School of Law

On Sept. 10, the Missouri legislature overrode a veto by Gov. Jay Nixon and enacted one of the United States’ strictest waiting periods for women seeking abortion. The law will require a 72-hour delay, and that delay won’t make women safer or improve health outcomes, said two experts on health and family law from the School of Law at Washington University in St. Louis.

Missouri lawmakers recently overrode a veto by Gov. Jay Nixon and passed a bill allowing school districts to designate teachers or administrators as school protection officers, able to carry concealed firearms into schools. The measure also lowered the age to apply for a conceal-and-carry permit to 19 from 21 and prohibits cities from banning open carry laws. Gregory P. Magarian, JD, constitutional law expert and professor of law, weighs in from the point of the view of the Second Amendment.

On Sept. 17, Sherrilyn Ifill, the distinguished legal scholar and president/director-general of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. will visit campus to deliver an Assembly Series lecture, “From Brown to Ferguson: The Unfinished Business of Civil Rights” at noon in Anheuser-Busch Hall’s Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom on the Danforth Campus. Due to an expected large turnout, remote viewing sites within Anheuser-Busch Hall will be available.

In the wake of civil rights and social justice issues that have emerged following the death of African-American teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, the fall 2014 Washington University in St. Louis Assembly Series will feature presentations by several eminent civil rights scholars and authors, including NAACP executive Sherrilyn Ifill.

The updated Law Café in Anheuser-Busch Hall has opened for business. The renovated space, operated by Bon Appétit, is the only dining area on campus to feature Salad By Design and one of only two locations with a carvery. The Law Café also features pizza, soups, grab-and-go items, pastries and Kaldi’s coffee and espresso drinks.

Steven Legomsky staunchly defends the legality of DACA and of the similar initiatives that the President Barack Obama is reportedly considering.

As the St. Louis community grapples with recent events in the nearby suburb of Ferguson, Mo., a number of Washington University in St. Louis faculty members are offering their expertise, commentary and insight in hopes of promoting constructive dialogue on a number of challenging issues.​​

At recent Board of Trustees meetings, several faculty members were appointed with tenure, promoted with tenure or reinstated with tenure.

The United States has the highest corporate income tax rate in the developed world. As a result, many U.S. companies are turning to tax inversions — reincorporating overseas by getting acquired by a smaller company in a country where the corporate tax rate is lower. Adam Rosenzweig, JD, professor of law and expert on international tax, examines why inversions are becoming so popular.

A bill introduced July 28 in the U.S. House of Representatives would amend the controlled substances act – the federal law that criminalizes marijuana – to exempt plants with an extremely low level of THC, the part of marijuana that makes users high. Following closely on the heels of a call by the New York Times editorial board for the federal government to legalize marijuana, this could mark a turning point of sorts in the campaign for legalization. Gregory P. Magarian, professor of law, sees two reasons for leaving states with some power over the criminal law of marijuana.