News | Intellectual Life

In the News

The Law School is frequently in the news, with members of the faculty quoted and featured in major media outlets, providing expert commentary on critical issues in the law, business, and policy.

Nov. 1

“District attorneys or prosecutors have an ethical obligation to do justice, which is why they can’t bring any charge that law enforcement brings to them to court. However, I doubt that would happen in this case because, given the other allegations … this is a major case. Even though this is one of the more minor sex crimes, it still is a violent crime.”

— Professor Cynthia Godsoe, on the chances of the charges against former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo being dropped by state prosecutors

Sept. 30

“Americans can no longer rely on the federal judiciary to safeguard their fundamental right to vote. … Advocates charting a path forward should think back to the framers. They would resort to extraordinary measures. They would consider amending the Constitution.”

— Professor Wilfred Codrington III, in an essay arguing that the Founders would have supported amendments to the U.S. Constitution that promote democracy

Sept. 27

“It is not unheard of or infrequent for the media to discover fraud, but for the media to become part of the fraud—or part of the story, if you will—that’s less common.”

— Professor Miriam Baer, on accusations that Theranos executives Elizabeth Holmes and Ramesh Balwani leveraged the media in efforts to defraud investors

Sept. 17

“In this time of hyperpartisanship, when we seem so irremediably divided, the best way forward may be to engage in serious discussions about whether we can all still agree to the quintessential ideas already embedded in the Constitution.”

— Professor Susan Herman, discussing ideas that arose from the Brooklyn Public Library’s 28th Amendment Project

July 30

“If a machine is going to decide whether or not you are hired for a job, at the very least you deserve regulatory oversight to ensure that it is using proper data, that it has actually performed well and in a nondiscriminatory way in the past, and that you can appeal to someone if you can demonstrate it has made a mistake. And if the system is based on pseudoscientific claptrap, you should not be judged by it at all.”

— Professor Frank Pasquale, in an op-ed urging the U.S. to adopt policies on AI in line with Europe’s

July 24

“Athlete well-being has to be more front and center, even if that sacrifices money and medals.”

— Professor Jodi Balsam, discussing the need, as revealed at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, to support athletes experiencing mental and physical ailments

July 20

“So long as the entity that’s producing value remains on the hook to pay the tort claims, dividing the company isn’t necessarily a bad way to manage a mass tort problem. But here, they appear to be using it as a threat to coerce settlements.”

— Professor Edward Janger, on how a chapter 11 filing could affect the legal fight between Johnson & Johnson and plaintiffs alleging harm from a product

July 20

“One thing that would be extraordinarily helpful is to have legislation that actually says guardianship should be the last measure and that courts should consider other less restrictive ways of providing decision-making support.”

— Professor Prianka Nair, on proposed legislation that would “free” Britney Spears and others who are under conservatorship

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