News & Events

Faculty News 1999

  • 12.02.99
    The Morning Star (N.C.)
    10 Commandments case may get new plaintiff ... A self-described atheist's death may not necessarily mean the end of his 5-year-old court battle to remove two marble Ten Commandments tablets from the Haywood County courthouse. This week, the late Richard Suhre's attorney filed a motion asking that Anne L. Maxwell take Mr. Suhre's place as plaintiff in the lawsuit. ... Thomas Rowe Jr., a Duke University law professor, said federal courts usually refer to state laws when a plaintiff dies, and under North Carolina law, plaintiffs in constitutional cases like Mr. Suhre's usually cannot be replaced. ...
  • 12.02.99
    The News & Observer (N.C.)
    Free computers for schools come with a price ... Free computer laboratories in exchange for an audience for advertising is the corporate catch of a new computer network being offered to secondary schools. The ZapMe! Corp. network has been installed in more than 1,000 schools in 27 states during the past year, and thousands more schools are waiting in line. Now, the system is heading into North Carolina and possibly the Triangle ... The question that school districts should be pondering, said Duke University law professor John Weistart, is how participating in such ventures is promoting consumption. "Think about where this leads," Weistart said. "So J. Crew offers so much money to a school if you allow them to be an exclusive advertiser. Even if the money is used for a good purpose, going along with this means you're willingly promoting the idea that consumption is a good value." ...
  • 12.01.99
    National Public Radio -- Morning Edition
    The Supreme Court hears arguments in a major public health controversy: whether the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA, may regulate the tobacco industry. In short, is nicotine in tobacco a drug like any other to be regulated by the federal government? Professor Walter Dellinger, who argued FDA v. Brown & Williamson at the lower court level, was a guest.
  • 12.01.99
    ABCNews.com
    Big Tobacco Heads to the High Court ... Today, the nation's battle over smoking heads to the Supreme Court. At issue is a controversial effort by the Food and Drug Administration to regulate the marketing and sales of cigarettes to minors. ... Indeed, one expert says, given the (tobacco) industry's recent track record, a Supreme Court victory for the FDA might not be all that meaningful. "I think the [$246 billion] settlement accomplishes at least as much, if not more, than the FDA regulations would accomplish if they were implemented as written,"says Duke University law professor Thomas B. Metzloff. "The war has largely already been won." ... link to article
  • 11.30.99
    The Fresno Bee (Calif.)
    New districts questioned ... A trial that began Monday could lead to a new standard for how far government can go to help African Americans and other minorities get elected. A three-judge federal panel will determine whether race played too large a role in the drawing of two North Carolina congressional districts. Duke University law professor Robinson Everett, the chief architect of the lawsuit, argued that the 1997 districts were designed specifically to elect African-American candidates, and are thus unconstitutional.
  • 11.30.99
    The News & Observer (N.C.)
    Another round of redistricting begins ... Once again, the design of North Carolina's congressional districts came under the microscope Monday with three federal judges weighing the role that race played when the legislature redrew the 1st and 12th congressional districts two years ago. ... In opening arguments, Robinson Everett, a Duke University law professor and Durham lawyer representing the plaintiffs, contended that the 1997 plan was an illegal racial gerrymander - much like a 1992 plan. ...
  • 11.29.99
    The News & Observer (N.C.)
    Trial may help guage race-based districts ... A federal lawsuit goes to trial today that could lead to a new standard in the debate over how far the federal government can go to help minority voters elect representatives for the same race. ... Duke University law professor Robinson Everett contends the districts, redrawn in 1997 after a previous court challenge, are designed specifically to elect black candidates. The high court has said doing so is unconstitutional. Everett has been fighting the districts in court throughout the 1990s. "We are attempting to show that race was the predominant factor in drawing up the 1997 plan for Districts 12 and 1. A lot of focus has been put on the 12th, but we're challenging both," said Seth Neyhart, a lawyer in Everett's firm. ...link to article
  • 11.15.99
    Legal Times
    Is Columbia/HCA Settlement Near? ... The Department of Justice is once again trying to consolidate the approximately two dozen False Claims Act suits pending against the Colombia/HCA Healthcare Corp., in what appears to be an effort to hasten a settlement of the litigation ... But Professor Thomas Rowe of Duke University Law School, who studies complex civil litigation, cautions that the court will analyze whether the cases have enough in common, adding that the court could decide to create subgroups or consolidate only some of the cases. Consolidation will not be granted, he says, simply because most of the participants support lumping a large number of the cases together. ...
  • 11.10.99
    The Washington Times
    Treatment tried first for drug offenses ... Forget about second chances. Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Leon Lett is on his fifth. Five times, Lett has violated the NFL's substance abuse policy. On three of those occasions, he was punished by the league - most recently this summer, when he failed a drug test and incurred an eight-game suspension. ... "People assume these players are just being bad boys who can't control themselves," said Jim Coleman, a professor at Duke University Law School and an expert on drug policy in sport. "In fact, they can't control themselves - because they're addicted." ...
