court: Suzanna Sherry, Cal Turner Professor of Law and Leadership at Vanderbilt Law School, is available to discuss the recent changes to the Supreme Court, including the confirmation of a new chief justice and the nomination of a person to fill the vacancy left by Sandra Day O'Connor. She also can discuss what will happen in the coming months as O'Connor continues to hear cases she may not be around to decide and what happens procedurally if a ninth justice joins the court mid-term. Read More

Attorney and best-selling author Scott Turow will give a talk "Ultimate Punishment: A Lawyer's Reflections on Dealing with the Death Penalty" Thursday, Oct. 6, at 7 p.m. at Vanderbilt University. Read More

Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker, former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William H. Donaldson and Chancellor of the Delaware Court of the Chancery William B. Chandler III will headline the 2005 Vanderbilt Directors College on Oct. 6 and 7. Read More

Vanderbilt Law Professor Christopher S. Yoo is scheduled to testify at the confirmation hearings next week for John G. Roberts Jr., who has been nominated to serve as chief justice of the United States. Read More

When Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) amended a massive spending bill last year to provide that all institutions of higher education receiving federal funds celebrate Constitution Day, he may not have envisioned a discussion about whether the requirement is itself unconstitutional. Read More