Professor Nicola Sharpe is one of five individuals selected to be part of a screening committee whose task is to review and vet District Court candidates and advise regarding the candidates’ qualifications and fitness for the position. The committee was selected by U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth to fill vacancy in the Federal District Court Judge in the Central District of Illinois. “Our constitutional responsibility to advise and consent is one of the most important duties we have in the Senate.  As we make recommendations for lifetime judicial appointments, we will benefit from the guidance and insights of our distinguished screening committee,” the Senators said in a press release. The committee also features University of Illinois College of Law alumni Hon. Glenn Collier (ret.) and Donald Jackson.

Transfer rules and the changes to those rules have played an outsized role in college athletics in recent years. The federal government joining 10 states and the District of Columbia in a lawsuit against the NCAA that seeks to make permanent a temporary restraining order prohibiting the governing body from imposing penalties on student-athletes that transfer more than one time. Specifically, the lawsuit alleges the NCAA “unlawfully restrain the ability of Division I college athletes to transfer to other Division I schools without loss of athletic eligibility.” At the Sports Illustrated Fan Nation site, Professor Nicola Sharpe explained that the Department of Justice taking a side in this battle means the issue is of national concern.