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. Read More

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. Read More

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. Read More

Column: Our forefathers got it right — no religious test
USA Today
Professor Gerald Bradley of Notre Dame Law School flatly declares that “no federal official has ever been subjected to a formal religious test for holding office.” Read More

The Notre Dame Law & Economics Program is presenting a symposium on “Markets & Regulation in the 21st Century” with featured guests Professor Roberta Romano (Yale Law School) and Judge Richard A. Posner (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit; University of Chicago Law School).

The April 20 program will begin at 2:00 p.m. in Eck Hall 1130 when Professor Romano will present her paper, “For Diversity in the International Regulation of Financial Institutions: Rethinking the Basel Architecture.” Then, at 3:30 p.m., Judge Posner will present his paper, “The Nirvana Fallacy Revisited.” Read More

Greening for God: Evangelicals Learn to Love Earth Day
The Atlantic
It may take years before Christianity’s anti-environmentalist streak entirely disappears. Among older evangelicals, there is still a lingering suspicion toward scientists in general and mainstream environmentalists in particular. In the meantime, evangelicals are creating their own distinctive way of caring for the planet — a brand that may purposefully avoid the term “environmentalism,” says John Nagle, a Notre Dame law professor who studies environmental views within Christian circles. Read More

The Rise of the Killer Drones: How America Goes to War in Secret
Rolling Stone
“Many of the people like Harold Koh and Marty Lederman who were criticizing Bush, and who should be criticizing targeted killings now, went into the Obama administration,” says Mary Ellen O’Connell, a law professor at Notre Dame who has known Koh for 25 years. Read More

Professor Joseph Bauer appeared on NPR’s Morning Edition April 12 to discuss the issues raised by the Justice Department’s lawsuit accusing publishers and Apple of price fixing in the e-book market. You can listen to his analysis here. Read More

The Justice Department is suing publishers and Apple for price fixing in the e-book market. Three publishers — Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins and Hachette — decided to settle the suit. But Apple — along with publishing companies Macmillan and Penguin — plan to fight the allegations. Prof. Bauer’s portion begins about 2 minutes into the program. Listen Read More

Antitrust expert Joseph Bauer, a professor of law at the University of Notre Dame, said the lawsuit raises interesting issues, particularly on pricing. “Competition on price has historically been the most important goal of antitrust enforcers, since it is seen as the best way to maximize consumer welfare,” Bauer explained, in an email. > Read More Read More

The Notre Dame Law Association has named Thomas L. Shaffer, Robert and Marion Short Professor Emeritus of Law, the 2012 recipient of The Rev. Michael D. McCafferty, C.S.C., Award. The McCafferty award is presented by the association to Notre Dame lawyers — or members of the Notre Dame Law School faculty or administration — who have rendered distinguished service to the University.

The award is named for Fr. Michael McCafferty, a popular and highly respected teacher at Notre Dame Law School whose life was shortened by cancer. The award is presented on occasions when the association’s board deems someone worthy of receiving it. Read More

The Notre Dame Law School, along with the entire University of Notre Dame community, is delighted that Professor Barry Cushman, the James Monroe Distinguished Professor of Law and Professor of History at the University of Virginia, will be joining the Law School’s faculty this coming fall as the John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law, Dean Nell Jessup Newton announced. Read More

The Notre Dame Federalist Society will host Judge Thomas Hardiman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on April 3 at 12:30 p.m. in Eck Hall of Law Room 1140.

Judge Hardiman will be discussing policy disagreements with the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines. Professor Stephen F. Smith will act as interlocutor. Lunch will be served.

The Federalist Society will also host former UN Ambassador John Bolton on Thursday, April 5, at 3:30 pm.

Ambassador Bolton’s talk will also take place in Eck Hall of Law Room 1140, with a reception to follow. Mr. Bolton will be speaking about foreign policy challenges for the Obama Administration. All are welcome. Read More

Professor M. Cathleen Kaveny and Melanne Verveer, U.S. ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues, spoke at a Georgetown University symposium sponsored by the Woodstock Theological Center March 24.

Reasons for hope in trying times for women – The Dialog (Quotes: Cathleen Kaveny, John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law and Professor of Theology) Read More