Top FBI Officials Could Testify Against Trump

“In any high-stakes matter, you are going to want to talk to anyone in the vicinity of a conversation,” says law professor Samuel Buell, a former federal prosecutor. “It doesn’t mean that they end up as trial witness. But at an investigative stage, you are going to talk to all of these people. You want their stories locked in. You want to know if what they have to say would help you or hurt you.”

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Finding The Truth in Complex Civilian-Casualty Investigations

“I contend that while witness interviews are certainly valuable, research in recent years shows that allegedly ‘eyewitness’ accounts carry their own risks and limitations,” writes law professor Charles Dunlap. “Accordingly, I believe that human rights organizations ought to rethink the extent to which they rely (over rely?) on such testimony to – as they put it – form the “bedrock” of their investigations, particularly in contested war zone areas.”

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The All (Un)Important Vote That Occurred In Puerto Rico

Last month, the Puerto Rican people went to the polls to  vote on whether to become the 51st state, become an independent nation, or remain a territory with no voting representation in Congress. They chose statehood. Since only Congress can grant statehood, the conventional wisdom declared that’s not going to happen. “And yet international law, the U.S.’s post-WWII promises of self-governance for Puerto Rico, and perhaps even constitutional law all suggest that Congress might not have the legal authority to deny Puerto Rico’s choices,” write law professors Joseph Blocher and Mitu Gulati.

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Why The State Department’s Human Trafficking Report Matters

“The State Department has released its annual Trafficking in Persons report on human trafficking. The big headline was that China was downgraded to Tier 3, the lowest ranking, suggesting that the Trump administration had decided to rebuke China by grouping it with the likes of Syria, Iran and North Korea,” writes Judith Kelley, public policy and political science professor and a senior associate dean at the Sanford School of Public Policy.

Read More in The Washington Post

U.S. Climate Policy in the Trump Administration

In a newly released policy brief, law professor Jonathan Wiener, Kenan Institute for Ethics’ Rethinking Regulation co-director, provides context on the complex web of climate change policy, written for the Climate Economics Chair in Paris. Wiener’s essay covers a range of topics related to U.S. climate policies in the wake of President Trump’s decision to withdraw the country from the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Read More at Kenan Institute