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Three College of Law Students Awarded 2022 Pat Tillman Foundation Scholarships

2022 Tillman Scholars from the College of Law

The Pat Tillman Foundation has announced its scholars for 2022 which includes three Syracuse University College of Law students: Natasha DeLeon (USMC Veteran), Amanda Higginson (Navy veteran), and William Rielly (Army veteran.) They join a fourth Syracuse University Tillman scholar, Anthony Ornelaz, Master of Fine Arts, College of Arts and Science, Air Force Veteran.

“Tillman Scholarships are extremely competitive and are only awarded to those who have made an impact through their service. I am both pleased and grateful that not one, but three College of Law students have been awarded Tillman scholarships for this year. Natasha, Amanda, and William are living extraordinary lives through their military commitments and now they are on the path to becoming extraordinary Orange lawyers,”

College of Law Dean Craig Boise

The three students are enrolled in the College’s JDinteractive (JDi) program. Reilly is in his second year, Higginson is in her first year, and DeLeon will start the program in the Fall 2022 semester.

An ABA-Approved Online Law Degree Program, JDi is taught by Syracuse University College of Law faculty to the same high standards as Syracuse’s residential J.D. program. JDi is designed for students who desire a high-caliber legal education with substantial flexibility, such as those with military commitments. The program combines real-time, live online class sessions with self-paced instruction, on-campus courses, and experiential learning opportunities.

Read this story for more information on the Syracuse University 2022 Tillman scholars.

Natasha DeLeon, USMC Veteran

Natasha DeLeon joined the United States Marine Corps to pursue her goal of serving others on a grand scale. As a Marine, she worked to deploy service members to combat locations in support of various operations. In 2014, she deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, where she aided in the return of over 120,000 service members to their families back home.

While serving in the Marine Corps, DeLeon began volunteering in San Diego’s foster care system as a Court-Appointed Special Advocate. This led her to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and work part-time at a group home for teen foster boys. Upon completion of her service, her passion for social work grew. DeLeon earned a Master of Social Work in 2019, while she also interned as a therapist. During this time, she lived in Togo while supporting her husband during his active-duty Marine Corps career. While in West Africa, DeLeon led physical self-defense courses for women in vulnerable positions and volunteered with non-profit organizations centered around eliminating gender-based violence.

Following their tour in Togo, DeLeon and her family moved to Colombia where she began working remotely as a paralegal for a private law firm. This is where she began to connect the injustices in the legal and social work systems. From here, DeLeon developed a passion for criminal defense and family law. She is pursuing a Juris Doctor degree so she can provide legal assistance and advocacy as an attorney.

Amanda Higginson, Navy Veteran

Adopted as an infant, Amanda Higginson’s upbringing in South Florida was anything but typical. Her father, who was shot and paralyzed in the Vietnam War, taught her about extreme resilience and persistence in the face of adversity. Wanting to give back to military medicine, Higginson received a Navy Health Professions Scholarship and earned her medical degree at the Alpert Medical School at Brown University. She completed her residency in Pediatrics at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Bethesda and served on active duty for seven years alongside her husband, deploying twice.

Currently the interim Associate Dean for Student Affairs at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Higginson supports students on their journey to achieve their personal, academic, and career goals. She continues to practice general outpatient pediatric medicine, caring for children in a largely rural, underserved area. Choosing to enter law school as a mid-career physician, Higginson saw law school as an opportunity to enhance her advocacy for children particularly related to social determinants of health, as well as expand her knowledge of issues that impact the daily functioning of an academic medical center in order to more effectively advocate for her students.  At the intersection of law and medicine, Higginson hopes to create structural change both at work and in her community to empower others to live, work, and achieve their goals at their full potential.

William Rielly, College of Law, Army Veteran

William Rielly is an Army veteran and West Point graduate. His career has ranged from leading artillery units in Germany to executive roles at Microsoft and Apple. While working at Apple, Rielly started volunteering in California state prisons and found the incarcerated men he worked with wanted to be accountable for their actions and create a positive future. He discovered immense untapped potential among the incarcerated men and was inspired to leave his job at Apple and focus full-time on reform efforts in the criminal legal and parole system. 

Rielly intends to change the parole and probation laws across the country to create pathways of redemption for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people so they can leverage their talents, achieve their full potential, and positively impact their communities. He intends to lead this innovation and create a better system through legal advocacy, changing the public’s perception of the issues, and enlisting advocates inside and outside the current system. The outcomes he foresees are better, safer communities; more highly qualified employees; and a criminal legal system of accountability and redemption.

Professor Paula Johnson Speaks with NewsChannel 9 and CNY Central about the Implications of the Supreme Court’s Ruling to Overturn Roe v Wade

Professor Paula Johnson

Professor Paula Johnson spoke with two local news outlets, NewsChannel 9 and CNY Central, about the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.  

