Faculty Impact June 2018

Rhonda Wasserman Cited by Supreme Court in China Agritech Inc. v. Resh

Rhonda Wasserman

Rhonda Wasserman's article, "Dueling Class Actions," 80 B.U. L. Rev. 461 (2000), was cited by the Supreme Court of the United States in the opinion in China Agritech, Inc. v. Resh. The 9-0 ruling, which reversed and remanded the 9th Circuit, was decided June 11, 2018.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor quoted Wasserman in her opinion concurring in the judgment, noting 'the existence of multiple putative class actions covering the same harm to the same class may lead to a “race toward judgment or settlement.'

Additional Publications

Matiangai Sirleaf published “Ebola Does Not Fall from the Sky: Structural Violence & International Responsibility” in the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, Vol. 51, No. 3, which is forthcoming in their Spring 2018 issue.

Matiangai Sirleaf recently published “Not Your Dumping Ground: Criminalization of Trafficking in Hazardous Waste in Africa” in the symposium issue of the Wisconsin International Law Journal, Vol. 35, No. 2, 2018, which is forthcoming spring 2018.

Speaking Engagements

Pitt Law Hosts 'My Experience on the High Court: A Panel Discussion with Former Supreme Court Clerks

Pitt Law held a program on the experience of clerking on three different high courts: the U.S. Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of Canada and South Africa’s Constitutional Court. The program was organized by Pitt’s student chapter of the American Constitutional Society and featured as panelists Innovation Practice Institute Executive Director Stephanie, Dangel, professors Bernard Hibbitts and Matiangai Sirleaf, and incoming Pitt Law Dean Amy Wildermuth. Professor Jessie Allen (who is co-advisor to the ACS) moderated the panel.

Additional Speaking Engagements

Chaz Arnett presented at the University of Maryland School of Law on April 4 as a part of the Junior Faculty Exchange Program. He presented his paper “Virtual Shackles: Electronic Monitoring and the Adultification of Juvenile Courts,” which examines the potential harms of electronic surveillance methods on minors.

Deborah Brake spoke on a panel at the open plenary session of the Seventh Circuit Judicial Conference and Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association in Chicago, Illinois, April 30, 2018. The panel was titled, “From #MeToo to #NotHere: Organizational Culture and Sexual Harassment.”

Gerald Dickinson presented his article, “Federalism, Gravity and Divergence in Constitutional Property” at Harvard Law School, May 5-6 as part of the 2018 Progressive Property conference hosted by Professor Joseph Singer.

Matiangai Sirleaf was a speaker at a conference held at Yale Law School on Solidarity: Sustaining the Struggle for Human Rights in a Fractured World, on April 12-13, 2018. She spoke on a panel on The Ethics and Politics of Finding Facts and Making Truth. The panel investigated one of the core functions of human rights practice, which is to document abuses.

Pitt Cyber Forms Commission To Study Pennsylvania's Election Cybersercurity

Pitt Cyber Founding Director David J. Hickton

The University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy, and Security announced the Blue Ribbon Commission on Pennsylvania’s Election Security, an independent, non-partisan commission studying Pennsylvania’s election cybersecurity.

As a battleground state, and one with outdated election infrastructure, systems, and technologies, Pennsylvania is a prime target for hackers wishing to disrupt the US electoral process.

Faculty In the News

Gerald Dickinson spoke to WESA 90.5 FM on Penn Plaza’s demolition and the matter of affordable housing and eminent domain.

Lawrence Frolik commented to the Reading Eagle on proposed Pennsylvania legislation that would require background checks on individuals up for appointment as guardians for the incapacitated.

David Harris gave commentary to WESA 90.5 FM on police residency requirements.

David Harris commented to the Sacramento Bee on the case of Stephon Clark who was killed by Sacramento police.

David Harris spoke to the Associated Press on Baltimore Police Commissioner Darryl De Sousa.

David Harris commented to The Baltimore Sun on Baltimore Police Commissioner Darryl De Sousa.

David Harris commented to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Ohio Township police Officer Dominic DeJulio who sent sexually explicit pictures to a woman he had charged with driving under the influence.

David Harris was quoted by the Chicago Sun-Times on the shooting of University of Chicago student Charles Thomas by a campus cop.

Arthur Hellman gave expert commentary the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on the matter of Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Donna Jo McDaniel.

Arthur Hellman spoke to the New York Times on the vacancy left by Ninth Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhard and mounting judicial vacancies in general.

Arthur Hellman commented to the National Law Journal on a gender wage gap case.

David Hickton, Director of the University of Pittsburgh's Institute for Cyber Law, Policy and Security, commented to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on a newly formed commission convened to study Pennsylvania's election cybersecurity.

Rhonda Wasserman was quoted in Bloomberg BNA Class Action Litigation Report and in Bloomberg Law Big Law Business regarding the United States Supreme Court’s grants of certiorari in two class actions.

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