Two of the nation's preeminent scholars on international security and nuclear weapons will meet Wednesday (Nov. 18) for a debate on the long-term security implications of nuclear weapons in South Asia. It will be moderated by David Fidler, the James Louis Calamaras Professor of Law in the Indiana University Maurer School of Law and director of the IU Center on American and Global Security.

Top scholars on Afghanistan and Iraq will meet on the Indiana University Bloomington campus Friday and Saturday (Nov. 13-14) for one of the first collaborative conferences on state-building in both nations. "State-Building in the Contemporary Islamic World: U.S. Intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan" is being presented by the Indiana Democracy Consortium. The two-day event is being held in the Indiana Memorial Union's State Room East and is open to both the public and the media.

Sir David Williams, the first Indiana University Maurer School of Law George P. Smith Distinguished Visiting Professor-Chair and frequent contributor to the Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, died last month in Cambridge, England. He was 78.

David Fidler, a professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law-Bloomington and a leading expert on global health and international law, is answering questions online at 11:45 a.m. today (Oct. 27) for the Washington Post about the shortage of H1N1 flu vaccine.

As congressional leaders continue the debate over health care reform, a workshop hosted by the Indiana University Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research (CACR) on Oct. 26-27 will bring together national leaders to discuss two critical components of the American health care system: privacy and security.

The denial of a marriage license to an interracial couple by a Louisiana justice of the peace was unconstitutional, according to an Indiana University Maurer School of Law professor. According to news reports, the justice of the peace denied the couple's marriage license application earlier this month due to concerns for their future children.

The U.S. Supreme Court has begun its 2009-10 term and is hearing arguments in two cases this week. Indiana University Maurer School of Law Professor Dan Conkle is available to comment on both. Arguments in United States v. Stevens will be heard today (Oct. 6). The case tests the government's ability to ban depictions of animal cruelty, including dogfighting, as a way to prohibit animal torture. Salazar v. Buono, to be heard on Wednesday (Oct. 7), involves the erection of a cross on federal land in the Mojave National Preserve in California.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded $538,595 to the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research to support a two-year project titled "Protecting Privacy in Health Research." The IU-led project assembles a blue-ribbon panel of experts in medical research, privacy, security, law, ethics, and patient advocacy from eleven national and international partner organizations.

The Phi Beta Kappa Society, the nation's oldest academic honor society, announced Friday (Oct. 2) the election of Indiana University Maurer School of Law Distinguished Professor Fred H. Cate as its new president.

Facing the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Indiana University Maurer School of Law Professor David C. Williams on Wednesday (Sept. 30) urged the federal government not to relax sanctions on the Burmese military regime until demonstrable progress can be shown in constitutional development and human rights.

Two leading junior scholars conducting innovative research in the areas of law and society have been named the inaugural recipients of the Jerome Hall Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law. Megan Francis and Alexei Trochev will spend the current academic year at Indiana University, working on projects relating to law and society.

Sharon Keller, presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, will face a special trial for judicial misconduct in the capital punishment case of Michael Wayne Richard. Charles Geyh, the John F. Kimberling Professor of Law at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, comments on the case.

Indiana University Maurer School of Law Dean Lauren Robel announced the launch of the school's new Center on the Global Legal Profession. Based at IU Bloomington, the center will focus on the unprecedented challenges lawyers are facing around the world and develop research and training materials to assist current and future attorneys in their understanding of international legal systems.

With political and economic power in international politics shifting towards Asia, especially with the United States and Europe in the midst of economic crises, an Indiana University Maurer School of Law professor and alumnus argue that the power and ideas of Asian countries may be altering the nature of world affairs.

An Indiana University law professor and cybersecurity expert said the recent wave of cyber attacks that shut down Web sites in the United States and South Korea over the July 4th weekend offer important lessons for policymakers. "These attacks demonstrate how vulnerable key computer systems remain," said Fred H. Cate, Distinguished Professor of Law and director of the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 today (June 29) in favor of white firefighters who filed a reverse discrimination lawsuit against the city of New Haven, Conn. In Ricci v. DeStefano, the firefighters claimed the city improperly threw out results of promotional exams because minorities did not meet testing standards for promotion.

The U.S. Supreme Court today (June 29) issued a 5-4 ruling on Cuomo v. the Clearing House Association confirming that states have the power to enforce state laws against national banks, including laws that prohibit discriminatory lending practices. Sarah Jane Hughes, university scholar and fellow in commercial law at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, is available to comment on the ruling.

Craig Bradley, Robert A. Lucas Professor of Law at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, says the Supreme Court's ruling in the case of an eighth-grade student who was strip searched appears to be a reasonable compromise between letting schools control illlegal drug use and protecting student privacy.

Indiana University Maurer School of Law Professor Gene Shreve will embark on a two-week trek to Liberia to teach a course in constitutional law. It will be the first trip to the African nation for Shreve, who will partner with Jallah A. Barbu, a research fellow at the Center for Constitutional Democracy, to teach "Comparative Liberian and American Constitutional Law" at the University of Liberia's Lewis Arthur Grimes School of Law in Monrovia. The class will run from June 22 through July 3.