In her discussion with NewsChannel 9, Johnson explained that “what has struck me is just how sweeping the opinion is. When we got the draft opinion, we did not get all the concurring opinions and we certainly had not gotten the accenting opinion yet. But now we have all the opinions in their full scope. And I must say from my own perspective, it is quite sweeping and quite devastating.” 

The decision implicates not only reproductive rights, but it also implicates rights to other privacy issues that have to do with American citizens. Johnson believes that the ruling insinuates that women’s lives are subordinate to every other person in society, and even to those who are in embryotic stages. She also expresses that this ruling will have a most profound impact on the lives of women of color and poorer women who will no longer have access to safe and legal abortions for the sake of their own health.

When speaking to CNY Central about how this affects women in the State of New York in particular, Johnson confirms that people will legally be able to come to New York for an abortion if it’s illegal in their home state. Out-of-state patients made up about 9% of those who received abortions in New York in 2019, according to the CDC, which is up from 5% in 2015.

“The State of New York would also exercise its authority to not comply with requests, say extradition requests or that sort of thing, where they believe that someone has violated the law,” said Johnson.

Professor Peter Blanck, Chairman of the Burton Blatt Institute, Discusses the Fair Labor Standards Act on NPR’s Marketplace

Professor Peter Blanck

The Department of Labor is suing a Montana ranch that employs people with disabilities, alleging the ranch unlawfully paid them as little as $1.17 an hour, reports NPR’s Marketplace podcast. An exception to the Fair Labor Standards Act permits some certified employers to pay workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage.

According to Professor Peter Blanck, chairman of the Burton Blatt Institute, the 1938 law came at a time when lawmakers were starting to look at work opportunities for people with disabilities as veterans were returning from World War 1, and previously the Civil War.

“The below-minimum-wage program was kind of a product of its time that was not charity, but was a sense that people with disabilities could in some ways be employed,” Blanck said. In the last century, however, thinking and laws around disability have evolved.

Vice Dean Keith J. Bybee Comments in USA Today on the Lack of a Supreme Court Code of Ethics

Vice Dean Keith Bybee

In a recent survey of judges across the United States conducted by the National Judicial College and highlighted by USA Today, more than 97% responded “yes” to the question of whether the Supreme Court justices should be bound by a code of conduct. According to the U.S. Constitution, a justice does not have to be a lawyer or attend law school to become a Supreme Court justice, so they are not bound by the ethics required of attorneys.

Vice Dean Keith J. Bybee offered comments on the subject, arguing that there should be an ethical code for justices given the fact that in recent decades, all the conservatives on the court were nominated by Republicans and the more liberal members by Democrats.

“The split in judicial philosophy maps perfectly into a partisan split,” Bybee explained. “So as a result, it’s easier to read decisions on the court as a partisan one.”

January 6th committee hearings have brought a potential conflict of interest for Justice Clarence Thomas into light, as his wife Virginia “Ginni” Thomas sent text messages to former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and emails to Trump campaign attorney, John Eastman, as part of her alleged efforts to try to overturn the 2020 election. Justice Thomas then chose not to recuse himself from a case about whether Trump’s White House records should be turned over to the committee. 

“The first line of enforcement is self-enforcement,” said Bybee. “When you’re bound by a code of ethics, it leads you to ask questions about your own activities, and to achieve impartiality through a process of question asking.”

Professor of Law Emeritus William Banks speaks with CBS News About the Legal Implications of the Third January 6th Committee Hearing

Professor of Law Emeritus William Banks

Professor of Law Emeritus William Banks spoke with CBS News anchor Jamie Yuccas regarding the legal implications of the findings from the third hearing of the House select committee hearings on the January 6th Capitol riots.

According to the House committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol, aides to former Vice President Mike Pence revealed that conservative lawyer John Eastman pressured Pence to reject certification of the 2020 election. 

“I think Eastman revealed through Mr. Pence’s council that he knew full well that Pence did not have the legal authority to refuse to certify the election,” Banks said. “So he attempted to interfere with the execution of a federal official, the vice president of the United States, through a dubious legal theory that he himself knew not to be valid.” Given the fact that Eastman later went on to seek a pardon, Banks believes he knew that “he was in hot water.”

When asked if we will see any prosecutions from this trial, Banks indicated that it is hard to say at this point. “It’s not up to Congress to decide if criminal cases are brought. It is up to the Justice Department. The Justice Department can decide whether to act on its own, wait for Congressional referrals and evaluate those referrals, or they can simply decide not to initiate prosecutions in several of these instances that are the focus of the hearing.”

Banks does not believe that there will be prosecutions against the high-ranking officials, as they are tough cases to prove given an obstruction case requires an intention to violate the law. 

