WashU Experts

Questions about Amy Coney Barrett’s religious affiliation and beliefs have dominated public discussion since President Trump announced that she was his pick to fill the U.S. Supreme Court seat left vacant by Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing. While her Catholicism is considered controversial by some, should it impact her confirmation? A Washington University in St. Louis law professor weighs in.

The U.S. Department of Justice has issued a list of “anarchist jurisdictions,” which it says have permitted violence and destruction of property to persist. If the Trump administration withholds federal funds from these jurisdictions based on the “anarchist” designation, that withholding of funds would violate the Constitution in at least two ways, says a Constitutional law expert at Washington University in St. Louis.

Daniel Epps, associate professor in the School of Law at Washington University in St. Louis, and Steven Smith, Kate M. Gregg Distinguished Professor of Social Science, weigh in on who has the most to lose before the election if a nomination is completed, how this situation differs from the Senate-stalled Merrick Garland nomination in 2016 and why the nomination system needs to change.

In light of President Trump’s recent attacks on the United States Postal Service, Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act should be revised to prohibit racial discrimination in voting by the federal government, says a Washington University in St. Louis expert on voting rights.

There have been more than 3.5 million requests for assistance to 2-1-1 help lines around the United States since the coronavirus pandemic hit this spring. The impact was immediate and dramatic, said a Brown School researcher who tracks calls to 2-1-1 help lines across the U.S.

Richard Chapman, executive producer of “Dateline-Saigon,” discusses the documentary, the dangers journalists faced during the early years of the Vietnam War, and lessons for contemporary reporters and readers.

A linguistic expert from Washington University in St. Louis who participated in an elite 15-member committee announcing July 20 its findings on what he calls “potentially harmful” categorizing, said it’s time to nix the generational mindset in business.

President Trump’s recent announcement to suspend funding to the World Health Organization is “counter to our interests in addressing our needs to save the lives and further the health of Americans, as well as an abandonment of America’s position as a global leader,” says the director of Washington University’s Institute for Public Health.

President Donald Trump announced July 7 that the United States has officially begun to withdraw from the World Health Organization. Trump may or may not have the authority to do so, says an expert on health law at Washington University in St. Louis.

Nearly 240 scientists signed onto a letter urging the World Health Organization to recognize the airborne spread of COVID-19. Here’s what a signatory from Washington University in St. Louis has to say.