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For the Record Law Students to Argue in Appeals Court The Mississippi Court of Appeals, as it does with dozens of cases each year, next month will give Mary Shields her day in court. But there’s a twist. The attorneys arguing the case will be third-year law school students, and the appeals court will hear arguments at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. “One semester we’ll write and file the brief, and then the following semester the case is ready for oral argument,” [professor] Phil Broadhead said. “The students who actually wrote the brief in the Shields case are not in the clinic at this moment, so we’ll have two other students assigned to argue.”
New Captains for the Clipper Fund In a rare step, the fund’s board is dumping its current managers. But it’s not likely to be the start of a trend “There’s a changed culture in the boardroom,” says Mercer Bullard, a law professor at the University of Mississippi and president of Fund Democracy, a shareholder advocacy group. In the wake of the scandals, the SEC adopted new rules to promote board independence and put a greater focus on fund fees. The Clipper Fund board’s moves “show a real independence of judgment,” says Bullard.
“Mercer Bullard Puts the Bite on Broker Issues” To students at the University of Mississippi School of Law, Mercer Bullard is one of several contracts and securities-law professors doling out grades that will shape their futures. But to the mutual fund and brokerage industries, he is an informed agitator, pressing regulators for fund restrictions that could threaten brokers’ livelihoods. Bullard, a 44-year-old Boston-born lawyer and academic, doesn’t hide the fact that he wants to see the mutual fund arena overhauled—and in ways that affect how brokers get paid. “The next step would be to further separate broker compensation from fund compensation,” he says, in a telephone interview from his Ole Miss office. “Because now the problem is that you have products paying for their own sales rather than brokers selling their own services.”
Vote Pending on Religious Texts in Public Buildings A bill ratified by the Mississippi House of Representatives Tuesday would allow public buildings to display the Ten Commandments and Beatitudes. Ole Miss law professor George Cochran said the Supreme Court is looking at the issue and will soon rule on similar cases from Texas and Virginia. “We won’t know what’s going to happen until the Supreme Court decides those cases,” Cochran said. “The question is how much religious significance the Ten Commandments have. [Phrases like “In God We Trust”] are so commonplace they carry no weight.”
A Global Consensus for Earth Observation For the third time in two years, the nations of the world convened an Earth Observation Summit to advance the idea of a truly global system of Earth-monitoring devices. But this most recent meeting—held in Brussels, Belgium, February 15-17—marked a major turning point for the idea. “In less than three years [the idea] has moved beyond the scientific community to policymakers—people with political will,” said Prof. Joanne I. Gabrynowicz, director of the National Remote Sensing and Space Law Center at the University of Mississippi.
“Both Parents, Disabled Child Granted Asylum” The Clarion-Ledger, May 20, 2005 Both judges and America’s global image as a human-rights leader have taken a beating lately. We believe that it is important, when appropriate, to tell the alternative story of American judges protecting human rights in ways that other countries do not… In Tchoukhrova v. Gonzales, the plaintiffs were a Russian family consisting of the parents, Victoria and Dmitri, and Evgueni, their child. Largely because of the negligence of the Russian state-owned hospital, Evgueni was born with cerebral palsy. Just after Evgueni was born, the hospital threw him into a container with medical waste, telling Victoria “they didn’t see the reason why he needed to live.” … Our own country has an unfortunate history of discrimination and prejudice on the basis of disability. Although laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act ensure that the atrocious situation in Russia could never happen here, people with disabilities still have higher levels of unemployment, have lower participation levels in civic activities like voting, and socialize less than the general population. Cases like Evgueni’s should give us pride as to how far we have come, yet also remind us there is still work to do.
New Dragnet: How Tools of War on Terror Ensnare Wanted Citizens The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 31, 2005 The screenings are mainly meant to trap foreigners, and especially foreign terrorists, but they have also proved to be a tool in the hunt for American citizens wanted by the police. In 2003, U.S. Customs and Border Protection says that it alone caught 4,555 Americans this way. In 2004, the number rose to 6,189. Some law enforcers applaud that tally. Citizens with nothing to hide, they argue, shouldn’t care if their names are put through a criminal search, and criminals should have no “expectation of privacy.” It isn’t as if those the computer snags are being “pulled over for a broken taillight,” says former Atlanta policeman Marc Harrold, who teaches law at the University of Mississippi. Rather, as he sees it, they are being caught as they engage in civil pursuits “like going in for a marriage license.”
