Christopher Kutz

San Bernardino, Paris attacks revive post-9/11 fears

Christopher Kutz interviewed by San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 5, 2015

If the San Bernardino shooters are found to have terrorist ties, their possible local links should be investigated, too, said UC Berkeley Professor of Law Chris Kutz. … “But it should be done extremely carefully and with sensitivity with respect to the rights of the American Muslim community,” Kutz said.

The Stop

Christopher Kutz op-ed cited in Life of the Law, Oct. 6, 2015

Kutz took data from the U.S. Justice Department and crunched the numbers. He says police in the U.S. make about three times more stops than officers in Spain, France, or England. And yet, the United States has almost double the number of fatal car crashes, meaning the roads in the U.S. aren’t any safer.

For a safer America, curtail traffic stops

Christopher Kutz writes for Los Angeles Times, August 13, 2015

“Curtailing traffic stops wouldn’t solve the problem of police violence against blacks and Latinos, but it would reduce exposure to ‘driving while black’ harassment and the collateral harms of the legal process. … And all citizens could enjoy more freedom from overzealous and unproductive policing.”

The ‘pay-to-play’ law that snagged California State Senator Leland Yee

Christopher Kutz quoted in The San Francisco Chronicle, March 28, 2014

The law draws a distinction, Kutz said, between the typical politician-contributor relationship—donors give money to office-seekers who generally share their views—and a promise of specific favors in exchange for funds. “The test is whether the relationship between the contributor and the server (in office) becomes too much of an explicit transaction,” he said.

Three state Supreme Court justices recuse themselves from oil, gas case

Christopher Kutz quoted in Daily Journal, April 10, 2013 (registration required)

Christopher Kutz, a legal ethics expert who teaches at UC Berkeley School of Law, said it’s not ideal for state Supreme Court justices to recuse themselves. But it’s better than the alternative, he said.  “The alternative is justices voting in cases in which they have a financial interest.”

Chris Kutz Comments on BP Investigation and UC Contract

Los Angeles Times, July 30, 2010 by Michael Hiltzik
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20100730,0,1032270.column

“I’m waiting to see that happens with the investigation,” he says. “The oil spill is tragic and clearly negligent, but that alone shouldn’t be enough to cause us to revoke the partnership. But if we’re getting into serious criminal negligence, deliberate indifference to environmental or health risks, then the university needs to think about who it’s working with.”

Chris Kutz Questions Expansion of College Athletic Conferences

Inside Higher Ed, June 9, 2010 by David Moltz
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/06/09/conferences

“In general, of course, more revenue (assuming it is applied towards existing program costs) would be a good thing, though all the predictions are very speculative, of course,” wrote Kutz in an e-mail. “On the other hand, the faculty would certainly be concerned if the change in the league led to a lessening of the commitment of academic excellence of the member schools (or a greater tolerance for pressure on athletes at students). And there is worry that a bigger division will increase the pace of the spending arms race that has proven so costly to college sports.”

Chris Kutz Says It’s Premature to Examine UC Contract with BP

The Fresno Bee, June 6, 2010 by Laurel Rosenhall
http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/06/06/1959655/bp-funds-search-for-green-fuels.html

“If it turns out that BP is guilty of serious criminal misconduct in relation to its environmental obligations, that could raise a question under this clause” of the contract, Chris Kutz, a UC Berkeley law professor who chairs the academic Senate, wrote in an e-mail to The Bee. “But I believe it is premature to begin any serious discussion until more facts are known.”