In the News

Professor Jenny Breen Discusses Executive Powers in the Wake of SCOTUS Order in USAID Case

Professor Jenny Breen spoke with the Washington Post for the article “Supreme Court says judge can force Trump administration to pay foreign aid”. The article discusses the recent 5-4 order in Department of State v. AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition on USAID funding.

Breen said it was difficult to draw sweeping generalizations from a single case, but “if we are going to take away anything, it might be that the Supreme Court is going to pay attention when the government does not comply with court orders.”

But Breen said the fact that four justices signed on to the dissent indicates “a tolerance for a very expansive notion of executive power” in a significant segment of the court: “The 5-4 split here makes clear there is definitely turbulence ahead here, and there is going to be division.”

Professor Shubha Ghosh Speaks with Law 360 for Article on Shein and Intellectual Property

Crandall Melvin Professor of Law Shubha Ghosh, director of the Syracuse Intellectual Property Law Institute, spoke with Law 360 for the article “6 Things To Know About Shein’s Fast Fashion Feuds”. The in-depth article examines the growing number of intellectual property lawsuits filed against Shein.

“There’s always been a question of whether China has been respecting intellectual property rights, and that gets very complicated with respect to fashion,” given the complex application of IP law to fashion, said Ghosh.

Professor Robert Nassau Discusses Penalties for Not Filing Your Taxes

Professor Robert Nassau, director of the Sherman F. Levey ’57, L’59 Low Income Taxpayer Clinic, spoke with CNBC for an article on penalties the IRS can impose for failure to pay your income taxes.

According to Nassau, some taxpayers don’t file returns for various reasons.

In some cases, they may think,”[the IRS is] never going to find me” or “they’re frightened and overwhelmed by the prospect of owing money,” he said.

“A Strong Victory” – Professor Shubha Ghosh on the Summary Judgment in Thomson Reuters’s Copyright Suit Against Ross Intelligence

Crandall Melvin Professor of Law Shubha Ghosh, Director of the Syracuse Intellectual Property Law Institute, commented that the recent summary judgment in favor of Thomson Reuters in their lawsuit claiming copyright infringement against Ross Intelligence’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) was a “strong victory.”

“The trial will proceed, [but] Thomson Reuters was awarded a summary judgment, a victory at this stage of the litigation,” Ghosh said in a Tech Crunch interview. “The judge also affirmed that Ross wasn’t entitled to summary judgment on its defenses, such as fair use and merger. As a consequence, the case continues to trial with a strong victory for Thomson Reuters.”

“I think they are setting up test cases.” Professor David Driesen on the “Unitary Executive” Theory

University Professor David Driesen discussed the “unitary executive” theory with ABC News.

In the article “Trump and the ‘unitary executive’: The presidential power theory driving his 2nd term”, Driesen says “I think they are setting up test cases, and this Supreme Court is very likely to expand the theory and overrule other cases that are in tension with it.”

Professor Gregory Germain Discusses the Possibility of the Attorney General Overturning President Trump’s Conviction

Professor Gregory Germain spoke with Newsweek for the story “Can Pam Bondi Reverse Donald Trump’s Conviction? Experts Weigh In”.

“She [Attorney General Pam Bondi] has no power over the state courts. She can try to investigate and harass the D.A. and the judge maybe, although I don’t think the courts will put up with political interference,” said Germain.

Professor Jared Landaw Comments on Board Succession Planning at Agenda

Adjunct Professor Jared Landaw recently spoke with Agenda for the article “Activists Increasingly Seek the ‘Head of the King’” which discussed trends in how public company boards address shareholder activism and its impact on succession planning.

On succession planning, Landaw says boards should approach CEO succession “like the general manager of a sports team seeking to build a championship-caliber franchise. Rather than filling vacancies on an ad hoc basis, they must plan ahead, have a keen understanding of the skills and experiences required to meet the company’s evolving needs, and have the gumption to replace CEOs and directors who are no longer the best fit.”

The article, which may be behind a paywall, can be found at Agenda – Activists Increasingly Seek the ‘Head of the King’.

Professor Jack Graves Discusses the Trump Administration’s Crypto Enforcement and  Memecoins with Bloomberg Law

Professor Jack Graves spoke with Bloomberg Law about the Trump administration’s stance on memecoins and the change in the approach to crypto enforcement from the Biden administration.

“I think there was a logic to it— [former Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary] Gensler didn’t want to get caught up in trying to regulate, didn’t want to get caught up on political question doctrine,” he said.

“An insurance policy” Professor Emeritus William C. Banks on Washington State Legislation to Block National Guard from Entering Their State

Professor Emeritus William C. Banks spoke with Stateline for the article “Blue states fear invasion by red-state National Guard troops for deportations.” Banks discussed current federal laws and how Washington State’s proposed legislation might be redundant.

“It’s like an insurance policy,” he said of the bill. “It may be a very good idea to call attention to the independence of the state government and its perspective that they’d very much like to be in charge of their own internal affairs, including migration or whatever else might be going on.”

Banks said the measure, if passed as expected, could be something that state leaders point to if, for example, Idaho or Montana were considering deploying their National Guard units to Seattle to carry out Trump’s immigration enforcement.

However, he said, the whole discussion becomes irrelevant the moment Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, which would allow for federal military intervention in a nonconsenting state.

Professor Robert Nassau Says “Earned Income Tax Credit Can be Confusing”

Professor Robert Nassau, Director of the Sherman F. Levey ’57, L’59 Low Income Taxpayer Clinic, recently spoke with CNBC for a story on the earned income tax credit (EITC.)

He noted that the EITC “can be confusing. Some eligible taxpayers missing the EITC could be lower earners without a filing requirement”. But the EITC is “refundable,” meaning you can still claim a refund even without tax liability.