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College of Law Hosts the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims for Live Oral Arguments 

The College of Law hosted the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims in the Melanie Gray Memorial Courtroom on Thursday, October 27.

Professor Elizabeth Kubala, Executive Director of the Betty & Michael D. Wohl Veterans Legal Clinic, Vice Dean Keith Bybee, and Gregory Block, Clerk of the Court delivered opening remarks for the event. 

During the live oral argument, a three-judge panel held oral arguments on a current case, Encarnacion v. McDonough (No. 21-1411). The case involved the interpretation of federal regulations that guide adjudication of a widow’s entitlement to disability benefits. 

Hosting the active court provided students, faculty and staff, alumni, and the local legal community with an opportunity to learn about veterans’ benefits, federal practice and administrative law.

As part of the CAVC visit, Court Judges also met with students to discuss judicial opinions and appellate advocacy. Professor Andrew Greenberg moderated the panel. Following this event, Block moderated a career panel including the attorneys from the VA’s Office of General Counsel, the attorneys representing the appellant, and the judicial law clerks at the Court. 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims is a national court of record, established under Article I of the Constitution of the United States. The court has exclusive jurisdiction to provide judicial review of final decisions by the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, an entity within the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

The court provides veterans an impartial judicial forum for review of administrative decisions by the Board of Veterans’ Appeals that are adverse to the veteran-appellant’s claim of entitlement to benefits for service-connected disabilities, survivor benefits, and other benefits such as education payments and waiver of indebtedness.

​3Ls Anna Skandalis and Elyse Maugeri Win the 11th Annual Bond, Schoeneck & King ADR Competition 

The team of 3Ls Anna Skandalis and Elyse Maugeri won the 11th annual Bond, Schoeneck & King Alternative Dispute Resolution (BSK ADR) Competition, held in Dineen Hall. They prevailed over 3Ls Cameron Rustay and Peter Calleri. Calleri was also named Best Overall Advocate in the Final Round. 

Judging the final round were Brian Butler L’96, managing member of the Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC Syracuse office; Dean Craig M. Boise; Alan Epstein L’74, President and CEO of CI Renewables LLC, the parent of KDC Solar; and the Honorable Danielle Fogel L’04, Supreme Court Justice in the Fifth Judicial District. 

13 additional judges, including alumni and professors at the College of Law, judged the preliminary, quarterfinal, and semifinal rounds. Thank you to Professor Elizabeth August L’94, Brandon Bourg L’22, John Boyd II L’16, Dr. Maria Cudowska, Dean DiPilato, Dustin Dorsino L’21, Payne Horning L’21, David M. Katz L’17, Savanna Klinek, Amelia McLean-Robertson L’19, Elizabeth Morgan L’19, Donghoo Sohn, L.L.M ’13, and Maria Zumpano L’19.

Created in 2011, this annual competition continues to offer students at Syracuse Law the opportunity to grow as oral advocates and hone their experience in the world of negotiation. The competition gives students an opportunity to practice resolving clients’ conflicts through arbitration, mediation, and negotiation. Practitioners evaluate teams over the course of three days of preliminary rounds which culminate in a final round that is open to the public. 

This year’s final round problem involved a dispute between two parties in a name, image, and likeness (NIL) antitrust settlement. Sedona Prince is a 6’ 7” basketball player who currently plays for the University of Oregon. Up until the Supreme Court’s decision in National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston on June 21, 2021, Prince was not allowed to profit from her NIL as a high school or Division 1 collegiate athlete, regardless of her success during these years. Sedona has filed suit against the NCAA for antitrust violations and lost wages and revenue.

Professor Roy Gutterman L’00 Discusses Dominion Voting Systems Defamation Lawsuit with Yahoo! News 

Professor Roy Gutterman, a white man with brown and gray hair, wearing a white collared shirt, smiles in front of a black background.

Election software company Dominion Voting Systems last year filed multiple defamation lawsuits against conservative news outlets, alleging the networks had parroted false claims that Dominion had switched millions of votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden. The eight defamation lawsuits are against various organizations and individuals including Fox News, Newsmax, One America News Network and attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.

“Live news is challenging,” said Professor Roy Gutterman L’00, Director of the Tully Center for Free Speech, in an article by Yahoo! News. “If this case ends up going in the plaintiff’s side, I think news organizations that do live broadcasts might want to be careful with the things that they put on the air.”

In order to win its cases, Dominion must prove actual malice and show the news organizations knowingly or recklessly disregarded the truth.

Vice Dean Keith Bybee Speaks About the Future of Biden’s Federal Court Legacy at Law 360 

Vice Dean Keith Bybee

A hallmark of the 80 federal judges confirmed so far during President Joe Biden’s time in office is their diversity, both demographically and in career background. That imprint could change if Republicans take control of the U.S. Senate in the midterm elections this week.

According to Vice Dean Keith Bybee in this Law 360 article, “the outcome of the midterm elections is critical. Should Republicans take control of the Senate, we can expect a burst of confirmations to follow in the lame-duck Congress following the election, but then I think you would see Biden’s confirmations in a Republican-controlled Senate grind to a halt.”

