Available On-Demand CLEs
Program Description:
Part of the "Hot Topics: Cool Talk" series, this program features School of Law Professors Julie Jonas and Greg Sisk presenting their contrasting views on the merits of gun ownership for self-defense in a spirited yet civil conversation. The discussion is moderated by University of St. Thomas President Rob Vischer. The program contact is Gregory Sisk (gcsisk@stthomas.edu).
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Program Description:
The year 2023 was an end and a beginning for the field of law and religion. It saw the passing of Professor Kent Greenawalt and Professor Steven Shiffrin. It witnessed the retirement of Professor Douglas Laycock, Professor Steven Smith, and Professor Gerard Bradley. All were and are giants in law and religion. In this talk, Professor DeGirolami of Saint John's University School of Law discusses the history of the field in the U.S. and the questions that motivated it to emerge in the 1970s and 1980s. These include the nature of religion and the secular in the law, the division between these concepts, and the implications for law and religion as an independent academic discipline; the concept of state neutrality as to religion and the connected public-private divide as respects what is religious and what is non-religiously political; and the regime of religious exemption for everyone with a sincere objection to a law as the central feature of religious free exercise. Yet for both conceptual and practical reasons, these are now, or will soon become, dead issues. The program contact is Gregory Sisk (gcsisk@stthomas.edu).
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Program Description:
Andrew Koppelman (Northwestern University) and Asma Uddin (Catholic University of America) joined St. Thomas School of Law Professor Thomas Berg to discuss topics including the foundations of religious liberty, its potential use in reducing or managing cultural/religious conflict, the importance of protecting religious liberty for all and also protecting other significant interests, the specific challenges of balancing LGBTA rights and religious liberty, and more. The program contact is Gregory Sisk (gcsisk@stthomas.edu).
The event was held to celebrate the release of Professor Berg's new book, Religious Liberty in a Polarized Age. It was co-sponsored by the Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law and Public Policy and the Initiative on Restorative Justice and Healing.
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Program Description:
As part of the "Hot Topic: Cool Talk" series, this program features Professor Gregory Sisk (University of St. Thomas School of Law) and Professor Christopher Walker (University of Michigan School of Law). These scholars present contrasting views on the legal and policy merits of qualified immunity participating in spirited yet civil conversation.
In recent years, members of the Supreme Court, judges on several courts, policymakers, and scholars across the ideological spectrum have argued it is time to revisit or eliminate qualified immunity. Qualified immunity provides a defense for a government employee facing a civil rights lawsuit for monetary damages after infringing on a person’s constitutional rights. The crucial inquiry for qualified immunity is whether the officer violated clearly established rights that a reasonable official would have known. As the doctrine has evolved, the Supreme Court defines what is reasonable by whether prior court precedents provided clear notice as to what the Constitution demands when applied in a specific context. This program focuses on the merits of qualified immunity in balancing a government employee’s interest in faithfully carrying out a directive and the remedies for victims of constitutional wrongdoing by government officials. The program contact is Gregory Sisk (gcsisk@stthomas.edu).
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Program Description:
David A. Grenardo joined the St. Thomas law faculty in 2022 and is also an associate director of the Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions. In this program, he discusses three main aspects that every individual who is Catholic and practicing law should understand and live by: service, civility, and human dignity. The program contact is Gregory Sisk (gcsisk@stthomas.edu).
View The Keys to Practicing Law as a Practicing Catholic CLE
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Program Description:
Few issues in a divorce may be as emotionally charged or have such long-term consequences as disputes over the control of embryos a couple created and cryopreserved during their marriage. Most men in this scenario, still able to have children naturally, seek to prevent their ex-wives from having a child they no longer desire. However, for many women, the embryos reflect their best, and perhaps only, opportunity to have a child. Their interests could not be more polar, yet there can be no middle ground—one party’s interests must yield to the other. To date, courts have overwhelmingly privileged men’s interests in avoiding the purely cognitive burdens of genetic parenthood, even when freed from any responsibilities of legal parenthood, above women’s interests and investments in experiencing genetic, gestational, and legal parenthood. This presentation, featuring Professor Benjamin Carpenter (University of St. Thomas School of Law), reviews these decisions, challenges courts’ and scholars’ prior arguments, and proposes a more nuanced balancing of men's and women's interests for future cases. The program contact is Gregory Sisk (gcsisk@stthomas.edu).
View Embryo Disposition Disputes CLE
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Program Description:
The Free Exercise Clause is one of two provisions to the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America concerning religion. This clause reserves the right of American citizens to hold any religious belief and participate in religious rituals. However, the principle of expansive and inclusive religious freedom in the United States has been blemished by a persistent history of inequality and intolerance. In an ideal religious liberty doctrinal regime, the balance between accommodating religious exercise and upholding important government purposes would shift with the character of the dispute defined by these conflicting interests. In this program, Professor Gregory Sisk, co-director of the Murphy Institute, discusses the recent analysis of his continued research in this area. The program contact is Gregory Sisk (gcsisk@stthomas.edu).