  • 11.09.99
    USA Today
    Senators' decision on Yashin to have far-reaching effect ... If the Ottawa Senators notify Alexei Yashin today that he has been suspended for the season, then the NHL and its players association seem headed toward a high-stakes arbitration with league-wide ramifications. ... "We are in uncharted waters," said Paul Haagen, professor of law and co-director of the Duke Sports Law and Policy Center. "The league clearly has a rule that internally permits it to do it. The players association is clearly going to challenge, and I don't know if I have a prediction." ...
  • 11.08.99
    The Washington Post
    Charlotte Schools Are Scrambling ... A recent federal court ruling has thrown the old way of doing things here into disarray, challenging school officials and the community to come up with some smart, fast solutions. In September, U.S. District Judge Robert Potter ruled that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg system, which is 40 percent black, had achieved desegregation "quite some time ago" and had eliminated "the vestiges of past discrimination." ... "I would expect the judge would be affirmed, quite frankly. His conclusions of the law are well-supported," said William Van Alstyne, Perkins Professor of Constitutional Law at the Duke University law school. "For the most part, the Supreme Court has taken the view that you can't have race-identity cards, to be classified and allocated, to be forced to stand in racial queues. The old way was, stand in a racial line at the movie theater. Now, it has been, stand in racial lines at the magnet schools." ...
  • 11.07.99
    The Salt Lake Tribune
    Doping Agency Fight Escalates ... Against a backdrop where race horses are more thoroughly tested for performance-enhancing drugs than athletes, the International Olympic Committee and the U.S. government are neck and neck to lead the fight against doping in amateur sports. ... "The U.S. government not only has the right but also the obligation to intervene in the affairs of these organizations to address the drug testing problem in Olympic sport," says Duke University law professor Doriane Lambelet Coleman, herself a former elite long-distance runner subject to drug testing. "The fact this government also subsidizes the IOC and USOC, through special trademark protections and their tax-exempt status, merely reinforces this right." ...
  • 11.07.99
    The Providence Journal-Bulletin (R.I.)
    Lawmakers seek immunity in lottery suit ... Legislative privilege is a centuries-old concept. Members of the U.S. Congress and most state legislatures, including Rhode Island, have long enjoyed immunity from civil lawsuits for their utterances during parliamentary debates, no matter how inaccurate or slanderous. What's new in this case is that House Speaker John B. Harwood and other legislators are asking the state's highest court to immunize them from revealing why and how they affected the operation of an administrative state agency, the state Lottery Commission. ... Members of Congress and legislators from other states have used the shield of legislative privilege at different times, but not always successfully, said Professor William Van Alstyne, of the Duke University School of Law. For example, he said, courts have recognized a legislative privilege covering deliberations, debate and passage of laws that were later deemed to be racially discriminatory, Van Alstyne said. Individual lawmakers, he said, could not be compelled to testify in court about why they passed those laws. ...
  • 11.03.99
    The Globe and Mail
    Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon threw another legal grenade at the world's retired dictators yesterday, charging nearly 100 Argentine military and police officers with genocide, torture and terrorism. The judge, who shot to prominence a year ago when he engineered the arrest of Chile's Augusto Pinochet, issued international warrants for officers implicated in atrocities during the 1976-83 military rule. ... "What Garzon wants to do is draw international attention to what happened under the military juntas, and restrict their ability to travel," said Michael Byers, a professor at Duke University in Durham, N.C. ...
  • 11.02.99
    The News & Observer (N.C.)
    Durham DWI deal put fairness on trial ... Ralph Strickland was packing his office Monday, out of a job as a lawyer in the Durham Public Defender's Office as a four-month suspension by the State Bar immediately takes effect. ... "Suspensions for lawyers are very serious," said Tom Metzloff, an expert in legal ethics at Duke School of Law, who testified during the hearing on the rules of professional conduct. "It keeps them from practicing law. They can't do their profession and can't work on legal matters. They can't represent clients, and the public impact of the open hearing is very real." ...
  • 10.31.99
    The News & Record (N.C.)
    Voting districts re-examined ... Don Powell says his protest of this month's City Council election is about mistakes election officials made in assigning voters. But some in Reidsville see his appeal of the Oct. 5 election - which prompted a debate over the location of the line dividing the city - as an attack on a districting system put in place to give black residents a fair shot at council representation. ... "The use of race as a means to create election districts is against the goal of a colorblind society," said Robinson Everett, a Duke Law professor and attorney who has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court three times on the issue. "It sends a message that people are supposed to be elected in terms of race rather than by qualifications. The thought that there's one group of councilmen to represent whites and another to represent blacks - that's unhealthy." ...
