The initiative is a collaborative effort between Mobarak and two European academics including Niccolò Meriggi, postdoctoral research fellow in economics at Oxford University, and Maarten Voors, associate professor at the Development Economics Group at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. The initiative’s efforts began in 2022 when the three economists visited remote villages in Sierra Leone to study reasons for low COVID-19 vaccination rates and found that it was not vaccine hesitancy but rather transportation issues that posed the greatest challenge to vaccine accessibility in these regions.

“For the average Sierra Leonean early in the pandemic, it was taking, according to their own reports, about three and a half hours each way to get to the nearest vaccination center just because [vaccines] were not widely being widely distributed,” Mobarak told the News. “There was really a problem about access, and it was obviously the biggest problem in most remote places.”

Mobarak, Meriggi and Voors’ initiative attempted to solve this problem. According to them, delivering COVID-19 vaccines to these remote communities by motorbikes and boats increased vaccination rates from between nine people and 55 people per village.

The researchers are collaborating with the Ministry of Health in Sierra Leone to discuss how this approach can address more healthcare priorities in remote villages.

“This model is not to be seen as a substitute to clinics but rather as a complement to make access easier and for people to gain more confidence in the services that clinics can provide,” Meriggi told the News.

The new grant, given to Wageningen University will now be used to expand the initiative and increase access to more healthcare services in Sierra Leone.

One idea the researchers mentioned is bundling vaccines and other essential medications to be delivered to remote regions for a more comprehensive, cost-effective approach.

“So we’re now working to extend beyond just vaccine access to other health products,” Voors told the News. “So think about vitamins or think about minerals, zinc … all these things that have a cost of access issue.”

Mobarak is also working on health intervention projects in Bangladesh and Nepal focused on incentivizing the adoption of technologies that improve health.

Mobarak, Meriggi and Voors further highlighted potential global applications of their vaccine delivery project. 

“Globally, this approach works in places where health infrastructure is missing,” Voors said. “So that is the larger point that we wanted to make that extends way beyond COVID itself.”
According to a 2017 report from the World Bank and World Health Organization, at least half of the world’s population is not able to obtain essential health services.

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The bootcamp centered on the federal Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, which grants the public the right to access government records. Under this act, federal agencies must disclose requested information unless it qualifies for specific exemptions, such as national security or personal privacy. Panelists included Nate Jones, the FOIA director for The Washington Post, and Nathan Tempey, a criminal defense investigator and journalist. Jones and Tempey shared insights into the request process and their personal experiences with FOIA. Attendees also received a paper featuring an illustrated step-by-step guide outlining the procedure of requesting documents using FOIA.

“We are thrilled to have had so many reporters, lawyers and residents of the greater New Haven community attend our annual FOIA bootcamp,” said Jennifer Borg, a senior research scholar at the MFIA clinic and an organizer of the event. “As part of our clinic’s mission, we aim to support investigative journalism and transparency. Nate Jones and Nathan Tempey did a fantastic job giving practical advice as to how FOIA can be used to hold our government accountable.”

Jones initiated the discussion by outlining the process for obtaining government documents through FOIA. The steps included identifying the relevant state or federal agency holding the desired record, specifying the particular document to request, drafting and submitting the email request, obtaining a tracking number to monitor the progress, and if approved, gaining access to the files.  

Tempey provided several suggestions for initiating searches when seeking files, including Google searches, library databases, government websites, legal documents and reaching out to knowledgeable individuals. Nonetheless, he acknowledged the difficulty of navigating larger agencies, which he explained are often reliant on impersonal communication methods such as portals. He emphasized the importance of identifying and contacting specific individuals within these agencies to streamline communication and avoid being overwhelmed by bureaucratic processes.

Jones mentioned that agencies may occasionally deny requests for documents. In such cases, he said that two additional steps include filing an appeal and providing a detailed explanation of why the agency’s use of FOIA exemptions was incorrect, followed by pursuing litigation against the agency in court. Jones emphasized the significance of this process, saying that FOIA enables journalists to uncover government information that might otherwise go unnoticed.

“With FOIA, we often get to see something behind the scenes that you don’t get to see every time,” Jones said.

Jones also emphasized the importance of crafting detailed and precise FOIA requests when interacting with records officers. He warned against the pitfalls of submitting overly broad requests, which could lead to rejection or prolonged processing times. Jones illustrated this point with an example of articles from a government agency on the war in Afghanistan. He said that these seemingly “bland” reports from the agency regarding the war actually contained vital information tucked away in footnotes sourced from high-ranking officials. When he made requests for these specific sources, agencies were unable to deny them, as the information had already been publicly disclosed.

Tempey emphasized that government agencies do not simplify their reports for public consumption. Therefore, he said, journalists need to understand how they organize information. For example, he said, police disciplinary records may be called something else in the agency’s system, meaning anyone looking to access them would need to understand how they manage the files. He said that asking for a new record may delay the process, as FOIA compels them to provide existing information, not create new records.

The event concluded with a question-and-answer session where attendees had the opportunity to speak with both Jones and Tempey directly and hear overall final thoughts on navigating the process of FOIA. 

“Figure out where to file and figure out what the law is that applies to your situation,” Tempey said.  “Make sure to stay on top of your FOIA requests.”

Yale Law School is located at 127 Wall St.

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Following the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, some scholars started calling for the “decolonization” of Eastern European studies by centering the experiences and voices of non-Russian nations in the region.

Per the Yale Course Search website, Yale’s academic offerings about Ukraine increased over the last two years from zero in the 2020-21 academic year to eight this semester, as professors in Eastern European studies and other departments started offering classes about Ukrainian history and the ongoing war. Some professors, in addition, added Ukrainian authors to their existing curricula. 

Even then, Edyta Bojanowska, chair of the Slavic Languages and Literatures department, said that the new offerings are consistent with a longtime aim to critically study Russia’s colonialism — an effort that has grown nationally since the outbreak of the war.