“Roe v. Wade Attorney Weighs in on Miers” The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Oct. 27, 2005 The attorney who argued the side of “Roe” in the famed Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade says President Bush’s recent nominations could affect the future of the landmark abortion decision. Sarah Weddington, who was in Oxford to speak to University of Mississippi students [Oct. 26] said no cases are before the Court that directly could bring about overturning the 33-year-old Roe v. Wade decision. However, it is not surprising to Ole Miss law professor Michael Hoffheimer, who said the case is likely to remain a sticking point in American politics. “Conservatives think courts should not expand the rights that are protected by the Constitution, and such matters should be left to legislatures,” he said. “Liberals think courts must play an active role in protecting rights because legislatures do not always respect the rights of individuals.”
Legal Observers: U.S. Supreme Court Pick Matters The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Nov. 13, 2005 With President Bush’s nomination last month of federal judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court, the 24-hour news cycle began its information bombardment. … For the average American comes the question: Why should anyone care who is on the Supreme Court? Is the court important? … It’s important that we have a Supreme Court “because there’s a balance between popular will and the rule of law,” which is based on the Constitution, notes U.S. District Judge Mike Mills in Oxford.… “The Constitution has evolved into a tool often used to prevent the majority from trampling the rights of the minority,” Mills observed. “That has made America unique.” Who’s on the U.S. Supreme Court matters, said Ron Rychlak, associate dean of the University of Mississippi Law School.… Local trial judges probably matter more in your day-to-day life, Rychlak said. But decisions made by the Supreme Court radiate from the highest to the lowest places in our society, he observed.
Catholics See Continued Conservatism in New Leader The Northeast Daily Journal, April 19, 2005 Whether they view Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s election to the papacy with excitement or concern, many Northeast Mississippi Catholics agree that the new papacy of Benedict XVI means a slow approach to changes in the church’s teachings. Ron Rychlak, associate dean of the University of Mississippi School of Law and a member of St. John’s, said, “We’ve got a man who has the stature and moral authority to step into the role vacated by John Paul II.” While Rychlak expects Benedict XVI to continue the church’s outreach to other faith communities as expressed under John Paul II, he also expects a more unified approach toward doctrine. “John Paul II tolerated a fair amount of dissent,” he said. “Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, is less likely to tolerate that.”
Court To Hear Solomon Appeal: Case Before High Court Today Poses Quandary The Harvard Crimson, Dec. 06, 2005 The Supreme Court dealt gay-rights activists a severe blow in June 2000 when the justices, in a 5-4 vote, ruled that New Jersey could not prevent the Boy Scouts from ousting a homosexual scoutmaster. Now, a team of gay-rights activists and law school professors hopes to wrest a major victory from the jaws of defeat.… University of Mississippi law professor Paul M. Secunda ’93, a former Eliot House government concentrator, opposes the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and serves on the Association of American Law Schools’ employment discrimination committee. That might make Secunda seem like a natural ally for FAIR, but he—along with other scholars across the country—is concerned by the coalition’s arguments. “Do we really want FAIR to win? If they do, and it’s decided on expressive association, that could come back to haunt us,” Secunda said.
Professor Observed Klansman’s Mississippi Murder Trial The Memphis Commercial Appeal, June 16, 2005 PHILADELPHIA, Miss.—Opening the first murder trial in the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers, a defense attorney told a racially mixed jury Wednesday that Edgar Ray Killen was indeed in the Ku Klux Klan at the time. “The Klan’s not on trial here,” attorney Mitch Moran said in his 15-minute opening statement. “Being a member of the Klan is not on trial here.” … University of Mississippi assistant law professor Michael Waterstone … said Moran’s revelation could be a way to blunt the prosecution’s attempts to portray Killen as a Klan leader. “This could be a way to minimize that,” Waterstone said. “That said, no one likes a Klansman. This is not a very jury-friendly position to be taking from the outset.”
ANALYSIS: If Convicted, Killen’s Chances for Appeal Seem Slim Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, June 21, 2005 A Neshoba jury likely will decide the fate of Edgar Ray Killen this week: Turn him loose or send the 80-year-old to prison. Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon heard the defense’s objections last week and allowed the use of the transcript. “The judge’s ruling is on solid footing,” said Michael Waterstone, a professor specializing in civil rights law among other things at the University of Mississippi Law School.
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