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  • Photo of John W. Kindt, a professor emeritus of business administration at the University of Illinois and a leading national gambling critic

    Expert: Justice Department reversal on online gambling 'correct decision'

    In reversing an Obama-era decision that effectively allowed internet gambling, the Department of Justice has revitalized the Interstate Wire Act of 1961, an anti-gambling statute championed by then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to fight organized crime, said John W. Kindt, a professor emeritus of business administration at the University of Illinois and a leading national gambling critic.

  • Photo of Richard L. Kaplan, an internationally recognized expert on U.S. tax policy and the Guy Raymond Jones Chair in Law at Illinois.

    How vulnerable to inflation are the finances of older adults?

    Social Security’s annual cost-of-living adjustment takes some of the sting out of inflation, a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign tax policy expert says.

  • Photo of U. of I. labor and employment relations professor Michael LeRoy

    Study: First Amendment offers scant protection for professors

    When academics choose to litigate speech disputes with colleges and universities, they end up losing nearly three-quarters of the time – a finding that points to the growing tension between academic freedom and campus speech codes, says U. of I. labor and employment relations professor Michael LeRoy.

  • Photos of law professor Michelle D. Layser and urban and regional planning professor Andrew Greenlee.

    Housing instability undermines public health response to COVID-19 pandemic

    Housing instability threatens to undermine the U.S. public health response to COVID-19, says a new working paper co-written by an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

  • Sarbanes-Oxley Act fails to address corporate accounting flaws, scholar says

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Far from imposing an unreasonable burden on corporate America, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has not tackled the core accounting conflicts that led to investor losses at Enron, WorldCom and other companies, according to an expert at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

  • Photo of Colleen Murphy, the Roger and Stephany Joslin Professor of Law at Illinois and an expert in political reconciliation

    Does the US need to pursue transitional justice in the post-Trump era?

    To promote accountability in government, President-elect Biden ought to pursue “transitional justice” in the aftermath of the Trump presidency, said Colleen Murphy, the Roger and Stephany Joslin Professor of Law at Illinois and an expert in political reconciliation.

  • image of business professor jeffrey brown

    Illinois Supreme Court's pension ruling: Back to the drawing board?

    A Minute With™...Jeffrey Brown, director of the Center for Business and Public Policy

  • Photo of Robin Kar, a University of Illinois law professor

    Paper: President has constitutional power to appoint, not just nominate, successor to Scalia

    In all 104 prior cases in which a president faced a Supreme Court vacancy and began the appointment process before a presidential election, a justice was confirmed, says a paper co-written by University of Illinois law professors Robin Kar and Jason Mazzone.

  • Professor Ruby Mendenhall

    Why do we need a health care equity law?

    The Illinois Health Care and Human Services Reform Act has potential to address root causes of health disparities and foster health equity through provisions such as implicit bias training and community health workers, says Illinois professor Ruby Mendenhall.

     

  • The Supreme Court punted on the issue of partisan gerrymandering in a June 18 ruling, but left the door open to future court action, says Wendy K. Tam Cho, a professor of political science, statistics, math and law at Illinois. She hopes to be part of the solution with research that employs algorithms and supercomputers to draw nonpartisan maps.

    What now with gerrymandering? Are algorithms part of the answer?

    The Supreme Court “punted” this week on the issue of partisan gerrymandering, but left the door open to future action. An Illinois professor hopes her research can be part of the solution.

  • Russia’s invasion of Ukraine looks increasingly like a clear-cut violation of the U.N. charter and a crime of aggression, which is illegal under international law, says Illinois law professor Patrick Keenan, an expert in human rights, counterterrorism law and international criminal law.

    Will anyone be held accountable for war crimes in Ukraine?

    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine looks increasingly like a clear-cut violation of the U.N. charter and a crime of aggression, which is illegal under international law, says Illinois law professor Patrick Keenan.

  • University of Illinois postdoctoral researcher Prabuddha Mukherjee, left, bioengineering professors Rohit Bhargava and Dipanjan Pan, and postdoctoral researcher Santosh Misra report the development of a new class of carbon nanoparticles for biomedical use.

    Biomedical breakthrough: Carbon nanoparticles you can make at home

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers have found an easy way to produce carbon nanoparticles that are small enough to evade the body’s immune system, reflect light in the near-infrared range for easy detection, and carry payloads of pharmaceutical drugs to targeted tissues.

