Third-year law students Zachary Irovando, Sealy Sikes and Sarah Tyler advanced to the national semifinals, placing fourth among more than 170 teams from nearly 100 law schools. The team also secured the third-ranked brief in the nation. Individually, Irovando placed as the second-ranked speaker, while Tyler ranked ninth out of more than 500 competitors.

The result marks the third-highest finish in program history. WashU Law captured the national title in 2012 and finished as runner-up in 2018, continuing a strong tradition of appellate advocacy success.

The team’s coaches are Richard Finneran, an adjunct professor of law, and private attorney Sasha Riedisser, a WashU Law alumna.

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John Inazu, the Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law & Religion at WashU Law, received Rice University’s Boniuk Institute for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance 2026 Senior Scholar Award.

The prestigious award highlights scholars whose work has made significant and sustained contributions to the public understanding of religion and religious pluralism.

“This award honors transformative voices shaping religion in public life,” said Elaine Howard Ecklund, director of the Boniuk Institute. “Inazu models principled, public scholarship on law, religion and pluralism.”

In his lecture, Inazu emphasized that “learning to disagree” is not optional but essential for civic life. He introduced the concept of “confident pluralism,” a framework that encourages individuals to remain grounded in their own beliefs while engaging openly and respectfully with others.

Read more on the Rice University news website.

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College students from around the country will have an opportunity to debate that question when the School of Law at Washington University in St. Louis holds a national Model Constitutional Convention May 21–24.  

Bringing together undergraduate, graduate and law students from across the country, the convention will allow them to examine the process of constitutional change in the United States firsthand. It is the only national, student-led convention dedicated to amending the Constitution.

The three-day program simulates an Article V constitutional convention, with students serving as state delegates responsible for proposing, debating and voting on amendments. The event is designed to deepen understanding of constitutional structure while encouraging rigorous, civil discourse on complex legal and policy issues.

The convention will include 110 students from 81 academic institutions throughout the country.

“This is a rare opportunity for students to grapple with fundamental questions about constitutional change in a structured, collaborative environment,” said Stefanie Lindquist, the Nickerson Dean of WashU Law and founder of the Model Constitutional Convention. “By simulating the amendment process, participants gain a deeper understanding of both the possibilities and challenges of constitutional reform.”

Participants will follow procedures modeled on those governing a real convention. Proposed amendments must receive support from three-fourths of delegates to advance, reflecting the high threshold required for constitutional change.

The program builds on a previous convention held at Arizona State University in 2024 and continues a broader effort to expand experiential learning opportunities in constitutional law. 

In advance of the event, participants complete preparatory coursework focused on constitutional design, amendment procedures and parliamentary rules to support informed and substantive debate.

The convention will feature lectures and discussions with leading constitutional scholars and practitioners, including Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of UC Berkeley Law; Richard Albert, professor of law at the University of Texas at Austin; and Justin Weinstein-Tull, professor of law at Arizona State University.

The Model Constitutional Convention is supported by the John Storr Fund and the Frick Initiative at WashU Law, with additional collaboration from partner institutions Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and its Center for Constitutional Design and The University of Texas at Austin School of Law’s Constitutional Studies Program.

Read more information on the WashU Law website.

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The result of the Louisiana V. Callais decision may be disastrous for racial minority political power in the United States, says an expert on voting rights law at Washington University in St. Louis.

“The big-ticket takeaways are clear: the court has gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, effectively overruled its recent decision in Allen V. Milligan, and opened the door to the dismantling of majority-minority districts across the country, particularly in the South,” wrote Travis Crum, a professor at WashU Law, in a piece shared on the Election Law Blog.

“In ordinary times, Callais’s impact would not be felt until the next redistricting cycle,” he wrote. “But these are not ordinary times, and the country is in the midst of a mid-decade redistricting war that will accelerate its impact.”

The court didn’t strike down Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, but significantly weakened it by allowing states to justify maps on partisan grounds, Crum wrote. This shifts the law closer to requiring proof of discriminatory intent rather than effects, while also signaling broader changes in how race and strict scrutiny may be treated under the 15th Amendment, he wrote.

The decision fits into a trend of narrowing voting rights protections and elevating intent-based claims, he wrote.

“Given how much Callais changed the law and moved Section 2 far closer to an intent standard, the court might be tempted to take the case to explain how intent claims work in a post-Callais world. The court might not be done with Section 2 this redistricting cycle.”

Read more on the Election Law Blog.

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Their work focuses on certificates of appealability in habeas corpus cases — an often-overlooked but critical step that determines whether a prisoner can appeal a denied petition for their release. By compiling and analyzing more than 32,000 federal cases across circuits, the pair aims to better understand how courts are applying the standard and whether access to appellate review is being unevenly or unfairly limited. They are set to graduate from WashU Law in May.

Lobo has accepted a position at law firm Sullivan & Cromwell in New York, where she will be working on a variety of litigation matters. Lanza will be clerking for a federal judge in Kansas City, Kan., for a year before joining Lobo at Sullivan & Cromwell.

The pair will continue working on their project and hope to publish it in a law journal once it’s complete. 