  • 10.28.99
    The St. Petersburg Times (Fla.)
    Simply put: Justices have had enough ... It has been 109 years since the U.S. Supreme Court addressed the question: When does a method of executing a death row inmate amount to cruel and unusual punishment under the U.S. Constitution? The high court's surprise decision Tuesday to review Florida's electric chair could mark a significant change in the way the court looks at death penalty cases. Traditionally, the justices have had a hands-off approach. But the court now seems willing to address the constitutionality of at least one death penalty method, electrocution, in light of modern science and evolving standards of decency. "Florida is out there almost by itself," said James Coleman Jr., a professor law at Duke Law School who specializes in the Eighth Amendment. "These justices are offended by what has happened there. They believe that if you're going to have the death penalty then it has to be carried out in a manner that comports with human dignity and evolving standards of decency," Coleman said. ...
  • 10.21.99
    The Salt Lake Tribune
    U.S. Says IOC Can't Handle War on Drugs; U.S.: IOC Can't Handle Anti-Doping ... When the Olympics come to Utah, the U.S. government wants a direct role in testing and reporting all athletes caught using performance-boosting drugs, a move that could challenge the International Olympic Committee's long-standing role as the Games' sole medical authority. ... The U.S. Olympic Committee's own proposal to "externalize" its drug-testing program in the states was received better than the IOC plan, but not much. "In essence, the [USOC] proposal suggests creation of a wholly owned subsidiary," said Doriane Lambelet Coleman, a Duke University lawyer who has prosecuted and defended athletes in doping cases. ...
  • 10.21.99
    USA Today
    After months of undiplomatic exchanges, the U.S. drug czar and a top International Olympic Committee official showed signs of conciliation Wednesday at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on drugs in the Olympics. ... The sharpest criticism was delivered by panelist Doriane Coleman, a Duke law professor who helped set up out-of-competition testing in the USA in the 1980s and has prosecuted and defended drug cases. "To talk about details like numbers of tests is irrelevant now," Coleman said. "So long as testing continues to be conducted by the IOC or member entities ... then nothing's being done." ...
  • 10.20.99
    The Washington Post
    IOC's Pound to Testify on Anti-Doping Effort ... For the third time this year, a representative of the International Olympic Committee will appear today for questioning before a U.S. Congress that has taken an unprecedented interest in its operation. Unlike the previous hearings last week and in the spring, which examined the bribery scandal surrounding the IOC's Olympic site selection process, today's hearing, in front of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, will delve into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in Olympic competition. ... Doriane Coleman, a professor at the Center for Sports and Law at Duke University, also will testify. Coleman represented U.S. middle-distance runner Mary Slaney when Slaney tested positive for high levels of the steroid testosterone in 1996. Coleman successfully argued to the USA Track & Field arbitration panel that the testosterone test was flawed, but the international governing body of track and field (the International Amateur Athletic Federation) rejected the argument this year. ... link to article
  • 10.19.99
    The News & Observer (N.C.)
    2 Durham driving cases get unusual treatment. ... Nezra Clark, with a record of 14 moving violations and a suspended license, took a chance in April 1998 when he got behind the wheel of a car. He lost. Clark was arrested for a 15th traffic violation and faced the possibility of losing his license for a year and spending 45 days in jail. Instead, Clark, 26, paid a $500 fine and walked out of the courthouse Sept. 2, 1999, with his driver's license in force. The difference between his case and thousands of others in Durham's traffic court: Clark was represented by H. Woody Vann, a lifelong friend and the campaign treasurer for Durham District Attorney Jim Hardin Jr., who personally signed off on Clark's plea agreement. ... Thomas Metzloff, a senior associate dean at Duke Law School, said when asked to review the circumstances that it was inappropriate for a lawyer to claim special privilege the way doctors do, because there is a critical difference: The legal system is a public trust administered by court officials, not a private business. "It's insulting to the public," Metzloff said. "If anything, we attorneys are not above the law -- we are a part of the legal system, and that kind of accommodation is antithetical to the rule of law." ...
  • 10.12.99
    The Washington Times
    Drug testing seen as failure in professional sports ... Call it the NBA's version of "I Know What You Did Last Summer": As training camps open around the nation this week, players will be evaluated on more than just jump shooting, defensive hustle and offseason conditioning. In accordance with the league's updated substance abuse policy, each and every player will be subject to a mandatory preseason drug test. ... "My view is that good publicity is the sole purpose for the leagues wanting drug testing programs," said Jim Coleman, a Duke University Law School professor and an expert on drug policy in sport. "If you look closely at the policies, you'll see that they're not very strenuous." ...
  • 10.03.99
    The Richmond Times-Dispatch (Va.)
