Don’t miss this Friday’s Symposium Celebrating Pamela Samuelson (@pamelasamuelson)!

Judge Pierre Leval of the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit will give the lunchtime keynote address. The rest of the day will be organized around panels corresponding to different aspects of Professor Samuelson’s scholarship & impact (to date).

https://www.law.berkeley.edu/research/bclt/bcltevents/symposium-celebrating-pamela-samuelson/
#copyright #LawSchool #lawprofs #libraries #FreeExpression

Kristie Chamorro, an instructional & educational technology librarian at #BerkeleyLaw, had already begun gathering information she thought might be helpful to faculty, students, and staff navigating #generativeAI. Her compilation is now available on the library’s website, with regular updates to reflect the latest developments, and she’s working on an #ai research guide for students. #lawfedi #LawSchool #LawLibrary

https://www.law.berkeley.edu/article/law-library-resources-generative-ai/

Berkeley Law faculty create new courses to address legal challenges with national and global implications.

https://www.law.berkeley.edu/article/new-courses-help-students-confront-hot-button-issues-across-legal-terrain/

"For decades, conservatives have railed against judicial activism, but Thursday’s decision striking down affirmative action by colleges and universities in admissions was the height of conservative judicial activism. The court rejected almost half a century of precedents, overturned decisions made by public and private universities across the country, and ignored the history of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.

The experience of California — where affirmative action was eliminated by Proposition 209 in 1996 — shows that it still will be possible to have diversity in higher education, but it will take sustained effort and it will be difficult."

#Opinion by Dean Erwin Chemerinsky via LA Times

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-06-29/harvard-affirmative-action-case-supreme-court-race-college-admissions

#LawFedi #LawSchool #AffirmativeAction #SCOTUS

“Why don’t the Supreme Court justices understand that that they would benefit greatly from an ethics code and an independent office to assess their ethical issues?”
— #Opinion by Dean Erwin Chemerinsky via CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/22/opinions/scotus-cant-afford-another-self-inflicted-wound-chemerinsky

#SCOTUS #lawfedi #LawSchool

Since 1983, U.S. News has published rankings of the nation’s law schools. For almost as long, there have been complaints about the way the rankings are done and what value they offer.

Last fall, Yale Law School Dean Heather Gerken announced that Yale — which consistently earned the top spot in the rankings — would no longer participate in the process because it is “undermining the core commitments of the legal profession.” Berkeley Law quickly followed, as did more than 60 law schools.

In this episode of the More Just podcast, Dean Chemerinsky talks to a blockbuster panel to discuss how we got here, what the revolt means, and what the future may hold: Dean Gerken, now in her second term leading Yale Law School; Colorado College President L. Song Richardson, who pulled her school out of the college rankings; and Colin Diver, a former dean at Penn Law and president of Reed College who’s been a longtime critic of the rankings.

https://www.law.berkeley.edu/podcast-episode/the-future-of-law-school-rankings/

#LawFedi #LawSchool #Rankings #USNews

Chemerinsky: Time Is Running Out for John Roberts and the Supreme Court

"In light of the Supreme Court’s unwillingness to adopt an ethics code for itself, Congress must step in and pass a statute imposing standards. All other judges in the country — state and federal — are bound by ethical rules. It is inexcusable that the most important and powerful judges are not."

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/12/opinion/ethics-supreme-court-congress.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

#LawFedi #LawSchool #SCOTUS #Ethics #Judiciary

Via CalMatters: California ranchers intentionally violated an emergency water order. Now lawmakers want to triple the fines

“The board doesn’t have the tools to act quickly,” said Michael Kiparsky, water program director at the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at UC Berkeley School of Law. “The fish don’t care if the lawyers are trying to figure out who’s right or wrong if they’re dead.”

https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/06/california-water-fines/

#LawFedi #EnvironmentalLaw #WaterLaw #California #LawSchool

Dean Chemerinsky on Allen vs. Milligan:

"After a decade of weakening federal protection of voting rights, the Supreme Court on Thursday reaffirmed that the Voting Rights Act prevents racial discrimination in drawing election districts. This was a surprising and important 5-4 victory for voting rights, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. writing the majority opinion, joined by Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh and the three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson."

https://t.co/5ARvHFRqYf

#LawFedi #LawProfs #SCOTUS #VotingRights