ABA Journal Features Comments from Professor Nina Kohn on the Biden Administration’s Proposed Nursing Home Reforms

Professor Nina Kohn

As chair of the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice’s Elder Affairs Committee, Professor Nina Kohn has helped draw attention to policies that closely align with nursing home reforms the Biden administration announced in February. 

Featured in this ABA Journal article, Kohn explains, “the ABA has played a leadership role historically in thinking through the law around long-term care. That has been in part through particular entities within the ABA, such as the Commission on Law and Aging, which has been an important resource for advocates, but also through some discreet resolutions the ABA has adopted over the years.”

More than 200,000 lives of nursing home residents and staff have been taken by COVID-19 in the past two years. Due to this severe impact, the administration has tasked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office (HHS) with developing and implementing reforms aimed to improve the safety and quality of nursing home care, hold nursing homes accountable for the care they provide, and make the quality of care and facility ownership more transparent so that potential residents and their loved ones can make informed decisions about care.

“For decades now, the ABA has understood how important enforcement is in this space,” Kohn says. “On paper, nursing home residents have robust rights related to the quality of care and quality of life. The problem is that there is ineffective enforcement of those rights and, as a result, what are on paper very clear requirements end up being treated more than aspirational goals.”

The Hon. James E. Baker Discusses Biden’s Use of the DPA with the Economist

The Hon. James E. Baker

President Joe Biden has repeatedly invoked the Defense Production Act (DPA), previously used mainly as a procurement tool for the armed forces, to manage the economy throughout his current presidency.

Speaking to the Economist, the Hon. James E. Baker, Director of the Syracuse University Institute for Security Policy and Law, explains, “given the depth of America’s supply problems today, it is good public policy to test the limits of the DPA, to see what it can accomplish.” 

In March, Biden used the DPA to encourage the domestic production of minerals needed to make batteries for electric vehicles. A few months later in May, he called upon the law to ramp up the production of infant formula in the face of the shortage across the country. He also used it to spur the production of clean energy such as solar power.

William C. Banks, professor emeritus, joined CBS News to discuss the legal implications of House select committee hearings on the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Professor of Law Emeritus William Banks

Professor Emeritus William C. Banks joined CBS News live before the first House select committee hearing on the January 6 Capitol riot. 

“I think the hearings are going to be another important component of establishing a historical record. It’s about preserving our most important institutions of our democracy. It’s fundamental to our democratic society that we’ve had for nearly 250 years and when that comes under threat as it did just this past year, I think the whole world pays attention,” says Banks.

Professor Roy Gutterman L’00 Discusses the Potential Future of Defamation Law with People Magazine After the Depp v. Heard Verdict

Professor Roy Gutterman

Professor Roy Gutterman L’00, Director of the Tully Center for Free Speech, tells People Magazine that the recent verdict that Amber Heard defamed Johnny Depp in her December 2018 op-ed for the Washington Post was “shocking” to some.

“At this point, it is difficult to assess the long-term effect this decision will have on defamation law and whether it will chill future speakers and writers from addressing potentially controversial issues,” Gutterman said. “I think it might have a chilling effect. The defamation claim is based on a statement in a newspaper column. The weeks of testimony were at times lurid and even entertaining, but I’m not sure it adequately proved anything beyond the fact that two movie stars had an extremely volatile relationship.”

According to Heard, the American Civil Liberties Union wrote the first draft of the op-ed, and teams of lawyers vetted it before finalizing the story. Heard later testified that she did not write or approve the headline used in the online version, which differs from the one used in the print newspaper as it included the term “sexual violence.”

As a result of the trial, the jury awarded Depp $15 million in damages, which the judge later reduced to $10.35 million due to a state law in Virginia. Heard was awarded $2 million in her defamation countersuit, and plans to appeal the verdict.

The U.S. News and World Report Lists the College of Law’s Burton Blatt Institute as One of Two Leading Centers in the Country for Disability Rights

Burton Blatt Institute Logo

The Syracuse University College of Law’s Burton Blatt Institute was recently featured in a U.S. News and World Report Article as one of two of the most prominent law schools in the country with specific centers or programs focused on disability rights or advocacy.

The article contains advice for law school applicants with disabilities, offering them tips to successfully navigate the admissions process and the full law school experience. Topics range from disability accommodations for the LSAT and in law school, to the option to disclose disabilities as a law school applicant and programs and resources for law students with disabilities.

Professor Peter Blanck, chairman of the Burton Blatt Institute, notes, “applying to law school requires strong self-advocacy and patience that puts a unique burden on students with disabilities.” Depending on an applicant’s specific disabilities, those burdens can vary, from stress and time burdens to practical barriers. Not all disabilities are visible, and some applicants may also have impairments such as cognitive or learning disabilities and/or mental health issues.

“Just be the best lawyer you can be,” Blanck advises. “In a competitive legal environment, it is important to have a basic grounding to be a well-rounded lawyer.”