    Court to decide on leaf regulation - Can the FDA treat tobacco as a drug? ... At the Supreme Court of the United States, where smoking is prohibited in the courtroom and the hallways, the justices will decide this term whether the Food and Drug Administration can regulate tobacco like a drug. ... The FDA's test is that if a substance's health hazards outweigh the benefits, it should be banned, said Duke University law professor William Van Alstyne. ...
  • 10.03.99
    The News & Observer (N.C.)
    The Constitution has withstood many tests over time, but nothing puts its principles more to the test than the actions and decisions made by presidents. That was the topic for three days last week as past and present government officials, legal scholars and journalists gathered at a Duke Law School conference to assess President Clinton's impact on the Constitution. Here's a riddle: How could Bill Clinton be both the nation's sinner-in-chief and a president who presided over one of the most religion-friendly administrations in American history? Could the man who dallied with a 21-year-old White House intern be the same person Time magazine called the most pastored president ever? How does Monica Lewinsky fit with White House prayer breakfasts? It's perhaps a subject more appropriate for a panel of psychiatrists than the group of constitutional scholars who gathered last weekend at the Washington Duke Inn in Durham. ...
  • 10.01.99
    The Associated Press
    Korean Vets Can't Be Prosecuted ... Orders for U.S. troops to fire on civilians during the Korean War were illegal and the men who followed them at No Gun Ri could have faced court martial, a legal specialist says ... "I have never heard of orders like this, not outside the orders given by Germans that we heard about during the Nuremburg Trials," said Scott Silliman of Duke University, a retired colonel and Air Force lawyer for 25 years. ...
  • Similar articles appeared in The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Las Vegas Review-Journal, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel (Fla.).
  • 09.29.99
    The Associated Press
    Both the Koreans and several ex-GIs said the killing began when American planes suddenly swooped in and strafed an area where the white-clad refugees were resting. Bodies fell everywhere, and terrified parents dragged their children into a narrow culvert beneath the tracks, the Koreans said. ... "An order to fire on civilians is patently an illegal order," said retired Col. Scott Silliman of Duke University, an Air Force lawyer for 25 years. ...
  • Similar articles appeared in The Kansas City Star (Mo.), The Palm Beach Post (Fla.), The Portland Press Herald (Ore.) and The Newark Star-Ledger (N.J.).
  • 09.24.99
    USA Today
    Levitt calls for trading restructuring ... With a whirlwind of new technology threatening to scatter the nation's stock markets into chaos, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt is pushing Wall Street toward major restructuring ... If the securities industry decided to create a single self-policing body, "it would be one of the most profound regulatory shifts" for Wall Street since Congress created the SEC in 1934, Duke University Professor James Cox says. ...
  • 09.20.99
    U.S. News & World Report
    Another monkey trial ... Sometime soon, according to animal-rights activists, a great ape will testify in an American courtroom. Speaking through a voice synthesizer, or perhaps in sign language, the lucky ape will argue that it has a fundamental right to liberty. "This is going to be a very important case," Duke University law Professor William Reppy Jr. told the New York Times. ...
  • 09.10.99
    The Associated Press
    Charlotte busing decision praised, criticized by activist groups ... A judge's order to end busing in Charlotte schools is a setback for school integration efforts, busing supporters said Friday, while opponents said it is in synch with other court rulings on race-based programs. ... But William Van Alstyne, a constitutional law expert at Duke University, said the decision is no surprise, falling in line with similar desegregation cases in recent years. ...
  • 09.07.99
    The Wall Street Journal
    Campuses turn gray as college faculties get older. ... A faculty survey at 378 colleges and universities found that nearly one-third of full-time faculty members were at least 55 years old last fall, compared with about one-fourth a decade ago. ... But law professor Robert P. Mosteller, chairman of Duke University's academic council, warns against making generalizations based on the study. "The key is that people need to stay as long as they are doing work that is good. So age is only a rough proxy," Prof. Mosteller says. ...
  • 08.31.99
    The Washington Times
    Animal-rights activists say they are exploring whether laws against slavery can help gain "equality under the law" for chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans. "The way lawyers work is to try to draw analogies to similar situations," said Joyce Tischler, executive director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF). "During the period when black people were slaves, some slave owners chose to give their slaves their freedom through various common-law methods. We are exploring these sorts of common-law methods by which human beings who were in a status of property were granted full rights."...The slavery analogy is useful because "slaves weren't really property, 100 percent," said William Reppy, a law professor at Duke University. His research into antebellum law on slavery shows it is "inaccurate" to claim that American courts treated slaves as simple property, Mr. Reppy said. Instead, slaves were a "hybrid" form of property or "property plus." ...
  • 08.26.99
    National Public Radio -- Talk of the Nation
    Athletes are still popping pills to enhance their performance, and drug testing has become more complicated. The wide range of substances now available has further muddied an issue that was murky to begin with, and different standards for different sports has generated further confusion. Join Ray Suarez and guests for a look at supplements, drugs, and what's legitimate in sports. Doriane Lambelet Coleman, senior lecturing fellow at Duke Law School, was a guest. ... link to Talk of the Nation archives
  • 08.24.99
    The News & Observer (N.C.)