“[The] field is really abuzz with decolonial rhetoric. It’s a field in transition,” Bojanowska wrote. “Scholars are responding to the shock of the war by trying to account more fully and more critically for the legacies of Russian and Soviet imperialism and by charting alternative visions of Russia and Eastern Europe, their histories and cultures, that counter those emanating from the Kremlin.”

East European studies during the war in Ukraine

In his teaching, history professor Timothy Snyder focuses on examining the origins of Russia and Ukraine in a manner contrary to what he calls Putin’s “understandable imperial national construction” of the emergence of the two countries. While Snyder has long taught about Eastern Europe, he began teaching “The Making of Modern Ukraine” in the fall of 2022 following the Russian invasion and offered it again this past fall. The class aims to unpack and challenge this “myth” of Russia.

According to Snyder, some historians of Russia have already seen the war as an opportunity to question what they were taught about Russia.

“The Making of Modern Ukraine” considers Ukraine as “an early example of European state formation and an early example of anti-colonial rebellion.” The lectures from the course were recorded and uploaded online to YouTube and as a podcast series, many of which have amassed millions of views. 

Snyder said that he thinks that historical survey courses are especially effective ways to educate students and members of the general public.

“I think the reason that it was popular was that it was a survey [that] gave people a basic structure of knowledge,” Snyder said. “I think we don’t have enough of that at Yale or universities in general, and we feel that lack when we hit a crisis like this.”

Andrei Kureichik is a Belarusian playwright and self-described civic activist who began teaching “Art and Resistance in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine” last fall and “Drama and Russian-Ukrainian Conflict” this semester.

Kureichik came to Yale as a Yale World Fellow in the fall of 2022. Half a year before the invasion of Ukraine, the Artists at Risk program helped him leave Belarus after the government pushed him out for his criticism of President Alexander Lukashenko.

He said that one of the most important aspects of his teaching is creating opportunities for students to have direct contact with people on the ground in Ukraine and Russia, often virtually bringing guest speakers into his class over Zoom.

“Understanding the human side of the war helps you to understand the historical side, political side, or any other side,” Kureichik said. “So this connection to real people on the ground is crucial for me.”

Nari Shelekpayev, another recent hire, focuses on the history of Kazakhstan in his two ongoing works, according to the Slavic department’s website. In the fall of 2022 and 2023, he taught the “Ten Eurasian Cities” seminar, in which he, besides Russian cities, included cities in countries like Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Shelekpayev was not available for an interview. 

Professor of intellectual history Marci Shore said that she long incorporated thinkers from Ukraine in her teaching. This semester, Shore also started teaching a first-year seminar titled “The War in Ukraine and the Problem of Evil.”

“I’ve been so mentally consumed by this war — these are my friends and colleagues being slaughtered,” Shore wrote. “And I believe that students benefit when I can share with them the material I’m intellectually immersed in at a given moment.”

Shore’s class considers questions of evil, historical determinism and individual choice, which she said the “extremity of the moment” brings to the forefront.

Longtime efforts to decolonize Russian history

Bojanowska and Molly Brunson, who serves as a chair of the Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies program, both highlighted the work of their colleagues in conversations with the News, who, they said, had been doing “decolonial” work for a long time.

“I see the primary task of REEES to support, promote, and encourage the work that [my colleagues] are already doing,” Brunson wrote. “I don’t think it’s always a question of doing more on colonialism in the REEES fields, but more a question of amplifying the excellent work already being done by REEES faculty and students.”

She added that the program hosted numerous speaker events, symposia, conferences, and workshops, most of which were focused on non-Russian experiences and voices in the region. 

Last year, REEES also cosponsored the launch of the Central Asia Initiative, which Brunson wrote “seeks to promote interdisciplinary research on the area and cultivate a new generation of scholars and policymakers.”

Still, Brunson said that REEES has a limited budget, and with more money, the program could start postdoctoral and visiting scholar programs, provide grants for research, or start international partnerships. 

“I would turn this question around and ask what the University can do to help its REEES community support and expand the diversifying efforts in the field,” Brunson responded when asked about REEES efforts on promoting “decolonial” scholarship about the region.

In her own teaching and research, Bojanowska, who works on Russian literature and intellectual history, has been focused on decentering Russian perspectives and studying colonized nations long before the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014 and the full-scale invasion of 2022. 

She added that, with the war, her research, which used to be “on the margins,” is now moving toward the center in terms of its efforts to decolonize Russian history.

In her first book, for example, she highlighted the engagement with Ukrainian nationalist concerns of Nikolay Gogol, a writer who is usually considered to be Russian.

As a department chair, however, she said she does not push her colleagues toward decolonial scholarship or teaching.

“It is not my place to encourage my colleagues to teach anything in any special way. They have the intellectual [and] academic freedom to make those decisions,” Bojanowska said. “The way we constitute ourselves, [and] the colleagues that we hire, speaks to our values and speaks to where … we want to go.”

In the hiring process, according to Bojanowska, the department prioritized interdisciplinarity and a comparative look into non-Russian cultures. Bojanowska also told the News that the Slavic department wants to hire more professors who specifically work on non-Russian Eastern European cultures.

East European and Eurasian languages at Yale

Brunson believes that the key to “genuine decolonizing work” is language study.

While Ukrainian has only been offered as an online course in the past through Columbia University, Yale hired lector Olha Tytarenko, who will spearhead the Ukrainian language program starting next semester. 

“Edyta Bojanowska in Slavic [department] did go to heroic lengths to find a way to get the Ukrainian language taught and that’s very important,” Snyder said. “It was not the result of some kind of general flowing of support from [the] University.”

Bojanowska told the News that her department has long worked on bringing in-person Ukrainian language instruction to the university. Now, the success of this program will depend on whether students demonstrate an interest and take Ukrainian language classes, she said. 

Bojanowska said that the Slavic department also hopes to change its beginning Russian language textbooks. The new textbooks will include interviews with Russian speakers from a variety of ethnic and social backgrounds, which she said “will solidify the idea that the Russian language is not the sole property of the Russian nation.”

