News » Faculty in the News

Professor Mark P. McKenna argued before the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit Feb. 2 in a landmark trademark infringement case. Professor McKenna appeared as an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) in support of sports artist Daniel Moore, who has been locked in litigation with the University of Alabama regarding the sale of Moore’s paintings of Alabama football games and merchandise bearing reproductions of those paintings.

Prof. McKenna’s amicus brief is available here.

The New York Times article describing the case and quoting Professor McKenna is available here.

NDLS Professor Carter Snead co-authored an Op-Ed about Planned Parenthood and the Susan G. Komen Foundation that was published in the Wall Street Journal Feb. 6. Professor Snead is the future director of the Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame. His co-author, Robert P. George, is professor of jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program at Princeton University. The full Op-Ed is available here

Free Speech vs. Infringement in Suit on Alabama Artwork
New York Times
The case is of great interest to “artists all over the country whose free speech rights should not be subject to licensing arrangements by colleges and universities,” said Mark P. McKenna, a law professor at Notre Dame who was part of a group of professors that wrote a friend-of-the-court brief to the Appeals Court on Moore’s behalf.

Obama’s Military Tactics: Risky Missions, Elite Units
National Public Radio WBUR
Rescue is “the category I’d like to put it in, because it’s a limited use of force under international law,” says Mary Ellen O’Connell, a professor of law at Notre Dame.

Kohler Co. steamed over Arizona firm’s name
Salon school makes change to avoid trademark suit
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

People have no hard and fast right to use their name on their business if someone else already has trademarked it, said Durst and two academic experts – Mark McKenna of the University of Notre Dame Law School and J. Thomas McCarthy, senior professor at the University of San Francisco.

McKenna, however, called Kohler Co.’s assertions “a pretty aggressive use of their trademark rights.” > Read Article

Romney Tax Returns Show $7 Million in Donations Over 2 Years
Bloomberg Businessweek
It isn’t unusual for high earners like the Romneys to funnel money into charitable foundations that they control, said Lloyd Mayer, an associate dean at the University of Notre Dame Law School.

SOPA and PIPA are (almost) dead. Now can we talk about the law that already exists?

By Mark P. McKenna

Slate.com, January 20, 2012

Opinion by Mary Ellen O’Connell

The Guardian, January 20, 2012 > Read Article

Professor Richard W. Garnett’s USA Today column analyzing the Supreme Court’s landmark church-state decision in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC was picked up by the Associated Press and subsequently reported by numerous news outlets, including the Christian Science Monitor, CNN, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Salt Lake Tribune, U.S. News & World Report, and the Washington Post. Professor Garnett’s amicus brief in support of the church in this case can be accessed here.

A Mississippi judge has temporarily blocked 21 of more than 200 executive pardons given this week by outgoing Gov. Haley Barbour (R-Miss.) during his final days in office, and University of Notre Dame Professor of Law Jimmy Gurulé counts himself among many who are outraged that Barbour allowed murderers to be released.

“The fact that Gov. Barbour would pardon one convicted murderer absent extenuating circumstances is deeply disturbing,” says Gurulé, who, in his 23 years at Notre Dame, has taken two major leaves to serve as assistant U.S. Attorney General and Undersecretary of the U.S. Treasury Department for Enforcement. “Pardoning four convicted murderers is shocking, insulting to the surviving family members of the murder victims, and demonstrates a callous disregard for our criminal justice system and the rule of law. In my opinion, Gov. Barbour’s actions are indefensible.”

The insanity defense: Defendants in two high-profile local cases to make an argument lawyers say rarely wins (Quoting Jimmy Gurulé) South Bend Tribune, December 10, 2011

Why contraception mandate should be scrapped — (Opinion: by Richard Garnett) USA Today, November 27, 2011

Thomas, Kagan asked to sit out health care case — (quotes: Richard Garnett) AP, November 26, 2011

The NBA Players Could Win – But it isn’t Likely
Forbes
Also, notes antitrust expert Joseph Bauer, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, part of the players’ suit was filed in California’s 9th Circuit, …

NBA lockout: Law professor predicts players’ union to file more …
Los Angeles Times
Below are excepts of an interview with Notre Dame law professor Joseph Bauer on the NBA players’ union filing antitrust lawsuits against the league. …

Supreme Court Takes On Obamacare Challenge – Forbes
Source: forbes.com

The Supreme Court takes on the case of whether Obamacare is constitutional, with all of its political ramifications.

Professor Richard W. Garnett has been appointed as a consultant to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty. The Committee is updating the bishops on religious liberty issues at the Conference’s November 14-16 meeting in Baltimore. More information about the Committee on Religious Liberty is available here.

What Will Be the Outcome of Catholic Answers vs. IRS?
National Catholic Register (also published at Catholic News Agnecy)
However, the lawsuit’s success is “highly unlikely,” said Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, a University of Notre Dame Law School professor.

