Franklin Zimring Notes Unintended Outcome of Federal Death Penalty Law

Daily Journal, February 5, 2009 by Rebecca Beyer
http://www.dailyjournal.com (requires registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)

Zimring said when the federal death penalty was reinstated it was with the goal of “using federal law to contradict state policy”—in other words, to have the punishment as an option in states where the death penalty doesn’t exist. What happened in reality, he said, was “exactly the opposite….” “What you had was tremendous redundancy,” he said. “The places that had high levels of death verdicts and executions were the places that had the concentrations in federal death penalty verdicts.”

Jesse Fried Questions Effectiveness of Executive Pay Cap

The New York Times, Room for Debate, February 5, 2009 by Jesse Fried
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/the-effects-of-capping-pay/

Boards’ fear of shareholder and Congressional outrage is likely to prevent them from increasing executive pay at bailed-out banks…. But the Treasury’s guidelines may not reduce the compensation of these bank chief executives, either. Bailed-out banks are likely to simply replace current sizeable compensation packages with restricted stock of similar value. And several years from now, if all goes according to plan, these executives will walk away with tens of millions of dollars.

Stephen Barnett Calls Argument in Prop 8 Case ‘Long Shot’

Los Angeles Times, February 4, 2009 by Maura Dolan and Jessica Garrison
http://www.latimes.com/la-me-prop-8-spending4-2009feb04,0,1608579,print.story

“Brown’s is stronger because it has never been tried before, so it’s got that going for it, whereas there is a lot of law about what’s a constitutional revision,” he said. Still, Barnett said he doubted that the moderate, Republican-dominated court would adopt Brown’s theory because he said it could have far-reaching consequences.”

Ann O’Leary Urges Obama to Strengthen Workplace Equity Legislation

San Francisco Chronicle, February 4, 2009 by Ann M. O’Leary
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/04/EDK215MH1U.DTL&type=printable

“Obama’s first bill signals the administration’s commitment to workplace equity. But in order to make serious progress on women’s equity and close the wage gap, Obama should urge Congress to act swiftly to expand job-protected family leave, ensure that workers have access to paid sick days, and provide incentives to states to follow California’s lead and adopt paid family leave (but make it even better than California’s law by ensuring that workers’ jobs are protected if they take the leave).”

Stephen Maurer Creates Unique Web Portal to Review ‘Experiments of Concern’

Nature News, February 4, 2009 by Erika Check Hayden
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090204/full/457643a.html

“There is an instinct in the community that if you think you’re talking about an experiment of concern, you should ask someone — but biosecurity people are scarce on the average campus,” he says. The portal is designed to be a help, rather than a burden, in these situations. “People have enough layers of paperwork in their lives,” says Maurer. “The idea is to make this as painless as possible.”

Jacob Hacker Believes Healthcare Reform Crucial in Down Economy

The Christian Science Monitor, February 3, 2009 by Jacob S. Hacker
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0203/p09s01-coop.html

“The task is more pressing because the problems in job-based health benefits will only grow worse as the recession deepens: Businesses will continue to drop coverage and shift costs onto workers, and more and more Americans will lose their homes and their life savings because they lack insurance or their insurance doesn’t shield them against runaway health costs.”

Ann O’Leary Applauds Obama’s Signing of Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

KPIX-TV, January 30, 2009 by Joe Vasquez
http://cbs5.com/video/?id=45378@kpix.dayport.com

“It was a bit of a ridiculous notion that you would have to sue from the moment in which you were discriminated against, even though you had no knowledge whatsoever that you were being discriminated against…. One of the things that I was really heartened by today was that First Lady Michelle Obama made very clear that this bill was really just the cornerstone of their agenda for trying to help working women.”