“We have become very sensitive, both professors and graduate students, about making a distinction between Russian and Russophone … and making sure that the research and teaching that we do conveys … the Russophone world as diverse, multicultural, and also shaped by imperial legacies,” Bojanowska said.

Yale also moved its Russian summer study abroad program to Georgia starting in the summer of 2023.

During the transition, Bojanowska said that the faculty was careful not to turn the program, which continues to teach Russian, into a “colonial venture,” given the colonial history of Georgia. Thus, students are also required to learn some Georgian and take classes in Georgian culture. 

Brunson wrote that she would like to see the University invest in expanding other language offerings beyond Ukrainian, such as in-person Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian or Central Asian languages classes, all of which have strong faculty and student interest, per Brunson.

Focus on Ukraine across departments, schools

After the Russian full-scale invasion, some professors outside of Eastern European studies started to teach classes on Ukraine or include materials about the country in their curricula across schools and departments.

“What perhaps has changed [since the full-scale invasion] is that students interested in the language of propaganda, in security studies, in intelligence work, in the history of totalitarianism, in European affairs are now focused on Ukraine,” Shore wrote to the News.

In the Law School, professors Eugene Fidell and Margaret Donovan co-teach the course “The Russo-Ukrainian War” on what the war shows about the law of armed conflict and international legal issues. The course, which is law-focused but not limited to law students, is cross-listed with the School of Management and the Jackson School of Global Affairs.

Fidell told the News that he feels a personal connection to Ukraine because three-quarters of his family originally come from the region. He said that he and Donovan also relate to the course because they are both military veterans. 

Fidell said that he wanted to offer the course because he expected it to be “pretty stimulating for us to teach, as well as for students” because there would be “so many potential flashpoints.”

The class brings speakers who talk about legal aspects of the war in Ukraine and cover topics like child abduction, the legality of possible peace settlements and the question of whether Russia commits genocide in Ukraine. 

The other course at YLS that centers on the war is “International Law and War in Ukraine and Gaza,” taught by Professor of law and the humanities Paul Kahn. Lectures in the class, frequently by guest speakers who speak to either the war in Ukraine or the Israel-Hamas war, seek to understand how the wars “are both shaped by law and shape the law.”

Kahn said that he decided to pair the two ongoing wars together because they illustrate two concepts in international humanitarian law and create a “comprehensive approach” to structuring a course about the law of war.

“Anybody who’s going to teach a class on international humanitarian law or the law of war from this point forward has got to address these events. They’re seismic,” Kahn said.

The class this semester has focused more on Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, Kahn said, because Gaza is “absorbing more attention than Ukraine at the moment.” He sees this reflected in a larger number of student questions about the war in Gaza.

Political science professor David Cameron teaches the department’s only Yale College seminar about Ukraine this semester. His course, titled “The War in Ukraine,” covers the historical context of the war, its causes and its developments. 

“The focus of my work has been on the European Union and European politics. Anyone interested in Europe is presumably interested in what is happening in this war,” Cameron said. “But from my perspective, anyone in this world should be thinking about and concerned about what’s happening in Europe, and specifically in Ukraine in the war.”

Nataliia Laas, a postdoctoral fellow at Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs, believes that qualified professors can drive interest in Ukraine further. The country, she said, can be an important case study in a variety of disciplines.

This semester, Laas is teaching a history seminar on the Chornobyl disaster. She told the News that students in the class are not only those interested in Soviet history — two-thirds of students in the class are environmental science and engineering majors interested in energy studies, she said.

According to Laas, the demand for the class was large enough for her to potentially teach several sections.

Philosophy professor Jason Stanley told the News that he first visited Ukraine in 2017 and has been closely following its politics since then. 

Together with Snyder, he taught a class comparing Gulag camps and incarceration systems in the United States, which he said are two of the largest prison regimes in world history. 

“I’m … a scholar of fascism,” Stanley said. “I became very interested in how Ukrainians were thinking through this situation where they’re being attacked by a fascist imperialist country.”

Eastern Europe, he said, provides examples that are vital to a full understanding of “the philosophical concept of colonialism, authoritarianism.” 

In his classes, he said, he therefore includes Ukrainian authors and has added more since Russia’s invasion. This semester, for example, one of the first authors his students read in his class “Propaganda, Ideology, and Democracy” was Ukrainian novelist Victoria Amelina, who was killed by a Russian air strike in Eastern Ukraine. 

“It’s the first massive land war in Europe since World War Two, and we had hoped this wouldn’t happen again in Europe,” Stanley said. “Understanding how and why it happened, maybe we can prevent these things from happening again in the future.”

Slavic Languages and Literatures department was founded in 1946.

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Now, after being incarcerated for 25 years, Braham will begin his law degree this fall.  

It was during his incarceration that Braham’s interest in the law began. In 1999, Braham suffered an attack by a fellow inmate, even though prison officials were aware of previous threats the inmate had made. Braham filed a civil rights lawsuit against the prison under the Eighth Amendment and represented himself in court. 

After this experience, Braham began to realize his skill in legal matters. Observing what he said were frequent violations of constitutional rights within prisons, he continued to not only teach himself the law but also aided fellow inmates in filing lawsuits for their rights violations.

“I knew the law and I understood the role of correctional officers,” Braham told the News. “It became clear after a while that upon my release, there were two paths I could pursue. I could either become a prison guard, which was out of the question, or I could pursue a career in the legal field.”

In his civil lawsuit against the prison, Braham initially represented himself due to limited attorney availability. This, he said, was the result of the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1996 which caps an attorney’s fees at 150 percent of the dollar amount awarded to the plaintiff in civil rights cases. Braham said he was thus forced to prosecute his case while relying on a self-help litigation manual. Despite encountering setbacks, including an initial loss at the district court level, he persisted, eventually appealing to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals and ultimately securing a settlement. 

Braham then worked toward earning an undergraduate degree. He told the News he believed that education would provide him with the necessary skills to secure employment and ensure a successful reintegration back into society.