    Duke bringing big names in law to gauge Clinton's constitutional legacy: Should White House counsel be abolished?... Invite some old work buddies for a visit to Duke's School of Law and you end up with a room full of the most powerful lawyers in the nation. "I think it would be unusual for any institution to host three attorneys general and six White House counsels," said Walter E. Dellinger III, a Duke law professor who served as assistant attorney general and head of the Office of Legal Counsel and acting solicitor general in the Clinton administration. Most of the legal heavyweights planning to speak at a law school conference at Duke in September happen to be people with whom Dellinger once worked. ...
  • 08.23.99
    The Globe and Mail (Canada)
    Commentary by Duke Law Professor Michael Byers : Should Canada give the visiting Rwandan leaders full immunity? The Rwandan Prime Minister and Foreign Minister arrive next month. Will Canada shield them from possible arrest for alleged war crimes?... Is Canada about to have its own Pinochet case? The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Rwanda clearly do not think so. Pierre Celestin Rwigema and Augustin Iyamuremye are scheduled to attend the summit meeting of la Francophonie in Moncton from Sept. 3 to 5. Human-rights groups say the two officials should be arrested as soon as they set foot on Canadian soil and be extradited to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The tribunal, which was established by the United Nations Security Council to prosecute crimes committed in connection with the Rwandan genocide in 1994, is located in Arusha, Tanzania. ...
  • 08.22.99
    The New York Times
    Monkey Trial: Redefining a Jury of Their Peers...Here is a courtroom scene that lawyers in the fledgling field of animal law say will unfold sometime soon. A great ape will appear in the courtroom. A lawsuit, perhaps protesting the ape's life behind bars, will have been filed in the animal's name. The ape will then testify in sign language or using a voice synthesizer to support the claim that, contrary to centuries of law, it has legal rights, including a fundamental right to liberty. Fiction? An animal activist's dream? Perhaps. But a growing group of lawyers and legal academics say they are plotting strategies to bring such a suit, perhaps within a decade. Such a trial, they say, is the inevitable culmination of challenges they are starting to make to the principle that animals are property without legal rights. "This is going to be a very important case," said William A. Reppy Jr., a Duke University law professor. ... link to article
  • A similar article appeared in The Sunday Telegraph (UK).
  • 08.04.99
    The New York Times
    Zapruder Heirs Get $16 Million For Dallas Film...A divided Federal arbitration panel announced today that the Government must pay the heirs of Abraham Zapruder $16 million for his film of President John F. Kennedy's assassination, the highest price ever paid for a historical American artifact...Today, two of the panel's three members, Arlin M. Adams and Kenneth R. Feinberg, wrote in their majority decision that the film made by Mr. Zapruder, as the Kennedy motorcade rolled through Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, was "a unique historical item of unprecedented worth." A third member of the panel, Walter E. Dellinger, dissented. He said that the price set by the majority "was simply too large an amount in light of the evidence in the record." ... link to article.
  • Similar articles appeared in The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution and The Globe and Mail.
  • 08.04.99
    The Associated Press
    Durham council supports moratorium on executions; move called significant ... The Durham City Council voted to support a moratorium on executions, and advocates say that the city is the largest in the nation to adopt such a resolution. ... "The Supreme Court has said that the opinions of the representatives is what's relevant in deciding whether the death penalty is constitutionally acceptable to the people of a community," said Duke Law professor Jim Coleman, who will become the chairman of the American Bar Association's section of individual rights and responsibilities next week. "Now we have the representatives saying, 'Let's take a pause and review what we've done.' This is not about abolition of the death penalty. It is about reviewing where we are." ...
  • 07.24.99
    Liability Week
    The Justice Department and the chief justices of the 50 states told the House Judiciary Committee on July 21 they oppose a bill that would allow most nationwide class actions to be removed to federal court. ... Walter E. Dellinger, a former acting U.S. solicitor general who is now a law professor at Duke University and practicing law with O'Melveny & Myers, said "any federalism-based objection to H.R. 1875 is simply off-base. If anything, in fact, the proposed legislation would protect the ability of states to determine their own laws and policies by restricting the ability of state courts to dictate the laws of other states, an outcome that would promote basic principles of federalism." ...
  • 07.13.99
    The News & Record (N.C.)
    Teenage defendant cites incompetence ... Five motions filed Friday by a defense attorney in the Tiffany Long murder case are routine, a legal expert says ... A teenager charged with the kidnapping, rape and murder of 10-year-old Tiffany Long is mentally incompetent to stand trial, his attorney claims. Robinson Everett, a law professor at Duke University, said asking a court to declare a defendant incompetent in a murder trial is standard practice. "When you've got a cruel and unusual crime, there's usually some basis for making the claim that there's some element of irrationality," Everett said. ...
