Some defendants with frozen assets are having trouble hiring lawyers. WUSTL law professor Sam Buell, a former federal prosecutor comments.

References:

1. April 2, 2009 — Defendants, With Assets Frozen, Find It Tough to Hire Attorneys in the The Wall Street Journal

In some cases the Justice Department can intervene to make state-run institutions comply with civil rights laws. The statute is known as CRIPA -- the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act. WUSTL law professor Margo Schlanger, who used to work on CRIPA cases as a Justice Department attorney comments.

References:

1. March 30, 2009 — Settlements In Mental Health Cases Face Scrutiny in the NPR All Things Considered

The arrest warrant for Sudan's president for war crimes is indicative of the mounting pressure on the International Criminal Court to show results. Includes comments by WUSTL law professor Leila Nadya Sadat, who was a delegate to the diplomatic conference at which the ICC was established.

References:

1. March 6, 2009 — Briefing: A rocky start for war crimes world court in the The Christian Science Monitor

A UBS memo, along with dozens of e-mail messages like it, were disclosed on Thursday in a blistering court document filed by the Justice Department, which sought to compel UBS, based in Switzerland, to divulge the identities of 52,000 Americans whom the authorities suspect of using secret offshore accounts at the bank to dodge taxes. WUSTL criminal and securities law professor Samuel Buell, who helped to prosecute Enron, comments.

References:

1. Feb. 20, 2009 — UBS Pressed for 52,000 Names in 2nd Inquiry in the The New York Times

and 7 others.

WUSTL law professor and former Enron prosecutor Samuel Buell, comments on U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent's Houston trial.

References:

1. Oct. 31, 2008 — Federal judge wants his polygraph used in Houston trial in the Houston Chronicle

and 2 others.

WUSTL law professor Samuel Buell comments on prosecuting white-collar crimes.

References:

1. Oct. 31, 2008 — Commentary: Jailing Executives Is One Thing Bush Did Right in the Bloomberg.com

In a series of court documents that were at turns chilling and bizarre, federal investigators said U.S. Army microbiologist Bruce Ivins misled government agents investigating the 2001 anthrax mailings, sent emails with language closely matching the handwritten letters sent to victims and had access to the strain of anthrax used in the crime. WUSTL microbial genetics expert George Weinstock, who was not involved in the investigation, comments.

References:

1. Aug. 7, 2008 — FBI Paints Chilling Portrait of Anthrax-Attack Suspect in the The Wall Street Journal

The latest technology in lie detection technology is called voice risk analysis (VRA). WUSTL psychology professor Mitchell Sommers, who is a specialist in speech perception, says the findings confirm what other studies have shown about VRA: that it is not particularly good at detecting liars, but that it does act as an excellent deterrent.

References:

1. May 10, 2008 — Whose pants on fire? in the The Economist

Brain scans have emerged as potentially powerful tools in court battles over defendants' sanity. More defense attorneys are seeking scans showing brain damage or abnormalities that might have made it difficult for their clients to control violent impulses. Marcus E. Raichle, researcher of neurology and radiology at the School of Medicine, comments.

References:

1. March 2, 2008 — Experts Study Neuroscience Use in Courts in the Associated Press

and 82 others.

Two more individuals who pleaded not guilty last month along with Michael Vick to charges stemming from a dog fighting ring agreed to plea agreements with the government. He faces three felony charges related to dog fighting and could face up to five years in prison and as much as a $250,000 fine if found guilty. Christopher Bracey, a professor of law and African American Studies at WUSTL, comments in a telephone interview.

References:

1. Aug. 17, 2007 — Two Plead Guilty in Dogfighting Case Tied to Vick in the The New York Times

and 4 others.

A 10-year-old case about politics, free speech and privacy rights that started with an illegally recorded telephone conversation, was resolved at the D.C. federal appeals court.
WUSTL law professor Neil Richards, an expert in First Amendment and privacy law, comments on the court's decision.

References:

1. May 1, 2007 — Court Settles Fight Between Boehner, McDermott in the NPR: All Things Considered

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales faced tough questions during the Senate Judiciary Committee over his role in the firing of eight federal prosecutors.
WUSTL law professor Samuel Buell, who is a former Enron prosecutor, was one of the experts speaking in this broadcast.

References:

1. April 19, 2007 — What Will Senate Hearings Mean for Gonzales? in the NPR - Talk Of The Nation

California's attorney general today filed criminal charges against former Hewlett-Packard chairwoman Patricia Dunn and four others involved in the corporate spying scandal.
WUSTL law professor Samuel Buell comments on the case.

References:

1. Oct. 4, 2006 — Charges filed in HP spying scandal in the NPR Marketplace

As transplant lists grow longer, more Americans are traveling to China for organs. The trend alarms ethicists and U.S. doctors concerned about the human rights of donors and the health and safety of recipients.
Includes comments by Jeffrey Crippin, president of the American Society of Transplantation and medical director of WUSTL's liver transplant program, and Ira Kodner, a colorectal surgeon and director of the WUSTL's Center for the Study of Ethics and Human Values.

References:

1. Aug. 24, 2006 — Organ trade in China raises alarm over human rights in the Kansas City Star

and 16 others.

Article on the increasingly common attack fare in news releases from political operatives desperate to spin news coverage to their advantage.
WUSTL political rhetoric expert Wayne Fields, who directs the American Culture Studies program, says these tactics threaten to drain the substance out of political debate.

References:

1. July 25, 2006 — Political pros sharpen their knives in press release wars in the Associated Press State & Local Wire

and 5 others.

Conrad Black's legal team is to give a Chicago judge an updated financial portrait today of the former press baron after U.S. prosecutors two weeks ago accused Lord Black of deliberately understating his assets during bail negotiations last year.
WUSTL law professor Samuel Buell comments.

References:

1. July 10, 2006 — U.S. prosecutors playing 'hardball' with Black in the National Post (Canada)

Article covers events from Wednesday in the Saddam Hussein trial.
His savvy take on contemporary Iraqi politics took some observers by surprise.
WUSTL international law professor Leila Nadya Sadat, who watched segments of the trial on the Internet, comments.

References:

1. April 6, 2006 — Hussein presents a spirited defense in the Los Angeles Times

and 3 others.

Prison culture dictates that inmates stick with their own kind, associating almost exclusively with other inmates from their race or ethnic group, defending them to the death if necessary. And that is why prison officials, inmates and scholars are uneasy as California's prison system prepares to introduce a formal policy desegregating its double cells, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that prisoners may not be routinely segregated in cells by race. The ruling has ramifications for state correctional systems nationwide.
WUSTL law professor Margo Schlanger, who specializes in incarceration litigation, comments.

References:

1. March 21, 2006 — California prisons uneasily prepare to desegregate cells in the Wall Street Journal

U. Pittsburgh professor Ken Lehn looks at the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act on its 10th anniversary. He mentions a recent study co-authored by WUSTL business professor Anjan Thakor which reveals a fundamental problem: The compensation investors receive in settlements of federal securities class-actions does not correspond to the harm investors incur from alleged securities fraud.

References:

1. Feb. 15, 2006 — Commentary: Private insecurities in the Wall Street Journal

PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer features a discussion of the trial of Saddam Hussein. Following a background report from Independent Television News, two lawyers give their reactions to the proceedings. WUSTL law professor Leila Sadat is one of the lawyers.

References:

1. Feb. 14, 2006 — Saddam on trial in the PBS – NewsHour

and 1 others.