John Yoo quoted in San Francisco Chronicle, March 6, 2013
“It would be a mistake for the Supreme Court to use this case to basically cut off the political process and impose its own view on a moral and political question that is very divisive.” The savvy conservative believes in states’ rights and voters’ right to choose their marriage laws.
Anne Joseph O’Connell quoted in ProPublica, March 5, 2013
There’s also a potential upside to having the president appoint board members to minor boards and commissions, said Anne Joseph O’Connell, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who has studied presidential appointments. The positions are often part-time and don’t pay much. But if appointees get a call from the White House, O’Connell said, they might be more willing to serve.
Andrew Guzman quoted in The Toronto Star, March 5, 2013
“We will have more droughts, more floods, and they will be more severe,” Guzman says. Historically, big droughts were far apart, maybe as much as a 100 years between two. “Now, they happen often and they have global impact.” Future conflicts, says Guzman, will be caused by, or become worse because of, climate change.
Daniel Mulhern quoted in The Daily Californian, March 4, 2013
“I really love my students, and I love ideas. When students want to learn and grow, I’m in heaven every day,” Mulhern said. “I’m learning as much as I’m teaching, every day I walk into the classroom.”
Elisabeth Semel quoted in KGO-TV, March 4, 2013
“I think it’s hard for the public to grasp this,” UC Berkeley Death Penalty Clinic Director Elisabeth Semel said. “People who’ve been convicted of murder have a better rate of success, that is, a lower recidivism rate, than individuals who commit other types of crimes.”
Jayni Hein interviewed by KALW News, Crosscurrents, February 28, 2013
“More and more, people don’t want to see this sort of black and white wilderness versus non-wilderness. We’ve almost evolved beyond that, and I think it’s time to think of creative approaches about how can we both incentivize and protect the development of our local, sustainable, and organic agriculture, but at the same time preserve these wild areas for future generations.”
Jesse Choper quoted in San Francisco Appeal, February 26, 2013
“It can’t hurt, but I doubt it’s going to help,” said Jesse Choper, a constitutional law professor and former dean at the UC Berkeley School of Law who teaches an annual course on Supreme Court cases. “Friend-of-the-court briefs ordinarily have virtually no impact at most,” Choper said…. An Obama Administration brief also wouldn’t make much difference to the court’s nine justices. “Everybody knows where he stands. It’s politics.”
Jennifer Granholm quoted in The Atlantic Cities, February 28, 2013
She’s on a crusade to establish a national clean energy policy framework, one that would be powered by states and metropolitan regions…. “Every state would have something to contribute. Every state has some kind of asset,” she says. Midwestern states might innovate in wind power, while the southwest and California would naturally embrace solar. The Northeast might excel in energy efficiency, Michigan in electric car batteries, and other regions in geo-thermal, nuclear power, or clean natural gas.
Stanley Lubman writes for The Wall Street Journal, February 27, 2013
Dog owners in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen who disobey a new law mandating the use of “pet restrooms” are subject to an $80 fine. According to another new regulation approved in Beijing late last year, children are required to visit elderly parents “often.” These and other recent legal developments – including a pair of domestic violence cases with wildly different outcomes – illustrate how unprecedented social changes in China are provoking new questions about the role of law in society.
Deirdre Mulligan and Kenneth Bamberger write for Privacy Perspectives, February 27, 2013
What level of independence and authority do privacy officers need so that they can embed a value as complicated as privacy—at times in tension with a whole host of bottom-line commitments, from identifying terrorists to placing effective ads —into a complex organization? …. We are engaged in research involving almost one hundred interviews of leading privacy officers, regulators and other privacy professionals in the U.S. and four European countries—Germany, France, Spain and the UK—to find answers to these questions grounded in the actual experience of privacy professionals.