  • 07.12.99
    Publishers Weekly
    It's the Law ... Lawyers don't have to be a scourge on society. In Stewards of Democracy, Paul Carrington, who teaches civil procedure at Duke University Law School, looks at the law as a "public profession" based on a moral duty to uphold democratic tradition and protect legal rights. He sees such duty exemplified in the careers of Thomas Cooley (a 19th-century figure), Louis Brandeis, Learned Hand and Byron White, but he also contends that the sense of stewardship is under threat today from the elitist practices of such institutions as the foremost law schools and even the Supreme Court. ...
  • 07.04.99
    The Austin American- Statesman (Texas)
    Chief Justice William Rehnquist's Supreme Court, now 13 years old, is assured of a prominent place in American legal history. It has emerged as a potent check on the power of the national government ... Walter Dellinger, a liberal constitutional law professor at Duke University and former acting solicitor general for the Clinton administration, said the Rehnquist court is now supremely confident in its willingness to use its gavel against Congress. ...

    A similar article appeared in The New Orleans Times-Picayune.
  • 06.27.99
    The Columbus Dispatch (Ohio)
    The U.S. Supreme Court capped its 1998-99 term last week with a flurry of rulings that slapped aside attempts by Congress to hold states accountable to some federal laws. ... Led by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, the Supreme Court is responsible for what is one of only three or four major constitutional shifts to occur within the past two centuries, said Duke University professor Walter Dellinger, who was acting solicitor general for the Justice Department during the court's 1996-97 term. ...
  • 05.31.99
    The Las Vegas Review- Journal
    After decades of remarkable growth, lottery sales are slipping because of competition from video gambling and casinos. For all the publicity surrounding winners of the biggest jackpots, 15 states recorded lower sales last year than in 1996. ... Commission members say they were struck by the findings of Duke University professors Charles Clotfelter and Philip Cook, authors of a 1989 book on lotteries called Selling Hope. Their study found that 5 percent of lottery players account for 51 percent of sales and spend an average of $3,500 a year on tickets. ...
  • 05.30.99
    The New York Times
    The Second Amendment, the orphan of the Bill of Rights, has been written off as a legal backwater for decades. ... But some constitutional law experts say the recent scholarship proves that the Second Amendment gives citizens a right to weapons. "There was never even a suggestion that it would be appropriate for the national government to deny gun ownership to a private person," said William Van Alstyne, a constitutional law professor at Duke University and a gun owner who said he has been examining the amendment more closely in recent years. ...
  • 05.22.99
    The New York Times
    As a method of producing income for New Jersey, the lottery is far less equitable than other historical sources of government revenue, an analysis by The New York Times has found. At a time when tax-conscious politicians are searching for ways to reduce taxes on income and property, lotteries represent an inviting option. ... "It's very regressive," said Charles T. Clotfelter, a Duke University researcher and author of Selling Hope, a 1989 book on state lotteries. "The percentage of a poor person's income that this kind of tax takes is much greater than for middle- and upper-income people." ...
  • 05.20.99
    The Associated Press
    BOISE, Idaho - One of the state's top resource lawyers sees only limited prospects of success for court-ordered mediation in the dispute over Nez Perce tribal water rights claims in the Snake River. ... Francis McGovern, a Duke University law school professor who has earned national attention for his role in resolving disputes over DDT exposure, the Dalkon-Shield and silicone-gel breast implants, has already met with representatives of the federal government and opponents of the claims, Strong said. And he will meet with tribal leaders as soon as their leadership elections are completed. ...
  • 05.18.99
    The News & Observer (N.C.)
    The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that three lower-court judges acted hastily last year in overturning North Carolina's 12th Congressional District on the grounds that it was based too much on race. The high court ordered the judges to hold a trial to determine whether state legislators racially gerrymandered the district -- represented by Democrat Mel Watt of Charlotte since 1993 -- in a 1997 plan for North Carolina's congressional map... Robinson Everett, a Duke University law professor who represents four white voters unhappy over the 12th District's racial make-up, expressed confidence that the trial will take place this year -- and that he will overturn the 1997 plan. "It's not a good day," Everett said. "I was hoping we'd get by without a trial... Walter Dellinger, another Duke University law professor who is representing the state in the case, told justices in January during oral arguments that the legislators' chief aim was to form a Democratic district. He said it was part of a statewide plan to devise districts expected to give each party six seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. ...
  • 05.02.99
    The News & Observer (N.C.)
