Fred Smith Says Preemption Law Murky in CA Fannie Mae Suit

American Banker, December 22, 2011 by Kate Berry and Jeff Horwitz
http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/176_247/preemption-fannie-freddie-fhfa-
kamala-harris-1045105-1.html (registration required)

Smith notes that the Housing Economic Recovery Act, which placed the GSEs in conservatorship, only said that states would have no authority over the FHFA – not the GSEs. “If you look at the language, the FHFA’s position that states don’t have any authority over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is a bit of a jump,” he says.

Peter Menell Criticizes Music Service ‘Grooveshark’

The Media Institute, December 21, 2011 by Peter S. Menell, Herman Phleger
and Robert L. Bridges
http://www.mediainstitute.org/new_site/IPI/2011/122111.php

As deals with iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, MOG, Rdio, and Spotify attest, the major record labels are now willing to license their content to a wide range of download and streaming services. Yet these businesses are hobbled by competing with Grooveshark and other enterprises that abuse the DMCA safe harbor.

Jesse Choper Disagrees with Gingrich’s View of High Court

-PolitiFact, December 20, 2011 by Louis Jacobson
http://bit.ly/vxLTZu

“There are certainly cases in which the Supreme Court has held the executive branch unconstitutional.” Probably the biggest, he said, was Youngstown Co. vs. Sawyer (1952), in which the court overruled an executive order by President Harry Truman to nationalize steel mills to avert a nationwide strike.

-San Francisco Chronicle, December 25, 2011 by Bob Egelko
http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2011/12/25/history-not-gingrich-says-presidents-obey-courts/

Choper said allowing a president to override the courts would be particularly dangerous in cases involving the Bill of Rights, where the judiciary is often the last line of defense for an individual facing the power of government.

Barry Krisberg Says State Is Better Prepared to House Violent Juveniles

-Oakland Tribune, December 19, 2011 by Angela Woodall
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_19575870

In contrast, counties haven’t begun to deal with the level of care needed by the offenders left in the state system, he said. “You would have to start all over.” And there is the risk they could be pushed into the adult prison system.

-San Francisco Chronicle, December 26, 2011 by Marisa Lagos
http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-12-26/news/30558005_1_juvenile-offenders-adult-criminal-justice-david-steinhart

UC Berkeley Law criminologist Barry Krisberg, who has helped monitor reforms at the Department of Juvenile Justice mandated by court orders, warned that counties could face litigation over their facilities if they take the serious, violent juvenile offenders.

-The New York Times, The Bay Citizen, December 31, 2011 by Trey Bundy
http://nyti.ms/A0OOZ5

“It seems like a big mistake to walk away from a deal where the state was going to pay you and now you have to pay them,” said Barry Krisberg, a criminologist at the University of California, Berkeley.

Aaron Edlin Proposes ‘Brandeis Tax’ on Top Earners

The New York Times, December 18, 2011 by Ian Ayres and Aaron S. Edlin
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/opinion/dont-tax-the-rich-tax-inequality-itself.html?scp=2&sq=Berkeley&st=nyt

Enough is enough. Congress should reform our tax law to put the brakes on further inequality. Specifically, we propose an automatic extra tax on the income of the top 1 percent of earners a tax that would limit the after-tax incomes of this club to 36 times the median household income.

Aarti Kohli Reveals Flaws in Deportation Programs

-The Associated Press, December 14, 2011 by E.J. Tamara
http://www.salon.com/2011/12/15/aclu_citizens_jailed_under_us_immigration_program_2/

In October, a study by the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law &Social Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, found that ICE arrested more than 3,600 U.S. citizens through Secure Communities between April 2008 and April 2011.

-Los Angeles Times, December 15, 2011 by Paloma Esquivel
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1215-detained-citizens-20111214,0,3469916.story

Although the exact number of U.S. citizens detained on immigration holds is not known, a study published earlier this year by researchers at UC Berkeley found that citizens made up 1.6% of Secure Communities cases analyzed.

-The Daily Journal, December 28, 2011 by Robert Iafolla
http://bit.ly/zbY0ew (registration required)

The Berkeley report analyzed data from Secure Communities, a program that feeds illegal immigrants arrested by local law enforcement to ICE, and argued that it encourages racial profiling, splits up families and snares people that it shouldn’t.

-Queens Chronicle, December 29, 2011 by Cory Bennett and Rebecca Ellis
http://bit.ly/vYgHLw

It is difficult to estimate how many children follow deported parents, though Aarti Kohli, director of immigration policy at the University of California Berkeley Law School, found that if both parents are deported, the children follow if they are younger than teenagers. If one parent is deported, families frequently separate, with the non-deported parent staying with the children.

Jason Schultz Faults Children’s Online Privacy Act

Chicago Tribune, December 14, 2011 by Jessica Tobacman
http://bit.ly/wsnH2f

Although the law does not require websites to bar children under 13, “the industry response to the law has led to age restrictions,” said Jason M. Schultz, one of the authors of the study of preteens on Facebook and an assistant clinical professor of law at the University of California Berkeley School of Law.

Alexander Wang Says China’s Green Movement Growing Stronger

chinadialogue, December 13, 2011 by Justin Gerdes
http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/4679

This litany of incidents illustrates the growing pressure the public and NGOs are able to wield in the fight against pollution in China, Alex Wang, attorney and visiting assistant professor at UC Berkeley Boalt School of Law, argued. “There’s no doubt that there seems to be an increased pressure and intensity,” he said. Armed with an ever-expanding body of environmental law, these players are pushing for change in the corporate world.