CM Law Faculty

Professor Milena Sterio has been invited to testify at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. The hearing, titled “The Path Forward On U.S.-Syria Policy: Strategy And Accountability,” will be held at 10 a.m. on June 8, 2022. The hearing can be viewed live at this link.

Other speakers at the hearing include Dana Stroul, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, and Barbara Leaf, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. In addition, the hearing will feature testimony of a Syrian gravedigger who witnessed mass graves in Syria.

Professor Milena Sterio has been advising the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on building international support and advocacy for the need for accountability for Russian leaders, as well as on different accountability options and venues where such Russian leaders could be prosecuted.  

Professor Milena Sterio presented at the Global Initiative for Justice, Truth & Reconciliation’s workshop on “Victim-Centered Approaches to Transitional Justice” on May 25.  Professor Sterio’s remarks focused on the topic of “Victim participation in investigations, prosecution, and trial of international crimes: domestic courts and international tribunals.”

Chris Sagers, the James A. Thomas Professor of Law, was quoted in a Wall Street Journal article covering chipmaker Broadcom’s pending acquisition of enterprise software firm VMWare. As Sagers explained, the deal would not be the type usually challenged in antitrust law because it is “vertical,” meaning that the merging parties are not currently direct competitors. However, he also explained that the deal is very large and involves very concentrated markets that pose real risks of anticompetitive exclusion. He also pointed out that the Federal Trade Commission challenged a not dissimilar deal last year, and so predicted that challenge to this one seems possible.

In another interview in Business Insider, Professor Kalir opined on the “new-normal” that might develop following a likely decision by the Supreme Court overruling Roe v. Wade. The article is available here.

Professor Doron Kalir has published an op-ed on Cleveland.com, titled, “Why Alito’s Roe v. Wade draft is the court’s most Trumpian opinion ever.” The opinion identifies five themes that, in Professor Kalir’s view, make the opinion “the most Trumpian opinion to ever leave the high court.”

Professor Doron Kalir was featured in a Fox News article titled, “Will the Supreme Court release a Roe v. Wade decision this week?” Professor Kalir explained that it was extremely unlikely that the Dobbs opinion would be released today, noting that there are almost certainly dissenting opinions currently being drafted. He also noted that some justices in the majority may push for changes in the tone or language of the majority opinion.

Professor Milena Sterio delivered a guest lecture to the Oxford Kashmir Forum on May 10, on the topic of “The Right to Self-Determination.”  The Forum is an 8-week online course on “International Human Rights Law and Kashmir: Prospects and Challenges” hosted at Oxford University (United Kingdom).  More information about the Forum is available here: https://oxfordkashmirforum.com/human-rights-law-kashmir-2022/

Professor Milena Sterio moderated an event on May 4 on the “State of European Democracy,” hosted and organized by The City Club of Cleveland.  The conversation centered around autocratic tendencies in some European countries, such as Hungary and Poland, and the impact of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine on such autocratic tendencies.  

Professor Milena Sterio participated as a panelist in an event entitled “Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War” on May 5.  The event was part of Tri-C’s Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies program’s Crisis in Ukraine series.  Professor Sterio’s remarks focused on accountability for those who commit gender based and sexual violence crimes in international armed conflict.

Professor Sterio also moderated a panel discussion on May 6, on the topic of “The Future of the Peace Process in Ukraine.” The panel discussion was organized by the Public International Law and Policy Group and featured the following speakers: Bohdan Vivitsky, U.S. Department of Justice and former Resident Legal Avisor at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine; Victor Rud, expert on Russia/Ukraine/U.S. relations; Professor Paul Williams, American University Washington College of Law; and Ambassador Sven Alkalaj, Permanent Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the United Nations.