He earned his associate’s degree from the Middlesex Community College Center via the Center for Prison Education, a partnership between Wesleyan University and Middlesex Community College. Later, he pursued his bachelor’s degree at Charter Oak State College, concentrating on philosophy, critical race theory and law courses. He transferred his community college credits to Charter Oak, culminating in the completion of a capstone project for his bachelor’s degree. Braham earned another bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Wesleyan University while incarcerated.

“I set out to do everything to earn a degree so that I could reenter society,” Braham said. “When certain opportunities came my way, I took advantage of them.”

Braham highlighted a course that he took during his undergraduate studies called “Thresholds,”  which he said left a significant impact on him. Thresholds was a decision-making course structured around five steps: seeing the situation clearly, knowing what you want, expanding possibilities, evaluating and deciding. This framework, he said, helped him navigate conflicts and assess situations so he could avoid trouble, prevent misunderstandings from escalating unnecessarily and potentially have his sentence shortened.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, while still incarcerated, Braham was introduced to Jeannia Fu, a New Haven activist. During the pandemic, Fu worked on securing the release of incarcerated individuals to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission.  Through Fu’s connections, Braham was introduced to New Haven civil rights attorney Alex Taubes LAW ’15 who worked on Braham’s case free of charge. Taubes’ investigation revealed potential bias in Braham’s sentence, leading to a reduction of seven years from his initial 32-year sentence.

Following his release from prison, Braham relocated to New Haven and secured employment at Taubes’ law firm as a paralegal just a month after his release. Braham highlighted the importance of this opportunity, underscoring the rarity of attorneys hiring individuals with a history of incarceration, particularly those with lengthy sentences. But Taubes affirmed that Braham’s background made him a strong match for the law firm.

“He brought lawsuits, successfully won those lawsuits and those experiences in addition to all the other things that he had accomplished, such as getting two college degrees while incarcerated. Those are the reasons why he got such extraordinary relief from the court,” Taubes told the News. “And that’s also why he made a good fit to work with me.”

During his time at Taubes’ law firm, Braham applied to and was later accepted into the second cohort of Yale Law School’s Access to Law School Program. The program, headed by law professor James Forman Jr. LAW ’92, actively involves and guides New Haven-area students and adults aspiring to pursue a career in law.

Braham said that he discovered the program during the final days of his sentence through Dan McGloin, who served as the Academic Development and Planning Manager for the Wesleyan-Middlesex Center for Prison Education at the time. In the first year, Braham concentrated on LSAT prep, engaging in group tutoring sessions and receiving personalized coaching to address their specific needs. In the next year, he shifted his focus to the application process, ultimately submitting applications to nine different schools.

Michael Merli, another paralegal at Taubes’ law firm, told the News that Braham’s journey holds a significant impact, especially as he now assists individuals who are also seeking sentence reductions. Merli remarked that Braham serves as an inspiration to him.

He added that Braham puts his all into everything he does, whether it’s assisting the law firm on a case or studying for the LSAT. He said Braham dedicates himself wholeheartedly to every task he undertakes.

“I’m just really grateful and honored to know Mike Braham,” Merli told the News. “He really brings his full self to work every day and his journey inspires me so much.”

Braham told the News that he has already received acceptance letters from three law schools and is awaiting a decision from one more. He said that he hasn’t made a final decision on which law school to attend this fall, but he will be part of the class of 2027.

When asked about the area of law he hopes to practice post-law school, Braham said that he is contemplating either becoming a general practitioner or specializing in civil rights. But Braham said he remains open-minded and anticipates that his interests may change at the beginning of law school. 

Braham said that one of his long-standing goals since his time in incarceration has been to establish a full-service community center where “children can simply be children.” He said his experiences have taught him the importance of providing a safe space for kids to grow and learn, away from the influences that may lead them astray and make bad choices. By focusing on education and providing positive opportunities, he said he hopes to break the cycle that often plagues underserved communities. 

“I want to provide more education and create a center that fosters that for kids,” he said. “I hope to use my law degree to pursue that goal or help others accomplish a similar kind of mission.”

The Access to Law School Program is run by the Law and Racial Justice Center at Yale Law School.

The post PROFILE: Michael Braham’s journey from prison to law school appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The case, Trump v. United States, is scheduled for oral arguments on April 25. The case will address the extent to which a former president retains presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for “official acts,” or actions taken in a presidential capacity while in office. It will also clarify the circumstances under which a former president can be brought to trial in the courts. According to Linda Greenhouse LAW ’78, a former Supreme Court reporter for The New York Times, Trump’s legal team is advocating for a very broad understanding of what constitutes an official act.

“The question before the Court is whether a former president is entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts,” Greenhouse told the News.  “Whether the behavior for which he’s been indicted constitutes official acts in every particular case will be hashed out at trial … but obviously some of the crazier notions are off the table, such as murdering someone and claiming that it was an official act.”

In August 2023, Trump was first indicted on four charges stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the events of Jan. 6, 2021. On that day, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the United States Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The riot resulted in numerous deaths and injuries, as well as significant damage to the Capitol building.

Judge Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia initially scheduled a trial to address Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results for March 4, 2024. However, she later withdrew that trial date, stating that she would set a new date once Trump’s claims of immunity were resolved. Chutkan had rejected Trump’s motion to dismiss the charges against himself, asserting that he could be sued for civil proceedings. In December of 2023, Smith petitioned the Supreme Court to review Chutkan’s decision immediately, bypassing the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. However, the Supreme Court declined Smith’s requests. 

Two months later, on Feb. 6, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld Chutkan’s initial ruling, dismissing Trump’s argument that he was immune from prosecution for actions taken during his presidency. Subsequently, Trump’s legal team appealed once more to the Supreme Court. On Feb. 28, the Court agreed to hear the case.

“The case is unprecedented, and Trump’s legal arguments are audacious and unconvincing,” Duncan Hosie LAW ’21, an appellate lawyer and writer, told the News. “But despite this case’s novel posture and Trump’s brazen claims, the Supreme Court and the parties will grapple with the implications of past cases involving presidential immunity, like Nixon v. Fitzgerald in 1982 and Trump v. Vance in 2020. As always, the Court will not rule from an entirely blank slate.”

