San Francisco Chronicle, August 8, 2010 by John Diaz
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/07/INO61EFPES.DTL
In reading Walker’s opinion, which carefully and quite compellingly dissected the arguments of each side, it is apparent that a judge known for his diligence went to great lengths to put it on display in this case…. “This is by no means a renegade decision,” said Jesse Choper, a constitutional law professor at the UC Berkeley School of Law.
California Watchblog, August 6, 2010 by Will Evans
http://bit.ly/cnP20H
Dan Farber, director of UC Berkeley School of Law’s Environmental Law Program, draws a comparison between the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and carbon capture and storage projects. “Systems don’t always work the way they’re supposed to, in part because people make mistakes,” Farber said. “If we start doing this on a major scale we shouldn’t just accept assertions that this is perfectly safe and there’s nothing to worry about. We’ve been doing offshore drilling for a long time, too, and we thought we knew how to do that.”
Science Magazine, Careers, August 6, 2010 by Vijaysree Venkatraman
http://bit.ly/cXX5mU
It’s a peer-group problem, she says: “If some young fathers take that leave and demonstrate themselves as equal caregivers, others will as well.” Mason says she has seen this happen at her workplace. But as long as most men are resistant, others may feel that they can’t take the chance. Once women scientists sought role models in laboratories; perhaps it’s men who require role models now: male scientists who embrace domesticity.
San Francisco Chronicle, August 5, 2010 by C.W. Nevius
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/05/BAGE1EOUSQ.DTL
“California seems to have a lengthier history of this kind of thing,” said Melissa Murray, assistant law professor at UC Berkeley’s School of Law. “In other states, it has passed and that’s been it. Maybe California is just the perfect storm.”
-Los Angeles Times, August 5, 2010 by Maura Dolan and Carol J. Williams
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0806-gay-marriage-california-20100806,0,1544119.story
Joan Heifetz Hollinger, a UC Berkeley law school lecturer and coauthor of a friend-of-the-court brief supporting gay marriage rights, observed that Walker was “adamant” in his ruling that “Proposition 8 should be gone. But, on other side, he’s already been sort of slapped on the wrist by having his desire to broadcast the proceedings overruled,” she said.
-SF Weekly blog, The Snitch, August 12, 2010 by Joe Eskenzai
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2010/08/prop_8_vaughn_walker.php
Finally, if two circuit court judges agree with Walker and decide against issuing a stay, Joan Hollinger of U.C. Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law predicts that an appeal for a stay may be made directly to the U.S. Supreme Court. This would be an early test of how swing Justice Anthony Kennedy feels on the matter.
-Los Angeles Times, August 13, 2010 by Maura Dolan and Lee Romney
http://bit.ly/bkR7ou
UC Berkeley law professor Joan Hollinger said the standing dispute leaves opponents of same-sex marriage in a “really tough spot.” She said the decision last week by Schwarzenegger and Brown not to challenge Walker’s order put the question of standing on “the front burner.” “This has suddenly come to center stage,” she said.
-KPFA-FM, The Morning Show, August 13, 2010 Host Amy Allison
http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/63250
“For the proponents of Proposition 8, the key issue now is whether they have standing in the Federal Courts. That means under the federal constitution, do they have a live case and controversy? In order for that to be the case, they have to demonstrate that they have an actual injury in fact. Not simply an ideological or theoretical or moral injury. They have to show, just as the plaintiffs showed at the trial level, that they are hurt by what happens by Proposition 8.”
-The Christian Science Monitor, August 4, 2010 by Daniel B. Wood
http://bit.ly/bBuZAH
“This is quite historic because it has been felt that the proponents of gay marriage had been avoiding federal courts under the premise that a ruling there would be more final than in state court,” says Herma Hill Kay…. Professor Kay says Judge Walker’s opinion is “particularly strong” and his analysis of the US Constitution’s equal protection clause is “quite compelling.”
-KPFA-FM Free Speech Radio News, August 5, 2010 Host Dorian Merina
http://www.fsrn.org/audio/fight-over-california-same-sex-marriage-ban-set-higher-courts/7268
“I think that this is a very important milestone in our approach to marriage. The ideas of what marriage consists of have changed significantly over the past couple years, including the changes that Judge Walker cited that have stressed equality between the partners to marriage. His opinion focuses on marriage, not same-sex marriage, and holds that it is a fundamental right, which is a great advance in this context.”
The New York Times, August 4, 2010 by John Schwartz
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/us/06assess.html?_r=2
Professor Jesse H. Choper, a professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley, said that it was too soon to tell which way Justice Kennedy might come down on the issue of same-sex marriage. “I have no way of predicting how he’d come down on this, and I don’t think he does, either, at this point.”
Foreign Policy, August 3, 2010 by Patrick Vinck and Phuong Pham
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/08/03/the_fastest_to_die?page=full
Our study found that epidemics of disease and the country’s lack of basic health care, education, and social services contribute more to mortality than any fighting. Even in zones relatively free of fighting, in the southern part of the country, mortality rates are well above the threshold for acute emergency.
-The Christian Science Monitor, August 3, 2010 by Daniel B. Wood
http://bit.ly/agjFQv
Republican politics play a role too, says Aarti Kohli, Director of Immigration Policy at the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute…. “The data is clear that [Gov. Jan] Brewer’s job approval ratings did jump compared to when she was struggling before SB 1070 was signed,” says Ms. Kohli.
-The Washington Independent, August 9, 2010 by Elise Foley
http://bit.ly/9eWU7I
“It’s kind of like the opposite of Arizona: They don’t want to be engaged in the process of policing immigration,” explains Aarti Kohli, director of immigration policy at Berkeley Law School’s Warren Institute. “It’s a communication to their communities that, ‘We don’t want to talk on the federal functions of immigration enforcement, we’re going to focus on our local functions.'”
Inside Higher Ed, August 3, 2010 by Steve Kolowich
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/08/03/california
“Quality,” says Edley, might mean something completely different in the online world. “What will be key,” he says, “is making sure we don’t define quality as replicating or simulating everything that goes on on campus, but instead ask what is fundamental to quality, and then examine the trade-offs.”