For more than a week, the state of Indiana and Chrysler Corp. have been locked in a fast-moving legal struggle over Chrysler's plan to immediately sell virtually all of its profitable assets to "New Chrysler," a corporation owned by the United Auto Workers, Fiat and the federal government. "The stakes for Indiana are high regardless of the outcome," said Dennis Long, a professor in the Indiana University Maurer School of Law-Bloomington.

Leaders from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law and Sungkyunkwan University's Graduate School of Business announced today (June 5) the creation of a joint J.D./M.B.A. program believed to be the first of its kind between an American law school and an international M.B.A. program.

President Barack Obama's announcement today (May 29) that he will create a cybersecurity coordinator in the White House with responsibility for information security is a step in the right direction, but more has to be done to protect America's network infrastructure from attacks, according to an Indiana University cybersecurity expert.

Two Indiana University Maurer School of Law professors are available to speak on President Barack Obama's nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court.

A judge in Minnesota has ruled that a family must get medical treatment for their 13-year-old son's cancer because it is highly treatable. Based on the family's religious convictions, the family had chosen alternative treatments for their son's Hodgkin's lymphoma, which has a 90-percent cure rate with chemotherapy. According to Jody Madeira, a professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Brown County District Judge John Rodenberg correctly found that the parents of Daniel Hauser have medically neglected their son by refusing chemotherapy.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit (May 11) against the Patent and Trademark Office, Myriad Genetics, and the University of Utah Research Foundation for patenting two genes associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancers. Yvonne Cripps, the Harry T. Ice Professor of Law at Indiana University Maurer School of Law, says this is likely to be a landmark case.

The Indiana University Maurer School of Law will partner with the Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic this Friday (May 15) for an in-depth discussion on the human rights and political challenges facing the people of Burma.

David P. Fidler, the James Louis Calamaras Professor of Law at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, said the developing debate about the responses to Influenza A (H1N1) is important but people should be wary of simplistic hype about the "panic" that public health responses to the outbreak have ostensibly caused.

The Indiana University Maurer School of Law recognized some of its finest teachers on April 20, during the School's annual Teaching Awards ceremony. David Williams, the John S. Hastings Professor of Law, was honored with the Leon H. Wallace Teaching Award, the Law School's top teaching prize, which he also won in 1996.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter will retire after the current term recesses in June. He was appointed to the court by President George H.W. Bush in 1990. Indiana University Maurer School of Law professors are available to comment on his retirement and what it means for President Barack Obama, who will have his first opportunity to name a justice to the highest court.

The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak of swine influenza A a "public health emergency of international concern," and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has declared a national public health emergency because of the outbreak. David P. Fidler, the James Louis Calamaras Professor of Law at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, said that these declarations reflect the emergence of a new influenza virus that might have the potential to trigger a pandemic.

Bolstered by a $25 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., the Indiana University Maurer School of Law will welcome six new faculty members in the fall 2009 semester. The school will also welcome returning Professor Fred Aman Jr., who had served as Dean at Suffolk University Law School since 2007.

The law firm of the future will have an increased focus on workplace culture and a target client base of small- and mid-sized businesses, according to the winning team at FutureFirm 1.0. The two-day competition, which concluded Sunday at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, charged participants with creating a business model for a fictional law firm that would not only survive the current economic downturn, but thrive 20 years into the future.

More than 25 tax scholars from law schools around the world convened earlier this month at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law for the 2009 Critical Tax Conference. Joshua Odintz, tax counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, delivered the conference's keynote address. His speech, "Infinite Jest: Tax Stimulus Bills," drew a large audience of faculty and students.

Recent reports that foreign spies have hacked into the U.S. electrical power grid come as no surprise, according to an Indiana University Maurer School of Law cybersecurity expert. Media outlets reported this week that the Chinese and Russian hackers installed software that could have caused significant damage to America's power or water supply systems if activated.

A new book by Indiana University Maurer School of Law Professors David Fidler and Sarah Jane Hughes aims to help attorneys navigate the complex process of receiving, reviewing, and responding to national security letters. The American Bar Association is publishing Responding to National Security Letters: A Practical Guide for Legal Counsel this week.

Joining other top law schools across the nation, the Indiana University Maurer School of Law has adopted a Public Service Program, part of which will establish an aspirational level of pro bono work to be done by students. Beginning in fall 2009, students will be encouraged to fulfill 60 hours of pro bono work during their three years of schooling.

A distinguished panel that includes two federal appeals court judges will preside over the Indiana University Maurer School of Law's 2008-09 Sherman Minton Moot Court Competition finals on Friday, March 6 at 7 p.m. This year's panel also includes a state appellate court judge, the Indiana solicitor general and an attorney in private practice.

