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Today, the University of Notre Dame, along with a diverse group of universities and schools, health care providers and social welfare agencies, filed federal lawsuits challenging the Obama administration’s rule that requires many religious employers to provide coverage to their employees for sterilization, contraception and some abortion-causing drugs.

The lawsuits are efforts to “vindicate the country’s constitutional and traditional commitments to religious freedom and pluralism,” according to University of Notre Dame Law Professor Richard W. Garnett, whose teaching and scholarly research focus on constitutional law and religious freedom matters.

The library will be open during the following hours during the Summer months.

Whether you’re trying to justify your smartphone purchase as an “education expense” or using it to escape your homework, there are apps for you! Over 150 students, faculty, and staff completed a survey to identify the most useful and most popular apps available for Apple and Android devices. Read on for some of their responses.

Adrienne M. de la Rosa has been awarded the Peter Lardy Memorial Fellowship for the 2012-13 academic year. Dedicated by the Class of 1975 to the memory of Peter A.R. Lardy and “those who exemplify his Courage, Love, and Understanding toward his fellow man,” the fellowship includes a $20,000 tuition remission for the recipient’s third year of law school.

Professor O. Carter Snead has been named a Fellow of the Notre Dame Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values.

Sunny Hostin, J.D. ’94, was named the Alvin McKenna Alumnus of the Year Award and asked to give the keynote address at the 2012 Black Law Students Association awards banquet at NDLS this year.

Shannon Buffum has joined the Harris Beach law firm in the Buffalo office as an associate in the Labor and Employment Law Practice Group. She also serves as the Educational Institutions Industry Team.

Megan E Bryson has been listed on the Connecticut Rising Star list for 2011-2012. Bryan works in the Law Offices of Paul A. Lange and focuses her practice on Litigation, Insurance, and Transactional Work in the area of aviation law.

Leslie Budewitz’s first book: Books, Crooks, and Counselors: How to Write Accurately About Crinimal Law and Courtroom Procedures (Quill Driver Books) has received the 2011 Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction.

Stephanie Martin has been appointed to the Board of Trustees of Catholic Charities for the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Inc. Martin is an associate at Adams and Reese.

David L Guevara has co-designed and edited a book titled Environmental Liability and Insurance Recovery, published in May 2012 by ABA Book Publishing and sponsored by the ABA’s Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section. Guevara is a member of Taff Stettinius & Hollister LLP’s Environmental Law and Litigation practice group.

Jorge Narvaez-Hasfura has been appointed an honorary Independent Advisor and Member of the Sounding Board of the Mexican Taxpayers’ Ombudsman. Narvaez-Hasfura works for Baker & McKenzie.

John Nagle was interviewed on CBCRadio, The Current show on Green Evangelists on May 9th.

NDLS student Brian Michel recently argued a Miranda violation case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Brian was selected for the honor after competing for an NDLS Moot Court Board position as part of the NDLS Moot Court program. The Moot Court program, which coordinates intramural and intercollegiate competitions in its appellate, trial, and international divisions, is run by NDLS students and overseen by Legal Writing Program Director Christine Venter.

“My client had been convicted of first-degree murder under the accountability theory, and sentenced to 28 years for his role in a Chicago shooting,” Michel said.

“His argument throughout trial was that the police refused to provide him with access to counsel. On appeal, we took the position that the Illinois Appellate Court had failed to look at the totality of the circumstances surrounding my client’s confession when it refused to believe his claims that he had repeatedly requested counsel during his seventeen-hour interrogation.

“Personally, I saw my involvement in this case as the highlight of my time at Notre Dame. It was rewarding to defend my client’s basic right to an attorney, a right which is so crucial to a fair criminal justice system.”

An audio file of Michel’s oral argument in Lawrence Coleman v. Marcus Hardy is available on the Seventh Circuit’s website. > Read More

Prof. Jimmy Gurule was interviewed by ilsussidario.net in Italy on the Khalid Sheik Mohammed trial. The interview was published both English and Italian.

Thomas W. Cushing has been selected to fill a vacancy on the Lyons Township High School’s Board of Education. Cushing is Of Counsel at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP in Chicago, Illinois.