  • A new book from a team of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign legal scholars considers the unlikely intersection of environmental law and psychology. Arden Rowell, right, and Kenworthey Bilz are co-authors of “The Psychology of Environmental Law,” which explores and analyzes the theoretical and practical payoffs of pollution control, ecosystem management, and climate change law and policy when psychological insights are considered.

    New book studies intersection of psychology, environmental law

    A new book from a team of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign legal scholars considers the unlikely intersection of environmental law and psychology. Arden Rowell, right, and Kenworthey Bilz are co-authors of “The Psychology of Environmental Law,” which explores and analyzes the theoretical and practical payoffs of pollution control, ecosystem management, and climate change law and policy when psychological insights are considered.

  • Photo of Richard L. Kaplan, an internationally recognized expert on U.S. tax policy and the Guy Raymond Jones Chair in Law at Illinois.

    Would cutting payroll taxes help prevent recession?

    Cutting the payroll tax could represent the middle-class tax cut that President Trump campaigned on – although changes would need to go through the legislative process and any economic stimulus likely wouldn’t been seen until after the November 2020 election, said Richard L. Kaplan, an internationally recognized expert on U.S. tax policy and the Guy Raymond Jones Chair in Law at Illinois.

  • Professor Suja Thomas

    What role do judges play in employment harassment cases?

    Judges can unilaterally dismiss sexual or racial harassment cases through summary judgment, a legal maneuver that ends up favoring employers over employees, says Law professor Suja Thomas

  • Photo of Lesley Wexler, a University of Illinois law professor who studies anti-discrimination law.

    How has the #MeToo movement impacted the Kavanaugh nomination?

    Without the #MeToo movement and the high bar of a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court, it’s doubtful that the sexual assault allegations leveled against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh would have surfaced, says Lesley Wexler, a University of Illinois law professor who studies anti-discrimination law.

  • Photo of Richard L. Kaplan, an internationally recognized expert on U.S. tax policy and the Guy Raymond Jones Chair in Law at Illinois.

    What effect will COVID-19 have on end-of-life and retirement issues?

    The continued spread of COVID-19 ought to prompt adults to start seriously thinking about end-of-life issues such as writing a will, said University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign law professor and elder law expert Richard L. Kaplan.

  • Photo of Michelle D. Layser, a professor of law at Illinois

    Tax incentives target poor neighborhoods but leave communities behind

    The development of place-based investment tax incentives such as opportunity zones can be explained as a predictable result of the “pro-gentrification legal, business and political environment that produced them,” said Michelle D. Layser, a professor of law at Illinois.

  • Lena Shapiro, a clinical assistant professor of law and the inaugural director of the College of Law’s First Amendment Clinic

    What are the legal, practical bounds of free speech on college campuses?

    One of the problems with “speech codes” on university campuses is their selective enforcement. Consequently, there have been calls for the reform of speech and harassment policies at universities nationwide to balance students’ right to freedom of expression with the right to learn free from discriminatory harassment, says Lena Shapiro, a clinical assistant professor of law and the inaugural director of the College of Law’s First Amendment Clinic.

  • Photo of Richard L. Kaplan, an internationally recognized expert on U.S. tax policy and the Guy Raymond Jones Chair in Law at Illinois.

    Paper: New law and regulations may diminish appeal of certain retirement accounts

    A new law and regulations affecting inherited retirement accounts could create hefty taxation issues for some beneficiaries, says Richard L. Kaplan, the Guy Raymond Jones Chair in Law at Illinois and an expert on U.S. tax policy and retirement issues.

  • Battered women who kill in non-beating situation have self-defense right

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Answering critics of the "battered woman syndrome," a University of Illinois expert argues that the claims made by victims of domestic violence are a legitimate extension of the longstanding rules of self-defense.

  • Professor Robert Lawless

    What does the future hold for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?

    Why the sudden impetus to reorganize the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau? For starters, it was never a bipartisan effort.

  • Photo of U. of I. labor professor Ryan Lamare.

    Paper: Outcomes vary for workers who 'lawyer up' in employment arbitration disputes

    A worker who retains legal counsel to litigate a workplace dispute in arbitration doesn’t account for the potentially countervailing effect of employers hiring their own legal counsel, says new research co-written by U. of I. labor professor Ryan Lamare.

  • Professor Angela Lyons

    Does revoking professional licenses prompt borrowers to repay student loans?

    Even though several states have these regulations on the books, they’re really a last resort for collecting student loan debt, says Professor Angela Lyons

  • Professor Richard Kaplan

    What is driving Congress to potentially change Medicaid?

