On Wednesday, President Obama nominated Merrick B. Garland to replace the seat of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. We’ll talk to Marjorie Cohn about what challenges lie ahead for Obama. Then, this week Syria entered the 5th year of its civil war. Shortly after a fresh round of peace talks kicked off, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise announcement that Russia will withdraw most of its warplanes and soldiers from Syria. We talk about what that means for Syria’s future. In the second half, Professor Steven Salaita speaks to us from Beirut about being de-hired after a series of critical tweets he made about Israel. He tells all in his book, Uncivil Rights: Palestine and The Limits of Academic Freedom.
Guests:
Marjorie Cohn, professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and former president of the National Lawyers Guild. Her most recent book is ‘Drones and Targeted Killing: Legal, Moral, and Geopolitical Issues.’ You can read her many articles at http://marjoriecohn.com/ and follow her on Twitter at @marjoriecohn
Joe Lauria, veteran foreign-affairs journalist based at the UN since 1990. He’s currently in Irbil, Iraq where he’s been reporting since January of this year
Steven Salaita, Edward W. Said Chair of American Studies at the American University of Beirut and author of Uncivil Rights: Palestine and The Limits of Academic Freedom