    From a cacophony of voices comes a vision for Gen Xers... In August, 50 people -- all in their 20s -- came together at the Doubletree Inn in Durham with the idea of crafting a document that would give a voice to their generation... They all had two things in common -- a friendship with a Duke law school student by the name of Gregg Behr and a desire to learn "how to live an ethical life." Together, the 50 people produced a 32-page document that they call "The Content of Our Character: Voices of Generation X." ...
  • 04.29.99
    The News & Observer (N.C.)
    UNC, Duke law schools split gift of $14 million... He studied jurisprudence at Duke; she earned her law degree from UNC. Both became successful attorneys who wanted to give their millions back to the schools they loved. Despite the fact that their loyalties were divided between the Triangle's most contentious rivals, in the end they reached a lawyerly settlement: Each law school got $7 million. The stunning $14 million windfall from the late Kathrine R. Everett and her husband, Reuben, is the largest gift to legal education in North Carolina, school officials said Wednesday. ...
  • 04.25.99
    The Herald Sun (N.C.)
    Student aid Duke law students provide free legal help to those with HIV or AIDS who are in need... Jill Dash still thinks of herself as a kid sometimes. As a 23-year-old law student, she sometimes finds it hard to see herself as someone people can depend on for guidance when making life-or-death decisions. But as a student in a unique project at Duke University providing legal assistance to needy people infected with HIV or suffering from full-blown AIDS, the role of counselor is one Dash is learning to wear comfortably... Duke law students help people with HIV and AIDS plan for the care of their children, draw up wills and trusts and obtain benefits and services available to them under the law through Duke's AIDS Legal Assistance Project. The free legal clinic, founded about three years ago by Duke law lecturer and attorney Carolyn McAllaster, is the only one of its kind in North Carolina and one of only a handful in the country. According to a national listing of law school pro-bono clinics, there are fewer than a dozen projects serving people with HIV/AIDS. ...
  • 04.16.99
    The Associated Press
    State Lotteries Face Squeeze... After decades of remarkable growth, lottery sales are slipping because of competition from video gambling and casinos. For all the publicity surrounding winners of the biggest jackpots, 15 states recorded lower sales last year than in 1996... Commission members say they were struck by the findings of Duke University professors Charles Clotfelter and Philip Cook, authors of a 1989 book on lotteries called "Selling Hope." Their study fond that 5 percent of lottery players account for 51 percent of sales and spend an average of $3,500 a year on tickets. ...
  • The article also appeared in The Salt Lake Tribune, The Seattle Times, Tulsa World, the Arizona Daily Star and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
  • 04.05.99
    Legal Times
    Circuit Court to Judge: Shape Up ... Appeals Court Ruling Cites "Inexcusable Delay" in 23-year- old Suit... A federal appeals court has chastised the former chief of the federal trial court in Washington, D.C., for dragging his feet on a 23-year-old employment discrimination suit... Professor Thomas Rowe, Jr. , who teaches civil procedure at Duke University School of Law, says people can expect long delays in cases that call for court intervention and oversight, such as school desegregation suits. "This is one of the situations in which you may have extraordinary language ... in response to an extraordinary situation," he says. ...
  • 04.02.99
    The Houston Chronicle
    War in the Balkans, Status of captured U.S. soldiers stirs debate... The capture of three American soldiers Wednesday by Serb forces has ignited a debate over legal semantics between the United States and Yugoslavia... But by classifying the servicemen as war prisoners, the United States has also given Yugoslavia legal authority to hold the soldiers until the armed conflict ends, said international law expert Scott Silliman, a law professor at Duke University ...
  • 03.30.99
    The Washington Post
    Court spurns affirmative action case... The Supreme Court again refused to enter the contentious realm of affirmative action, declining yesterday to take a case from Dallas over the objection to two justices who argued that the court should examine the constitutionality of a program designed to benefit minority firefighters... While not rejecting it altogether, "the Court is treading very cautiously in the area of affirmative action," said Walter Dellinger, a former acting solicitor general in the Clinton administration who is now a Washington lawyer and Duke University law professor. ...
  • 03.29.99
    The Knoxville News-Sentinel (Tenn.)
    Lotteries are not answer to tax reform... Like a bad dream that just won't go away, the question of a state lottery keeps coming back. With data continuing to mount that prove state lotteries constitute poor public policy, some member of the Tennessee Legislature continue to press for setting up a lottery in this state... "Where I get uncomfortable," said Phillip Cook, who co- authored the commission's report with fellow Duke University researcher Charles Clotfelter, "is where the state crosses the line to active promotion of this activity, just as I'd be uncomfortable with them actively encouraging people to drink alcohol." ...
  • 03.21.99
    Gannett News Service
    Gambling study reveals shortcomings of long shot state lotteries... About 5 percent of lottery players bought 51 percent of the $36 billion in tickets sold during 1997, a study presented Friday at a federal gambling commission meeting shows. Although about 51 percent of the adult public plays the lottery, spending an average $316 annually, the top 5 percent of players spend $3,500 or more, said the study prepared by Philip J. Cool and Charles T. Clotfelter of Duke University. ...
