Gov. Brown appointees face test as CPUC tackles nuclear, pipeline safety

Steven Weissman quoted in Environment & Energy Publishing, January 7, 2013

“I’ve noticed that Peevey and [former Commissioner Timothy] Simon tended to vote as a bloc almost all of the time, and the question was who they could get to go along with them,” said Steven Weissman, a former administrative law judge at the CPUC who now serves as associate director of the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment. “I think the voting blocs are not necessarily something that makes for the best policy.”

California gun sales have risen, gun injuries have decreased

Franklin Zimring quoted in Sacramento Bee, January 6, 2013

“People who are passionate about guns see things through a single-subject lens,” said Franklin E. Zimring, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of “The Great American Crime Decline,” a book on nationwide crime trends.

Will Obama discuss race in his 2nd term?

Christopher Edley, Jr., quoted in San Francisco Chronicle, January 6, 2013

“Obama teaches the nation about race just by being before our eyes and on our minds every day,” Edley said. But in the “cold politics of race,” he said, any attempt from the liberal side to add a racial perspective to national debates is likely to backfire―in particular, if it comes from a nonwhite president…. “I don’t expect a pragmatist like Obama to change his leadership style to that of moral crusader.”

Obama advisor who had decried ‘war on terror’ now defends drones

John Yoo quoted in Los Angeles Times, January 5, 2013

John C. Yoo, the Berkeley law professor who was the focus of ire in the Bush era for the so-called torture memo that justified harsh interrogations, said he found much to like these days. “I don’t want to speak specifically about Koh’s record,” Yoo said. “There is no doubt that on issues ranging from drones to military commissions to Guantanamo Bay, Obama and his legal advisors performed a 180-degree turnaround once in office.”

Former Michigan governor Granholm leaving Current TV

Jennifer Granholm cited in USA Today, January 3, 2013

Former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm announced she is leaving Current TV and her public affairs program The War Room following the purchase of the cable network by Al-Jazeera, the pan-Arab news giant that the government of Qatar finances.”We were told today that Al-Jazeera is the buyer for Current TV,” Granholm said in a posting on her Facebook page…. Granholm has been considered one of the network’s leading personalities.

An appealing strategy

Nancy Lemon quoted in California Lawyer Magazine, January 2013

“Statistically, when battered moms bring up domestic violence in mediation before a custody hearing, they are less likely to be awarded custody,” says Nancy Lemon, a UC Berkeley law professor, FVAP’s legal director, and the drafter of section 3044. “It’s baffling. And the only way to reverse these adverse decisions is via appeal.”

Berkeley latest school to offer moot court

David Carrillo quoted in Daily Journal, December 24, 2012 (registration required)

Carrillo said he is thinking about ways to both expand the number of moot court sessions and allow for more timely participation by attorneys whose cases have been set for oral argument. “I’m not even there to help the lawyer win their case,” Carillo said. “I’m there to help the court find the right answer.”

Sandy and sewage: why we underestimate the costs of climate change

Andrew Guzman writes for The Huffington Post, December 17, 2012

We need to see climate change as more than simply a series of weather events that will cause the same kind of harm that weather always causes…. Each such event puts a strain on the basic infrastructure upon which we rely for our daily lives: sewage, health care, food, water, transportation, communication. Sometimes these systems will be strained enough to fail, and when they do, as happened to sewage systems during Hurricane Sandy, costs (both human and financial) skyrocket.