TIME, October 31, 2009 by Theo Emery
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1933055,00.html?xid=rss-topstories
“The logic of the agreement, I think, is going to put Google in a very privileged position in the digital book market.”
Barry Krisberg Testifies on Racial Disparities in U.S. Justice System
Congressional Quarterly, October 29, 2009 by Robert C. Scott
http://www.cq.com/mycq.do (requires registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)
I would say that the very legitimacy of the justice system is at stake. And the effectiveness of our law enforcement system is certainly at stake if we cannot make progress on this issue of enormous racial disparity in the system…. The entire contribution to the very high rate of incarceration of the U.S.—highest in the world—is because of the incarceration of people of color.
Stanley Lubman Surveys State of Chinese Legal Reform
The Wall Street Journal, October 29, 2009 by Stanley Lubman
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2009/10/29/chinese-law-reform-on-the-prcs-60th-birthday/tab/print/
Ambiguities in policy toward law are clear: The Chinese Communist Party has never accepted judicial independence as an official goal. Its chief priority for the last thirty years has been economic development, which is the most important basis for its legitimacy, and preventing the occurrence of political or social events that threaten that legitimacy.
Richard Frank Says California Water Deal a Partisan Battle
Los Angeles Times, October 28, 2009 by Bettina Boxall
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-water28-2009oct28,0,3566444.story
“It’s a little bit like the Balkans. There’s a lot of history and distrust going back,” said Richard Frank, executive director of the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment at UC Berkeley Law School. It’s a fight as old as statehood, he added. “There’s not enough water to go around…. There are going to be winners and losers here.”
Ty Alper Underscores Lawyers’ Obligation to Death Row Clients
The Daily Beast, October 28, 2009 by Ben Crair
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-23/doctors-in-the-death-chamber/full/
“Though willing to use any legal means to stop their clients’ executions, these lawyers nevertheless have an additional obligation to seek a humane execution for their clients should that become an inevitability,” Alper wrote in his extensive look at the role of physicians in lethal injections.”
David Sklansky Supports Muni Security Cameras Despite Failures
San Francisco Examiner, October 26, 2009 by Tamara Barak Aparton and Mike Aldax
http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/Security-cameras-failed-at-bad-time-65962007.html
“The video doesn’t give all the answers, but you’d rather have it than not,” Sklansky said.
Steven Weismann Says California Gov.’s Executive Order on Renewables Lacks Legal Weight
California Energy Circuit, October 16, 2009 by Elizabeth McCarthy
http://www.californiaenergycircuit.net (requires registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)
“Some executive orders are largely ceremonial and without legal clout, and this may be one of them,” said Steven Weismann, University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall lecturer and Associate Director for the Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment.
Christopher Hoofnagle Deplores Lack of Privacy in Digital Age
NPR, All Things Considered, October 26, 2009 by Martin Kaste
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114163862
“As there’s been growing awareness of how commercial data brokers operate, they’ve become more secretive,” Hoofnagle says…. “If consumers knew the extent to which this data was being collected and repackaged, there would be riots in streets.”
Jason Schultz Explains Nokia Legal Maneuver against Apple
CNET News, October 22, 2009 by Erica Ogg
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-10381354-260.html
“There are companies that are patent trolls, that don’t participate in the creation of technology, or they secretly acquire them. Nokia’s not one of these companies…. They’re probably not trying to put Apple out of business … but force Apple to play the same game that every other phone company has to play.”
Christopher Edley Discusses National Education Policy at WSJ Forum
-The Wall Street Journal, October 22, 2009 by Kelly Evans
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/10/22/is-obamas-health-care-push-jeopardizing-education-reform/
Christopher Edley Jr., dean of the University of California-Berkeley’s School of Law, said the President’s transition team—of which he was a member—had a difficult time whittling down its priorities. “We tried to make a list of just two or three things and couldn’t do it,” he said.
-October 22, 2009 Moderator Alan Murray
http://online.wsj.com/video/the-barriers-to-education-reform/7C6D7249-D62B-461A-A10C-7F27D8233D7B.html
“You have to appreciate that overwhelming advice, non-stop for the last year and a half, has been ‘Forget about education; do that later.’ And he keeps putting it up there; he keeps pushing it to the front burner so I think there’s no issue there about the fact that the President understands it, he understands the importance of it with respect to the economy. The question is whether or not he’s going to pick the right strategy to advance the program.”
-October 26, 2009 Moderator Alan Murray
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704754804574491180197671224.html
If this really is a national priority, both with respect to opportunity and with respect to competitiveness, you have to ask yourself whether a 19th century model for financing and governing K-12 is going to work in this century, and I profoundly believe the answer is no.