WashU Experts

In the wake of the Aug. 12 confrontations between protesters and counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, some progressives are calling for legal restrictions on the display of the Nazi flag. These arguments are entirely understandable, but they often misapply existing First Amendment law, and they suppress free speech values that progressives — more than anyone else — should want to defend, says a constitutional law expert at Washington University in St. Louis.

President Donald Trump declaring the opioid epidemic a national emergency is an important statement and first step toward admitting a problem, said an expert on opioid addiction at Washington University in St. Louis, while warning that without science-informed solutions and plans of action, the epidemic will worsen.

As Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia continue to become more prevalent, it may not be long before there is a push for legalizing physician-assisted death in dementia cases in the United States. American officials must thoroughly consider the moral and social consequences of such an action, says an expert on medical ethics at Washington University in St. Louis.

A ban on transgender people serving in the United States military is an attempt to make policy with no logical foundation in evidence or expertise on the matter, said an expert on transgender aging at Washington University in St. Louis.

Despite the efforts of some school districts to say otherwise, the naturally curly texture of the hair of many African-Americans is not unprofessional, distracting or faddish, says an expert on implicit bias and the law at Washington University in St. Louis.

The U.S. Senate’s proposed overhaul to the health-care system, released last week, will cause more than 24 million Americans to lose coverage, estimates a health economist at Washington University in St. Louis.

President Donald Trump has made the decision to pull the U.S. out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, a move that that cannot be justified on the stated grounds for withdrawal, says an expert in environmental law at Washington University in St. Louis.

The U.S. Supreme Court this week struck down North Carolina’s federal House district boundaries as unconstitutional, finding the lines were drawn based on race. However, Democrats and liberals who welcomed the decision may not be cheering for long, said a constitutional law and Supreme Court expert at Washington University in St. Louis.

The newest computer ransomware to hit on a global scale first appeared late last week. Dubbed “WannaCry,” the malware attacks computers, then demands a ransom in Bitcoin to regain the ability to access files. A cybersecurity expert at Washington University in St. Louis says programmers were aware of the potential trouble months ago, but playing catch-up to remedy the problem is difficult.

Puerto Rico filed for bankruptcy protection May 3, the largest-ever American municipal debt restructuring in history. As the U.S. territory seeks forgiveness in $73 billion to assorted creditors, an expert at Washington University in St. Louis says the situation should serve as a dire wake-up call to the municipal bond market.