Patrick J. Kilbane has been elected president of the Notre Dame Club of North Florida. Kilbane is a an attorney in the Jacksonville office of GrayRobinson, P.A.

Frank Pimentel has transferred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Buffalo, New York as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.

George Ng, a partner at Snell & Wilmer L.L.P. was recently recognized by M&A Advisors with their Top 40 Under 40 Award.

Tea Party Activist Concerned About IRS Questions
WLWT.com
“What the IRS is trying to do is figure out how much of their activity is about supporting or opposing candidates,” said Lloyd Hitoski Mayer, associate dean at Notre Dame Law School. “Whether that’s an appropriate question depends on whether the IRS had information that he’s connected to the group that’s applying.”

Accused 9/11 plotters to appear in Guantanamo Bay court
Los Angeles Times
“The administration claims that its military commission rules have now been improved to ensure a fair and credible trial,” Douglass Cassel, a University of Notre Dame law professor and humanitarian law expert, said this week.

Will a military trial of the 9/11 suspects be credible?
CNN.com
Douglass Cassel is a Notre Dame presidential fellow and professor of law at the University of Notre Dame. He has filed briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the rights of prisoners at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and accountability for human rights violations under the Alien Tort Claims Act.

Leading IP scholars from across the country gathered at NDLS on April 27 for a roundtable on Professor Robert P. Merges’s 2011 book Justifying Intellectual Property.

The all-day conference was organized by NDLS Professor Mark P. McKenna. In addition to Professor McKenna, speakers included professors Barton Beebe (NYU), Oren Bracha (Texas), Eric Claeys (George Mason), Abraham Drassinower (Toronto), Shubha Ghosh (Wisconsin), Daniel B. Kelly, Brian Lee (Brooklyn); Margaret Radin (Michigan); Carol Rose (Arizona/Yale); Dave Schwartz (Chicago-Kent), Avishalom Tor, and Zahr Said (Washington).

Professor M. Cathleen Kaveny participated in a panel discussion with Boston College Law School Dean Vincent Rougeau at Boston College’s Church in the 21st Century Center. Joining Professor Kaveny and Dean Rougeau was the Rev. J. Bryan Hehir.

U.S. Magistrate Judge David Guaderrama has been confirmed by the Senate as District Judge for the Western District of Texas – El Paso Division.

Teacher says Catholic school fired her over IVF
Associated Press
“The Supreme Court didn’t give us a kind of neat little on-off test as to who’s a minister and who isn’t,” said Rick Garnett, associate dean and professor of law at Notre Dame Law School.

Justice Marta Cartabia, a member of the Constitutional Court of Italy and a former Constitutional Law Professor at Milano Bicocca University, will deliver a lecture on “Toward a New European Model of Constitutional Adjudication?” at 4:30 p.m. April 26 in Eck Hall of Law Room 1140.

Justice Cartabia is the only woman among the members of the Consulta, the third woman to become a member in the history of the Court, and one of the youngest judges ever appointed. She is also serving as the Clynes Chair in Judicial Ethics at Notre Dame Law School.

A reception will follow the lecture in Eck Commons.

Ross Douthat spoke at NDLS on April 25th to the Federalist Society on his new book, “Bad Religion, How We Became a Nation of Heretics."

Ross Douthat is the youngest opinion columnist in the history of the New York Times, has written for The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, GQ, Slate, and currently writes movie reviews for The National Journal. He is a regular on The Colbert Report and Charlie Rose, and has written three books, the third of which will be the subject of his talk on Wednesday.

Diane M. Haller has been named among the top five percent of attorneys in Arizona by Southwest Super Lawyers for 2012. Haller focuses her practice on Real Estate Law.

Kevin E. Griffith has been recognized as a “Leader in their Field” by Chambers USA 2012. Griffith is with Porter Wright in Ohio and specializes in Labor and Employment Law.

Christopher R. Schraff has been recognized as a “Leader in their Field” by Chambers USA 2012. Schraff is with Porter Wright in Ohio and specializes in Natural Resources and Evironmental Law.