View Approaching Equilibrium in Free Exercise of Religion Cases? CLE
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Program Description:
Knock First Minnesota and the Murphy Institute have joined together in collaboration to co-sponsor this discussion on no-knock warrants and their dangerous impacts on our Minnesota community. The panel discussion explores the changing laws on no-knock warrants in Minnesota, their impact on individuals in our community, and the effects these policies have on respect for human dignity. On this panel are Representative Athena Hollins (MN House of Representatives), Fr. Daniel Griffith (Founding Director of the Initiative on Restorative Justice and Healing), and Shawn Webb (Managing attorney in the Office of the Hennepin County Public Defender). The program contact is Gregory Sisk (gcsisk@stthomas.edu).
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Program Description:
In Planned Parenthood v. Casey, three justices in the controlling opinion make the claim that “The ability of women to participate equally in the economic and social life of the Nation has been facilitated by their ability to control their reproductive lives [through the availability of abortion should contraception fail].” In Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, which was pending before the US Supreme Court at the time of this CLE’s recording, an amicus brief of 240 Women Professionals and Scholars examined this claim in light of almost 50 years of government data regarding changes in women’s educational achievements, business ownership, labor participation, and earnings as well as abortion rates and ratios. This program’s speaker, Professor Teresa Collett, is the counsel of record for this brief. She discusses the data, the women's arguments, as well as opposing arguments presented in amicus briefs supporting abortion law. The program contact is Gregory Sisk (gcsisk@stthomas.edu).
View Abortion and Women’s Empowerment CLE
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Program Description:
The Establishment Clause is one of two provisions to the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America concerning religion. The clause prevents the government from establishing an official state religion and favoring one religious group over another – both essential elements to government-protected religious freedom. In this program, Professor Gregory Sisk, co-director of the Murphy Institute, discusses the research and analysis of his recently published paper, "Cracks in the Wall: Persistent Influence of Ideology in Establishment Clause Decisions", co-authored by Michael Heise. The program contact is Gregory Sisk (gcsisk@stthomas.edu).
View The Persistent Influence of Ideology in Establishment Clause Decisions CLE
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Approved on 1/24/23 for 2.0 standard CLE on-demand credits (event code: 479628).
Program Description:
Associate Dean Elizabeth Schiltz and Professor Andrea Jepsen ’06, co-directors of the St. Thomas Special Education Legal Clinic, present the basic outlines of special education law, focusing on the federal and state laws and regulations governing the obligations of the states in educating children with disabilities. After laying the legal groundwork, they will analyze common deficiencies in Individualized Education Programs ("IEPs” -- the blueprints that parents and schools are required to develop together to guide a child’s special education). They will also provide practical tips for dealing with schools in developing and monitoring progress under a child’s IEP. This program focuses on working with the school district to (hopefully) avoid the need for the filing of complaints or litigation. Program contact is Elizabeth Schiltz (erschiltz@stthomas.edu).
View Special Education Law & Strategy 101
Approved on 10/13/22 for 2 standard on-demand CLE credits (event code: 472490)
Program Description:
The murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May of 2020 brought into painful focus racial inequities in the Twin Cities that have existed for years. The months that followed Floyd’s death were marked by unrest, criminal proceedings and many questions about the path forward for our community. This event included a wide-ranging and insightful conversation with civic and religious leaders that looked back at the past two years and ahead to the future. Program contact is Julie Craven (crav6181@stthomas.edu).
Sponsored by the St. Thomas School of Law Initiative on Restorative Justice and Healing.
View Justice and Healing for a Wounded Community
Approved on 4/26/22 for 2.5 standard on-demand CLE credits (event code: 453686)
Program Description:
A virtual panel with a variety of local experts who will examine Minnesota’s current pardon process and the challenges that have arisen due to the current system. Additionally, the second panel includes a variety of national experts, who will compare our system to those used in other states and on a federal level. Program contact is Mark Osler (mark.osler@stthomas.edu).
Sponsored by the St. Thomas Law Journal.
Approved on 4/26/22 for 5.0 standard on-demand CLE credits (event code: 453694)
Program Description:
A virtual panel discussion about the rise of private power and its implications on the democratic process. Panelists include Asen Velinov of Shanghai Jiaotong University, Dr. Neelam Seam, Department Head at IPEM Law Academy, and Professor Zephyr Teachout from Fordham Law School. Program contact is Dr. Charles Reid (cjreid@stthomas.edu).
Sponsored by the St. Thomas Law Journal.
Approved on 4/26/22 for 5.0 standard on-demand CLE credits (event code: 453693)
Program Description:
This virtual panel discussion is about a convergence of factors that is causing policy-makers of both political parties to think more deeply about the role of an activist government in confronting the great crises of the moment; in responding to geopolitical competition; and in improving the lives and well-being of the general public. The symposium on Revitalizing Public Goods is intended to explore the dimensions of this new and dramatic shift in the responsibilities of government. Program contact is Dr. Charles Reid (cjreid@stthomas.edu).
Sponsored by the St. Thomas Journal of Law and Public Policy.