According to David Lat LAW ’99, author of the legal commentary Substack newsletter Original Jurisdiction, there are a small number of Supreme Court cases on the subject of presidential immunity, including two involving President Richard Nixon, one involving President Bill Clinton, and one other involving Trump. However, Lat said, the issue of a former president’s immunity from criminal prosecution is a first for the Court.

Lat also told the News that it remains unclear why the Court chose to take up the case at this time. However, he proposed several potential reasons for the Court’s decision.

“Maybe they wanted to give the D.C. Circuit the first crack at it. Maybe they’re taking it now, after letting Trump stay on the ballot in the big Colorado case, to show balance: one win for Trump, one loss for Trump,” Lat told the News. “I agree with most observers that Trump will lose in this immunity case, but the Supreme Court might have different reasoning than the D.C. Circuit. Of course, this is all speculation.”

Hosie told the News that the Supreme Court has “no choice” to hear the case given its national importance.  He said it is “urgently important” that the court reject Trump’s immunity claims clearly and quickly.  According to Hosie, Trump is counting on drawing out legal proceedings with dilatory tactics for intertwined personal and political reasons.

Greenhouse also commented on the timing of the Supreme Court’s scheduling of this case, noting that some people have criticized the perceived lateness of the scheduled argument. She believes these complaints are unfounded and suggested that there is no deliberate intention by the justices to delay the trial past the election.

“I just don’t see any basis for that serious charge of bad faith,” Greenhouse said. “The Court always hears arguments in the second half of April — nine other cases this April, in fact.  And it decides them all by the end of June. Could the Court have scheduled this argument a few weeks earlier? Sure, but I don’t see that it will make a difference. Had the Court not accelerated the argument, the case wouldn’t have been heard until next fall.” 

Greenhouse added that the Court took only a month to decide whether Colorado could keep Trump off the ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, and that there is no reason the Court should not be able to match that schedule for this case. 

“This isn’t a hard case and in some ways it’s easier than the Colorado case,” Greenhouse told the News. “The obvious answer is ‘no immunity.’”

The Supreme Court is located at 1 First St. in Washington, D.C.

The post Yale’s legal experts weigh in on Trump’s presidential immunity case appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Among Lamont’s list of nominees are three Yale College graduates: Nicole Anker ’94, Tamar Birckhead ’87, and Alayna Stone ’04. The nominees will sit for hearings before the legislature’s Judiciary Committee, with their nominations subject to a vote in both chambers of the Connecticut General Assembly. Lamont’s selection of candidates was confined to a pool of individuals who had been interviewed and approved by the Judicial Selection Commission. 

The Connecticut Superior Court is a unified court system, comprising multiple sessions across the state’s 13 judicial districts, offering specialized courts for diverse cases such as major criminal, civil, family and juvenile matters, with each session having its own set of judges. 

“One of the most notable honors of my responsibilities as governor is to fill vacancies in our court system with capable jurists whose qualifications meet the high standards that the people of Connecticut deserve on the bench,” Lamont said. “This group of nominees I am forwarding to the legislature today continues this administration’s effort to ensure that the people who are serving as judges in our state reflect the diversity, experience and understanding of the people who live here.”

Nicole Anker ’94

Anker, who received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Yale College, currently serves as the legal director for the Connecticut Department of Correction. With seventeen years of legal practice, she has specialized in both constitutional and employment law within the department. 

Before joining state service, Anker worked as a litigation and employment law associate at two prominent multinational law firms, namely Bingham McCutchen, LLP, and Brown, Raysman, Millstein, Felder, and Steiner, LLP.

Among the nominees to the Superior Court, Anker is one of 13 women and also one of two candidates from Glastonbury.

Anker received her law degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1998.

Tamar Birckhead ’87

With 32 years of experience in law, Birckhead began her legal career as a public defender in Massachusetts before transitioning to academia at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law. She served as a faculty member there, teaching law and directing clinical programs. Now operating as a solo practitioner at Birckhead Law LLC, she primarily represents indigent individuals in criminal and juvenile courts as appointed counsel. 

In the 2016-17 academic year, Birckhead served as a visiting clinical professor of law at Yale Law School where she supervised students in delinquency defense in the juvenile court in New Haven and taught a companion course. 

Like Anker, she is one of 13 women nominated to the Superior Court, and also stands as one of two nominees from Hartford.

Birckhead received her law degree from Harvard Law School in 1992.

Alayna Stone ’04

Stone holds a master’s degree from the Georgetown McCourt School of Public Policy and received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Yale College. Currently serving as associate attorney general and chief of the Division of Civil Litigation at the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General, she oversees various sections including Employment, Workers’ Compensation and Labor, Health and Education, Public Safety and General Litigation. Before this role, she spent eight years as an assistant attorney general in the Special Litigation section, representing all branches of state government. 

Prior to joining the Attorney General’s Office, she clerked for two years at the Connecticut Superior Court, followed by one year each at the Connecticut Appellate Court under now-Chief Justice Richard A. Robinson and at the Connecticut Supreme Court under former Associate Justice Carmen E. Espinosa.

Similar to Anker and Birckhead, Stone is also one of the 13 women nominated and is one of two Black women among the nominees to the Superior Court. At 41, she also stands as one of the youngest nominees and is the only candidate from New Haven.

Stone received her law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2010.

The significance of the court and its judges 

According to New Haven civil rights attorney Alex Taubes LAW ’15, the Superior Court is a court of general jurisdiction, meaning that it hears almost every type of case in the state, highlighting the relevance of the court in Connecticut’s legal disputes.

“All cases pretty much first get heard in the Superior Court,” Taubes told the News. “Other cases, either get appealed to the Superior Court or can be appealed from the Superior Court.”

Grace Brunner, a student at the University of Connecticut School of Law and leader of its chapter of the legal advocacy group People’s Parity Project, emphasized to the News the importance of diversity in backgrounds among Lamont’s judicial nominations.

