In waging cyber war, battlefield becomes blurred

Kate Jastram quoted in San Francisco Chronicle, Dot.Commentary, June 10, 2012

Kate Jastram, a lecturer in residence at UC Berkeley Law School, doesn’t think the U.S. action qualifies as an armed attack. But she does think Stuxnet and similar efforts demand a re-evaluation of questions surrounding the traditional rules of war, such as: What level of damage from a cyber attack constitutes a use of force or armed attack? What’s a proportional response, and how sure should we be of the source of an attack before we can respond?

Andrew Cuomo wades into pot fight, again ends up on Barack Obama’s left

Franklin Zimring quoted in The Daily Beast, June 9, 2012

“If aggressive policing is enormously costly, it’s a double-edged sword, because the evidence is pretty clear it’s been beneficial” at bringing the crime rate down, said Franklin E. Zimring, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley Law School and author of The City That Became Safe: New York’s Lessons for Urban Crime And Its Control.

Berkeley Law Death Penalty Clinic reaches important milestone

Elisabeth Semel quoted in Clear Admit, June 8, 2012

Clinic Director Elisabeth Semel spoke to the fact that many of the clinic graduates are currently pursuing work in the public sector. She stated: “We must never forget that we are able to represent our clients because our families provided opportunities for us that our clients never had,” she said.

Obama, Drones and Thomas Aquinas

John Yoo writes for The Wall Street Journal, June 7, 2012

To stop an enemy without territory, population or regular armed forces, the U.S. must have access to timely, actionable intelligence gleaned from captured terrorists…. Exclusive reliance on drones and a no-capture policy spend down the investments in intelligence that made this hiatus possible, without replenishing the interrogation-gained information needed to predict future threats.

Report criticizes use of force at UC Berkeley’s Occupy protests

Jesse Choper quoted in Los Angeles Times, L.A. NOW, June 6, 2012

Jesse Choper, a law professor at UC Berkeley and chairman of the review board, said that despite the incident last November, UC Berkeley remains as sensitive to issues of free speech as any public institution in the country. “We all learn from experience and I think that we’ve had no shortage of protests on this campus in the last 50 years,” he said. “We learn from each one.”
This story appeared in a number of sources including San Francisco Chronicle and Associated Press.

Could cops use Google to prevent murder?

David Sklansky quoted in Slate, June 6, 2012

David Sklansky, a criminal law professor at UC Berkeley, says it could constitute the reasonable suspicion needed to pull someone over or stop him on the street. And police don’t need any reasonable suspicion at all to knock on someone’s door and ask what she’s up to, provided the person agrees to talk.

The Millennial factor

Jennifer Granholm writes for POLITICO, June 6, 2012

So here’s my plea to Millennials: If you have any generational defiance in you, if you feel outraged by cynical attempts to limit your most fundamental rights, if your inner rebel is twitching, than cast your vote. Do it despite the obstacles the Republican legislators are erecting. Or maybe because of them.

Is the SAFE initiative vote safe?

Elisabeth Semel writes for Daily Journal, June 5, 2012 (registration required)

There is thus great irony in the interest groups that promoted the expansive and multi-pronged criminal justice initiatives in 1982, 1992 and 2002, arguing that the far more limited SAFE California initiative violates the “single subject” rule. They championed and own the broadest and most accommodating interpretation of the “single subject” rule in the area of criminal justice. Now they want to avoid the consequences of their legal handiwork.

The untold future of American politics

Taeku Lee writes for The New York Times, June 4, 2012

Our research shows that the dominant force among minorities is not attachment to the Democratic Party but uncertainty about where they fit into American politics. What this means is that the future of the minority vote, and consequently the balance of power in American politics, is still very much up for grabs. If either party wants to attain dominance, it ignores this segment of the American population at its own peril.

Facebook may let kids under 13 join with parent’s help

Jason Schultz quoted in USA TODAY, June 5, 2012

The company might be attempting to get ahead of a regulatory battle brewing in Washington to enact more stringent rules on collection of personal data from minors, says Jason Schultz, a University of California-Berkeley professor who co-authored a study last year on minors’ use of Facebook.