Jesse Choper Describes Judicial Panel About to Review Immigration Law

Los Angeles Times, October 31, 2010 by Maura Dolan
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/oct/31/local/la-me-arizona-law-20101031

“These are three judges who I think are pretty much in the judicial mainstream,” said UC Berkeley constitutional law professor Jesse Choper. He predicted that Arizona would have a “relatively steep, uphill battle” because the federal government is given “exclusive power for immigration and naturalization.” The 9th Circuit and even the U.S. Supreme Court would probably be swayed by the federal government’s contention that the Arizona law “improperly interferes with federal foreign policy,” he said.

Robert MacCoun Finds Marijuana Is Not a Gateway Drug

Time, October 29, 2010 by Maia Szalavitz
http://healthland.time.com/2010/10/29/marijuna-as-a-gateway-drug-the-myth-that-will-not-die/print/

The U.S.A 2010 Rand Institute report titled “What Can We Learn from the Dutch Cannabis Coffeeshop Experience?” found that there was “some evidence” for a “weakened gateway” in The Netherlands, and concluded that the data “clearly challenge any claim that the Dutch have strengthened the gateway to hard drug use.”

Jesse Choper Says SCOTUS Lacks Strong Liberal Personality

The Wall Street Journal, October 29, 2010 by Jess Bravin
http://on.wsj.com/bGF1EI

While Justice Breyer “is trying to occupy a role counter to Scalia,” he lacks the outsize personality that made liberals such as Chief Justice Earl Warren or the late Justice William Brennan so influential, said Mr. Choper, a former clerk to Chief Justice Warren.

Alan Auerbach Thinks Bernanke Should Speak Out on Fiscal Policy

The New York Times, October 28, 2010 by Sewell Chan
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/business/economy/29fed.html?_r=2&scp=2&sq=Berkeley&st=nyt

“Further short-run fiscal expansion paired with credible measures to deal with longer-term deficits would be a good idea,” said Alan J. Auerbach, a professor of economics and law at the University of California, Berkeley. “The political difficulty of accomplishing this puts pressure not only on the Fed but also on our trade policy, where we are forced to lean more heavily on China.”

Barry Krisberg and Michael Sumner Discuss Report on Female Inmates

California Watch, October 27, 2010 by Kendall Taggart
http://californiawatch.org/watchblog/how-do-prisons-treat-their-pregnant-inmates-6168

Barry Krisberg, a fellow at the UC Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice and former president of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, said about this new report: “What these people did is look at what’s going on at the state level, and really the unfinished story is at the county level.”

Michael Sumner, research manager at UC Berkeley’s Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice, said California generally does family-based treatment programs well. The only issue, he said, is that there aren’t enough. “I think the number of spots they have is 100, 140 tops. If you look at the entire pool of incarcerated mothers, it’s a very small percentage” who are able to participate, he said.

Eric Talley Notes Public Animosity Between Oracle and H-P

The Wall Street Journal, October 27, 2010 by Cari Tuna
http://online.wsj.com/home-page (requires registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)

Mr. Talley said it is possible the two companies will reach a settlement before the trial is scheduled to begin. But he adds that Mr. Ellison’s statements, and the wide gap in damages assessments, suggest a pre-trial settlement is unlikely. “Usually when companies are trying to work out a settlement, they’re relatively quiet on the public airwaves,” Mr. Talley said. “That’s not been the case here.”

Robert MacCoun Thinks Prop. 19 Could Lower Pot Price, Increase Use

New Scientist, October 27, 2010 by Jim Giles
http://www.newscientist.com (requires registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)

“We’re fairly confident that there will be a substantial price drop,” says Robert MacCoun…. Proposition 19 does not specify the taxes that will be levied on marijuana sales, and hence the prices users will pay, but the RAND authors are confident consumption will rise. “It could double,” says MacCoun.

Richard Frank Explains Wider Role of Attorney General

The New York Times, October 27, 2010 by Debra Kahn
http://nyti.ms/doxOMq

“I think, for better or worse, most Californians view the AG as the state’s top cop,” [Frank] said. “They have a fairly narrow and focused view of the attorney general, and most voters don’t know or don’t care that the AG has many responsibilities above enforcing the death penalty.”

Richard Frank Warns Against Prop. 26

-Daily Journal, October 26, 2010 by Fiona Smith
http://bit.ly/akDNox (requires registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)

The new definition of what is a tax or a fee is not simple, and the issue will likely play out in court on this and in many other cases, said Richard Frank, executive director of the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment…. “[Prop. 26] is a real sleeper,” Frank said. “I think [Prop.] 26, if enacted, could have a broader and more long-range adverse consequences to public health and safety than Proposition 23.”

-Daily Journal, October 29, 2010 by Richard Frank
http://bit.ly/akDNox (requires registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)

Voters and political analysts have largely ignored another initiative measure on next week’s ballot—Proposition 26—despite the fact that its passage would have profound and broad impacts on government efforts to protect public health, safety, and environment.