    Professor Richard Kaplan discusses the impetus behind congressional leaders’ desire to change Medicaid, the health insurance program with more than 74 million enrollees in the U.S.

  • Photo of Christopher Z. Mooney, the director of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois.

    Will it take shuttered schools to force a budget compromise in Illinois?

    Illinois budget impasse: A Minute With…™ Christopher Z. Mooney, expert on Illinois politics

  • Photo of Lena Shapiro, a clinical assistant professor of law and the inaugural director of the College of Law’s First Amendment Clinic.

    How do you handle free speech issues in higher education, popular discourse?

    The current state of the First Amendment is an ongoing battle between those who say they want to advance freedom of speech for everyone versus those who want to drown out voices that they don’t agree with, says Lena Shapiro, a clinical assistant professor of law and the inaugural director of the College of Law’s First Amendment Clinic.

  • Photo of Michael LeRoy, an expert in labor law and labor relations at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

    Paper: Work-refusal safety laws serve employees poorly during pandemic

    Current work-refusal laws are out-of-step with modern workplaces and provide meager benefits to employees who decline to work when faced with risks involving chemicals, radiation and other microscopic or invisible hazards such as COVID-19, says research from Michael LeRoy, a professor of labor and employment relations at Illinois.

  • Photo of Michael LeRoy, an expert in labor law and labor relations at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

    Will looming labor dispute justify Biden invoking national emergency powers?

    An expiring labor agreement between dockworkers and West Coast port operators could further snarl U.S. supply chains if a strike or lockout occurs. The Biden administration should prepare to act because presidents have unique powers to temporarily halt these types of work stoppages, says Michael LeRoy, an expert in labor law at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

  • Multiple job duties yield multiple benefits for workers, U. of I. expert says

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Worn thin from wearing too many hats at work?

  • Photo of Jason Mazzone, the Albert E. Jenner, Jr. Professor of Law and the director of the Program in Constitutional Theory, History, and Law at the College of Law at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

    What can the Supreme Court do to restore public trust?

    The most likely outcome of the Clarence Thomas revelations is that the Supreme Court will announce new or clarified ethical standards for justices on the high court, says Jason Mazzone, the Albert E. Jenner Jr. Professor of Law and the director of the Program in Constitutional Theory, History, and Law at the College of Law at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

  • Photo of Vikram Amar, dean of the University of Illinois College of Law and the Iwan Foundation Professor of Law.

    What is Anthony Kennedy’s legacy as a Supreme Court justice?

    Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has been the court’s “pivot point” between its liberal and conservative elements since Sandra Day O’Connor’s retirement in 2006, said Vikram Amar, dean of the University of Illinois College of Law and the Iwan Foundation Professor of Law.

  • Photo of Jason Mazzone, the Albert E. Jenner Jr. Professor of Law and the director of the Program in Constitutional Theory, History, and Law at the College of Law at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

    Should the Senate conduct Supreme Court hearing amid pandemic, election season?

    There is no election-year exception to the process the Constitution creates for the nomination of individuals to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, says Jason Mazzone, the Albert E. Jenner Jr. Professor of Law and the director of the Program in Constitutional Theory, History, and Law at the College of Law at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

  • Photo of U. of I. labor professor Michael LeRoy

    Expert: Trump’s attitude toward immigrants, migratory laborers echoes past presidents

    President Trump’s approach to undocumented immigrants and migratory laborers follows the example of past presidents who relied on racial animus to scapegoat foreigners during times of cultural change, says U. of I. labor professor Michael LeRoy.

  • Photo of Paul Heald, a University of Illinois law professor

    ‘Blurred Lines’ and ‘Stairway to Heaven’: Copyright lawsuits in popular music

    A Minute With...™ Paul Heald, expert in patent, copyright and international intellectual property law

  • Professor Kenworthey Bilz

    Are law enforcement agencies abusing civil asset forfeiture?

    The controversial practice of civil asset forfeiture gets a well-deserved bad rap, says U. of I. law professor and criminal law expert Kenworthey Bilz.

  • Jennifer Robbennolt, a UI professor of law and of psychology, says her studies show that apologies can potentially help resolve legal disputes ranging from injury cases to wrongful firings, giving wounded parties a sense of justice and satisfaction that promotes settlements and trims demands for damages.

    Apologies may fuel settlement of legal disputes, study says

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Apologies may be good for more than just the soul, according to research by a University of Illinois professor of law and of psychology.

  • Sociology professor Anna-Maria Marshall wrote a book on sexual harassment and specializes in the sociology of law.

    What keeps women from reporting sexual harassment?

