For the Record: Faculty Awards, Articles and Expert Insights on Criminal Law, Environmental Law, Indigenous Peoples Law and More

News 

Swisher Named Recipient of The American Inns of Court Warren E. Burger Prize   

Professor Keith Swisher, faculty director of the BA in Law and Master of Legal Studies Programs, has been named the recipient of this year’s The American Inns of Court Warren E. Burger Prize for his article titled “The Moral Haps in Legal Machines.” The Warren E. Burger Prize is a writing competition designed to promote scholarship in the areas of professionalism, ethics, civility, and excellence. 

American Inns of Court Executive Director Joseph Berger wrote: “As our profession wrestles through the experienced and potential impacts of artificial intelligence, his addressing the moral gaps in the various platforms is critical to ensuring the continued moral and ethical practice of law.” 

Roisman Article Named Download of the Week and Things to Read This Week in Leading Academic Blogs 

Associate Dean for Research and Milton O. Riepe Professor of Law Shalev Roisman’s article “Fact Avoidance,” forthcoming in the Harvard Law Review, was recently named the “Download of the Week” in the Legal Theory Blog. 

The article was also recently recommended on the “Things to Read This Week” list by University of Chicago Law School Professor of Law William Baude in the Divided Argument legal academic blog.  

Legal Deserts Problem-Solving Project Lead by Jane and Balser Highlighted in Report to U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations 

Earlier this year, Director of Innovation for Justice Stacy Rupprecht Jane and Professor of Practice Cayley Balser began collaborating with the National Center for State Courts and the State Justice Institute on the Legal Deserts Problem-Solving Project, which aggregates promising practices for greening legal deserts nationwide and brings together a cohort of courts in Michigan, Nevada and Washington to explore strategies for localizing legal desert solutions. This project was recently highlighted and cited in a report written by the State Justice Institute and submitted to the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations.  

Media 

ABA Council Extends Test-Optional Admissions Variance by 3 Years 
Law.com 
Aug. 24, 2026  

The ABA Accreditation Council has extended its test-optional admissions variance program for three years to bring in more law schools and data before deciding whether to reconsider changing its standardized-testing requirement. Dean Emeritus Marc Miller is mentioned as catalyst for the council first allowing law schools to accept the GRE for law school admission ten years ago and JD-Next three years ago.  

Why are there so many mining companies in the Southwest with Canadian ties? 
KNAU (NPR) 
Aug. 21, 2026 

In a bid to end U.S. dependence on critical minerals from foreign sources, the Trump administration is easing regulations for mining companies seeking to operate in the Southwest. James Hopkins, associate clinical professor in the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program, is interviewed.  

It’s Not Over Till It’s Over: Examining Post-Conviction Relief in Arizona 
APAAC Across Arizona (Podcast) 
Aug. 11, 2026 

Dean Jason Kreag was a guest on APAAC Across Arizona Podcast. He and Criminal Division Chief at the Arizona Attorney General's Office Nick Klingerman examined what happens after the verdict in a criminal case. Contrary to TV portrayals of cases going from crime to trial in a week, real criminal cases may not be resolved for years, with post-conviction proceedings extending the case longer. 

Opinion: Public land is a promise. BLM’s proposed grazing rule breaks it 
Billings Gazette 
Aug. 8, 2026 

Professor of Law Justin Pidot, Ashby Lohse Chair in Water & Natural Resources, co-director of the Environmental Law, Science and Policy Program, co-authors an option piece on how the Bureau of Land Management new policy to block bison grazing across as much as 100 million acres of public land it manages is an extraordinary departure from the goal of conserving public lands for the long-term benefit of all Americans, undermining conservation efforts, ignoring the ecological importance of bison, and hurting the health of the land. 

Andy Mergen & Justin Pidot: How Do We Make Public Lands More Public? 
The Wild Idea (Podcast) 
Aug. 4, 2026 

Professor of Law Justin Pidot, Ashby Lohse Chair in Water & Natural Resources, co-director of the Environmental Law, Science and Policy Program and former general counsel of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, was a recent guest on the podcast The Wild Idea, alongside Andrew Mergen, faculty director of Harvard Law School’s Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic and a 33-year veteran of public lands litigation at the Department of Justice. They joined hosts Bill Hodge and Anders Reynolds to debate whether public lands are becoming more public or less. 

DHS Wants To Build A Border Wall Through Tohono O’odham Land. It’s Another Instance of The US Undermining Tribal Sovereignty. 
Mother Jones 
August 3, 2026 

In May, the Department of Homeland Security informed the Tohono O’odham Nation, the largest Native nation located along an international border, that it was beginning construction on a border wall that would cut through its reservation. But DHS failed to ask the Tohono O’odham’s authorization to cut through its lands, which include present-day Arizona and the northwest Mexican state of Sonora. The nation sued the Trump administration in June, seeking a preliminary injunction to block border wall construction on its lands. Professor of Law Keith Richotte, Jr., director of the the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program and a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, weighs in.