Richard Bonnie was quoted in articles about Andrea Yates's insanity defense both before and after the trial. In the Feb.21 Christian Science Monitor, he noted presciently, "Everyday people are naturally skeptical about claims of insanity, so it's always an uphill battle for the defense. And even when someone is clearly mentally ill, juries are not willing to let them walk free. They believe they should be punished." In a March 13 Boston Globe story on the verdict, he pointed out that insanity defendants lose three out of four times if the case goes to trial and that most insanity acquittals are by agreement.

A Feb. 18 National Law Journal story on former hostages suing Iran for damages included Curtis Bradley's comments on how courts interpreting federal statutes require a clear indication that Congress intends to violate international law. He noted that judicial approaches are mixed in how willing courts are to read in an intent by Congress or to look at legislative history.

In a March 2 Washington Post story about a Maryland judge overturning a jury's rape conviction, Anne Coughlin called the ruling "absolutely astonishing," and noted that judges are not allowed simply to substitute their judgments for the jury's verdict. She was also quoted in a March 16 Kansas City Star story about a Kansas case ruling against the inheritance rights of a transsexual spouse because she was not "female," saying "There are many people who can't produce babies. Women in Kansas who have had hysterectomies or who are post-menopausal are going to be flipped out that they're not considered a woman. And a man who can't produce sperm isn't a man? Unbelievable."

Mike Dooley was quoted in a Feb.18 Washington Post story about possible criminal indictments against Enron executives. He pointed out that an intent requirement could be satisfied by proof of negligence, saying "You don't necessarily have to have a smoking gun . . . You cannot sit by and willfully ignore things."

Dick Howard was quoted in several articles, including a Feb. 17 Washington Times story on a proposed amendment to the California Constitution requiring that all votes be counted would be unlikely to change much if election laws were weak or contradictory. "It's a wonderful principle," he said, "but I'm not sure it clarifies anything." He also commented in a Chicago Tribune story the same day on the possible nomination of J. Harvie Wilkinson III or J. Michael Luttig to the Supreme Court. He discussed Justice Sandra Day O’Connor's role on the Supreme Court in a Feb. 20 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story on a pending tuition vouchers case, and in a March 3 Richmond Times-Dispatch story on Virginia's hostility to ballot initiative and referendum he talked about the reaction in 1969 of the commission revising the state constitution. "It was rather summarily dismissed," he said. "The commission thought it would undercut the principle of representative government."

A Feb. 20 National Journal's Technology Daily article on a forum on information technology and biotechnology patents hosted by the Justice Department and the FTC reported that Ed Kitch argued that stricter patent protections could stymie innovation. He defended current patent practices by arguing that it is best viewed as encouraging future innovation than as rewarding previous inventions.

David Martin was quoted in several immigration-related articles. In a Feb. 12 New York Times story about Judge Jack Weinstein's ruling that deportation of a parent must consider the interests of a child left behind, he called Judge Weinstein's interpretation of international law "at best, a stretch." He also commented on troubles facing the INS in the Feb. 25 Washington Post and the March 15 New York Times. In the Times article, he suggested that Congress needed to stop adding programs without adequate staffing or funding: "What Congress could do is simplify the law, and curb its appetite for new programs that divert energies."

Alan Meese was quoted in a March 25 New York Times story on the uncertain scope of the remedy proceeding in the Microsoft antitrust litigation, saying "The law of remedies in this context is kind of a black box. Every case is different, every marketplace is different, so it's hard to point to a precedent."

In a March 14 Associated Press story on Judge Louis Pollak's recent rulings on the admissibility of fingerprint evidence, Jennifer Mnookin noted that fingerprints would be likely to receive closer scrutiny in future cases but argued for better standards for fingerprint identification.

Bob O'Neil said in a Feb. 12 International Herald Tribune article that he would argue with those who believe free speech has eroded on campuses. He conceded, however, that he probably felt "a little less free in my classes each year. But that seems to me an appropriate acknowledgment both of the increasing diversity of our society and the likelihood that I will have more and more people of different faiths and different backgrounds in my classes." A March 25 story in the Legal Times, and several other regional legal newspapers, on a case before the Supreme Court on restricting the speech of judicial candidates, noted that O’Neil had joined a brief against the free speech claim. He was quoted as saying that "Judges aren't politicians. . . . The idea of judges committing themselves to certain positions in the way that politicians would during an election is profoundly dangerous to due process."