    Women often don’t report sexual harassment because grievance procedures frequently take on the feel of litigation, an Illinois professor says.

  • Thomas Huang, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, is one of five new Swanlund Chairs named at Illinois.

    Five named to Swanlund Chairs, campus's premier endowed recognition

    Five professors at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been named Swanlund Chairs, the highest endowed titles on the Urbana campus.

  • Photo of Lesley Wexler, a University of Illinois law professor who studies anti-discrimination law.

    What effect will Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony have on the #MeToo movement?

    The lasting impact of Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee will be the image of a lone woman speaking truth to power, says Lesley Wexler, a University of Illinois law professor who studies anti-discrimination law.

  • Photo of Jacob S. Sherkow, a professor of law at Illinois who studies the ethical and policy implications of advanced biotechnologies

    Paper: Use patent law to curb unethical human-genome editing

    Patent law could create an “ethical thicket” that discourages access to the medically and ethically dubious practice of heritable human-genome editing, said Jacob S. Sherkow, a professor of law at Illinois and bioethics expert.

  • Photo of Suja A. Thomas, a professor of law at the University of Illinois

    Book: Juries robbed of power by federal government, states

    Despite their significant presence in the Constitution, juries have largely disappeared from the U.S. legal system, according to a recently published book by University of Illinois law professor Suja A. Thomas.

  • The best way to combat cyberattacks may be a joint public-private partnership between government and business, says a new paper from Jay Kesan, the H. Ross and Helen Workman Research Scholar at the University of Illinois College of Law.

    Paper: To deter cyberattacks, build a public-private partnership

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Cyberattacks loom as an increasingly dire threat to privacy, national security and the global economy, and the best way to blunt their impact may be a public-private partnership between government and business, researchers say. But the time to act is now, rather than in the wake of a crisis, says a University of Illinois expert in law and technology.

  • Photo of Lauren R. Aronson, an associate clinical professor of law and the director of the Immigration Law Clinic at the U. of I. College of Law.

    Where does the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program stand?

    Although the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in its favor, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program remains a stopgap measure at best. The permanent fix is a comprehensive immigration bill that looks something like the former DREAM Act, says Lauren R. Aronson, an associate clinical professor of law and the director of the Immigration Law Clinic at the U. of I. College of Law.

  • image of professor Matt Andres

    Senior citizen financial exploitation growing with the swell of retiring baby-boomers

    A Minute With...™ Matthew Andres, director of the Elder Financial Justice Clinic

  • Medical malpractice reform has had relatively little impact on the U.S. health care system, says David Hyman, the H. Ross and Helen Workman Chair in Law and professor of medicine at Illinois.

    Research: Medical malpractice reform does little to contain health care costs

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Two papers co-authored by a University of Illinois expert in the regulation and financing of health care conclude that tort reform has had relatively little impact on the U.S. health care system.

  • Photo of Suja A. Thomas, the Peer and Sarah Pedersen Professor of Law at Illinois

    Paper: Lawful discrimination by businesses creates 'customer caste'

    Judicial rulings on the leading civil rights laws have created a “customer caste” in which people of color are subject to legal, daily discrimination in retail stores, restaurants and other places of public accommodation, says Suja A. Thomas, the Peer and Sarah Pedersen Professor of Law at Illinois.

  • Photo of U. of I. copyright law expert Sara R. Benson.

    Can a state copyright its own laws – and prevent citizens from republishing them?

    The pending Supreme Court case Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org will test the legality of a state copyrighting its own laws, which could pose a challenge to legal research, scholarship and public access to the law, said U. of I. copyright law expert Sara R. Benson.

  • "Thieves of Book Row: New York's Most Notorious Rare Book Ring and the Man Who Stopped It" is a Depression-era cat-and-mouse thriller about the pursuit of the most successful rare-book ring in U.S. history, says author Travis McDade, curator of law rare books at the College of Law.

    New book a real-life thriller about rare book theft at New York Public Library

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A new book from a University of Illinois expert in crimes against rare books tells the real-life story of the biggest score in rare-book theft and the dogged hunt for the perpetrators by the special investigator of the New York Public Library.

  • Law professor Richard L. Kaplan contends the notion of "unfunded liabilities" is merely an ominous new catchphrase coined during debates over massive spending programs such as Social Security and Medicare that is rooted in financial fallacy.

    'Unfunded liabilities' a financial myth, expert says

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A growing chorus of complaints about the U.S. government's "unfunded" debts may be unsettling, but no cause to become unnerved, a University of Illinois tax expert says.