Law

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to uphold a ban on a type of late-term abortion. The court found that the national Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, passed in 2003, does not violate a woman's constitutional right to an abortion. Read More

Copyrights play an integral role for writers and artists. And in this day of Web sites and Internet downloading, copyright rules are evolving. The United States Register of Copyrights, Marybeth Peters, will lead a day-long discussion on the state of copyright law on Friday, April 20 at the Vanderbilt University First Amendment Center. Read More

Atheism is a religion and it is dominating public schools, says a British philosopher who will speak at Vanderbilt University. Roger Scruton will be the fourth and last speaker in the "Democracy and Moral Conviction" lecture series. Read More

Will people learn to be more tolerant in the 21st century than we are now? That's the question the current chief justice of Canada's Supreme Court, Beverley McLachlin, will discuss when she speaks at Vanderbilt Law School April 5 at 3:30 p.m. in Flynn Auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public. Read More

Fifty years ago, two men took a bold step for themselves and for the future of Vanderbilt University Law School. Shortly after the landmark decision, Brown v. Board of Education, in which the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, and after strong encouragement from the law faculty, Vanderbilt Law School broke the color barrier and became the first privately funded law school in the South to admit African American students. Read More

Violent crime, racial oppression, ethnic tensions, mass atrocities and transitioning societies are all volatile situations that could be helped with effective conflict resolution techniques, including apology and forgiveness. But the complex emotional transition necessary for effective conflict resolution becomes even more complicated in the context of group conflicts. A conference being held at Vanderbilt Law School on March 30-31 will provide a unique opportunity to explore trends in conflict resolution. Read More

Vanderbilt professor says Wal-Mart case calls attention to employer‘s right to eavesdrop on employee calls: Bruce Barry, professor of management and sociology, is available to comment on recent case. Read More

David Williams II of Vanderbilt University has been elected a fellow by the Tennessee Bar Foundation. Read More

A new study by a Vanderbilt University professor of law and economics found legal immigrants in the United States with a lighter skin tone made more money than those with darker skin. Read More

Vanderbilt University Law Professor Mike Newton is an expert on the Saddam Hussein trial and has just returned from his fourth trip to Iraq. Read More

Two Vanderbilt University professors are taking on some country music celebrities in a debate over media ownership. Both sides will testify at a Federal Communications Commission public hearing Dec. 11 at Belmont University. Read More

With reports that the International Criminal Court prosecutor‘s investigation is nearing an end in the Darfur war crimes case, Mike Newton, Vanderbilt University‘s international criminal law expert, can discuss the legal issues surrounding crimes against humanity. Read More

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