The University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law presented the first in a new faculty webinar series July 1. Born out of the COVID-19 era necessity to gather remotely, the online program provides a forum for the Maryland Carey Law and wider legal communities to remain connected to the intellectual life of the law school.
“I’m very excited to announce this new series in which faculty will be talking about timely issues and their scholarship,” said associate dean for research Peter Danchin, LLB, LLM, JSD, as he welcomed more than 70 students, alumni, faculty, and community members to the Zoom meeting. “Our hope is to keep our community involved with the rich work going on at the law school even during the COVID crisis.”
Moderated by Mark Graber, JD, the inaugural event featured Maryland Carey Law professors Maureen Sweeney, JD, and Robert Percival, JD, MA, as well as Dean Donald B. Tobin, JD, bringing their expertise to bear on notable Supreme Court cases from this term.
Percival presented first on current environmental law cases, including United Forest Service v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association in which the court held June 15 that the U.S. Forest Service has the authority to grant rights-of-way under the Mineral Leasing Act through lands traversed by the Appalachian Trail within national forests. Percival is the Robert F. Stanton Professor of Law and director of Maryland Carey Law’s Environmental Law Program.
Sweeney followed, discussing the court’s June 18 decision in Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California, which held that the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act.
Rounding out the program was Tobin on cases including Trump v. Mazars USA, which involves subpoenas issued by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform to the accounting firm for Donald Trump (in his capacity as a private citizen) and several of his businesses, demanding disclosure of private financial records. Tobin is a leading scholar in tax law.
The second webinar in the series takes place July 15 and will feature Maryland Carey Law alumna Rebecca Tabb Simmons, JD ’87, interviewing Larry Gibson, LLB, on his upcoming book on Thurgood Marshall, the history of civil rights, and controversies over the removal of Confederate statues in Maryland, among other topics. Gibson is the Morton and Sophia Macht Professor of Law.