Karin Mac Donald quoted in Stateline, Pew Center on the States, November 1, 2012
“I don’t think there’s an election administrator in the U.S. who is just sitting back and relaxing,” says Karin Mac Donald of the University of California, Berkeley, who directs the law school’s Election Administration Research Center. “Then to get something like that very close to the election to add to your usual processes?… I would not want to be an election administrator.”
Rebecca Silbert, Andrea Russi’s report cited in San Jose Mercury News, October 31, 2012
A study on exonerations by the UC Berkeley School of Law and Hollway Advisory Services, a criminal justice research firm, found California leads the nation with 120 since 1989. That’s more than Texas (100) and New York (100). More than 40 percent of those wrongful convictions involved prisoners who were sentenced to more than 20 years.
Jennifer Granholm writes for POLITICO, October 31, 2012
When Christie praises the president for working with him in a crisis, it gives me hope that maybeeven congressional Republicans might work with President Barack Obama in a second term. Call me Pollyanna, but if partisan, sharp-elbowed Christie canwork with the president, maybe all hope is not lost for D.C. Crisis might even bring the staunchest D.C. partisans together to serve a common American purpose.
David Gamage writes for The Wall Street Journal, October 30, 2012
It is time to move past the debate over whether ObamaCare was a good or a bad idea. I count myself as an ObamaCare supporter, but this doesn’t blind me to the law’s flaws. Regardless of who wins the presidential election, bipartisan compromise will be necessary to reform health care in a constructive way.
Stanley Lubman writes for The Wall Street Journal, October 28, 2012
In an era of improved communication and increasing public scrutiny, the consistently poor performance of China’s courts, which are controlled by the Communist Party, threaten to seriously undermine the party’s legitimacy. The question is whether China’s leaders would ever consider loosening their grip on the judicial system enough to solve the problems that plague it.
Elisabeth Semel interviewed by CalTV, October 27, 2012
“If you look at those four thousand people serving the sentence of life without possibility of parole, and you compare them to the 725 people on death row, what you will find is people convicted of the same crimes…. What we see in California is that crime rises and crime falls for various reasons having to do with the economy and all sorts of other considerations, but the amount of violent crime is not traceable to whether we have a deathpenalty or don’t.”
Aarti Kohli quoted in The Associated Press, October 27, 2012
“There’s a great irony for companies who serve immigrant communities, because of the possibility that many of their customers are undocumented. They can serve them, but they’re not supposed to hire them,” said Aarti Kohli, an immigration policy expert…. “I think sometimes community members feel, here is a company that wants us to buy their services and in return, what are they doing for us?”
Jeanne Woodford, Rebecca Silbert, Andrea Russi quoted in The People’s Vanguard of Davis, Oct. 25, 2012
“This research shows that our criminal justice system makes mistakes more often than we think With 200 wrongful convictions and counting, just since 1989, it isclear that our justice system is deeply flawed,” said Jeanne Woodford.
“The project’s final analysis will include the time, money and resources wasted on all cases that were overturned and dismissed due to misconduct and legal errors, including those where innocent people are wrongfully charged,” said Rebecca Silbert.
“We owe it to everyone involved, including the victims, to identify problems and work towards a more fair and accountable justice system,” said Andrea Russi.
A similar article appeared in The New Republic.
Stephen Maurer writes letter to The Wall Street Journal, October 22, 2012
Synthetic biologists have pursued various initiatives to make their field safer since the anthrax letters of 2001. By far the most important involves the commercial “gene synthesis” companies whose artificial DNA makes synthetic biology possible in the first place. In 2009, the European trade group International Association-Synthetic Biology announced a strong antiterrorism standard that requires human experts to examine incoming customer orders for biological weapons threats. Like most industry standards, the proposal was contentious.
John Yoo quoted in Times-Herald, October 22, 2012 (Link inactive; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips)
John Yoo, a UC Berkeley law professor who worked for the Bush administration and authored memos authorizing the use of harsh interrogation techniques onsuspected terrorists, called Obama’s relief measure “a serious breach of presidential duty” in a recent paper. Such presidential orders are appropriate to protect national security, but not to guide domestic policy, Yoo argued.