Resistance from Republicans to nominees with different career backgrounds than previous federal judicial nominees, such as public defenders, is likely to change the types of nominees if the Senate flips, experts say.

University Professor David Driesen Writes “How the 14th Amendment can reinforce the Jan. 6 committee’s Trump subpoena”

Professor David Driesen

In an opinion piece for The Hill, University Professor David Driesen writes “How the 14th Amendment can reinforce the Jan. 6 committee’s Trump subpoena.” 

On Oct. 13, the Jan. 6 committee voted to subpoena former President Donald Trump. In a previous subpoena of Trump in 2019 to obtain tax returns and information about his financial life, the Supreme Court held that Congress must justify a subpoena of a president’s information as serving a legislative purpose.  The court suggested that the congressional subpoena power might serve as a tool for harassing the president, which it needed to reign in.  

According to Driesen, the committee can greatly increase its chances of having the Supreme Court uphold the current subpoena if it justifies the subpoena as informing the congressional exercise of its power to exclude from office those who participate in or aid an insurrection under the 14th Amendment. 

David Crane L’80 Speaks to AP News About Russian Profits from Stolen Ukrainian Grain 

An investigation by The Associated Press and the PBS series “Frontline” has found the Laodicea, owned by Syria, is part of a sophisticated Russian-run smuggling operation that has used falsified manifests and seaborne subterfuge to steal Ukrainian grain worth at least $530 million — cash that has helped feed President Vladimir Putin’s war machine.

The Russian military has also attacked farms, grain silos and shipping facilities still under Ukrainian control with artillery and air strikes, destroying food, driving up prices and reducing the flow of grain from a country long known as the breadbasket of Europe. 

The Russians “have an absolute obligation to ensure that civilians are cared for and to not deprive them their ability of a livelihood and an ability to feed themselves,” said Distinguished Scholar in Residence David Crane L’80, a veteran prosecutor who has been involved in numerous international war crime investigations. “It’s just pure pillaging and looting, and that is also an actionable offense under international military law.”

Roy Gutterman Speaks About Defamation Cases and the Ruling Against Infowars Host Alex Jones in the Grid 

Professor Roy Gutterman, a white man with brown and gray hair, wearing a white collared shirt, smiles in front of a black background.

The jury in a defamation lawsuit against Infowars Host Alex Jones has ordered him to pay $965 million in damages for what the plaintiffs’ attorney described as “defamation on a historic scale.” Once attorney fees are determined, Jones will owe more than $1 billion in lawsuits stemming from his broadcasts and public statements peddling lies about the shooting deaths of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012. Jones claimed for years that the massacre was a false flag staged by the government. 

According to Professor Roy Gutterman L’00, Director of the Tully Center for Free Speech, these lawsuits may open the door for future victims of misinformation-based harassment to turn to the courts for relief.

“Most defamation cases really focus on an individual plaintiff,” said Gutterman. “So, in some ways, these lawsuits against Alex Jones and Infowars are kind of a novel way to rein in this new genre of conspiracy theory-related information.”

Professor Emeritus William Banks Provides Input to AP News on Debunked January 6 Claim About Former President Donald Trump 

Professor William Banks, a white man white short white hair, wearing a brown suit jacket over a white collared shirt, smiles.

In a round-up of popular, but untrue, stories for the week, AP News debunks the claim that former President Donald Trump signed an order to deploy 20,000 National Guard troops before his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but was stopped by the House sergeant at arms, at the behest of Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Professor Emeritus William Banks explained that guard troops are generally controlled by governors, though they can be federalized. The claims “make no sense at all,” Banks added. “The House sergeant at arms, he or she is not in the chain of command. Nor is Nancy Pelosi.” 

While Trump was involved in discussions in the days prior to Jan. 6 about the National Guard response, he issued no such order before or during the rioting.

Professor Nina Kohn Speaks with KHN About How the Pandemic Prompted New State Laws for Nursing Home Residents 

Professor Nina Kohn, a white woman with brown shoulder-length hair, wearing a black blazer over a tan sweater, with gold necklaces and earrings, smiles in front of a window. She is holding a dark blue book.

During the first 12 months of the pandemic, at least 34% of those killed by the virus were residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, even though they make up fewer than 1% of the American population, according to Kaiser Health News. 

“Part of what the pandemic did is to expose some of the underlying problems in nursing homes,” said Professor Nina Kohn. “This may present an opportunity to correct some of the long-standing problems and reduce some of the key risk factors for neglect and mistreatment.” 

According to a review of state legislation, 23 geographically and politically diverse states have passed more than 70 pandemic-related provisions affecting nursing home operations. States have set minimum staffing levels for nursing homes, expanded visitation, mandated access for residents to virtual communications, required full-time nurses at all times and infection control specialists, limited owners’ profits, increased room size, restricted room occupancy to two people and improved emergency response plans.