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A dropbox of photos also – https://www.dropbox.com/sc/ovmhpoq262czrtz/dt5DhvJTcc By Benjamin G. Davis, Associate Professor of Law, University of Toledo College of Law My late father went to the March on Washington in 1963 and did not allow my sister or me to go for fear of violence.  With my son…

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By Benjamin G. Davis, Associate Professor of Law, University of Toledo College of Law Dear Law Colleagues: At the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington on Saturday, August 24, 2013 who is going to help carry the SALT who will help carry the SALT banner fighting for social justice and…

By Benjamin G. Davis, Associate Professor of Law, University of Toledo College of Law All have seen the reports that the ABA Council of the Section of the Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar embraced on August 9, 2013 two plans that would eliminate tenure as…

By Marjorie Cohn and Jeanne Mirer Today marks the 52nd anniversary of the start of the chemical warfare program in Vietnam, a long time with NO sufficient remedial action by the U.S. government. One of the most shameful legacies of the American War against Vietnam, Agent Orange continues to…

Benjamin G. Davis, Associate Professor of Law, University of Toledo College of Law Earlier today I participated in a presentation on my experience as an observer at Guantanamo.  Along with a colleague who had observed the 9/11 Military Commission at the session that followed the one I went to in…

By Marjorie Cohn This is a historic verdict. Judge Denise Lind correctly found Bradley Manning not guilty of aiding the enemy because the evidence failed to establish that Manning knew information he provided to WikiLeaks would reach al-Qaida. A conviction of aiding the enemy would have sent a chilling…

Jackie Gardina is a professor at Vermont Law School. Her writings on same-sex marriage include “Same-Sex Marriage in Bankruptcy: A Path Out of the Public Policy Quagmire” and “The Perfect Storm: Bankruptcy, Choice of Law and Same-Sex Marriage.” For those couples living in the 36 states that prohibit same-sex marriages,…

 By Marjorie Cohn A Southern jury of six women – none of them black – found 28-year-old George Zimmerman’s shooting of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin to be justifiable homicide because he acted in self-defense. The jurors were prohibited from considering race. They were instructed only on the parts…

Benjamin G. Davis, Associate Professor of Law, University of Toledo College of Law Professor Alafair S. Burke has looked at the Trayvon Martin decision from the point of view of a “non” jury instruction http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3596685. I am looking at this from the point of view of international law and…

Benjamin G. Davis, Associate Professor of Law, University of Toledo College of Law One topic that has emerged since the Trayvon Martin decision is the concept of implicit bias.  The limited research I have done indicates that “implicit bias”  can be defined as follows: Implicit Bias = Implicit Social Cognitions =…

Benjamin G. Davis, Associate Professor of Law, University of Toledo College of Law Since the Trayvon Martin decision, there has been ferment on many levels and across the spectrum.  There are those who considered the system failed Trayvon Martin (Charles Blow, The Whole System Failed Trayvon Martin – (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/16/opinion/the-whole-system-failed.html?ref=charlesmblow&_r=0)…

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By Benjamin G. Davis, Associate Professor of Law, University of Toledo College of Law “Although the meaning of reasonable doubt sounds precise, deciding whether such doubt exists is not reducible to a mathematical equation..” Professor Darren Hutchinson,  Race, Justice and Trayvon Martin, http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/07/15/race-justice-and-trayvon-martin/ At the time I read Professor…

By Benjamin G. Davis, Associate Professor of Law, University of Toledo College of Law At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Mr. Comey said that the government’s statute on the issue [waterboarding]at the time was vague, complicating the ability of government lawyers…

By Marjorie Cohn It is a bedrock principle of our system of justice that everyone who is charged with a crime is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. That includes “high-value detainees” awaiting trial in Guantánamo’s military commissions. Yet pre-trial hearings held June 17-21 in the cases of…

By Vinay Harpalani (via ACS Blog) More than nine months after it heard oral arguments, the U.S. Supreme Court finally rendered its opinion in Fisher v. University of Texas. [1] In a surprising 7-1 ruling, with only Justice Ginsburg dissenting, the Court vacated the Fifth Circuit ruling and remanded…

Here is Professor Meera Deo’s article abstract on the Grutter Decision, informing the climate of affirmative action. Many may find this useful after the Fisher v. Texas decision. For full article: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=201910 In Grutter v. Bollinger, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld affirmative action at the University of Michigan Law School…