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A prominent expert on the U.S. Supreme Court, Epps is frequently quoted in the media and is widely known for his influential work on Supreme Court reform, including a restructuring proposal that helped shape national policy discussions. He co-hosts the podcast “Divided Argument,” which examines the court’s work, and has litigated before the Supreme Court.

Howard Cayne, a 1979 law alumnus, and Caroline Cayne are longtime advocates of WashU Law and deeply committed partners in WashU’s mission. They established the distinguished professorship in recognition of the vital role that exceptional faculty played in Howard’s legal education.

Read more about Epps and the Caynes on the WashU Law website.

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The report is an update to a 2019 analysis. The new edition incorporates newer data and expands the scope of the earlier research. For example, the 2019 report examined childhood asthma, while the updated analysis also looks at asthma among adults. It also includes new data visualizations that illustrate how environmental conditions and health outcomes intersect across neighborhoods.

“We wanted to ensure that the updated report incorporated the latest available data and that it reflected what we have learned from the community over the last six years,” said Elizabeth Hubertz, director of the Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law.

In addition, while the 2019 report largely documented environmental disparities, the new version also focuses on solutions.

“The earlier report was largely descriptive, using a combination of public data and interviews with community members to catalogue environmental racism in St. Louis. This report is both descriptive and prescriptive,” said Eric Conners, a postdoctoral fellow in the clinic and a contributing author of the report. “It still documents how environmental racism manifests in St. Louis, but it also provides evidence-based, actionable recommendations for addressing those problems.”

The report also features “Community Spotlights” highlighting organizations working on environmental justice issues in St. Louis and includes a resource guide for residents seeking assistance or ways to get involved.

Among the recommendations, the report calls for improvements to how environmental health data are collected and shared. For example, it recommends updating Missouri’s environmental public health tracking database more frequently. It also suggests testing soils and surfaces in public areas where children gather if contamination is likely.

To address asthma and air quality, the report recommends that schools adopt the AirNow Air Quality Flag Program and calls for increasing air quality monitoring devices in the city.

Other recommendations include addressing the causes of illegal dumping; educating homeowners about beneficiary deeds to help reduce vacancy; supporting community-owned grocery stores in underserved areas; and improving data collection on mold complaints in rental housing.

The report also highlights how natural disasters can worsen inequalities. St. Louis neighborhoods with older housing and fewer resources may face greater damage and slower recovery after severe weather, such as the May 2025 tornado.

“Natural disasters often exacerbate preexisting inequality,” Conners said. “We can’t prevent the next tornado or flood, but we can strengthen the resilience of vulnerable communities.”

Even without strong federal support, Conners said cities and states can make meaningful progress. Residents can take action by contacting local officials, joining neighborhood organizations and reporting environmental problems such as illegal dumping or housing hazards, he added.

“A lot of the relevant action happens at the local and state level,” he said.

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“As president and CEO of Exelon, my main goal is to keep the lights on and the gas flowing,” he says.

Exelon is one of the nation’s largest utility companies, serving more than 10.7 million customers in Illinois, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.

“Our operating companies have been rated as some of the most reliable utility companies in the nation, and we have a long history of service and innovation in this industry — nearly 800 years between all of our utilities,” Butler says. One of Exelon’s subsidiaries, Baltimore Gas & Electric, was the first gas utility in the country and has been in service for 209 years.

“I think about the legacy Exelon is leaving behind, and I want to build upon that as CEO,” Butler says.

So how does a lawyer end up running a Fortune 200 utility company? It all began when Butler accepted a job in the legal department at a public utility in Peoria, Illinois, after graduating from WashU Law. He then moved on to work in a variety of areas at RR Donnelley in Chicago, which was the world’s largest printing company at the time.

“The most pivotal moment in my career was when I had an opportunity to learn operations at RR Donnelley,” Butler says. “It showed me I could take my legal career, merge that with operations, and still deliver profit and loss responsibility. I’ve built off that throughout my career.”

In 2008, Exelon recruited him to work in their largest utility, ComEd, in Chicago, before transferring him to Baltimore to spearhead a complex merger between Exelon and Constellation Energy. Following the merger’s successful completion, Butler was asked to head up corporate affairs for Baltimore Gas & Electric.

He was named the utility’s CEO — his first CEO role — in 2014, spending five years there before taking on the role of CEO of Exelon’s utility business, encompassing six local energy companies. After a later stint as COO at Exelon, Butler was promoted to CEO in 2022. He’s now working to solve the energy sector’s biggest challenges: energy security and affordability.

Delivering clean energy is another area of focus for Butler. By 2050, Exelon aims to have net-zero business-driven emissions. By 2030, half of the company’s fleet of vehicles will be electric.

“We’re dedicated to delivering clean energy, but we have to do it in a very thoughtful, systematic and equitable way,” Butler says. “If we don’t have all of the energy sources available — including nuclear, wind, solar, hydro, gas and coal — energy demand will go up and so will prices.”

In 2025, Butler was named chair of the board of directors of the Edison Electric Institute (EEI). The trade association brings together investor-owned utility companies to develop and advocate for energy policies at the federal and state levels.