She told the News that she thinks such selections bring “precisely the kind of experience” needed to positively impact Connecticut residents’ lives as the experiences of the judges can shape their decisions on the bench.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to hear that Governor Lamont has embraced the advocacy efforts of the CT Pro-People Judiciary Coalition, a group our chapter proudly stands behind,” Brunner wrote in a statement to the News. “The current makeup of the Connecticut bench favors former prosecutors and corporate lawyers, which overlooks the valuable perspectives of those with backgrounds in public defense, civil rights, and legal aid.”

The Superior Court bench currently has 35 vacancies.

The post Lamont nominates 22 jurists to CT Superior Court, includes three Yale grads appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The event was co-hosted by the Yale Law Democrats, the Law School’s chapter of the progressive legal organization the American Constitution Society and OutLaws — an organization for LGBTQ+ members of the Law School community. According to YLD president Sage Mason LAW ’24, the event aimed to provide the Law School community with an opportunity to hear from a dedicated public servant and alumnus who has spent his career “fighting for justice at the highest levels of government.” 

Mason told the News that the event, which was held off the record, covered a wide range of topics from Delery’s career path and journey from law school, his outlook on leadership to his experience as White House Counsel. 

“As a law student, I’m inspired by Stuart’s commitment to public service and his work ethic, his respect for the rule of law and his faith that law can and should be a tool to improve the lives of all Americans,” Mason said. “It gives me hope for the future, that he’s been able to achieve so much without sacrificing or hiding his identity.”

After graduating from Yale Law School, where he served as an articles editor of the Yale Law Journal, Delery clerked for Judge Gerard Bard Tjoflat of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Byron White LAW ’46 of the United States Supreme Court. In 2009, Delery joined the Department of Justice initially as chief of staff and counselor to the U.S. Deputy Attorney General, followed by a role as senior counselor to the Attorney General.

From 2021 to 2022, Delery served as Deputy Counsel to President Biden. The following year, he ascended to the role of White House Counsel to the President, marking a historic milestone as the first openly gay person to hold this position. In his role as counsel to the President, Delery advised Biden on a wide range of constitutional, statutory and regulatory legal matters, encompassing presidential authority, domestic policy, as well as national security and foreign affairs. 

His responsibilities included managing responses to prominent congressional and other investigations, along with assisting the President in the nomination and confirmation processes of federal judges. Delery stepped down from the position last year.

At the Law School, Delery currently teaches “The Department of Justice” seminar and previously instructed the “Constitutional Practice: Structure and Norms” seminar in 2020.

Matt Post LAW ’25, co-president of the ACS, wrote that Delery’s involvement in vaccine rollout, student debt relief and the confirmation of a diverse set of judges is “incredibly inspiring.” 

“The initiatives he oversaw represent the potential of progressive lawyering,” Post said. “We hope that speaker events like these will inspire students to use their education here to advance policies that improve people’s lives.”

According to Mariko Lewis LAW ’26, a member of the YLD who attended the event, Delery shared insights on leadership in response to a question from an attendee. She said that Delery explained that while leaders are often perceived as possessing extroverted and outgoing personalities, true leadership success comes from authenticity. 

Lewis added that Delery emphasized that attempting to emulate someone else is counterproductive and advised attendees to embrace their unique personalities and abilities to become effective leaders.

“As a Black woman interested in politics and policy, this resonated with me,” Lewis wrote. “It emphasized that rather than following a mold of a specific type of leadership (most often portrayed through a straight, white, confident, male), I should continue to lean into my unique personality and strengths to become a valued and effective leader.”

Gevin Reynolds LAW ’26, who moderated the event, said the event felt like a “full circle moment,” as both he and Delery served together in the White House, and he is also currently enrolled in Delery’s seminar this semester.

Reynolds told the News that throughout the conversation, Delery shared “powerful lessons” from throughout his legal career, particularly his service at the highest levels of government. He highlighted Delery’s leadership in implementing the Supreme Court’s 2013 United States v. Windsor decision, wherein the Court deemed Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. This ruling established that the federal government could not discriminate against married lesbian and gay couples regarding federal benefits and protections. Reynolds underscored the pivotal role this decision played in advancing one of the most significant expansions of LGBTQ+ rights in the nation’s history.

In an email to the News, Scott Lowder LAW ’24, a member of OutLaws who attended the event, agreed with this sentiment saying that as a gay man, it was “powerful” for him to hear Delery describe the implementation of this Supreme Court decision and the logistics of extending federal benefits to same-sex couples.

Overall, Reynolds described the event as one of their “most successful of the year.”

“As a YLS student, I am most inspired by how Stuart has used the law as a tool to defend and strengthen civil rights, both at the Department of Justice and at the White House,” Reynolds told the News.  “Despite the significant influence he has wielded throughout his career, Stuart remains one of the humblest people you’ll ever meet.”

Delery received his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia. 

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Unveiled last month, YSE’s new “Urban Climate Leadership Certificate Program” started accepting applications for its first cohort on March 1. The nine-month virtual certificate program — focusing on the relationship between urban spaces and the climate crisis — joins two others aimed at supporting mid-career professionals in the Global South.

“We really hope that this is an opportunity to both learn about the myriad ways that cities contribute to climate change and are impacted by climate change,” said Cameron Kritikos DIV ’23 ENV ’23, Urban Climate Leadership program manager. “The speed and scale of urbanization, and the concurrent deterioration of our planetary system, demands swift and scalable solutions.”

Kritikos explained that the 36-week curriculum will encompass five themes: urbanization and climate change, adaptation solutions, carbon accounting, governance and implementation. The fully remote program will guide its 50-member cohort through a survey of current urban climate challenges, policy initiatives and new opportunities.

According to Colleen Murphy-Dunning, a School of the Environment lecturer and program staff member, the coursework will consist of 36 weekly modules, each of which involves faculty-led seminar discussions paired with an hour of asynchronous lecture by climate leaders from around the world. Intended to offer students a variety of perspectives, the program’s slate of lecturers ranges from IPCC authors to nonprofit leaders and Yale professors.

After nearly a year of development, the program looks to address a growing area of climate interest.

