Pitt Law Professors Available to Comment on U.S. Supreme Court Cases to Be Argued Next Week Involving Search Warrants, Drug-Sniffing Dogs, and Textbook Copyright Infringement

PITTSBURGH—The following University of Pittsburgh School of Law faculty members are available to comment on several of next week’s arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bailey v. United States, Florida v. Jardines, and Florida v. Harris

John M. Burkoff, professor of law and former associate dean of academic affairs in the School of Law, and David Harris—professor of law, Distinguished Faculty Scholar, and associate dean for research—are available to comment on Bailey v. United States, Florida v. Jardines, and Florida v. Harris. 

Bailey asks the court whether the police may detain someone incident to the execution of a search warrant when that person has left the immediate vicinity of the premises before the warrant is executed. Harris and Jardines both involve the use by police of dogs that can detect the odor of illegal narcotics.  

Burkoff focuses his scholarship and teaching in the areas of criminal law, constitutional criminal procedure, legal ethics, the Fourth Amendment, and criminal defense and prosecutorial ethics. A prolific writer, Burkoff has authored or coauthored 19 books and more than 60 articles, among them, Criminal Defense Ethics: Law and Liability, 2012 Edition (West 2012) and Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, 2012 Edition (West 2012). He also is a frequent expert witness and public speaker. 

Harris studies, writes about, and teaches police behavior and regulation, law enforcement, and national security issues and the law. He is a leading national authority on racial profiling. His 2002 book Profiles in Injustice: Why Racial Profiling Cannot Work (The New Press) and his scholarly articles about traffic stops of motorists from underrepresented populations influenced the national debate on profiling and related topics. In his latest book, Failed Evidence: Why Law Enforcement Resists Science (NYU Press, 2012), Harris examines why many police and prosecutorial agencies oppose replacing questionable investigative methods with science-based, empirically proven techniques.

Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Michael J. Madison, professor of law and faculty director of the School of Law’s Innovation Practice Institute, is available to comment on Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., which involves the resale in the United States of copyrighted American textbooks purchased cheaply abroad; it is considered by some to be one of the most important copyright cases since 2003. Madison specializes in the law of intellectual property and the Internet. A member of the Pitt Law faculty since 1998, he served as the director of the school’s certificate program in intellectual property and technology law and regularly contributes to madisonian.net, a blog about law, technology, and culture. 

Madison’s scholarship has been published in numerous law reviews, including the Cornell Law Review, the William & Mary Law Review, and the Journal of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A. He recently coauthored the casebook The Law of Intellectual Property (Aspen Publishers, third edition, 2011).

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10/26/12/mab/cjhm