Professor Mary Ellen O’Connell is speaking on "Peace as a Global Public Good" at a global public goods symposium in San Domenico di Fiesole, Italy. The October 24 symposium, “Public Goods and the Plurality of Legal Orders,” is organized by the European Society of International Law, the American Society of International Law, the European Journal of International Law, and the HiiL Project on Private Transnational Regulatory Regimes. > Read More

O. Carter Snead, professor of law at the University of Notre Dame, has been appointed the W.P. and H.B. White Director of the University’s Center for Ethics and Culture (CEC) by John McGreevy, I.A. O’Shaughnessy Dean of the College of Arts and Letters.

A member of the Notre Dame Law School faculty since 2005, Snead will succeed W. David Solomon, associate professor of philosophy, effective July 1.

Prof. Lloyd Mayer was quoted in the NY Times on October 12, 2011 in the article As Anti-Climate Group’s Activities Rise, So Do Questions About Its Secret Finances

Obama’s lawyers bid to regulate religious hiring
Yahoo! News
The department “is going against what almost every court has decided … it has taken an outlier position,” said Richard Garnett, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame and a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of Law & Religion at Emory University.

As the U.S. Supreme Court opens its October 2011 term, there is intense focus on several high-profile cases and questions the justices are likely to tackle later, including those involving affirmative action, health-care reform and immigration policy. However, according to Notre Dame Law School Professor Rick Garnett, the court is already set to hear, during this first week of the new term, one of the most important church-state cases in decades (Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC).

“The case involves the ‘ministerial exception’ to employment-discrimination laws,” Garnett says. “This exception prevents courts from second-guessing employment decisions made by religious employers regarding ‘ministerial’ employees. Although the Supreme Court has never squarely addressed this exception, it is a crucial doctrine for protecting religious freedom and the separation of church and state.”

Professor Mary Ellen O’Connell’s legal and policy analysis of the recent use of drones to kill Americans Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan in Yemen has been reported by numerous news outlets, including ABC, Reuters, MSNBC, the Inter Press Service, Huffington Post, Reuters, Financial Times, NPR’s Talk of the Nation, and others. Her original CNN article on this topic can be accessed here.

Al-Awlaki Killing In Yemen Raises Constitutional Questions
Huffington Post
That doesn’t excuse his killing, said Mary Ellen O’Connell, a Notre Dame scholar who studies targeted killings. “Derogation from the fundamental right to life is permissible only in battle zones or to save a human life immediately,” said O’Connell.

Killing of American in Yemen raises legal questions
Reuters (also published on MSNBC, ABC News, Reuters India, China Post, Malaysia Star, Chicago Tribune and four other publications)
“The fact that (al-Awlaki) was a dual U.S.-Yemeni citizen means that he had extra protections under the U.S. constitution than he would not have had if he was just a Yemeni citizen,” said Mary Ellen O’Connell, an international law professor at the University of Notre Dame’s law school. “So the president has done something in my view that is highly questionable under our own Constitution.”

U.S. drone killing of American al-Awlaki prompts legal, moral debate
CNN (also published on CNN International and in 57 other publications)
But Mary Ellen O’Connell, an expert on international law at the University of Notre Dame, said the key question concerned not citizenship but location. "The real concern is where is this person?’ she said. “He is not in an armed conflict zone, not in a battle zone.”

Using Drones Outside Combat Zones
PBS
University of Notre Dame international law professor Mary Ellen O’Connell released a statement calling the strike an illegal mission.

Obama under fire over targeted killing of cleric
Australian Broadcasting Company
Mary Ellen O’Connell, an international law professor, questioned whether the targeted killing was legal.

Awlaki’s killing sparks propaganda battle
Asia Times
Mary Ellen O’Connell, an internationally recognized expert on targeted killings at the University of Notre Dame, was similarly categorical.

Obama Admin Anti-Conscience Mandate Threatens Health Care
Life News
A recent rule issued by the Obama administration threatens our nation’s healthcare by attacking the consciences of our nation’s healthcare providers….O. Carter Snead is professor of law at University of Notre Dame Law School.

Was Killing al-Qaida’s YouTube Preacher Illegal?
Wired
Dunlap’s friend Mary Ellen O’Connell disagrees. And her credentials are just as impressive: she’s the vice chairman of the prestigious American Society of International Law, as well as a professor at the University of Notre Dame. Her argument doesn’t rely on Awlaki’s American citizenship.

Professor criticizes execution
The Observer
Rick Garnett, professor of law and associate dean at the Notre Dame Law School, said the execution highlighted the American courts’ inability to properly handle new evidence in cases after a conviction has been reached.

“The publicity [Davis’] case received had the useful effect of reminding us that it is very difficult for any criminal justice system — even one that has as many safeguards as ours does — to deal with evidence that is discovered, or that changes, after a person is convicted and sentenced,” Garnett said. > Read Article

"Most important" religious freedom case
Deseret News
“People think separation of church and state means President Obama can’t say, ‘God bless America’ or ministers can’t talk about politics. But historically that is not what it is all about,” said Richard W. Garnett, a professor at Notre Dame Law School.

The Perfect Constitutional Question for Republican Candidates
American Thinker
“Would you as President propose to Congress appropriate legislation pursuant to the Fourteenth Amendment to protect human life in all stages and conditions?”…. Gerard V. Bradley is professor of law at Notre Dame Law School.