In more than a dozen new writings gathered in The A2J Summit Collection, activists from across the country describe the leading edge and future promise of the civil justice reform movement, in many instances seeing its prospects as closely intertwined with the criminal justice reform movement and the national effort to reduce mass incarceration. The A2J Summit Collection, published in the Fordham Law Review Online, is an outgrowth of a pathbreaking Fall 2018 national convening — the A2J Summit — that brought more than 85 activists and leaders together at Fordham Law School for a strategic reconsideration of the place,…
Author: ryasharian
Visiting Professor, Shlomit Yanisky-Ravid, participated in a panel discussion on April 8th called, Intellectual Property at a Crossroads about the impact AI will have on patent and copyright laws. The discussion took place at Bracing for Impact: The Artificial Intelligence Challenge Part II conference series hosted by IP Osgoode. Shlomit Yanisky-Ravid, a faculty member at Ono Academic College in Israel, and Fordham Law School in New York City, kicked off the March 21 discussion by playing clips of music, asking which score was created by a human or AI. It was anyone’s guess as the music sounded eerily similar. She…
Professor Rebecca Kysar was quoted in a Vox article addressing the question of whether Congress has the right to demand Trump’s tax returns. So where does this leave us? Does Congress have the right to demand Trump’s tax returns? And if the Treasury Department refuses to hand them over, what happens next? Rebecca Kysar, law professor, Fordham University The House Ways and Means Committee’s request to obtain the president’s tax returns falls squarely within its oversight and legislative authority, and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin has no basis to refuse the request. The chairman of the Committee, Rep. Neal, is relying upon…
Adjunct Professor, John Rogan, co-authored an op-ed published in The Conversation about the lack of protections and recourse available to Congress to diagnose or address a psychologically unable president. The framers of the 25th Amendment did intend for it to cover cases of psychological inability. One of the principal authors, Rep. Richard Poff (R-Va.), envisioned a president who could not “make any rational decision.” But the term “unable” in the amendment’s text was left vague to provide flexibility. Additionally, the 25th Amendment is intentionally hard to use, with procedural hurdles to prevent usurpation of presidential power. Two-thirds of both houses…
Professor Rebecca Kysar gave a presentation at Pepperdine University’s School of Law about the upheaval of the international tax system and her perspective on the U.S.’s involvement with the complex network of tax treaties. In fact, little evidence or theory exists to support entrance into tax treaties by the United States, and examination of investment flows indicates the treaties likely lose significant U.S. revenues. Additionally, they enable taxpayer abuse, stagnate domestic policy, and thwart reforms of the antiquated international tax system. These consequences are particularly problematic for the United States. Other nations, after all, have been able to supplement their…
Professor and criminal justice expert John Pfaff was quoted in an article published on Vox that highlights the sharp contrast between the U.S. and other developed countries when it comes to life prison sentences and criminal penalties overall. While this may sound strange to us, there’s good evidence that European countries and New Zealand have the right idea. Because as much as America carries out much harsher penalties, there’s no evidence that these harsher punishments actually keep us safer. In fact, the US has the highest murder rate among developed nations — even as it imposes much longer prison sentences.…
Professor Olivier Sylvain was quoted in an article from the Observer about the bipartisan support for increased regulation of “Big Tech” and the rare opportunity this creates for cooperation between politicians from both parties. But such is the power of Silicon Valley. Big technology companies’ increasingly profound hold on Americans’ data and their lives is leading the likes of Trump, Warren and lesser names in both of their parties to agree that something must be done—even if neither they nor their colleagues in Congress and fellow presidential hopefuls can agree on exactly what. Alleging the social network used discriminatory housing…
Professor Olivier Sylvain was cited in “Tech Platforms, Content Creators, and Immunity,” a presentation by Federal Trade Commissioner Rohit Chopra at the ABA Antitrust Law Annual Spring Meeting on March 28th. Chopra’s remarks centered on the “blurry line between tech and media.” So what are these companies? Are they platforms or content producers? The Communications Decency Act creates a clear distinction between platform and content. But up until now, tech companies haven’t been forced to apply that distinction to their converged business. In fact, platform companies are clearly trying to use the legal uncertainty around convergence to their advantage. In one instance,…
A crowd of Fordham Law students and alumnae gathered at Bar Boulud on April 2 for the annual Alumnae Reception hosted by Fordham Law Women. At the event, the founder of the group, Betty Santangelo ’74 presented the inaugural Betty Santangelo Award to Kathleen Walsh ’89. Fordham Law Women has undergone an impressive revival over the last three years. Founded by Santangelo in the 1970s to empower women at the school, the group became inactive in the 2000s. In 2015, a group of students revived it; the group now counts over 300 members ranging across all three years of the…
A group of Fordham Law students and clinic professors have been strongly advocating for an important amendment to a New York State tax law. This week they gathered to celebrate a victory in the form of the amendment’s passing. Tax Law § 171-v mandates the Department of Taxation and Finance to suspend an individual’s driver’s license if they owe $10,000 or more in past-due state tax debt. For three years, Fordham students have lobbied the state legislature to include a hardship exemption for low-income New Yorkers. The students worked on the project through Fordham Law’s Poverty, Tax, and Justice Clinic…