News Bureau

An annual wealth tax could curb tax avoidance among the ultrawealthy, a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign tax policy expert says.

With the demise of the American Health Care Act all but rendering health care reform a moribund issue, tax reform likely will present its own challenges for President Trump and Congress, says Professor Richard L. Kaplan.

President Trump’s much-hyped tax overhaul plan is tantamount to a 'tax-reform wish list,' said Richard L. Kaplan, an internationally recognized expert on U.S. tax policy

Strikes by Hollywood writers and actors are driven by the “existential concerns” posed by the proliferation of streaming services and the rise of artificial intelligence, says Michael LeRoy, an expert in labor law at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

A new paper co-written by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign legal scholar Jacob S. Sherkow argues that the state of California’s proposal to manufacture and distribute insulin at cost could be a game-changer for curbing out-of-control price increases and a boon to public health.

The U.S. has been a leading voice for human rights. It’s also run prison camps, now and in the past, that denied people those rights. A. Naomi Paik wanted to explore that contradiction – finding out why these camps were organized, how they were justified, how prisoners have been treated and their response to that treatment. The result is her book “Rightlessness: Testimony and Redress in U.S. Prison Camps since World War II,” published in April.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The proposed use of Web or video cameras to monitor the care of residents in nursing homes has kicked up a storm.

New disclosures on quarterly retirement account statements may alarm some workers, says Richard L. Kaplan, the Guy Raymond Jones Chair in Law at Illinois and an expert on U.S. tax policy and retirement issues.

Tom O'Rourke, a professor emeritus of community health at Illinois, has spent much of his professional career examining the nation's health care system. He spoke with News Bureau Life Sciences Editor Diana Yates about the prospects for Obamacare.

"...fixing the major problems that Illinois has – both in policy and in finances – is going to require the governor to work in cooperation with rather than in opposition to the majorities in the General Assembly, and vice versa"

Deciding how and when to withdraw funds from the patchwork of different retirement accounts represents the biggest financial planning challenge facing retirees, said Richard L. Kaplan, the Peer and Sarah Pedersen Professor of Law at Illinois.

The Biden administration’s new national security policy represents a shift to compete with China’s growing power, particularly to make strategic public investments in key industrial areas such as semiconductors, says Illinois law professor Patrick Keenan, an expert in counterterrorism law and international criminal law.

How the next Congress decides to handle the issue editing human sperm and eggs will affect the science, ethics and financing of genomic editing for decades to come, said Jacob S. Sherkow, a professor of law at Illinois who studies the ethical and policy implications of advanced biotechnologies.

Courts have consistently affirmed that parents and guardians have significant latitude in making decisions on how to raise children. But in the juvenile justice context, the traditional role of parental authority has been supplanted or nearly eliminated by the child’s attorney, said Margareth Etienne, a professor of law at Illinois.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Some federal judges are tossing out civil cases based on their own opinions, a disturbing trend that makes background checks even more important in the search for a new associate justice for the U.S. Supreme Court, a University of Illinois legal expert says.

Although Americans overwhelmingly support nondiscrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, no state has enacted significant new legislation protecting them against discrimination in housing, hiring and public accommodations since 2008, says Robin Fretwell Wilson, the Roger and Stephany Joslin Professor of Law and the director of the Program in Family Law and Policy at the University of Illinois College of Law.

A Minute With...™ Michael LeRoy, immigration law expert 

The Cline Center for Advanced Social Research and an interdisciplinary team of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign experts have developed a nationwide registry on the use of lethal force by police officers in the U.S., identifying more than 23,000 incidents between 2014-2021.

Bankruptcy attorneys have little knowledge of the racial disparities that exist within the bankruptcy system, relying instead on common stereotypes about race, responsibility and debt, according to research co-written by Robert M. Lawless, the Max L. Rowe Professor of Law at Illinois and a leading consumer credit and bankruptcy expert.

Constitutional crisis scenarios have yet to occur under Trump, U. of I. law dean and constitutional scholar says.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - As Christmas approaches, many people blame advertising for stoking the desire among teenagers to own the latest and best in computers, clothes, toys, video games, jewelry, sports equipment and cosmetics.

Bankruptcy attorneys are increasingly encouraging clients to file for the more expensive “no money down” option of Chapter 13 bankruptcy – a tactic that’s used more often with blacks than with whites, according to research co-written by Robert M. Lawless, the Max L. Rowe Professor of Law at Illinois and a leading consumer credit and bankruptcy expert.