Dan Ortiz defended the constitutionality of campaign finance reform in March 22 stories in the Boston Globe and USA Today. In the Globe he noted that "The Supreme Court has drawn a distinction between the things you can do with corporate money and the things you can do with individual money."

A New Republic story on school vouchers included discussion of a forthcoming Yale Law Journal article by Jim Ryan and Michael Heise, arguing that suburban resistance had defined the politics of school choice for the past fifty years.

Rip Verkerke was quoted in a March 11 National Law Journal story on a Virginia Supreme Court decision that an at-will employee has no right to maintain a wrongful termination claim, noting that the court had been "surprisingly expansive in recognizing public policy tort claims . . . but this case signals its willingness to police the boundaries" so that the employment-at-will doctrine is not displaced altogether. A March 14 Roanoke Times & World News article included Verkerke's comments on judges' mixed responses to sexual harassment claims.

A March 26 Richmond Times-Dispatch story on student groups affected by a travel agency's bankruptcy quoted Steve Walt's view that the students should have been considered creditors of the agency and therefore should have been notified received notice of the bankruptcy proceeding.

George Yin was quoted in a March 4 Forbes article on whether book and tax accounting rules should be more closely aligned. He noted that the current system of two separate systems for calculating earnings gives companies "an incentive to embellish their book earnings and diminish their taxable earnings. If you linked the two, they couldn't have it both ways." His comments to Forbes were also mentioned in a Feb. 23 London Times story.

LILLIAN BEVIER
"Judicial Canon Fire," March 23, 2002, National Journal.

ANNE M. COUGHLIN
"Kansas Supreme Court Rules Against Transsexual in Estate Case," March 16, 2002, Kansas City Star.
"MD. Trial Judge Erases Jury's Rape Conviction: Ruling Questions Accuser's Motivation," March 3, 2002, The Washington Post.

PAUL LOMBARDO
"The Ethics of Experiments: Scholars Fear Post-Attack Secrecy," (with Jonathan Moreno), March 3, 2002, Richmond Times-Dispatch.

DAVID A. MARTIN
"INS on Long Slide Before Visa Fiasco," March 17, 2002, Los Angeles Times
"Agency Finds Itself Under Siege, With Many Responsibilities and Many Critics," March 15, 2002, New York Times.

ALAN MEESE
"Testing Limits on Microsoft," March 25, 2002, New York Times

JENNIFER MNOOKIN
"Fingerprints Admissible but Likely to Face Increased Skepticism," March 14, 2002, Associated Press.

DANIEL R. ORTIZ
"Campaign Finance Bill's Foes Initiate Legal Battle," March 22, 2002, Boston Globe.
"Finance Measure Foe Introduces Opposing Team/Senator Lines Up Legal Big Guns To Challenge Campaign Regulations," March 22, 2002, USA Today
"Virginia Ban on Sales of Wine and Beer From Out of State Struck Down as Unconstitutional," (AP story from the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

ROBERT TURNER
"Can U.S. Be First to Attack Enemy?/Some Experts Say a 'Bush Doctrine' Would Allow a Pre-emptive Strike," March 31, 2002, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
"Thinking Things Over: Accountability for Andersen, Also the High-Minded," March 18, 2002, Wall Street Journal.
"Waxman Power Play Imperils Rule of Law," March 1, 2002, Insight on the News.

RIP VERKERKE
"Harassment Suit Against Radford Police Dismissed," March 14, 2002, Roanoke Times.

STEVEN WALT
"Students' $56,000 Remains in Limbo/Agency's Bankruptcy Thwarts Travel Abroad," March 26, 2002, Richmond Times-Dispatch.

THOMAS R. WHITE
"Circuit Court Ruling, March issue, 2002, Matrimonial Strategist.

GEORGE YIN
"Two Birds, One Stone: Would Firms Inflate Their Earnings If It Meant More Taxes?", March 4, 2002, Forbes.

Faculty in the News is compiled by Kent Olson, Law Library Director of Reference, Research and Instruction; and the Academic Communications department.