National Review, December 31, 2011 by John Yoo
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/286953/unavoidable-challenge-john-yoo
If the International Atomic Energy Agency’s November report is accurate, Iran will soon join the ranks of the world’s nuclear powers. Because of the Obama administration’s reluctance to confront this looming threat, others such as the Republican presidential candidates must begin preparing the case for a military strike to destroy Iran’s nuclear program.
KQED News, December 30, 2011 by Mina Kim
http://www.kqed.org/a/kqednews/RN201112301804
“We’re seeing a continued concern on the part of the courts that they don’t want to poach into what is regarded as an executive branch decision.”
San Francisco Chronicle, December 29, 2011 by Bob Egelko
http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-12-29/news/30567772_1_abortion-rights-decisions-law-professors-rulings
If Congress passed a law prohibiting abortions and barring all judicial review, “it’s highly, highly unlikely that the Supreme Court would find such a law constitutional,” said Fred Smith, who teaches law at UC Berkeley. “There are so many avenues of review” for the case to reach the high court, he said.
Los Angeles Times, December 29, 2011 by Carol J. Williams
http://articles.latimes.com/print/2011/dec/29/local/la-me-death-sentences-dr
op-20111230
“It would be stunning if prosecutors were not impacted by these developments. The financial issues just have to weigh significantly in some cases because prosecutors, defense lawyers and everyone involved in
government in California has had to make extraordinarily difficult choices about how to spend the resources they have, and they are well aware of what capital cases cost,” said Elisabeth Semel, a UC Berkeley law professor and founder of the school’s Death Penalty Clinic.
KQED News, December 29, 2011 Host Kelly Wilkinson
http://www.kqed.org/a/kqednews/RN201112291730/a
“It’s part of the governor’s agenda to shift responsibilities to the local governments without giving them enough money to pay for it. It’s what we’re observing at the national level, too, the federal government is shifting responsibility onto the states and not giving them the money to pay for it. It’s what governments do when they don’t have enough money.”
Daily Journal, December 28, 2011 by Fiona Smith
http://bit.ly/A1iJm3 (registration required)
“The [Supreme] Court doesn’t seem to have come out with any clear doctrine, especially on when and to what extent they should presume state legislation is valid and to what extent they should put their thumb on the scales on behalf of the states,” Doremus said.
Reuters, December 28, 2011 by Joshua Schneyer and Brian Grow
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/28/us-energy-giant-newspro-idUSTRE7BR
0HS20111228
The near-blanket cancellation of the contracts raises the question of whether Chesapeake ever intended to pay if it failed to find oil or gas immediately, says Mark Gergen, a contract law professor at the University of California-Berkeley law school.
Chicago Tribune, December 25, 2011 by Steve Chapman
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-oped-1225-chapman-20111225,0,152834.column
In fact, as University of California at Berkeley law professor Franklin Zimring notes in his book “The Great American Crime Decline,” births to unwed teens didn’t fall after the abortion decision they rose. “There were no visible signs of changes in the demography of births to match the theories,” he writes.
Bloomberg Law Podcast, December 24, 2011 Host June Grasso
http://www.bloomberg.com/podcasts/law/ (Inactive link; go to News Clips for article)
“There’s this perception that the SEC should be doing a lot more work on the fraud-prevention front, and if we want to go after individuals within companies engaging in fraud, the SEC should be doing it.”
The Wall Street Journal, December 23, 2011 by Stanley Lubman
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2011/12/23/chinas-wukan-protest-will-rights-awareness-spread/?KEYWORDS=Berkeley
The question now is whether the central government will address the root causes of the protests by implementing long-postponed legislation on rural land seizures and cracking down on corruption. For the Communist Party, the risks of inaction are clear. The protests signify an expression of rising rights consciousness among citizens that could grow in other towns.