Abe Lincoln’s constitution

Daniel Farber interviewed by Podomatic, Your Weekly Constitutional, Dec. 23, 2016

“The entire nature of the constitution was kind of up for grabs with one school of thought, primarily in the South, thinking that the constitution was more or less like a treaty between independent states. … Whereas the other school of thought, which was represented by Lincoln, thought that the U.S. was not just an association of sovereign states, that it was a real nation. And that citizens of the United States had a direct relationship to the federal government.”

China’s ‘social credit’ system: Turning big data into mass surveillance

Stanley Lubman writes for The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 21, 2016

The current effort to expand control of personal conduct is the latest in a series of moves to control behavior that now include campaigns against corrupt officials, rights lawyers and others whose conduct and actions are considered “subversive” both in person and otherwise—such as in social media.

Bills of Rights at 225: Framers put federalism at core of Bill of Rights

John Yoo writes for Philly.com, Dec. 21, 2016

Democrats are coming to have similar fears about a President Trump who might persecute minorities, lift environmental protections, or eviscerate social services. They should copy a page out of the Republican playbook and return to the states to rebuild their party. If they do, they will reveal once again the wisdom of the Framers in placing federalism at the core of the Bill of Rights.

Death penalty may be on the way out in US: report

Megan McCracken quoted by AFP, Dec. 21, 2016

“In executions, midazolam is intended to put the prisoner under anesthesia, which it’s not an appropriate drug to do,” Megan McCracken, a leading lethal injection expert at Berkeley Law School, told AFP. “We have seen in several executions that prisoners who are given midazolam subsequently either remain conscious or regain consciousness and struggle, gasp, and show signs of pain and suffering,” she added.

‘We have to shift the table of power’: A Q&A with reproductive rights and justice leaders

Jill Adams quoted by Rewire, Dec. 21, 2016

If we let the election extinguish our inner fire and vision of a just future, than that’s worse than anything we lost at the polls in terms of votes or anything coming down the pike in the next four years, said Jill Adams, chief strategist for the Self-Induced Abortion Legal Team.

Arizona agrees to stop using drug tied to botched executions

Megan McCracken quoted by The New York Times, Dec. 20, 2016

“The state’s choice is an important acknowledgment that midazolam should not be used in executions,” said Megan McCracken, a lethal-injection expert with the Death Penalty Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.

Why Verizon can’t quit Yahoo

Steven Davidoff Solomon writes for The New York Times, Dec. 20, 2016

Even if Verizon has buyer’s remorse, it is going to have a hard time walking away from this deal as a legal matter. Under the parties’ acquisition agreement, Verizon can terminate only if there is a so-called material adverse effect to Yahoo.

Jerry Brown talks tough, but can he stop Trump on climate?

Ethan Elkind quoted by ClimateWire, Dec. 20, 2016

“There are ways to fight back in courts, if they try to go after California through regulations,” said Ethan Elkind, a climate research fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. “There are ways to fight back in Congress, and public opinion if they try to take a legislative attack on what we do.”

12 top law scholars say Donald Trump could defy the Constitution his first day in power

Christopher Kutz quoted by Mic.com, Dec. 17, 2016

One scholar, University of California Berkeley School of Law professor Chris Kutz, declined to comment on the exact constitutional legality as an ethicist, but still called Trump’s plan to have his children run the business a “laughably inadequate” solution to his conflicts of interest.

Trump nominates a fiscal megahawk to direct the federal budget

Anne Joseph O’Connell quoted by New York Magazine, Dec. 17, 2016

Furthermore, UC Berkeley School of Law professor Anne Joseph O’Connell, who tracks these statistics, tells the AP that she expects even less diversity in the lower levels of government under Trump.