  • 03.13.99
    Reuters North America
    Retired U.S. general faces hearing on sex charges... The Army will open a public hearing Tuesday to consider whether a retired two-star general should face court martial on charges he had improper sexual relationships with the wives of his subordinate officers... "It's a highly unusual decision by the Department of the Army to recall a general officer for purposes of a trial," said Scott Silliman, a former Air Force lawyer now teaching at Duke University law school. ...
  • 02.23.99
    The News & Observer (N.C.)
    In Durham County traffic court, citizens who represent themselves aren't offered the same breaks as those who hire lawyers. That means that under a policy set by Durham District Attorney Jim Hardin, people with the same charges and same records can get lighter penalties just for spending $200 to higher an attorney... Tom Metzloff, senior associate dean at Duke's law school and an expert in legal ethics, said the courts shouldn't favor people with lawyers. ...
  • 02.14.99
    The Boston Globe
    With presidential impeachments, little is set in stone. On the one hand, many constitutional historians are deeply upset y the precedents growing out of President Clinton's legal and political travails. Then again, most aren't very worried about what those precedents portent... "Of course not," said William Van Alstyne, a constitutional historian at Duke University who maintains Clinton committed impeachable offenses. ...
  • 02.08.99
    The Las Vegas Review- Journal
    Having spent a year collecting facts, figures and testimony on virtually all aspects of legalized gambling, the federally appointed gambling commissioners will now begin assembling their final report. Duke University professor Charles Clotfelter will present his research findings on lotteries. ...
  • 02.04.99
    Dean Pamela Gann to become president of Claremont McKenna College
    Pamela Brooks Gann, dean of the Duke University School of Law, will become president of Claremont McKenna College, college officials announced today. A highly regarded legal scholar and academic administrator, Gann succeeds Jack L. Stark, who announced last March that he will retire in June after 29 years as president. Gann's appointment follows an 11-month national search including more than 200 nominees. Gann will be the fourth president in the history of the 52-year-old college known for its stable leadership, dedicated faculty, and accomplished alumni. She will begin her Clairmont McKenna presidency on July 1, 1999.
  • Link to Claremont McKenna press release
    Link to Los Angeles Times article
    Link to News & Observer article
    Link to Duke Dialogue article
  • 02.03.99
    The News Hour with Jim Lehrer
    Scott Silliman, executive director of Duke Law School's Center for Law, Ethics & National Security, appeared on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer to discuss the trial involving the Marine jet that sliced through the cable of a ski gondola in Italy, sending 20 people to their death.
  • 01.27.99
    NPR's Talk of the Nation
    William Van Alstyne discussed impeachment trial issues as a member of the round table discussion.
  • 01.16.99
    Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Scholars say Senate Shouldn't Ignore Public Sentiment ... The politicians deciding President Clinton's fate repeat the argue like a mantra: It's not our job to care whether he was twice elected by the American people or that he remains popular. If he committed high crimes, the Constitution mandates that we complete the impeachment process ... William Van Alstyne, a Duke University law professor and harsh critic of the president, agreed. "I don't have any question that it's constitutionally allowable and appropriate for the public attitude to be considered. That doesn't mean, after due consideration, they can't decide to oppose it." ...
  • 01.11.99
    The Orange County Register (Calif.)
    Business Employers see a simpler, less adversarial system. Critics say workers are giving up their rights to fair treatment/ Arbitration: Business plus, worker minus? Settlement of workplace disputes is moving from the courtroom to closed-door arbitration as thousands of employees, as a condition of employment, agree to submit any workplace grievances to arbitration ... Paul Carrington a Duke University law professor, see mandatory arbitration as a tool employers use to avoid adverse court judgements and costly punitive damage awards. "Employees are bargaining their rights," he says. What employers are "really trying to do is get out of the legal system as best they can." ...
  • 01.07.99
    The Washington Post
    A Section Senate's Quandary: Does a Trial Have to Look Like "Perry Mason?" ... While the framers of the Constitution considered how to set up the impeachment process, they debated any number of issues: Whether the president should be subject to impeachment at all. What the grounds should be. What body should conduct the trial ... Duke University law professor William Van Alstyne said while a majority is free to end the proceedings, it would be wrong to abort the trial simply because a two-thirds majority is not within reach, in part because minds could change down the evidentiary road. ...
  • 01.04.99
    The New York Post
    Duke University law professor and constitutional law expert William Van Alstyne recently discussed the role and difficult task ahead of Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the eve of the historic impeachment trial of President Clinton. Van Alstyne said he did not believe that the Chief Justice would "allow a socially conservative dogma to steer the institution one way or another" and said that it "would be totally out of character" for Rehnquist to conduct the hearings in an impartial manner. ...