Indiana University Maurer School of Law Professor and judicial expert Charles Geyh is available to comment on Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Company, Inc., which was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court today (March 3).

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee will consider the nomination of Indiana University Maurer School of Law Professor Dawn Johnsen to the post of associate attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel on Wednesday, Feb. 25.

Loane Skene, a renowned Australian expert in medical law and genetics, will deliver the George P. Smith II Lecture at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law on Feb. 12. Skene's presentation, "Recent Developments in Stem Cell Research: Social, Ethical and Legal Issues for the Future," begins at noon in the Moot Court Room and is free and open to the public.

Jeannine Bell, an Indiana University Maurer School of Law -- Bloomington professor, has been awarded a prestigious Law and Public Affairs (LAPA) Fellowship from Princeton University. Bell, the Charles Whistler Faculty Fellow, was one of six LAPA Fellows selected for the 2009-10 academic year. "I was absolutely thrilled," Bell said.

Nearly three years after several members of the Duke lacrosse team were falsely accused of raping an exotic dancer, a new book examines the legal implications of where the case went wrong; it also looks at how future sexual assault cases can be pursued without jeopardizing the rights of both the victims and the accused.

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision Wednesday not to review a ruling striking down the Child Online Pornography Act (COPA) has brought to an end a more than 10-year effort by Congress to protect children from exposure to online pornography.

Cyber attacks pose one of the greatest threats to the United States, lagging behind only nuclear warfare and weapons of mass destruction in terms of their potential devastation, FBI experts said earlier this month.

Tax law experts from across the country will visit the Indiana University Maurer School of Law--Bloomington during the spring 2009 semester as part of the Law School's inaugural Tax Policy Colloquium.

Indiana University Maurer School of Law -- Bloomington Professor Dawn Johnsen will be nominated to the post of assistant U.S. attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), President-elect Barack Obama announced today (Jan. 5). Johnsen was one of four Justice Department appointments named by the incoming Obama administration.

Indiana University School of Law—Bloomington professor Dawn Johnsen has been selected to be part of President-elect Barack Obama's transition team.

Johnsen will serve as part of the Department of Justice Review Team, the Obama campaign announced Monday, November 17.

Saad Eddin Ibrahim, a visiting professor in the Indiana University School of Law--Bloomington and a visiting professor of political sociology, has been awarded the Danish Pundik Freedom Prize for his advocacy for human rights in his native country of Egypt.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in Pleasant Grove City v. Summum, in which a group called the Summum church wants to be able to erect a religious monument in a Utah city park. Daniel O. Conkle, the Robert H. McKinney Professor of Law at the Indiana University School of Law--Bloomington, says the Court's decision could turn on whether it rules that erecting the monument is private speech in a public forum (the park) or government speech subject to the control of city officials.

Kevin Brown, professor and Harry T. Ice Faculty Fellow at the Indiana University School of Law—Bloomington, was honored Saturday (Nov. 8) with the Hudson & Holland Scholars Program Director Emeritus Award.

A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals leaves room for foreign plaintiffs to continue filing "foreign-cubed" securities fraud claims in American courts.

Leading researchers and scholars from social science and legal fields will be at Indiana University Bloomington this week for a conference aimed at learning about and developing better interventions for families in conflict. The conference, "For the Sake of the Children: Advances in Family Dispute Resolution," is co-sponsored by the IU School of Law-Bloomington and the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at IUB.

A federal appeals court decision this week on prayer at the Indiana Statehouse rests on a procedural issue and doesn't settle the question of whether opening sessions of the Legislature with sectarian prayer is constitutional, says Daniel O. Conkle, the Robert H. McKinney Professor of Law at the IU School of Law-Bloomington.

In recent testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Indiana University law professor Dawn Johnsen said it is essential for the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel to provide the U.S. President with accurate and honest legal advice -- regardless of whether he wants it. "In short, OLC has to be prepared to tell the President 'no,'" she said.

A military appeals court hearing and talks by IU alumni who have achieved highly successful careers as military attorneys will highlight Military Justice Week Oct. 22-26 at the Indiana University School of Law--Bloomington. IU Law graduates Neal Puckett, J.D.'84, and Major Nicholas Lancaster, J.D.'99, will serve as practitioners-in-residence during the week, providing advice and information for students who are pursuing or interested in legal careers in the military.

Professor Fred H. Cate and former head of the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel and Professor Dawn Johnsen are available to discuss the U.S. Supreme Court's decision not to hear rendition case of Khaled el-Masri, a German man who claims the CIA kidnapped and tortured him. Both are faculty members at the Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington.

The U.S. Supreme Court decision to review Indiana's voter ID law "raises the possibility of another self-inflicted wound, like the Court's decision to resolve the 2000 election in favor of George Bush," say Patrick Baude, the Ralph F. Fuchs Professor of Law and Public Servic at the Indiana University School of Law in Bloomington. Baude said whatever the Court decides will favor either Democrats or Republicans, a partisan result that could weaken its moral authority.