“Urbanization is one of the megatrends of the 21st century, and cities are at the front lines of climate change,” Karen Seto, School of the Environment professor and director of the Hixon Center for Urban Sustainability, wrote in an email to the News. “There is an urgent need to develop leaders who can help cities both mitigate and adapt to climate change.”

Asha Ghosh, Urban Program manager at the School of the Environment and a lecturer at the School of Management, said that the program’s emphasis on urban spaces navigates the complex dynamics between our urban centers and the warming climate. Urban spaces are the largest contributors to global carbon emissions, but they also present some of the foremost opportunities for new climate solutions, she added. 

“Cities hold the opportunity to make the biggest impact, in terms of addressing these climate challenges,” Ghosh said.

Equity — questions about how climate differentially impacts urban communities, for instance — will be a key “thread” throughout the program, Ghosh added.

Urban forestry — currently one of the most promising nature-based solutions to climate adaptation in cities — will also receive significant instructional attention, Murphy-Dunning added. Murphy-Dunning, who is leading one of the program’s urban forestry modules, explained that trees can mitigate heat island effects but must also be considered in the context of other urban infrastructure.

The Biden administration’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act has bolstered city greening efforts, bankrolling urban forestry efforts across the country with its record $1-billion investment. Now, according to Murphy-Dunning, urban foresters must consider the challenges posed by uncertain precipitation, temperature changes and potential conflicts with housing.

“It’s not just using trees as a vehicle for mitigation, but it’s also recognizing that the urban forest itself has to adapt to climate change,” Murphy-Dunning said.

Sustainable development can be especially challenging in developing nations, Ghosh explained. Many cities in the Global South undergo a process of repeated upgrading from informal to formal settlements, rather than relying entirely on planned development. Buildings and large infrastructure projects are often developed without accounting for city-mandated plans or the environmental features of the land.

Kritikos emphasized the program’s relevance to any potential students working in governance, nonprofits or the private sector. Given the complexity of cities — spaces where infrastructure, nature and communities interact — advancing urban sustainability is a “messy process” that will need to engage all stakeholders involved, Kritikos said. The program expects to offer something for applicants from a diversity of professional specializations. 

The first of the School of Environment’s certificate programs was launched in 2022 following a donation from the Three Cairns Group, the largest-ever gift in support of the school. The slate of online courses are designed to support emerging, mid-career professionals throughout the Global South.

“[The program] is going to allow us to bring the latest science to practitioners, which I think is really important,” Murphy-Dunning told the News. “[It] allows for the possibility of more people to participate in learning through the university.”

The School of the Environment’s two other certificate programs, “Financing and Deploying Clean Energy” and “Tropical Forest Landscapes,” invite students to explore green technology policies and conservation initiatives, respectively. 

Applications for this program will close on April 30. Accepted applicants will matriculate later this August. Applications for the forest landscapes program will close on April 5 and for the clean energy program on March 10. 

Ghosh and Murphy-Dunning were both hopeful the program might provide students the opportunity to connect, share ideas and generate new solutions. 

“We need to very rapidly make change because of the pressure of climate change,” Murphy-Dunning said. “I think there’s a sense of urgency … that we can’t continue to build cities the way we have in the past.” 

According to UN estimates, urban centers currently account for 75 percent of global CO2 emissions.

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In 2022, the ICJ, the United Nations international court tasked with resolving legal disputes between nations, heard several cases on the legal legitimacy of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The cases urged the ICJ to adjudicate claims of Russia being labeled a “terrorist state” and accusations of Russia violating the 1948 Genocide Convention, in which 32 countries sided with Ukraine’s genocide accusations against Russia, the largest number of countries to join another nation’s complaint at the ICJ.

Since then, the ICJ has announced major decisions on the war, the most recent of which was released on Feb. 2. 

On Feb. 24, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, further intensifying the ongoing war, which began in 2014 with Russia’s occupation of Crimea and parts of Donbas. Russia, through its 2022 invasion, has killed over 10,500 Ukrainian civilians and injured over 18,500 Ukrainian civilians. Despite calls for peace talks from the United Nations Security Council, the war in Ukraine persists and continues to cause a stream of casualties and the displacement of countless civilians in Ukraine.

“Russia is much more powerful, has many more troops and much more economic power than Ukraine and what’s been really going on is a battle between the rule of law and a commitment to democracy against the hard power of autocracy,” Koh told the News. “And what these are suggesting is that international law and the world are on Ukraine’s side.”

Koh told the News that the ICJ has rendered several “important” decisions since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The first decision, he said, was issued in March 2022, just a month following the invasion, and declared that Russian troops and paramilitary forces should not occupy Ukrainian territory. 

Koh emphasized that this decision “sent a message” illustrating the illegality of Russia’s actions.

On Jan. 31, the ICJ dismissed much of Ukraine’s terrorism accusations against Russia. Ukraine had alleged that Moscow, the capital of Russia, was a “terrorist state,” as they claimed its support for pro-Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine ultimately led to the 2022 invasion. Among the allegations, Ukraine had also argued that Russia supplied the missile system that shot down the aircraft Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014, however the ICJ ruled that violations of funding terrorism only apply to monetary and financial support, not supplying weapons or training.

Two days later, on Feb. 2, the ICJ delivered a verdict on the “genocide” allegations in the war. While the ICJ clarified that it lacked jurisdiction to determine whether Russia violated the 1948 Genocide Convention through its invasion of Ukraine, Koh noted that this ruling allowed for the case to proceed regarding whether Russia falsely accused Ukraine of genocide and whether it continued to violate the provisional measures order with Russian troops in Ukraine. 

“I think this is really a battle between the past and the future,” Koh told the News. “Russia lost its empire and is trying to return Ukraine to its empire and Ukraine is looking to the future and wants to be an independent democracy more closely associated with Europe.”

When asked about his next course of action, Koh said that he is looking to provide additional leverage for Ukraine in the situation. 

Koh spoke about the importance of showcasing Ukraine as a representation of democratic values, the rule of law and a universal commitment to human rights while contrasting Russia as isolated and aggressive. 