“I need to ensure that EEI is well represented on Capitol Hill because I want the policies we’re advocating for to impact our member companies and our customers in the right way,” he says.

Butler knows that building the energy workforce of the future is also vital, and Exelon offers an award-winning workforce development program in the communities it serves. The program has been recognized with the Chair’s Award for Workforce Development Leadership from the Center for Energy Workforce Development.

“We’ve invested more than $75 million since 2019 in our workforce development program, and some of the most exciting programs we offer involve students,” Butler says. “In summer 2025, we had over 280 interns representing 118 colleges. We also had 400 high school students participate in a STEM program where they spent a week learning from our leadership team.”

Butler says the opportunity he had as a student to learn from leaders in the legal field is pivotal to everything he does today. “I came to WashU to study under Richard Lazarus, a preeminent environmental law professor,” he says. “Amazing professors, as well as lifelong friendships I developed, made WashU a remarkable place. I share my love of WashU with the next generation at every opportunity.”

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“My career has had some twists and turns,” Shroff says. He worked as a practicing attorney in New York for nearly a decade before accepting a job back in his hometown of St. Louis. His reason was a practical one: “My wife and I welcomed a son, and we needed a backyard.”

Shroff and his family took up residence in Webster Groves, Missouri, where backyards are more common, and he took on a new role as a general counsel for ICL Group, Ltd., a global manufacturing company. After running the business division for the company, Shroff began to contemplate a future in business ownership.

“There was no master plan,” he says. “It just unfolded when I reflected on my strengths, my weaknesses and what I enjoyed doing. My time at WashU Law taught me process-oriented logic and made me consider taking a bit of a gamble. That led me to buy the business in 2019.”

The Wine and Cheese Place has been a staple in the St. Louis community since 1982. Loyal customers stop by to enjoy wines, craft beers, hand-cut cheeses and specialty foods at several locations, including Creve Coeur, where Shroff grew up; Clayton; Kirkwood; and Town and Country. During his time as owner, Shroff has elevated the company by relocating multiple locations and opening a new venture, Spirit Wine & Craft, in the Southampton neighborhood.

“We have people who’ve been shopping with us for 40 years,” he says. “The fact that they continue shopping with us is a blessing. A lot of our customers are known by first name when they walk in the door, and they choose us because they trust us to help them find what they’re looking for.”

While the customer comes first, Shroff has also been intentional about forming partnerships with other local companies like O+O Hospitality, which operates several popular eateries in Webster Groves. “It’s always been a win-win for us,” Shroff says. “Supporting local businesses supports our brand, as well. It just makes a lot of sense.”

In addition to his partnerships, Shroff is focused on growing his other specialty shop, Extra Virgin: An Olive Ovation, which he purchased in 2023. “There are challenges to selling wine and spirits because of the nationwide shipping involved and alcohol rules,” he says. “Olive oil doesn’t have those limitations.”

As Shroff grows his business portfolio, he remains committed to providing diverse and delicious options to his many St. Louis patrons. His return to the area in 2013 appears to have been a smart move, both personally and professionally. “St. Louis is great. We have our challenges, but I’ve always felt that the people here are genuinely nice and genuinely care about their neighbors. We certainly feel the sense of community in our stores.”

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If Congress wants to lower drug prices, it needs to understand the structure and incentives of the entire supply chain, said Rachel Sachs, a professor of law and of public health.

Sachs testified Feb. 11 before the U.S. House Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee during a hearing titled “Lowering Health Care Costs for All Americans: An Examination of the Prescription Drug Supply Chain.”

“Too many Americans cannot afford important medications,” she told the subcommittee, with many patients reporting that they “have not taken medication as prescribed due to its costs.”

High drug prices are not driven by a single factor, said Sachs, who is also research co-director of WashU’s Cordell Institute for Policy in Medicine & Law.

“Many actors in the prescription drug supply chain play key roles in setting and maintaining high drug prices,” she said.

For example, U.S. law provides pharmaceutical companies with exclusive rights to market their branded products through patents and regulatory restrictions while also guaranteeing insurance reimbursement, Sachs said.

“The combination of exclusive rights and guaranteed payment has allowed manufacturers to set and maintain high prescription drug prices over time,” she said.

Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), wholesalers and group purchasing organizations have been criticized for steering patients toward pricier drugs, Sachs said. There are concerns that PBMs in particular limit access to lower-cost alternatives and bring in revenue through arrangements that weaken incentives to reduce prices, she argued.

Sachs urged Congress to pursue a package of reforms rather than a single solution. “There is no single way to address these issues,” she said.

Reforms should focus on making competition more effective, increasing transparency and oversight into the opaque supply chain, and considering policies that address reimbursement directly, Sachs said. Strengthening the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program could be part of the solution, she said.

“Every actor in the supply chain plays a role in keeping prices high, and every actor has a role to play in ensuring affordability for both patients and our overall health-care system,” Sachs said.

With sustained oversight and targeted reforms, she said, Congress can help restore balance to a system that too often leaves patients facing impossible choices between their health and their finances.

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