Jennifer Granholm quoted by The Sacramento Bee, March 30, 2017
“The criminal wrongdoer should not be permitted to profit from its wrongdoing,” former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm told the Senate panel.
Sacramento tries to fend off L.A. in race for $44 million from VW to boost electric cars
Judge Neil Gorsuch: Friend or foe of the environment?
Daniel Farber quoted by Earth Island Journal, March 30, 2017
“[Gorsuch] doesn’t strike me as a bomb thrower, that he’s going to come down with some striking decisions that wreak havoc,” Farber adds. “Given that the decision was going to be made by a Republican president, I don’t think that we were going to do much better than him in terms of environmental cases, and maybe in general.”
Cowboy Neil: How western is Gorsuch and does it matter?
Jesse Choper quoted by California Magazine, March 30, 2017
“The court is by no means representative of the country,” says Berkeley Law’s Jesse Choper, “not geographically, not religiously, not educationally. The fact is that every one of them was from either Harvard or Yale. It used to be more diverse [in that sense], and it used to be that where you were from mattered. I think it still does, but I think where they were educated matters more.”
UC law schools awarded millions after bank’s loss in court
Melissa Murray quoted by The Recorder (registration required), March 29, 2017
The Sundquists are among thousands of Californians who have suffered mortgage trauma in the past decade, wrote Interim UC Berkeley Law Dean Melissa Murray in a statement. “The case is in its infancy; this is the first stage of what could be a long, drawn-out appeals process,” Murray wrote. “But it’s vital that the issue of consumer fraud remain in the public domain. At the law school, we have long-recognized the importance of this area of law, which is reflected in our current curriculum, our consumer rights work, and our new hire of a professor with expertise in consumer bankruptcy law.”
Eight executions in 11 days: Arkansas order may endanger staff’s mental health
Jennifer Moreno quoted by The Guardian, March 29, 2017
Jennifer Moreno, a staff attorney with the Berkeley Law death penalty clinic, said that by choosing to use midazolam, Arkansas had opted for a protocol that had no margin of error. “When you add to that the pressure of executing eight men in 11 days, you are just asking for something to go wrong – they are putting their team in a really difficult spot.”
Teenagers already know the key to protecting your privacy
Kenneth Bamberger and Deirdre Mulligan write for TIME, March 29, 2017
In the long run, our democratic institutions and civil society offer the best defense against runaway machines and misbehaving spy agencies. In the meantime, follow the smart teenagers’ example. Buy a roll of tape.
Trump has the power to revoke Bears Ears monument declaration, report says
John Yoo quoted by The Salt Lake Tribune, March 29, 2017
“This opinion is poorly reasoned; misconstrued a prior opinion, which came to the opposite result; and is inconsistent with constitutional, statutory, and case law governing the president’s exercise of analogous grants of power,” Yoo and Gaziano wrote. “Based on a more careful legal analysis, we believe that a general discretionary revocation power exists.”
A dearth of I.P.O.s, but it’s not the fault of red tape
Steven Davidoff Solomon writes for The New York Times, March 28, 2017
The confirmation hearing last week for Jay Clayton, who has been nominated to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, focused on the continued sluggishness of the market for initial public offerings. Senators pushed the nominee to do something, anything, to revive it.
The problem is that there is no magic wand — including deregulation — that can fix the decline.
Where will Raiders play next season? Lawyers reviewing lease
Mark Gergen quoted by East Bay Times, March 28, 2017
Mark Gergen, a UC Berkeley law professor, reviewed the lease and said it appears there is little the Coliseum authority can do to force the Raiders out early. … “It looks fairly straightforward,” Gergen said. “It looks like Oakland is bound on the option.”
Report: Infill is key to California’s future
Ethan Elkind quoted by Builder Online, March 28, 2017
“By encouraging housing near jobs, services and transit, along with savings on household energy use, the state can grow its economy and eliminate almost 1.8 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year,” says Ethan Elkind. … “That’s the equivalent of avoiding emissions from 378,100 passenger vehicles annually.”