Melissa Murray and Jesse Choper Deflect Criticisms of Sotomayor

San Francisco Chronicle, May 29, 2009 by Carolyn Lochhead
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/29/MNGF17SNET.DTL&type=printable

“She has sterling credentials,” Murray said. “She’s incredibly smart, she’s incredibly fair. I think she takes every case on its merits. She’s very rigorous in researching cases and she applies the law. The idea of her as an activist is absolutely ludicrous. In my time with her, I’ve never seen anyone more sensitive to what the law in our circuit actually required.”

Jesse Choper, a UC Berkeley constitutional law professor, said Sotomayor might take back her Berkeley words if she could, saying they were inelegantly put. “But having said that,” Choper said, “every Supreme Court justice, every human being, is the product of their own experience, their own education, their own background, their own values.”

Jesse Choper Explains Impact of Prop 8

-KRON-TV, May 27, 2009 by Mark Jones
http://serve.castfire.com/video/101413/101413_2009-05-27-004144.mp4

“The pro-gay rights people are going to have a constitutional amendment to be put on the ballot, a ballot proposition amending the constitution and changing what Proposition 8 did.” Professor Choper says opponents could back to polls, too, and try to throw out the 18-thousand gay marriages. “They could do what they failed to do with this initiative and that was to make perfectly clear that there shall be no gay marriage recognized in the state of California, whether it was consummated before or after.”

-CHQR-AM, The Rutherford Show, May 27, 2009 Host Dave Rutherford
http://radiotime.com/program/p_1403/Dave_Rutherford_Show.aspx

The California Supreme Court held that sexual preference is a specially-protected class under the California constitution. Proposition 8 didn’t change that. It simply said … that the special protection does not include the M word, marriage. They still have rights under California Domestic Partnership law, which gives them a substantial number of rights of married couples…. So, this doesn’t mean that all of a sudden California could turn around and say that gays have no special rights under the constitution. That’s not what they did. This was a very narrow and limited denial of a certain aspect of the right.

Goodwin Liu and Jesse Choper Analyze Prop 8 Ruling

Los Angeles Times, May 27, 2009 by Maura Dolan
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gay-marriage27-2009may27,0,1949011,print.story

UC Berkeley constitutional law professor Goodwin Liu said the ruling shows “the court continues to be very deferential to the processes of direct democracy in California.”

Jesse Choper, a professor of constitutional law at UC Berkeley, said the court’s ruling means that voters may take away individual rights “in a limited fashion” and that the scope of the measure will determine whether it is permissible. “The court wasn’t happy about this. Proposition 8 changed their opinion” last year that gave gays and lesbians marriage rights, he said. “The justices stood up and said, ‘OK, people have the right to do so, and it is not a revision because it is limited in scope.’ “

Jesse Choper, Goodwin Liu, and Herma Hill Kay Affirm Legality of State’s Same-Sex Marriages

-Legal Pad Blog, May 26, 2009 by Petra Pasternak
http://legalpad.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/05/prop-8-stands-but-what-about-the-18k-marriages.html

“There is absolutely no distinction in the law’s eyes between those gay married couples and heterosexual married couples,” constitutional law scholar Jesse Choper said. “They have exactly the same rights,” he said, at least under California law.

It’s probably a bittersweet outcome for those lucky 36,000 people, says Goodwin Liu, a constitutional and civil rights professor. “The upholding of Prop 8 means they are viewed as an exception rather than the rule, and that’s often an uncomfortable position to be in.”

Those who didn’t marry in that window continue to have the same legal rights and obligations they’ve always had under the domestic partnership laws, said Herma Hill Kay, who teaches family law. Those include rights to property, inheritance, and all “the tangible aspects of married life.”

Jesse Choper and Robert Cole Disagree on President’s Wartime Powers

The Daily Californian, March 4, 2009 by Alexandra Wilcox
http://www.dailycal.org/article/104646/professor_john_yoo_s_recently_released_memos_draw_#comments

-Robert H. Cole … said Yoo’s Oct. 23 memo was a “panicked one lacking in professional objectivity. It’s incredible to me that 9/11 means the president has essentially unlimited power to dispense with our civil liberties,” he said.
-It is not far-fetched that individual rights may be restricted in times of war, said Jesse Choper…. “Most constitutional scholars would agree that the government interest in times of war will be given greater weight by the courts in certain respect in regulation of certain liberties,” he said.

Jesse Choper Believes Faith-Healing Laws Hard to Remove Despite Child Deaths

Contra Costa Times, January 7, 2009 by William McCall
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_11400038

“The status quo is very difficult to upset,” said Jesse Choper, the Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at the University of California, Berkeley.

Jesse Choper Says Brown’s Move to Void Prop 8 a Tough Strategy

Los Angeles Times, January 6, 2009 by Jessica Garrison
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-gay-marriage6-2009jan06,0,4846364.story

“It faces an uphill battle,” said UC Berkeley Law School professor Jesse Choper.

Jesse Choper Questions Legality of Proposed California Tax Plan

The Sacramento Bee, January 6, 2009 by Phillip Reese
http://www.sacbee.com/politics/story/1518727.html

“The question is, ‘What is a tax?'” said Jesse Choper, Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at the University of California, Berkeley. “It may be a simple little question, but like most things, it can be more complicated.”

Jesse Choper Analyzes Brown’s Decision to Scrap Prop 8

-Associated Press, Dec. 19, 2008 by Lisa Leff
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/ci_11275324

“It is not an easy argument, but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to win,” Choper said.

-Reuters, Dec. 19, 2008 by Peter Henderson
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE4BJ0CH20081220

“They’ve just amended the constitution, and the logic would be if this is what the constitution means, then it can’t be unconstitutional,” he said. He added that if Brown showed previous court interpretations to back his case, it could win. “Constitutional interpretation is not all logic, that’s for sure,” he said.

-Los Angeles Times, Dec. 24, 2008 by Victoria Kim and Jack Leonard
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/crime/la-me-brown24-2008dec24,0,5751108.story

“Strategically, I think it’s a clever move,” said Jesse H. Choper, a professor of law at UC Berkeley. “It gives the California Supreme Court another way to invalidate Prop. 8.”

Jesse Choper Doubts Off-track Sites Can Rescue Horse Racing

San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 15, 2008 by Charles Burress
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/15/MNU614N4HB.DTL&type=printable

UC Berkeley law school Professor Jesse Choper, a longtime racing fan who sits on the seven-member racing board, also was not optimistic about the income potential of the new off-track sites. “My guess is it (the new off-track sites) will pick it up a little bit. That’s not going to save the industry.”