It remains uncertain that plans being floated to privatize Medicare by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan will have the support of President-elect Donald Trump, says Richard L. Kaplan, the Peer and Sarah Pedersen Professor of Law at Illinois.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Congress should step in to regulate performance-enhancing drugs in professional sports because players and owners lack incentive to effectively police themselves, former NFL tight end Josh Whitman says.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The leader of a South American nation where thick rainforests straddle the equator earned his doctoral degree at a U.S. university in the shadows of cornfields a half a world away.

The failure of federal watchdog agencies to require admissions of guilt from the targets of civil enforcement can trigger calls for greater accountability from the public, says a new paper from U. of I. law professors Verity Winship and Jennifer K. Robbennolt.

A Minute With™... Bryan Endres, the director of the European Union Center and a professor of agricultural law

There’s no easy solution to the problem of unaccompanied migrant children at the southern U.S. border, a U. of I. expert says.

Medicare exists in a time warp, making paying for health care in retirement confusing and costly, says a new paper from Richard L. Kaplan, the Peer and Sarah Pedersen Professor of law at Illinois.

When defusing workplace conflict, firms favor alternative dispute resolution practices that align with their underlying strategic bent, says new research co-written by U. of I. labor professor Ryan Lamare.

The primary reason why current bankruptcy law doesn’t work well is that it dates back to 1978, before the explosion of consumer credit, says Robert M. Lawless, the Max L. Rowe Professor of Law at Illinois and a leading consumer credit and bankruptcy expert. Lawless served as reporter for the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy, which recommended several changes to the law.

A Minute With...™ Sara R. Benson, an expert on sexual orientation and the law

A new paper by University of Illinois legal scholar Robin B. Kar argues that same-sex marriage doesn’t have to be a flashpoint in the ongoing culture war between secular and religious values.

No provision of the Constitution prohibits it, but the threat of impeachment should function as a check on the president's clemency powers, said law professor Jason Mazzone

The Supreme Court’s livestream of its oral arguments is likely a temporary measure due to COVID-19, said Jason Mazzone, the Albert E. Jenner Jr. Professor of Law and the director of the Program in Constitutional Theory, History, and Law at the College of Law at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

A new paper by University of Illinois legal scholar Robin B. Kar offers a novel interpretation of contract law, called “contract as empowerment.”

A spate of Supreme Court decisions on the tension between religious freedom and the protective function of government has caused a sense of unease among religious people, says Robin Fretwell Wilson, the Roger and Stephany Joslin Professor of Law at Illinois and editor of the book “The Contested Place of Religion in Family Law.”

A Minute With™...Sara Benson, an expert on sexual orientation and the law

Research by Michael LeRoy, a professor of labor and employment relations at Illinois, indicates that presidential powers over immigration have been significantly hamstrung by the courts, with plaintiffs winning all or part of 89 percent of the rulings in cases that consider immigration orders that affect employment relationships.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The outcome of a case argued before the U.S. Supreme Court last fall could potentially slow the trend of the ever-increasing number of occupations subject to state licensing, says a University of Illinois expert in the regulation and financing of health care.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The rising popularity of absentee voting, especially the use of "no-excuse" absentee ballots, poses a risk of vote tampering and election fraud, a University of Illinois legal scholar argues.

An Illinois political scientist talks about the politics of replacing Justice Anthony Kennedy and the future direction of the Supreme Court.

University of Illinois political scientist Alicia Uribe-McGuire describes the politics involved in the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch.

President Biden would likely alienate a key constituency ahead of the 2024 presidential election cycle if he used his presidential powers to intervene in a potential UPS strike, says Michael LeRoy, an expert in labor law at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The unsanctioned police raid on a newspaper in rural Kansas underscores the need to provide journalists with legal protections such as the recently re-introduced bipartisan Protect Reporters from Exploitive State Spying Act, says Lena Shapiro, a clinical assistant professor of law and the inaugural director of the College of Law’s First Amendment Clinic.

Limiting the exchange of information in lawsuits to save time and money will negatively affect typical, run-of-the-mill cases, says Suja A. Thomas, a University of Illinois law professor and expert in civil procedure.

Professor and copyright librarian Sara R. Benson explains an upcoming Supreme Court case at the intersection of copyright and patent for functional designs.

A style of governance that relies heavily on “deal-making” also has the potential to render President Trump’s administration prone to incompetence and corruption, said Robin B. Kar, a University of Illinois legal scholar.

A Minute With...™ Vikram Amar, expert on constitutional law and the federal courts

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Although they share some important similarities, religious organizations, such as churches, that file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection differ from small business debtors in two significant ways - they seek to preserve the "going-concern value" of the organizations themselves, and their members are more integral to their successful reorganizations, says a new study by a University of Illinois law professor.