“In this world, the right values win but that calls on people committed to those values to step up and to understand when those issues are at stake,” he said.

Charles Brower, a law professor at Wayne State University School of Law, told the News that legal observers have described the ICJ’s rulings as disappointing for Ukraine’s efforts to leverage the international judicial process in ways that could increase pressure on Russia. 

He said that the judgments themselves were unlikely to significantly impact the ongoing war between the two nations.

“Even if Ukraine had succeeded on all its arguments, no one expected Russia to comply with any judgments rendered against it,” he explained.

Olena Lennon, national security professor and expert on Ukraine at the University of New Haven, echoed this sentiment saying that she thinks the ICJ’s decisions will not have any effect on the war, given that Russia previously ignored legal orders from the ICJ in March 2022 to suspend all military activities on the territory of Ukraine.

Brower said that the international legal system allows this, given that it operates in a context where the establishment and maintenance of a minimum degree of order has to be the overriding priority and is often under threat. Members of the ICJ are elected by the Security Council and the General Assembly, and the ICJ itself lacks coercive powers to enforce their decisions, Brower explained. 

“Given that context, it should come as no surprise that the court’s jurisprudence skews towards the maintenance of order and, therefore, may not prioritize achievement of justice in the broader sense,” Brower said.

However, Lennon said Ukraine has not needed official court rulings to convince the world that Russia’s violations of international law are a threat not only to Ukraine’s survival but to regional and global security writ large.

Referencing countries that have officially condemned Russia’s aggression, imposed sanctions on Russia and provided aid to Ukraine, Lennon said that court rulings are not necessary to publicly condemn Russia. 

“Serving justice to the Russian perpetrators properly is still critical both to deter similar crimes in the future and to provide healing to the victims,” Lennon said. “However, at this stage, what matters more is other countries’ concrete collaborative actions to defend Ukraine and preserve Western institutions by any means possible, no matter how that support is codified.”

Koh has taught at Yale Law School since 1985.

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The case centers on claims that Douglass Mackey, a social media influencer on X, formerly known as Twitter, made during the 2016 presidential election campaign. Mackey, who was known to his 58,800 followers as Ricky Vaughn, repeatedly tweeted false claims to supporters of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton LAW ’73 that they could cast their ballots via text message in the weeks leading up to the election.

Mackey was convicted by a New York jury in March 2023, ordered to pay a $15,000 fine and charged with violating Section 241, which prohibits conspiring to “injure” individuals’ federal rights or privileges, including the right to vote. He was sentenced to seven months in prison and appealed his conviction to the Second Circuit.

The YLS Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic filed its amicus brief in collaboration with Protect Democracy, a nonpartisan anti-authoritarian organization, on behalf of election law expert and UCLA School of Law professor Richard Hasen. The brief argues that a Reconstruction-era civil rights law can be utilized to prosecute deliberate misinformation regarding voting procedures, while still upholding the First Amendment’s right to freedom of speech.

“Section 241 properly construed does punish purposeful lies about when, where, or how people vote and is not overbroad,” the brief reads. “It prohibits, among other things, conspiracies to ‘injure … any person … in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States.’”

According to Tobin Raju, Craig Newmark Clinical Fellow at the MFIA clinic, the issue of figuring out how laws can grapple with disinformation is something members of the clinic have been thinking about.

Raju told the News that Section 241, initially crafted to address resistance to Reconstruction in former Confederate states, presents a distinct application in this scenario due to the relatively recent emergence of X and other social media platforms. He said that despite the new technological landscape, historical precedents demonstrate that the use of this law to prosecute lies about election procedures is proper. Raju added that intentionally deceptive practices have previously been subject to criminalization under this statute.

 “It’s about applying prior precedent in similar situations, just to modern technology,” Raju said.

Raju explained that when Mackey appealed his conviction to the Second Circuit, the case was placed on an expedited track — meaning that briefing moved relatively quickly and that it will be heard for oral argument 0n April 5.

Raju said that students in the clinic took a hands-on approach to the work, being involved in tasks ranging from research assistance to drafting portions of the brief.

“I really appreciated the opportunity to work on this case because I think combating election disinformation is going to be key to preserving our democracy, this year and beyond,” Victoria Maras LAW ’25, an MFIA clinic member who worked on the brief, told the News. “As a former Field Organizer, I know how important it is to get the right information out to voters, and, by the same token, how harmful it can be when misinformation spreads.”

Maras said she was grateful that this brief can show how people who conspire to spread false election information can be held accountable without threatening First Amendment free speech rights.

Another MFIA clinic member, Ben Menke LAW ’25, told the News that delving into the history of Section 241, which was passed in 1870, led him to examine transcripts of debates in Congress during that time. Through this research, Menke said that he uncovered the motivations of the legislators who first enacted the law, as well as the legal opinions of the judges who applied Section 241 at the time.

“Our brief offers clarity on the proper way to construe Section 241, and we show that the law is consistent with the First Amendment,” Menke told the News. “Bad actors are finding it easier to spread knowingly false information to interfere with the right of the people to vote. Enforcing Section 241 is one way the federal government can respond to this threat.”

In a statement to the News, James Lawrence, Mackey’s attorney, said that their core argument in defense of Mackey is that he did not have fair notice, required by the Fifth Amendment, that his conduct violated “clearly established” law.

Lawrence claimed that the amicus brief uses a Supreme Court case about a different law to argue that a rarely used legal concept, not accepted in many state courts and never applied in New York, should be turned into a federal crime for misleading election information.

“If a team of federal prosecutors never came up with this convoluted argument after pursuing this case for more than three years … how could Douglass Mackey be expected to know his conduct violated Section 241 in 2016?” Lawrence wrote in the statement. 

The MFIA clinic declined to comment on Lawrence’s statement.

Raju expressed curiosity about the Court’s ruling, especially since the case will be heard during an election year.

“I think it’s an interesting case because I imagine we’ll probably be seeing similar issues in the lead-up to this next election,” Raju said.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals oversees the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont.

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