Law

A person in an American flag outfit and bandana carrying an American flag in front of a large group of people at the U.S. Capitol building. Many hold flags that read "Trump 2020."

The influence and importance of language

Labels for what happened Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol were very different from those used to describe the Black Lives Matter movement or the 2020 election results. How much weight do individual words actually have? It depends on the context.

Michele W. Berger ・

Selfie of a person wearing a face mask holding up a box of vegan pastries in their bakery

Law students spearhead pro bono projects for pandemic relief

From connecting small businesses with loans to helping Philadelphians navigate unemployment and housing insecurity, students at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School are working to get people the help they need.

From Penn Law ・



In the News


WHYY (Philadelphia)

‘I don’t know where to move’: Philly immigrants who’ve lived through coups warn of the rise of fringe groups

Bulent Gultekin of the Wharton School said that compared to the coup he witnessed in Turkey 60 years ago, the recent attack on the U.S. Capitol was more like a “mob scene” than a coup. “It doesn’t mean that things will be the same or we’ll forget about this very quickly, it’s a very important lesson,” he said. “In a country where it’s divided and so many are polarized, this is always a problem in the long run.”

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NBC News

Democrats have a new tool to undo Trump's 'midnight rule-making.' But there's a catch

Cary Coglianese of the Law School spoke about the seldom-used Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to overturn federal rules with a simple majority and prohibit federal agencies from reissuing similar rules without their approval. “If there’s a type of rule that the incoming administration would really like to ensure never gets adopted again, the CRA is a good way to do that,” Coglianese said.

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The Hill

Parler sues Amazon, asks court to reinstate platform

David Hoffman of the Law School said Parler’s lawsuit against Amazon has been weakened because Amazon had warned the social media platform about violating the terms of their agreement prior to terminating the account. “There have been repeated warnings over time about Parler’s failure to comply with Amazon’s terms of use,” Hoffman said. “Given those repeated warnings over time, it’s sort of rich to say, ‘You didn’t give us enough time.’”

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CBS Philadelphia

Philadelphia police increases presence in parts of city again following storming of US Capitol

Claire Finkelstein of the Law School said President Trump may have committed a crime by encouraging his supporters to breach the U.S. Capitol building. “The question is whether or not the president was intentionally trying to interfere with the peaceful transition of power and trying to launch an attack using his supporters as weapons against the U.S. government,” Finkelstein said. “If we were to find out additional facts that suggested some intentionality on the part of the president, then I believe he could be guilty of sedition.”

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WHYY (Philadelphia)

Congress expected to certify Biden’s win this week—despite GOP push to subvert the vote

Kermit Roosevelt of the Law School attributed efforts to call into question the results of the presidential election to longer term political objectives. “I’m afraid that it’s going to make the next four years a lot more difficult—not that they were going to be easy, anyway,” he said. “To the extent that we’re in an era of people living in different realities, this exacerbates that.”

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6ABC.com

Stimulus checks are coming, but there are more parts of the bill that may be beneficial for you

Richard Prisinzano of the Penn Wharton Budget Model spoke about how the new pandemic relief package passed by Congress will affect unemployed people. "The extended benefits, I think people will be able to go back and see, under this new bill, retroactive checks," he said.

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